A/N: This is attempt number two at writing a story with an actual plot to it. I would like to that cpotaylor (rukia8492) for editing and other support, as well as the rest of TFF for inspiration.
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, nor do I own any of the Ace Combat series. (This disclaimer is valid for all following chapters in this story.)
(Somewhere in the Land of Earth)
Minato Namikaze slowed his breathing as the guard walked closer. His heart was pounding and he felt starved for oxygen but he kept his breathing quiet and steady. If he was caught here it would a worse disaster than when his good friend Sakumo Hatake failed to destroy that band of nuke-nin in favor of saving his comrades.
His eyes watched the shadow as it crept closer and closer to where he was hidden. He knew wasn't exactly concealed behind the small boxes of food, next to one of the many tents in the Iwa encampment, but the guard was a full minute early. This particular camp was only few miles from the border of Placeholder for Kusagakure country and had to be filled with almost five hundred front-line shinobi and their support. Getting caught would bring the wrath of hundreds of ninja, but Minato didn't plan on even being seen, much less captured.
As the Konoha infiltrator watched, the shadow of the guard paused before slowly receding as the guard turned and walked away.
Without pausing to sigh in relief Minato was up and moving. He stuck to the shadows, produced by the numerous campfires and torches, and moved as swiftly as he could while remaining silent. His shock of blond hair was tucked under his bandanna. The metal part of his headband was completely blank and was smattered with mud to keep it from reflecting light. A mask covered the lower half of his face. Had he not been in a camp filled with ninja, he might of been highly suspicious.
After dodging and sneaking through the camp for half an hour, he found his target: the commander's tent.
Settling into a spot where he could remain concealed, but still watch the entrance flap to his mark's tent, the infiltrator only had to wait twenty minutes for his mark to reveal himself.
"Hello. Who do we have here?" Minato thought as three men walked out of the tent.
One was heavily armored--for a shinobi--and his face was hidden by a Hunter-nin mask decorated with the image of a black and red skull. He was large for a shinobi, but didn't seem hampered by his size. Minato knew that he probably relied more on strength than agility. Most ninja preferred it the other way around, himself included.
The next man out of the tent was definitely smaller, but carried himself with the prideful swagger of an experienced shinobi. His face was young and handsome and odds were that he received a lot of missions acting as an ambassador during formal events. On his chuunin vest was a red and blue circular patch on which was an image of a Red Earth Swallow, a bird native to the mountain forests in the Land of Earth known for its elegance and grace.
The last man was the one Minato had come for. He was almost the perfect stereotype of what people imagine Iwa-nin to be like. Big, strong, obviously tough, with eyes like the stones his village was known for. His skill in employing the perfect teams for missions was notorious in the Hidden Villages and he was known as a real mercenary. No matter what the job was he would take it, so long as he got paid.
Minato knew his name, but when on an assassination mission the target was given a code-name. The target before him had been code-named "Onyx" and if all went well, he would be dead before the sun rose. His death would mean a multitude of things would happen and most of them worked out in Konoha's favor. One of the simplest was that Konoha wanted more time to prepare, in case the war spilled over into the neighboring countries. The other reason wasn't so innocent. If Kusa put up a better defense, then more Iwa-nin would become casualties, weakening the major power so that, should Konoha be sucked into the war, it would be easier to defeat them.
Minato knew all of this, but he still didn't like it. He hated assassination missions. He never openly objected to being given assassination missions, but he never could learn to completely detach himself from the sometimes horrible tasks he had to perform.
But here he was: getting ready to kill the third highest ranking ninja in Iwagakure in the middle of his battle group's camp before escaping back home. Unnoticed and unseen.
The three men exchanged a few more quiet words before the man with the Red Swallow patch bowed politely and then leapt away. Once he was gone Onyx started addressing the hunter-nin, as if giving exact instructions. The masked shinobi nodded a few times before also bowing, but instead of immediately jumping away the big shinobi snapped his finger.
In a split second, seven shinobi appeared in front of the two men. They were all dressed in the uniforms of Iwa hunter-nin and their masks were all painted the same as the man standing next to Onyx. As one they bowed low to their commander, and the moment they were standing straight again their apparent leader spoke, this time loud enough for Minato to hear.
"It's the usual mission. Let none escape." He said. "Move out!"
In another burst of speed, all eight hunter-nin disappeared into the night.
After watching the impressive burst of speed, Minato returned his attention to his mark. For almost a minute the man stood where he was, apparently lost in thought. Finally, taking a deep breath of the cool night air, Onyx walked back into his tent.
