Hidden in the Night Sky

Chapter 2: Hunters Hidden in the Leaves


Vita was usually not one to brood or sit around and mope. She was an action girl, and rather than sit around and think about what had happened or what she had done or whatever, she would usually be trying to either fix the situation if such was possible or moving on. That made the image of her sitting on a corner with her legs crossed and an angry frown on her face all the more hilarious.

"What did you do this time?" asked Zafira, looking somewhat surprised.

"You don't want to know," Vita said, shaking her head. "Anyway, where were you? Shamal, too, I haven't seen her since this morning."

"Packing," Zafira said, simply, "and buying souvenirs, respectively," he explained, simply.

"But you weren't in the room," Vita said.

"I was also collecting all the things that Naruto lent out to the orphanage kids. Our mistress is very generous, but she is also very lazy," Zafira grumbled.

Vita chuckled. "So I'm not the only one on punishment duty? What did YOU do?"

"I'm not entirely sure. She said I was being mean, but all I did last night was scare a man trying to cheat her with some rigged carnival games," Zafira said, shaking his head.

"She probably wanted to compete anyway," Vita said, shrugging. "Anyway, come on, I'll help you pack."

Vita stood up from her corner and dusted off her buttocks, adjusting her skirt a little and pulling on her shirt so that it covered what the skirt revealed once she pulled it down a bit. At times, Vita wondered what her mistress was thinking when she bought them clothes. For the most part, she'd let them choose what they wanted, but every once in a while she'd come across an article of clothing or entire outfit that she just loved, and forced them into it. More than a few had been quite embarrassing, but then again, their mistress hadn't forced them to wear those. She'd just look disappointed when they'd refuse... which was practically the same as forcing them to wear it.

Vita would be the first to tell you that her mistress' pout was a fabled weapon of legend, capable of moving mountains and thawing the coldest ice, and her teary eyes were known for arranging miracles. Like getting Signum to help in building a sand castle.

Admittedly, she also chose things that they liked, every once in a while, such as the outfit Vita wore currently, a simple white shirt with a stylized broken heart in black and a matching black skirt accented with lace. Better that than being forced to walk around wearing a maid's uniform, Vita mused, though she did have to agree that Zafira looked very good rocking a butler's uniform.

Vita's musing on clothing ended as soon as she finished packing the casual clothes they'd worn for the week back where they came from, and had then started to go through all the swimsuits. That had been quite a bit more of a fight, as Naruto had flat out vetoed most of their choices. Vita had, at first, laughed at Signum, Shamal and Zafira's embarrasment at the choices Naruto had made for them, but had to ultimately agree that they were a better fit than the more conservative choices the knights had made.

Though Zafira did keep that one stripped bathing suit that seemed as antiquated as the fossil of an old woman that ran the store they'd bought it in. Naruto thought it was funny, for some reason.

The swimsuits done, Vita sighed. "I didn't think we'd brought along this many," she admitted.

"You'd be surprised how much clothing we went through in just a week. We weren't washing them, so..." a new voice said.

"Oh, hi, Shamal," Zafira said, deadpan.

The blonde laughed a little. "I am mostly done. All that remains is taking a few photos around town, and we'll be set," she explained, waving around a camera. "I thought it'd be best to get everyone together for that. Is Signum here?"

"Yes. She's taking a bath with Naruto right now," Vita said.

"How odd that you're not the one with her," Shamal replied, tilting her head. "Punishment?"

"Punishment," Vita confirmed.

"All the punishment," Zafira added.

"At any rate... I detected a few usable cores nearby on a routine scan," Shamal said, conversationally, holding up a thick book bound in leather and decorated with a large golden cross.

The two nodded. "We'll hunt them down, then."


Rokusho Aoi was not a weakling.

And he hadn't been for years. Not since he broke away from that pathetic village that had done everything in its power to stiffle his growth, to keep him from becoming as great as he could be. A village that refused to use all of its assets and to exploit them to their maximum potential. A village of weaklings.

He'd spit in Konoha's name any time he spoke it, but right now, there was something else in his mind.

Namely, he was busy placing the Raijin no Ken, the second Hokage's legendary lightning blade, against a lead pipe. He let gravity do its job, and the blade cut through the pipe without issue. Then he brought it forward and put it close to the chin of the client that'd just tried to stiffle him off his payment. The pipe spewed water all over the basement, but Aoi didn't really care about the property damage. No, he couldn't quite bring himself to care when he was causing it to the home of a man who tried to cheat him out of his money after he'd already performed a job.

