Disclaimer: I own NOTHING! Naruto does not belong to me.
_-_*_-_
Naru sighed unsteadily as she carefully opened her eyes to the piercing rays of sun. Groaning, she closed her eyes and out her arm across her face in a vain attempt to block the blinding lights.
"Finally! Get up, Naru!" Sakura's annoyed voice growled as the covers were ripped off Naru's body. Ugh…Naru curled in on herself. What had happened? Oh right, Tazuna had lied about the mission. This guy named Gato had wanted to kill him for making the bridge and had sent that demon of the mists…Zabuza, to do the job. Naru could still feel the cramps in her body, protesting the extreme workout that battle had given her. But then again, Sasuke and she were able to work as a team for the first time and create a plan. And Kakashi…
Naru hauled herself off the futon she was sleeping on (she briefly recollected coming to Tazuna's house before falling asleep). "Is Kakashi Sensei okay?" She asked while wiping the sleep from her eyes.
"I'm fine, Naru." Naru looked to the side to see her Sensei laying down on a futon identical to hers. Sasuke sat scowling at Naru as if it were her fault that their Sensei was currently injured in bed. Naru glared back.
"You've been asleep for hours, Dobe." Sasuke growled under his breath making Naru shiver with the maliciousness.
"Jeez! I'm tired y'know? After I took down a missing-nin?" Naru snarled as she yanked the covers off herself and stood up next to Sasuke. Not to mention we need our beauty sleep…Kyuubi moaned dejectedly, my fur's beginning to come out with all this stress~. Naru ignored the red demon and continued to insult Sasuke. Kakashi held up his hands as if to reprimand them.
"Maa, maa, let's not start this again…," His face grew stern as he continued. "Now that Naru is awake, we need to train… that was not the last time we'll see Zabuza." All three gennins tensed unconsciously.
Sakura pulled fitfully at a strand of cherry hair as she pursed her lips. "But Kakashi, sensei, Zabuza-san is dead, isn't he? That Hunter nin took him away remember?" She asked curiously, worried that her sensei might have finally lost it.
"I'm afraid not Sakura." Kakashi then explained how the Hunter nin was probably an accomplice of Zabuza's since he did not dispose of the body properly.
Naru groaned while rolling her eyes slightly. She really didn't want a repeat of that battle and judging from the way Kakashi seemed to be casting discreet glances at them, they were probably in for a training session. Oh joy.
The worst part of it was that she was actually enjoying this mission. It was infuriating to say the least; how just because she enjoys it, she keeps finding herself trying to complete the mission and become stronger. This was not good. If her team were to continue their streak of passed missions, Naru knew that there was no way that she could get sacked from being a ninja any time soon. But if they failed this mission, Arashi was less likely to assign another B rank mission until they were chunnin(Which Naru will never be thank you very much).
She glanced at her teammates that were deep within their own thoughts. If she were to make them fail this mission…But then that was totally unfair since Sakura and Sasuke will have to redo the academy just to become a ninja. But as Naru thought of it more and more, she shrugged her shoulders to shake off her guilt. It's not like they could never become ninjas again. Plus, with Naru's sour attitude toward the village, she was probably just slowing them down. They would be better off without her. Naru nodded to herself, content with her justifications. She grinned evilly to herself. This mission was going down!
_-_*_-_
Haku inspected Zabuza's injuries before tsking slightly. It looked like Gato was going to be mad…Not to mention he would probably need to find more herbs to treat all of Zabuza-sama's wounds. He shrugged it off as he placed Zabuza's body against a tree when he felt his pulse come alive once again. Haku smiled welcomingly at Zabuza when he saw his eyes flicker open. Zabuza gave him a half-hearted glare before yanking the senbon needles out of his neck. "Are you trying to kill me with this crap?" Zabuza growled through his teethe.
"If those needles didn't kill you before, the way you're yanking them out surely will." Haku remarked dryly as he placed a cloth over Zabuza's bleeding neck. "See now? You've made it bleed." Haku said worriedly. Zabuza lay back against the tree allowing Haku to finish his ministrations. This was not good…He was pretty sure that those kids were normal gennin but to think that he had to have Haku's help to stay alive. Zabuza's eyes narrowed. Not to mention I'll have to deal with that bastard, Gato…
"I'm pretty sure Kakashi-san, knows that you are alive, Zabuza-sama." Haku stated as he continued to clean Zabuza's wounds. The missing nin gave a dry laugh.
"He's not stupid. I have no doubt that his team is waiting for our next strike."
_-_*_-_
"Good morning, all of you!" As the ninjas came down stairs, a young woman came out of the kitchen with a huge smile on her lips. She bowed a little before continuing. "Thank you so much for taking care of my father on his trip." Naru rolled her eyes a little. It was hard to believe that the old man had such a well mannered daughter. Mmmm…Kyuubi hummed inside Naru's head. If you let me eat her then I'm sure it would count as a failed mission… Naru thought about that for a second before shaking her head. If she were to let Kyuubi out, she knew he would never let her reel him back in.
Kakashi closed his eyes smiling. "No. We should be the ones thanking you for your hospitality, Ms…?"
"Oh no, please call me Tsunami."
Kakashi nodded. "Tunami-san then. And that is…?" Naru looked around curiously, trying to find whoever Sensei was addressing. She finally laid eyes on a small boy behind Tsunami's skirt, staring at the ninja with distrust.
Waoh, Naru thought with surprise. I didn't even notice him….
