Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. When I do, I'll keep on writing this. Otherwise someone will know I have the rights and will promptly kill me.
In the forests of Hi no Kuni, just outside of predawn Konoha, four figures leapt nimbly from tree to tree in a staggered line. While they looked collected from a distance, up close, they were exhausted. While blank masks covered their faces, the body language of the group spoke volumes. The head of the line had a bizarre silver head of hair and seemed to be the most at ease of the group.
Behind him, a brown haired teen loped along the branches, stumbling slightly, but never falling.
A girl, also in her teenage years, with inky black hair that fell just below her shoulders moved more steadily but more slowly than her male counterpart.
Taking the rearguard position was another girl, this one with hair of a dark red color. While she seemed better off than the two between her and the squad captain, her hands occasionally twitched and her eyes scanned the landscape almost restlessly, despite their position in friendly territory.
"We're nearly there," announced the silver-haired captain, not breaking stride.
"Finally," the black haired girl spoke, her hair shifting to a light pink color as she removed her mask to reveal jade green eyes and a tired visage, "Do you think we'll have to report tonight?"
The brunette's hair shifted to an inky black as he too removed his blank mask, showing off his own haggard countenance,"Technically, Sakura, it's today," he noted, only to receive a scowl from the now dubbed Sakura, "Though we may be able to show up later if the Hokage isn't in the tower."
"He is," the redhead called out from the rear, the color seemed to bleed off her freely hanging locks to a golden yellow. "I'm sure of it," she finished firmly as she removed her mask.
Sakura glanced over her shoulder, "How do you know, Naruto?" she asked casually.
"My goggles told me," she replied easily, removing the pair from a pouch from somewhere on her cloak.
After a moment silence, she continued, "Would you like to hear them yourself?"
"Nope," Sakura replied casually.
"Why not?"
"Because," Sakura said with a sigh, "either they won't say anything and I'll feel foolish.
"Or?" Naruto prompted.
"They will speak and I don't believe my fragile psyche can handle that right now," Sakura finished succinctly.
"Your psyche isn't that fragile, Sakura," the silver haired man spoke as he removed his mask to reveal... another mask.
"Oh really," Sakura spoke looking forward, " last week I caved in a man's chest then quickly ate a sandwich because his friends were coming to kill us."
"You gotta eat, Sakura, that's normal," Naruto piped up from the back.
"Agreed," the raven haired boy spoke again, "Although, you shouldn't eat fast. Aren't you a medic? You should know that," he finished, antagonizing his now visibly annoyed teammate.
"I'm too tired now, but tomorrow, you are going to pay for that, Sasuke"
"Add it to my tab, Sakura-chan," the Uchiha replied flippantly.
"Now children, their captain spoke, mirth apparent in his visible eye, "we'll be at the entrance soon and we will be reporting to Hokage-sama regardless of your complaining. I'm sure he will be very interested to hear how you managed to escape from one of Iwa's oldest fortresses just after it blew up, inevitably causing political tensions all around."
"Whoops," Naruto spoke with a straight face.
The Sandaime Hokage was many things: an inspiring leader, the vaunted Professor, and to those old enough to remember, the Shinobi no Kami.
He was also pushing seventy and rather annoyed to be awake at this late hour. The ANBU guarding his office were no more pleased than he was
Leaning back to stretch his tired muscles and fill his pipe, Hiruzen contemplated heading home. Perhaps the timetable given to him by Kakashi was off. After all the man was late to everything. It wouldn't be all that surprising if the jounin had taken that into account out of habit.
Wait, a set of oh so familiar signatures were near and approaching quickly. A brief burst of effort from the venerable shinobi confirmed that all four members of Konoha's Fast Response team prototype were back in the village. He briefly wondered, as the feeling of the tobacco filled his chest, if he would get home before the sun rose. Naruto had a tendency give concise explanations followed by detailed reports. Kakashi, on the other hand would ramble on inane subjects and when asked to write a mission report, either made it as unwieldy and tedious as possible or passed it off to the blonde Uzumaki .
Speaking of which, Naruto chose that moment to sail through his window, landing in a low crouch in front of his desk. Her cloak pooled around her. The ANBU hadn't reacted, either sensing her coming or too used to the occurrence to be surprised.
A moment later her worn out squadmates landed close by, followed by Kakashi himself. The jounin opted to take his usual position leaning by the window. All of the members of Fast Response were still disguised. It would be rather suspicious to have a team of genin with just under a year of field experience wander the village in its early hours.
The ANBU squad disappeared without a word, knowing the prototype squad had a strict code for debriefing.
Casting a calm gaze of the tired, but seemingly uninjured shinobi as they removed their masks, the Hokage fixed his gaze on Kakashi and Naruto, "It seems your mission to extract the remaining members of your team was a success."
"Of course, Hokage-sama," Kakashi replied easily, "You expected less."
"No, just curious Akatou is a tough nut to crack," the Sandaime said pointedly.
Kakashi simply gestured for Naruto to speak. She sighed and rolled her eyes, but spoke anyway.
"We went to Tsuchi, destroyed the base, got those two, and left," Naruto said flatly, "Can we go?"
Sarutobi replied with a tired sigh, "Elaborate."
Naruto eyeballed the window, wondering how good her odds were of getting past Kakashi and into the streets below. A slight shifting of his body blocked her potential escape.
