Just as morning was breaking, his half sleep haze broke off and he snapped to alert as a figure in a pink kimono entered the clearing.
He raised the crossbow to his shoulder as the figure checked the meadow for something, a basket full of plants under their arm as they walked. They looked around the clearing and sighted the boy lying, now snoring gently in the clearing.
The pruning knife they were carrying gently moved as the grip was altered. The knife was raised as the figure knelt next to the boy.
The sharp twang of the crossbow going off resonated around the clearing. The figure was quick, and blocked the bolt with the pruning knife, the force of the projecting ripping it clean out of their fingers.
The next bolt was caught by a wall of ice.
"Come out or the genin dies. I don't want to kill him."
Naruto dropped from the trees, loaded crossbow pointing dead at the ninja's face.
"Drop your weapon."
"Drop yours first. You are in no danger, as I said, I don't want to fight."
Naruto lowered his bow very, very slowly. He distrusted the figure, a teenager by the looks of things. The pink dress and choker screamed girl, but that was irrelevant. They knew ice jutsu, which was unexpected.
With the bow lowered to his side, the figure looked at him, eyes slightly narrowed on the pale face.
"You're the person who attacked me before. How did I not sense you?"
"I'm good at hiding."
"You are. What's your name?"
"You expect me to say?"
"Not really now. I thought we could get along without killing each other. I don't like killing."
"Killing is my job."
The silence was total.
"I wasn't going to kill him you know. I'm just gathering herbs to use for healing. Surely even you recognise the sanctity of medic corps."
"An enemy is an enemy."
The look on the figure's face became harder and colder.
"I suggest you leave. He is waking up and I will kill him if you aren't gone back to the town before he fully wakes. I won't kill him if you leave and let us be."
Naruto considered the option. He could kill the figure, a relatively powerful ninja compared to the genin they held hostage, but at the cost of the genin's life.
He thought back to the situation with Hinata back in the debriefing. The Hokage's face of anger when he had threatened to harm another shinobi of Konoha had been so intense, so real.
And now he was effectively pointing his bow at another boy. He had no choice.
"Fine. If you do kill him, I will end your life."
"Fine. Now go."
He backed off and moved into the bushes at speed. About ten steps in he doubled back and took up position at a different edge, bow out and aimed.
He relaxed slightly when he saw that they were talking without any weapons drawn. It was odd. The enemy shinobi knew that the genin was an enemy, and yet was not killing them off. They had had the chance after all. They had a perfect opportunity.
He struggled to see the logic behind the action and drew a blank. Every possibility he could see lead to a favourable outcome if he were in his foes position unless getting the herbs was so essential that they couldn't even risk fighting.
But that didn't add up with the supposed injuries Zabuza had taken.
He ran the scenarios through his head again to check if he'd missed anything. He hadn't. That made no sense. The situation didn't make any sense.
Still, the figure was now gone. The team wouldn't be attacked for another few days at best, and well, they wouldn't exactly miss him if he were gone now would they? Perfect chance to trail the figure.
He waited till the genin had begun moving back towards the town, activated his Byakugan, and moved off in pursuit of the figure.
They were quick. He was working fairly hard to keep up at a good speed, and he silently cursed that he might not be able to keep up. Although his reactions were quick, he was built to assassinate, not chase and fight up close. He forced himself to move onwards, knowing that this would allow him the chance to complete his secondary objective when the time was right.
The figure wasn't expecting to be followed, and was taking a direct route towards the shoreline of the island nation. Naruto considered the fact that because Gato was blocking the shipping; it probably meant he had a base on the island.
The dock warehouses came into view on the horizon, and Naruto smiled. Lots of shadows, lots of rooftops, tons of cover. He could really get to work here if he wanted to. And could get in. The wire fence around the perimeter would be a stubborn obstacle.
The figure stopped running and pulled on the hunter-nin mask it had used before. It approached the compound's gates slowly and deliberately. The gates were opened, the figure walked in, and the gates were closed. Guards lined the towers, armed with bows and whatever equipment they used.
They had every above ground approach covered. Advancing in the day would be suicide. Naruto decided to sit and watch the compound until it was dark.
The hours past, as Naruto picked out guard routines and possible blind spots, trying to lip read when he had his Byakugan active. He kept it off mostly. After awhile, it depleted too much chakra and caused him to get splitting headaches. He'd learned that the hard way after his first mission.
The soft reds of the sunset began once again to appear on the horizon and he stretched out his muscles.
It was time to get to work.
