I hate that damned cat, Naruto thought sourly as he glared at the irascible feline resting comfortably in Sakura's arms. This was the fifth time in a week that Team Seven had been sent out to recapture Tora, who seemed to delight in escaping from the grasp of the Daimyo's wife. Of course Naruto tended to hate cats in general, since they'd always reacted badly to his presence. Maybe they can sense the damned fox, the blonde wondered, or maybe they're just pure evil.
The group of genin trudged up to the mission center at Hokage Tower and turned toe accursed feline over to its heavyset owner. Naruto couldn't help but let out an evil, vindictive chuckle as Tora was squeezed hard enough for his spine to make cracking noises, causing his teammates to stare at him oddly. The blonde shrugged and gave a sheepish smile as they headed up to the desk for another mission. Great, Naruto thought, another day doing menial chores for the villagers. Damn it, I want something better!
Iruka, who was manning the mission desk today with the Hokage, smiled at his former students as they approached. "Finished with Tora already," he asked as he rifled through the papers in front of him. "Let's see what other D-Ranks we have available … Ah, there's a job weeding the herbalist's garden, delivering groceries to the elderly, cleaning the trash from the park…"
"No, no, no," Naruto shouted. "I'm tired of all these crappy missions. Damn it, jiji, give us a real mission where can prove what we can do!"
"Naruto! Show Hokage-sama some respect," Iruka yelled back, rising to his feet and slamming his hands on the table. "Your team is too inexperienced to handle more than the usual D-Rank missions. The ranking system is graded by difficulty by shinobi many years your senior who know the risks far better than you…"
"Maa, calm down, Iruka-kun," Sarutobi chuckled. "I'm actually surprised Naruto has managed to be as patient as he already has. Besides if I recall correctly, he has the same number of missions under his belt that you did when you first requested a C-Rank mission."
"That was completely different, Hokage-sama," a flustered Iruka muttered as he returned to his chair.
"What do you think, Kakashi," the Sandaime asked, "is your team ready for a higher ranked mission?"
"I don't think it will hurt anything," the one-eyed jounin answered, briefly looking up from his little orange book. "Their teamwork is at an acceptable level and their individual skills are decent overall. I'll be there to look after them as well.."
"And you're growing bored with supervising D-Ranks," the Hokage chuckled. "Well, as it turns out we have a low risk C-Rank escort mission available."
"Awesome! Are we escorting a Daimyo or a princess," Naruto asked excitedly before Sakura cracked her fist over his head.
"Would you bring Tazuna in," the Hokage asked one of the guards, who disappeared and returned with an old man in threadbare clothes that was drinking sake from a jug.
"These are the guys you're going to have escort me back to Nami no Kuni," the old man asked querulously. "They look pretty unreliable to me, especially the midget in the orange with the dumb look on his face."
"Oi," Naruto snarled as he snatched a kunai from his pouch and sent it flying at the old man. The blade passed between his legs just a hair's breath below the groin and embedded in the wall behind him. "I won't take abuse like that, you old drunk, not even if you're the client!"
"Naruto, don't threaten the client," Iruka thundered.
"I'll treat him the same way he treats me," the blonde shouted back.
"Calm down everyone," Kakashi interjected loudly as he closed his book and returned it to one of his vest pockets. "I assure you, Tazuna-san, that my team will be able to handle the mission and I'll be there too, so you'll have a jounin as well."
"I guess I can accept that," Tazuna replied nervously, glancing over at where Naruto and Iruka were still arguing.
"We'll meet in two hours at the village gates," Kakashi ordered. "You three make sure to pack your full field kit and supplies for at least a week's travel."
Naruto bounced along the road, his jacket open to reveal the black shirt underneath in an attempt to enjoy the heat of the day. This was the first time he'd ever traveled outside of the village and the blonde was determined to make it a memorable experience. He didn't even mind the presence of the old drunk who insisted on complaining every step of the way.
That's odd, Naruto thought as he saw a puddle of water ahead, ignoring the incessant stream of chattering from Sakura. It hasn't rained for weeks, so why is there a puddle here…
The answer to his unspoken question came as Kakashi walked past the puddle and two shinobi leapt out. They wrapped a razor sharp chain around the jounin, pulling it tight and slicing him to pieces. Naruto stood there frozen for a moment as the pair moved to attack Tazuna. Sasuke threw a kunai at the chain where it hung between the two ninja's gauntlets. The blade pinned the chain to a tree and slowed them enough for Naruto to gather his wits and draw his blades. The attackers detached the chain with a quick, practiced motion and charged the genin. Just as Sasuke and Naruto were about to engage, the two mysterious ninja were grabbed from behind and had their heads bashed together, knocking them out.
