Mid-Childa Naruto
aka: Mischief Fragment - Mjolnir
a possibility raised by Greylle
Archived by Solitare and reposted by TheBeardedOne.
The plan was to drop this. Time restrictions and there are a few magic-Naruto stories already out there. i haven't run into one quite like this though, and plot details just keep fitting themselves into place. Which is why it's been separated out from the Omake and put here.
Various characters from various series. Mainly Nanoha and Naruto.
Considering all the takes on the Wave Country arc out there in fanfiction-land, I decided to throw canon completely out the window and try forging off in a new direction. Or at least a less-traveled path. Let me know how well I did, okay?
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Chapter 7: Wave Country (at last)
"What I got you originally was a shield device, but I sent that back and got a repair kit instead," said Naruto to Sakura, ignoring the way Sakura's expression went through several changes on that.
Sasuke tried to look uninterested and distant. He didn't even fool the boatman/guide who'd just met him.
"It's called Elixir," said Naruto, carefully handing over the crystal stoppered vial. "Be careful with it. It's very expensive and rare. I was only able to get that because I have connections with the dragons."
"What's it do?" asked Sasuke, hoping it was something he could throw at That Man.
"It'll bring you back from the brink of death," said Naruto. "It'll heal you and restore your chakra. If you're poisoned or cursed, it'll fix that too. It's the most powerful healing potion known on Mid-Childa and even they don't see it that often."
"I'm surprised you didn't get one for your girlfriend," mused Sasuke, ignoring the sudden hiss and fluffing fur from the cat. Who looked surprised herself just after that.
"There's a potential problem with it," said Naruto. "I asked about it, and one of the mages suggested that someone with a bloodline might lose that bloodline. See it's just a potion, it can't tell if it's an enhancement or what - it might decide to cure her eyes."
Now Sasuke frowned at the look of the crystal. "Too little of it to experiment with."
"You have a contract with dragons," said Kakashi, interrupting as Sasuke brooded. "So why not summon one for Sakura to ride."
"'Dragon'?" muttered Tazuna skeptically.
"Hey, good idea," said Naruto, producing his hammer and slamming it onto the ground. "Summoning!"
Again runes rotated in a circular fashion.
This time though, the dragon was smaller - barely past nine feet in length.
"Sparky!" greeted Naruto, hugging the dragon.
"Naruto!" greeted the dragon, craning his neck so that his head pressed against Naruto's back. "I heard you got your mage license upgraded. Congratulations."
Sasuke smirked at the way Tazuna stared with his mouth hanging open. Not mentioning his own moment of reaction back when Naruto had summoned this guy's mother during the bell test. Never happened, after all - he would deny it to his last breath.
"This isn't going to take long, is it?" asked Sparky. "My mom's been riding my tail about my homework."
"No, I don't think so," said Naruto. "Oh. This is my ninja team. That's Kakashi-sensei. Sakura. And that one's Sasuke."
"Where's Hinata? I wanted to meet her," said Sparky.
"Not here," said Naruto. "She's on another team."
"Oh, bummer," said Sparky.
"He's... a dragon," pointed out Sakura. Who'd convinced herself that it had all been some genjutsu and was now facing the reality of it.
"His name is 'Sparky'?" asked Sasuke.
"Well, my name among other dragons is a lot longer, and it tends to get mangled by non-dragons, so 'Sparky' will do," said the dragon, his voice somehow indicating a much younger and smaller kid.
"Why 'Sparky'?" asked Kakashi.
Sparky half-turned and spat a lightning bolt out which exploded in front of the ready-to-flee boatman.
"Ah, that explains it," said Kakashi, his visible eye crinkled in a smile hidden by his mask. "So Naruto, you'll fly. Sparky, Sakura needs someone to fly her across. Tazuna, myself, the black puffball over there, and Sasuke will go by boat."
A few glances revealed that, yes, Kurochan's fur HAD mostly gone out in a puffball.
"Is that your familiar?" asked Sparky, as the cat shook herself and tried to pretend that hadn't just happened.