After all, the guy was a coward, and even if he had an army of thugs practically on standby, that meant nothing when you have a sword that will pierce your throat long before the guards make it to the room. "So, fat bastard, where's my money!?"

"Ah- I- ah-"

But then, the door that led to the stairway up was blown to smithereens, and Aoi instantly moved to grab at the fat bastard's throat, pulling the man in front of him like a shield and holding his sword in a ready position to slit the bastard's throat. "Oi! You, if you move a finger, fatty here eats it!"

"Okay, to start with? That guy's not all that fat," said a rather high pitched, distinctly feminine voice, as what appeared to be a little girl holding a very long handled mallet walked into the room. In her left hand, she held a rather oversized book.

"He's a fat cat, I'm talking about his wallet," Aoi countered, a grin on his face. He did oh so love it when he had control of a situation.

"Don't care," the little girl said, shaking her head to knock loose a few of the pebbles that had lodged themselves in her oversized hat. "'cause the other thing I was going to say? I'm not here to save that guy. I'm here to kill you," she said, pointing her mallet at Aoi's head, visible behind his human shield.

"Wha- don't you- I'll pay you! Whatever bounty there's for this guy, I'll triple it!" the man being used as a shield yelled.

"Are you a Konoha Hunter nin!?" Aoi shouted, holding his shield a few centimeters further away from him, knowing it wouldn't do him much good to stop the senbon that the hunter nin favored, which were likely to go all the way through his meal ticket's body and straight into his.

"It doesn't really matter, now does it?" the girl said, advancing while waving her mallet. "Now we can do this the easy and painless way, or I can break every bone in your body before I kill you. It's up to you how you prefer to die," she said.

"As if you're going to beat me, little girl! I am a jounin! No jumped up brat is going to beat me!" Aoi shouted, throwing his shield against the girl, who knocked it aside with her hammer, causing a groan to erupt from the client, who was knocked unconscious by the blow. Taking the chance, Aoi leapt forward, Raijin-first, to impale her across the chest.

The mallet moved fast, too fast, and nailed Aoi in the wrist, forcing him to drop the sword, but as he was in the air, he couldn't stop his momentum, and he crashed into the return swing, which nailed him across the ribs, tossing him to the other side of the basement than his client had landed in. Far from defeated, Aoi flicked his wrist and used the wire that connected him to the hilt of his blade to call it back to his hand. Once he had it, he reignited the lightning blade and held it in front of himself. He'd had to switch hands, as his dominant hand was broken by the prior hit, though fortunately he had the presence of mind to train in the art of the sword with both arms.

The girl was now holding four metallic balls in between the fingers of her left hand, the book she'd had in it now tucked under her armpit, but she soon let them go. They seemed to float in mid air for a second, but a swing of her mallet, so fast it was but a blur, had them streaking towards Aoi.

He tried to bat them aside with the Raijin, but he could only hit two of them and the other two hit his torso, making him break through the wall of the basement office into a large storage area. Aoi rolled and growled. Such ridiculous strength, for someone that small! And it was clear she was fast, as well, since it took her only an instant to be once more upon him.

Aoi tried to swing his sword, but the mallet was too fast, and it once more hit the hand holding the Raijin. With that, both his hands were broken, and he understood right then and there that he was going to die right there, and there was nothing he could do about it. As a last act of defiance, he tried to kick her in the knee, but she jumped over his kick and landed with a stomp on his knee, breaking it.

The last thing he saw was her opening the book she held in her left hand and holding it open in front of his body, and the last thing he heard was her sigh. "Well, I might as well check in with the old man and see how much trouble you're worth..."


Haruno Sakura sometimes hated being a genin. She had long since decided that, if she ever got the ability to go back in time, she'd find a way to punch her past self's face so hard it'd scramble her brain and get it to engage. It might make her smarter. If she was lucky, she'd be smart enough to stop and think about what she was doing. Still, at least now she had an objective. It'd been worse a week ago, when she didn't know what to do with herself. At least now she had a reason to endure her mandatory term of service.

