The night sky was clear, the weather calm. Then nine balls of light came roaring out of the sky, bound towards the Leaf Village.
One ball of light landed soundlessly in the Uchiha district. A talented older brother narrowed his eyes at his sleeping sibling, wondering what advantage his foolish little brother would gain from this event.
One ball of light brightened up a dreary neighborhood for a few brief moments. ANBU was unable to find any sign of its arrival, though they did find the demon brat complaining about something stupid, as usual.
One ball of light struck a nice part of town. A little girl turned over in her sleep, her dreams suddenly becoming strange.
Three balls of light struck clan compounds. The Inuzuka were initially alarmed, but calmed once they determined nothing had happened, going back to sleep. The Aburame clan performed a thorough search, compiled the results in a fifty-four page report, and sent it to the Hokage's Tower, irritated when they realized that, impossibly, nothing had happened. The Hyuuga, with their all-seeing eyes, increased their expectations of the clan heir.
The remaining three balls of light impacted nearby each other, and three family friends wondered what had touched them. Only one of them, though, wondered why none of them wanted to tell the grownups.
Unbenownst to any citizen of Konoha, a tenth ball, dark in coloration and leaking killer intent, struck with an earthshattering impact far, far away.
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"Not now.
Four or five.
Because I'm training.
Yeah, with Sakura.
Hey, that was a cheap trick!
No, nothing.
You think I'm telling you? I might as well just say it to her face!
No way.
No.
Not even a little.
Can't you bother Naruto or something?
Same as before. Four or five.
Look, this was your idea in the first place, so shut it.
Then find something to do.
That isn't bothering me.
Seriously. Last chance. Leave me alone or I'll do it.
I warned you!"
And that's when Ino started singing. Badly.
Asuma had initially been very pleased when he had met his genin team. Ino-Shika-Cho was nothing to laugh at, and he'd been picked to mentor the latest generation. Things had, amazingly, gotten even better from there. The Nara kid was a tactical genius, invaluable in any shinobi, and with great potential as a leader. Only real obstacle was getting the boy motivated enough to really try... and Asuma was confident that would come on its own. Chouji, on the other hand, was plenty motivated, and even if he wasn't real big on training with the team, from the way he talked Asuma was fairly confident that there was some kind of family training going on there. Besides, calories were an essential part of several Akimichi combat techniques, and burning them in intense physical training would be counterproductive. So he wasn't too bothered by the kid's tendency to eat and watch rather than do jumping jacks, or spar, or anything else physically intense. Ino... well, she was a bit too interested in her social life, and her voice could really grate when she was trying, but she was far from a complete write-off. There was of course her clan jutsu, but more importantly her taijutsu was actually exceptional for an academy graduate, let alone a kunoichi. She also trained on her own quite a lot, and was always demanding spars with her sensei... him, obviously. If nothing else, she was surprisingly enthusiastic.
Even so, the more time he spent mentoring these three, the more convinced Asuma became that there was something... wrong. With them. Shikamaru usually spent his days lazing about, watching clouds and playing games, outside of the D-ranked missions, where he still tended to avoid undue effort. But sometimes he would start acting very strangely. Vanishing into a library and intently reading all kinds of strange books for hours at a time. Sparring with Ino in a bizarre, aggressive style reliant upon throwing her off balance, as opposed to his usual defensive style that waited for a hole to form in her attack. And the way he talked... it distantly reminded Asuma of Itachi. Which was worrisome in its own right.
Chouji was jovial. Except when he wasn't. The contrast was creepy, and if there was a pattern, it was invisible to Asuma.
Ino was the most surreal of all. At first he'd thought she hadn't gotten over that 'imaginary friend' thing, which was pretty innocent. A bit dangerous, potentially, but innocent. Just being a ninja didn't stop one from acting like a child, and he hadn't worried particularly. Certainly, he'd made sure to talk with her about what was and was not appropriate on a battlefield, but this was standard procedure when dealing with young genin that were less 'ninja' and more 'child' in psychology. She'd actually seemed insulted. However, it had quickly become evident that this was no ordinary imaginary friend situation. She spontanously learned existing jutsu, and claimed that this friend of hers had taught her. She displayed knowledge of the activities of others she should've had no way of knowing. First he'd thought it was coincidence. Then he'd suspected she was setting these things up deliberately. From there he'd worried that she was a spy, though he hadn't been able to figure out how that would work. Ultimately he'd given up in exasperation and concluded that whatever was going on, it was completely over his head. On top of all that, she claimed that several of her behaviors were things she'd learned from this friend, such as her work ethic when it came to training.
Asuma wasn't sure which possibility was more worrisome: That she was insane and still doing these things, or that her 'imaginary' friend was real.
