Frozen Heart, Crimson Steel
Chapter Nine: I Can't Even Get Myself to Move
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.
Naruto desperately threw himself to the left, barely evading the shuriken that sliced through the air where his abdomen had been. More projectiles tracked his path as he continued the motion; a trio of kunai of kunai embedded themselves into the ground, one after the other, just behind the path of his roll.
He struggled to get back on his feet, the action made more awkward with his right arm securely tied behind his back. He had just gotten himself upright when he saw a fiery projectile flying directly at his face. His eye widened in recognition at the shape, but his defensive instinct triggered and pushed his body into motion. He twisted back and away to dodge the flaming package of cup ramen even as his left hand came up in a seal.
"Bunshin no Jutsu!"
He couldn't muster the proper amount of chakra and focus while dodging attacks. The pale and deformed imitation that popped into existence by his side only managed to stagger around for a few seconds before dissipating in a small puff of smoke.
Naruto didn't have time to recover from attempting the jutsu. He was still off-balance when he saw the hard rubber ball speeding towards him. He dropped his left hand and managed to deflect it away from his groin, but the action left him vulnerable for the follow-up kunai that struck him squarely in the center of the forehead. The impact sent Naruto sprawling onto his back.
"…ruto! Are you alright?"
The blond shook his head, trying to clear the ringing in his ears. He turned his head to the voice and saw that Haku was running toward him. She dropped to her knees beside him and helped him up to a seated position.
Naruto gave her a grateful smile as he rubbed at the sore spot on his forehead where the kunai had bounced off. "Thanks."
A taller figure with purple hair approached him from the other side in a casual saunter. "C'mon kid, you've gotta do better than that. It's been almost a month and you still can't do one-handed Bunshin under pressure."
The smile dropped from his face as Naruto turned to glare hatefully at Anko. She met his hard gaze with a relaxed indifference, her hands moving rhythmically as she juggled a trio of rubber balls similar to the one she'd thrown at him.
"I'm trying, but it's not easy when you throw things at me nonstop," said Naruto sarcastically.
Anko shrugged, her hands shifting to juggle the balls in a more complex weaving pattern. "You think the bad guys are going to politely stop in the middle of a fight and wait for you?"
"You tried to nail me in the balls!"
"Completely legitimate battle tactic. Bad guys are going to take any chance they can to strike at your weak points."
Naruto pointed an accusing finger at the trench coated woman and raised his voice. "You set my cup ramen on fire and threw it at me! What kind of bad guy would do that?"
The purple-haired Tokubetsu Jounin looked down at him. The smile slowly creeping across her face was so sweet and innocent looking that Naruto had to suppress an involuntary shudder.
"Kid, you have no idea the kind of weird stuff people can do with things like bizarre Kekkei Genkai or forbidden jutsu. Someday you might meet a guy who can rip his own head off and throw it at you. If you can deal with the surprise of flaming ramen now, you'll be that much more prepared when you do come across strange things like that."
Naruto grunted, not wanting to acknowledge that the demented woman standing over him actually had a point.
"But that was going to be my lunch today! You're going to have to take me to a restaurant instead," he demanded.
"Screw that, I'm not wasting my dango money on a brat like you!"
Anko emphasized her words by flicking a ball horizontally to bounce off Naruto's forehead. Her other hand darted out to capture the rebounding ball, deftly integrating it back into the weaving juggling pattern in one fluid motion.
"Get up," she commanded. "I'm going to up the ante if you can't get Bunshin no Jutsu down by the end of today. It was just your lunch this time; tomorrow I'll break into your place and steal all your ramen for ammunition."
"You-you wouldn't!"
'This is Anko, she really would,' the blond thought to himself.
"You can't!" he corrected a second later, "I won't let you, I'll hide my ramen so you can't find it!"
"Kid, I'm a Tokubetsu Jounin and an ex-ANBU interrogation specialist. You think a punk like you can keep anything from me? Now get up and let's do this again."
Haku helped Naruto back to his feet as Anko turned to head back to the crates of blunted kunai and shuriken that she had been using for target practice. The raven-haired girl gave him a smile of encouragement before returning to the edge of the lake where she had been practicing her ice-based jutsu.
The blond reflected back on the past few weeks of training as he waited. Under Haku's guidance performing jutsu with one-handed seals came surprisingly quickly to him. It had only taken two days to start producing results, and by the end of the first week he could use basic jutsu while standing on water. Then Anko had decided that he needed to refine his skill in realistic combat conditions where he wouldn't be able to devote total concentration to performing a jutsu.
Where Haku's tutelage had been kind words and encouragement, Anko's approach mostly involved pain. The Tokubetsu Jounin started with having him practice while dodging slow strikes and the occasional lobbed rubber ball, but that had quickly escalated to full contact sparring and continual barrages of full speed projectiles. She sometimes allowed him to use his sword to defend himself, but as often as not tied his right arm behind his back in order to force him to rely on evasive movements alone.
She also forbade him from using his healing ability until the end of each practice session, by which point he usually felt more like a human punching bag than a ninja. She had said that she wanted him to be able to focus through pain and injury, but Naruto thought that she really just wanted to see him suffer.
He admitted to himself though that the trench coated sadist's training methods had definitely helped with his focus and speed.
Anko set aside her juggling balls and held a pair of kunai up. Naruto nodded in acknowledgement of their prearranged start signal. He settled into a defensive crouch in preparation for the next practice round, his mind already concentrating on shaping the flow of chakra for the next attempt at a Bunshin.
"Let's wrap it up for today. I have something I need to do in an hour, so I'm going to let the three of you have the rest of the day off," Kurenai called out as she approached with Haku and Shino in tow.
Naruto sat down heavily in relief, wincing at the sparks of pain he felt from all over his body. He had accumulated several dozen bruises during practice, and it seemed as if he had managed to aggravate every single one of them while sitting. Anko had been particularly intense that day; she had hit him more times during the three hours of morning practice than she usually did over a full day of training. He guessed that she knew Kurenai would cut the day's practice short and wanted to make it count.
He closed his eye and concentrated on the bruises, locating each by separating individual sources of pain from the general dull ache he felt all over his body. The now-familiar pull on his chakra reserves told him that his body was now rapidly healing itself. The old doctor with the thick glasses at the hospital didn't really understand how it worked, but he had given Naruto permission to use the ability as long as the blond reported anything unusual right away.
