Naruto: Ashes to Gold
Author's Notes/Scribbles: Another chapter inked out. Hopefully, I'm not making any big mistakes. :D
Chapter 4: Team 7 Failing Pass! Tsukihara Dojo in Trouble!
Hanabi woke up to the chirping of Kiku-chin who was currently floating in front of her father. The male Hyuuga gave the turtle an inspecting look before shaking his head. Kiku-chin floated over to Hanabi, doing a backflip before waving a flipper, darting out the open door. Hanabi got up from her futon and rubbed sleep out of her eyes blearily before heading to the communal bathroom to get ready for the day.
Narine groaned as she rolled over in bed, her hand flailing for the alarm. She found the offending noisemaker and smacked the sleep button, granting her another ten minutes of sleep. Darting back under the covers, she rubbed her eyes, trying to clear the foggy cobwebs from her mind as she sat up.
'I feel so slow,' Narine thought to herself as she slowly sat up, noticing how heavy her head seemed to feel, 'don't tell me I have a cold now or something,'
The harsh pain in her larynx as she coughed didn't make her feel any better as she quickly got up to get a glass of water, swaying slightly on her feet as she stood up. The clock read seven-thirty-five as Narine stumbled across the room to her dresser, pulling out a white sweater that she donned over her orange nightdress. Opening the door to her room, she padded over to the kitchen, pulling a pitcher of water out of the refrigerator as she set about looking for some aspirin. Taking two pills, she swallowed them with a glass of the water she had pulled out of the refrigerator, leaning against the counter as she finished.
'Guess I'll just hop back to bed. Sasuke can grab a fruit or something for breakfast,' Narine thought, noticing how she felt more sensitive, the cold linoleum floor of the kitchen sending chills up her spine, 'Guh, what a day to get sick,'
As she plopped back down onto the bed, she could hear Sasuke getting up as his own alarm went off, his footsteps shuffling across the apartment as he gathered his things and left. Wriggling back down into the now cold sheets, Narine gave a slight groan, shivering a bit as another chill ran down her back.
As Sasuke strolled away from the apartment he shared with Narine, he didn't notice Kakashi watching him as he strolled away. As Sasuke turned the corner to head to the training grounds, the Copy Ninja swiftly reached the window, sliding it open.
"What, Baka-kashi?" Narine coughed a few times as she looked at him, "you better have a good reason for breaking into my apartment,"
"Ahh..." Kakashi scratched the back of his head, "I was..."
"Looking for this," Narine reached into the desk drawer near her, pulling out Icha Icha: Modern Warfare 2, finishing Kakashi's statement.
"Yeah... I was wondering if I could get it back," Kakashi smiled under his mask.
Narine gave it to him without any complaints and slipped back underneath the covers. Kakashi, a bit surprised, went over and placed a hand on her forehead.
"Oh, looks like you came down with something," Kakashi stated the obvious.
Narine simply groaned, glad the fever covered the blush on her face, "Yeah, so would you mind letting me rest?"
Kakashi tilted his head as he shut the window, "Ah, come on now. Now's not the time to be tsun-tsun,"
Not wanting to exacerbate the situation, Narine simply sighed, "Do what you want. I'm too tired to put up with this,"
A minute later, she was rewarded with a cold compress for her forehead as well as the original pitcher of water and glass she had left in the kitchen.
"Well, it's not much but hope you get well soon. I'll stop by later tonight to check up on you, okay?" Kakashi said as he exitted out the window.
'You're strange, Kakashi-san,' Narine thought as she went back to sleep.
Sasuke strolled into the training grounds, noticing that Sakura had arrived first. She had tried to make small talk with him but he wasn't interested in such things, preferring to train.
"You can't just train your body. You have to train the mind or you'll end up being unable to use that body you trained so hard," Narine shook a finger at the downed Sasuke, "Remember! You have to think and move!
After a few more tries to strike up a conversation, Sakura seemed a bit discouraged and seemed to shy away but her resolve hardened for a moment as she asked him out on a date. He instantly shot her down and sighed, leaning against one of the three training posts.
"Neh, Sasuke-kun, what kind of girls do you like?" Sakura asked, a little too curious.
Sasuke seemed to actually ponder the question. Sakura waited for an answer but after waiting a few minutes, she decided she wasn't going to get one.
"I've never thought of it. Then again, I guess I can understand why you try to copy aneki," Sasuke sighed as he shifted his back against the wooden post, "but weak copy-cats don't have any value, you know?"
'Sasuke thinks of me like that,' Sakura thought a little crestfallen.
At this point, Tobio arrived with his hands folded behind his head, "What's up, guys? You ready to pass this test and become genin?"
"Just don't end up being dead weight, dead-last," Sasuke scoffed, smirking at Tobio.
"Oi, oi, oi! Rankings don't mean anything, you know? It's all about how you perform in reality!" Tobio scowled, point a finger at Sasuke, "don't get so high and mighty yet, Rookie of the Year,"
"Ha, like you could ever match Sasuke-kun," Sakura shot back.
