Chapter Three: Mission to the Wave
(My apologies, I'm not writing the bell test again. It basically goes the same as it does in the anime, except that Sasuke is the one who was tied up)
To say that team seven was pissed would be an understatement. Five months of doing nothing but D-rank missions would do that to anyone. Usually, the three genins were quite patient, but this is taking a toll out of their ever-lasting patience. Even Naru who had a patience capacity of a large mountain, being one of the FIRE Nine was starting to get irritated over all those missions. And anyone with eyes could see that even this 'mountain' was slowly starting to crumble.
After another day of doing nothing but D-rank missions, among which consisted of chasing the Fire daimyo's wife's cat from hell, Tora, team seven finally decided that they had enough. The cat was also fighting to not go back to his owner by biting and scratching the one who had caught him which turned out to be Sasuke who was definitely not pleased.
Privately, Naru thought to herself that it would be a blessing to the cat if they just killed it, especially after they had seen the daimyo's wife squeeze the cat nearly to death with one of her hugs which should be counted as animal abuse.
"I can see why it decided to run away all the time," muttered Ino and the other two nodded.
"Alright, team seven," said the Hokage, looking over a pile of mission scrolls that was labeled 'D-rank'. "Your missions for today will be…"
"NONONONONO!" wailed Ino, waving her arms about. "I'm not chasing that damned cat again! No more D-rank missions! We'd been at this for MONTHS! Can't we get a better mission?"
Sasuke was nodding and Naru gave a slight tilt of her head. The Hokage sighed. He really didn't want to give a rookie team a C-rank that quickly; even some of the older genin teams didn't get a C-rank until they had at least been genin for a year. But on the other hand, he knew that Naru could easily pull off a C-rank by herself if she wanted to.
The Hokage sighed and reached for a mission scroll labeled 'C-rank' which is the last one remaining and threw it at Kakashi who caught it with ease. "This will be a particularly easy C-rank," he said. "It will be an escort mission, requested by a bridge builder who had requested for protection from bandits and thugs while he was building his bridge. Bring Tazuna in!"
A moment later, the man that they were supposed to be protecting entered the room, a bottle of sake in his hand and a strong smell of sake wafting from him along with a grumpy look on his face.
"Hey, what is the meaning of this? I'd paid you good money and you gave a bunch of brats for my own protection?" The old man growled. "They look as if they were barely out of their diapers!"
Naru's eye twitched with annoyance and the other two openly scowled as well; Ino's hand was twitching slightly; trying not to kill their client.
"Tazuna-san, they are the best genin team in the Leaf and furthermore, they have a jounin with them," said the Hokage. "I can assure you that they can give you the best protection."
Kakashi closed his book with a snap and looked at his three students. "Alright, take whatever supplies that you have and meet me at the northern gate in half-an-hour."
Team seven nodded and Ino, Sasuke, Kakashi and Tazuna walked out of the mission room and Naru waited until she was sure they were gone before turning to the Hokage. "This isn't just a simple C-rank, right?" she said. "I can sense it. The bridge builder is hiding something."
The Hokage sighed, puffing away on his pipe. He knew that he wouldn't be able to hide anything from the FIRE Squad, especially from a member of the FIRE Nine. Their senses far surpass anyone else's, especially since they're the elite.
"No, it is actually an A-rank," said the Hokage. "Suzaku got a message from Kousetsu and her partner two days ago. Wave is being terrorized by the crime lord, Gatou. Team seven's mission will be merely to guard Tazuna, but I have a private mission for you."
"And that is?"
The Hokage sighed. "I want you to assassinate Gatou and destroy his bases, as well as assassinating his henchmen. This will bring Wave back to their feet. But keep your cover, though. Kousetsu's partner, as you know, he wasn't a member of the FIRE Squad, but one of Konoha's undercover ANBU division. Both he and Kousetsu are working undercover to assist us against Gatou. Keep the act up. You know as well as any of us do that those in the undercover division as well as the FIRE Squad…their true identities must not be known, unless you chose to divulge your identity; like how the few that you chose to let know."