The sensation of a hand pressing down on his shoulder and cold steel sliding against his right forearm told him that someone was behind him freeing his right arm from the ropes binding it. He opened his eye and glanced over his shoulder to see a spiked-up purple ponytail.
"You didn't do too badly today kid," Anko said as she cut away the ropes. "You're still cracking under heavy pressure, but I'll leave your precious ramen alone tomorrow."
"Gee thanks," Naruto mumbled sarcastically as he rubbed at his right arm to restore its blood flow.
The trench coated Tokubetsu Jounin slapped the back of his head. "Just be thankful big sister Anko's so merciful. You never actually created a perfect Bunshin."
"Merciful, right, that's just the word that comes to mind when I think of you."
"Exactly! And you're so grateful for my mercifulness that the next time we train you're going to bring some dango."
Naruto grumbled but held his tongue. He knew from experience that it wasn't a good idea to argue with Anko. The last time he tried he spent ten minutes running from her and a surprisingly fast horse-sized snake that she had summoned.
"Naruto," Kurenai's voice cut in, "before you go I need a minute."
"Sensei?" the blond asked as he stood up.
"How's that genjutsu coming along?" the red-eyed Jounin asked.
He moved the fingers of his left hand into the appropriate seal and shaped chakra to execute the technique by way of reply. Nothing visible happened, but that was because he applied a genjutsu of his left hidden under his hitai-ate over his already hidden left eye.
Kurenai examined the illusion. Her experienced eyes easily picked out the blurring at the edges and the slight shifting of the entire image that indicated it was a genjutsu. With Naruto's chakra reserves and the amount of time he had spent training with it, she was quite impressed with his level of improvement.
She nodded in approval. "That's not bad at all. You should be able to fool Genin and even some Chunin with that. From now on though, I want you to start keeping it yourself on all the time as you go about your daily life. Once you get comfortable with that start using it during training as well. Ideally, you'll get to a point where it becomes second nature."
"What if someone sees the genjutsu?" he asked.
"Keep your hitai-ate pulled down. If someone sees the genjutsu and dispels it, they will just see what they saw before and will think that their eyes were fooled by the sun's glare reflecting off your hitai-ate or something. If anyone actually presses you on the subject, just tell them I taught you a useless genjutsu so you could practice chakra control in the village without being disruptive."
It wasn't a very good lie, but she didn't think things would come to that. She had seen firsthand how most of Konoha's villagers and even a good portion of the shinobi population preferred to simply pretend that Naruto didn't exist. While it had made his childhood difficult, with something like this it would turn out to be an advantage.
"I also have a more advanced chakra control exercise that you can start working on," Kurenai added. "I showed this to Shino and Haku earlier, so you can ask them if you have questions."
She held out a small stack of leaves. Naruto took them with a questioning look.
"The leaf exercise is similar in principle to the tree walking exercise," she said as she produced another leaf. "This time though, instead of producing enough chakra to stick yourself to an object, you're making an object stick to you."
The Jounin instructor held her right hand facing up and placed the leaf in the center of her palm. She then flipped her palm over, keeping her hand angled just enough so Naruto could see that the leaf was still sticking to her palm.
Kurenai held her arm in that position for a few seconds before curling her middle finger in to touch the leaf. She then cut the chakra flow from her palm while extending a small amount to the tip of her finger. When she straightened her finger the leaf went with it, adhering to her fingertip by a thin flow of chakra.
She held her hand in that posture for another few seconds, palm down and middle finger slightly below the others. Then she brought the tip of her little finger to the leaf, shifted her chakra flow, and lifted her middle finger away from the leaf. She proceeded to alternate the leaf across her fingers in a seemingly random pattern, at first slowly but with increasing speed until her fingers appeared to be dancing rapidly around each other with the leaf as a focal point.
"It takes greater control because the leaf is so thin. You don't have the same margin of error as you would with tree or water walking," she said.
Naruto dutifully opened his hand palm up and placed a leaf on it. Before he could even turn his hand over however the leaf shredded itself. He grimaced as the small pieces of leaf were carried away by a gentle gust of wind.
"You're using far too much chakra," Kurenai observed. "The tree walking exercise taught you how to maintain a constant flow of chakra. Water walking added a constantly shifting surface, teaching you how to modulate your flow to respond. This exercise is about precision of control when you change the flow."
The blond nodded in understanding and tried again. After a few more shredded leaves he was finally able to turn his palm over while keeping the leaf attached. When he reached for it with his finger though, the momentary lapse in control while changing the flow of chakra in his hand resulted in the leaf's disintegration.
"Keep working on it," Kurenai said encouragingly. "Once you get to the point where you can start transferring the leaf to your fingers, you'll need to adjust for the changes in its internal structure where you make contact. If you run out of leaves you can use regular paper, but it won't be the same because paper has more or less the same consistency throughout."
The red-eyed Jounin turned back to the rest of her team. "You're all dismissed for today. I'll see you at the usual time tomorrow morning."
"It's been almost a month since your team has been put on probation Kurenai-kun, how have they been coping with it?"
"Well sir, I can't say that the Shino or Naruto are happy about being put on D-rank missions again. Shino's as stoic about it as he is about most everything else though, while Naruto's been working out his frustrations through training."
"Ah, yes. I seem to recall something about that."
The aged Hokage set his pipe aside and reached for a stack of papers at the corner of his desk. He quickly flipped through them before pulling a yellow handwritten note out from near the bottom. As he set it aside Kurenai recognized it as a team progress report that she had submitted two weeks ago.
"Hmm," he said after skimming through the report, "your ideas about Naruto's development seem sound, but are you sure about having him learning jutsu from her?"
"Hokage-sama, you mean Anko?" Kurenai asked.
Sarutobi nodded. "I know the two of you are close friends, and I can only commend you for being able to look past her troubled past associations. There are many in the village that cannot do the same however. If they see Naruto using her jutsu, it is likely their negative opinion of her will taint Naruto as well."
"I had considered that. A large percentage of Konoha's civilian and shinobi population already hold negative opinions of him though. I think any effect of seeing him use Anko's jutsu pales in comparison to what he's already gone through because of the Kyuubi."
Sarutobi leaned back in his chair with a sigh, closing his eyes and bringing a hand up to rub at the bridge of his nose.
