Chapter three - Mission commences!
The man's jaw split…It was hanging by the muscle sinews which held it it's face. Blood and saliva trickled down his chest and his tongue lolled out. His eyes where screaming in agony as two hands appeared in his mouth and continued to rip it apart. First one arm appeared, then two. Next half of a mans body slid out of the other man's mouth aided by his saliva and blood. He fell to the floor, covered in slime much like a snake when it hatches. He lay there for a few moments before proceeding to stand up and observe who had just effectively given birth to him.
Kabuto's corpse was slumped against a rock, his jaw completely removed and the roof of his mouth bleeding profusely. Blood was spattered all over his body. The man who had just came out of his mouth smiled.
"Thank you Kabuto, you have been a great assistance to me. Unfortunately your usefulness has ended ".
The man wiped his damp black hair from his face. His serpantine eyes flashed ominously in the streak of moonlight entering the cave.
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9 am - The hokage's office. Konoha.
"Well you certainly have improved greatly Naruto, to be able to stand toe to toe to me for more than 5 minutes is impressive. You still need to train though!" Tsunade stated. "You're definitely jounin level though, as a result I hear-by promote you to a jounin of Konoha".
Naruto blinked. "But I haven't even passed the chunin exams yet…I've never heard of someone jumping directly from genin to jounin.
"Why are you complaining about a promotion Naruto? Think as the fight yesterday as the chunin and jounin exams all in one". Tsunade said. "Anyway, as you are now a jounin you will be starting your first mission today as one. It's ranked as a B, but it shouldn't be to difficult considering the nature of the person involved".
"What is the mission Tsunade-sama"? Naruto asked
"A wealthy merchant in the grass country has been associating with ninjas listed in the bingo book to further his own ends. The Daimyo of the grass country has realised this and have asked for his immediate assassination, he intends to use the death of the merchant as a warning to others not to liase with such criminals. However, we would prefer to capture him alive" Tsunade said, putting stress on the last word. "We want to interrogate him, and find out the location of the criminal ninjas so we can quickly dispatch them".
"Sounds fair, what does this man look like, and will their be any serious resistance while we capture him"?
The fifth held up a picture of a plump man, with balding wispy hair dressed in obviously expensive robes. "Resistance should be minimal to moderate, he normally keeps a few guards with him at all times but they wont pose much of a problem".
"Okay" Naruto said "Who is my team going to be?"
"I understand you've worked well with Rock Lee before, so he will be one…Sakura will be the other acting as a medical ninja only". Tsunade said. "Oh, one more thing Naruto; though you have a 3 man team, the actual sneaking into the house where he lives is a one man job, too many people will compensate the mission. Also in three days times our intelligence says he is holding a feast to celebrate a new contract he has recently signed. It would be prudent to capture him after the feast. Go an gather your team members Naruto and get prepared. Dismissed!"
One hour later - the gate to Konoha:
Naruto, Sakura and Rock Lee where making final preparations for the mission, and congratulating Naruto on his promotion. Lee was dressed in his usual outfit, Sakura was wearing a dark blue skirt with a white, long sleeved top. Her forehead protector resting on top of her pink hair. Naruto, who was to be the one actually going to capture this merchant was dressed in loose black trousers, tucked into his boots. Naruto's sword was resting in it's normal horizontal position just above his waist and his top was black with medium sleeves, he also wore a mask similar to Kakashi's. His bright blonde hair and piercing blue eyes provided a stark contrast to his outfit.
It would take approximately two days to reach the country of grass at an average pace, which meant they had a day to spend going over last minute plans. Naruto glanced at the map Lee was holding.
"It looks like there is a waterfall directly above the merchants manor supplying the house with water. It would be a good idea to camp somewhere near the waterfall so we have a quick entry into the house". Naruto said.
With Sakura and Lee nodding their agreement the team set off for their destination.