Minato sprang from his spot and dashed over the tent. This is where it would get really tricky.
Picking a side with the deepest shadows, the Konoha-nin reached the tent and lay down next to it. From inside he could hear Onyx moving around, most likely preparing to sleep. Even the best ninja in the world couldn't be on guard at all times, though no ninja worth his kunai would openly admit it.
As quietly as possible, Minato withdrew a small mirror from his pouch. Slowly, he grabbed the bottom edge of the tent and pulled it up. He used his body to shield the small ray of light that he had exposed and placed the mirror in the crack he had made. Slowly rotating it, he took stock of everything in the large tent.
There was a large map table in the middle of the room, with a small desk against the far wall stacked with scrolls and writing utensils. Right next to Minato's position was large pile of ninja gear. Directly opposite the entrance flap was another flap that separated the sleeping area from the rest of the tent. Because his target was not visible in the main room, Minato guessed that his mark had retired for the evening, so set the edge of the tent down and crawled past where he knew the divider was. Grabbing the edge again, Minato instantly noticed something different. There was a metal pole running through the bottom portion of this section. Feeling around some more, he could also feel the strong fibers of ninja wire sown into the fabric.
The assassin frowned internally. This might be a problem, but he could overcome it. He had to.
His mind raced as he thought of a new plan. He couldn't just sneak into the tent from under the edge of the tent anymore, so he would have to take a more direct approach.
Now, Minato could only wait. His new plan needed time for Onyx to fall asleep, or at least get close to it.
Twenty agonizing minutes later, Minato crawled to the edge of the shadow and looked around. A few ninja were seated around a campfire nearby staring into the flame.
That's it; ruin your night vision for me. Good job guys. He internally praised the oblivious men.
Standing up, Minato calmly walked out of the shadow and headed straight for the entrance flap. He tried to act as natural as possible as he pulled the curtain aside and simply walked in.
So intent was he on acting like he knew what he was doing, he didn't see a pair of kunoichi notice him enter the tent.
"What is that moron doing?" One asked her partner. "Doesn't he remember what happened to the last idiot that woke up the commander?"
Her friend sighed. "I'll go stop the fool. We're going to need all the people we can get if this all gets serious.
Quickly the woman walked over.
Inside the tent, Minato made his way over to the divider flap and the stopped. Drawing a plain kunai from his sheath he took a deep breath.
"Commander-sama!" He suddenly called, loud enough to convey urgency but soft enough others wouldn't be drawn to the sound.
"What in the hell!" A gravelly voice answered, and Minato could hear the Iwa-nin get up and walk towards the divider.
He pulled open the flap growling, "Didn't I tell you idiots not-"
The moment Onxy saw the unfamiliar face, he lashed out but he wasn't quick enough. The knife jammed into his neck and dug all the way into his spinal cord. His fist did, however, contact his assailant's headband, knocking it askew and revealing a patch of blonde hair.
Minato's prey gurgled, before succumbing to death. He caught the body as it went limp and carefully lowered it to the floor. Just as he was about to push the body back into the bed chamber he heard a sharp intake of breath behind him.
Spinning around, he was a female Iwa-nin staring, shocked, at him from the open flap. Before she could do anything more than gape, he activated his newest technique.
Instantaneously he was gone, using the technique he had come to calling the Hiraishin no Jutsu, and he reappeared back in the forest outside Konoha. His heart still pounding, he tore the special seal off the tree nearby and then ran towards the village. Even if the woman had seen his hair there was no way she would be able to match it up to him.
A few minutes later he was back in Konoha. He made a beeline straight for the Hokage to report the success of the mission .
(Back at the Iwa camp)
"Alert! The commander's been killed!!" The kunoichi yelled.
Within seconds a half a dozen Iwa-nin were at the tent.
"What happened?!" A jounin asked. "Where is the assassin?!"
The young woman was still trying to come to terms with what she had just seen.
"He just disappeared! All I saw was a yellow flash of hair before he vanished!"
One ninja, suspecting a genjutsu, called out, "Kai!" and released a pulse chakra, but no one appeared.
Rumours quickly spread throughout the camp about the 'Yellow Flash' that had killed their commander. The plans for the Kusagakure invasion were postponed until a new leader could be summoned, so most of the troops milled around without a purpose until the replacement arrived. By the time they arrived the story of the 'Yellow Flash' had became the biggest subject of debate and discussion some even going as far as to say their leader had been killed by a demon.
A/N: Any feedback would be greatly appreciated.