Traitor.
"Alright, fine," Naruto took a breath, "We reached the area outside of Akatou without any issue. Upon arrival, I crept into the fortress, planted explosive tags on every tower outside, slipped into the main compound, planted more tags on the walls as well as the barracks and kitchen, poisoned the jounin commander with his own tea, fooled the warden, grabbed Sakura and Sasuke, and blew set off the tags. Kakashi took care of the stragglers and we went on our merry way, leaving a trail of fallen enemies behind. That is all. now can we go? They look dead on their feet," Naruto finished somewhat sardonically while gesturing to her fellow genin."
She was right. Sakura was swaying from side to side and while Sasuke appeared to have his eyes closed in thought, he was actually a hair's breadth from sleeping on his feet.
"You may go," the Sandaime agreed
"Great." Naruto said turning for the window, one hand moving her mask to her face, the other supporting Sakura.
"Just as soon as you tell me how you crossed a wide stretch of land with no cover, crossed a wall with a constant patrol, a dodged every sensor in the area."
"Always a catch, isn't there?" Naruto said to no one in particular.
Sakura seemed to nod either in agreement or exhaustion and Sasuke lazily opened his eyes at Naruto's annoyed tone.
The Sandaime merely puffed his pipe, a picture of serenity and patience.
Naruto stared. The Hokage stared back.
After a full ten seconds, Naruto broke off contact to nod to Kakashi, who in turn shut the blinds on the already closed window.
Safe from any unlikely prying eyes, Naruto spoke, "All right jiji, you win. I slipped into the area using a combination of Raiton: Atsuen Ikazuchi no jutsu(Lightning Release: Rolling Thunder) and these"
Naruto concentrated for a moment. Suddenly, a massive pair of red feathery wings sprouted from her back, filling a good portion of the large office.
Sarutobi, to his credit, didn't display any visual signs of surprise and why should he? He had seen many strange things in his life, and a girl who grew wings was certainly not the top of the list.
Naruto shuddered slightly when Sakura opted to rest her head on her wing.
It came pretty close though.
The Professor examined her for a moment before speaking, "I see, you modified your solid henge to sprout a wingspan significant enough to lift your weight. Interesting."
Naruto merely raised an eyebrow at the systematic breakdown of something she had spent months planning and implementing. She had to find just the right ratio of wingspan to weight. Not to mention how many birds had met their end so that she could figure out what their anatomy did to allow for flight. It turned out to be hollow bones among a few other things she didn't care to replicate. Air sacs inside her body didn't seem like such a great idea. All that work and the Sandaime broke it down with nary a second glance. It was a sharp kick to her pride
Oh well, the Old Man was the Hokage after all.
The Hokage smiled smugly, "Now, you may leave."
Naruto's wings snapped back into her body with an audible crack as she lifted the now sleeping Sakura into her arms. She shook Sasuke back to wakefulness. Then, the three exited through the now-open window into the quiet, early morning below.
Kakashi hung back after his students left. Uncrossing his arms and kicking off the wall, he face the Hokage. "I do hope the thought of a flying army isn't tempting enough to cause any... unwise behavior."
Hiruzen merely puffed his pipe once more, "Of course not, I do understand inter-village politics regarding strategic weapons. I wrote a book on it, in fact."
"My apologies, Hokage-sama," Kakashi said tilting his head slightly. "I am merely worried what some people would do if they knew of our new... air force."
"Naruto's abilities will remain hidden as long as possible. The power of flight isn't so uncommon that war would break out over it. The grizzled Hokage puffed a few times on his favorite pipe. On to another subject, is there anyway to trace Akatou to us?"
"No, I used Raiton to clear up the survivors and all Naruto did was use a few modified explosive tags to bring the structures down. With any luck, Iwa will blame Kumo until both parties realize that our squad has its full strength. By that point, however, we should have more than a single squad to run missions," Kakashi voice had taken an irritated tone by the end.
"Honestly, they're worn out Hokage-sama. None of them, including me have had more than a couple of days off since they started missions. I'm worried for them." Kakashi ran a hand through his silver hair as he paced around the office. "Not just physically either, Naruto killed dozens of people at Akatou. That's going to wear her down fast.
The Sandaime seemed pleased. "You really do care for them, don't you, Kakashi?"
Kakashi stopped his pacing and looked almost wistful. "I suppose I do, however," he snapped back into focus, "my point stands."
The Sandaime stood and looked out the window toward the slightly brightening sky. "Kakashi, plans are being put in place to have Fast Response as an official division of the ANBU after the upcoming Chunin Exams in Tetsu no Kuni. That should lighten the burden on both our beleaguered field teams."
"Team," Kakashi corrected.
The Hokage turned back to Kakashi, "For now, I'm giving your team a simple C-rank. We have to keep up appearances as a simple genin team after all. I have just the one, I believe. Tell me Kakashi. How do you feel about Nami no Kuni?"
Kakashi merely shrugged.
The three pseudo-genin landed on a nearby building with Sakura still in Naruto's arms. Sasuke took a knee upon landing. Weariness enveloped him like a numbing blanket.
Naruto managed to make her signature hand sign despite Sakura. Four clones faded into existence.
"I'll take Sakura home," the blonde announced, "Are you alright to walk?"
