I do not own Naruto
Chapter 7
Emi's Concern
Neji stood behind the others as they waited in the courtyard for the Daimyo. There were soldiers stationed around the area, all of them on high alert. Neji could tell that they were taking every precaution since the princess had been kidnapped.
As they stood there Neji once again had to ignore the feeling of being stared at. Everyone who had seen them come in was trying to get a look at the ninja who had come; especially the strange one with the white eyes.
The Daimyou came out of the main house with an escort of body guards. He was a large man who was dressed in fine silk which was decorated lavishly with bright colors and designs. It made Neji dislike the man as it appeared he spent more money on his own appearance and protection than on his people.
Emori stepped forward and bowed to the Daimyou, and the rest of the team followed suit.
"Greetings." The daimyou said as he bowed back slightly. "Thank you for coming so swiftly. My captain here, Baku, will give you all of the information you may need. He will also escort you to the last place my daughter was seen."
The Daimyou bowed his head and left; leaving Baku standing in front of them. He was tall and well-built. His dark hair was tied high at the back of his head, and he had a katana hanging at his waist. His face looked stern but also seemed as though he could smile at any moment.
He walked down the steps towards them and stopped in front of Emori.
"Hello. I am Baku as you heard. May I have your names?"
Emori gestured at each of them in turn. "I am Emori. This is Emi, Isao, and Neji."
They had decided to leave out last names as the Hyuuga name might raise questions and doubt among clients.
Baku nodded at each of them politely. He settled into a crouch and began drawing in the dirt.
"This is the area where the princess was taken. She was visiting her mother's grave shrine when my men were killed and she was taken hostage. This is the shrine, and the surrounding clearing is not very big. The clearing is surrounded by trees."
He turned and pointed up a small mountain where Neji could see a small grove of trees. He quickly and silently activated his Byakugan and surveyed the area. It was just as the man had said. The shrine was rather small and the surrounding area was only about a quarter mile in diameter. He closed his eyes and stopped the chakra flow and turned back to Baku.
Baku was staring at him intensely with a questioning look on his face.
"And that was…?"
Emori laughed, trying to brush it off as nothing.
"He can see father than the rest of us. That's all."
Baku quirked his eyebrow but didn't say anything else about Neji's strange eyes.
"Ok. Well the princess was taken by about ten men. They left a scroll at the shrine with the message about the ransom. We have three days before the deadline."
Emori nodded.
"Ok. Do you have a piece of clothing or something that the princess would have used or worn recently?"
Baku looked at him suspiciously.
"What in the world do you want that for?"
Emori gestured at Isao again.
"He is a wolfhound. He can track her scent."
Baku looked at Isao and then looked back at Emori. Then he glanced at Neji.
"Sure, hang on." He turned and walked back towards the main house when Neji heard him mutter, "Ninja sure are strange people." Neji smirked.
A few minutes later Baku returned to them holding a pink cloth that could have been a sash or something similar. He handed it to Isao who sniffed at it before handing it to Emori.
"So now if you're ready, Ill take you to the shrine." He turned to walk towards the gate.
"There is no need for you to lead us." Neji said. "I have seen the shrine, I know where it is."
Baku looked at him for a long moment, the shook his head.
"Alright Ill stay here then. That way I won't be in your way. The ninja who took her are skilled. I'm not sure how you would rate their skill level but we always have a hard time dealing with them."
Emori nodded and smiled at the man.
"Don't worry. We'll bring your princess back."
With that the team headed out of the gate and Neji took the lead to take them to the shrine.
***
All four of them jumped down from the branches of the trees into the clearing where the shrine was located. It was getting to be dusk and the trees were casting long shadows. They were not staying hidden because Neji had already surveyed the area and no one was there.
Emori crouched down and pulled the pink sash out of his bag again. Isao took off his own bag and handed it to Emori. Then he changed into an enormous light brown dog. His back came to Neji's waist and his head almost reached Neji's shoulder. He looks just like Akamaru but with different coloring.
Emori held the cloth out for Isao to smell. Once he had taken a couple good breaths he turned away from the fabric and started sniffing around the shrine. Emori put the sash back into his bag and put Isao's bag over his shoulder.