"Yeah, that's Kurochan!" admitted Naruto. "Ain't she cool?"
Kurochan found herself preening and forcibly stopped herself to look over the dragon.
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Sakura had initially panicked as she settled into place, sitting across the dragon's shoulders. Then she'd panicked a bit more during the launch process, with Naruto having to lend a hand to get the dragon airborne at first.
That changed after awhile though, when the flight evened out and the panic gave way to wonder. "How high up are we?"
Naruto, just above her and only a couple of meters away, answered. "Five hundred meters. That's a pretty thick fog there."
Sakura glanced down at the white cloud stretching below them to all sides. "Can you really track where they are?"
"Yeah, I'm using one of those search-spheres to track 'em," answered Naruto. "That way if they get attacked, we can respond real fast."
"It's actually difficult to keep this slow," rumbled Sparky. "Should we land ahead of them?"
"We might get spotted and then they'll know where the others will land," said Sakura. "Those WERE Mist Ninja after all. I bet they can see through this fog with no problems at all."
"So if we fly above the mist and don't go straight to the landing spot, we can confuse the issue if someone IS watching us," said Naruto.
"Oh good," said Sparky, lurching ahead. "Race you!"
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"Damn fog," muttered Zabuza. "Damn contract. Damn job. Damn Uzumaki clan."
"They're out there somewhere," said Haku.
"This is one of the reasons I hated living in the Village Hidden In The Mists," said Zabuza.
"Yes, it is certainly difficult to keep one's clothes dry and keep various metal bits from rusting," agreed Haku.
A shadow flitted overhead.
"Haku?" asked Zabuza.
"Zabuza-sama?" asked Haku.
"Did you see... no. Couldn't have been," said Zabuza. Though if anyone could manage it, it would be an Uzumaki. No. Couldn't be. If an Uzumaki could do THAT, then... it would be time to settle down and have a nice occupation that didn't require facing an Uzumaki. Maybe a butcher shop, slaughtering cows and pigs and goats. Maybe one of those sandwich shops where they sliced the meat up - a 'deli' or something like that. No, it couldn't possibly be what he'd thought he'd seen because if this WAS something a chunin level Uzumaki was doing - he most definitely did not want to see what would happen if that Uzumaki hit jonin.
"I think they'll most likely head for that dock over there, Zabuza-sama," said Haku, pointing and politely not mentioning how pale the swordsman was at that moment. Probably just all the damp anyway.
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Sasuke brooded.
Kakashi was apparently reading his book, though Hanabi could tell from minute muscular movements and the occasional flick of his visible eye - that Kakashi WAS paying attention to his surroundings.
Hanabi was the only one visibly keeping watch, which didn't fool Tazuna from the way the client glanced at the cat.
Hanabi herself was fascinated, her own eyesight acute enough without an active Byakugan that she caught occasional sight of the bridge and moving shapes that were likely patrol boats.
The boatman was nervous and looking around and had apparently completely dismissed the cat who lay lazily in the back of the boat. Hanabi had watched a few real cats when they passed them. The house-cats in particular had a smug superior attitude that managed to be alert but coolly dismissive of the activities of lesser mortals. Hanabi felt that not only could she do that, but that particular attitude was well suited for a Hyuga heir. It also concealed the fact that the lazy smugness could be put aside for deadly energy when the opportunity was right. Also perfect for a Hyuga heir.
Ah, they were coming up on the landing spot, and the dark shape flitting overhead indicated that Naruto and Sakura would be meeting them there.
Hanabi briefly considered transforming into a girl and jumping across when leaving the boat. Just because the boatman would likely have an amusing reaction. No, better to keep her cover as just a housecat pet of a ninja. This close to the bridgebuilder's home would make this point ideal for an ambush after all.
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Zabuza held himself ready. He'd been expecting a team of raw genin, based on what the old bridge builder could afford that would be about it. A little intimidation and beating their jonin, and the genin would go fleeing back to their village. Word of mouth would get around and he'd be able to get more money on other assignments.