She only had to deal with it for the next six months, she'd make chunin in the exams, and then she'd be free from her teacher, free to become a medic. She'd been inspired to become one by the fact that she'd discovered all of her traits made her excellent for medical work, as well as the people she'd met that time she wound up at the hospital after training. All of them had been really nice, helpful and supportive of her. She felt it was her due to repay their niceness by joining them. Well, that, and she really liked the introductory lesson she'd been given as her wounds were disinfected and then healed.

The hospital had quickly become one of Sakura's favorite spots to hang out, given that it provided both fertile ground for gossip AND a nice atmosphere for some quiet reading. The pocket money earned from helping the nurses and doctors as best as she could was a nice incentive.

"We have to fix it AGAIN!?" Sakura nearly screeched.

How the hell did a bunch of civilians keep breaking their buildings!? It was a civilian family! How did they do it!? She could understand if it were ninja doing it, but damn...

"Yep!" their teacher, some sadistic broad by the name of Mitarashi Anko who thought covering her breasts was for civvies and prudes, remarked. "They pay very good and Hokage-sama likes them, so make sure your work is spotless! You don't wanna disappoint Hokage-sama, do ya?"

Uchiha Sasuke, once Sakura's crush, grunted.

Oh, how Sakura hated hearing that sound. It reminded her that, once upon a time, she'd swoon like a moronic twat at the very moment she heard it. After four months of monosyllabic responses, a chronic lack of respect for her and an attitude that would get him to fail kindergarden, or it would if he'd ever attended it, Sakura had already had her fill of the lone wolf avenger act. Of course, she'd tried to take out her frustrations in a spar, only to find that he could dismantle her with his hands tied behind his back. Quite literally, as he'd done exactly that. Twice. If nothing else, Sasuke could kick very, VERY hard.

A sobering thought, for sure, but what was even worse had been the class' deadlast, Inuzuka Kiba, doing the exact same thing without the aid of his ninja dog partner. At least she'd given him a black eye for his trouble, which was more than she could say about her bout with Sasuke, even if it was a free shot he'd given her...

It was amazing to find out just how horribly weak you are. Amazingly disheartening. Anko had made it a point to tell Sakura that she was quite possibly the worst graduate she'd ever seen, and wasn't shy about reminding her at every turn. Of course, Anko happened to be frikkin' insane, and so had taken it as a challenge to whip Sakura into shape. Sometimes almost literally, as Anko owned a bullwhip and had once made her team carry her around on a chariot. Fortunately, she hadn't actually lashed their backs, though seeing her literally strip the flesh off a giant centipede more than made up for the lack of pain.

The entire team had made a note not to piss off the sadist with a bullwhip.

But still, Sakura would endure. Soon, she'd be free... for now, though, back to the mission at hand.

Kiba grinned. He liked doing this kind of mission, 'cause he liked the owners of the house. "We'll visit Naruto-chan, then?" he asked.

Sakura sighed. Kiba's crush was visible from a mile away, really. She could admit that she didn't really blame him. At least his crush was on someone who was nice to him.

"It's... acceptable," Sasuke admitted, which was a great deal better than his usual disapproval of anything and everything they ever did that wasn't training. Of course, he'd stopped protesting as soon as Anko had told him that his opinion didn't really mean much, only she'd done so in a much more... vulgar way. Still, Sakura had to curse at the fact that she'd spent several years trying to get him to pay attention to her, and this civilian girl whom they only met every once in a while when she requested a mission got him to pay attention to her immediately!

It was unfair!

Sakura's time as a genin wasn't something she enjoyed. "Good morning, Shamal-sensei," she said, automatically, as she came across the most recent addition to Konoha's med nin corps.

"Good morning, Sakura-san," Shamal replied, as she looked at the team. "Out for a mission?"

"Actually, we're going to be the ones fixing your dojo's roof this time," Anko said, flippantly. "Say, think I can get some alone time with Zafira this time?"

Shamal laughed a little. "That's up to him, you know?" she replied.

Sakura didn't really see what Anko saw on the musclebound male that she seemed to lust after, but then again, Anko was weird. While Sakura could say that his personality was rotten, Sasuke was still the epitome of everything she considered attractive in terms of body. And he and Zafira were practically polar opposites. Sasuke was lean and svelte, having the build of a shinobi that preferred speed over physical strength, compared to the bulging muscles on Zafira's frame, and Sasuke's face was still rounded and babyish, as he hadn't quite started puberty yet, but Sakura could already tell he'd have much softer and less pronounced lines than most men would.