"Who says I need to match him? I'm going to be better than him!" Tobio countered, pumping a fist as he replied, "Hell, I'll even prove it by becoming the Hokage someday,"
"Hokage!" Sakura laughed, "Ahahaha, you Hokage? You're so funny, Tobio,"
"Hey, that's no way to laugh at your future Hokage," the Kikuchi scowled, folding his arms, "you got to dream big to grow by leaps and bounds, you know?"
"But you have to be realistic, you know?" Sakura stopped laughing, rubbing her chin with a thumb and finger.
"Hahaha, okay, fine. Even if I don't become Hokage, I'm still going to be a kick-ass ninja," Tobio smirked, giving Sakura a thumbs-up, "you can count on it!"
Sasuke smirked before closing his eyes and going back to thinking again.
"Hey, is he always like that?" Tobio asked, "he doesn't really talk that much unless it's about getting stronger, his sister or that turtle,"
"It shouldn't matter to you," Sasuke sighed as he stood up from his leaning position, "it's a goal that I've set for myself and I intend on reaching it no matter the cost,"
'So angsty,' Tobio thought as he ran a hand over his forehead protector, "Yeah, well. As long as you don't get all of us killed, I think we'll be more than willing to help,"
"I don't need any help. I will do this on my own without any help at all," Sasuke shot back, his voice rising a bit.
Tobio held up a hand in front of him, "Alright, man. You're the boss,"
And so, the scene degenerated into a somewhat awkward silence as all three members sat or leaned against the three training posts.
Kakashi was always late... by an hour... or more. Usually, it was because he ended up spending too much of his time staring at the names carved onto the shinobi memorial stone which honored all the fallen heroes of Konohagakure no Sato. Everyone, whose names were inscribed on the memorial, had all died in service to Konoha, carrying out missions or protecting the village in great times of need. The Kyuubi attack had added an additional 321 names to the long list of names in just one night and had caused an even greater number of civilian deaths. The total casualty rate had been almost as high as the Third Shinobi War, one that had left Konoha greatly undermanned and underpowered but under the Third's guidance, Konoha was at peak condition again but the scars of the Kyuubi attack remained as deep as the day the attack had happened.
He was also one of the few in the village that knew the secret regarding the Jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi no Youko. He knew that she still existed even after her faked execution. It was seamlessly done and the confusion of the Kyuubi had allowed the Sandaime to create her records from scratch. It was thanks to that action that she was able to enjoy a somewhat normal life, if one could even call it normal. She wasn't hated for what she carried but that was because no one knew. In the almost eighteen years she had lived, she had not needed to pull on the Kyuubi's chakra and was able to rely on her own strength of body and mind to see her through all her trials. She was even called one of the geniuses of Konoha but she never socialized with anyone.
Except for him, Iruka, Sasuke, the Sandaime Hokage, and some ANBU operatives, she did not have any friends or outside influence near her. Everyone knew her by name but they didn't know who she really was. Even that smile she wore was fake but people were too focused on superficial matters to worry about the more profound influences.
She did look like a lot like Kushina though. Except that she had blonde hair and blue eyes instead of red hair and dark green eyes. They were probably related but the odds of that were long since Kushina was the only Uzumaki in Konoha at the time after the Third Shinobi War had left Whirlpool Country in ruins. Uzumaki Kushina had been a marked change in his own sensei's life. Namikaze Minato was definitely wrapped around Kushina's finger and he was always fumbling and stumbling to make her as happy as he could since he loved her dearly. So much in fact that he actually bothered to go on a wild goose chase for an item she had described out of her imagination. What it was, Kakashi never knew but poor Minato had ended up coming back empty-handed with the saddest look on his face. However, a small kiss on the cheek and a few whispered words had set that grin on his face again.
Old memories and times. How Kakashi wished that sometimes he could go back to happier times before all the heartbreak and all the pain had happened. Even Rin, his last teammate, had been listed as KIA after a simple recon mission had gone horribly wrong with the entire team MIA or KIA.
'Dwelling too much on what I could have done isn't going to do me any good,' Kakashi thought as he looked up at the sky, 'should probably get to the training grounds. I think I'm late,'
Arriving in a puff of smoke, he was greeted by three fingers pointing at him and a chorus of "You're late!"
"Ahaha, I was taking care of a beautiful lady who got sick and I got side-tracked," Kakashi chuckled as he waved a hand in greeting.
"I call bullshit," Tobio clenched his fist, "what's the big idea with telling us to meet up at a certain time and you come two hours late,"
"Uh, I ran into a black cat and had to take another path to go around it?" Kakashi offered.
"Quit it with the lame excuses!" Sakura growled.
"Um, okay," Kakashi pulled an alarm clock out of his pouch and set it on a tree stump nearby, "this clock is set to go off at noon,"
He then reached into his pocket and pulled out two bells, jingling them, "Before that happens, you'll need to these bells from me. One for each of you,"
"Eh, but there's only two bells," Sakura pointed out the obvious, hoping for an explanation,"
"Oh, I'm glad you noticed," Kakashi smiled, "the one who doesn't get a bell goes right back to the Academy,:"
"What!" Tobio screamed, "you can't do that! You need to pass the whole team or we all go back,"
"Well, I make the rules here. The Hokage has given me the authority to modify the rules as I see fit," Kakashi tied the bells to his bell, "oh, and I'm pretty sure you guys didn't eat right?"