A dragon had just landed and disgorged a passenger, who was the Uzumaki girl. Though she seemed to be wearing some form-fitting armor under some overclothes, he couldn't really get much detail at this distance. And getting very close to - a - freaking - DRAGON - was not on his "to do" list today.
The dragon vanished in a puff of chakra smoke, revealing it was the girl's summon. Which meant that the forbidden techniques that the Whirlpool had been working on, the fear of which had caused the temporary alliance to destroy that village, had been completed. This escalated a mission that had started out as "gravy train" and gone downhill into "Uzumaki Disaster" to "Full Blown Nightmare." The only good thing of which was that if he DID get away - he would be able to make himself filthy rich selling this information to people who would practically wet themselves upon hearing about it.
Zabuza grinned. What he NEEDED was proof that Konoha was harboring one of the elite Uzumaki and they were perfecting their Seal Techniques. He could otherwise say whatever he wanted and nobody would believe him enough to pay him for that information.
So, get in. Injure the Uzumaki girl. Exchange a few words with Copycat Kakashi. Intimidate and/or injure his little genin. Then get away. Choose the right time to return, hit hard and fast and kill the bridge-builder when their defenses had relaxed some. Collect evidence on the way out. Get paid for killing the bridge builder and then turn the evidence over with the tale of the return of the Uzumaki clan to the appropriate authorities.
Then get the HELL out of the Elemental Countries before the Uzumaki (if there was one, there might be more than one) and any pet monsters could come after him.
Right about... NOW.
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"So... you know many dragons?" asked Sasuke, looking at the place that had been occupied by the one that had carried Sakura across the water.
"Oh?" asked Naruto, thinking about it. "Yeah. I guess I do. I got together with Sparky mainly. You know how it goes, old story. Evil mage captures young dragon for evil experimentation, young hero steps in and brings down the Wrath Of The Heavens upon evil mage. Mage counter-attacks, minions gather. Young hero escapes with young dragon, meets family of dragon, nearly gets eaten by great-grandfather of dragon, spends some time with dragon family before rest of team catches up. I'm sure Kakashi-sensei has had missions go like that."
"Uhm, right," said Kakashi, who honestly couldn't remember ANY mission going like that. Hmmm. There were a couple that had been sort of close though, sort of. Substitute a few things here and there.
"That was on a mission for the Time/Space Administration Bureau, right?" asked Sakura.
"Yeah," said Naruto brightly. "I-"
[Danger] reported Mjolnir.
"Duck!" called out Kakashi.
"Wha-" said Sakura just before a great big sword slammed into her, sending her flying off into a tree.
Naruto straightened from over the prone client and eyed the guy standing on a sword which was now embedded in a tree. "Mjolnir."
[Barrier Jacket. Aggressive Mode.]
"So, Kakashi," said the intruder nin.
"Zabuza Momochi of the Mist," said Kakashi. "You guys stay back, he's way out of your league."
"Like hell!" said Sasuke, running forward while throwing a kunai. This was his chance to show everyone! Sasuke Uchiha did not live in another's shadow!
WHANG!
The mist solidified into a second Zabuza who had just slammed the flat of his sword down on Sasuke's head. "So much for the dead weight. Now, Kakashi - just let me have the old man and nobody else has to get hurt."
Sasuke, out cold on the ground, was unavailable for comment.
"Hey, no brows!" said Sakura from where she was standing up. "EAT BLASTER!"
Having felt the impact and KNOWING he'd hit the pink-haired girl hard enough to go through her, Zabuza was fairly surprised that she was getting up again. Much less this quickly. Much less shooting at him with some sort of jutsu he was barely fast enough to avoid.
Kakashi let out a deep sigh as he moved back to protect the client and let his genin fight the jonin-level missing nin. Mainly because he really didn't think anything he said was going to dissuade them from going forward like that.
Naruto threw his hammer at the big bad.
"Stupid," said Zabuza, dodging the throw and then snagging the weapon as it went by. "Throwing away your weapon like that. Just a raw geni-"
"Mjolnir! Remote Control!" said Naruto, who then made a gesture skyward.
Zabuza reflexively tightened his grip on the hammer's shaft as he felt it twist, the head shifting.