"Now we just wait till Isao picks up her scent, then we should be able to follow."
Neji nodded.
"This should be easy," Emori said, "Just taking out some ninja and rescuing a girl."
Emi glared at him with enough force that Neji was sure if it had been physical, Emori would have fallen over.
"Don't take this lightly nii-san. This girl's future rests in our hands. I will not see us fail because of your carelessness."
"Relax Emi. I won't be any less serious; I just think we won't have any problems."
Emi rolled her eyes and crossed her arms stubbornly.
Neji watched Isao look for the scent, pretending to ignore the arguing between siblings. He had noticed that Emi was a lot more relaxed when they were away from the village. Then Isao suddenly stopped in one spot, sniffing the ground intently; then he looked up and caught Neji's eye, the only one paying attention to him. He nodded his great dog head, scratching at the ground.
"He's found something." Neji said, interrupting the glaring contest between brother and sister.
They both looked towards Isao and moved to where he was.
"You found the right trail?" Emori asked.
Isao nodded again.
"Well lead the way. Tonight is the end of the second day so we have three days to find her before her life is over." Emi threw another glare at his words. "So make sure you follow carefully."
Isao growled a little at the implication that he would not be careful, but turned and put his nose to the ground again moving forward into the trees.
The team followed Isao's form all night as they looked for the place the princess was being kept. Neji kept his Byakugan activated to look for any ninja who might be hidden in the leaves.
Neji suddenly saw something up ahead. It was a small house built long ago and abandoned. Now it was once again inhabited by a camp of fifteen ninja. Inside the house Neji could see a girl tied to a post. She seemed unharmed, but Neji could see tears streaming down her face.
He held up his hand to give the ones behind him a warning that he had seen something. Isao, who was ahead, heard them stop and looked behind to see Neji signaling him back to join them.
"I can see their camp." He said to them. "They are still far enough that they cannot hear us, but if we get much closer we will need to be very quiet, they are keeping a strict watch."
Emori nodded.
"Where are they?"
Neji pointed in the direction he had seen them. "About a mile that way. There are a total of fifteen ninja in the entire camp. One is in the house with the princess, five are on watch and patrol, and the other nine are sleeping"
Emi looked him dead in the eye for the first time since he had met her.
"You saw her? Is she alright?"
Neji looked at her concerned face for a moment before answering.
"She seems fine. I couldn't see any injuries. But I could tell she was very afraid."
Emi stared at him for a moment before looking away, nodding.
"Since you saw the camp, what would you recommend for an attack?" Emori asked.
Neji thought for a moment.
"I would get into the house before we alert the other ninja to our presence. If we attack outside first and the ninja inside is made aware of us, he will probably kill the princess before we have a chance to get to her."
Emi nodded.
"Does the house have any windows?" She asked.
Neji turned back towards the camp and activated his Byakugan. He scanned the house thoroughly.
"There is one window, but not in the room where the girl is. The house is made up of two rooms. The back room has no window, and that's where the girl is, with the ninja. The front room has a window with no covering, but to get to the back room from the window you would have to pass in front of the door which is open and leads out to where the other ninja are."
"Hmmm." Emori said. "Can you see any identifying marks on them?"
Neji scanned all the ninja in the group. "They are all dressed similarly in brown pants and green shirts. They all carry normal ninja weapons, except for one who carries a huge sword. He is the one with the princess. I don't see any identifying marks on any of them."
Emori sighed. "Yeah I figured it be like that."
Neji turned his eyes away from the camp and back towards his teammates. He saw that Isao was now back to human and taking his own bag from Emori again.
Emi looked at her brother. "What do you think, captain?"
Emori rolled his eyes at the title but didn't say anything.
"We should have someone sneak into the house through the window, kill the ninja guarding the princess and get her to safety before we take on the others."
"I think both Isao and I should go for the princess." Emi said. "We can both use our smaller forms to get in, then one of us can protect her while the other kills the ninja. You and Neji can start the fight outside once we get in so that the ninja inside cant get any reinforcements. Isao and I will get the girl away while you and Neji finish off the rest."