"Sometimes I wonder how things might have been if I had ignored my successor's wishes about telling the village of Naruto's status as the Kyuubi's keeper," he said in a tired tone.
Kurenai pondered the Hokage's words for a few moments before replying.
"I think that Naruto would have had a happier childhood. I have great respect for the Fourth and what he had to sacrifice for the sake of Konoha, but in this case I think that his decision was made through wishful thinking rather than a real understanding of how the villagers would react given what had been lost."
The aged Hokage smiled without opening his eyes. "I suppose that's one way of looking at it. You must understand though that none of us are perfect, not even the Hokage. We do what we can, but ultimately we're only human."
"I'm… I'm sorry if I've offended you Hokage-sama," Kurenai said as she bowed apologetically.
Sarutobi waved his hand lightly.
"Not at all; I understand your perspective in the matter. If anything, I'm glad that you care about Naruto's welfare enough to question the Fourth's judgment. I look forward to seeing how he grows under your guidance. If anyone questions your decision to have him learn from Anko, tell them that I personally approved of the plan."
"Thank you Hokage-sama. I'll do my best."
"Now, what about the girl? How's she dealing with things so far?" the Hokage asked as he reached for his pipe.
"Haku's still adjusting to life as part of a hidden village's regular shinobi forces. She mentioned that once Zabuza became a missing-nin they never stayed in any place for more than two weeks at a time, so this is a bit of a lifestyle change for her. I think she's coping with it reasonably well though."
Sarutobi paused to carefully pack his pipe with tobacco before speaking again.
"The reason I've called you in today is to discuss the possibility of taking your team off probation and giving them a C-rank. Do you think they're ready for it?"
"Well," Kurenai paused for a moment to consider her words, "I can't speak for the loyalty issue, but I'm comfortable enough with their level of teamwork to let them try a C-rank. They're about where the old Team Eight was just before the Wave Country mission."
The Hokage lit his pipe and took a long draw as he nodded thoughtfully.
"Her ANBU trailers and Anko haven't reported anything out of the ordinary. As paranoid as Ibiki can be, even he's starting to think that she might not have any ulterior motives. I suppose the next step is to show her an increased level of trust and see what she does with it."
"Hokage-sama, you're thinking of using the C-rank as a way of seeing if she runs or tries to contact anyone once outside the village?"
Sarutobi nodded while lightly shaking his pipe to settle the burning tobacco. He then reached for a folder sitting on top of one of the stacks of papers on his desk.
"That's part of the reason. If you accept this mission I'm going to have ANBU shadowing your team to keep watch on Haku. That's not the only reason though. I've been thinking of this idea for awhile, and we recently received a mission request that appears ideally suited for your group. It seemed prudent to take advantage of the opportunity."
The aged Hokage handed the folder to Kurenai. He then leaned back in his chair and puffed on his pipe as the Jounin quickly skimmed through the first few pages of the mission profile.
"Hokage-sama?" Kurenai asked as she looked up from the folder. "This is an infiltration mission. Shouldn't this be a B-rank?"
Sarutobi nodded in agreement. "Normally, yes. Our standard policy is B-rank and above for any mission that requires stealth. In this case though, the client's cheap and refuses to pay for anything higher than a C-rank."
"Why wasn't this rejected for the client's inability to pay for the proper mission ranking then?"
"The client happens to be a relative of the Fire Daimyo. It would not be…" the Hokage briefly paused to find the right words, "politically expedient for us to reject the mission."
Sarutobi smiled at Kurenai's brief flicker of a grimace before continuing.
"The client's a distant uncle of some sort though, and apparently not very popular with the extended family. The Daimyo doesn't particularly care whether we succeed with this mission or not, just that we attempt it so he can placate his uncle."
"If we succeed the Daimyo gets to take the credit for using his influence to make us accept the mission below our standard rates. If we fail though, he can shift the blame on us entirely for incompetence or not using our best assets."
The Hokage chuckled. "Exactly."
"I still don't see why you chose my team though Hokage-sama, wouldn't Kakashi's team be a better choice with the Inuzuka tracking abilities and Hyuuga Hinata's eyes?" she finally asked as she looked up again.
Sarutobi reached into one of his desk's drawers to retrieve a smaller folder before replying.
"Perhaps, and I would most likely offer this mission to them next if you decided to turn it down. Read through this first though. The intelligence analysis corps managed to put together some details about the target, including a schedule of major events for the coming month and pictures of past mistresses. I think that you'll understand why I chose your team first."
Kurenai accepted the folder and studied its contents for a minute before looking back up at the Hokage.
"Is your suggestion that we should…"
Sarutobi nodded. "The decision on how to approach this mission is up to you as team leader of course, but I believe taking advantage of what's in that folder is the best option given the circumstances. If you accept the mission and my plan I can make the arrangements from here."
The Jounin kunoichi shuffled through the photographs in the smaller folder once more, noting the similarities in facial features. Another part of her mind considered the odds of the team succeeding in the mission as well as the potential benefits and costs success or failure would bring her Genin.
Finally she nodded. "I accept the mission for Team Eight Hokage-sama. I'll brief my team on it when we meet tomorrow morning."
Naruto, Haku, and Shino crowded closer as Kurenai spread a large map of Tanzaku Gai on her dining table.
She began with a basic introduction for her students.
"Tanzaku Gai is two days' journey from Konoha on foot. There's a hamlet with an inn about halfway on the road we can overnight in. If we leave tomorrow morning you'll have two days to acquaint yourselves with Tanzaku Gai's layout before we have to act.
"The mission itself is to retrieve a family heirloom sword that the client lost to a Tanzaku merchant named Imagawa while gambling. The client doesn't want Imagawa to know though, so we're to leave a fake behind as replacement. We don't know where exactly the sword is being kept, but most likely it's somewhere in his private residence here."
The red-eyed Jounin extended her right hand to point at a large walled compound in the northern part of the map.
"Imagawa's not particularly well off, he's been steadily squandering the family fortune he inherited through poor business dealings. Our best intelligence is that he keeps a pair of ex-samurai around him at all times as bodyguards while the rest of his household security is made up of hired muscle with little real training.
"We could go straight in and search the place, but there's a better option available. Four days from now he's hosting an evening party at a ryotei named Hana to Mitsubachi for his business partners. It's a very exclusive restaurant that mostly caters to the rich and powerful amongst Tanzaku Gai's merchant population."
