TangentOne: This story seems a little too good for your brain, Two.
TangentTwo: You underestimate me? The Great and Mighty Two?
TangentOne: It's not an underestimation, just a simple comment.
TangentTwo: Thems fightin' words!
The morning light shone through the barracks window next to my bunk, lighting my face and ushering me awake. I rise slowly, wiping my eyes clear of drowsiness, donning my equipment and writing my report. I finish the report, roll it up and place it inside my pouch. I move over to the window and leap out of it, landing softly on the roof below.
The rooftops were clear this morning, no active ninja in sight. I hop from rooftop to rooftop, finding myself at the Hokage's office in good time. Entering through the window as usual and land next to Hiruzen's desk. Hiruzen is sitting, filling out paperwork, puffing his pipe and overall ensuring the safety of the village.
"Lord Third, I have successfully completed my mission." I announce, kneeling next to him with my head held low.
"Ah, Yūichi, I was not expecting you back so soon. Please hand me your report." Lord Third asks, holding his hand out towards me.
I pull the report from my waist pouch, handing it to Hiruzen. He starts to read it, noting every detail and pondering on the contents. As he finishes he places it onto his desk and gestures for me to stand.
"A fine job, Yūichi. It seems even with all that has happened you are still able to perform to the peak of your abilities," Lord Third remarks, relighting his pipe. "I have something I'd like to ask you, if you'll indulge me."
"Of course, Lord Third, I cannot refuse you." I reply.
"You mistake me, this is not a village matter. I am asking you as a friend, not the Hokage," Lord Third explains, standing and holding his hand out towards me. "Why do you continue to serve in ANBU, even after Minato released you?"
I was in shock, I didn't realise Hiruzen had heard Minato. Yet he still allows me to stay in ANBU even after my ordered release.
"So you heard Minato release me? Well, I'm sorry for hiding it, Lord Third, but I didn't want the free time that came with being out of ANBU." I clarify to him, accepting his hand and standing up.
"I see, then I shall allow you to serve, but next time, Yūichi, don't lie to me. You're lucky it was me and not someone else, or you'd be marked a traitor," Lord Third reinforces, turning to his desk to grab an unopened mission scroll. "Here, something to keep you busy. It's a simple assassination mission, you're team is assembling at the barracks. Meet them there as soon as you are able."
"Yes, Lord Third." I answer, taking the scroll and leaving the office.
The next few months were the same, accepting any mission I could get. I'm worn out by the constant missions, but I cannot allow myself to dwell on my grief. The village's wounds from the Nine-Tails attack were showing signs of healing. Most, if not all, of the physical damage to the village was repaired, but the psychological healing is still taking place.
Hiruzen had forced me to take a day off, one I had begged for him not to saddle me with, however he wouldn't have it. I woke in a cold sweat in the ANBU barracks located above Hokage Rock, my fellow ANBU-nin watching over me.
"You okay there, Wolf?" the ANBU-nin asks me, hovering over me with a concerned look on her face.
"Yeah I'm good, Panther," I reply, sitting up in my bed. "A bad dream, nothing more."
"Are you sure? You were thrashing about rather violently. I'm guessing this is one of the reasons Lord Third ordered you to take a day off." Panther voices, grabbing a warm cloth from my bedside and handing it to me.
"One of them yes…" I begin, stopping myself before my repressed grief surfaces. "Is there a mission I can tag along on?"
"Well, my mission is to keep you in the village, so… no." Panther answers me, averting her gaze as she knows I don't want to be held up here.
"You've got to be kidding me! Lord Third really wants me to take a break doesn't he?" I state rhetorically, getting myself out of bed.
"Would I lie to you? Anyway, as I'm assigned to you all day, what do you intend to do?" Panther inquires, walking over to her bunk and dressing in her jōnin attire.
"I guess I'll go and check on my family, I haven't seen them in a while," I mention, donning a similar attire as Panther. "While we're out today, it's best to use our given names."
