Nekogakure: Village Hidden in the Shadow of the Cat
(Author's Note: This story setting takes place around the time of Naruto Shippuden, but the world is different. None of Team Seven from the series exist- Kakashi, Sasuke, Sakura, and Naruto are absent as a group of rogue ninja infiltrate the village for their own purposes. This is a fanfic I promised my friends that I would write using our original characters from minor villages. Enjoy!)
Sliding through the early morning mist, a long figured stalked through the alleys of Konoha. His blue haori jacket fluttered as he moved swifty to the large lucky cat statue that stood next to the Ichiraku Ramen shop. None of the shinobi of the Hidden Leave had suspected anything suspicious of the object and had accepted it as a gift from a client who had contracted a few genin for some menial labor.
The mysterious figure gave a couple glances around as he scanned the area for chakra emissions, resting his hand idly on the katana stuck in his obi belt. Content that no one was around to interfere with his plans, the man placed his hand on the cat's head, opening up the gateway to a hidden dimension. Stepping through, the figure took off the Hidden Leaf headband and replaced it with the Hidden Star headband that he had worn previously.
"I'm back," he commented as he walked into the common area, a simple living room with two couches facing each other with a low table in between.
Laying on one of the couches was a ninja clad in the hunter-nin attire of the Hidden Mist studying a detailed map of Konoha. The man in the blue haori and black kimono sat across from the hunter-nin, kicking his feet up on the table.
"There was no trouble in scoping out more of the village," the man in the haori started. "To no great surprise, there isn't a lot of security once you get past the gate."
Sitting up, the hunter-nin shot the man a look. "Don't get over confident. This won't be like the time we infiltrated Otogakure. Despite how it looks, Konoha is organized enough to prevent a suitable threat should we be discovered. Katsushiga, are you sure of the genjutsu's strength?"
"It'll hold up. Since it's a dimensional jutsu, only an Uchiha would be able to make sense of it, and Itachi was the last one of them that was here in the village."
The hunter-nin nodded in response. Seven years ago, Uchiha Itachi had wiped out the rest of his clan that had resided within Konoha. With the exception of a few scattered Uchiha in the world, the clan had become virtually extinct.
"And the status of the ninetails jinchuriki?"
Katsushiga shifted as he frowned. "They're keeping that secret very well guarded. I'd have to shake down the fifth Hokage herself for that information, it seems. So, Chitaki, has the other member arrived yet?"
Crouching on a tree branch, the lone kunoichi scanned the area as her arctic wolf sniffed the ground. Sumire had contacted her distant relatives of the Inuzaki clan about being in the area. Patiently waiting, she finally got wind of her cousin approaching.
Kiba landed on the branch with Akamaru at his heels. Smiling a foolish grin, he extended his hand to Sumire. Having never met his cousin from the far north before, Kiba was quite excited about the introduction.
After staring at the hand for a good few moments, Sumire took the hand and shook it lightly. "Ookamizaki Sumire of Yukigakure," she introduced. "Down there is Fuyumaru."
"I'm Kiba, and this is Akamaru," the leather-jacket wearing Hidden Leaf shinobi replied as Akamaru barked in greeting. "So what brings you to the Land of Fire?"
"Well, you see, the political structure in the Land of Snow has become sort of messed up and I needed to get away. I was hoping that I could stay in the area for awhile."
Kiba flashed her the thumbs up sign in response. "Yeah! That'd be no problem, just leave it to me," he said, flashing another stupid grin.
Fuyumaru and Sumire exchanged a glance as they contemplated the situation. Katsushiga and Chitaki had already created a secret base within the heart of the Hidden Leaf, and with Kiba's willingness to help out a distant relative, the wolf-user kunoichi couldn't believe how easy it had been to start the infiltration.
"Come on, I'll introduce you to a couple people that can help you get set up with an apartment," Kiba said as he waved for her to follow. While he started to leap through the forest, Kiba turned his head to talk with her. "So what type of rank did you have?"
"Oh, I'm a jonin," Sumire calmly stated as her winter mantle fluttered around her. She made a mental note to construct a thinner mantle to accommodate for the much warmer environment that the Land of Fire had as opposed to her homeland.
