Chapter 1: Well, you just hired the A-team
Okay, lets set the scene. Its a beautiful day in the surroundings of Tanzaku city, sun shining, birds chirping, the smell of a big city, little old ladies walking down the crowded streets of the market section, shop keepers running their shops, yelling out bargains and what not, children laughing as they chase each others and mothers asking them to be careful.
Yes its a beautiful scene, so lively, so alive, so... crowded, at lack of better words.
And in all of this there is this little shop, in the middle of the street. The shop has no form of attention attracting features except the sign saying "Mr Yee's Laundry".
And if you look real carefully you'd notice the lone man walking into the shop. The man has a straw hat on his head, a sleeveless dark brown shirt, a rope around his waist and a pair of beige pants, with clogs on his feet. As he enters, a bell rings, after a raspy voice is heard.
"I'm coming, I'm coming" the voice says, i a Chinese accent. As he comes into view, the man see hes an old man, with grey hair, thick glasses and a thick beard, in a grey shirt, bent over, possibly from a back injury or some sort, maybe just age, who knows, holding a tea-pot.
"So sonny, what ya want, you here for laundry, or just to stick around" Mr Yee asked, making the other man shake his head. "No I am not here for laundry, i got a problem, and i heard i was supposed to go here, this homeless guy said that i should go here" the man said. The old crone looked at him through his thick glasses, the started pouring tea into a cup.
"You look for a-team, you not, Mr Tazuna" mr Yee asked, as he handed Tazuna a cup of tea, making Tazuna jank his head up. "How did you know that?" was his only reply.
"Many people of old wars know a-team, many people look for same people" he said as he went at his business. "Mister, i need help, my bridge..." Tazuna started but was interrupted. "A-team know" Yee said, as he walked closer. "How much money?" Tazuna looked a little concerned. "1,350,000,000 yen. (equal to 150,000 US $. 100 $ equals 9,000 yen, current exchange that is.)". Mr Yee only shakes his head.
"Not enough" "WHAT, not enough, who does these people think they are, its all that we could get together". Tazuna was pissed, but at the same time he felt abandoned, not enough, hell, he seemed to need to hire those Konoha nins after all.
"Question, how much life worth" was all Yee asked. Tazuna's, looked at Yee, as his shoulders just fell as he answered. "All i have, id give everything I own to get their help. They are my only hope, i dont want to hire the konoha nins, if I can".
Yee, he looked at Tazuna, as he spoke. "You get all the money, be here in two days. You have money then. Be on the backside of this shop, in the alley, with the money, or the deal is off. Goodbye" was all Yee said as he, put down the cup and walk off. "But Mr Yee..." "Goodbye"
As Tazuna walk out, Mr Yee looked out the window, sure that he was gone, and straighten out his body, cracking out a kink in his back, and letting out a large sigh, while he leaned against one off the shelfs. Smiling he started to take away the glasses, then put his hand to his teeth and pulled out a pair of false teeth, then picked up, out of no where, a long cigar, smiling brightly, as his blue eyes twinkled.
Two days later...
Tazuna was standing behind the shop, like he was told. He hadn't been able to get all the money that was supposed, he just hopped that it would be enough.
"Well, u going to stand there, or should we get going" was heard over the alley, causing Tazuna to jerk his head at the voice. Standing there was a tall, blond haired man, probably 6.6-6.8, had a beige brown jacket, a black shirt, brown pants and black gloves.
"W-who are you...?" was all Tazuna got out. The man seemed scary, but didn't act so. "Well names Uzumaki 'Hannibal' Naruto, pleasure to meet ya, heard you wanted to hire the A-team." Tazuna stood there stunned, but came back to his scenes.
"So, you got the money?" Naruto asked.
Jumping a few moments, and switching location...
As they walked down the street, Naruto asked about the problem. And as such Tazuna told him about Wave country, about the crime-boss Gato, and his crocks, about the situation of the place.
Naruto just smiled, as he picked up a cigar and lit it. Puffing it for a few times, he spoke. "Well, seeing that you need our help, and lack the rest of the money, we can make a deal. 10 procent of your profits, after your economy is back on its feet, that is, until the fee is payed, how about it, deal?" he said as he held out his hand, which Tazuna took almost immediately, after he had whipped his eyes from the tears...