"Of course," Sasuke replied in his usual smug manner. "Unlike some people," Sasuke said glancing at Sakura, "I have endurance.
One of Naruto's clones lightly struck the back of Sasuke's leg with its foot. He crumbled to one knee before shooting a glare at the offending doppelganger. He stood and spoke, "That proves nothing."
"Of course not," Naruto replied with a grin. "I'll see you later."
"Right, and" Sasuke paused for a moment, "thank you." he finished before bounding across the rooftops with Naruto's clones in a diamond pattern around him.
He may insulted Sakura, but he couldn't hide the flicker of worry behind his derisive stare. The bastard cared after all. Who knew?
Naruto looked at the sleeping girl in her arm, debating whether or not dropping her would be funny. On one hand, the look on her face would be priceless. However, Sakura could cave in a wall with a punch.
Decisions, decisions.
Oh well, It'd be hard to see her face in the dark anyway. Pushing a little chakra to her legs, she took off towards Sakura's home.
After managing to get Sakura safely to her room by picking the lock to her window and dropping her on her bed, Naruto returned to her own apartment complex.
As she kicked off her shoes and shut the door, her shoulders finally let out the knot of tension she hadn't known she was carrying. Things had worked out for once. Sasuke and Sakura were unharmed and no one had survived Akatou to tell the tale.
Yes, no one lived through that. Dozens of people with family, friends, and dreams were dead by her hand.
She shook those thoughts from her head as she maneuvered through her apartment, twisting around piles of scrolls and half finished sealing arrays on the road to her bedroom. Her clothes seemed to shift into something more comfortable as she collapsed face first onto the bed.
Her eyes snapped open a second later. She was lying on her back in water.
Damn, what did the fox want now.
With a sigh she navigated the sewer that represented her mind to its source. A set of bars with a deceptively simple looking kanji for seal held two massive gates closed. Behind the gates darkness seemed to stretch to infinity.
Tapping her foot in irritation, Naruto spoke,"What is it now, I've had a very long day."
Two red slitted eyes, as tall as she was, snapped open from within the cage.
"Yes, it is rather irksome to be kept somewhere you don't want to be. Isn't it?"
Naruto scoffed at that. "Keep it quick, Kyuubi, I am going to get some sleep one way or another."
The eyes merely seemed amused at her reaction. "You really are meant for me," the Kyuubi spoke finishing with a savage grin.
Naruto narrowed her eyes at that, "Just what the hell are you talking about?"
The massive demon's grin merely widened. "What do I mean? You crushed those between you and what you wanted without a second thought. I've never been so proud."
A scowl matched Naruto's angry eyes. "I did what had to be done. I do not take pleasure in the deaths of those people."
"Lying to me is one thing, but don't lie to yourself. Face it. You enjoyed every second of your time there, the thrill of being in the center of a place crawling with enemies, the pride at being able to kill a jounin, the satisfaction of watching everything come together as the whole place went up in glorious flames." By the end of its tirade the Kyuubi was practically yelling in glee.
Naruto's bangs shadowed her eyes as she looked down. Her head snapped up as she glared at the titanic demon, "I am nothing like you," she snapped angrily.
If possible, the grin widened further, "You are exactly like me, and once you realize that, things will be so much easier. Now leave. I tire of your pointless denials."
Before she could tell the massive fox exactly what it could do with its tails, Naruto was thrust out of her own mind.
The rest of Naruto's night went no better. A few hours after her conversation with her tenant, she awoke sweating bullets.
The face, that same damnable face.
Unable or unwilling to go back to sleep, Naruto decided to get an early start on her day.
After a quick, freezing shower, her clothes took their usual form on her body. Standard black pants covered her legs and a long sleeved black shirt lay under an orange combat vest. Her equipment puch was quickly strapped to her right thigh and her hitai-ate was tied securely around her throat. Her trademark goggles sat high up on her forehead. She placed her hair into its usual pigtails and went to her workbench.
Her oldest project was nearly finished. It just required a few more hours of constant focus. That was just what she needed. She didn't need to be alone with her thoughts anyway
Sakura and Sasuke arrived at Naruto's apartment several hours later. unable to find her in the village.
Sakura was dressed in her usual attire, a red top with a white circular design, tight black shorts, a pink apron skirt, open-toed boots, and gloves. Her headband was on top of her head and her hair was held in a single ponytail.
Sasuke was dressed in a pair of loose fitting black pants along with a blue shirt with the Uchiha crest on the back and sandals. His headband was tied securely around his forehead.
They opened the door without knocking, observing as a small sealing array glowed before fading.
They walked through the apartment, following a distinct sparking noise. They came upon Naruto working on a large object with a metal rod while her goggles shielded her eyes from the sparks coming off the points where the rod met the metallic object.
She spun around when they got near the rod in her hands still glowing softly, the only visible source of light in the room. "Oh, hey, I didn't see you there."
"Apparently," Sasuke snorted.
"Sakura opened the curtains and only window in the room, "Damn, how can you work in the dark like this?"
"Practice?" Naruto offered weakly, scratching the back of her head.
"We couldn't find you anywhere," Sasuke cut in, "I was hoping to get some training in, but you were nowhere to be found."
"Sorry, I was invested in finishing this thing up."
"What is it?" Sakura asked, trying to look past Naruto's shoulder at the bench.