Kurenai slid her finger across the map to point at a building in its southwest part before continuing.
"He'll most likely bring his two ex-samurai bodyguards to the restaurant with him, and possibly some other household guards as well. We can take advantage of this to get into his residence while there are fewer guards there. We can also use the party itself as an opportunity to approach Imagawa and find out where he's keeping the sword.
"The plan is to infiltrate as part of the geisha entertainment that Imagawa hired for the event. The okiya that he contracted is friendly to Konoha and has helped us gather intelligence in the past, so we won't have any problems getting in."
Naruto raised his hand slightly. "What's an okiya?"
"Geisha house," Kurenai supplied.
"Sensei, when you say we'll infiltrate the party as part of the geisha entertainment, does that mean you and me?" Haku asked.
The red-eyed Jounin turned to nod at her newest student. "You've had some experience with infiltration while with Zabuza right?"
"Yes, Zabuza-san sometimes sent me to gather information on a target disguised as a civilian. I've never tried to disguise myself as a geisha though."
"Don't worry about it," Kurenai said reassuringly, "I'll be the full geisha while you take the role of my maiko. As an apprentice you won't be expected to have the same level of skill. Chances are you won't have to interact with any of the guests at all. The plan is for you to be part of the musical entertainment while I deal with Imagawa. You're good enough with the koto. With two days to practice alongside the actual geisha musicians who will be playing at the party you'll do fine."
The raven-haired girl nodded, looking slightly relieved.
Kurenai turned to her tallest student.
"Shino, you'll be infiltrating the party as well, but as one of the male attendants who escort the geisha to and from the okiya. You most likely won't be allowed inside the party itself. Instead you'll probably have to wait in a side room until the party's over. I need you at the party for the next part of the mission though."
She then gestured at the last Genin on her team.
"Naruto, you get the fun part. When the party starts I want you to break into Imagawa's residence and wait. As soon as I find out where he's keeping the sword I'll relay the information to Shino, and he'll get it to you with a bug messenger. There should be plenty of windows in the building to get a bug through, but you'll need to coordinate with Shino beforehand on where you'll be. Ideally you'll get the sword without any of his guards noticing and be gone before the party's over.
"The most important thing is that you're not seen, so take extreme care when you move. If the guards spot you Imagawa will take extra security precautions, and if he realizes the sword's our target he might move it somewhere else altogether. On the other hand not getting the sword on that night but retreating without getting caught costs us nothing; we can always come back and try again another night.
"That's the basic plan. We can work out further details when we get to Tanzaku Gai."
"Um, sensei?" Haku asked uncertainly.
Kurenai turned to the raven-haired girl. "Yes?"
"It doesn't really seem like my role's necessary. Maybe I should help Naruto with the infiltration, or… I guess I could stay behind if I'm not needed?"
"In some ways Haku, your role is the most critical of all. Imagawa's fondness for sake and music is something we can take advantage of, but there's one more thing we know about him that we can exploit for this mission."
Kurenai opened the smaller folder that she had received from the Hokage and pushed the stack of photographs it contained across the table.
"Take a look at these," she said.
Haku picked up the small stack and flipped through them, the other two Genin moving beside her to look along. She noted how the people depicted in the photographs shared similar facial structures and had long dark hair with parted bangs hanging over the front that framed their faces.
"Kurenai-sensei," she finally said, "are these… his women?"
The red-eyed Jounin nodded.
"The mistresses he's had over the last few years. Your physical resemblance to these women is one of the reasons Hokage-sama selected our team for this mission. Many of them were also musically inclined in some way. When we infiltrate the party, I'm going to Henge myself to look like an older version of you. With you playing music and me serving him sake, we should be able to get him talking without much trouble."
Kurenai allowed her students a few seconds to absorb the information before asking, "Do any of you have questions?"
She looked at each of them, making sure there were no questions before continuing.
"A few last details about equipment. Haku, you and I don't need to bring anything special. The okiya will have the required clothing and accessories prepared for us. I suggest leaving your koto behind and using one of theirs for the mission though, as yours has a pretty distinctive appearance. Shino, I don't know whether they'll have a male kimono your size ready, so it's best if you bring a plain one along. Naruto, you'll want to bring something suitable for infiltration, nondescript dark clothes and some way to hide your hair would work."
"I have black cargo pants and a black shirt, and I guess I could cover my hair for the mission," the blond suggested.
Kurenai nodded at Naruto before turning to the rest of the team. "You guys are free to do what you want the rest of today then. Get what you need for the mission, then get rested and get packed. We'll set off from the west gate at nine tomorrow morning."
Team Eight departed Konoha the next morning. Buoyed by clear skies and a refreshing summer breeze they made good progress on the road. It was only mid-afternoon when Naruto spotted the outlines of the hamlet they would spend the night in before continuing on to Tanzaku Gai. The small settlement, consisting of a number of log huts with thatched roofs flanking a larger two story building with a roof terrace, was laid out around a short path branching north off the main road. Situated at the end of the branch, the large building was painted in shades of red and white, had a large stone lantern to one side of its entrance, and bore fluttering cloth banners that advertised its services as a restaurant and inn for travelers.
What attracted his attention though was not the building itself, but the person that came jogging out of the building towards his team. The figure was nearly half a head taller than Naruto and wore dark pants with a gray hooded jacket. The most distinguishing feature however was the small white puppy that clung to the person's head as he ran.
"Ey, Shino, Naruto!"
"What are you doing out here Kiba?" the blond asked.
"Could ask you the same thing, a mission?" the youngest scion of Konoha's dog-using clan replied.
Shino nodded. "We left Konoha this morning."
"We're just getting back from ours, escorting some old guy who's got more money than brains back to Konoha. He thinks someone's out to get him all the time, but we haven't come across even a single bandit the entire way. The guy always smells like booze too, right Akamaru?"
The dog balanced on the Inuzuka's head yelped in agreement.
"What's with the sword? I don't remember ever seeing you with one," Kiba commented as he poked Naruto in the chest.
"It's just how I fight now," Naruto replied.
Kiba laughed. "You never could beat me in taijutsu back at the academy. I guess you suck so much you need a weapon to compensate."