Right then, their stomachs growled.
"Okay, good," Kakashi clapped his hands together, "I should also mention that the one who doesn't get a bell does not get to eat as well,"
'So that's why he told us not to eat,' all three thought.
"Oh, if you want a bell, I suggest you come at me with the intent to kill," Kakashi added as an afterthought, "whenever you're ready!"
All three leapt into the bushes to hide. Or at least two of them did.
"You know that you're supposed to hide, right?" Kakashi sweatdropped.
"I'm hiding in plain sight," Tobio grinned as he chucked a kunai at Kakashi as hard as he could.
Kakashi caught the kunai by the ring and twirled it around as he reached into his own pouch. Tobio shifted his feet, getting ready for whatever Kakashi would draw on him. To his surprise, he pulled out a small orange book.
"Eh, you're not taking any of us seriously, are you?" Tobio muttered crossly as frowned, 'what is that book anyways? Icha Icha Modern Warfare 2?'
"I don't need to take a dead-last like you seriously, you know?" Kakashi began reading while twirling the kunai he had caught in his hand, "but you have the right idea when you tossed this at me. Might have taken out my other eye,"
Tobio charged straight in, intent on making Kakashi see stars. He threw a haymaker that Kakashi sidestepped, the white-haired ninja not even bothering to spare Tobio a glance as he dodged all of his attacks easily.
'Half-decent taijutsu. Sloppy but definitely solid,' Kakashi thought as he read through another passage.
Tobio threw all his weight at Kakashi with a heavy roundhouse kick but was rewarded with air instead. The Jounin had disappeared from his sight so quickly he didn't even know where Kakashi had disappeared to.
"Konoha Taijutsu no Ougi!" Kakashi announced.
Tobio turned his head around in shock, 'Oh, shit!'
"Run, Tobio. He's going to kill you!" Sakura shouted with abandon.
"Sennin Goroshi!" Kakashi yelled, clasping both his hands together over his book with the middle and index fingers pointed out and jamming right into Tobio's rectum.
It took Tobio a moment to recognize that he had been violated as he shot off into the air, landing in a lake nearby with a giant splash.
'That... was the most disturbing jutsu I have ever seen,' Sasuke thought as he shifted his weight on the branch of the tree he was in.
'Thats... our sensei?' Sakura thought aghast.
Kakashi chuckled to himself, watching as Tobio dragged himself out of the water miserably, finding it hard to stand on two feet and maintaining a standing position.
"Gah, I'm going to get you for that, sensei," Tobio scowled as he hobbled towards Kakashi.
Kakashi seemed to mock the Kikuchi as he strolled backwards while still reading his book. Tobio tried to hobble over faster but was unable to as his anus was aching and it was preventing him from trying to run. As he closed with Kakashi, he was suddenly pulled out from under his own feet, having fallen into a simple trap Kakashi had lain. Hanging from a tree branch, Tobio struggled to lift himself up to cut the rope tying his feet up on the branch but was unable to reach as each time he attempted to tense himself to gain the necessary leverage to raise himself up, a sharp pain shot through his anus again and again.
"A ninja must always be aware of his surroundings," chuckled Kakashi as he marked a page in his book and put it away, ignoring the steaming glare the graduate gave him.
Sasuke tensed before pulling out an equal number of shuriken and kunai, sending them flying towards the Copy Ninja, 'Now's my chance!'
"So, you really think you're cut out to be a shino-" Kakashi was cut off as the projectiles Sasuke threw suddenly embedded themselves into his right side, throwing him off his feet.
'Oh shit,' both went through Sakura's and Tobio's mind while Sasuke was wondering if he got Kakashi.
Narine woke up to the pecking on the window, wondering what exactly was bothering her. As she got up, she removed the compress from her forehead and lead it on the bedside desk before getting out of bed, noting that her throat wasn't itching anymore. The blonde opened the window to let a messanger bird hop in as it raised its leg up to give Narine its message. Pulling the message off the bird, she tapped it on its head once and received one in return, indicating that she wasn't need to give a response before it flew back out the window. As Narine opened the letter and perused its contents, her eyes narrowed and the color hardened slightly.
Uzumaki Narine. Report to Hokage's office ASAP. Tsukihara Shizuka has requested your presence in regards to the recent encroachment of Yakuza on her family's dojo.
Switching out her nightdress for a green shirt and black pants, she threw on her jacket and quickly left for the Hokage's office.
Tobio breathed a sigh of relief as Kakashi was replaced by a log with the projectiles embedded in it instead.
'Shit, he knows my position now,' Sasuke thought as he took off instantly, running through the shrubbery.
He took note of Kakashi's position relative to his and corrected his course slightly. Bursting out of the treeline and into the clearing, he spun and threw two kunai at Kakashi, who dodged them, noting that they were angled relatively low.
'It's a trap,' he jumped away as the kunai severed a string, triggering another trap to fling more projectiles at him.
All the while, Sasuke was finishing the sixteen seals necessary for his jutsu, "Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu!"
Kakashi dodged the ball of flame narrowly, 'Holy crap! A genin that can perform this kind of jutsu,'
Sasuke was instantly in his face for a taijutsu brawl.