Kiba's face faltered as he stared forward. He had been hoping that she had been a lower rank, much like his chunin status. It seemed that these days that everyone had a higher rank than himself. Giving the kunoichi another look, Kiba silently wondered about what sort of work she expected to do in Konoha and how long she was intending to stay.
Standing up, Chitaki unfastened his hunter-nin vest as he traded it out for the standard Hidden Leaf military vest. Doing the same with his headband, he started for the exit, shooting a glance at Katsushiga. Given that simple information gathering wasn't going to be enough to get their goal, he was going to have to use ninjutsu to find the jinchuriki's signature reading.
"Since you were inefficient," Chitaki began. "We'll have to let me do the leg work now."
Tossing the Hidden Star shinobi a communication headset, Chitaki double-checked his equipment. Taking the lead from his teammate, Katsushiga switched his headband back to the Hidden Leaf before putting on the electronic gear. Feeling prepared for battle, the two rogue ninja carefully stepped out of the dimensional space of the Lucky Cat, quickly body flickering to the alleyway behind Ichiraku Ramen.
Nodding to each other, the two leapt and bounded up the walls, landing on a nearby rooftop. Surveying the area quickly for any observers, Katsushiga nodded to Chitaki to show that the coast was clear. Taking the message from the other shinobi, Chitaki set to work combining hand seals.
"Ukojizai no Jutsu," he calmly stated as he extended his chakra into the clouds above. Swirling to black above, a light drizzle began to fall upon Konoha as Chitaki sighed in contentment, closing his eyes. As a sensory jutsu, the technique had originated in Hidden Rain and had required very careful infiltration to steal the information on how to learn the ninjutsu.
Katsushiga continued to scan, feeling nervous about the large scale of the jutsu being used, realizing that it could be seen as very suspicious. Mixed with Chitaki's earlier jutsu to draw a fogbank into the village, the Hidden Star shinobi was feeling on edge about their strategy.
Unaware of Katsushiga's thoughts, Chitaki turned to him with a small smirk on his face. "There's a weird chakra signal about eight-hundred meters on your eight o'clock. Go check it out and let me know what you find."
Leaping from their scouting spot, Katsushiga rushed to the location that the hunter-nin had mentioned. Keeping care to move stealthily, he took his time to land quietly on a nearby rooftop as he saw two girls sharing a traditional Japanese umbrella. Touching the side of his headset, he relayed the information quietly to Chitaki.
"Visual confirmed on two girls, approximately fifteen to seventeen years of age, walking northwest towards housing. Shall I proceed to follow?"
Crackling quietly over the radio, Chitaki answered. "Keep close visual confirmation and verify living quarter location. Konoha uses an apprenticeship model with one jonin working with three younger members, so be on guard. I'll lighten the rain, eventually dismissing it within the next fifteen minutes," he reported as the chakra infused rain let up slightly.
"Roger," Katsushiga replied as he dropped to the street, keeping an eye on his surroundings. The sudden rain followed by the morning fog had kept most people inside, making his job of following the two kunoichi slightly more difficult.
Catching glances of the two in dark windows, Katsushiga started slowly piecing together how the two looked. Taking great care to gather as much information as he could, the Hidden Star shinobi memorized all the visual information while he stalked the two girls.
The one holding the umbrella was dressed in the typical military uniform of Konoha shinobi. She had long brown hair that fell free about her shoulders and unusual white eyes. Remembering the preliminary information, Katsushiga assumed that she must belong to the Hyuga clan, well known for their doujutsu that could see through objects.
Standing next to the Hyuga was a kunoichi clad in unusual shrine maiden clothing. The red skirt came down to only her knees and her top was sleeveless, with unattached sleeves coming up to the middle of her upper arm, tightened with red cord. The girl wore her headband about her waist as though it were a belt, making Katsushiga wonder if the Hidden Leaf had any standards for how its ninja were to dress. Making one last note about the kunoichi's waist length red hair, Katsushiga shifted a glance around to realize that he has quickly reaching a gate that lead out of the village.
Carefully stepping around to the perimeter wall and leaping up to the top of it, Katsushiga kept a close eye on the two girls as they walked out of the gate. Hoping down to land quietly on the grass, he continued to follow them, slowly moving so that even the sound of his kimono's cloth wouldn't create a rustle, but not slow enough to put significant distance between them.