The blond shrugged and let the comment pass without response. He had never really been friends with Kiba, but had gotten to know the Inuzuka well enough during their academy days together that he felt he had a good sense of the taller boy's personality. Kiba was very competitive and as vocally expressive of his feelings about everything as Shino was not. Naruto knew though that while the dog user enjoyed bragging and trash talking, there was rarely any real malice in his words.
"You're Inuzuka Kiba right?" Kurenai inquired from the back of the group.
"Yeah, I am, um…" Kiba answered as he shot a quick questioning glance at Shino.
"Our Jounin instructor, Yuuhi Kurenai-sensei," Shino supplied.
"If I recall you're part of Kakashi's team aren't you?" Kurenai asked. "Is he in the inn now?"
"Nah, he's maybe half an hour back on the road. Our client got tired, so he sent us ahead to get rooms while he stayed with the old man," Kiba replied as he jerked his thumb at the road in the direction leading towards Tanzaku Gai.
The red-eyed Jounin turned to her team and handed Haku some paper currency. "Why don't you guys follow Kiba and get us a pair of rooms. I'll go find Kakashi."
Once Kurenai was out of earshot Kiba turned back to the Genin of Team Eight. This time his attention was particularly focused on Haku.
"You're the new girl right?" the dog user asked.
"Yes?" the raven-haired girl admitted tentatively. She was a little unnerved by how intently the boy was staring at her.
Kiba studied her for a few more seconds before straightening his posture and putting his hands on his hips.
"You're pretty, but you're not as pretty as my Hinata-chan!" the dog user declared authoritatively.
Haku's left eyebrow twitched in response to his words. She had thought that he might ask about her background or her abilities. What actually came out of Kiba's mouth was completely unexpected for her.
"Kiba!"
The feminine yell coming from the direction of the inn caught Team Eight and the Inuzuka by surprise. Kiba quickly ducked behind the tallest member of the group in an exaggerated attempt at concealing himself. "Hide me Shino!"
Naruto turned and saw Kiba's teammate running towards them. The distinctive haircut and the even more distinctive eyes identified her immediately.
"Hinata," Naruto greeted as she approached.
The Hyuuga clan's female heiress paused to give the members of Team Eight a quick bow before speaking.
"I could hear Kiba call my name from the inn. Did he say something stupid again?"
Naruto shrugged while Shino nodded.
"Kiba, what did you say?" Hinata asked the tuft of messy brown hair just visible above Shino's shoulder.
Seeing that an answer wasn't forthcoming from the dog user, Haku decided to reply herself. "Hyuuga-san is it? It wasn't anything bad. He just said that I was pretty, but not as pretty as you."
The Hyuuga heiress turned to the ice maiden. "You're, um, Fuyuno-san right? The new Genin who replaced Sakura-san."
Haku glanced briefly at Kiba. "Yes, I am. Is it common knowledge? And please, just call me Haku."
Hinata smiled at the other girl. "Hinata is fine for me as well. In answer to your question, not really. Kiba's mom's on the shinobi council though, so she tends to know more about what's going on. And please accept my apology on Kiba's behalf. He's an idiot and it was rude of him to say something like that."
"It was the truth!" Kiba insisted without coming out from behind Shino.
Haku returned Hinata's smile. "Don't worry about it, I didn't take offense."
"Your team is out on a mission?" the Hyuuga heiress asked.
Shino nodded. "Our sensei left to find yours. She gave us instructions to secure a pair of rooms in the meanwhile."
"Well then, let's get you guys those rooms first," Hinata replied as she turned to lead the group back towards the inn.
The two girls led the way, chatting amicably while getting to know each other. The three boys were content to follow behind them in silence at a relaxed pace.
Hinata pointed out the reception desk as the group entered the inn. "Once you guys get settled in, why don't you come out back to the garden? Sasuke's probably there now."
It did not take long for Team Eight to book a pair of adjoining rooms, one for Shino and Naruto and the other for Haku and their Jounin instructor. The ice maiden quickly made her way back to the boys' room once she deposited her traveling equipment in hers.
"Hinata-san seems nice," she commented as she closed the door behind her.
"Hinata doesn't act like the rest of her clan," Shino replied. "The Hyuuga have a well-established reputation for aloofness bordering on arrogance. They're fond of calling themselves Konoha's foremost clan."
Haku sat down by Naruto, on the closest bed to the door. "Are those two together?"
Shino nodded. "They've been friendly for years. I'm not sure when they decided to take the next step though towards being a couple though, most likely somewhere around our graduation from the academy."
Naruto looked back and forth at his teammates in confusion. "A couple? You mean like boyfriend and girlfriend? Kiba and Hinata?"
"Mhmm," Haku affirmed. "It was pretty evident, to me at least. Inuzuka-san wasn't really afraid of her when he hid behind Shino. It was more like he was playing around with her."
"Wow, I never knew. I never saw anything that gave me that idea," Naruto said.
"You're not the most observant of people about these things," Shino pointed out with a shrug of his shoulders. "Besides, you were out of the academy for nearly a year. When you came back you kept to yourself much of the time and didn't socialize with anyone to a great extent."
"Well, I had to catch up with the rest of the class, and I spent a lot time practicing kenjutsu on my own, I really didn't have time for stuff like that," the blond replied defensively.
"Naruto, I don't think Shino was criticizing you. He was just pointing out why you didn't know," Haku suggested. She turned a questioning look at the bug user, who confirmed her words with a nod.
"I think it was actually your hospitalization that eventually brought them together," Shino remarked after a few seconds of silence.
"What do you mean?"
"If I recall, she actually showed some interest in you before your tenth birthday, though at the time it was probably just admiration and a desire for friendship. You've changed quite a bit since then; it's possible that she may have transferred her attentions to Kiba because his personality is most like the way you were before your hospitalization. He's done a lot to bring her out of her shell too. She used to be very quiet and introverted."
"So you're saying that when I was younger I was a loudmouth idiot who was full of himself," Naruto said half-jokingly.
Shino allowed one of his eyebrows to rise above his sunglasses in response. "Perhaps."
The blond chuckled. "I wonder how things might have been if I hadn't changed. I guess it's just one of those missed opportunities I'll be thinking about when I'm old."
"Maybe this missed opportunity can lead to something better in the future for you," Haku suggested. "I was afraid of what might happen to me when I decided on going to Konoha. I still miss Zabuza-san, but my life has turned out for the better since. Sakura and the two of you are the first friends my age I've ever had you know."
