Naruto, Hinita, Keiko and Sachie jumped from tree to tree in complete silence. It had been two days since the fight with Sakura and Sasuke and since then they had been assigned a mission to assassinate the Daimyo of the rice country. With the fall of Orochimaru and the sound village, the country was in a state of complete chaos, and desperately needed someone to reign over them. Muto Daiichi had been assigned; a corrupt man who's only interests were power and money. He had been slowly bleeding the rice country dry, and as a result was commissioned to death by Konoha.
Naruto flashed a few hand signals to the rest of his team and they came to a halt on a large branch. "Night will come in an hour or so, and it's going to rain soon" The anbu captain said. "We need to set up camp before we're caught in the showers. Keiko, go and collect wood for the fire. Sachie patrol ahead for possible threats while Hinita and I set up. I want you both back in twenty minutes."
"Aye sir" the members of anbu team 9 chorused.
Sachie and Keiko flickered out of sight as Naruto and Hinita opened up various scrolls and begun summoning out the contents. "I had expected to be at least two miles ahead of our position by now" Naruto said to Hinita while he banged tent pegs into the spongy earth. "We'll have to make up for it by an early start tomorrow. It' completely imperative that we ambush the Daimyo and his escort at the mountain pass."
Hinita smiled at her boyfriend and nodded. On a mission the relationship between the two was non-existent; though, on rare occasions Hinita found herself being woken up by Naruto snuggling up to her.
Keiko returned carrying an armful of deadwood as Sachie flickered back into sight behind him. "Nothing interesting up ahead Naruto." She reported a little out of breath. "We'll enter the rice country tomorrow."
"Good." Naruto replied, kicking the remaining tent pegs into the shrubbery besides him. "Fucking things, there's always either one more or one less than you need." Keiko laughed as he ran through a few hand seals and blew a whisper of flame onto the pile of logs on the floor.
"Okay, here's what we're going to do. We'll go through the plan once again, eat, check supplies then sleep." Naruto said.
"Whaddya' mean go through the plan again?!" A reluctant Keiko demanded. "We've all heard it at least twenty times before"
"Stop being a prick Keiko, with your abilities you have the potential to be a squad captain one day, but you lack patience. Just get on with it" Naruto retorted as Keiko huffed and sat defiantly on the floor. "Right" Naruto continued drawing out a map "Muto Daiichi will be returning from a meeting in the Tea country in two days time. To do so he has come through the mountain pass which borders the two countries, which is where he will be at his most vulnerable so it is there we will strike. According to our data he has an escort of ten to fifteen cloud ninja ranging from chuunin to jounin, so they shouldn't present much of a problem. Hinita and Sachie will be despatching them while Keiko makes sure the Daimyo hasn't got a chance to escape; concerning the actual assassination I will be tending to that. Any questions so far?" Naruto took the silence as a no.
"Good" Naruto continued. "Now, if this all goes arse over tits and we have to escape we'll rendezvous at this point" The blonde said, jabbing a finger to onto a point on the map. "Then we return to Konoha and hope the general doesn't fuck us up the arse to severely." Naruto folded the map. "And that's that...Now how about some food."
Hinita lay nestled in Naruto's arms, their legs coiled together under the double sleeping bag. Finally fed up with Naruto's snoring, she got up and went outside, smiling to herself as the fragrances of night filled her senses and the wind sent a cooling feeling over her ankles. Midsummer was always her favourite time. Her thoughts turned to Naruto, as they often did. She was there, watching as always from the sidelines; as the boys friends forgot about him.
Flashback:
Rain hurtled down, as thunder and lightening waged war with each other in the heavens. Naruto stared at Sasuke, his eyes a crimson red and anger howling through his body. Sasuke looked defiantly back at him while Sakura stood at the side, her eyes brimming with tears.
"Never…Insult…Him…Again!" Naruto gasped out.
"Why? He was worthless! A failure of a man, It's a good thing he's dead! He deserved what he got."
A blood red hand of chakra shot out from beneath the sodden ground and engulfed Sasuke, as the Kuubi's chakra bubbled over Naruto.
"Die…"
Present time:
Hinita's eyes flashed open, she'd never seen Naruto lose control like that before. Shuddering, the porcelain woman went back into the tent.
Two days later four figures stood silhouetted on top of a mountain ridge, as a procession of wagons snaked their way slowly through the rocky terrain far below them. Wind whistled past the four and a light snow fell. Naruto addressed his team:
"Okay, you know what to do, first though I'd like everyone to draw out a weapon and hand it over to me." A general rustling could be heard as everyone searched their packs. Naruto was handed a shuriken, a kunai and a long knife. "Good." Said the blonde. "As soon as this technique lands, go and assume your positions."
With that, Naruto threw the handful of weapons in the air ran through a variety of hand symbols and whispered: " Kage shuriken no jutsu" A hail of kunais shurikens and long knives darkened out the sky and hailed towards the unsuspecting target.
"Okay…Eh?…A barrier jutsu?" Naruto said in momentary confusion eyeing the purple barrier which incinerated the weapons. "Forget it! Move out!"
Body flickering out of sight, Naruto, Hinita and Sachie appeared in front of the wagon train while Keiko hurried to make sure there wasn't an escape.
"Byukagen" Hinita said quietly while Sachie and Naruto drew their swords and ran to face the Daimyo's escort.
A resounding crash echoed off the mountain walls as a wagon was blown apart and around fifty ninjas poured out on to the battleground. "Shit! What are mist nins doing here?" Naruto shouted beheading the nearest one.
A high cold laugh reached the blondes ears, seeming to freeze the very air itself and sending a chill towards Naruto's soul.
"Oh please, do you really not think I didn't anticipate Konoha's attempt to get rid of me?" The Daimyo chuckled stepping out of an opulent wagon. "Your pathetic village appears to be getting lax in your information gathering" Another laugh. "Kill them!"
"Fuck, fuck fuck! There's far to many of them to beat. Sachie, Hinita find Keiko and retreat, I'll bide you as much time as possible." Said Naruto gritting his teeth underneath the fox mask. "Go…Now!"
"Go!" Sachie said grabbing Hinita and jumping out of the way from an incoming katon jutsu. She spared once last glance back, and saw Naruto swinging his sword almost poetically, removing some ones head from the rest of their body.
"Piss and blood this isn't a good situation" Naruto said to himself before he froze. Looking down he saw a pair of hands made from stone grabbing his ankles, and a cloud jounin grinning maliciously at him. Looking back up again he found himself to be faced with a multitude of weapons at his throat.
"You have fought valiantly" The Daimyo laughed walking towards him. "Five of my men are missing heads, and a lot more of them limbs. I expected no less from an anbu captain. Regrettably however, you have lost, and you are coming with us."
Hinita turned from where she and Sachie were standing, and saw her love completely helpless, with the enemy swarming around him. Her heart missed a beat as a hard shot towards Naruto's neck caused him to collapse on the frozen ground.
"Come Hinita. We can't do anything now" Sachie said quietly tears in her eyes. Nodding with a heart of lead Hinita turned, and the two flickered out of sight to find Keiko.