Sasuke was a cute boy, and would be a pretty man. For Zafira, 'pretty' was the last thing Sakura would use. Okay, he had pretty hair, but just about that was it.

"Anyway, we might as well walk together," Anko said.

Kiba cheered. "Shamal-san, is Naruto-chan home?" he asked, clearly eager to visit her.

Kiba's ninja dog, Akamaru, barked in agreement to the sentiment of the question.

"I'm afraid not, Kiba-kun, Naruto had to go to the hospital for a routine check up," Shamal said, "she'll be back later this evening, so..."

"Oh," Kiba said, clearly feeling down.

Sasuke sighed, and Sakura could detect relief mixed in with disappointment. Once again, she wondered what it was this random civilian girl had that she didn't.

"If you've gotta ask, pinky girl, I'd say that you could start by not being annoying," Anko said, grinning widely at her.

"Wha-" Sakura was cut off, however...

"You were speaking aloud, Sakura-san," Shamal said, somewhat apologetically. "And... what you said was quite rude, at that."

"Yep," Kiba agreed. "

Looking somewhat sullen, Sakura slumped her shoulders. "I'm sorry," she said.

Shamal shook her head, smiling at her.

"Insulting the client is bad practice, yanno?" Anko said, turning to look at Sakura. "'sides, why don't you just ask broody why he likes a civilian more than he likes you?" she asked, moving over and grabbing each of Sasuke's cheeks, pulling them apart. "So yeah, go ahead and tell us!"

Sasuke thrashed a little and broke out of her grasp. "She's not an annoying little girl playing ninja, for one," Sasuke said, glaring at Anko and rubbing his abused cheeks. "And for another, at least she's not and has never been one of my fangirls."

That, and... other reasons. But those were Sasuke's to tell. Even if Anko insisted he had a crush on the pink haired woman, and kept accepting those missions just so he could try to talk to her.

"Ooh, double burn," Anko said. "Hm, well, there you go. That's what she's got that you don't, pinky," Anko said. "Oh, what, it hurts knowing why he doesn't like you? You should at least be thankful that he's honest."

Sakura glared at Anko, but couldn't deny that Anko did have a point. One thing she couldn't say was that Sasuke had been dishonest, as he'd never strung along his fangirls for a relationship that'd never come true, as he'd made it quite clear that he despised them from day one. Admittedly, many of them, Sakura herself included at more than one point, were just too caught up in their idealized image of Sasuke to notice that the real one would rather see them dead than marry them. Really, she mused, if she'd seen just how boring and mean spirited Sasuke was before she spent three months with nothing but him, a sadist and Inuzuka Kiba for company, she would've requested another team.

Still... "I'm not an annoying little girl playing ninja!" Sakura replied, hotly.

"Oh, yes, you are," Anko said, simply. "Or rather, you were. After all, you're the one who got laid out with one punch from Dead Last here," she explained, patting Kiba's head, which he leaned into. "And speaking of getting laid-"

"W-Well, Ino's just as bad, and she was the best kunoichi in the year, so there!" Sakura said. "Besides, now I know genjutsu," she said, simply, as if that made all the difference.

"Hm... Kiba-kun, would you be able to knock Sakura out in less than a second?" Shamal asked, tilting her head slightly.

"Depends on starting position. If I get the drop on her or if we start in close range, then yeah, I could totally knock her out in less than a second," Kiba said. After all, Sakura's months of training didn't mean all that much when one considers Kiba was training just as intensely, and was building up from stronger blocks in the first place.

"What does that matter?" Sakura asked.

"And can you break Genjutsu?" Shamal continued.

"Depends, too. I can't counter Anko-sensei's bigger ones, but all the small stuff's easy. Failing that, Akamaru will notice and bite me if he's available," Kiba explained. "Putting a dog under a genjutsu is a lot harder, since their brain's wired differently from ours and all, so he's usually safe."

"Good to know. Now, Anko-san, what would you qualify Kiba-kun as?" Shamal asked, turning to Anko.

"Maybe a mid tier genin. Rank C at the most," Anko said, nodding to herself. "So yeah, think about this, pinky. A single Rank C ninja can lay you out with one or two punches, can outmaneuver you and can block anything you throw at him. See what I mean? You're still not out of the red zone in terms of ability."