'Oh, he's got some pretty good tactics too, using the Katon jutsu to cover his advance,' Kakashi blocked a jab, catching the left hook in his own hand, 'I probably wouldn't be able to read my book if he fights this well,'
Kakashi caught a straight kick his chest with his free hand and watched as Sasuke arced his body to send a hooking kick to his kidney which he blocked with a leg. He noticed Sasuke suddenly reach out to grab a bell but Kakashi, who was accustomed to fighting swift and agile opponents, instantly pushed Sasuke away from him, sending the Uchiha flying back twenty meters.
'Tch, so close,' Sasuke thought as he closed in again.
'Let's see what he's got up his sleeves this time,' Kakashi crouched down, preparing for Sasuke's attack.
The Uchiha left fly a fist at Kakashi who stepped back from it. As Sasuke continued to throw punches and kicks, Kakashi nearly tripped over another wire that sent another hail of sharp metal flying at him.
'Did he rig this whole place?' Kakashi thought to himself as he blocked another punch, 'he's planned this really far in advance,'
The storm of metal hail had forced him to stop moving in order to avoid stepping into it, giving Sasuke the time he needed to execute his next move. Quickly, he grabbed Kakashi's right arm with his left and secured a hold on the man's flak vest with his own right hand before yanking him in. As he pulled Kakashi in, he crossed his right leg in front of Kakashi's body, preparing for a throw but Kakashi, again, having sparred against Narine, knew what was coming and went with the motion, landing on his feet as he hooked his own arm around Sasuke's neck and pulled, flipping the Uchiha over and landing him on his back with heavy thud. Surprised, Sasuke coughed as the air was knocked from his lungs. Unable to react as quickly as he liked, he pulled out a kunai and swiped at Kakashi to get more space before flashing through the same sixteen seals.
For Kakashi, it was almost painfully slow. He had seen how fast Narine was able to flip through seals and even to him with his Sharingan active, it appeared to him as if her hands was blurring. As Sasuke finished the seals, he blew out another fireball at Kakashi, this one much larger than the last. When he finished, there was no sign of Kakashi at all, not even a charred corpse.
'That shouldn't have completely vaporized him. Where is he?' Sasuke began look around him, 'Left, right, behind me? Above! No... Then...'
His eyes widened as a pair of hands grabbed onto his legs, "Doton: Shinjuu Zanshu no Jutsu!"
With a cry of surprise, he felt himself get pulled straight down into the ground up to his neck as Kakashi appeared in a puff of smoke next to him, "Not bad at all, Sasuke, but not good enough,"
With a final wave, Kakashi left in another puff of smoke as Sasuke struggled to free himself.
Tobio had managed to cut himself out of the trap and crawled over to the training posts, sitting up against one. His stomach growled as it protested its empty nature, causing Tobio to look at the boxes lunches Kakashi had left on the tree stump. Crawling over, he hefted one and stared at it hungrily. Looking around to check for anyone, he proceeded to open it.
"Ahem," Kakashi coughed from his perch up top one of the training posts.
'Uh oh...'
"GRAAAHHHHH!"
Sakura wondered what that sound was as she carefully picked her way through the brushes. Taking care not to get her hair or clothes dirty, she inched forward, trying to find either Tobio or Sasuke. A sudden rustle behind her caught her attention as she spun around.
"Sakura..." Sasuke gasped, bleeding from all over his body, "Kakashi... he almo-"
"GYAAAHHHH!" Sakura's scream echoed over the woods, scattering a few birds from their nest.
Twenty minutes later, the bell rung as the hands on the alarm clock finally hit the twelve mark. Sakura woke up and cursed inwardly, quickly dashing back towards the training posts. She noticed a head on the ground and watched as Sasuke turned to look at her as well as he could. She gave another scream and passed out again, causing Sasuke to simply sigh out of annoyance as he continued to dig himself out of the ground. As he finally managed to dig himself out, Sakura woke up again and upon seeing Sasuke's full body, she had tried to hug him only to be pushed away almost instantly as he wiped off most of the dirt and rocks covering his body. Frowning to himself mostly, he stuffed his hands into his pocket and began walking towards the training posts with Sakura in tow. They arrived back in the main clearing to find Tobio tied to the training post in the middle while Kakashi stood there, one hand in his pocket.
"Oh, you guys are back. Well, I'm pleased to inform you that you all failed the test and that all three of you will be returning to the academy," Kakashi waved his free hand in greeting, "Mr. Tobio here was trying to eat the lunches I had set aside for the winners for himself, so he's now tied up here in punishment,"
Sakura sighed in defeat as Sasuke scowled.
"I don't know what you guys were thinking trying to take me on alone. You are all pretty stupid and in the real world, you'd be dead by now," Kakashi admonished them, his hand pointing at each of them in turn.
With a yell, Sasuke pulled a kunai and tried to attack Kakashi blindly but the Jounin showed no mercy and grabbed the Uchiha's outstretched hand and pulled him in. Gripping the other shoulder, he pulled and spun around before slamming Sasuke chin-first into the ground facing towards Sakura and Tobio.
