"Why are we taking a boat to Hidden Rain?" Haku asked as the masked man led her towards a large nearby inn. "Because," he answered, "That's where I'm from. I'd rather not discuss the particulars until we're inside and I've had a chance to erect a silence barrier if you don't mind. My mask can only do so much." Haku nodded, the seals carved into the inside of Hunter Nin masks could make any casual observer totally overlook anyone wearing one, but they didn't hold up against intense scrutiny, and there was no telling who might be listening.

They strode in and she shed her mask as he did, the innkeeper stared at his eyes briefly but was quickly distracted by the medium-sized coin pouch he placed on the counter. "I want your best room and dinner brought up to us, the best food you can get and a lot of it. You may keep the change, but I'll be expecting first class service." The innkeeper looked at him like he was out of his mind and then opened the pouch. The innkeeper's eyes nearly popped out of his head before he closed the pouch, "Yessir! At once sir! Let me show you to your room sir!"

A moment later the innkeeper was cheerfully bowing them into the large comfortable room at the end of the second floor hallway, "There is a private bathroom on your right, and dinner will be served just as soon as we can get it fixed. Please let us know if there's anything you need, anything at all. I do hope you enjoy your stay sir and madam." The formerly masked man nodded, "Thank you. That'll be all." The innkeeper quickly ducked out and closed the door behind him.

As soon as it closed the masked man moved to the door and locked it before quickly erecting a silence barrier around the perimeter of the room. He strode over to the bed and quickly clambered over to the middle of it before sitting upright and tracing out a seal on the covers with his chakra. He motioned Haku over onto the bed with him. She blushed slightly and then climbed onto the bed with him. She faced him as he reached around her to finish the additional barrier.

"Now we can talk," he declared as he sat back, "In answer to your question, we are going to Hidden Rain because Hidden Rain and Hidden Mist are moving towards unification under my father." Haku tilted her head slightly in confusion, "Who is your father?" The man grinned, "I am Hattori Hanzo, son of Hanzo of the Salamander, the new Master of Hidden Rain and recently commissioned leader of the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist. I came to recruit you because one of the seven blades is meant to be yours by birthright."

Haku sat back in surprise, "What?" Hattori nodded, "It's a terrible shame what happened to Hidden Mist's noble clans. Only a handful have survived. You are the last living heir to the Yuki clan, and as such are the only one capable of truly wielding Tsurara, the only one of the seven blades still in the possession of Hidden Mist. Two now that we've retrieved the Executioner's Blade." Haku stared, "I can't believe it, one of the legendary seven swords is…mine?"

Hattori nodded, "As is a considerable estate in the Land of Water that has been left unattended since the unfortunate demise of your clan. Well, except for the squatters. Your face says Zabuza never told you about any of this." Haku shook her head slightly, "No, he never said a word." Hattori nodded, "He was probably afraid you'd leave if you knew you were actually a noble. Then again he might have been concerned about your safety. Hidden Mist isn't known for its stability, and the nobility often catch the brunt of revolutions. Most Hidden Villages are only on their third or fourth Kage, my father is the twenty sixth Mizukage. Either way, now you know."

Haku nodded slightly, "Yes. I take it my orders upon my return are to join you as one of the Seven Swordsmen?" Hattori nodded, "That's right. We'll be tracking down the rest of the seven. There are six swords which can only be used to their full potential by members of certain clans. The Executioner's Blade is one of them." Haku's eyes widened, "What?" Hattori nodded and drew the blade from the seal he had stored it in.

"This is the blade of the Koumouri Clan. Stronger relatives of the Hidden Leaf's Fukusei Clan. You are no doubt aware that this blade can repair itself by drinking the blood of those it cuts. However when used by a member of the Koumori Clan, the blade can drain a person dry in seconds and feed their blood back to its user, replenishing the user's strength and healing them at an accelerated rate. As far as we can tell the only remaining member of Koumori clan, one Lord Alucard, reportedly left for the Land of Wrath when the slaughter of the nobles that claimed your family went down after he personally slaughtered hundreds of rebels, and he hasn't been back in the intervening fifty years. We're going to be going to see if we can get him to come out of retirement."