"We're glad to have you too," Naruto said.
The blond paused for a moment before turning to Haku with a grin. "And Kiba's a blind idiot. You're definitely prettier than Hinata."
The ice maiden turned away with a light blush on her cheeks. "Um, thanks."
Shino was amused by his teammates' interplay, though both Naruto and Haku were too preoccupied to notice the subtle signs coming from the bug user. He allowed the two a few seconds of uncomfortable silence before speaking again.
"Since we're settled in, why don't we go find Kiba and Hinata? They said they would be in the back garden."
"That's a good idea," Haku stated. "I'm curious to meet this Sasuke. He's the last Uchiha isn't he?"
Shino nodded. "He's not the friendliest of people though…"
"You mean he's a jerk," Naruto interrupted.
"That's a word that could be used to describe him," Shino said noncommittally. "After the Uchiha massacre Sasuke kept himself apart from the rest of us as much as you did. I'm not justifying his behavior, but his exterior demeanor is an understandable reaction to what he's lived through."
Naruto shrugged and rose from the bed. "Well, we're not accomplishing anything sitting here. Let's go see if we can find Prince Uchiha the Magnificent."
Team Eight left the room and made their way out the inn's back door. Once in the garden they found Kiba and Hinata sitting together on a low stone bench talking. Sasuke was on the other side of the area, practicing taijutsu combinations by himself on a bare patch of grass.
Kiba saw Team Eight first and waved them over enthusiastically. "Hey guys, over here!"
Haku greeted them formally as she approached. "Inuzuka-san, Hinata-san."
She turned in the direction of Team Seven's third member and raised her voice. "Uchiha-san."
The only indication that Sasuke heard Haku was a slight pause in his movements; he did not bother acknowledging her greeting or turning to look at her.
"Don't mind Sasuke, he's just not a people person," the dog user asserted loudly. "By the way, you can just call me Kiba. And don't use any honorifics. It sounds weird and makes me feel as old as my mom."
The ice maiden smiled at the Inuzuka boy with the messy brown hair. "Then please just call me Haku."
"Haku-san, where are you from anyway?" Hinata inquired. "I don't recall ever seeing you in the village."
"I was born outside the village, but my family was originally part of a Konoha merchant clan," Haku explained, sticking to the background story that the Hokage had created for her. "I was taught some basic shinobi lessons by a retired ninja who lived nearby, and when I moved to Konoha Hokage-sama was kind enough to allow me to wear the Leaf hitai-ate."
"How come you replaced Sakura anyway? If you're new wouldn't Hokage-sama wait until the next graduating academy class to place you on one of those teams?" Kiba asked.
"I think that may have been the original intent," Haku replied. "When Sakura left active shinobi service to pursue medical training full time though, I suppose I was the natural choice to fill the spot. Sakura and my current teammates were the ones who escorted me to Konoha in the first place."
"Heh. Figured she wouldn't make the cut."
Four and a half pairs of eyes turned towards Sasuke at his words.
"What did you say?" Naruto demanded.
The Uchiha prodigy stopped his practice movements and took several steps to approach the group of Genin. "She was never any good at the academy. I don't know how she even managed to graduate, but someone like her doesn't belong as a shinobi."
"You don't know anything about her you arrogant bastard! Sakura's getting advanced placement into the medical training program because of her abilities. She's more talented with medical ninjutsu than you'll ever be."
Sasuke laughed dryly. "So what? And I wouldn't talk so much if I were you dobe. You didn't even graduate from the academy legitimately; Hokage-sama had to pull some strings to make you a Genin."
"I don't care what you say about me, but you will not insult Sakura in my presence. Even if she's not here she's still my teammate. I will not let you make light of her hard work like that."
The black-haired Uchiha moved until he was an arm's length away from the blond before replying.
"What are you going to do about it?" Sasuke asked as one corner of his lip pulled back into a crooked grin.
Naruto grabbed a fistful of Sasuke's blue shirt and pulled the Uchiha close.
"I'm warning you for the last time. Shut your mouth," he hissed through clenched teeth.
Sasuke struck at the tendons on the inside inside of Naruto's wrist, knocking the blond's hand away as his grip reflexively loosened from the strike. The Uchiha then pulled back slightly and settled comfortably on the balls of his feet. He brought his left hand up to brush away at some dust on his shirt before speaking again.
"Relax, Dead Last-kun. I'm just speaking the truth. There are people who have lives that are so worthless that they would have been better off never having been born. People like you…"
The blond ground his teeth together, but held himself back from making a move.
"… and people like Sakura," Sasuke added with an arrogant smirk.
Naruto growled, his right hand reaching for the hilt of the sword secured to his back. The sudden change in Sasuke's eyes momentarily startled him however. The two once-onyx orbs had taken on a dark red hue, with one eye bearing two black comma-shaped marks around the pupil while the other had one.
Sasuke was on the move even as he activated his Sharingan. The black-haired Uchiha quickly closed the distance between himself and Naruto with a quick step of his left foot. His left arm shot out to bat the blond's hand away from the sword hilt while his right palm struck at Naruto's face. Sasuke followed up on the attack by stepping through with his right foot and slamming his right elbow into the blond's sternum.
Naruto staggered back a few steps from the blow. He reached for his sword again while turning his right side away to put the sword hilt further away from Sasuke. The Uchiha was again faster however. Naruto was able to block the jab to the face, but with his left eye covered didn't see the near simultaneous kick to the back of his left knee. The impact of the strike dropped him to a one-legged kneeling position with his back partially turned towards Sasuke.
The black-haired Uchiha's right hand darted through the small gap between the blond's right forearm and upper arm. Realizing that Sasuke intended to grab and crank his right arm backwards for a shoulder lock, Naruto had no choice but to release the hilt of his sword and roll away awkwardly.
He had barely regained his feet when Sasuke was on him again, opening with a tornado kick aimed at the left side of his head that the blond barely blocked. The Uchiha continued with a series of rapid punches and kicks, quick feints to Naruto's right before throwing stronger attacks to exploit the blond's blind side. Without his sword Naruto found himself badly outmatched. Even though he easily read Sasuke's strategy at every step, and even with his entire focus committed to defense, he was only able to block the majority of the Uchiha's attacks. The occasional strikes that slipped through his defenses left Naruto painful reminders of his inadequacy with taijutsu. It was only due to Anko's harsh training methods that the blond was able to maintain his concentration after each of the Uchiha's successful attacks to defend against follow-ups.