"Got it, Yū-chan." She replies, now finished dressing and waiting by the window next to my bunk, watching me finish donning my gear.
"Will you not call me Yū-chan, Tsuneko?" I quip.
"Nope." She quickly jumps out of the window before I can argue.
"Fu..." I start, but stop after I realize I lost. "Women..."
"Come on, Yū-chan!" Tsuneko shouts from outside the window, goading me further.
"Oh for the love of the Sage, I'm coming!" I acquiesce, leaping out the window in pursuit.
Tsuneko flew across the rooftops, turning every so often to provoke me further. I was following behind with a decent gap between us. After a minute of chasing, I drop off of a building while she was distracted, teleporting myself to my Clan's front door way ahead of her. A few more minutes pass, before a rather angry Tsuneko lands beside me.
"That's a cheap trick, Yū-chan." She moans, piercing my soul with her glare.
"It's your fault for being slow, Neko-chan." I say sarcastically.
"Don't call me that in public, idiot." She returns, now choosing to ignore me and knocking on the door.
A brief wait follows before my father opens the door to greet his guests.
"Ah, Yūichi, you've come home. It's been awhile, we had wondered when we would see you again, and you brought a friend with you too," My Tou-san begins, ushering us in. "Your mother is in the lounge with the baby Naruto."
"It's good to see you, Tou-san, it has been awhile hasn't it. This is Neko-chan, and as you said she's a friend of mine." I greet, introducing Tsuneko.
"It's nice to meet you, Mizuno-san." Tsuneko slightly bows, glaring at me the entire time.
"Well come in then." Tou-san ushers us into the manor and points to the lounge instinctively.
I walk through the house, making my way to the lounge with Tsuneko in tow. She kept very quiet, as she normally does when in company. I approach the door, slide it open and greet my mother.
"Morning, Kaa-san." I voice softly, walking over to a chair, sitting down.
"Yūichi? It's been awhile hasn't it," My Kaa-san greets me, a huge smile adorning her face while holding Naruto. "How have you been?"
"I've been better if I'm honest, Kaa-san, but I'll be fine. How have you and Tou-san been?" I inquire, hiding my true feelings.
"Well, it's been rather busy around here, Naruto takes a lot of looking after. Your Tou-san has been helping Lord Third around the village, doing what, I don't know," Kaa-san lists, all while caressing Naruto. "Considering all that, we've been good. Oh, I mustn't forget you brought a friend with you, I'm Mizuno Yuki. The man who let you in is Mizuno Masaru, my husband."
"It's nice to meet you, I'm Hanamura Tsuneko." Tsuneko returns, bowing formally.
The next few minutes were plagued by silence, neither myself, Tsuneko or my Kaa-san knew what to say to each other. It has been so long since I was last here, not even keeping them updated on how, or what I was doing. I feel tension, not something an outsider would feel, but something I remembered from a young age. Like mother yelling. Tsuneko was out of her element, she's never been one for personal matters, keeping to herself. She only came with me because she was ordered to keep me in the village.
"How's Naruto been?" I voice, clinging onto whatever came into my mind.
"He's been well, as I said he's a lot of work, but that's because he's a newborn." Kaa-san replies, getting up and walking to the crib at the other side of her chair.
"Good." Is all I can muster in return, my home no longer feeling like it is one.
Again the conversation dies out. Maybe they took the news as bad as I did, and this is how they are coping. I guess not hearing from me made it worse, believing they could have lost their son as well. I pushed myself into my work, but I thought they would understand and not worry. I must have been wrong, I need to get out of here and collect myself.
"I must be going Kaa-san." I force out, not wanting to to face my realizations.
She doesn't respond, just looks plainly at Naruto in his crib. I stand, and begin to leave before she looks at me and mumbles.
"Please come back to us." Barely audible, well to a civilian.
Those five words hit me harder than I expected them to, cutting to my core. Tsuneko tenses up as she too hears the words enter her ears. Our pace increases, walking past my father and out of the manor. We stand outside, my father visibly confused, but before he can ask us anything I turn to Tsuneko.