The days passed without note. The genin were training and seemed to have settled down a bit. Kakashi was back to full strength and ready to fight again.
The nights though.
He felt the sensation he had felt before when he had been given a mission before. Even if there was no kill yet, Gato kept himself wrapped in layers of security and constantly had several guards around him, penetrating each layer, working out how to break each different protocol, working out hiding spots, weaknesses, exploitable holes. It was something he could do forever.
Learning the way the guards walked, their posture, their terrible misuse of language. Their codes and slang. He was compiling a statistical list in his head of how to become one of these people. Learning phrases he could use in tight spots or if questioned too hard. He found it fascinating, a study that would be tested every night when he infiltrated.
He was sure that he had finally worked it out. There was about a one minute window. It wasn't going to be dignified. It wouldn't be clean. But it would work. The only other way would be to just be invited in.
He slipped out under the cover of dark and took up a watch position over the gate. The sun was rising again, a hazy red glow on the horizon. That mean rain later. Some might consider
Then he saw the figures walking out of the gates.
The attack was this morning.
A knot of anticipation formed in his stomach. He had never seen how the average shinobi fought, especially high power ones. This would be fascinating. Although the accomplice would be a threat to the genin.
He set off back for the village, outpacing the two figures, which moved with a slowness that belied their mission.
He leapt through the trees at speed, heading straight for the village. Sometimes outright speed was needed as opposed to stealth.
Panting slightly, he barrelled through the open upstairs window of the house just as the first rays of sunlight streamed through the window.
Kakashi sat up quickly, Naruto didn't waste any time.
"They're coming."
Kakashi nodded.
"I'll wake my team and make sure they're ready. I want you to guard the house with a clone just in case anyone tries anything sneaky. I suspect Gato may try something after Zabuza, and want to be ready."
The shadow clone was dispatched to the roof.
"How good are you in a scrap?"
"In training I could hold my own against most sparring opponents, although against Zabuza's associate I may have difficulty, they are quicker than any opponent I have faced."
"Right. In which case pick your moment carefully and act as you see fit. I may not be your sensei, but I will say this. Those who abandon the mission are trash, but those who abandon their comrades are lower than trash. I expect you to step in to save my team when necessary, even if it means blowing your cover."
"Hai."
"We'll engage them at the bridge. Good luck."
"I will hold so the leaf may flourish."
In the time it took for Kakashi to register those words, Naruto was heading out of the cover of the tree line near the bridge. He knew exactly where he was going to hide, having observed the bridge. It was good to plan ahead.
He slipped into the hiding place he had prepared, and slid the crossbow into his hands. He felt once more the feeling he had felt on the way to the Wave course through him in a sudden wave.
It was good. It felt as though his nerves were being sparked into life with some new energy. He shifted to get rid of some of it, whatever it was; it was mucking up his breathing. He performed a breathing exercise he had been taught when he had first shown aptitude for the bow.
That had been seven years ago. Lord Danzo had accompanied him to the armoury to show Naruto all the weapons. He'd almost felt drawn to the weapon, and after being taught how to use it, had tried his first target exercise. He hit all the targets with the weapon, despite it being too big for him to really hold.
Lord Danzo had brought over another one of his shinobi to help instruct Naruto, and for years he had worked with the man to improve his skills. Seven years on and there was no shinobi as good with the weapon as Naruto.
His gloved hands ran tenderly over the smooth wood. The same bow as all those years ago. He'd never needed another one. He'd taken care of it. After the Hokage had treated it roughly, knocking it from his hands across the mission room floor, he had had to re-varnish it and clean the mechanisms. It was his weapon, closer to a part of his anatomy than anything else.
He looked down the sights and waited, it didn't take long for things to start happening.
The mist began to creep, like a thin wispy hand from away to his left, where the shipyard was. It crept around trees and engulfed bushes in its wake. Blinded by the mist, Naruto shut his eyes and listened.
The fox-hole he had dug in preparation had been entirely passed over by the mist. It was big enough for him, roughly dug out of the dirt.
The mist muffled the sounds slightly, but he could hear the pre-battle conversation. That was something he would have to get used to. Why talk before the fight? What was the point?
Soon afterwards, the sounds of combat began shortly afterwards. Naruto prepared himself for what could be his first direct engagement with an enemy shinobi.
He found himself having the slow his breathing, the sensation of his limbs electrifying once more flooding through him as he prepared to move out. Once the enemies were entrenched in combat, he could intervene more easily.
