Three kunoichi entered a spa-resort close to the Sound Country's border where they were staying. Exhausted from the extreme boredom, they all collapsed into chairs and began to order food and drink with slightly annoyed reactions from the over-worked waiters.
"I can't believe we decided to do this idiotic excuse of a mission!" exclaimed Sakura. Sure, spying on whatever actions Orochimaru may be taking could prove to be valuable information to rescue her precious Sasuke-kun, however, the manner of their gathering seemed useless. "Why would farmers and townspeople who obviously aren't tied in with and live in fear of Orochimaru be of any use to us accept for punching-bags!"
"Geese Sakura, pipe down!" yelled Tsunade-sama as she slammed the table with her fist, nearly breaking the poor defenseless piece of wood. "Don't you want to grow as a shinobi, in the good and…not so good times? This mission could prove vital for our cause, even if it may seem….annoying at times. Let's just say I have an old score to settle." She sighed as she poured herself another bottle of sake. "What do you think about this all, Hinata?"
The ripe kunoichi, at age 17, had grown a lot in these past couple of years. With ever-adding grief to the fact that her Naruto-kun would never be her Naruto-kun because she could never tell him and he had been away for a year and a half, Hinata had grown partially cold and extremely tough, however she was still kind and warm, which made her want to grow more shut off to people in sorrow. Hinata was capable of doing things now that she never even dreamed of before, however her heart had a heavy burden on it constantly. Nights of endless strife produced what was sitting at the table with the other two people.
"Huh? I think this mission could serve Konohagakure well in the end, however getting there is…a drag. I don't know why you chose the three of us, though. It must involve me being weak and needing to learn something or something of that nature. I have…mixed feelings about the mission I guess…" Hinata said quietly as she looked down and twiddled her fingers a bit; a habit which she thought she was over, but never completely overcame. When she realized what she was doing, she absentmindedly put a hand on her kunai-strap and had an enraged look on her face (her byakugan absentmindedly activated).
"Hinata!" Tsunade said softly, but with enough force to make her point known. "You are vital to this mission and, I know, the last thing you want is pity, and I will give you none. You are here for your jyuuken, Sakura for her strength and medic-nin abilities, and me, well, I'm the Hokage, must I say more? (Honestly, I'd do anything with anyone to not be cooked up in that cursed tower with mounds of paperwork!) Due to recent events of teammates being gone and general occupations, we've been forced to be in this 3-woman cell for a while now, however our unique skills balance it out, and it's quite beneficial." She smirked. "Remember how we got that missing-nin from Grass who was jounin leveled at least? Heck, the only thing that's unsettling is the state of the village currently without me. Oh well, they could use some womaning-up of their own without me having to walk them step by step." Tsunade shifted from her cheerful, loud tone "however, than that blasted war had to be going on…"
Sakura and Hinata looked at each other and rolled their eyes slightly in the first parts of the speech, giving off friendly vibes to each other, and a "she's crazy" look, having connotations toward Tsunade, even though they each realized that what she said was valid and true to their current position. But when she mentioned the war, they each retained a serious face.
At that moment, two knights walked into the resort.
Tsunade's face lit up in shock. "They, they are …"
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"William, be strong" said a man by the name of Girard. Two knights, clad in mail and partial plate all around their bodies, each wearing a helmet, approached a spa-resort in a small town. When they entered, they immediately went to the front desk, laid a ton of money on the table, and requested a room. The clerk hesitated and was about to go through regulations of the hotel, when they piled more coins on the desk (foreign looking ones), indicating an urgency to get the room, and grabbed a room-key card, and ran upstairs.
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When the two men had fled upstairs, the kunoichi stared in disbelief at what they had witnessed. Sakura was initially surprised, yet dismissed it and mentally noted, what's their problem? Hinata simply sat there with jaw-agape as memories flooded her. Hinata definitely wanted to know more about them. Tsunade advised them to be on their guards for she sensed danger was coming.
Just than, five ninja wearing Sound hitae-ate walked in. They immediately walked to the clerk, brandishing a "wanted" poster which bore one of the knights that had walked in. The clerk quickly pointed to the direction of the stairs, and the ninja dashed up.
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The environment was tense to say the least. The kunoichi each had a sense of nervousness in the atmosphere. Suddenly, the two knights came back stairs again in a quick walk.
"Grandmaster Girard!" said the slightly shorter knight, "Where are we going to go? Let's get going! We have a few minutes at most before they come back down here!"
Girard walked slowly to the window. He then proceeded to take off his helmet. "I'm tired, William." He started. "I won't run anymore. Where would we run? Any of the five ninja nations sound good? Where are my legions? I have none! I want to eat one meal in peace… and whatever happens, we go down giving them cool steel."
Tsunade whispered to the two teenagers, "There's no doubt about it. That was definitely their leader."
The other knight, William, then took off his helmet. Hinata gasped. While it was rude to stare, he looked exactly like Naruto. Hinata, surprising herself, developed a blush.
William stared at Hinata for a second, looking shocked, then hesitated, as he walked to the clerk and ordered portions of beef, with an emphasis on urgency. Luckily, two meals were already prepared with their names on them. The two knights than took seats at a table at the opposite side of the room from the kunoichi. In a minute, the clerk delivered the food.
Girard glanced at Tsunade for an intense moment, as if he recognized her, than they proceeded to eat in a very uncomfortable silence. In the middle of their meal, the 5 ninja came downstairs.
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The ninja surrounded their table.
"It looks as if we finally found the great pathetic excuse of a leader, Girard." The leader said. William looked up and tensed, however Girard told his friend "eat, and enjoy your meal." And continued eating, blatantly ignoring the comment made by the Sound-nin.