Naru sighed. "Mission rank and objective?"
"S-rank at least," said the Hokage. "Your objective, as stated before, is an assassination mission on Gatou and destroying his bases. Also, get Kousetsu and her partner in Konoha where I could 'enlist' them as Konoha shinobis without them blowing their covers."
"Understood," said Naru with a nod before she saluted and disappeared in a puff of smoke.
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The hideout of Gatou was in a building that was built like a fortress in the Wave Country. Fences were built all around the building and the trees grew thick, giving it a slightly intimidating look and causing anyone attempting to break in to have second thoughts.
And it was in this particular place that one can find Kousetsu, Number Nine of the FIRE Nine. Said kunoichi was about twelve to thirteen, not much older than the average genin, yet had the rank of one of the most powerful ninjas in the world, on par or even better than that of the kage.
Kousetsu and the partner whom she usually worked with on undercover missions outside Konoha were formerly Mist missing-nins. However, four to five years ago, both of them who had been missing-nins then, ran into three of the most powerful members of the FIRE Nine; Tenken, Shunshu and Pearl. They had gotten into a fight and by the end of it, both Kousetsu and her partner had agreed to return to Konoha with them and be enlisted as Leaf-nins, as even the two had gotten tired of running all the time from hunter-nins.
Tenken had pulled some strings for them and had gone to the Water Daimyo of the Water Country and the daimyo had erased all records of them ever being missing-nins and the two are now free. Currently though, Kousetsu and her partner are on an undercover mission for close to a year now, and just a few moments ago, a messenger falcon belonging to one of the FIRE Nine, more specifically, Tenken had flew in by the window.
Each member of the FIRE Nine had their own messenger falcon and that was how they transmitted messages to each other. Kousetsu took the message from the falcon and said falcon soon took off again.
Kousetsu raised an eyebrow behind the fake hunter-nin mask that she had and smirked. She then turned to her partner. "Zabuza, Tenken had sent us a message. She's coming here with her genin team. Our mission is nearly done."
Zabuza nodded and gave a smirk.
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Naru watched with calculating eyes at the fast-going battle between Kakashi and Zabuza. Earlier, they had encountered Zabuza's partners, also in the undercover division of the ANBU, formerly Mist-nins as well, nicknamed the Demon Brothers. It took both Ino and Naru less than a minute to knock the two out with a quick punch to the face.
Following that, Tazuna had spilled his guts out to Kakashi about Wave's situation and team seven had then agreed to continue on the mission. And this is where they found themselves at present; a battle going on with Zabuza and Kakashi. In order to keep their cover up, Zabuza and Kousetsu had to keep up their façade as Mist missing-nins.
Finally, both Zabuza and Kakashi leapt back from each other and promptly collapsed on the spot. Naru sighed as she muttered something under her breath which sounds like, "Men." Naru and Ino headed towards Kakashi to examine him whilst Sasuke walked over to the unconscious Zabuza with an upraised kunai, intending to end his life.
Quick as lightning, Naru was over by Sasuke's side, gripping hold of the hand that held the kunai, a murderous expression on her face. "What do you think that you're doing?" she asked dangerously.
"He's the enemy. We should kill him now while we had the chance."
"And so you'd rather kill him now when he's all worn-out then kill him in a battle? Some honour for a ninja that you got," said Naru incredulously. "You're nothing but a coward, Uchiha."
Sasuke glared at her, the kunai in his hand quivering as he tried to overpower Naru, but to no avail. Naru didn't get her title as Number Three of the FIRE Nine for nothing. Out of the corner of her eye, Naru saw a ninja garbed in hunter-nin wear leapt out from the trees and swoop down onto Zabuza before carrying him away.
"His partner?" wondered Ino as Naru released her hold on Sasuke and headed over to Ino and Kakashi. She then looked at Naru. "It seems Kakashi-sensei is merely suffering from chakra exhaustion."
Naru sighed before she reached down and draped one of Kakashi's arms around her shoulders and turned to look at Tazuna, as if carrying grown men on her shoulders is an everyday occurrence. "Tazuna-san, can you lead the way to your house?"