"Oh," Naruto broke out of her reverie and grabbed the object off the bench. Faint runic lines still stretched across its surface as she held it up to her teammates. "Pretty cool, huh?"
"It's," Sakura started, "big."
"Come on you idiot. It's just a-"
"Don't you dare call it a 'just', teme. It took me a year to figure this beauty out." Naruto said, cutting off her male teammate.
"Is it finished?" Sakura asked, effectively cutting off any further arguing.
"As of one minute ago, yes" Naruto replied proudly.
Before anyone else could speak, Kakashi appeared outside the window Sakura had previously opened. "Yo, we've got a mission," he said holding a scroll.
Three pairs of angry eyes fixed on him.
"What?" the cycloptic jounin asked with a hand on the back of his neck.
Sakura opted to speak on behalf of all three, "How the hell do we have a mission this fast? We just got home!"
"Oh, is that all? This is a nice little C-rank assigned to Team Seven," Kakashi replied emphasizing the 'Seven'.
"How long?" Naruto asked.
"A couple of weeks in beautiful Nami no Kuni, escorting and guarding a 'master' bridge builder named Tazuna. No bailing out overwhelmed squads. It's a vacation, really." Kakashi said, doing his best to sell his team on the mission.
"C-rank, huh?" Naruto seemed to be pondering the mission.
He just needed to give a little push.
"You won't have to fight any ridiculous high ranked shinobi, promise."
Naruto looked at Sakura and Sasuke. Sakura nodded while Sasuke gave a noncommittal shrug.
"Fine, when do we leave."
Bingo.
"Be at the gates in one hour to meet the client."
With that Kakashi disappeared in a shunshin to presumably prepare for the mission.
"Well," Naruto said turning around, "who's up for some R and R?"
Naruto arrived at the gate after a hearty meal at Ichiraku's to find her fellow genin already in place and leaning against the gate. There was also a haggard man dressed in simple clothing with a pointed hat on his head. As Naruto got closer she noticed he smelled distinctly of cheap alcohol. She threw a wave and received a smile from Sakura and slight nod from Sasuke.
The jinchuuriki turned to her team. "I take it this is the client."
Sakura kicked off the booth before nodding, "We're just waiting on Kakashi-sensei."
"We're always waiting on Kakashi," Sasuke said casually.
"That's not a very nice thing to say about your commander, Sasuke-kun," came a voice from above.
The three genin and client looked up to see Kakashi sitting casually on top of the booth with his legs dangling below.
Sasuke whipped around to Sakura, "You knew he was there, didn't you?"
"Sure did," Sakura replied brightly.
"Damn sensor."
"Jealous?"
"Hardly," Sasuke scoffed.
"Alright boys and girls," Kakashi cut in, "Let's get a move on."
"I expect you four to protect me with your lives," Tazuna finally decided to speak.
Naruto graced him with a smile, "Relax, Tazuna-san. We don't do anything halfway."
Sasuke cut in, "even if we rather would."
"Especially if we rather would, teme," Naruto shot back.
"Right," Kakashi said with a clap, "let's go."
With that, Team Seven set out once again.
They kept a good pace for civilian travel. Their formation was typical for escorts, Naruto took the front with Sasuke and Sakura behind her to guard the flanks. Kakashi took the back to read his book in peace. There was little traffic on the roads and Tazuna seemed to be in better shape than expected from his appearance. Naruto had taken to whistling tunelessly as they traversed the forested countryside.
Tazuna was actually traveling as quickly as he could without seeming suspicious. He had expected a team of chunin to take the mission, not a genin squad. Even if there was a jounin to balance the team out, the man was much more likely to protect his students over his deceitful client.
As a result, Tazuna was anxious to get home before things went to hell.
The puddle was glaringly obvious to the team that had been running missions throughout the continent for nearly a year. Naruto, who still hadn't stopped whistling, put her hands behind her head to give a discrete signal to Sasuke and Sakura. She had put up her ring and middle finger on her left hand and tapped the back of her head with her right index finger. This was the signal for Sasuke and Sakura to deal with the upcoming opponents. Sakura was designated by the left ring finger and the tapping of the right index finger was the signal to attack.
Sasuke, much to his annoyance and Naruto's amusement, was designated by the left middle finger.
Naruto continued to whistle as the group moved forward. Just as Kakashi was next to the puddle, two masked figures burst from the ground and encircled Kakashi with chains.
"One-," was as far as the ninja got before receiving a kunai ring to the head and a elongated knife to the shoulder courtesy of Sasuke and Sakura, respectively. One was knocked out by the attack to the head and the other only had time to blink before being smashed in the head by a devastating punch from Sakura. The two made sure their opponents were disabled before Sasuke strung them together with ninja wire.
The conflict lasted under three seconds and Naruto opted to add a flourish to her whistling as her team promptly despatched their attackers.
"Aww," Kakahi whined, "I didn't get the chance to be killed."
"Were it so easy," Sasuke muttered.
"Wonder what they were after," said Naruto, who had come over to examine the new captives.
"They couldn't have been stupid enough to think they had a real chance at Kakashi-sensei's bounty," Sakura said.
"None of us are well known enough to be in the bingo book. I would know," Naruto spoke.
"That just leaves..." Sasuke trailed off.