After pinning him to the ground, Kakashi looked up at Sakura, "This world is not meant for the weak. Here, the weak only have strength in numbers. Sakura, kill Tobio now or I will slit Sasuke's throat.
The two froze and looked at each other in disbelief.
"See? This is the kind of situation you will find yourself in if you decide to act on your own," Kakashi stood up, letting Sasuke pulled himself to his feet, "I will give you one last chance to prove yourself. Sasuke and Sakura, you may eat. However, if Tobio even gets one grain of rice, you all will fail for good and I will see to it personally that none of you ever become ninja,"
With a nod, Kakashi disappeared in a puff of smoke. As Sasuke and Sakura each sat down to indulge in the boxed lunches, they both gave Tobio somewhat pitying stares.
"What?" the bound Kikuchi muttered, "you guys need it more than I do,"
"Well, we can't beat that guy on our own," Sakura muttered to herself as she took a bite of pickled lettuce, "we'll have to gang up on him,"
"But there's only two bells," Tobio sighed, "one of us has to take the fall for the other two,"
"Well, we can worry about that when we get to it," Sasuke sighed as he held out his lunch to Tobio, "the problem is whether or not we can get the bells and we can't do that if we have dead weight,"
"I guess. I'm on a diet anyways, so I wouldn't mind letting you have some," Sakura held out her lunch too, " just don't read too much into it,"
"You guys..." Tobio hung his head.
Suddenly, Kakashi appeared before them with an angry look in his eyes, "You disobeyed my orders!"
Sakura hid behind the post Tobio was tied to as the latter tried to struggled out of his bonds. Sasuke stood in front, crouched, ready for a fight.
"You all..." Kakashi leveled a finger at them, "pass!"
The three froze as Kakashi's eye curved into its usual smile.
"What?" was the intelligent question.
"Shinobi who don't complete the mission are complete trash but those who abandon their team are lower than trash," Kakashi announced, "congratulations on passing Team 7. Meet here again tomorrow for our first mission,"
Narine strolled into the Hokage's office rubbing her forehead as she did so, nodding in greeting to the secretary as she pushed through the double doors.
"Ah, Narine," Sarutobi stood up to greet her, "glad you could make it. I take it you remember Tsukihara-san,"
"Yes, I do," Narine nodded as she bowed her head to the youngest sister of the Tsukihara family, "to what do I owe the pleasure of this visit?"
"Tou-san recently passed away and without him to rebuff the Shinohara Yakuza, they've been encroaching on our dojo," Shizuka sighed, playing with a long lock of hair in one of her hands, "I came here because you're the one that broke their hold on the city and I was hoping you could do something about it,"
'Shinohara Yakuza? Must have missed some of the leadership elements,' Narine sighed as she folded her arms, "I'm not on active duty so anything relating to business has to be cleared by the Hokage,"
"Eh, so you're not going to help us?" Shizuka panicked, her green eyes widening slightly, "you have to though! They took Mai-nee-san yesterday and Shigure-nee-chan barely got away with a broken arm when they went shopping today,"
Narine simply sighed as she looked at the Hokage, "I have to go pay my respects to Tsukihara-sensei anyways, I guess. Since I'm not on active duty, you won't be required to pay for a mission,"
Shizuka smiled, tears almost rolling out of her eyes, "Thank you so much!"
The blonde sighed as she straightened her back, "Guess I'm going back to finish the job,"
"Ah, Narine, when you do go to the Tsukihara Dojo, could you perhaps do something for me?" the Sandaime Hokage asked, "if you reach Kyamichi-Zai today, I need you to check the economic stability of the town and report back to me,"
Narine nodded before ushering Shizuka out. She wasn't too surprised to run into Kakashi who gave her a questioning glance.
"What?" the blonde asked.
"Nothing. Team 7 starts missions tomorrow," Kakashi replied as he waved to enter the Hokage's office.
Narine blinked a few times before continuing to lead Shizuka out the building. She headed home first and grabbed some necessities before leaving Konoha with Shizuka. Kyamichi-Zai was a small town of approximately seven hundred people located to Konoha's northwest, approximately twenty-seven miles as the bird flies. As they walked, Shizuka took note of Narine's appearance, interested in how the blonde had changed. Narine herself was almost eighteen years old while Shizuka was barely fifteen herself. Narine was pretty, probably even beautiful. Yet, it didn't seem like it was her facial features or her body that gave her the aura of a goddess. There was a certain grace and confidence to her every step but the slight tilt of her head indicated her humble nature and despite how straight her shoulders were, they seemed to sag under some weight.
"Must have been tough walking her all by yourself," Narine spoke up out of the blue, shaking Shizuka out of her thoughts.
"Ahh, not really. We're tough girls, we Tsukihara sisters," Shizuka replied, her face drooping down as she thought about her sister's recent abduction.
Narine looked up at the setting sun and thought a bit before stopping, "Hop on my back,"
"Eh?" Shizuka looked a little confused.
"Hop on my back, we can reach the dojo faster if we move at my pace," Narine replied as she crouched down in front of Shizuka.