"Kakashi-sensei," Sakura stammered from where she'd taken a defensive position in front of their client. "I thought you'd been …"
"Just a little deception, Sakura," the jounin said as he pulled a length of strong wire from his pouch and tied the two attackers to a nearby tree. "I noticed them hiding in the puddle and decided to see who their target was. Not very smart of them to hide in a puddle on a hot day when we haven't had rain recently. So, Tazuna-san, would you care to explain why you've been lying to us? These two are the Oni Kyoudai, C-Rank nukenin from Kirgakure and there were obviously after you."
Tazuna dropped to his knees and assumed a pleading position as he answered, "Please forgive me! I didn't have the money for a higher ranked mission request since Nami no Kuni is so poor and I didn't think Gatou had hired ninja to stop us…"
"Why don't you calm down and start from the beginning? Then we can decide what to do about this," Kakashi suggested as he finished securing the Oni Kyoudai and moved over to join the rest of the group.
"Very well. Nami no Kuni has always been a fairly important stopping point on the trade routes and has been known for its fishing," Tazuna began. "Several years back, a man named Gatou began buying up all the smaller shipping companies or running them out of business until he held a monopoly on the sea routes. He strangled the trade coming into Nami no Kuni, so we decided to build a bridge to the mainland. That's where I come in, since I'm the greatest bridge builder in the Elemental countries. But Gatou wasn't going to sit back and take us destroying his monopoly lightly and he started hiring thugs to discourage us. Most of Nami no Kuni is terrified of what he might do, but I will finish my bridge! Please, Kakashi-san, you have to help me or my beautiful daughter and wonderful grandson will be left all alone in the world and at the mercy of Gatou's thugs." Tazuna's eyes seemed to grow shiny with tears as he pleaded with the ninja, making him leek even more pathetic.
"Oi, we took the job," Naruto said. "I say we finish it. So what if there's a few things that we didn't know about beforehand. That's why we have a jounin-sensei."
"The dobe's right," Sasuke admitted grudgingly. "I say we finish the mission."
"Well, if Sasuke-kun wants to go on…" Sakura added, shrugging in agreement.
"Looks like we'll be sticking around then, Tazuna-san," Kakashi stated, looking proudly at his students.
"This is as far as I can take you," the boatman said as he pulled up to the small deserted dock.
"I appreciate this," Tazuna told the man, clapping a hand on his shoulder. "I know how much you're risking by doing this. Go ahead and get going. No need to risk yourself more than necessary."
The group disembarked from the small boat and crossed the dock into the wooded area on the interior of the island. Naruto was starting to wonder exactly what he had gotten everyone involved in if it had the common people as scared as the boatman was. Man, this forest is starting to creep me out, the blonde thought as he looked around the underbrush. It was warmer here than in the woods around Konoha, which was reflected in unfamiliar trees and a much denser undergrowth. Wait, what was that, Naruto thought as he threw a kunai into the bushes.
"Naruto what the hell are you doing," Sakura demanded. "You scared me half to death and over what?" Sakura stomped over to a bush and shoved the branches aside to reveal a white rabbit shivering below a kunai embedded in the tree behind it. "You just attacked a poor bunny. Oh, come here, baby, I won't let this orange idiot hurt you again."
"That rabbit's got a winter coat…" Naruto said slowly as both he and Sasuke looked to the jounin.
"It had to be a kawarimi," Kakashi told them while scanning the surrounding forest. "That rabbit's been kept in a cage or it would have its summer coat already. Be on guard, everybody, it looks like we have another ninja on our hands….Down!"
Naruto stood frozen as a loud buzzing sound approached. He turned to see a huge blade spinning through the air heading directly towards the group. The others had dropped to the ground and ducked under the blade's path while Naruto stood there with a strange smile on his face. He raised a hand as Kakashi cried out in warning just in time to see the sword bounce off to the side and stick in a nearby tree like it had careened off some invisible object in mid-air.
Whew, I'm glad that worked , Naruto thought. Still takes too long to harden the air though. I'll have to work on that before we get hit by another surprise attack.
"So, this is what the old drunk managed to find as protection," a voice called out as a shinobi in light gray flipped through the air to land next to the sword, casually pulling it free from the wood. "A jounin and three brats."