"Well these D ranks sure aren't helping!" Sakura countered, her temper piqued and her anger exploding. "If you trained us instead of torturing us all the time, maybe I'd-"

"Still suck," Sasuke said, with an air of finality that caused Sakura to flinch. "Because you still aren't putting in any real effort. You're just doing what you're told, and leaving it at that. You never study anything that wasn't assigned to you, and you don't train outside of what Anko-sensei teaches us. That is why I think you're just a little girl playing ninja, Sakura."

"That's a lie!" Sakura roared, because she DID study outside of what was assigned to them! However, medicinal theory at the level she was at wasn't quite combat-conductive yet. In a few years, she'd start learning how to hurt just as easily as she could heal, but she was still learning about the human body.

"And I'm half-waiting for our first C rank to come along only for you to get spooked and choose to retire from field duty," Anko said, grinning and crossing her arms, totally ignoring Sakura and bringing up her already impressive chest even more. "Which is why I'm not teaching you anything more advanced than the basics. See, while I'm interested in seeing how far you can go, when it comes down to it, I'm not willing to put in so much work for someone who's not really worth it."

Sakura slumped again. "But... but..." she seemed to be completely at a loss, and couldn't figure out a way to counter that. Her anger was gone, leaving a feeling of defeat that reminded her of how pathetic she really was compared to the people around her. Her hair, often the source of taunts due to its bright pink color, covered her face.

"But then again, those are just words," Shamal said, startling Sakura. "That doesn't mean it's the truth, right? At least, it doesn't have to be the truth if you don't want it to be," she added, using her free hand to tilt Sakura's head up so they were looking at each other. There were tears threatening to spill from Sakura's eyes. "After all... if you gave up just like that, you'd be proving them right, wouldn't you? And you don't want them to be right, do you?"

"You're right," Sakura said, nodding her head, wiping away her tears. "Just because I'm not as strong as them yet doesn't mean I'm worthless!" she stated.

"That's the spirit," Shamal said. "Now, Anko-sensei, that was quite mean of you. I know Sakura-chan has her flaws, but that's no reason to tear down her self confidence."

Anko grinned and scratched the back of her neck, laughing nervously. "I was waiting for a chance like this, actually," she admitted, freely. "I'm good at tearing people down, but no good at building them back up, so I thought that I could use maybe you or Signum-san to give Sakura her confidence back, and maybe light the Will of Fire in her."

Shamal laughed. "Even though you like to pretend you're cruel, you're a nice girl underneath that spiked exterior, aren't you?" she asked.

"S-Sensei..." Sakura said, looking at Anko warily.

"You think I'd sink so much effort into a worthless pursuit? I know there's talent in you, girly, that's why I'm trying to get you to see that you're wasting it," Anko said.

"I was being honest, though," Kiba said, shaking his head and looking at Sasuke. "What about you, man?"

Sasuke nodded. "I have no interest in you," he said, "nor do I believe you have any real talent."

"Well then, Sakura-chan, there it stands. They're doubting you. And from their perspective, I can see why. So... what are you going to do about it?" Shamal asked, challengingly.

"I'm going to prove the both of you wrong!" Sakura yelled, pointing her finger at Sasuke first and then at Kiba. "And when I'm done, you two will apologize!"

"That'lll be the day," Kiba said, laughing. "I'll apologize about calling you worthless if you can beat me on a fight," Kiba said.

"Oh, by the way? We're here," Shamal interrupted. She fished in her pockets for the key and, once she found it, opened the outer gates that lead to the Uzumaki Estate. "Now, do get to work. I'll get some refreshments," she said, smiling at them.

"Aye aye, sensei!" Anko called, grinning. She gave a scroll to Sakura, containing the tools the mission office had loaned them, and calmly walked away.

All three of them knew she'd gone to see if she could find the estate's sole male occupant, in order to try and seduce him.


Why did I post this so quickly?

I already had it pretty much ready. I see no point in not posting the chapter as soon as its ready.

Interesting Trivia:

Shamal is wearing the casual clothes she wears in the Gears of Destiny PSP game, mostly because Konoha is a lot warmer than Uminari during winter and it wouldn't make sense for her to wear the clothes she did in Uminari. Incidentally, whenever they're in casual clothes, that's what the Wolkenritter wear in Konoha.

Sasuke is actually not crushing on Signum. He does admire her and she is sort of what he wants in a wife, given that she's the very model of what Uchiha strive for, but as for love? Well, he's quite young still.

Anko is only interested in casual sex and not in a relationship.