Naturally, he'd talked with Kurenai about his genin team's oddities. He'd been startled, and quite concerned, when she related stories of weirdness from her team alarmingly similar to his own. Shino was sufficiently hard to read that Kurenai was reserving judgement for the moment, but the other two members of her team were not nearly so opaque. Kiba talked to himself a lot. Kurenai had quite naturally assumed he was talking with Akamaru, at least until she realized that it wasn't that unusual for Kiba to go on as though he'd gotten a response when Akamaru hadn't barked, whimpered, or even been awake! This made no sense. He had a constant companion in the dog, one he could speak to even, so there was no motivation for creating an imaginary friend, and yet he hadn't suffered the kind of trauma that cracked people. Why would he be talking to himself? It was a mystery, and it was well-known amongst ninja that mysteries were dangerous things.
Hinata was even more baffling. Most of the time she was shy, reserved, and sorely lacking in confidence. While Kurenai wasn't happy with this, it at least fit with her family history. Yet, at other times she seemed almost like an entirely different person. A cold one that had no problems seriously hurting others. Hinata had once even broken a chuunin's nose when he'd called Naruto a 'demon brat' to her face! While Hinata admired Naruto greatly, she would never normally attack someone over name calling, and even if she did, she would at least use Gentle Fist to do so. Not the direct punch to the face she had employed against the unfortunate chuunin. Truth be told, the blow had probably only hit due to the shock of a Hyuuga using such brute methods. Certainly, it was the only reason Kurenai hadn't been able to stop the blow from landing. It had caught her off guard, especially from sweet gentle Hinata. Frankly, Kurenai was at a loss, and this worried Asuma. She may have been junior when it came to jounin, but she was neither a fool nor an idiot, and she had far more experience at dealing with people than Asuma did.
Approaching Kakashi was a no-brainer at that point. He was smart, experienced, easy to find (The memorial stone doesn't move), and if Team Seven was acting strangely too, this might provide the essential information to explain the situation.
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"Mmm? Well, I guess they did figure out the bell test pretty quickly. Their reports say they get along pretty well, though.
Talking to themselves?... well, Itachi did quite a number on Sasuke. I suppose it's to be expected that he needs a little help.
Sakura trains hard. She spars with the Yamanaka girl, mmm, Ino, wasn't it? Yes, she trains quite hard. Anytime she isn't busy, she makes work. It's an admirable quality, in a shinobi.
Well, yes, it's unusual in kunoichi, but Yuuhi-san here is dedicated, yes?
A... what?
Mmmm... no, I never had one.
No apologies neccessary. It's fine. Why were you asking?
Suspicious activity?... not that I've noticed. They surprised me a bit, I suppose.
Mmm?
Well... they learn things faster than I expect, mostly.
Skills? Well, Naruto did ask me to teach him Shadow Clone.
Yeah, I did. He has more chakra than I do, it's not particularly dangerous to him. Knows it, too, or else I would've refused outright.
I really should be going now. Is there some reason you're so curious about my genin team?
Oh really? My. That is interesting.
Well... I suppose they might be really bad spies. Kind of young, but not unheard of.
She did that? Huh.
... proof? No. Bad day, probably. Pretty typical of clan heirs.
... I'll keep that in mind, thank you."
Then Kakashi left.
He really was rather curious as to why they were so concerned. Certainly, his students had displayed patience, maturity, and ability above and beyond what was typical of anyone their age. As yet they hadn't tried to demand a higher-ranked mission (Though Naruto and Sakura had held themselves in check only barely a couple of times), they were able to cope with the friction that naturally occured when you put a group of people together whom have nothing in common and demand they work together, and they had proved terribly creative at solving the D-rank missions efficiently. But then, he'd failed every other team ever assigned to him, which was quite a few. That these three were unusual was to be expected. As yet, the only thing he could regard with any level of suspicion was Naruto's request to be taught the Shadow Clone technique, which was certainly unusual from a genin, but not really suspicious. Shadow Clone was a forbidden technique because of the danger to the user, though certainly it was preferable that it not land in enemy hands.
Well, there were other, smaller things. Sasuke's Sharingan, for instance, but then, nobody really knew what had gone down when Itachi had slaughtered the clan. Nobody but those two. Admittedly, Kakashi was fairly certain having all three tomoe in both eyes was not normal at that age, but honestly, he was no Uchiha, and had never really had the chance to get information on the Sharingan, outside of his personal experiences. And just because it went down one way for himself didn't mean that was the norm for Uchiha in general. So he hadn't worried too much about it. Not for a while, anyway. At first he'd been concerned, but he'd also been under the impression Sasuke was trying to hide the fact that his Sharingan was already developed, which had quickly proved to be untrue. The genin was perfectly willing to reveal it to Kakashi, he just seemed unwilling to use it casually. Though why that was the case was a mystery Kakashi had yet to solve. Maybe it used too much chakra...