"Momoichi Zabuza," Kakashi said out of nowhere as he rose to his feet. "A-Rank nukenin from Kirigakure, also known as the Demon of the Mist. I can't say I'm all that surprised after the Oni Kyoudai."
"Hmm, Sharingan no Kakashi," Zabuza chuckled as he scratched his chin, which was hidden under bandages along with the lower half of his face. "It'll be a rather nice feather in my cap to take out a famous shinobi like you."
"You three stay back and protect Tazuna," Kakashi ordered as he lifted his hitai-ate off his left eye.
"Pulling out your Sharingan already? I should feel honored," the nukenin chuckled as he planted his sword in the ground before him and began making hand seals. "Let's see how well that eye of yours works now! Ninpou: Kirigakure no jutsu!" A thick, heavy mist descended on the area, completely obscuring the group's vision beyond a few feet.
"Leave this to me," Kakashi ordered. "If things start to look bad, take Tazuna and run."
None of the genin argued with their sensei's order, feeling the impact of the nukenin's killing intent flooding the area. Zabuza's voice floated eerily out of the mist, "In Kirgakure we specialize in Silent Killing, rather than the flashy effects you tree huggers prefer. Jugular, clavicle, spine, heart, lungs, liver …. All these areas can be struck to provide a swift kill." A slight whistling noise came through the mist and Naruto turned just in time to see Kakashi block the swing with a kunai. The jounin disengaged and stabbed the nukenin, who dissolved into water.
"Mizu bunshin," Kakashi said shortly as he moved away. The mist began to clear again, allowing the three genin to see Zabuza slash though the jounin to likewise find it a Mizu bunshin.
"So your Sharingan was able to copy my Mizu Bunshin no jutsu even through the mist," Zabuza commented, leaping backwards onto the water to avoid Kakashi as he reappeared. The nukenin smirked as the jounin landed in front of him and disappeared in another splash of water. The cycloptic jounin was taken by surprise as the nukenin rose from the water behind him, finishing off a set of hand seals. "Suiton: Suiro no jutsu!" The water rose up to form a shell around Kakashi and began to fill in until he was encased in a sphere of water attached to Zabuza's hand.
"Hah, the great Sharingan no Kakashi falls prey to my water prison," the nukenin laughed harshly. "Now that you're out of the way, I can get rid of your brats and finish off the old man. With a single handed seal, a Mizu bunshin rose from the ground by the lake and advanced on the group, his zanbatou drawn and gleaming in the light.
"We should run away," Sakura said shakily, her teeth chattering from fear. "He caught Kakashi-sensei, what more could we do?"
"I'm not leaving," Naruto declared, drawing his blades and stepping forward. "I won't leave Kakashi-sensei even if it costs me my life."
"I'm not going anywhere either," Sasuke growled. "I'm not going to run from some two-bit nukenin, not when he's in the way of my ambition."
"Right then," Naruto nodded. "Sakura, you stay and protect Tazuna-san. Bastard, can you pelt the real Zabuza with your fireballs?"
Sasuke's eyes narrowed as he gauged the distance and shook his head. The fireballs have a limited range before they disperse," he answered. "I'd have to be at the edge of the water to hit him with either the Housenka of Gokyakku no jutsu."
Naruto closed his eyes in thought for a second, trying to ignore the pressure created by the advancing bunshin. A flicker of memory came to mind from a conversation with the Hokage about how the elements interacted. A foxy smile spread across the blonde's face as he turned to his teammate. "Follow in my wake," Naruto told him. "I'll get the bunshin, then you do your Gokyakku no jutsu."
"I'm not sure it'll reach him," Sasuke grumbled moodily, looking at Naruto suspiciously.
"Don't worry," Naruto replied with another grin. "I'll make sure it gets there."
Sasuke shrugged, but followed when Naruto suddenly slid forwards on his air cushion and performed a double slash with his kodachi, sending two blades of wind at the Mizu bunshin. Zabuza's bunshin was unable to defend as the wind blades tore through him and reduced him to water. Naruto wheeled in a circle, sheathing his blades as he came around behind Sasuke who was already running through hand seals. "Katon: Gokyakku no jutsu!" the Uchiha called out as he took a deep breath and blew out a massive fireball.
From behind the raven-haired boy, Naruto ran through the seals of a jutsu of his own, "Fuuton: Kazenami no jutsu!" A massive gale of wind whipped across the shore and over the water, catching the fireball and feeding the wind chakra into it. The fireball swelled in size and intensity, leaving a streak of boiling water steaming from the surface as it sped towards the nukenin.