A little unsure at first, she clambered onto Narine's back, surprised at the strength she felt from the lithe frame. She settled in as she felt Narine break into a light run, the scenery blurring past her. It almost felt like flying as she watched the scenery blur around her. She suddenly felt the world distort around her, seeming to bend at a strange angle before reverting back to normal as if she had stepped into a completely new realm. Unbeknown to her, Narine had started using Shunpo to cross large distance. Shunpo had a peculiarity about it. While it was similar to the Hiraishin no Jutsu, it consumed quite a bit of chakra for every use and required a line of sight to use while the Hiraishin no Jutsu allowed the user to teleport to any location where a jutsu shiki was applied. Unfortunately, the Hiraishin no Jutsu was merely limited to teleportation to a target rather than the applied use of Shunpo to appear anywhere one could see.
Shizuka was the youngest of three sisters belonging to the Tsukihara family. The head of the family, Tsukihara Hamekatsu, had been Narine's teacher for about a year, learning his particular style of kenjutsu, which involved the particular use of both edges of a katana, both blunt and sharp in a whirling dance of dance metal. It fit with her Aikido taijutsu because the Tsukihara kenjutsu relied on parries and blocks to create openings necessary to take down an opponent. It had been nearly five years since she had taken a lesson from the old Tsukihara but to hear that he had died at fifty-four sounded like there was foul play afoot.
Arriving in Kyamichi-Zai, Narine slowed to a slight jog, still carrying Shizuka on her back as she threaded her way through the streets towards the Tsukihara Dojo. There were a few stares here and there as people stared at the blonde carrying Shizuka. Some stares took note of the youngest Tsukihara sister returning with a blonde and the owners of the stares made their way to report the new arrival. It wasn't that hard to sense the animosity and scrutiny from a few of the bystanders Narine ran by. She had always been able to feel the negative feelings of others in a close range and she set her guard up as she came upon the dojo. It was definitely worse than it seemed. The pristine white walls had been covered with rough and lewd graffiti and the sign that proudly displayed the motto and name of the dojo was hanging off a nail, having been torn down a bit.
Setting Shizuka down, she looked up around, 'This place brings back a lot of memories,'
She ran a hand over the intricately carved wooden panels of the main gate and mourned the slash marks and craters that adorned the once beautiful designs. Whoever had the guts to do this obviously had a death wish as well.
"Shizuka-san, where is Shigure-san?" Narine asked as she looked around, taking note of the disparage grounds with bokkens and practice blades strewn all over the floor and tatami mats flipped out of place and broken into pieces.
"Nee-chan should be in the east wing where the living quarters are. Hopefully, she's still here," Shizuka sighed as she lead her companion through the dojo, "Hopefully, the students are alright as well. We sent them home as soon as this whole affair happened,"
Even the doors and wall posts had been destroyed, causing major structural damage to the east wing, 'If the damage here is as bad as it looks, who knows what the rest of the dojo looks like?'
"Nee-chan, are you here?" Shizuka asked as she slid open the door, gasping at the empty futon where her sister had been resting, "Nee-chan? Where are you?"
Narine strolled in and looked around, "Obvious signs of struggle. There's blood on the edge of the dressers and the futon is disorganized from where she must have been pulled from the bed," Narine pointed at the window nearby, "they must have come in through there and gone out from there too. It's big enough for two men to climb in at a time and it seems they brought heavy tools to breach the windows too,"
She picked up a crowbar and noted how the iron bars on the windows had been bent out of shape before dropping the crowbar on the floor and strolling out, "We're going to have to look for your sister the hard way, I guess,"
"Hard way?" Shizuka asked, a little scared, "they took Mai-nee-san and now they have Shigure-nee-chan. What are we going to do?"
"Calm down. If we hurry now, we can save your sisters and your dojo with one fell swoop. It might be too late to save Mai-san unscathed but Shigure-san should be fine if we hurry," Narine made her way out the dojo, "I was here several years ago on a long term campaign to break down the Shinohara Yakuza because they were running a prostitution ring in the area,"
Shizuka listened in almost abject horror, "They break in the girls over a period of time. I'm not surprised they're trying to start up again. Each girl was worth millions of ryo and you know how the rest of the story grows,"
"How did you manage to break their hold?" Shizuka asked.
"I killed the leaders and heads of operations in each district they were in. After that, it was mainly finding the wranglers and stragglers," Narine answered as she stepped out of the east wing's entrance and took note of the fifty-something men standing in the front courtyard, "well, what do you know? We just found the way to your sisters,"
"Alright, ladies," the leader stepped forward, pointing a metal bat at them, "come along quietly now. I don't want to hear any screaming,"
Narine simply sighed as she strolled forward, bending down to pick up one of the bokken on the ground before shouldering it, "And what makes you think you're the man?"
"Just because we, the Shinohara, were set back does not mean we're not powerless," the leader spoke again, "I, Zankichi Ryosuke, can testify to that,"
"Too bad Takamichiryu Osukuyo and Saitemojika Yakuniyasu are rotting in the ground because of weaklings like you," Narine threw back, noting how the entire group froze at the mention of the two names, "I'm guessing you guys don't have fond memories on how two of your most powerful districts went dark within two hours of each other, huh?"
"You bitch! Who are you to know that?" Ryosuke screamed, demanding an answer as he lifted the bat into Narine's face.