"We're going to training field seven, hold onto my arm." I bark lightly, preparing to active a seal at the training field.
"Ok...ay." She returns, grabbing onto me.
The second her arm makes contact with mine, we disappear into a time-space dimension, and then appear at the training field.
"That was very tense, not what I expected from your family." Tsuneko lets out, relaxing herself.
"Just drop it," The words leave my mouth, venom laced into each one. "I'm not in the fucking mood."
"Oh come on, Yū-chan, don't be so feisty." Tsuneko tries to calm me by using her patented charm.
"Let's spar, that should shut you up." I snap, creating some distance between us and draw two kunai.
"Can we not, I don't really want to practice on my day off." Tsuneko sassily counters my demand.
"It's my day off, you're on duty, so prepare yourself. If you don't, you'll die." My killing intent lashes out, anger clouding my thoughts.
She sighs, yielding to my order also drawing a kunai. She enters a battle stance, prioritizing defence over offence. This isn't her first spar with me.
"Do we really have to do this, I'll apologize if you really want me too." Tsuneko drops her usual demeanor in favor of her ANBU one.
"You've already pissed me off, we're sparing." I assert, entering my own battle stance.
I launch at Tsuneko, raising the kunai in my right hand ready to slash at her. She responds to the attack, readying her own kunai, blocking the hit, as I had hoped. The kunai in my left hand was suspiciously gone, a fact she only realized as the space around me warped with a red flash. As I launched my attack, I threw the left kunai behind her whilst her attention was on the right.
I reappear behind her holding a Rasengan in my now free right hand, or at least a semi-ready Rasengan. I had dropped the kunai that was in my right hand as I teleported behind her. The next few seconds flew by, as my Rasengan hit her side, launching her away from me into the trees surrounding the area. Tsuneko hit a few trees before landing on her feet, now sprinting back at me, preparing a jutsu. A rather advanced water jutsu.
"So now you intend to actually try. Fine," I mirror her, preparing my own jutsu, "Fire Release: Art of the Phoenix Flower."
I draw a giant breath, exhaling a large quantity of fire all while throwing out a volley of small shuriken. The fire engulfs each of the shuriken, setting them alight. Each of the shuriken continue to their destination, each flying directly at Tsuneko, tracking her movement slightly.
"Water Release: Tearing Torrent!" Tsuneko roars, upon finishing the hand seals.
As they drew closer, Tsuneko raised her left hand forward, a rotating spiral of water swirling in it. Once her arm was fully extended, the water shot towards me. Covering a large area in front of her in the shape of a cone. The flaming shuriken slam into the water torrent, pushing through to reach their destination. The flames all extinguish in the torrent, but the shuriken continue with their speed slightly hampered.
Tsuneko recoils slightly. Doing so forces her jutsu to stop, not expecting the shuriken to continue. The shuriken flew past, her stance now completely open. Each one cuts into her flesh, leaving various degrees of depth in each wound. Whilst she was distracted, I start on the hand seals for another jutsu.
"Shit!" Tsuneko blurts out, grabbing onto her right arm, it had took the majority of the attack.
The cuts leaving her arm useless. Now without the use of her right hand, she can't use any of her jutsus. I could see her contemplating the options available. The skill difference between myself and Tsuneko was too large when I tried.
"Fire Release: Blaze Eruption." I utter, finishing the hand seals and spewing a great amount of fire out of my mouth.
The fire continues to flow out of my month, each flame joining itself to the next. Forming a giant fireball in front of me. It then compresses itself. The moment it finishes forming, it shoots itself towards Tsuneko, leaving no room for error.
"I concede, please stop, Yū-chan." She pleads, falling to her knees.
I hear the words. They repeat themselves in my mind, unclouding the very anger that took control of me. The fireball is almost upon her. I imbue a kunai with wind and fling it towards her. The kunai hits the ground mere seconds before the fireball crashes into her. Fire warping the trees and ground. Burning all present in the tree line.