Naruto crossed his forearms In front of his chest as Sasuke threw a particularly strong side kick. Though he was able to block the attack, the force of the kick still sent the blond flying to land hard on his back. He struggled to get back on his feet even as he saw the black-haired Uchiha rapidly advancing on him again.
The blond caught an indistinct burst of rapid motion out of the corner of his right eye. Sasuke stopped in his tracks as a trio of senbon embedded themselves into the ground just in front of him. A fraction of a second later Naruto found Haku crouched before him to his left. She was facing the black-haired Uchiha, her right arm stretched out in front of Naruto protectively while her left hand held a pair of senbon.
"This ends now. You will not attack my teammate any further. If you approach any closer I will retaliate."
Her voice was even and controlled, with a dangerous undercurrent that emphasized her threat. There was none of the softness of tone that Naruto had come to associate with the ice maiden. The harsh edge with which Haku delivered her words reminded Naruto of nothing so much as the way her former master spoke.
Kiba and Hinata moved around Sasuke in a gesture of support for their teammate. The dog user had his fists clenched and his body tensed, but the Hyuuga heiress maintained a neutral stance.
Shino stepped up to Naruto's right side, his body held loosely in a relaxed posture and hands in the pockets of his large jacket.
"I also suggest that we separate for the moment. Our respective team sensei will be arriving soon; it would not be prudent for them to catch us fighting each other."
His tone was casual like his posture, as if he were discussing the weather. Naruto knew the bug user well enough though to realize that Shino's seemingly natural body language and manner of speaking were actually a carefully maintained act meant to defuse the situation.
Though it was subtle, the blond also caught the movement patterns in the grass around Shino's feet that indicated the bug user was releasing his Kikaichu in preparation for any eventuality.
After a few seconds of the tense standoff Sasuke allowed his posture to relax. He blinked as he shoved his hands into the pockets of his white shorts; when his eyes opened again the red orbs had returned to their familiar onyx color. The black-haired Uchiha's lips then curled back in a sneer.
"Hn."
Sasuke turned and strode back into the inn. Kiba and Hinata exchanged glances before following after their teammate.
Once they were out of view Naruto sighed and sat down heavily on a nearby stone bench. He leaned forward tiredly, allowing his head to droop down and his eye to stare dully at the ground beneath his feet. He didn't react when he felt Haku lay a hand lightly on his shoulder.
"I believe it would be wise to stay here for a few minutes," Shino suggested quietly. "We should avoid Team Seven until tempers have cooled on both sides."
Naruto nodded without looking up.
"I'm disappointed in you Naruto," Kurenai said as she sat down on the bed of one of their rented rooms.
"But Sasuke started it!" the blond insisted. "He called Sakura worthless!"
"Shino told me about how things went. Regardless of what Sasuke said, you were the one who made the first aggressive move weren't you? Or are you disputing Shino's version of events?"
"No, I'm not," Naruto conceded. "But I can't just let him insult Sakura like that."
The red-eyed Jounin nodded. "Your loyalty to Sakura is commendable, and I don't have a problem with your coming to her defense verbally. But we are all shinobi of the Leaf; we do not raise arms against each other in anger. Do you understand that?"
"But he…"
Kurenai made a sharp cutting motion with her hand as she interrupted the blond.
"You do realize he was deliberately goading you on? Shino was very exact with his account of what happened. Sasuke made sure that he was close enough to prevent you from drawing your sword before further provoking you. He's supposed to be the best taijutsu fighter of your graduating year. Once he stopped you from drawing your sword he had a decisive advantage."
Naruto's mouth tightened into a thin line. The Jounin instructor took that as a sign that he hadn't realized the Uchiha's intentions at the time. She gave him a moment to consider that before continuing.
"Konoha prides itself on unity and teamwork. It's fine to have disagreements with each other, but we do not take those disagreements to a physical level. What you and Sasuke did was a violation of the code of military conduct you agreed to when you took up the Leaf hitai-ate. If there had been serious injuries I could have brought the both of you up on charges. Do I make myself clear?"
"Yes, sensei."
Seeing the unhappy look on his face, the Jounin kunoichi continued with a more gentle tone of voice.
"I know you think it's not fair, and in some ways it isn't. You're put in life or death situations and taught skills to kill people with. We expect you to act like an adult and bear that level of responsibility, but underneath it all you're still children. As shinobi of the Leaf though you're held to a higher standard."
"I understand. It won't happen again," Naruto murmured while keeping his eye downcast.
"Good. I want you to go apologize to your teammates. They put their relationships with the other Genin at risk when they moved in support of you."
Naruto nodded.
"After that apologize to Kakashi's Genin. That includes Sasuke."
"Why Sasuke?" Naruto protested as he looked up with his eye narrowed. "Even if I made the first move, it was his words that started it all. If I have to apologize, shouldn't he have to do the same?"
The red-eyed Jounin shook her head firmly.
"It doesn't matter who started it, and it doesn't matter whether he apologizes or not. You both share blame for what happened. Sasuke's not under my authority; Kakashi can deal with him as he sees fit. You are my student though, and I want you to accept your part of the responsibility for what happened and apologize to him."
Kurenai thought that Kakashi was most likely too lazy to bother disciplining the Uchiha in any way, but decided there was no point in giving voice to that.
The blond nodded glumly. Several seconds of silence passed between them before the Jounin instructor spoke again.
"Do you regret becoming a ninja?" she asked in a soft tone.
Naruto's head jerked up.
"What? No!" he answered reflexively.
The red-eyed Jounin shook her head. "I'm not going to accept a knee-jerk answer. Take some time and really think it through."
"What do you mean sensei? I don't understand."
"Just think about it seriously before you speak again. I'll wait."
Kurenai relaxed her posture slightly as she watched Naruto contemplating her question with his eye closed. She had no doubt what his eventual answer would be. She wanted to use this situation as an object lesson though, and she needed him to say the words aloud before she could do so.
Finally the blond opened his eye again. "No, I don't."
"Why not? Why this instead of anything else? It's not too late to change what you want to do."
"No," he declared with a shake of his head. "I have a goal in life, and this is the path that will help me achieve it."
"Haku's words?" Kurenai asked, thinking back to how Naruto had described his second encounter with the girl in his mind.