Emori thought about her version of the plan for a moment.
"What if after you get out with the princess, Isao joins my fight and Neji goes with you?"
Emi raised her eyebrows.
"Why?"
"Because Neji will be able to watch for danger and get the princess to safety without running the risk of accidentally coming across enemies."
"Ok that makes sense."Isao said. "So Emi and I break in; she nabs the girl, I kill the guy; outside you and Neji cause the distraction of the day; I join you outside in an extermination mission; Neji leaves with Emi to get the princess to safety; we all meet up later for our paycheck. Did I get everything right?"
Emori nodded. "Pretty much got the jist of it."
Emi rolled her eyes at both of them.
"Ok so when do we put this plan into action?" She asked.
"Well," Emori said, "we could watch them for a while and see when they change watches and stuff, just to make sure we don't miss anything."
Emi glared.
"So in the meantime that poor girl has to sit there in terror while we scout it out better than we already have?"
Emori glared back.
"It was just a suggestion. What do you think Neji?"
"The plan seems sound to me; a little unorthodox but I don't see any problems with it. We shouldn't have to watch them for much longer; when I was watching them earlier they had just finished changing shifts."
"Good." Emi said looking satisfied.
***
One hour later they were all positioned outside the camp, ready to make their attack. Emi and Isao were sitting up in a tree; Emi in the form of a black hawk with some red feathers on her head and the tips of her wings, and Isao in the shape of a small brown bat clinging upside-down to the branch.
Neji and Emori had set up several paper bombs to be sent into the camp when they needed the distraction. They would not be anywhere near the house, but would hopefully cause some panic in the camp of ninja.
Neji watched the activity in the camp and looked at Emori and nodded, signaling that now was the time to go. Emori looked up at Emi and gave the silent signal to move forward. She launched herself forward, Isao close behind her, and silently approached the house.
Neji watched everything with his Byakugan activated. Emi flew in the window and landed on the floor on the opposite side of the room, past the open door. Isao followed her there and they quickly changed back into human shape. Both of them pulled their weapons and crept towards the door to the back room.
The problem here was that the door was closed and the ninja was directly opposite the door. So they could not sneak into the room; they would have to barge in and end this swiftly as possible. Emi pressed her ear to the door, listening to the actions on the other side. She leaned away and gestured to Isao that they would move forward on her signal.
They moved to either side of the door; Isao with one hand on the door ready to push it open and the other holding several needles, and Emi with kunai in both hands. She held up her hand and then gestured to Isao.
Isao threw open the door and ran in as quickly as he could, throwing the needles precisely at the man's neck where it would kill him immediately. The needles sank into the skin and his face was frozen in a look of shock. He hadn't even had time to reach for his huge sword.
Emi came in and met eyes with the princess, gesturing for her to be quiet. She moved forward and cut through the rope tying the girl to the pole, and she gently removed the gag from her mouth. She leaned forward and whispered into the girl's ear, explaining who they were and what they were going to do to get her out of there.
Then she looked up at the wall, in the direction of Neji's gaze and waved a little, telling him that now was the time for distraction. Neji looked away from Emi and back to Emori who was looking from the camp to Neji's face, trying to discern whether his sister and friend were in any danger.
Neji nodded at him, giving him the sign for success. Emori sighed silently and gave the signal for distraction with a question on his face. Neji nodded and gave the hand sign meaning 'now'.
Emori grinned and pulled the string that was attached to the paper bombs around the area. Neji could see the rigged kunai fly silently into the campground and he prepared to go into the fight.
Boom!
The sound of five paper bombs going off was almost deafening to someone not prepared for it. The ninja in the camp scrambled to their feet as quickly as they could, but some fell by Neji and Emori's hands before they could stand all the way up.
Neji and Emori had rushed into the camp to quickly remove some of the ninja from the picture before they could get organized. In the confusion of the attack the ninja did not notice Emi, with the princess on her back, slip out of the door and into the trees. Isao came out of the house throwing kunai and other sharp objects. Neji landed a few more blows on the ninja who were just gathering themselves together before he disappeared in the smoke to follow Emi.
