Chapter Two

disclaimer.

Land of Wave

It had taken them one week. One whole week to travel to the unfinished bridge that was the object of their mission. Had it just been his team, it would have taken a maximum of two days. Oh, not to mention the non-negotiable run-ins with two chuunin, one jounin and a fake hunter-nin on top of that; all of which were nuke-nin that were (allegedly) hired by Gato to kill their client. Oh, he hoped by all his love for Icha Icha that it was this Gato hiring assassins and not some other guy that the drunken bridge-builder had pissed off at some point – it was never a good thing to assume that it was the obvious person wanting to kill your client; he'd learnt that during his own genin days.

How the hell did he get himself into this mess?

Well, at least all that extra training the Sandaime had ordered him to force upon his team had helped in those encounters – it was seen in the way that they handled the encounter with the jounin; (er, Zabu-something, wasn't it? Hm, he really ought to get better with names…) he was able to give them a strategy and get them to distract Zabuza through 'arguing' which gave Kakashi the upper hand. Of course they probably would have argued any way, but this way he could switch them out with exploding bushin and happily continue on their way.

Unfortunately the next time that they encountered the nuke-nin, (which he knew would happen, just like he knew Rin would show up to complain about his tardy habits at 3.24 every Sunday while he was… well, wherever he was in Konoha, no matter how much money he bribed the Hokage with) his companion would probably join the fighting and Kakashi was unsure if his students would be able handle themselves.

Which was why they would have to train more.

Hmm. Training genin made him wish for those nice, relaxing days he spent as a prisoner in Iwa.

Somewhere in the Hidden Countries

"Rock… Tree… Rock… Tree… More trees… Big, creepy hideout… Tree… Wait a second!"

Hikari used chakra to bring her speeding pace to a grinding halt. Flailing around for a second, still a bit unused to the extremely potent chakra that she now possessed thanks to everyone's favourite fuzz-ball, she barely managed to prevail and avoid falling flat on her ass.

She started backtracking more slowly, being careful to go at a more… normal pace.

She still wasn't exactly sure of the changes to her chakra. Sure, she was now pretty sure that she could challenge Gai and mini-Gai to a tag-team long-distance sprint and win hands down without breaking a sweat (freaky, extremely freaky) but running was like a goddamned extreme sport. She counted her blessings that the chakra seemed to have altered her eyes to make it possible for her to see what she was passing by (which she knew would have been a blur under her prior circumstances) otherwise she would have been slamming into things with even more consistency than she was managing now.

Her mad healing skills were getting a work out through a vicious cycle – she would start out, making sure not to use the normal amount of chakra to propel herself because of previously worked-out increased potency, but her thoughts would inevitably stray and she would accidentally pump her 'normal' amount, which would literally send her flying, generally bashing into (and through) whatever obstacle that had been available at the time… be that tree, house, the random civilian trading cart… well, whatever she hit was usually large, solid and hard.

…Not to mention the numerous large, solid and hard objects behind said objects, and the ones behind those and the ones behind those and so on…

But back to that big, creepy hideout.

Violet eyes peered at the shabby building. She was tempted to roll her eyes – anything as blatantly 'bad' as that was probably just that way for the intimidation factor. It just screamed 'something shady is going on here, come on in take a look!' at any casual pedestrian.

…Well, maybe not to any normal people, what with it being in the woods and everything, but still to any curious shinobi it would be like sticking up a flashing sign painted with naked women and rolling out the welcoming mat.

Her unnaturally coloured eyes narrowed as she saw three small figures slip out of the house, being chased out by someone that was noticeably small and waif-like.

Hikari paused to watch as the door slammed closed behind what looked like two 'muscle' guys and their… pay check? Yeah, from the look of the tiny guy in a suit and how he was yelling at the two beef-cakes, he was the 'evil' dude with all the money that ordered people around while blustering about how he was going to rule the world... or something like that anyway.

Hikari rubbed her chin thoughtfully before shrugging 'awe, fuck it. May as well go find out what's up'. Completely ignoring everything her instructors at the academy had ever told her (humph, what would they know anyway?) she waved her hands and yelled "Hey! People! Whatcha doin?"