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That Night:
A member of the FIRE Nine, dressed in the black trench coat that all members of the FIRE Nine had landed lightly on her feet next to a broken down shack not too far away from the Wave village and waited. It was a full moon night and it was nearly midnight when the ANBU sensed someone's presence and raised an eyebrow, part of her face hidden by the collar of her trench coat, recognising the chakra signature of her comrade.
There was a shrill whistle just before another member of the FIRE Nine, dressed in similar wear like her, with a black bandanna concealing her hair dropped down in front of her. Tenken nodded to Kousetsu who nodded back.
"Sorry I'm late," apologised Kousetsu. "Kakashi sure did a number on Zabuza. It'll take quite some time for him to recover from chakra exhaustion. He'll be bed-ridden for about a week."
Tenken nodded. "Report?"
Kousetsu nodded and her eyes turned serious. "Gatou is planning on betraying us," she said. "I'd found out quite a bit about his activities during the past year when we had been with him. You know some of those bases that Aisu and Koneko had destroyed two months ago?" Tenken nodded. "Those were some of Gatou's bases. I'd sent word to them and they proceeded to destroy every single one of Gatou's bases that they could find. I think that's part of the reason why Gatou had barricaded himself in his fortress in the Wave village. He thinks that assassins and missing-nins are out for his head."
Tenken gave a slight smirk that was barely visible. "He's not that far off from the truth," she said and Kousetsu chuckled. "I have a plan, though. Your mission is nearly done. I'll be showing myself to team seven as one of the FIRE Nine and Kakashi will obey my orders since a member of the FIRE Squad outranks him. I'll be pulling both you and Zabuza in as well; this will take Gatou and his henchmen out easily and the Hokage will have an excuse to 'enlist' both you and Zabuza in as Konoha-nins. You knew that only members of the FIRE Nine and the undercover division knew that you and Zabuza had been Leaf-nins for close to five years now."
Kousetsu nodded. "I understand," she said. "I'll let Zabuza know. See you soon."
Tenken nodded before a swirl of water and a wisp of black spot soon surrounded the spots where the two members of the FIRE Nine were at a few moments before, leaving no evidence behind that they were there at all.
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Naru seethed with anger as she sat on the top of the rooftop of Tazuna's house. The nerve of that damned brat! He actually had the cheek to tell her that she doesn't know suffering and pain!! Members of the Shadow Nine are a patient lot, but even this is enough to make Naru snap.
If it's anything, Naru hated people who wallow in self-pity. Sure, that kid had it bad, having lost his father, but he didn't have it as bad as most people, for the love of god! He still had his mother and grandfather, didn't he? But Naru, along with the other members of the FIRE Nine grew up all alone with companionship!
Other than the veteran members of the FIRE Nine, those who were in the FIRE Nine usually had quite a bad past and got to where they are today by depending on themselves. It is a trait commonly shared by most of the most powerful shinobis in the Leaf village. Orphans who grew up without any parents since they're toddlers, if they managed to survive, they usually became some of the most powerful shinobis ever known.
Naru's eyes narrowed as she caught the sight of Kousetsu's falcon bird circling thrice in the night sky and giving out a shrill cry which she understood. Naru sighed and took out a sealing scroll from within her pocket and unsealed her FIRE Squad gear before putting it on. She then released some of her chakra restraints which prevented her identity as a member of the FIRE Squad from being blown and promptly summoned a Kage Bunshin to act as her genin self.
She gave a slight smirk as the Kage Bunshin entered the house. Phase one of the plan, completed.
Kakashi nearly wetted in his pants as Tsunami opened the front door only to be greeted by a member of the FIRE Nine, or more specifically, Tenken.
At the dining table, Ino had realised immediately that the ANBU was Naru since she, along with Chouji and Shikamaru are the only ones of their generation who knew of Naru and Hinata's identities as members of the FIRE Nine. However, Sasuke had bristled in his seat at the sight of the ANBU.