"I think you guys remember Kunimitsu Haruka?" Narine grinned, noting how some faces in the crowd paled, "I'm here to clean to house again,"
Ryosuke swung the bat with a cry of fury, intending to bash in Narine's head but the blonde stepped to the side and with a quick thrust, crushed the man's larynx with a straight thrust, causing him to fall to the ground with his hands on his neck as he choked to death slowly.
"My name is Uzumaki Narine for those of you who don't know me. And since you are all Shinohara Yakuza, I have a license to kill,"
In the Inyekada Inn, the Shinohara Yakuza operated as usual. Hidden towards the back was where they did all their business with the new girls. As Shigure watched in horror to the humiliation her elder sister was subjected to, she couldn't help but cry in desperation, not wanting the same thing to happen to her.
"Beautiful, isn't she?" Minasukito Sabaru, the leader of the district grinned, "your sister has quite the pair of breasts and hips to boot. I guess girls practicing kenjutsu has its perks, eh?"
Shigure looked away and kept silent. Sabaru slapped her, causing her to give a yelp of pain as she collapsed to the floor on her broken arm. As she cried from the pain, she mustered the strength to glare at the man responsible for her dire situation.
"Got some fire,eh? Don't worry! You're sister was the same before we broke her in with all her wholes filled with dicks," Sabaru smiled sadistically, signalling two men forward, "don't worry. Soon, you're going to be loving this like any other woman, hahaha,"
"You bastard! You're never going to get away with this!" Shigure started crying, her green eyes tearing up as the men picked her up and began stripping her of her cloths and dignity, "No! Stop! Please! I beg of you! Don't do this!"
"Oh, where's that tough exterior of yours now?" Sabaru chuckled to himself, "I can't hear you if you got a cock in your mouth, you know?"
"Boss," one of the men on the side said, "Zankichi's group left an hour ago and they're still not back,"
"Relax," Sabaru waved a hand, "he's probably off breaking the girls in at the dojo. God knows the guy loves to do the work on site,"
"It's not that boss. I warned him that the woman Shizuka got back matches the profile of a Konoha shinobi," the man answered, "and that shinobi was the one that nearly ended us two years ago,"
"What are you talking about?" Sabaru's eyes narrowed a bit.
"Well, she..." the man never finished as he became distracted by a commotion at the front desk.
There was the scream of a woman and the cry of a man as the sound of blood spattering all over the walls reached the ears of the men who all ceased their activities. A slight pause was broken by a man begging for his life only to end with the same sound of a scream and blood spattering.
"Shinohara Yakuza," a voice spoke from within the room, all heads turning to see a blonde standing at the back entrance with a bloody katana in her hand, "you call down the thunder, and I'll reap the whirlwind,"
"Get her!" Sabaru yelled as he stepped back in abject horror, watching the silver metal dance as Narine sliced her way through the men as if she was cutting her way through tall grass with a sharp machete.
Woman and girls alike screamed and cowered in the corners and walls as Narine finished every single man quickly and mercilessly before stopping to look at Sabaru.
"You're Minasukito Sabaru. At the time of the Yakeda-Hijin Inn and Yotsuka-Banko Inn massecres, you were Takamichiryu Osukuyo's second-in-command and out on an errand at the time of the seizures. I believe you got away by fleeing north towards Hazurin-Kyoumei where you disappeared into Earth Country soon after," Narine stabbed the katana into the ground, cracking her knuckles, "your head is worth two million ryo now"
Sabaru looked for a quick escape route.
"There's no place to run and no place to hide. I have every entrance covered and even now, the local authorities are on their way," Narine smirked, a cold dark look passing over her face, "you will have no proper burial and you will be remembered as a dead criminal,"
Shigure looked up from where she had been thrown on the ground after all the men had tried to take down her rescuer.
"Shigure-nee-chan!" a voice cried out as its owner rushed to help her, "are you alright! Oh, god, your arm!"
Sabaru tried to swallow his fear but the way Narine stood in front of him without any trace of blood on her clothes, he knew he was facing an assassin of the highest caliber. All the cuts on the body of his dead men attested to the fact as well and the fact that she was now strolling towards him caused his feet to buckle underneath him as she stood over him, preparing the blade for a fast horizontal slash to decapitate him. The last thing he remembered was how the world seemed to spin as he died.
In the aftermath of the Inyekada Inn massecre, the head of security for the town found himself rubbing the bridge of his nose in annoyance.
"Man, again? I know these guys are Yakuza but the goddamn mess here is ridiculous," he sighed, running his hand over his face.
"Whoever did this wasn't crude, sir. It's the same style of kenjutsu," the forensic expert stood up from the body, "even the bones are cut through cleanly and whoever was doing the killing obviously knew what they were doing. Window shutters were barred off and it was obviously a group job,"
"Why do you say that?"
"Both the front and rear entrances were covered. Side entrances and windows were barred in. Systematic extermination of Yakuza by means of room-by-room executions,"
"Do we have a description of the perp?"
"No, only thing we have to go off is the color yellow,"
"Yellow? The women here are all okay, aren't they?"
"Unlikely. They're all overdosed on drugs and aphrodisiacs. Memory's shot to hell and perception is beyond lamentable. In any case, the youngest Tsukihara sister said she broke in by herself and found the situation like this,"
"Well, someone tipped us off to this, didn't they?"