Tazuna, who had been awed by the display of brutal skill, found four sets of eyes on him.
"There's a very good reason for that," Tazuna said nervously.
"I'll bet," Kakashi drawled, "do fill us in.
"Well," Tazuna began, "It started several years ago when the shipping magnate, Gato, moved his operations into our 's taken over the country as has been draining the life from our people and the economy. The bridge I'm building would make his blockade on shipping useless. I thought it was only a matter of time before he sent ninja to kill me. So I went to Konoha to help."
"This is definitely above C-rank," Kakashi spoke, "Why did you lie to us?"
"Please," Tazuna begged, "our country is very poor. That was all we could afford." Tazuna seemed to sag, "I'll understand if you leave. I'll just be killed. My daughter will cry and cry over my death and my grandson will grow up hating Konoha, but it's alright."
Kakashi sighed and spoke to his genin, "What do you all think?"
"Didn't Naruto just say we don't do things halfway?" Sakura asked pointedly.
"Wow, that bit me in the ass faster than expected," Naruto replied. "But we're here already, might as well dethrone another tyrant. How many is that now?"
"Two," Sasuke replied.
"Wait, are we not counting that elder in Tsuki no Kuni?" Naruto asked.
"No, he was just incompetent not malicious," Sasuke replied.
"The two can be remarkably similar," Sakura added.
Tazuna looked on as the conversation took a turn. "Wait, does this mean you'll help?"
Sakura looked at him, "Yeah sure, we're pretty skilled. If there's anything we can't deal with, Kakashi can."
Sasuke spoke next, "We just had a few days off anyway. Besides, that would put this mission down as a failure."
Naruto shrugged, "What was I gonna do with an easy mission, sleep? Please." Nope Naruto didn't need sleep. Not at all. She felt fine. Really.
"Well, there you have it Tazuna-san. The mission goes forward," Kakashi said brightly.
A messenger hawk was sent to Konoha, and the restrained enemies were left tied up by the side of the road.
As the group traveled on, Kakashi sidled up to Naruto.
"You know who those two were, right?" the cycloptic jounin asked without looking up from his book.
"The 'Demon Brothers', Gouzu and Meizu," Naruto replied still looking ahead.
"Known associates?" Kakashi queried.
Naruto thought for a moment, "Damn."
"Who?"
"Zabuza Momochi."
"Hmm. I can deal with him. I'll trust you and the others to take out any back up he may have."
"Understood."
After having said his piece, Kakashi drifted to the back of the group to relay the information to Sasuke..
Behind Naruto Tazuna tried to make conversation with Sakura, "So, you guys are pretty good right?"
Sakura turned to face him as they walked, "We're alright, I suppose. Nowhere nearly as good as Kakashi-sensei though."
"Your sensei's really that good? he seemed caught off guard by those two guys from before," Tazuna said , confused.
Sakura scoffed, "He wasn't being serious. Kakashi is strong. I mean scary strong. If there is one thing you learn from our team, it should be this: Kakashi is a monster in combat. I almost pity anyone who crosses him."
"That good, huh?" Tazuna asked.
Sakura shrugged, "He's probably better, actually. I've never seen him go all out. He can take on all three of us without even looking like he's trying."
Kakashi's voice drifted up from the back of the group, "I'm glad one of my students thinks so highly of me, Sakura-chan."
"Sakura spoke again, "Ears like a bat, too."
"What was that?"
"I said you don't like hats," Sakura said turning back to Kakashi.
"Mmhmm."
Sakura turned to Tazuna and nodded seriously.
He was starting to feel better about the team that had taken on the mission. The only one he didn't know about was the blonde girl. The other two seemed to take direction from her, but he had yet to see her fight.
If he was lucky, he wouldn't have to.
Back in Konoha, Sarutobi Hiruzen stared hard at the unassuming scroll on his desk, which was currently closed.
He had received it from a pale-faced Naruto just before she left the village. The contents were dire, to say the least.
The aging Sandaime stood from his desk and walked to the window overlooking the sprawl of Konoha. He idly puffed his pipe as he watched the civilians scurry to a fro on the ground. He spotted several of his shinobi jumping agilely across the rooftops.
If half the things lain out in that scroll were true, Konoha would need to be and appear to be very strong in the coming years.
The upcoming Chunin Exams, being hosted in Tetsu no Kuni would be full of ringers from every village. This would mark the first time the reclusive Samurai of the Land of Iron opened its doors to such a large event. It was spurred by a series of recently harsh winters in the frozen country. Harsh enough, it seemed, to cause the isolationist nation to actively reach out to its neighbors.
Whichever village put on the best showing would gain quite a bit more prestige than eams in the previous years.
At the end of the Third Shinobi World War, Konoha had taken the opportunity its victory provided to push back the age of graduation by three years. The reasoning was that the other nations would be very unlikely to strike at Konoha just after a large scale conflict that Konoha had come out of in good shape, compared to the other hidden villages anyway.
The other villages had followed suit, opting to take advantage of the three years Konoha would have no fresh troops to raise the bar for their own shinobi. The continent wide result was that there were genin exiting the academy with a significantly higher level of skill than they would have had previously.
Thankfully the first new batch of genin had graduated just before the attack by the Kyuubi some sixteen years ago.