The blond nodded silently.
The Jounin instructor leaned forward and looked intently into Naruto's eye.
"Always keep in mind that this is a path you chose for yourself. No one can blame you for things that are beyond your control, but you have to accept responsibility for your own choices. As a shinobi of the Leaf, and as an adult in the eyes of Konoha civilian and military law, you need to understand that there are always consequences for your actions. What you do reflects not only on yourself, but on your teammates, on other Leaf shinobi, and ultimately on Konoha itself. Before you act, be sure that you're ready to bear that level of responsibility for your actions.
"That's what separates us from thugs and mercenaries. They fight for their own reasons or for money, and if things get bad they can always run somewhere else and get a fresh start with a new name. We don't have that luxury. We have to put the interests of our fellow Leaf shinobi and our village ahead of our own, and at the end of the day we need to be able to return to the village with our heads held high knowing that we don't regret any of our actions."
"I understand," the blond replied, this time with determination in his voice and his body held in a straighter posture.
"Good, now go and do what you need to do."
Naruto bowed to his sensei and left the room. He knew his teammates were in the other room waiting for him, but did not head over immediately. Instead he spent several minutes in the hallway reflecting on his sensei's words before finally reaching for the other room's door.
Haku looked at him sympathetically as he entered the room. "Kurenai sensei reprimanded you for what happened?"
Naruto nodded. "She's right though. What I did was wrong."
He took a deep breath before speaking again.
"Shino, Haku, I'm sorry for what happened. I shouldn't have reacted the way I did to what Sasuke said. I put you guys in a bad situation, and my actions could have led the two of you getting hurt."
"Don't worry about it," Haku said. "We're teammates right? We back each other up no matter what."
Shino nodded his head once. "You were right to defend our former teammate. What Sasuke said about Sakura was unwarranted and mean-spirited."
Naruto allowed a small smile to cross his face. Being beaten by Sasuke and then having his sensei point out the wrongness of his actions still hurt, but he felt a bit better about himself knowing that his teammates still supported him.
"Thanks for the support, but sensei's right. I was stupid to take the bait like that. I let Sasuke goad me into doing something I shouldn't have, and I acted without considering the consequences of my actions for the two of you."
He closed his eyes and took a moment to consider his next words before speaking again.
"I don't have many people who are willing to acknowledge me; Sakura and the two of you are my only friends. I promise you, I won't let my actions put you in danger like that again."
"Don't worry about it," Shino replied as he stood up. "I don't hold you in any less regard for what happened today. It's been a long day though; I'm going to look around the hamlet while there's still some daylight left."
The bug user moved towards the door, stopping as he passed Naruto to put his hand on the blond's shoulder.
"I understand sensei's rationale in the way she reprimanded you," he said without turning to face Naruto. "Speaking from a purely personal perspective however, I'm glad you moved in Sakura's defense. You were right when you said that Sakura's still our teammate, and Haku was right when she said that we back each other up no matter what. If you hadn't taken action I would have."
Shino squeezed Naruto's shoulder once before letting go and continuing out the door.
The blond turned to Haku with a questioning look in his eye.
"The walls are pretty thin; we could hear pretty much everything the two of you were saying if we held our ears close," Haku explained with a shrug from her position on the bed closest to the room's window. "I don't know whether Kurenai-sensei didn't realize how thin the walls are or whether she meant for us to hear as well."
Naruto sat down on the room's other bed. "That explains that I guess, but I was wondering more about what he said after. It seems kind of odd to hear Shino say something like that."
"You don't see it do you?" asked the raven-haired girl with a smile.
"See what?"
"Remember how Shino said you weren't the most perceptive person in the world when it came to certain things?"
"Yeah, but what does that have to do with…" Naruto's voice trailed off and he turned abruptly to look at the ice maiden as he realized what she was implying.
"You mean..." he finally said.
She nodded. "At least I think so. It's hard to tell something like that with Shino. It's hard to tell anything with him really, though I think I'm finally starting to understand his body language. Call it woman's intuition."
"Wow. I can't see it at all."
"Are you questioning my woman's intuition?"
Naruto raised his visible eyebrow. "Well…"
Haku looked at the blond in confusion for a few moments before finally replying in an accusing tone. "You're thinking about the day we met aren't you?"
"I already said I was sorry for thinking you were a boy. Besides, anyone could make that mistake with the way you look."
The ice maiden's eyes narrowed in mock anger. In response Naruto raised both hands up in an equally sincere conciliatory gesture while giving her a toothy grin.
"Remember I said you're prettier than Hinata," he said placatingly.
Haku sighed. "Fine, I'll forgive you this once. But only because you said that."
She stood and stretched her arms before continuing. "I'm going to look around the place like Shino. You want to come along?"
Naruto shook his head as the grin faded from his face. "I should find Sasuke and his team and apologize to them as soon as I can."
"I don't know them well, but Hinata-san and Kiba-san don't seem to be the type to hold something like that against you," she said.
"It's not them I'm worried about," Naruto said as he rose from the bed. "I'm not looking forward to apologizing to Sasuke, but I'll do what I have to do."
Author's Notes:
Why a second mission? I just rearranged the roster, I felt Team Eight needed another mission to show them coming together as a unit before they were ready to move on. Why a stealth mission rather than bashing some bandits? Novelty value I suppose, and the fact that we don't really need to establish how strong each member of the team is in live combat. I've taken some liberties with geisha culture though. In the past there have been periods where geisha kept their hair down, I'm using that rather than the more modern shimada hairstyle that you typically see nowadays.
If you feel that Kiba and Hinata are out of character, their lives diverged from canon two years ago when Naruto was hospitalized. They've had a moderating influence on each other since then. Another reason is in canon we only ever see Hinata in Naruto's presence, so she's always fully in the grip of a crush-induced shyness attack. That's not the case here.
The status of the next update is uncertain. I've had computer issues that ultimately required me to reinstall the operating system. The lesson I learned is that pre-writing chapters amounts to nothing when the hard drive they're stored on dies. So we'll see what happens in a week.
It does seem like I'm going out of my way to bash Sasuke doesn't it? I can only say that Naruto and Sasuke have a more complicated history than in canon, and neither side are entirely blameless in their antagonistic relationship.
5/07/10: Amended author's notes
5/07/10: First Upload