"That was close. I'd best get you to the hospital," I claim, holding Tsuneko in my arms. "I'm sorry."
The fire bomb was fast, but I was faster. Teleporting myself to Tsuneko and grab her, before teleporting back to the seal I used to get here.
"God you're an ass, I can heal myself you know. Well not while you were trying to kill me, Yū-chan." Tsuneko sasses me, cross armed pouting in my arms.
"I said I was sorry." I return, putting her down.
"After you tried to kill me while we were fucking sparing!" She replies, screaming right at my face, well under given our height difference.
"There was no reason to say sorry before," I quip, sitting myself on the grass and pat on the empty space next to me. "Come on, sit down and heal yourself."
Tsuneko ignores my reply, simply sitting down and beginning to heal her wounds. The next few minutes pass. I move myself to lie down. When she finishes, Tsuneko lays beside me.
"I'm sorry as well, Yū-chan. I didn't realize how angry you were. My charm usually makes you feel better." She jests, turning herself on her side to face me.
"What charm? Last time I checked, I was the one with the charm." I banter back, watching her scrunch her face at my reply.
"Hah, like you have any charm, mister 'I want to do nothing but go out on mission so I can repress my feelings and force those who care about me to worry'." Tsuneko says cheekily, acting out her impression of me.
"I guess you're right, I only thought of myself and not those around me," I open up, my jovial tone now gone. "I'm sorry if I've ever made you worry while out on a mission, Tsuneko."
"You idiot." Is all she can say in return, turning away from me.
"You might be right about that." I finish, drifting off into a light sleep.
I awoke after the entire day had passed before my unconscious body. Tsuneko was laid next to me, closer then before I fell asleep. She was still out of it, sleeping rather heavily for a ninja.
"Tsuneko… It's about time we got back to the barracks." I nudge her awake, watching as she drowsily get's herself up.
"How long have we been here?" She asks,wiping the dust from her eyes.
"The entire day it seems. I need to get back and get ready. My day off is finally over." I voice, getting myself up as well.
"I guess you didn't enjoy today?" Tsuneko asks, seemingly nervous.
"It wasn't the best day of my life, I'll admit, but it's a damn sight better than the last few months have been. Your company sure helps," I admit, checking myself over.
"Well, let's get back to the barracks then." Tsuneko chirps, a bright smile adorning her face.
One she's trying to hide.
"Grab onto me so I can teleport us, I really want to get back so I can prepare to leave." I announce, readying my seal.
"Okay." She returns, grabbing my arm.
The moment her arm touches me, the space around us warps with a crimson flash. The barracks appears around us, various other ANBU-nin readying themselves, undressing or lying asleep. The barracks was busy tonight. It seems that my return was good timing. I grab my gear, undressing from my standard jōnin attire and donning my ANBU gear and mask.
"Hey, Wolf, where were you today? Not like you to have a day off." Fox inquires, walking over to my bunk.
"Orders of Lord Third, I would of been on a mission if I had a choice." I reply, finishing my preparations.
"I take it you're off to the Hokage's office to request a mission," Fox states, before coming closer to ask. "Were you with Panther all day?"
"I was, why?" I answer in a hushed tone.
"No reason. We've got a couple of slots on our mission if you want to tag along." Fox mentions, pulling himself away from me.
"What's the mission?" I query, grabbing one of my ninjatō's from my bunk and placing it on my lower back.
"A simple assassination mission, a noble has been stirring up some shit. We've been hired to put the cunt down. The only problem is the missing-nin guarding him." Fox elaborates.
"So the typical, young noble doing whatever the fuck he wants, thinking he can get away with it?" I joke.
"That's the one." Owl joins the conversation.
"Then I can't wait," I accept their offer. "You coming too, Panther?"
"Why not, you idiots always end up getting hurt." Panther quips, placing her mask onto her face.
"Then, we'd best head off. It's a long trip to The Land of Frost," Bear orders, the captain of our team. "Form up at point Beta."
"Got it." We all say in unison, each making their own way to the meet up point.