As their hands parted, Naruto picked up a com-radio. "Ace, I need you to pick up dock. C.a you there, if you are, meet us in the town, south of here, we got ourself a job" he then put the com away, and started to walk towards the south gate of town.
"Wait, what was that about, shouldn't you go as a group, if your a team?" Tazuna asked as he walked/ran next to Naruto. "Well its not necessary, we can take care of each other. Besides it would take far to long to wait for them." he said as he walked onwards.
Jumping a few hours, to the town south of Tanzuka...
As the two walked through the city, Naruto started to look around for something, while still smoking the, now, very short cigar. Seeing what he was after, his face light up, and he started to smile, as he started to walk towards something. Wondering what it was that got the man excited, Tazuna followed.
Naruto continued to walk as he came up to a bar. As he walked in, he noticed a three people sitting in the chairs at one table. The biggest one was a colored man, built like a boxer, wearing a red sleeveless shirt, and brown pants, and had a lot of chains around his neck covering his chest.
The other was a,(not to sound gay) handsome man, wearing an seemingly expensive grey suit.
The last person was wore a cap, a brown leather jacket, orange shirt, and sneakers, while playing with a sock on his hand...
As he walked over, the men looked at him, and started to smile. "Hey Hannibal, thought you'd never get here. We've been waiting for over a half an hour." the middle man spoke.
"Ah don't worry ace, our client was just a little 'heavy footed' if you get my drift" Naruto said as he sat down. "so hows everybody doing. You ready for the gig" he asked. Ace just smiled, and the black man started to smile as well. "You know I'm ready Hannibal, so whats the deal" he asked.
"Okay, C.A, our job is to help Tazuna here..." he then pointed towards Tazuna, how just came in through the door. "...by protecting him from a business man called Gato..." "Gato, you mean the high roller Gato, the behind the curtain mob boss Gato, the man with enough money to buy an island Gato?" Ace asked as he straighted up.
"Yes him, and for some reason he doesn't like the idea that Tazuna is building a bridge to the mainland. Might be because hes isolated the entire island, so that they have no way of getting supplies into the country, which is causing some serious starvation down there." At that, C.A stood up.
"Starvation, no one should let people starv. When I get my hands on this ugly mother, I'm gonna give him my side thoughts about that" he said, at which Naruto waved him to sit down, which he did.
"I know what your think about that, and I totally agree on it, so thats why ive agreed on this job. Ace, you got the supplies we need?" he asked, at which ace picked up a notebook.
"well the weapons were hard to get ammo to, had to run to several smiths to make em fast enough. Any repairs to the weapon parts are done. All explosive devices have been bought and checked, as normal standard. I also added a first aid kit to the list this time"
"about time, sucker. Last time, I almost bleed to death cause we lacked it" C.a said, at which the third of them finally talked. "Oh, Come on C.a, it wasn't that bad..." "Shut up, fool, you the one who shot me in the leg, remember" "Oh come on how was I suppose to know it was so easily tripped by putting it down" "You could have checked the safety, you crazy fool"
"Alright, that is an old story, time for a new, right C.A, Dock?" Naruto asked as he tried to stop them from beating each other up. C.A only frowned as he leaned back in his seat, while Dock just acted weird. Shaking his head, he stood up, as the others did, and started to walk out of the bar. Tazuna only wondered if he should have hired the Konoha-nins instead.
Hopping to the landing on the island...
As they walked deeper into the forest, towards the town, the group were very cautious about any events along the way. "You just never know what kind of trouble you could get caught in, which is half of the fun... don't you agree" Naruto said as he suddenly threw a small knife into a bunch of bushes, as a clonk sound was heard.
Dock ran up to check what it was, and came back with a hare. "Hannibal, its a hare, you almost hurt him" he said, as he cuddle the little bunny, thought everyone else noticed something odd about it, it was white.
"Naruto, doesn't the hare change to white fur during winter?" Ace asked as he readied his weapon, an automatic rifle, model unknown. Naruto stood there with his cigar, frowning "Yeah, they do, which means that this one has not been outside for a long time, which means... GET DOWN!" he finally yelled as everyone dove for the ground, as a whirling sound passed over their heads, ending in a large 'tjonk' sound, as the object lodge itself in a tree.