"Erm…konbawa, Tenken-san," said Kakashi, feeling extremely nervous. It wasn't everyday that you get to see a member of the FIRE Squad after all, especially one of the FIRE Nine, the personal ANBU elite force of the Hokage. "May I ask what are you doing here?"
Kakashi knew the personalities of the FIRE Nine well; they are each on call twenty-four hours a day without rest and their jobs are to eliminate any threats or obstacles that threatened the Fire Country or the village of Konoha. There is simply no way in hell that a member of the FIRE Nine, especially Tenken, Number Three of the FIRE Nine to appear in Wave for sightseeing reasons. They just aren't human enough for those.
The members of the FIRE Nine are ranked accordingly to their strength and Tenken was currently the third strongest in the whole of the Fire Country, especially since even the members of the Shadow Nine were even stronger than that of a kage.
Tenken tilted her head to one side. "Mission," she stated simply. "A mission issued by the Hokage. I am to eliminate Gatou and his henchmen as well as to destroy his bases to bring Wave back to their feet and restore it to their former glory. I'll try to bring the Mist missing-nins over to our side to ensure the operation goes smoothly. And by the way, can I borrow Uzumaki Naru for a moment?"
'Naru' stood up from the seat where she was sitting and walked over to Tenken whilst Kakashi raised a confused eyebrow. "Well, sure," mumbled Kakashi. "But why do you need her?"
"She is essential for our plans," was Tenken's answer and Sasuke bristled at this and Kakashi groaned to himself.
He wished that Tenken would stop saying things like that to add on to Sasuke's jealously and rage and cause him to run away from the village in the near future. With what Tenken had said, it practically spelt out that Tenken, Number Three of the FIRE Nine, the most famous of the FIRE Nine doesn't give the Uchiha a damn and would prefer his female student to assist her than Sasuke.
"Why the hell do you need her?" Sasuke slammed his hands down onto the table so hard that it was a miracle that the table still stood upright. "I'm the strongest! I'm an Uchiha! Why do you need some commoner when you can have me, the elite of the Uchiha clan?"
As soon as he said that, the temperature dropped several degrees and Kakashi was focusing chakra into his feet, prepared to stop Tenken if necessary, though he knew, as any shinobi from any of the elemental countries did, that he wasn't a match for a member of the Shadow Nine. He's only an A-ranked shinobis whilst all members of the Shadow Nine were at high-level S-rank level to borderline SS-rank.
"If I recall correctly," said Tenken, a slight hint of killing intent in her voice, freezing Sasuke to his spot. "The Uchiha clan is nothing but a bunch of traitors who attempted to assassinate the Sandaime for something as foolish as power."
"The Uchiha clan isn't traitors!" shouted Sasuke. "They were framed!"
Tenken gave a bitter laugh. "Talk about thick with a capital T," she said. "It wasn't just Itachi who caught the Uchiha clan red-handed. A few members of the FIRE Nine were involved as well. I was among those that assassinated the Uchiha clan." There was silence and Sasuke went deadly pale. "You, my friend, is nothing more than just an ordinary shinobi in Konoha. I can assure you this; the shinobi council didn't want you to be a shinobi in the first place, especially Koharu-sama and Homura-sama. They only relented after the members of the FIRE Nine, especially Shunshu appealed for your case, otherwise, you can forget about ever being a shinobi in the village of Konoha. And Uchiha Sasuke, if you ever made an attempt on the life of Uchiha Itachi in the near future, consider your life forfeited. The FIRE Squad never abandons someone who had helped one of their own."
"W-What did you just-" Sasuke was quickly restrained by Kakashi who had covered the boy's mouth with one hand, the other on his shoulder.
"Right, we get the point, Tenken-san!" said Kakashi quickly. "We'll be honoured to assist you in whatever you require of us!"
"Your honesty is touching, Kakashi," said Tenken with a hint of sarcasm in her voice. "Just keep an eye on the Uchiha brat. I won't have my mission failing because of the ego of a spoilt brat."