He found his hands itching to take hold of his weaponry, to get in and fight his foes whilst being able to see them in the eye.
He squashed the thoughts. That was not his role. That would be like trying to use a vial of poison as a club. It would get broken and its contents wasted.
No, his was the subtle role. His was the sharpened blade in the night. His was the genjutsu and the hidden strike. His was a role without glory, without honour. His was the task of getting the job done no matter the cost.
He calmed himself and let his mind take over the situation. From the sound of it, Kakashi had left the protection of the builder and the associate to his genin squad whilst he fought Zabuza. It was a good plan.
Getting involved in Kakashi's fight would be purposeless. The associate on the other hand.
He forced down the feeling that he needed to make that kill. After all, they were the first to ever survive when he had intended to kill someone, and had also been able to force his hand in a later meeting. Letting them live a third time would not be right.
He moved from the bolt hole at speed, moving through the mist to the genin's fight. The chakra mist still had his Byakugan blind, but he could tell.
The huge dome loomed into view before his eyes as he got closer, cloak whipping in the breeze as he ran. He caught the kunai that was thrown at him and pulled down the hood as he turned to his aggressor.
"Leaf! What is that dome?"
The pink haired girl gawked at him.
"Who are you?"
"Does it matter? What is in the dome?"
He studied it more closely. It was laced heavily with chakra, and seemed to glow like a pale blue-white sun before his Byakugan, completely overshadowing the mist.
"Sasuke-kun and the baka are in the dome. He just jumped in before it closed up. The person in there is trying to kill them!"
"Keep guarding the client."
Despite the danger, Tazuna still was annoyed.
"I have a name brat. How old are you? Who are you even?"
"I don't care at the moment in time. None of your business. I am a ghost."
The last few words came out of nowhere. But they worked. He inspected the dome. There were gaps between the giant hexagonal panels that made up the dome. He ran his hand over one of them, and wasn't too surprised to find it was made of ice.
'Definitely the associate.'
He tried to look through one of the gaps in the dome. The mist inside was thinner, but still clogged with chakra. He could vaguely make out the shapes of the two genin trying to ward off attacks fired in at them from all directions.
He analysed.
The dome let people in, and didn't stop them from entering. Judging by the senbon needles sticking out of both genin inside, escape was made impossible by the associate. The mirrors were hard to destroy, being encased in ice, and the associate could travel between them at will.
It was a very good attack strategy, aside from the giant, obvious, showy dome bit; it would be something he could use if he had the jutsu and bloodline. A mirror set up to escape to, and a mirror to escape through once the job was done. Leaving only water as a trace.
Ways to stop it?
He watched the associate appear in the mirror opposite his position, and then throw a few needles at the besieged genin, who tried to deflect them back to back. The Uchiha was having a better time of it, and Naruto was intrigued to see that his eyes now had the Sharingan.
Even so, the associate was wearing them down; both were panting badly, their injuries starting to get to them.
He had to act fast, even if it meant a more drawn out battle. He dove through the gap he was next to and into the dome.
The genin saw him enter, deflecting the path of another wave of senbon with his cloak, using it as a shield. The dark grey cloth was ripped by the needles, but it did enough to stop the light projectiles from doing damage.
The brown haired one just stared at him, and only just got to his senses in time to mostly avoid a wave of senbon.
"Who are?"
"Shut up and focus. I can sense where he is coming from before he reaches the mirror. Just block until I can get him."
"How are you going to do t...?"
"Shut up and block."
"But?"
Naruto didn't bother giving an answer, using a kunai to stop the needles of ice the associate was using, the small residue chakra from the shaping let him see them more clearly.
He had a plan. He actually had several plans, each ready for the next step this foe took. He swung round ready to fire his bow one handed, but the brown haired genin was in the way.
This, he suspected, was something he might have to get used to. Teammates getting in the way.
The Uchiha blocked most of another wave of senbon, taking one to the shoulder.
"Dobe, this guy will kill you if you don't speed up."
"Which one teme?"
"Either."
The associate had paused in their attacks, and was circling them in the mirrors, wary of the crossbow. Naruto kept the Byakugan tracking the position in the mirrors. Less of a figure, more a mass of chakra that leapt from mirror to mirror, making it brighter than the others.
He moved his hands in a series of signs out of sight of the other two genin. The less they knew about this the better.
He held the final sign as he mentally crafted the genjutsu and held it back until the right moment.
The associate sat in one place too long. He sent the genjutsu into the mirror and waited to see if it had worked.