FWOOOSH!
Kakashi unveiled his Sharingan, but Zabuza Momochi - demon of the mist - was already a dot in the distant sky. Then vanishing altogether. "Naruto? What did you do with the missing-nin?"
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Haku watched the dot disappear overhead. "Zabuza-sama?"
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"He's still holding onto the hammer, Kakashi-sensei," answered Naruto, though he sounded as if he was straining for all that he was just standing there. "Beyond that, I can't really tell."
"Okayyyy," said Kakashi, covering his eye again. "And where is your hammer?"
"Coming up on thirty kilometers altitude," said Naruto. "Thirty-two. I'm speeding it up."
"Thirty two kilometers?" asked Kakashi, glancing up. "You sure?"
"It's taking a lot of concentration to keep accelerating, Kakashi-sensei," said Naruto with a definite strain in his voice.
Kakashi sighed, looking at the unconscious Sasuke. "Bring your hammer back, Naruto. We were not paid for an assassination mission, and I'm not authorized to upgrade it to that extent."
"Oh," said Naruto. "So you want me to bring the missing-nin back?"
"Yes," said Sakura, smacking her fists together with a sound like two hammers clanging. "I've got to pay him back for that sneak attack!"
"You rhymed," noted Naruto, making a gesture. "Mjolnir, return."
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After reflection, Zabuza decided that not letting the hammer go was a tactical mistake. Kid was definitely an Uzumaki though. Who else would put him up here in this cold dark where things had turned all floaty?
He'd felt his tears freezing, and so wasn't looking. He'd very quickly realized there was nothing to breathe - so this pretty much left him...?
The hammer had just shifted and was moving again?
Kid was probably bringing the hammer back. Now if he just would slow it down some.
Otherwise - this was liable to hurt.
Zabuza Momochi was bloodthirsty, though not as much as he had been. He had specialized in killing quickly and silently, without warning. That, in his opinion, was the way ninja ought to operate. Not like the ninja of the Leaf Village, with their puppies and their friendliness and soft lifestyles.
Okay, maybe the friendly puppies-and-rainbows image of the Leaf ninja was just a Public Relations image. Zabuza wasn't completely sure at this point.
So, the world really IS round, thought Zabuza to himself as he got a glimpse of that round mostly-blue globe with the white fluffy clouds began expanding before him. The novelty of this sight struck him - and despite thinking of himself as a bloodthirsty monster - he could appreciate the beauty of the sight. He would have appreciated it a LOT more though if he weren't continuing to pick up speed, being pulled along by the damn weapon that he'd been allowed to catch. No doubt in his mind - that had been the Uzumaki's plan all along.
The girl? Now that he'd thought more about it, he'd figured out that she was a puppet like those the Sand Village used. So he'd been lured into attacking the puppet, the Uzumaki had then tricked him into grabbing the weapon, and Zabuza Momochi was now heading for the ground at...
Zabuza pried an eye open against the curtain of flame now streaming around him and tried to estimate how fast they were approaching the ground. He closed his eye again, deciding that he didn't really have a good reference. Just call it Too Fast and be satisfied with that.
When he felt his downward drop begin to slow, Zabuza opened his eyes again. There were clouds below him. Light fluffy clouds, so peaceful and serene. Below that was the lake, looking as if he could stretch out his hand and cover it.
He'd just let go of the hammer when it was all a little closer. Closer. Closer. Now.
Zabuza frowned as he started using his other hand to try and pry the one that had a death-grip on the hilt of the hammer off. If he hit the ground at this pace, Haku wouldn't need to do the senbon attack.
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"I'm slowing it down, Kakashi-sensei," said Naruto. "I also put up a barrier to keep him from frying. I take it you want to interrogate him?"
"Yes, that's it exactly," said Kakashi, apparently pleased at the reasoning of his genin.
"You should let him go splat," grumbled Sakura. "Poor Sasuke."
"You know, after getting knocked out and dismissed by the missing-nin, he's really going to be out for vengeance after this," said Kakashi, eyeing the fallen student.