As they looked up, they saw a enormous blade stuck in the nearby tree. Naruto, having read the Bingo book, knew who the owner was. "Momochi Zabuza, what a pleasure to meet ya." he said as a man landed on the blades handle.
"So your the ones that the old man hired, I thought he hired a group of konoha nin" Zabuza said as he pulled the blade from the tree, on his way down to the ground. "Well not really, you see, Tazuna didn't want to hire a konoha nin if he didn't need to. So he hired us." Naruto said as he stood there relaxed, right between the nin and the old man.
Zabuza looked at him for a while, then the other people, which his eyes opened a bit. "You wouldn't happen to be Hannibal, right?" he asked, at which naruto looked at his friends, who just shrugged, then turned back at him.
"Depends, If your after the reward on our heads, or just want to know if its us, your choice" he simply stated as he stood there, biting the tip of a new cigar of. "Cause, if were them, we would probably want to meet people, without having to worry they'd just be after the reward."
"Well I just want to know if your them, cause my job is to kill that man over there" he said as he pointed at Tazuna. Naruto simply shook his head.
"thats not how it works. Hes under our protection right now, which means, you do not have any right to touch him, so tell your employer, Gato, if he wants this man so badly, hes gonna have to come after him, himself. Oh and, by the way, might you call down the lovely miss, over by that tree, there is no need for violence if its not needed" at which a masked nin landed next to Zabuza, dressed in a ornate kimono. As she took away the mask, the team saw she had a beautiful face.
"Why hello sunshine, how about get to know each other better" ace started, as he started to walk towards her, but Naruto held up his arm and pointed at Zabuza, who was getting mad. "Eh forget I said anything, miss..." "Haku, only Haku" she said
"Why should I let you guys leave, my job is to kill that man, and any who's with him" Zabuza stated as he readied his blade. Closing his eyes, Naruto simply shook his head.
"Because, as soon as Tazuna is dead, you'll be on the hit list. Gato will turn on you. Its that simple, hes a two timing douche bag, whos only concern is who to make more money, in a faster way. He wont let you leave the island if you finish this job"
Zabuza stood there contemplating the words. He knew it was true, he looked at the other nin for advice. She only nodded, as did he. "Okay, so if I don't kill him, what happens then?" he asked as he turned back at the group.
"Well, you'll be with in a bit of a role play. You'll state that Tazuna has hired an unknown group of mercs, who were able to fend you off. You will have to fake some injuries to make it believable. Well give Gato a bit of a calling card, you might call it" he said as he walked over and leaned agains C.A
"Gato gets pissed, wants revenge. You will give them a time when you will be able to attack again, this time on the bridge. We give a show of a fight, Gato shows up, we nail him, right there and then. After which we give him to the authorities, aka the villagers...You see where this is heading." he said as he started to walk back and forward.
"We get a small profit until our fee is payed, and you get your money, with interest from Gato's personal stash, which well also take a fee from, 10 procent of all valuables found." Naruto said, then waited for a reply. Zabuza's nose twitched a few times, as he frowned, then stuck his blade inte ground.
"We got a deal, but if your screwing with me..." he growled. Naruto simply held his hands high. "Mister, I would never do such a thing. We are more honest them most mercs, mainly because, we believe in honor and justice" he said as the group started to continue walking. "oh I forgot about something..." Zabuza said, causing the team to stop.
"Konoha has sent a genin team this way. From what ive heard they are investigating why wave hasn't been heard of since a long time back." This caused the group to look at each other, then back at Zabuza. "How long before they are here?" Naruto simply asked.
"about a week, more or less" he said as he walked away. Though the hunter nin stood still, looking at Naruto, who smiled at her and waved, making her blush as she disappeared as well.
"Well, things just got a lot more fun, don't you think?" he said as he smiled a enormous smile. The others of the team just sighted. "Hes on the jazz, man. Hes on the jazz." C.a said. "I know, C.A. I know." Ace responded. "What do you mean" Tazuna asked, at which Dock simply answered, with a British, high class accent. "It means sir, that our captain, is on a good mood, which means he ain't gonna lose, which we never do anyway" he said as he followed Naruto, leaving a confused Tazuna behind.
Chapter 1 is over, and chapter 2 is coming... possibly, its a one-shot until I get enough feedback about it... so read it and review your thoughts about it... there have been weird storys going up these days, and this one of em... just hope you enjoyed it...
Ja ne mina-san