"The individual disappeared mysteriously, didn't it?"
"Yeah, still... this is going to be a ton of paperwork,"
"Hahahaha,"
It was almost sundown by the time the Tsukihara sister had made it home. Mai was still doped up from her time at the Inyekada Inn as Shizuka pushed her along in a wheelchair. She lay there with her head lolled off to the side, a somewhat blank look on her face. Shigure had had her arm reset and bound in a new sling and was strolling alongside Shizuka, thinking about the stress of the whole affair. It was surprising to arrive back at the dojo with hundreds of Narine clones hustling and bustling around, fixing the dojo and cleaning the grounds.
"What the..." Shigure wondered, touching one of the clones.
"We're prepping dinner for you guys," it replied, scaring Shigure a bit, "and we'll have this place fixed in a jiffy,"
"How..." Shizuka looked around, noting how the graffiti had been entirely whitewashed and the dojo's plaque had been restored.
"We couldn't repair the etchings on the door," one of the clones rubbed its head sheepishly, "so we made an entirely new one. The grounds have been cleaned and re-grassed and the structural support damage has also been fixed,"
"How can we ever..." Shigure paused.
The clone simply pointed inside, "Just say thank you. The boss is paying her respects to Tsukihara-sensei,"
With a quick bow, the sisters set off to find Narine. Amazingly enough, the dojo was indeed cleaned up, having undergone renovations for almost the entire afternoon after the Inyekada Inn massecre. Narine herself had disappeared under mysterious circumstances after asking them to tell the story she had given them. As she kneeled before Tsukihara Hamekatsu's gravestone, Narine thought about the cold-blooded massecre. It wasn't the first time she had performed such an atrocity and it probably wouldn't be the last. For the sake of keeping piece and carving out the disease, she had slaughtered over a hundred men.
For what?
Narine stared down at her hands. She had told herself when she had quit ANBU to avoid unnecessary killing but when she was confronted with the Shinohara Yakuza, an old hatred bubbled up in her as she remembered what these men did to women and how the shame, the humiliation and the horror each woman went through had put Narine off the edge. Despite any given reason she had told herself to convince her she was doing the right thing, Narine couldn't help but wonder why she still did not feel that she could justify why she had killed those men in cold blood. Her relatively dark thoughts fled when she sensed the Tsukihara sisters arrive, opening her eyes as she turned to look at them.
"Narine-san," Shigure bowed, her long black hair cascading over her shoulders, "thank you so much,"
The blonde shook her head, "You shouldn't be thanking murderers like me,"
Both Shigure and Shizuka looked at each other with concern in their eyes.
"As for payment, you girls won't have to worry about anything. You guys have a million ryo and a fresh dojo to start with," Narine turned back to the gravestone, paying her last respects before standing up, "and I'll be leaving as soon as you guys settle in,"
Shizuka strode towards Narine, "I'm sorry for asking you to come here,"
"Don't blame yourself for what I ended up doing," Narine patted Shizuka's head, earning a sad look, "for the sake of honoring your father, I was willing to make sure you girls are fine,"
"Even killing your own soul?" Shigure asked, her eyes taking a sharp concern, "with all due respect, Narine-san, you know you can't keep it bottled up forever, you know?"
Narine sighed as she lead the sisters to the kitchens, "What I do is what I do. I don't keep this bottled up but I still do keep thinking about what I did and why I did it. No matter how you justify it. No matter how you rationalize it, killing a person is still wrong no matter what,"
"..."
"I was born and raised a kunoichi, minna-san. I break and bend the rules all the time," Narine smiled sadly, "as a kunoichi, you could say I don't play by any rules or code except for my own,"
The two Tsukihara sisters looked at each other.
"Your father understood that and that's why... when he taught me the Tsukihara kenjutsu, he also taught me all the offensive and killing principles behind his school while he left behind the defensive and protective ougi skills with you girls," Narine looked over her shoulder, "he knew that all of you were kind of heart. That's why he developed the style he taught you guys, so that you could protect yourselves and those around you,"
Shizuka looked downcast while Shigure had pursed her lips.
"In any case, Mai-san will need a few days to recover," Narine took a deep breath, "if you guys need anything, you can be sure to call for me. Now, let's go eat, neh?"
After making sure the Tsukihara sisters were tucked away safely, Narine left the dojo compound and made sure all entrances were locked properly. On the road back to Konoha, she couldn't help but think about what she had done. As she continued to mull her thoughts, she found herself sinking into that familiar hole of self-loathing.
'Not again,' Narine thought as she slowed her pace, feeling the familiar bile at the back of her throat, 'I think I'm going to be sick,'
She tried to fight down the nausea that usually preceded a retching but was unsuccessful as she emptied the contents of her stomach.
'Damnit. The moment I start thinking too much about this, I just lose it,' Narine thought as she coughed up the last remnants of her dinner, feeling the burn in her entire mouth and throat, 'ugh. I hate this damn feeling,'
She needed to wash her hands or something. It wasn't there but she could definitely feel blood on them, the feeling making her sick as she slowly threaded her way home.