The beef-cakes eyes bulged and they whipped their hands to their swords while the short-man with the cane span around in surprise. Hikari thought the widened eyes looked a bit ridiculous on him before he seemed to regain his 'holier-than-thou' posture and stepped towards the slowly approaching kunoichi threateningly "Who gave you permission to come here?! This is my land, you… you…"

Hikari blinked upon finding a stubby finger shoved in her face (although the man had to stand on his tippy-toes to manage it). Now he was closer she could see he had fuzzy ginger hair and shaded glasses, and he wore a suit with a yellow shirt and purple tie. Colour blind, perhaps?

"Well!?" He demanded impatiently and waved his finger a little more as if that could be considered intimidating.

Hikari raised a brow and made a show of looking left and right before turning back to him "Guy, I haven't seen a bass-ass sign saying this is your land, alright? Geez, ya go a little fast and you have an angry midget on your hands…" She muttered that last bit, but from the lovely red and purple shading his face acquired she was inclined to believe the midget heard.

The midget didn't get a chance to say what he thought because one of the hired goons grabbed her arm in a meaty fist and yanked her away from him and spluttered loudly and self-importantly "WHY YOU…!! DO YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE TALKING TO!? THIS IS THE GREAT GATO! HE OWNS GATO TRADING COMPANY AND HAS MORE MONEY THAN YOU'VE MET PEOPLE, YOU PAUPER BITCH!" He squeezed her arm, making the bones grind together.

Hikari on her part was surprised. "That's Gato? Huh. I remember him being taller…"

"WHAT- why you… little!!"

She rubbed her chin, her eyes narrowing "Hmm, no I really coulda sworn he'd been taller… or… er, oh gawd, how'd I totally forget the guy?"

She was, of course, talking to herself by this point but her audience didn't seem to realise. "Why I oughta… what do you mean, you thought I was taller! That is a grave insult to my name, girl!"

Hikari absently waved in the direction spittle was flying and glanced at him "Oh, shut up for a moment, will ya? I'm tryin to figure out why you're so forgettable. I mean, I totally remember Zabuza and his over-compensation…"

"I WILL NOT BE IGNORED BY A LITTLE GIRL!!"

"Shut up. No, really. I also remember Haku and his (and oh, gawd and isn't that totally strange how he can pass for a girl… I mean, he's more lady-like than I am) totally awesome kekkei genkai with ice. And how Kaka-sensei impaled him on Chidori isn't something I'd ever forget… well, I guess ya don't really forget all that blood…"

"YOU… YOU!!!"

"Shut your freaking yapping!" She snapped at the loud-mouthed midget – that was apparently Gato, the dude she'd talked Zabuza into killing on her first C-Rank mission – and promptly whipped out a tag and used it to shut his mouth. "It's annoying." She muttered, beginning her walk in the direction she thought was where Tazuna's house should be.

"WHAT DID YOU D-DO TO HIM?" Grunt-one yelled at her, fluttering around his boss with the other one trying to make sense of the squiggles tapped over his yap.

"Oh, this is for the best, you know." She absent-mindedly replied, still thinking over just how she didn't remember the stupid Gato.

"Hmm, maybe he's just forgettable? Yeah, he's just forgettable. Totally not worth bothering over." She nodded to herself in resolve and ignored the explosion that came from the direction she had just vacated.

She glanced over her shoulder, seeing the new clearing she had just… installed, and grinned.

"Aah, I do so love exploding tags…"

-Unknown-

"Grrr. I hate you, tiny female."

"Ooooh, ominous words for such a glorified battery-pack, wouldn't you say?" The blonde provoked, a reckless grin splitting her face.

The thick cage bars rattled and creaked ominously under the assault of aforementioned 'battery pack'. A low, furious, rumbling, demonic growl ripped across the expanse as the being expressed its feelings blatantly. "The Kyuubi no Yoko is not a 'battery pack', and any who dare to refer to myself as such would normally be crushed under my feet, their blood splattered across the surroundings and I would use their intestines to lure in my next meal, their heads being-"

"Yes, yes" The woman said loudly, cutting across the demonic voice and waving her hand flippantly "Whatever, just don't monologue me! I swear, no matter how many times I hear you say that saying it will not suddenly make you capable of crushing me into the ground." The words were in a monotone, as if the woman was repeating a well-used line and was bored of it.

Another snarl was her answer, and a large nose crinkled up as massive, glowing red slit eyes narrowed at the tiny person in front of them "You need to learn proper respect, bug."