He moved quickly away from the camp, using his eyes to track her movements. She was not going full speed as she was waiting for him to catch up. He put extra chakra into his legs so he could run at his full speed through the branches of the trees. He quickly caught up to her.
The princess had her face hidden in Emi back as they ran, and Emi looked at Neji.
"We need to find a safe place to rest. She hasn't eaten since they caught her."
Neji could hear the concern for the girl in Emi's voice so he didn't protest. He scanned the area ahead of them until he found a place that looked good.
"About a mile ahead of us there is a small cave. It's empty, and well hidden. We can go there for now."
Emi nodded and fell behind Neji. He led the way to the cave and went inside, scanning the place once again with his eyes. He waved to Emi who was waiting hidden, and she joined him there. She gently lowered the girl to the ground.
Neji looked at her again. Her face was white but her eyes were red from crying. She was shaking all over and she didn't look like she could support herself at all. Her clothes were dirty and ripped in places, but she was sufficiently covered to not worry about her being cold in the summer heat. Neji opened his bag and slipped out a blanket and wrapped it around her shoulders anyway.
Emi sat in front of her and gave her a water bottle to drink from.
"What's your name, Princess?"
The girl took a drink from the bottle with a trembling hand, and wiped her mouth gently before saying in a very quiet voice, "Sayuki."
Emi nodded and handed her a roll from her own bag. Sayuki looked at both of them while she ate, from Emi who was sitting in front of her, to Neji who was at the mouth of the cave watching the outside.
"Who are you?" She asked timidly.
Emi gave her a soft look, it was the most tender look Neji had ever seen on Emi's face.
"We are ninja from the Sun Village. I am Emi, and this is Neji."
Sayuki looked back and forth between them.
"We were sent by your father to rescue you."
Sayuki's eyes filled with tears again as she began to sob. Emi looked a little panicked but she awkwardly put her arms around the younger girl and patted her back comfortingly. Kunoichi were trained to push back their emotions, so dealing with others emotions was sometimes awkward.
"It's all right. You're safe now."
Sayuki nodded against Emi's shoulder.
"I know but I can't stop crying. I was so scared. I thought Chichi would have no choice but to give them the scroll."
She sobbed even harder and Emi just kept holding her and rubbing her back to keep her calm.
Neji looked back to where the camp was. He could see that Emori and Isao were doing well against the ninja. He would say that all of the ninja were chunin or genin as their fighting skills were not very impressive.
They had defeated nine of the fifteen and were now fighting the more talented of the group who had been able to defend themselves. Emori and Isao were each fighting three of them and it seemed that they were struggling to defeat them. They had a few injuries, though mostly shallow, they still caused limitations on their fighting and made them tired. They are going to need help to end this quickly.
Neji looked back at Emi and she met his eyes.
"The others are struggling." He said with a straight face.
"How many are left?" she asked.
"There are only six left alive but they are at least chunin if not Jounin. They are skilled enough to present a challenge to them; though alone they would not be able to stand against them."
Emi looked at the girl who was not crying anymore but still shaking in her arms. Then she looked back at Neji.
"One of us has to go back."
He nodded.
"But who?"
She looked at him for a moment. He could see in here eyes that she was torn between wanting to help her brother and wanting to help the girl clinging to her.
"You go. She needs me right now, and I can defend us if we are attacked. You can see if I have any problems from there too."
Neji nodded at her and jumped up into the trees, moving quickly back to the camp.
When he got there he jumped straight down and landed several gentle fist blows to the closest ninja, who immediately fell to the ground paralyzed.
Emori nodded at him as he fought the ninja off. Another turned to see Neji standing there with his comrade at his feet. He rushed at Neji aiming his fists at Neji's face and torso. Neji easily blocked the man and began closing off his chakra points. The ninja flipped back away from Neji and quickly threw two shuriken stars at him. He dodged them and moved in closer.
The ninja had figured out that Neji was a close range fighter and so he was keeping his distance. Neji continuously pushed forward to get close to him but he stayed out of range. Neji threw a couple of kunai back at the man just to see his defenses. The ninja threw his own kunai to block the knives.