With that, Tenken grabbed hold of 'Naru's' shoulder and disappeared in a puff of smoke, much to Kakashi's relief. He had interfered as he knew that the FIRE Squad were merciless, having worked with one of their members in the past. They were merciless even to the shinobis of their own village if they're on a mission as most missions that the FIRE Nine were on concerns the Fire Country and the Leaf village greatly. If Sasuke continued on with his attitude and threats, team seven will be missing one member soon enough.
Tenken was known to be ruthless to traitors or attempted traitors to the village. The case of Rokushou Aoi, a former jounin instructor of Konoha was proof enough. The jounin had tricked Morino Ibiki's brother in stealing the Raijin sword of the Nidaime Hokage and had lured both Ibiki and his brother into the woods of Konoha. The Hokage had quickly caught wind of this and as Tenken was the only available member of the Shadow Nine present at that time, she was dispatched.
Fortunately for her, she had arrived just in time to save Ibiki and Idate's life. Rokushou Aoi was promptly killed by her on the spot and the Raijin sword retrieved. Ibiki and Idate were promptly brought back to Konoha to heal from their injuries. From what Kakashi had known of that event, Idate had worked hard and had gotten promoted to Chuunin two years after that. The last that he heard, he was now working as an assistant Academy instructor.
Tenken was the best of the FIRE Squad, maybe the best of all the ANBU that Konoha had. Uchiha or no Uchiha, the FIRE Squad don't give a damn.
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Kousetsu was leaning against the wall next to the windowsill, watching Zabuza unwrap the bandages around his hand, flexing his fingers when Tenken's falcon flew in by the opened window and dropped a scroll at Kousetsu's feet before taking off again.
Kousetsu raised an eyebrow as she picked up the scroll and unrolled it, reading the message inside before destroying it with a quick fire jutsu, turning to Zabuza. "Tenken is here," she said. "Our real mission is about to begin, Zabuza."
Zabuza gave a smirk before lifting his sword and hoisting it on his back. "About time," he said. "Let's go and assist her, shall we? And let's show them what an undercover ANBU can do!"
Kousetsu and Zabuza landed by the outskirts of Gatou's base, being greeted by a slight nod by Tenken and a slight wave from Kakashi who had came along with his genin team and majority of the Wave's townspeople, the bridge builder and his daughter and grandson among them.
Zabuza nodded back to Tenken as he knew that most members of the FIRE Nine don't talk much unless necessary, unless in the presence of one of their own. Zabuza is the only ANBU in the undercover division ANBU of Konoha that knew the identities of at least four members of the Shadow Nine. Secretly, he was part of the secret assassination division of the ANBU undercover division that killed off all those who found out the identities of the FIRE Nine. Only those whom the FIRE Nine trusted were left alive, those who do not were promptly killed.
'Naru', whom both Kousetsu and Zabuza knew was a Kage Bunshin made by Tenken stepped forward; apparently, the Kage Bunshin was going to act as Tenken's spokesperson. "Tenken-san had told me about the plan," said the Kage Bunshin. "She, Kakashi, and the both of you are going to enter the fortress and kill Gatou and every single one of his henchmen. The rest of us are going to remain here and made sure that no one escapes. Gatou's money will go to the Wave to bring this country back to its feet and complete the bridge. Following that, we will then set the fortress on fire."
Zabuza and Kousetsu nodded and Ino was nodding as well. But Sasuke didn't look too pleased and Kakashi whirled around to him. "No, Sasuke, you are going to stay here!" snapped the Copy Ninja. "You know as well as I do that a member of the FIRE Squad, especially a member of the FIRE Nine outranks me! Furthermore, I won't have you killing yet! You're just not ready."
Sasuke grumbled, but he obeyed his teacher nonetheless. However, he was getting curious about Tenken, though. She doesn't look to be much older than he was, judging by her voice and height and he was furious as one of the murderers of his clan was standing right in front of him and he couldn't do anything! Sasuke isn't stupid; he knew that he wasn't a match for a member of the FIRE Nine. He then vowed to himself that he will find out about the true identity of Tenken, Number Three of the FIRE Nine and then kill her, along with his brother.
Tenken sighed inwardly, then turned towards Kousetsu and Zabuza. "Alright, let's move in!"