Konoha had strong genin teams, doubly so since many of last year's graduates had been the children of clan heads. Children, who could now be classified as much more than rookies. He wasn't sure that would be enough. If the other kage were as smart as he perceived, then they would have held back skilled shinobi from early promotion in order to give themselves powerhouse genin to sweep the national exams.
He would have to hope that his genin were up to the task.
To enter into Nami no Kuni, the team took a boat that crossed underneath the bridge that, if completed, would lead the land out from under the tyrannical rule of Gato. Despite having been to many parts of the Elemental Continents, the genin were suitably awed by the effort that went into constructing the massive pathway. Along the way to the shore, the group had to maintain silence in the mist that clung to the water like a blanket. Alerting any of Gato's patrols could spell disaster for the civilians aboard the boat.
To prevent that, several of Naruto's kage bunshin crept through the water walking over it as if it were solid ground. Tazuna nearly fell out the boat when the dopplegangers appeared in small puffs of smoke.
Eventually, the small group landed on the shore and set off for Tazuna's home. As they walked down the path, Naruto extended her arm to launch a kuani off into the brush. A rabbit darted out from the bushes and bolted across the road.
Something was off.
"That rabbit was white," Sasuke pointed out.
"Down!", Kakashi barked.
Naruto, Kakashi, and Sasuke dove for cover, while Sakura dragged Tazuna down with her. They felt the displaced air from the massive sword that had been thrown just over their heads to impact into a nearby tree. The team quickly got back on their feet to see a man dressed in light blue striped pants, no shirt and camouflage arm and legs warmers. He had bandages wrapped around the lower half of his face and had his headband set sideways on his head.
"Well, well, what do we have here? A bunch of children playing ninja? And Hatake Kakashi. My lucky day.", the attacker spoke.
"Zabuza Momochi, A-rank missing nin from Kirigakure no Sato, former member of the Seven Swordsmen of Kiri, wanted for the attempted assassination of the Yondaime Mizukage, Yagura, known associates; the 'Demon Brothers', and possessing a bounty larger than what I'll make in a year. Did I miss anything?" Naruto spoke her goggle-clad gaze fixed on Zabuza.
"Hmm," Zabuza hummed turning his attention to Naruto, "Someone did her homework. You should know that you're hopelessly outmatched here."
"I certainly am," Naruto replied frankly."But," she said gesturing to Kakashi, "he's not."
"Since my cute student stole the 'I know who you are' speech, I'll just have to go with the old standby. Leave now and this won't have to end in with your death," Kakashi spoke, uncovering his Sharingan eye.
"The Sharingan already? It would certainly be a testament to my skill if I were to kill you, Sharingan Kakashi." Zabuza idly cracked his neck, "Still, this whole thing can go away if you just hand over the old man," Zabuza replied.
"I'm afraid that's not going to happen," Kakashi spoke calmly.
"Very well then, Suiton: Kirigakure no Jutsu (Water Release: Hidden Mist)." With that, the entire field was filled with a dense, reducing visibility to zero. The gathered ninja felt a cold chill settle into their bones despite the normally mild climate.
"This guy is out of our league," Naruto said quietly, "Stay back and guard Tazuna."
The younger members of Team Seven moved into a triangular position around the terrified bridgebuilder.A calm voice sounded through the mist, "There are eight points... larynx, spine, lungs, jugular, subclavian artery, kidneys, heart. So many to choose."
With a blur a near invisible blue of motion, Zabuza opted to bypass Kakashi entirely. He swung his blade in a deadly horizontal arc, aiming to bifurcate the bridge builder and his young bodyguards.
The swordsman watched his tool of death near the talkative blonde just before she was enshrouded by a puff of smoke.
CLANG.
Zabuza's gargantuan blade was stopped just short of its target.
As the smoke cleared, Zabuza raised a barely-existent eyebrow. "Well, that's new," the missing nin commented on the offending blockage.
Before him sat a large rectangular shield that came to a sharp point at its bottom. The bottom had been shoved slightly into the ground to help compensate for the massive force behind Zabuza's swing. It was entirely unremarkable save for its dark grey color, the same color as a standard kunai.
From behind her revealed masterwork Naruto smiled thinly as she strained to hold back the Demon of the Mist's absurd strength. "Gah, how the hell do you swing that hard?"
"Actually-," whatever witty comment Zabuza had planned was cut off as he deftly dodged a brutal kick from Kakashi. The former mist jounin slipped back into his to avoid a follow up stab from the silver-haired legend.
Nearly a year ago Kakashi would have had serious trouble dealing with such a skilled practitioner of kirigakure no jutsu, but in his time leading Fast Response he had dealt with more than a handful of mist ninja who had taken on the life of a missing nin to avoid the civil war that even now raged in Mizu no Kuni.
As a result, Kakashi had taken a cue from his ninken and learned to effectively channel chakra to improve his hearing without blowing out his eardrums.
The Konoha jounin, confident yet wary, crept into the misty battleground to hunt the hunter.
Meanwhile, the genin maintained their careful positioning around the frightened Tazuna.
Naruto was not fond of waiting around a battlefield doing nothing. Why would she be? She had yet to find a situation where she was unable to do some measure of good using her clones and stealth to assert battlefield control. Besides, Zabuza would have his hands full with Kakashi, leaving Naruto to creep around and lay a few traps. Or so she hoped.