With a look of shock and rage, the leader roared "Excuse me! I was addressing you, Roundhead!" (Roundhead was a derogatory term given to the knights because, obviously, they wore helmets. Also, there were several other insults because knights, being normal people, had no chakra, therefore were not nearly as fast as ninja or had no techniques, other than raw sword handling). He than flipped over their trays, bearing the food with it, so that it splattered on the wall. However, Girard continued to look ahead, ignoring him.
"Orochimaru will have fun with you, scum!!!" their leader said, as he withdrew a kunai and put it dangerously near Girard's throat. The whole time, William had an expression of nervousness, however well he was trying to conceal it.
"The damn war…" Girard started quietly "IS OVER!!!" he exploded, as he flipped his own table against the wall. "Remove your bloody arm" he said, withdrawing his double handed bastard sword with one hand "if you don't want to loose it!" He than paused and yelled "I HATE NINJAS!!"
The Sound's leader smirked because he saw, in a blur, one of his ninja dash behind the knight and charge for his neck. Immediately, Girard held up his shield, effectively blocking the strike, than he turned his whole body around, swinging his sword at the helpless nin, cutting his torso straight in two. The fight had begun!
The leader's smirk turned into a slight frown as he jumped back slightly. So the legends are true about this man he said to himself as he withdrew a katana and began making single-handed signs for a jutsu, this ordinary person can kill ninja! He than did one of Orochimaru's favorite jutsu's, where several snakes protruded from his arm, aimed directly at Girard's heart. Acting quickly, William sliced down with a single-handed gladius, severing the snakes, thus they exploded in a cloud of smoke. Girard yelled "William!" and they went back to back. Due to experience, Girard was a master at reflexes against ninja, but William…
Just then, an array of kunai and shuriken were thrown at them. Several were blocked by their shields, however many found their target. Luckily, the knight's armor were thick and deflected the strikes, however William was slightly cut on his forearm.
Seeing his opportunity, one of the sound-nins aimed a kick for Williams's side, but he blocked it with his shield. (Shields were a serious hindrance for several ninja if they had not encountered them before, but there were ways to get around) The ninja than rotated his body and aimed a punch at his head, but William's sword found his mark. The ninja exploded with a poof. "A clone?" Girard was occupied with parrying and slicing at three ninja, who were finding it difficult to touch Girard at all. "William!" Girard yelled. The ninja saw his opportunity and took it. While William was turning around, he did a simple sound jutsu, causing blood to spew from William's mouth and ears, and easily kicked him into the wall. When he did this, a small axe protruded from his chest, thrown from Girard's direction, followed by a sword piercing his chest, and the ninja fell dead.
The three kunoichi were stunned at what they were witnessing. This was a crazy battle. Sure, the sound nins were chuunin level at best (minus the leader, who was jounin), but two knights were actually holding them off. They each debated in their minds whether they should join the fray or not. "So the legends are true about that man" Tsunade said. "I've…seen him once before, but I never imagined this." "Do we help them?" Sakura blurted out. "Well, seeing as how Orochimaru is our enemy…" Tsunade began, when suddenly Hinata, without thinking, charged at the sound ninjas from behind. Tsunade and Sakura quickly followed.
William was in pain, but not extreme pain. He quickly gathered himself, and just in time because a ninja charged him. He rammed his shield forward, hitting the ninja, than sliced with his gladius. Several clangs were heard as he engaged the ninja, blocking every hit and counter attacking. When they were locked sword and kunai, William simply held the position. It was a battle of strength. He then dropped the shield and jumped back, brandishing a claymore, and delivered a series of blows. They were locked again. He than simply thrust upwards with his gladius, as blood sprouted out of the man's chest. Surprisingly, the ninja flew back as several chakra-enduced strikes hit him in the back at the same time, with a girl following him. William stood there, stunned at what had happened.
Girard barely had time to think. 3 ninja had been assaulting him the whole time, and he was parrying on all sides, constantly shifting positions. It's time to end this. In a brilliant act of swordsmanship, he parried with his shield on one side, sending the ninja flying and stabbed at the other. They weren't attacking all at once now. Girard ducked and slashed to the left, cutting off a ninja's leg, quickly parrying with his shield on the other side and stabbing his sword over it, stabbing through another ninja's heart, and sliced his shield to the right, where the final unfortunate ninja who was charging took the hit, and he proceeded to thrust his sword into him. Tsunade and Sakura were shocked, yet Tsunade still punched one of the just stabbed ninjas into the wall and out of the resort. Finally, calm overtook the spa resort, and everyone just stared at each other and the carcasses.
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Realizing what the three kunoichi had done, Girard fell to his knees and told William to do the same. "Oh Gracious Hokage" he began, however his tone betrayed the degree of thankfulness "let us go unharmed and we will be on our way. Please, I have no men and several ninja are tracking me" The kunoichi tensed for a second, but finally Tsunade said "Girard, you are welcome to return to Konohagakure with us." Girard paused, as if contemplating his answer, turned to William, than looked back and said "Deal, as long as you grant William the right to a citizenship in Konoha, and a good life. All that matters is that he lives." He paused, and said "I do not wish to repeat the same actions I did in the war." Tsunade was surprised by his answer, but readily accepted. "We set out at dawn."
Hinata had just been starring at William the whole time, and occasionally he glanced over. However, as an after affect of the jutsu performed on him, tons of blood poured out of his mouth as his chest tightened. He was panting, and finally fell on his face, unconscious.
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Well, that's the end of chapter one! This is my first attempt at a fan fiction, and is primarily for my enjoyment, but maybe you guys will like it. It will have a strange type of naruhina in it, and sort of a crossover-like thing. This story will have a very complicated plot, which will be found out later. If you want to find out more, review and keep reading. Thanks!
Whoops, I forgot…
"Speech"
((Flashbacks))
Thoughts