The four had moved to different areas of Gatou's base in order to cover more ground. Kousetsu and Tenken could easily look after themselves as they're one of the few in the FIRE Nine who could sense another person's presence within a ten feet radius around them. As for Kakashi and Zabuza, the two aren't elite ANBU for nothing. Each of the four had a communicator with them in order to communicate with each other.
Tenken and Kousetsu had taken out most of Gatou's henchmen that were guarding the base and then, Kousetsu spoke into her communicator. "Our side is cleared. Let's get down to business!"
At where they were, both Zabuza and Kakashi gave identical smirks.
Mission commence.
BOOM!
An explosion was heard somewhere in Gatou's base and alarms started ringing shrilly. "What the hell was that?" Gatou gasped as one of his bodyguards rushed to investigate and then…promptly had his head separated from his body by thin ninja wire.
"We're under attack!"
"I can see that! Alert everyone and kill the intruders!"
"I'm afraid that it's too late for that," said a voice and Gatou and his remaining bodyguard turned to see Zabuza with a bloodstained sword. "Because you are going to die here." Gatou screamed a girly-like scream as his body was cleaved in half. The same fate went to his remaining bodyguard and Zabuza then took out his communicator. "I'm done."
"Roger that," said Kakashi, his voice cackling through the communicator. "I'm taking out the first floor now. Tenken-san is taking out the rest of the floors and your partner is on the top. Please free the captives that Gatou had captured."
"Roger."
Back with Kousetsu, she was taking all the money that Gatou had stashed away and had promptly used one of her ice jutsus to teleport it back outside to where the Wave townspeople stood waiting. The townspeople on the other hand, were filled with surprise and then delight to see that 'the sky was raining money'.
She had heard muffled curses from Zabuza's end as he freed the captives that Gatou had captured, muttering something about, "beast in human's skin…even if I'm called the Demon of the Mist, even I'm not as sick as that."
The last of the moneybags were soon gone and Kousetsu spoke into her communicator. "My side's done," she reported.
"Good," said Tenken. "Get out of here immediately. We're going to set Gatou's base on fire."
"Roger."
After the townspeople had neatly stacked the moneybags that Kousetsu had given them generously, Kakashi, Zabuza, Tenken and Kousetsu had gotten out of the fortress, their jobs done. The men had gotten some gasoline and with some help from team seven, had splashed the ground and the walls of the fortress with it.
"Hey, we need some light here!" yelled a man. "We're going to set this place ablaze!"
Unfortunately, no one has matches with them. However, a certain Uchiha soon came to the rescue.
"Leave it to me," said Sasuke as he formed a few handseals, ending with the tiger seal and inhaled and exhaled, "Katon: Gokakyuu no jutsu!" The moment the fireballs touched the gasoline-soaked areas of the fortress, it was promptly set ablaze and everyone watched with satisfaction as the fortress was burned down.
"Our years of poverty are over!" yelled Tazuna with happiness, waving a sake bottle about. "Wave will soon get back to its feet and our village will flourish soon!"
The villagers cheered as they headed back to the village where there was a party being thrown by their families in honour of the ninjas that had saved them. Ino was laughing as she was talking with the other young women of the village, each eager to know more about the ninja's life. Apparently, the Konoha shinobis had caused many youngsters in the village to inspire to be ninjas and Ino was all too happy to tell them about the ninja's life.
Sasuke was being dragged along by Kakashi to socialize with the townsfolk and Tazuna and Zabuza were having a sake drinking contest. Kousetsu was nowhere in sight and Tenken was leaning against a tree, watching the happy faces of the townspeople. This was just one of the aftermaths after a mission that she enjoyed. Seeing the happy faces of the people that she had helped.
Tenken then felt a presence and turned around to see Inari, the bridge builder's grandson walking up to her and raised an eyebrow. "Is there something that I can help you with?"
"Being a ninja…" said Inari quietly. "What is it like?"
Tenken raised an eyebrow. "Does this have anything to do with Naru?" she asked and Inari nodded. "What did Kakashi tell you?"