"The second and third members will hopefully be easier to find. One is Suigetsu Hozuki, he only very recently went missing chasing down a lead on rogue swordsman Kisame Hoshigaki, the man who made off with the other five swords. The third is Mei Terumi, an extremely powerful kunoichi who uses Boil and Lava Release among others. She was actually on the short list to be Mizukage when my father took over."

There was a sudden knock at the door, Hattori turned, "That was a little too fast." He shouldered the Executioner's Blade and moved to the door, opening it partially and then springing back as a lightning clad fist blasted through it. Hattori effortlessly caught the fist and snuffed out the lightning, "YOOOOORIIIII!" He started crushing the fist in his hand and shouts and protests and pleading issued quickly from the other side of the door. Hattori shoved the hand back through the door, yanked it open, jerked the man on the other side through and shoulder flipped him before slamming the massive Executioner's Blade into the floor next to his head.

The man he had yanked through the door had eyes the size of saucers, "Sorry…" he said in a very small voice. "What have I told you about breaking other peoples' doors Yori?" Hattori asked irritably. "Sorryyy!" Yori whined. "Hattori seven hundred and fifty two, Yori nine," declared a young woman in purple as she materialized in the room's only chair with a cup of tea. She nodded to Haku, "You must be Haku. It is a pleasure to meet you. I am Bofu of the storm."

"And the kids are here too," Hattori declared irritably. Bofu waved her teacup gently in a noncommittal gesture, "You told us to watch them and make sure they didn't slack off. You didn't say we should stop them from following you." Hattori sighed, "And if they don't all get in here in thirty seconds we're gonna play catch and smash until I get tired of kicking them around the port!" Half a dozen bursts of smoke heralded the arrival of Hattori and Yori's students.

"You told us to practice, you didn't say what," declared a girl with short dark hair, "So we decided to practice our stealth tracking. If we can tail you without being spotted we can tail anybody!" Hattori's eye twitched, "And did you notice that my water clone sent you all haring off in exactly the wrong direction? You think I wasn't watching you clowns the whole time?! I saw you the minute you left Rain, and I started deciding what your punishment for coming after me when I told you not to would be!" All six of them flinched.

The air around Hattori started to ripple as his chakra flared and then it started to get hotter. His eyes glowed as declared angrily, "I'm sending every one of you back the hard way!" His hands flashed through an activation sequence almost too fast to see, "SKY TRAIN!" A miniature cyclone suddenly erupted beneath their feat as a seal appeared over their heads. PWOOM! The six teenagers were blasted through the seal and into the sky above where a monstrously powerful air current was waiting to hurl them all the way back to Hidden Rain at the speed of a storm gale.

Hattori turned back to Bofu and Yori, "When they get there, make sure they're alright, and then I want you Yori to race them around the village. If they can beat you they only have to do four more laps. When they can't tell em they've gotta do nine at top speed." Yori and Bofu grinned wickedly, "Right!" They both disappeared in puffs of smoke and Hattori sighed as he looked at the hole in the door, "This is why I pay extra for hotel rooms. Someone always makes a mess."

He closed the door and sighed at the hole in it. He pulled out a piece of paper and stuck it over the hole before going to sit in the chair. He looked at the ceiling, "They're good kids, I just wish they'd listen when I tell them to stay put." There was another knock at the door and Hattori got up, "Maybe that's the food…" He opened the door and caught a pie in the face as Yori's second shadow clone disappeared laughing, "SCORE!" Hattori shook with rage for a moment and then bellowed so loud Haku was sure Yori must have heard him all the way in Hidden Rain, "YOOOOOOOOOORIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII! Oh look the food's here."

The innkeeper bowed repeatedly and quickly, "I am so sorry sir! He just came out of nowhere!" Hattori's tongue somehow extended long enough to lick his entire face clean before slithering back into his mouth, "Don't worry, it wasn't your fault. He's an idiot. The pie is delicious by the way." The innkeeper blinked in surprise and then bowed, "Thank you sir!" Hattori grinned as he rolled the laundry cart laden with food inside and quickly unloaded it onto the low table before rolling it back out, "Thank you, this all looks and smells delicious."