Following them out into a field of flowers, Katsushiga froze still as the two kunoichi nodded to each other, almost in perfect synchronization with the sun peaking out between the clouds. Fearing that his cover was blown, the shinobi rested his hand on the katana at his side. Moments passed before an odd shaped kunai flew by Katsushiga's head as he aptly dodged it.
Eyes going wide, the Hidden Star shinobi felt the chakra pressure of something moving behind him as he slowly turned, meeting the closed fist of the girl dressed as a shrine maiden. Rolling with the punch, Katsushiga threw himself to the ground, rolling away and into a crouch, drawing his katana.
"Wait! Maybe he isn't a threat," the Hyuga called out, waving her arms desperately to get her friends attention. Neither the other girl nor Katsushiga released their gaze from another.
Thrusting her arm out, the shrine maiden kunoichi pointed her finger at the swordsman. "You're going to rue the day that you decided to stalk Uzumaki Nyoko!"
Moving over to her friend, the Hyuga girl pulled on Nyoko's arm. "Maybe he was just asking for directions! He could just be new to the village," the girl pleaded.
Katsushiga blinked in surprise. Given that they lived in a world of ninja, the answer of, "but he must have moved here recently" didn't settle well with him. He had heard that Konoha had lax security at points, but it would be absolutely ridiculous to think that he could get by with just saying that he was new.
"Don't you think it's a little suspicious that he followed us out here from the village without going through the gate?" Nyoko turned her back on Katsushiga, temporarily ignoring him. "Come on, Akara! Can't you realize that this guy is uber suspicious?"
Sheathing his sword, Katsushiga decided to just wait their argument out.
"W-well, maybe he's shy! Yeah, that's it," Akara replied, laughing nervously.
Sighing, Nyoko dismissed it with a wave of her hand. "Did they remove your brain in medic-nin school or something?" Sighing, she turned back to Katsushiga. "Hey you! If you can defeat us in non-lethal comment, I'll hear you out! So prepare to get your ass kicked!" Nyoko readied her special kunai, a long handled triple pronged blade.
Drawing his blade again, Katsushiga prepared himself. Realizing that most of his ninjutsu would reveal him as non-native to Konoha, he prepared himself to rely off from kenjutsu and genjutsu. Deftly deflecting the thrown odd kunai, Katsushiga rushed forward.
"Mikazuki no Mai," he recited as three shadow clones burst into existence, weaving around as they went to make their blows against Nyoko. Rushing forward in a wave of speed and steel, the swords hit only air as he reached the spot where the target should be.
"Rasengan!" Hurling herself forward from where the swordsman had previously stood, Nyoko made contact with one of the shadow clones from behind with the wind technique, defeating it swiftly.
Taking note that Nyoko was holding the odd kunai again, Katsushiga reasoned that it must have something to do with the girl's apparent ability to get behind him. Sheathing his sword as the two remaining shadow clones got in front of him, he started preparing for his next move.
Nyoko merely smirked. "Putting away your sword already? Ha! I knew you'd realize that you were outmatched by the Ruby Flash!"
"Kujaku Myoho," Katsushiga calmly stated as he clapped his hands together, violet chakra flowing behind him, forming the unique peacock tailed pattern of the Hidden Star Village.
"Hey! That technique!" Nyoko stopped for a moment as she lowered the arm holding the unusual kunai. "Why didn't you just say that you were from Hoshigakure? You can't be all that bad if you're from one of our allied villages."
Faltering, Katsushiga lost his concentration as the jutsu as the violet chakra receded and his shadow clones vanished. Chitaki and he had joked about the secret technique of Nekogakure, their moving village and ninja syndicate, was Baka Hosyoku (predation on stupidity), but this fell into the category of entirely too easy. Blinking, Katsushiga's mouth fell open slightly.
"I'm Uzumaki Nyoko, the famous Ruby Flash of Konoha and daughter of the last Hokage," she smiled at him, offering his hand. Having been raised to be curteous to allied villages, Nyoko swallowed her pride for the moment while she attempted to figure out how to best handle the new twist on the situation.
"Hoshibi Katsushiga, a, um, recent transfer from Hoshigakure," he replied, bowing slightly as he ignored her offered hand as well as her list of titles.