Without a word, Naruto created a single clone to take her place as she too skulked off into the mist.
Sakura turned to her male counterpart, "You ever feel left out when things like this happen?"
"Nope."
"Ass."
"Hn."
Zabuza felt entirely at home in his choice of battlefield. He had dictated the pace of combat the entire fight. Even now, he crept up on Kakashi, who foolishly believed he could find Zabuza in his own technique. The notion was laughable at best and now the silver-haired shinobi would pay for his hubris.
With a smooth diagonal slash, Zabuza cut through Kakashi from shoulder to hip. His victory was short lived as the masked shinobi burst into water.
Using a Mizu Bunshin against a mist ninja had to be some kind of dig against his skills.
Zabuza glanced around, carefully listening for footfalls. He took a thrown kunai to the neck for his lack of mobility. He too exploded into water.
Unfortunately for Kakshi, the real Zabuza had been carefully tracking his own bunshin and again cut from shoulder to hip.
And again, Kakashi burst into water.
Using Mizu Bunshin against a mist nin once was understandable, twice was a direct insult. Especially from a man like Kakashi.
Kakashi had used the moment it took Zabuza to bring his guard back up in order to burst from the mist and attack up close. The Konoha jounin let out a flurry of stabs from his kunai while Zabuza struggled to block the more nimble man with his cumbersome weapon. Zabuza attempted to kick away the offending ninja, but was smoothly dodged.
Zabuza's blade was very useful despite its odd dimensions. It was wide enough to block explosives, could overpower nearly any other type of melee weapon and could deliver brutal blows.
Due to leverage, Zabuza's blade hit with the most force at the very end. He style reflect that. He forced enemies to keep out of range from the massive sword. while he could swing to his heart's content with little worry towards being injured by taijutsu and most kenjutsu.
Unfortunately for him, Kakashi was well aware of that fact. The cycloptic shinobi had used the minor opening given to him when his clone was destroyed to get in incredibly close to the demon of the mist. At such a close range Zabuza was unable to use Kubukiribouchou to its full destructive potential. He was also forced to use his free hand to compensate for the faster, but weaker man's relentless assault.
In a flash of inspiration, Zabuza allowed Kakshi to land a painful kick, knocking the bandaged man toward the water. Using his massive blade he righted himself before launching his body to land on the surface of the water.
Kakashi wasn't nearly fool enough to engage Zabuza on top of the water. Mist was one thing, but an open body of water against a skilled Mist shinobi was foolhardy at best and suicidal at worst.
Zabuza took his moment of reprieve to dispel his technique, clearing away the mist. Zabuza knew that right now Kirigakure no Jutsu was doing little more than slowly draining his reserves. It was also obscuring his target, or in this case, targets.
His mission wasn't to kill Kakashi after all.
Zabuza momentarily leaned his blade on his foot to use it as cover while he flashed through eighteen hand seals ending on Tori.
He rose from behind his sword and announced his deadly technique.
"Suiton: Daibakufu no Jutsu (Water Release: Great Waterfall)"
From the water between Zabuza and the shore a massive wave rose and crashed down against the earth as it sped toward Kakashi and his genin team.
Kakashi, not one to be caught flat-footed, leapt onto a large tree to avoid the tidal wave.
Tazuna's eyes widened dramatically as the dozen meter high wave roared toward him. How was that even possible? He had heard of some of the things shinobi were capable of, but that was patently ridiculous.
In front of him Sakura sped through four of her own hand seals, "Doton: Doryūheki (Earth Release: Earth-Style Wall)."
True to its name, the technique produced a large wall in front of the three people and one clone. Sakura had pumped a great deal of her mediocre stores into the technique. The result was an impressive barricade that managed to hold back Zabuza's devastating technique using the natural advantage Doton held over Suiton.
Tazuna made an impressive impersonation of a fish out of water upon seeing the brown structure rise up before him.
He managed to tear his eyes away from the wall to look at Sakura. "Who are you people?"
Sakura panted from the chakra drain before giving him a sheepish smile, "No one important, really."
Zabuza was profoundly annoyed at the moment. Not only had one of his best ninjutsu been completely nullified, but Kakashi had taken the opportunity to start throwing earth techniques at him the way one would throw pebbles over a pond. The mist ninja was able to block the smaller ones with the flat of his blade and evade the larger ones, if only by the skin of his teeth.
How many techniques did this blasted man have?
Kakashi had stopped his onslaught because he wasn't getting any positive results from the barrage of Doton jutsu.
Zabuza took the momentary lull in the battle to catch his breath. "I see your reputation wasn't unearned."
Zabuza could swear Kakashi was smiling behind that mask of his. "Oh, I just try to get by."
False humility aside, Kakashi was rather impressed with the former Kiri shinobi. Zabuza had held up against his rapid assault with the dogged determination he would expect from one of the vaunted members of the Seven Swordsmen of Kirigakure no Sato.
Still, he had to end this soon. Unfortunately he and Zabuza were in a stalemate. Neither was willing to go to the other's choice of battlefield to fight up close, nor were they able to hit each other with ranged ninjutsu. Moreover, due to Sakura's earth wall, Zabuza couldn't even take potshots at the genin.
Something needed to tip the balance.
As Zabuza started to speak, Kakashi got his wish.