Tsunami glanced down at the boy and moved him out of the cover of her dress. "This is my son, Inari." Inari glared spitefully at the ninja and Tsunami smiled sheepishly, obviously trying to cover up for her son's blatant show of disrespect. "Sorry, he just…"
"Has issues?" Naru suggested noticing the way Inari made sure to glare despisingly at her. Naru narrowed her eyes and glared right back.
"Naru! Don't be so rude." Sakura hissed as she jabbed Naru in the ribs. Before Naru could retort, Kakashi placed a hand on her head, preventing any fights from breaking out.
"Naru, be nice." Kakshi reprimanded. "Where is Tazuna-san?" Kakashi asked Tsunami, completely ignoring her son.
"My father went out to the bridge before you all woke up."
"Then I'll be going there as soon as possible." Kakashi turned on his gennin. "You three, will be training." Naru practically groaned. There was no way to try ruining the mission if she was away from the client! She glared venomously at Kakashi who either didn't see or didn't care that his student was planning his death. "You all need as much help as you can get to defeat Zabuza." Kakashi stated in a tone that left no room for arguments. Naru bit the inside of her cheek. There'll always be other times, Sweet heart… Kyuubi purred from within his cage causing Naru to shiver at the husky tone. Kyuubi laughed quietly at her reaction and Naru briefly wondered whether or not years of imprisonment were starting to nurture insanity within the demon.
"Let's go." Sasuke lead them out the door.
_-_*_-_
"I am itching for blood." Kisame dead panned as he hung lazily from a tree branch watching the gennin get ready for their training. Itachi spared him a glance before reverting back to observing the leaf ninjas. "This is the most stupidest mission we have ever agreed to."
"You didn't agree to anything." Sasori hissed from inside his puppet, "Leader-sama assigned this to you remember? He glared at Itachi now, although no one could tell with his puppet on. "When, Itachi do you plan to make your move?"
Silence.
Sasori growled.
Deidara looked between his team mates and tried nervously to break the ice. "Why are you wearing that puppet in this heat Donna-sama?" Deidara laughed uncomfortably at his teammate.
"We need to wait." Itachi finally answered Sasori's question. "To think that the Demon of the Mist is here…" Itachi glanced at Kisame. "Any information, Kisame?"
"You mean other than what we heard in the brats' battle? I want his sword." Kisame grinned wistfully, obviously daydreaming about owning two swords.
Deidara pouted. "I don't get it. Why should we wait?"
"First of all, I don't think it's fair to attack my little brother when he is so ill-prepared." Itachi sighed in disappointment. Honestly, you try planting seeds of hatred in their head and they don't even dignify you with some effort. The nerve… "Plus, this is interesting."
Kisame raised an eyebrow, "What? You mean the Kyuubi brat?"
Itachi paused before answering, "Does it not seem like she is purposely trying to fail this mission?"
"Now that you mention it, she didn't even try to help in their battle with Zabuza…y'know until her teammates were getting creamed." Kisame looked up thoughtfully.
Sasori nodded in agreement, making his puppet shake slightly. "Her lack of enthusiasm is also unnerving."
"Twisted." Kisame grinned, "I like that." Itachi didn't comment but judging from his sly grin, Kisame knew the Uchiha agreed.
Deidara looked between his teammates fretfully. "I still don't get it…Why are you all talking about the Kyuubi brat like he's a girl?"
_-_*_-_
Arashi laid his back against his chair in relief. The counsel had allowed Naru to stay a gennin…finally. Arashi's decision as Hokage was final and the counsel knew this. But that still didn't stop them from doing everything in their power to get Arashi to change his mind.
However, his victory was short-lived since Danzo just had to come and ruin Arashi's moment of glory. He had suggested to the counsel that instead of having Naru quit being a ninja, they have a ninja watch over her to make sure the kyuubi doesn't pose as a threat anymore. Danzo had proposed a fifth hand-picked addition to team seven. The rest of the counsel had immediately absorbed that idea. Even Arashi agreed happily to it. That is until he found out that that the new member of team seven would be a root Anbu. He should have known that Danzo would pull a dirty trick like this. However, without a better opposition than 'I don't like him', Arashi had grudgingly agreed. Now all that was left to do was wait for the Danzo to come back with the Anbu that he deemed right for the job.
Arashi was pulled out of his musings as the door to the meeting room opened and all the counsel members turned to look at Danzo who had just walked in. Homura gave a twisted smile before answering the question that all the counsel members were thinking.
"Hokage-sama, I believe that this Anbu will be more than adequate to complete this mission." Just as he was saying it, a young pale boy walked into the office obviously having followed his superior.
"Allow me to introduce, Sai." The boy gave the counsel one of the fakest smiles Arashi had ever seen and he, along with the rest of the counsel, nodded in approval.
Yay! Sai's here!
Anyway, I was going to update last week but…Sorry there was just too much stuff going on with school, but at least I didn't keep you waiting too long, right?
Happy Valentines Day 3 3!!!!! I hope all of you have a great day and remember; Spread the LOVE not the HATE!!!
So speaking of love, here's the poll:
1st place: Itachi Uchiha: 33 votes – Nice Itachi-sama! You've shown your first sign of love in this chappie!
2nd place: Sasuke Uchiha: 22 votes – you didn't gain any more votes, Sasuke! Keep going!
3rd place: Sai: 14 votes – Sai! You've finally come! Hopefully this will attract more of your fans!
Anyway, have a great V-day~! ;)