Zabuza saw the oncoming roil of flame and leapt out of the way, breaking the jutsu holding Kakashi prisoner. When the fireball exploded, a cloud of steam obscured the genin's vision for a moment but they saw Kakashi and Zabuza forming the same seals rapidly once it cleared. "Suiton: Suiryudon no jutsu!" the men called out in unison as two water dragons rose from the surface of the water and collided with each other in mutual annihilation.
"That eye of yours," Zabuza asked, "does it allow you to read the future?" Zabuza was now panting with exertion as he glared at the one-eyed jounin.
"The only future I see for you is death," Kakashi intoned as his hands flew through another long string of seals before the nukenin could react. "Suiton: Daibakufu no jutsu!" A huge wall of water rose from the pond and slammed into Zabuza, sending him bouncing off the trees. The nukenin struggled to his feet, but suddenly collapsed with three senbon protruding from his neck.
A lithe form in a kimono and featureless mask dropped to the ground next to the body as Kakashi and the others approached cautiously. "I must thank you for your assistance, Kakashi-san," the stranger said in a light and soft voice. "I have been chasing this nukenin for quite some time and your battle gave me the opportunity I have been seeking to eliminate him."
"So you're an Oinin from Kiri," Kakashi stated. "I'm glad we could be of service."
"I'm sure Kiri will reward you well for your assistance once I file my report," the oinin said while hefting Zabuza's body and jumped off into the trees.
"Well that was cheap," Naruto grumbled after the oinin. "Kakashi-sensei already has the bastard beaten and he steps in to claim the defeat? Not very fair if you ask me…"
Naruto broke off as a loud thump was heard. He turned to see the jounin lying on the ground looking at them weakly. He reached up with a shaky hand and pulled his hitai-ate down to cover his eye, which was an odd red one with three little marks swirling around the pupil.
"Kakashi-sensei, are you all right," Naruto asked, drawing the attention of the others to the downed jounin.
"I'll be fine," the jounin wheezed. "I just used a little too much chakra in that fight. I'm going to pass out soon and will probably be unconscious for two or three days. Get us to Tazuna's house and secure the area. With that, the jounin went limp.
Kakashi wound up unconscious for almost five days in total, leaving the genin at loose ends for the majority of the time. Tsunami and Inari, Tazuna's daughter and grandson, adapted to the ninja's arrival in different ways. Tsunami was cautiously hopeful about their presence, as mush as one who has had their hopes shattered in the past can be, and made the four of them welcome. Inari was outspoken about the futility of their presence, which caused more than one argument between him and Naruto. The blonde dearly wanted to beat some sense into the boy, but refrained so as not to upset their client.
The house was fairly isolated from the village, which made it easier to secure. The household was restricted to a small number of safe paths, while the rest of the area was littered with traps set up by the bored genin. Naruto took it upon himself to accompany Tazuna when he headed out to work on the bridge. This gave the blonde a first hand view of the crushing poverty that had become the norm in Nami no Kuni. The shops were much like you would find anywhere, but were virtually empty of merchandise or food. The bridge truly seemed to be the only hope these people had.
Kakashi called the genin to his room shortly after he woke up. "I need the three of you to be aware," he said, "that the oinin we encountered was a fake."
"Of course," Sakura exclaimed. "I thought something was odd. Oinin are supposed to destroy the bodies of their targets on the spot to prevent any secrets from being discovered through examination of the corpse."
"that's right, Sakura," Kakashi nodded approvingly. "Plus the oinin was using senbon, hardly the most lethal of weapons. If used with enough precision, though, a near death state can be induced."
"So that oinin was someone else working with Zabuza," Naruto summarized. "That means he'll be back again and will probably have his ally along to help."
"We do have some breathing space," Kakashi explained. "I managed to injure Zabuza and being placed in a near death state will take a significant toll on his body. At the minimum, we have about a week to prepare ourselves. Longer if his ally is not as skilled with medical jutsu as I fear. I'm going to plan on a worst case scenario, though, so I'll have you three training starting tomorrow."
The next morning, Kakashi mounted a pair of crutches and led the three genin out into the woods. "Today," he said, "we're going to practice climbing trees."
"What good will that do," Sasuke muttered darkly. "We can already climb trees."