"Like he wasn't before," muttered Naruto as he continued to concentrate on his efforts with his hammer.
"Uhm," interrupted Tazuna. "You do realize that keeping me safe is your mission, and killing the missing-nin out to kill me would probably do a lot towards that?"
"We're not on an assassination mission," said Kakashi. "If he attacks you, fine. All that was probably just his way of introducing himself. They're like that in Mist, you know."
"Really?" asked Sakura.
"Oh yes," said Kakashi. "For example, your genin test was the Bell Test, remember?"
Naruto nodded, showing he was listening despite the amount of concentration on whatever he was doing.
"Yeah," agreed Sakura.
"Well, in Mist, they used to pair off the graduates from their own ninja school and had them fight each other to the death. The winners graduated, the losers - well - they died," said Kakashi. '"The reason they stopped was the missing-nin we're facing. He killed his entire graduating class. Which I guess was his way of insuring he got the 'rookie of the year' spot."
"Slowing him down gradually so he... he let go?" Naruto staggered as suddenly the weight shifted through whatever connection he had.
"Uhm, how high up was he?" asked Kakashi.
"Roughly one kilometer," said Naruto. "Yeah, just over that."
"Oh," said Kakashi, looking up. Sure enough, there was now a dot and a streak overhead.
"Well, no reason to keep slowing Mjolnir," said Naruto, shaking his head.
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Haku watched as the distant streak became a dot and a streak. The streak changed direction a moment later, while the dot continued its path.
Haku glanced in the direction of the Uzumaki and considered vowing revenge. If Zabuza-sama was dead, he'd do it. Otherwise, getting Zabuza away from the Uzumaki was top priority.
The dot was slowly growing larger, and eventually Haku could make out that the dot was indeed Zabuza who was apparently quite still alive. It looked like he was going through hand-signs quickly.
Haku caught a glimpse of the senior missing-nin taking a diving-stance. Then Zabuza slammed into the water, sending up a plume at the point of impact.
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"There goes that Hunter Nin from Wave," said Kakashi.
"Should I go after him?" asked Naruto.
"Not right now," said Kakashi. "The first priority is the safety of the client. There may be additional ninja after all."
"Right, Area Search," said Naruto, forming and sending the spheres off as soon as Mjolnir had slapped back into his hand. "Got it."
"Now, Tazuna-san," said Kakashi, shouldering the still-unconscious Sasuke, "care to lead us to your humble home?"
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"Haku?"
A familiar face slowly resolved from a blur. "Zabuza-sama. Please don't try to move."
"How bad?" asked Zabuza as he became aware that he was lying on a bed and currently seemed to look like he'd escaped from a mummy-movie.
"You managed to cushion your fall, Zabuza-sama, but the crocodile could only do so much," said Haku.
"Ah, is that what I hit before I hit the bottom of the lake?" said Zabuza. "How many broken bones?"
"Seven, Zabuza-sama. There also appears to be considerable bruising and some unknown sort of strain damage especially in your right arm. Your chakra reserves are very low as well."
"I know," said Zabuza. "I had to use a lot of chakra to deal with the acceleration among other things. Haku?"
"Zabuza-sama?" asked Haku.
"From now on, we ALWAYS insist on an Uzumaki Avoidance Clause in our contracts. No matter how bad our finances."
"Yes, Zabuza-sama," agreed Haku. "Then you confirmed it is as you speculated?"
"If I had any doubts that one of that line survived and wasn't just someone with the same name, it died in that encounter," said Zabuza. "How long?"
"I can heal the wounds over the course of a week, the chakra depletion will take at least that long as well," said Haku.
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The mercenary walked calmly in, opened the small satchel he kept near his bunk, and drew out a small box.
"Writing the wife and kids again?" asked one of the other mercenaries, his voice faintly mocking.
"Laredo? What are my main skills outside being able to use a spear?" asked the first mercenary, opening the box to reveal a writing set.
"Uhm," said Laredo, clearly not having a pre-planned response to that question.