The innkeeper bowed, "Thank you sir! Have a pleasant evening!" Hattori smiled, "I think I will." Then he closed the door, turned and blinked in surprise as he saw Haku wolfing down the food so fast it was almost comical. She sat back for a moment to take a breather after finishing her third plate. Then she realized Hattori was staring and blushed, "I'm sorry, I was just very hungrAAAAY!" The belch erupted out without the slightest warning and Haku was utterly mortified as she clamped a hand over her mouth and a dumbfounded look settled on Hattori's face.

Hattori started laughing and Haku blushed absolutely crimson, utterly glowing with embarrassment. Then Hattori was suddenly right next to her kissing her on the cheek, "I actually think it's kinda cute when girls enjoy themselves so much."

"Besides," he added as he grabbed a plate for himself with a grin, "Of all the reasons I've ever heard for going rogue, the food has never been one of them. I know full well the crew you ran with was usually hard up for food, so eat your fill, because I certainly will." Haku's blush abated slightly and she looked away, "Um, actually I'm a boy." Hattori looked at her and raised an eyebrow, "Haku I can see through your clothes. You're a girl." Haku squeaked in embarrassment and covered herself, "That's not what Zabuza said!" "A beautiful young lone girl in the midst of a pack of rogue shinobi with no prospects, do you really think Zabuza would let anyone know that you were a girl?" Haku thought for a moment and then shook her head, "No, he'd hide it from everybody, even me."

She was quiet for a while, sedately eating at a much slower and calmer rate while Hattori continued to snarf down food like a starving animal. Then Haku said quietly, "So it's okay for me to be attracted to strong men?" Hattori nodded around a mouth full of food as he set his most recent bowl down, "Perfectly natural." He swallowed and reached for another bowl and then Haku said, "Strong men with blonde hair?" Hattori's head whipped around and Haku suddenly kissed him. What little extra Hattori's hair could stand on end in surprise it did and then he smiled and kissed her back. She leaned back a little when they came up for air and looked away with a blush and a slight smile, "Sorry, Zabuza didn't want me showing any affection for anybody, said it made me less efficient. So I've mmm?!"

Hattori had set his bowl back down and planted a deep passionate kiss on her lips. "Three things," he declared when they came up for air, "Number one, yes you are a girl and you liking guys is perfectly natural. Number two, you are an extremely beautiful and talented girl, so it is perfectly natural for me to like you. And number three," he grinned teasingly, "Are you gonna eat that?" Haku blinked and then turned red and started to get angry before Hattori cut off the angry outburst with another kiss, "I'm teasing you Haku," he told her quietly, "Just trying to make you laugh."

Haku suddenly looked behind him, "Your friend's back." Hattori spun to look at the window and upon finding it empty turned back to Haku, "No he's wait a minute!" Haku waggled her eyebrows at him as she slurped down the last noodle of ramen from the bowl he'd had his hand on. Hattori's face twitched and convulsed for almost a full minute and then Haku couldn't take it anymore and burst out laughing. Whatever irritation Hattori might have felt melted on the spot and he leaned in and kissed her again thinking, Best. Mission. Ever.

Now I'm sure somebody out there is thinking, "Wait, Haku's actually a girl and didn't know? Wow Haku's kinda dumb…" NO. Haku is not dumb. She's been lied to her entire life and had a very watchful and terrifying guardian with a six-foot long butcher's knife and a nasty temper making sure absolutely nobody messed with her or told her that she was anything other than one of the guys and treated her as such. She was raised in the midst of a band of Missing-Nin with no prospects so it was imperative that the fact of her biological sex not be made a point of lest the renegades attempt to capitalize on it when Zabuza wasn't looking because that would've been traumatizing for Haku and probably torn their little band of rebels apart (assuming Zabuza didn't tear them apart for messing with his surrogate daughter/beloved-sidekick). As Hattori and Haku pointed out, Zabuza did everything in his power to keep anyone from hurting Haku. Spreading the lie that she was a boy and making it such an ingrained and reflexive defense mechanism to scare off anyone who thought her a girl that she had actually half started to almost believe it. Keep in mind, Haku looked up to and trusted Zabuza more than anybody in the world, hell he was her world, so anything he said was for her the most unquestionable of truths. Considering that and the absolute terror everyone around her had of contradicting Zabuza, if he had told her she was a giant magical walrus trapped in human form with amnesia, she probably would've at least half believed it.

As for our characters from Hidden Rain, pay attention to them, they're going to be important later.