"Ah, but you'll be doing it without the use of your hands," the jounin explained, his eye curving into a smile. "It's fairly simple, since all you have to do is channel chakra to your feet and cling to the tree as you move." Kakashi demonstrated by walking up the tree, crutches and all. "Too little and you won't stick, too much and it will blow you off. The trick is to find the right balance and maintain it. This is an important chakra control exercise that is necessary before learning higher level jutsu." He reached into his pouch and pulled out three kunai, throwing them to the ground in front of each genin. "Now I want you to try this. Use the kunai to keep track of the height you make on the tree."
Each of them picked up a kunai and turned to face a different tree. Sakura moved over to her tree and after a minute of concentration was soon walking up easily. Sasuke took the tree at a run, making it several feet up before losing concentration and falling back to the ground. Naruto just stood there and stared at his tree, thinking furiously despite the itchy spot on his back where he knew Kakashi was staring at him. This is a lot like the water walking exercise, Naruto thought, except you use you chakra to stick instead of repel. So I just make a pad of sticky chakra along the bottom of my foot…
The blonde placed his foot on the tree and began to move up slowly, since he made the pad extremely sticky at first. As he moved, though, Naruto decreased the cling until he found himself able to move up the trunk freely. He started skipping until he reached the very top and repeated the process on the way down, pleased to be able to defy gravity like that. When he reached the ground again, the blonde found his teammates and sensei looking at him oddly.
"What? Is there something on my face," Naruto asked in confusion.
"No, Naruto," Kakashi replied with a sigh. "We're just a little surprised at how quickly you mastered this exercise."
"Hehe, this one was easy," Naruto chuckled, scratching the back of his head. "Learning to walk on water was a lot harder."
"You already know how to do that," Kakashi asked with an eyebrow cocked in surprise.
"Yeah, I figured it out a while ago, after listening to Iruka-sensei talk about advanced chakra control," Naruto replied boastfully. "It really helped with something I was having trouble mastering."
"I see. Naruto, why don't you go wait for me at the house," Kakashi suggested. "I'll take you along to guard the bridge until these two have the exercise down."
"But I want to train too, Kakashi-sensei," Naruto whined.
"Sasuke and Sakura need far more work than you do," Kakashi said sternly. "Your chakra control is already significantly advanced if you've mastered this exercise and the water walking. They need time to catch up."
Naruto didn't retort, but he was not very happy with his sensei right now. So what if he was ahead of the others in chakra control? He still needed to improve other things and he'd been hoping to learn a jutsu or two that weren't of his own creation. Not that his original jutsu were bad; they were just limited to Fuuton because of his strong wind affinity. Kakashi gave Sasuke and Sakura their instructions and turned to hobble away, obviously expecting the blonde to follow.
"I hate being weak like this," Zabuza complained as Haku sponged the sweat from his brow. Even more of the nukenin's body was covered in bandages than usual.
"If you hadn't played around so much, Sharingan no Kakashi wouldn't have done so much damage," Haku chastised. "He is a very strong opponent and you underestimated his skill. You should have let me come in to help or had me take care of the genin."
"I'd fell a lot better if you'd quit telling me 'I told you so,' damn it," the nukenin growled at his companion. The younger shinobi had removed the mask that had fooled the Konoha ninja so easily and was wearing a much nicer kimono while tending to Zabuza's injuries. "That near death state thing you did may have let you pull me out of there, but the side effects are a bitch."
"As your tool, I couldn't very well leave you there, Zabuza-sama," Haku replied with a shrug. "It pains me terribly that my actions have contributed to leave you so weak, but that will pass soon enough. I'm going to go out this evening and pick some herbs that I can use to compound a medicine that should speed your recovery."
"Having you train with at medic was one of the best things I could have done," Zabuza sighed. "It's proven to be worth every penny it cost to pay off those debts."
"Hai, Shizune-san was most helpful in furthering my medical knowledge," Haku agreed. "It's a shame that I only had a couple of weeks to study with her before she left to find her master. I'm glad that you're not nearly so much trouble for me as Shizune-san's shishou…"
"Bah," Zabuza grumbled. "You're getting reckless though. Threatening out employer is a bad idea and it was an even worse idea to twist his arm the way you did."
"No one threatens you, Zabuza-sama," Haku said cheerfully. "If he wasn't the one paying us, he wouldn't have survived that incident."
"Well, be careful," the nukenin warned. "A man like that is petty and never forgets those who make him look foolish. You are a valuable tool and I would hate to have to do without your skills and assistance."
"I live only to serve you, Zabuza-sama," Haku murmured, but there was a shadow in the young shinobi's eyes. A conflict of natures that was slowly tearing Haku apart. "I should be back in the morning. I will prepare your medicine then."