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Location unknown:
A young man stood surveying the landscape. He touched the handle of the sword hanging loosely from his waist absentmindedly. He was wearing black, puffy trousers with a loose white shirt, the sleeves of which flapped about in the wind. His dark hair fell about his black eyes. Without notice a throbbing pain came from the back of his shoulder. The man dropped to one knee and grimaced, his hand flying to the cause of the pain. It was getting worse he thought…And though he had a suspicion to what it meant, he dared not believe it…
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Three days later:
It was midnight, stars illuminated the sky while the moon shone down causing enough light to see by. Faint voices filled with merriment floated up a waterfall towards where three ninjas camped. Naruto gazed up into the sky, lost in thought about how he was going to enter the manor. Previous recognisance discovered that it was well guarded. A small wall surrounded the main buildings and directly behind it was a medium one. Both had evil looking spikes covering them, and their was only one gatehouse in which was heavily manned. Naruto would have to improvise. He had yet to formulate how he was going to capture the man and bring him up to Sakura and Lee for escort back to Konoha.
A sudden silence brought Naruto out of his thoughts and back to reality. The voices coming from the manor had gone, which meant that the feast was over and it was time to strike. He checked his pack once more. Kunai, rope, shurikens, and signal flares where all there. Naruto turned to Lee and Sakura to say his goodbyes and receive good lucks.
Without a second thought Naruto ran directly across the stream leading for the waterfall and jumped down the massive torrent of water landing with a minimal splash into the pool below. Soaking wet, Naruto emerged and proceeded to the castle like manor.
"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu (Shadow Clone Jutsu)" Five Naruto's appeared beside the original. After a quick explanation describing the clone's jobs they disappeared. Naruto gave them five minutes exactly to discover the location of guards and the target its self. Naruto leaned back against the wall of the manor and listened carefully. After five minuets had passed he assimilated his clones and registered the information the had gained. There where a total of fifteen guards. Ten where patrolling outside of the manor, while the other five where directly guarding the target. Naruto grimaced, he'd preferred to completely avoid contact with the guards, but although he might be able to detour around the ten patrolling the perimeter, conflict was inevitable with the five directly guarding the merchant.
Naruto sighed, there was no point deliberating about it. He swiftly jumped up onto the first small wall, then the second middle one. He ran swiftly across it making as little noise as possible then jumped to the roof of the manor twisting in the air as he did. Pausing to catch his breath, he looked down and discovered he was on top of a sky light looking directly below the targets bedchambers. The merchant was undressing , getting ready to climb into bed. Two black silhouettes stood behind the paper screen separating the mans bedchambers from the corridor leading to it. Those must be guards Naruto presumed.
Summoning two clones, Naruto proceeded to gather wind chakra in his hand, then very carefully started to cut away at the main panel of the skylight. As soon as it was finished and the skylight fell to the floor with a resounding crash Naruto's two clones jumped down swords unsheathed and rushed to the two guards silhouettes stabbing through the paper screen before they had a chance to react. Naruto could see black blood spurt against the wall from behind the paper screen. Swiftly he jumped down to face the merchant.
"You are under arrest by order of the fifth hokage. The charges against you are liasing with criminal ninjas listed in the bingo book". Naruto stated as required. "I have orders to capture you and bring you back to the hidden leaf, where you will undergo questioning concerning your actions". With that said, Naruto jumped smartly onto the merchants bed where he was lying. Eyes wide open in bewilderment, and hit him smartly in the jaw knocking him out.
Putting a bag over the targets head and bundling him out of bed, Naruto jumped back up through the skylight and landed on the roof with the merchant slumped on his back.
"This is where it might get messy" Naruto said to himself while reaching down into his pouch for a signal flare. It illuminated high in the sky. A shower of red sparks flying down upon the manor. Sakura and Rock Lee who where looking out for it, nodded to each other and proceeded to run towards where it came from. The guards patrolling around the perimeter let out grunts of surprise as they saw the flare. Unsheathing swords and grabbing spears they rushed to the courtyard where Naruto now stood, the unconscious figure still slumped across his back.
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A/N
Hey guys and girls. The fourth chapter will be coming today, or tomorrow. I hope you enjoyed this one.
Also, I am sorry if I get any of the endings for names wrong such as 'sama', I've always sucked at that so please forgive me.