"You're a tracker," said one of the other mercenaries in the room, breaking off the poker game. Seeing their fellow paying attention, several of the other mercenaries broke off their own activities to watch.
"I'm a hunter," said the mercenary, scribbling something out. "I can track humans fine, but my main skills growing up were hunting. That's why I'm good with the spear. If you aren't - you don't eat. Hunting got scarce, no money left in Wave for fur and pelts, can't sell what I do get. Only reason I'm working for Gato, ain't got much choice if I want to feed my family."
"Yeah we get that, reg'lar family man," said Laredo. Something was going on and he didn't know what.
"I saw some weird tracks, noticed that Zabuza guy's footprints nearby, headed over there to see if I could ask 'em about it," said the hunter.
"Like they'd talk to you, a mere hunter," scoffed Laredo. Ninja generally didn't talk to mere mortals like themselves.
"I heard 'em," said the hunter. "There's an Uzumaki involved."
Half the mercenaries looked blank, a quarter looked puzzled, five of them though - turned pale.
"You mean like one of those branch family types, right?" asked a guy with two swords.
"No. I overheard. Main family. Which fits the tracks I found," said the hunter.
"That isn't a letter to your wife is it?" asked the poker player.
"Resignation," said the hunter. "Can't do my family any good if I'm on the other side of a fight with a main branch Uzumaki."
"There's an Uzumaki and they're working for the other side?" asked one of the mercenaries who'd recognized the name.
"That's bad?" asked Laredo, who wasn't the brightest guy in the room, but WAS able to read something of the reactions going on. "Worse than Gato finding out you're dropping off his payroll?"
"I'm a hunter," said the hunter. "I can get out of here and be halfway across Wave before Gato settles down to dinner."
"If Gato catches you before you get out, you won't do your family any good either," pointed out the gambler.
"You gonna rat on me?" asked the hunter.
"No," said the gambler. "I'm not going up against an Uzumaki. Are you nuts? Gato would just kill me."
"I see," said the hunter, putting the letter he'd written into an envelope and scribbling something on the outside.
"Well, I'll tell Gato and he'll see how loyal-" began one mercenary.
schnikt - THUD!
Stepping over the loyalist, the gambler eyed the rest of the mercenaries. "If you want to stay. Stay. If you don't - this is your big chance."
"I don't get it," said Laredo. "What's so bad about an Uzumaki?"
"If they're on YOUR side, nothing at all," said the hunter, shouldering his pack. "In fact, every story I've heard that doesn't have them eating the flesh of babies or something - they're as good to their friends as they are fiendish to their enemies. As to how bad they are to their enemies - it took four villages uniting to bring them down and they snuck in under cover of being diplomats."
"They're badasses to the badass ninjas," said the gambler, cleaning one of his knives. "When badass ninja assassins go to bed, they check underneath to make sure there isn't an Uzumaki down there waiting to avenge his clan."
"Oh," said Laredo.
"So what did you see that got you curious?" asked the gambler of the hunter.
"I saw something big flying, I found tracks from a lizard bigger than a horse," said the hunter. "A lizard that can apparently fly."
"How much are we getting paid for this?" asked one of the less clueless mercenaries. "Cause all of sudden it don't seem like enough."
The hunter nodded and ducked out the window. When Laredo checked to see what direction the other had gone, there was no trace of him.
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"So, this is my humble home," said Tazuna.
Naruto shrugged. "I need to recover some chakra, sensei. Doing that with the guy who took my hammer was kinda tiring."
"Well, I suppose it can be pardoned for now," said Kakashi. "Sakura, you can put Sasuke down over there."
"hnnn. wha- WHAT?" asked Sasuke, taking that moment to wake up with a massive headache. "Sakura? Put me down."
"But Sasuke, you got knocked out by that missing-nin," said Sakura, her concern obvious in her voice.
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AUTHOR'S NOTES:
Yeah, so in this particular storyline - the Uzumaki are the WoW Tradechat Chuck Norris of the ninja world. In particular, the rumors of what they could do with fuuinjutsu (seal techniques) - the boogeyman of the ninja world.
There's a god of mischief involved after all.