"Kakashi, I-," was all Zabuza managed to get out before his sense of danger led him to make a dive to one side.
His move paid off as he just managed to avoid a nasty slash from Naruto, who had jumped out of the water in an attempt to slash him with a long knife the same color as her shield.
Zabuza recovered from his roll and attempted to cleave the nuisance in two, only to receive a water bullet to the gut, courtesy of Kakashi.
Naruto took that as her cue to exit, but not before a hasty Kawarimi with a bunshin to avoid retribution slash from a mostly recovered Zabuza. The blonde swiftly crossed the battlefield before scaling Sakura's wall with a tremendous leap.
Zabuza shook himself back together. Kakashi's technique had hurt, but the cycloptic jounin was unable to pull out the big guns for fear of hitting his subordinate. He steadied himself and gave Kakashi a hard look.
"I'm through-," Zabuza began, only to be interrupted once again, this time by Kakashi.
"With games." Kakashi finished for him.
Zabuza narrowed his eyes as we began going through the forty-four hand seals required for his next move. His eyes widened back open with shock as he saw Kakashi doing the same.
As Zabuza neared the end of chain of hand seals at a breakneck pace, he got one last surprise from Naruto.
The very water he stood on erupted, as a dozen explosive notes threw him bodily through the air. Zabuza idly wondered if this was what it was like to fly. He terminated that train of thought as he neared the ground.
He managed to avoid the brunt of the explosive force, but still found much of his body covered in nasty first and second degree burns. In addition to that, his sense of balance had been scrambled by the concussive force of the blast
He looked up just in time to see Kakashi land on his final hand seal. "Suiton: Suiryūdan (Water Release: Water Dragon Bullet)."
Zabuza could only stare as the yellow eyed water beast crashed into him causing him to smash through bush and branch alike as he was flung like a rag doll.
Kakashi spoke as he walked toward Zabuza, "You could have avoided all of this."
Zabuza scowled as he futilely tried to move his arms and legs, "I don't expect you to understand Kakashi, everything I've done has been to take my home back from that monster."
Kakashi stopped his approach and casually raised an eyebrow, "And how was playing assassin for a man like Gato going to save Kiri?"
Zabuza stared defiantly back at Kakashi, "I needed funds to stage another attack on the Yondaime."
Kakashi nodded slowly, "I won't tell you I understand the way you feel. I don't, and it would be an insult to you to imply otherwise."
Zabuza gave the tiniest nod of acknowledgement. He noticed the genin a few dozen meters behind Kakashi, carefully watching him. He could barely see the bridge builder hiding behind the blonde girl's shield..
Kakashi began speaking again, "I can understand your reasoning, however. If Konoha were in a similar position I'd take drastic measures myself. But, you would doom Nami no Kuni in the process of attempting to save Mizu. I'm afraid I can't allow that."
Kakashi began walking again, "It's unfortunate that we met under these conditions, Zabuza. I'm afraid this ends here." Kakashi drew a kunai to throw at the downed man.
He was beaten to the punch as a trio of senbon flew into the side of Zabuza's neck, making the proud shinobi go completely limp.
A figure appeared next to the seemingly dead Zabuza. The figure wore a olive green pinstripe outfit with a turtleneck color underneath a blue-green haori alongside a pair of brown sandals. Over the figures face sat the mask of a Kiri hunter nin.
The figure checked over Zabuza's body before turning to the quartet. "I thank you for your assistance, I have been tracking Zabuza for several weeks. I did not believe I would get such an opportunity to bring him down. Again I thank you."
Kakashi gave his usual eye-smile before replying, "It was not trouble at all."
The hunter nin nodded, ignoring Kakashi's blatant lie. With a few deft movements the hunter picked up the body of Zabuza as well as his legendary blade before disappearing.
Kakashi idly watched the spot Zabuza's body had previously occupied as his genin came up behind him. With a sigh he covered his implanted Sharingan.
"He's not dead," Sasuke announced calmly. "That hunter nin was a fake."
Kakashi turned to face them, ignoring Tazuna's shout of disbelief. "I know."
"Why did you let them go then?" Sakura asked genuinely curious.
Kakashi shrugged as he led the group back onto the road. "Zabuza wants to win the civil war in Kirigakure. While I don't agree with his methods, I do think it would be best for Konoha if the rebellion in Kiri were a success. I was given a convenient chance to not kill a sizeable asset for that rebellion. I took it."
"He may come back," Naruto pointed out.
"True," Kakashi nodded, "but, he knows I can beat him, and he barely knows what you three are capable of. He might try for round two, but it's much more likely he'll take the opportunity to cut his losses." Kakashi broke out into a wide grin behind his mask. It was time to move on to brighter subjects. "Now, Tazuna how far are we from your home? I'm famished."
A/N: Yes, I continue to exist. I'd offer a good reason for not putting this up sooner, but I think I'll save that for when I really need it.
For those of you who don't know, this is a follow up to a one-shot I posted some seven months ago. It's called Midnight Raid on Akatou. I wouldn't say the previous story is required reading for this, but some things from that will carry over into this. If your interested in some back story for the opening of this chapter or you want to read about Naruto tearing up a renown Iwa fortress, check it out.
Anyway, I hope you enjoyed it. Expect more in the not too distant future.
Catch you later.
- The Interrupter.