Honestly, though, he was far more interested in their surprising initiative. Most genin straight out the academy, at least in his limited experience, were prone to waiting for someone to tell them what to do. These three had acquired a habit of training themselves while waiting for him to show up. He'd been so impressed that he'd started giving them a few training excercises, not that he'd framed it that way. Nor had he quit being late. His cute little genin hadn't impressed him that much... not yet. However, for their patience, and diligence, he had a special reward planned for them today. It was terribly obvious what the three of them wanted, and he'd decided to give it to them. It would also give him more information about them, though he had no intention of telling them that. No, the C-Rank mission was a gift. A reward for all their hard work. And that was all they would know it as.
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Sarutobi had been surprisingly cooperative, all things considered.
"Very well, very well. A C-rank mission it is.
I know I have it somewhere...
Ah, here it is. A basic escort mission to the Wave Country. The client wants protection against bandits and the like.
Ha! Oh, no, nothing like that. The client is a bridgebuilder by the name of Tazuna.
Ah, that would be him now."
The team's initial impression of the man had been poor. Even their jounin-sensei, experienced at dealing with civilians and their unrealistic ideas about ninja, had quickly grown weary of the man's whining and worrying. (Though this whinging was quietly noted as increasingly suspicious, when the man remained concerned even after learning that the team included a jounin) Tazuna had not helped his case any by continuously making disparaging remarks about how the team smelled, dressed, and talked, apparently finding nothing good in any of them. The ninja had only grown more irritated with him when the two Mist-nin had ambushed them. Though they had been disposed of quickly and with a minimum of harm, it was quite obvious that the two missing-nin had been after Tazuna in specific, and it was easy to deduce from there that the man was lying about the level of danger he expected. Naturally, he had an explanation (And a guilt trip) ready, and it was even a pretty good reason.
This left the question of whether to nobly continue the mission in spite of the adverse circumstances, or to abandon a man in his time of need. Or so Tazuna put it.
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Tazuna wasn't really sure what to think of this whole thing. The ninja had certainly proved that they weren't complete push-overs, and so he was kind of optimistic. But then, he was pretty sure they were completely crazy. Actually, the only reason he wasn't completely certain his death was imminent was because the adult had seemed similarly baffled when the three kids had started talking it over not only amongst themselves, but apparently also to thin air. So maybe the jounin was sane. He had a thread of hope to draw upon, anyway, and that was certainly better than nothing, right? Right?
Still. Three loonies were guarding him. They certainly seemed competent enough. But if nothing else, this trip was teaching him that things were not always as they seemed. A puddle of water had turned out to be a pair of ninja in hiding. Three kids had proven more than a match for those two ninja. The guy with a giant sword that came later had looked like an unwieldy fighter, but had fought with such speed and agility (Not to mention strength and cunning) that it left Tazuna feeling every year of his life in his old bones. When Zabuza been killed by some other ninja, it had turned out to be a trick to save his life, not end it. And that wasn't even getting into all the bizarre, confusing, and downright impossible things everyone had done. Honestly, if he hadn't experienced it himself, he would never have believed any of it.
At least they'd made it to the village alright. Work on the bridge could continue, and the Wave could finally be free...
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A week later, Zabuza's heart ruptured. Nearly fifty minutes later the last bit of his brain finally died of oxygen deprivation, though he was functionally dead for most purposes the instant his heart failed, his brain unable to command his body, and slowly losing the ability to proccess incoming data. Haku died with a shard of ice lodged in his left eye, fatally damaging his brain, having commit suicide over his failure to save his beloved master from a simple genin of the Leaf. Gatou didn't die, but then, he never did leave the asylum after his incarceration, either. The rag-tag band of non-ninja mercenaries he'd hired to betray Zabuza and Haku were killed in a glorious blaze of lightning when ten Cloud ninja arrived with a thunderclap. The Cloud ninja were quick to demand that the three genin be turned over to them, though they were perfectly willing to let the jounin-sensei leave quietly. All they wanted were the genin. Nothing else.
Being a Leaf ninja, the jounin was naturally unwilling to sacrifice three comrades just to save their own life, and flatly refused this offer, instead preparing for battle, putting injuries and chakra exhaustion to the back of the mind. The genin readied themselves for the fight of their lives, having learned that none of their ten opponents were below high chuunin. None of the Leaf ninja really expected to get out of this alive, or even to significantly hurt the Cloud forces arrayed against them, but that didn't meant they wouldn't try.