"He said that she hadn't had an easy life," said Inari. "He told me that she barely survived an assassination attempt on her life when she was barely four and had grown up all alone without any family or support. Is that true?"
Tenken gave a curt nod. "My ANBU division helped raised her from the age of four," she answered. "She was cheerful and happy-go-lucky once. But the village destroyed her spirit. Soon after, she became what a true shinobi was; emotionless…having the ability to kill without any remorse. A ninja's life isn't exactly happy; we had the worst of it as it's in our job to kill. My ANBU division especially, we had the worst of it. No other ANBU division even comes close to the things that we had to do to ensure the village and the Fire Country's safety."
"I…I wanted to be a shinobi too," said Inari determinedly and Tenken looked at Inari. The eyes of the young boy was sparking and burning with a kind of fire that was rarely seen in anyone now. "But…I don't want to just be an emotionless tool or weapon like what you'd just said."
"It's your path…your decision to make to determine the kind of road that you want to walk," said Tenken, crossing her arms across her chest. "I want you to make sure that this is really the path that you want to take before you send an application to the Ninja Academy. Sure, I'd welcome you to be a ninja, but make sure that this is the path that you want to take."
Inari smiled. "I'll tell Mum and Gramps," he said and then gave a slight wave. "You'll probably see me in the Ninja Academy of Konoha within a few months!" He then left and Tenken blinked before chuckling.
"That boy…"
"I do believe that's the most that you had ever spoken so far," said a voice and Tenken looked up the tree that she was leaning against to see Kousetsu sitting on one of the tree branches, munching on an apple. "You'd changed, Tenken."
"In what way?"
Kousetsu snorted as she threw the apple core into a nearby trashcan. "In the past, before I took on this mission to clean out the trash otherwise known as Gatou, you can even beat Shunshu being emotionless. I guess Hokage-sama did the right thing by assigning you to a genin team for a while. The FIRE Nine never had the chance to enjoy companionship and friends; we couldn't afford to. It's still alright for the rest of us since no one knew that we're of the FIRE Nine, thus, we still had friends, even though most of them are in ANBU. But it's a little tough for you since majority of the civilians in the village despised you. The shinobis on the other hand have accepted you. Why don't you give it a try? You know as well as I do that friends and relationships are what keep a shinobi sane."
Kousetsu landed lightly on her feet and patted Tenken on the shoulder. "We'd been friends for a long time, Tenken," she said. "I do not wish to see a talented shinobi like yourself waste away." Kousetsu then started to walk away. "Think about it."
"Friends, huh?" mused Tenken. "Maybe you're right…"
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A day after the celebration party, Tenken had told Kakashi and team seven that she had to head back to Konoha, taking the Mist missing-nins as well as Uzumaki Naru with her. Kakashi could understand why Tenken had to take Zabuza and his companion, whom he hadn't seen the face of or even knew the name yet, as she had to vouch for the two in order to be made Leaf-nins, but he couldn't for the life of himself figure out why Tenken wanted to take Naru with her.
Regardless, he still agreed as the bridge that Tazuna was building wasn't completed yet and their mission was to guard the bridge builder whilst he was building the bridge. Tazuna and the rest of the townspeople had decided to name the bridge 'the Great Naru Bridge', much to Tenken and Kousetsu's amusement, but no one had any objections.
Inari and several of the townspeople had seen Tenken and her companions off as she left Wave, promising to come visit Wave in the near future if she had the time. Zabuza was promptly given his status as an undercover ANBU back and had promptly disappeared into the shadows.
In Konoha, three days later, the remaining members of team seven had returned only to learn that a fight had broken out two nights ago in the town square of the village; a fight between a Leaf-nin and the companion of the Demon of the Mist whom a member of the FIRE Nine had taken back to be made a Leaf-nin. Unfortunately, that new Leaf-nin was promptly killed in the scuffle.
Many Leaf-nins mourned the death of a valuable comrade in arms, but the members of the FIRE Nine welcomed back one of their own. Number Nine of the FIRE Nine, Shisei Haku, otherwise known as Kousetsu, Ice Princess of the FIRE Nine.