"I'm Hyuga Akara! Nice to meet you!"
"So what're you doing following us out here, anyways?"
Pausing for a moment, Katsushiga decided to press his luck a little. Given the interactions thus far and how easily he and the rest of his group had infiltrated the village, it couldn't hurt to show a little honesty. At this point, Nekogakure-ryu: Baka Hosyoku was having a near one hundred percent success rate, so it seemed likely that it wouldn't hurt to be blunt.
"I'm here researching about the tailed beast that Konoha has under their control," Katsushiga stated in a firm, neutral manner. Gauging the reactions of the two girls, he noticed a slightly twitch of Nyoko's eyes as she got a far off stare. Given that Akara tilted her head in curiosity, Katsushiga felt certain that Nyoko was the one that Nekogakure was interested in.
"What's a tailed beast?" Akara looked at Katsushiga with the same look that a kitten gives when it sees something new and unusual.
Taking in a deep breath, Katsushiga started to explain. "The tailed beasts are a weapon that were distributed to the major villages by the First Hokage. I guess you could call me a bit of an eccentric researcher since I've been trying to locate information on how they function. I also wouldn't mind meeting the person they sealed the Nine-tailed Fox into."
"We wouldn't know anything about that," Nyoko commented, looking off to the side. It made Katsushiga begin to wonder if anyone in the village had been trained in how to hide information.
Leaping in front of Katsushiga, Akara looked at him with large eyes. "So how did you do that special technique? Does everyone from your village use that sort of jutsu?"
"Well, yeah, um, it's a special training we all go through," Katsushiga laughed slightly at her curiosity as he started feeling more and more nervous. "We have a meteorite that we absorb chakra from in order to train in the Mysterious Peacock Technique."
"Really? Cool! So are you able to create peacocks with it?"
Scratching the side of his face, Katsushiga tried to think of a way out the current situation. "I suppose I could, since the chakra control allows us to shape our chakra in any way that we desire."
"Awesome! So we're going to go collect some flowers, would you like to come with us?"
Nyoko had walked up beside Akara and was shooting her a look. Getting a feel for the situation, Katsushiga shook his head to decline.
"I think we're heading in different directions, as I'm going towards the forest," he indicated by pointing his thumb over his shoulder. "Maybe some other time."
"Well, we wouldn't want to keep you, so we'll see you around, right?" Nyoko shot Katsushiga a piercing glare before the Hidden Star shinobi began to walk away from the two girls.
Nightfall came to the village as three figures crouched in the darkness, sneaking around the patrons of Ichiraku Ramen to touch the Lucky Cat statue and enter the dimensional space of Nekogakure. The Hidden Cat Village had evaded any and all observations of the Hidden Leaf, much to the surprise and unease of the three shinobi. Once inside the three briskly sat down in the common area upon the couches to discuss their day.
"So what does everyone have to report?" Katsushiga kicked off his footgear before placing his feet upon the low laying table.
Sumire looked at the Hidden Star shinobi with a bored expression. "Pretty much I got set up with an apartment. My distant cousin helped get my paperwork through without any issue."
"Along those same lines," Chitaki interjected. "I infiltrated the record archives and did some creative book keeping. I've placed myself here as a transfer jonin from the Hidden Waterfall Village and did the same with Katsushiga. Given how infrequent those two villages interact with Konoha and how swamped with paperwork the Hokage is, it should take a good long while for us to come under question."
Katsushiga smiled. "So I found the jinchuriki already. After Chitaki used the rain trick, we were able to track a girl with an unusual chakra signature. Of course, she denied knowing anything about the tailed beasts, but her body language gave away more than we needed."
The three sat in silence as Fuyumaru crept into the room, curling up submissively at Sumire's feet. In keeping the secret entrance hidden, the wolf had waited until it could be sure that he wouldn't be seen, as it was slightly more difficult to hide a large wolf than the average ninja. The quiet room was as still as a tomb for several moments as the Nekogakure group contemplated their experiences in the Hidden Leaf.
"This was far too easy," Chitaki grumbled.
Katsushiga nodded in agreement. "We're going to have to keep ourselves on guard for what could come next. I don't trust our luck." Shifting slightly, he stood up. "But for now, our infiltration under Mission Baka Hosyoku is a success."