The woman sighed and rolled her eyes. "Sure, whatever. Now, why the hell… WAIT! Why the hell am I here again? Er… wasn't I just in you know, the past?" She glanced around the dark sewer for a moment in confusion before snapping back and glaring at the massive beast in front of her "HEY! YOU SAID YOU WOULDN'T COME WITH ME BACK TO THE PAST! HOW THE FUCK ARE YOU HERE, FUZZ-BUTT?!"

The demon lord snorted and the hot breath fanned across his former jailor, ruffling her hair and clothes. "Stupid bug. I would have thought your 'father' invading here and foolishly preventing you from releasing me the first time would have prepared you for something like this."

"Shut up you arrogant overgrown plushy!" Hikari furiously yelled at the demon. That was still a touchy subject for her.

The red eyes narrowed further and the sewer was saturated by Killing Intent before the demon snorted once again. "I care not for a mortal's 'problems' (It snarled the word mockingly) but I could not allow one bug to wander around unchecked with a fraction of my abilities. I said that I would leave instructions, and so I have."

"Yeah, those 'instructions'. Hmph. If I knew I'd have to talk to you even after you'd gone, I'd…" Hikari grumbled a few choice curses to herself before she glared back up and the fox. She crossed her arms, tapped her foot and narrowed her eyes at it. "You're amused, aren't you?!"

A twisted maw was what she got. "Silence now, bug. And listen closely, for I will not repeat this."

It was the tone of finality more than any kind of intimidation that made her acquiesce to the fox demon and make herself comfortable by plonking down in the water. Whenever Kyuubi got talking – really talking, not just calling her an idiot and berating her for her 'lack of proper bloodlust' or how he didn't think she deserved his chakra, he could talk.

Wave, unfinished Bridge

"Don't kill him, he's just an idiot!"

The shinobi on the bridge paused and looked at the pink-haired kunoichi that was standing next to the reason for their disagreement.

'Really', Kakashi bemoaned silently, 'Sakura should at least be in a more professional position to make it seem like she knows what she's doing! If Zabuza or that faux Hunter-nin managed to slip past one of us Tazuna would be dead before I could intervene.'

He quickly assessed the battle going on between Naruto, Sasuke and the hunter-nin and saw what Sakura was objecting to. The Kiri-nin had his genin at a stand-still; Naruto had gotten himself captured and was currently at the mercy of a senbon that was hovering over his throat.

They'd arrived at the bridge to find the bodies of the workers scattered around and a mist had come in to cloak their sight. Naruto had used a (completely and hopelessly overpowered jutsu, but at least it didn't explode or something like the last time) wind jutsu that Kakashi had taught him a few weeks ago to clear up the mist, and after that it'd turned into a battle of jounin-vs-jounin and so on. Sakura had taken up guarding Tazuna (who didn't exactly look happy with the choice of guard) and the boys as predicted had jumped in head-first. He really had to beat that habit out of them before it got them killed and the ensuing paperwork killed him.

Kakashi let a sort-of sigh out and glanced at Zabuza, "You wouldn't just give up now, would you?"

"No." The Demon of the Bloody Mist snorted at him, shooting an incredulous glance at the grey-haired jounin "Haku has Blondie at his mercy. You concede and he won't kill your genin."

Kakashi paused. Really, he was just biding a little time for his kage bushin created on-the-sly to break that apart, but a little drama always added a little *something* to a battle between ninja.

He opened his mouth to reply when something burst in on the scene loudly. Like, all colour and noise and completely out of place on a bloody (literally) bridge where a battle of shinobi was taking place.

When the person – he could see that, now – stopped and looked around, Kakashi took in everything pertinent to the situation – field analysis 101. Female, short, vivid red hair, violet eyes, red coat fluttering around in the wind, shinobi heeled sandals, knee-length pants and shirt. Lacking hitai-ite, Seal Master necklace obscured by collar.

He had taken advantage of the distraction to liberate Naruto from the Kiri-nin's hold, so he got a good look at the utterly shocked expression gracing the youthful-arrival's face as she stared at his blonde genin.

She slowly pointed a finger at Naruto, and Kakashi was mystified at loud (very) loud shout that issued from the woman.

"EEEEHHHH? BUT YOU'RE A BOY?!"

Enjoy. 16/1/2010 -skyflyte12