'Hopefully they can't dispel the jutsu without ending their own jutsu.'
"Why has he stopped attacking?"
"Shut up. Must you always question?"
The senbon came at them again, the brown haired genin taking another to the leg. Before he cried out in pain Naruto stuffed the hem of his cloak into the boy's mouth. He leaned right down next to his ear and whispered as quietly as he could.
"Right now, the only way we can be tracked is by noise. So don't make any. Try and sneak out whilst you can."
The brown haired genin got the message and moved as quietly as they could towards the edge of the dome. Naruto watched through the thin inner mist to see the figures response.
Blinded by the genjutsu flooding the interior of the dome with shadowy darkness and unable to dispel it, the figure was hunting by sound. Given their mentor, it was something they were likely to be proficient at.
The brown haired figure was a few inches from a gap when they stepped on a twig. The nearest dome flared with chakra, and Naruto fired a bolt straight for it.
The associate threw the senbon point blank into the genin, peppering him with needles. But they couldn't sense the bolt until they felt it impact. By which point, it was far too late.
The steel bolt slammed into and cracked the mask, before puncturing the associates face between the eyes. Blood ran from the wound as they fell to the ground, the ice mirrors melting swiftly as the jutsu ended.
Naruto ran over to the brown haired genin to check his injuries. He was alive, but the last salvo had hurt him badly. He turned to the pink haired girl.
"You, down here. Treat him. Now."
"But Sasuke-kun is..."
"More alive than your other teammate. Now."
He didn't bother checking as he moved towards the sounds of Kakashi's fight. It came into view just as Kakashi ended it.
The wet sizzling sound of a lightning charged hand being withdrawn from a chest could be heard before Zabuza hit the ground.
Kakashi wiped his hand absentmindedly on his pants, as if he were cleaning something off them. The lightning based jutsu meant that no such entrails existed, but he did it anyway.
He assessed where he was physically. He was alive, a couple of cuts but nothing too bad. He was also badly exhausted, only fighting Zabuza beforehand had allowed him last this long. If anyone else showed up he would be in trouble.
The mist began to clear as the jutsu began to fade, and his heart sank as figures began entering his view from the bridge.
He looked round for his team. Sakura was trying to get some life out of the two boys, and Tazuna was staring at the bridge with a grim expression on his face. Naruto was nowhere to be seen.
"Tazuna, to me. Looks like I'm the only one that can protect you now."
The older man moved in behind him.
"How are you holding up?"
"Well enough."
"Well enough to face down two hundred thugs?"
Kakashi grimaced. The odds were heavily against him, and he was very much alone. Then he heard the mocking clap.
At the back of the crowd, on a raised platform that was being rolled slowly forwards so his short stature could be seen over his hired hands, Gato slapped pudgy hands together slowly and mockingly.
"Well done. You rid me of all my pay obstacles and leave me with an easy victory. Now...I am not without leniency. I am a gracious man."
His hired goons chuckled. Kakashi found himself nauseous at the situation.
"Kill the bridge builder for me and I let you and your team live. I have no quarrel with Konoha, so I offer you the chance to live."
"Never."
"I tried. Lads, feel free to mete out whatever justice you feel like, to anyone you meet for the next few hours."
Dark laughter erupted from the goons. Kakashi readied himself for a final push, readying tired and cramping limbs for one final push. He was fairly sure that if he was able to take out a good twenty of them quickly the rest would be a little too cautious, letting him take the advantage.
Then Tazuna died.
Haku had somehow come out of nowhere and sunk a senbon needle into his neck. There was blood and Tazuna was very, very still.
Haku rose and walked towards the stunned crowd of mercenaries.
"Do not worry yourself with this fight Konoha-san, your mission has failed. The leaf wilts in autumn.
Gato-sama, it appears my master fell during the fighting. I have nowhere to go for the moment, so is it possible we might retire to the hideout to celebrate our victory? With the builder dead it will be easy to maintain subjugation of Wave."
Gato stroked his chin in mock contemplation.
"Yes Haku, we shall go back and celebrate your victory! I also have payment to give you of course."
The party of thugs departed to the boats and began to return to the shipping yards of their hideout.
Kakashi dropped to one knee in exhaustion before checking on Tazuna. He reached a pair of fingers down to his neck and removed the senbon needle. Then he checked his pulse. It was there. Weak, but there.
The older man groaned.
"What just happened?"
"I'll explain when everyone is safe. Right now, I suspect Gato is in more trouble than he thinks."