Neji stopped moving forward. He and the other ninja just stood facing each other. The other man was trying to figure out what Neji was trying to do, why he had stopped. Neji took one step forward, and the man was in range for his jutsu.
Neji pictured in his head the green ying yang as he slid himself into his fighting stance. The other man tensed but didn't move yet. Suddenly Neji flew forward.
"Eight trigrams One Hundred and Twenty Eight palms!"
Once again Neji felt he was moving in slow motion as his hand came into contact with the mans body, slamming chakra in and disrupting the flow.
"Two palms!"
"Four palms!"
"Eight palms!"
The man was now staggering backwards under Neji's attack. He could not defend himself at all.
Neji continued his attack until he had closed every one of the chakra points in the ninja's body. Then when the jutsu was over, the ninja fell to the ground dead as all his chakra had been blocked. Neji turned back to the others. Emori had just finished off the last of his opponents and Isao was still battling with one.
Emori threw a kunai at the man, and it sunk itself deep into his thigh. The ninja winced but didn't cry out. It was just enough of a distraction for Isao to stab him in the chest, stopping his heart.
Emori and Isao were both panting from the hard work but Neji breath had barely sped. Emori looked at him.
"Thanks for the help, but where is Emi?"
Neji looked through the trees as he saw the cave. She was still sitting there with Sayuki who had leaned her head against Emi's shoulder and fallen asleep.
"She's fine. Ill lead you to her."
Isao looked around.
"Should we clean this up?" Isao asked.
"No. We need to get the princess to the Daimyou. It still isn't safe out here."
Neji nodded, agreeing with Emori. Isao shrugged and they headed off into the trees towards the cave.
Once they got there Emori carefully picked up the princess, and Emi stood up, gently massaging her shoulder which had fallen asleep under the princess's head. Neji scanned the area and lead the way back to the castle.
They got to the gate just as the sun was peering over the hills. The guards called out, announcing their presence and the return of the princess. She was now sleeping in Emori's arms as he carried her into the courtyard.
Baku ran forward and took the princess from him. He looked very concerned as he rushed her into the house where Neji could see she was surrounded by maids who would take care of her from now on.
Baku came back outside. This time he had a small smile on his face.
"That was quicker than we expected."
Emori laughed.
"Well the Daimyou asked for elite ninja. That's what he got."
Baku smiled.
"She seems alright. What happened?"
Emi stepped forward.
"I looked for injuries on her and she is unharmed for the most part. She has a few bruises on her arms from the ropes but other than that she is fine."
"We attacked their camp after we had secured the princess's safety. We made sure to get her out of there before she could be put in any more danger, then we took the ninja out of the picture. They are dead." Emori said.
"Where was their camp?"
Neji was the one who answered this time.
"It is on the other side of the mountain, around an old abandoned house."
Baku nodded.
"I know the area. We used to have a hermit who lived there, who would come to town every once in a while. But he died over a year ago."
Emori gave back the sash that they had given to him for Isao.
"We didn't get a chance to clean up the mess so you might want to send some people to get rid of the bodies. I think one might still be alive so you might even be able to question him."
Neji suddenly remembered the man he had paralyzed without killing. I wonder if he can even still talk.
Baku looked like he had been given a treat.
"That's great. I have wanted to get my hands on one of those bastards for a long time."
Emori nodded. Then the Daimyou came rushing out of the house. He bowed low to them as tears ran down his face.
"Thank you so much!" He said quickly before he rushed back inside to be with his daughter.
Isao laughed a little and Neji smirked. What a silly looking man.
As they turned to leave, Emi caught Baku's arm.
"Can you tell her I said goodbye?"
Baku looked at her intense face.
"Yeah I'll tell her."
Emi looked relieved.
"Thank you."
As they walked out the gate Emori looked at her from the corner of his eye.
"Why does it matter if you say goodbye to her? She probably won't even remember what we look like. She was asleep most of the time."
Emi slugged her brother's shoulder and he winced.
"Shut up Nii-san."
***
A/N- Sorry this chapter took me so long. I really had a hard time thinking up their first mission. If anyone has any suggestions for future missions please tell me your ideas but Im coming up short. Please review and tell me what you think of the story so far. =) Thanks!