Disclaimer: I Do Not Own Naruto
It had been about three weeks since the group had gone on a mission, nobody wanted them because of how reckless Suton had been when Hidan and Kakuzu attacked the land of fire. Everyone was doing their best to find Sasuke as well as help the group keep going in the leaf. They would often split up and lead Genin teams on D-rank missions. Kaze also helped with the Chunin Exams as he and Shikamaru were the only two to make Chunin after the first exams.
The group also participated in the Chunin exams and easily passed through the three rounds. The Chunin exams were so dull for the group that they didn't even celebrate when they all advanced to chunin. Even after the Chunin exams the group couldn't find any work at their level. Kaze tried repeatedly to go with Naruto to try and find Sasuke, but every time either Kakashi or Tsunade prevented him from going. Everyone else had given up and began to apply for team leaders for the genin, except for Suton who continued to blame himself for the death of Hayate.
Kaze had been asked to become an academy teacher, and Mizu and Kasai were approved to be team leaders. Raiu was told to train more and Suton continued to give no effort.
….
Another month passed by and Kaze was in the middle of teaching a class about chakra and chakra points when Raiu burst through the door, "Lady Tsunade needs to see you now!"
"Raiu, I'm in the middle of a class, I can't just drop what I'm doing." said Kaze.
Raiu walked in, "She told me that it was extremely important, that it could mean trouble for the leaf."
Kaze's face dropped, "Alright." he turned to the students, "Class dismissed!" The students let out a cheer and rushed out of the classroom.
"Did she say what it's about?" asked Kaze as he followed Raiu.
"We've determined the whereabouts of Itachi Uchiha and Kisame Hoshigaki." said Raiu.
Kaze nodded as they walked up the stairs of the Hokage's tower.
When they walked in Suton, Mizu and Kasai were standing waiting for them. Tsunade quickly looked up from her paperwork, "This mission could be one of the most important that's been given in a while. You five are going to intercept Itachi and Kisame."
"Why us? Why not send Kakashi or other jonin?" asked Mizu.
"Kakashi is off on a mission along with other compatible jonin." said Tsunade, "I've briefed Mizu on the mission, now go!"
The group rushed out of the tower and through the village as people looked at them. After they were out of the village Kaze quickly looked at Mizu, "So what do we need to know?"
"Well, Itachi is Sasuke's brother and can use the sharingan, so you must avoid eye contact or you will get trapped in genjutsu. Kisame is a former swordsman of the mist, not a lot else is known about him." said Mizu.
The group traveled for another half an hour before Mizu stopped.
"What is it?" whispered Kasai.
"They're right over there." said Mizu pointing at two men sitting in Ikatsuki robes. The group scattered and surrounded them.
Raiu crouched directly above Itachi, after a few moments Itachi appeared behind Raiu who quickly turned, but before he could look away he looked into Itachi's sharingan.
Raiu opened his eyes to find himself mounted on a cross, all around him were exact copies of him, in front of him stood three Itachi's with swords in their hands. The Itachi's began to stab Raiu, but he didn't die from each strike, rather he felt the pain and continued to feel the pain of death. This continued for about 72 hours in Raiu's eyes.(He died about 25,000 times in one second)
In the real world about three seconds had passed when Raiu fell out of the tree and onto Kisame's sword. Kisame stood up and threw Raiu into a tree.
Kasai threw kunai at Itachi next to Kisame, but when they made contact the Itachi dissipated into a flock of crows. Out of the trees jumped Itachi weaving hand signs, and he quickly shot a fireball at Kasai who quickly dashed out of the way.
Mizu wove hand signs and formed a sphere of water around Kisame, but when Kisame was engulfed the water began to flow into his sword.
"What the hell?" shouted Mizu, "I had him caught."
"My sword Samehada absorbs chakra." said Kisame with a smile.
"How's that fair?" asked Mizu.
Kisame let out a hefty laugh, "This is the real world, things aren't fair."
Mizu scowled and looked over at Itachi and quickly drew his sword, "You and me, let's see who's better."
Itachi scoffed at Mizu's remark then activated his sharingan. Mizu quickly looked away and began to push chakra through his sword. When he looked up at Itachi he saw Itachi quickly look away as Mizu had replicated Itachi's sharingan.
Itachi quickly dashed back while weaving hand signs, "Fire style fireball jutsu." Itachi shot a blast of fire at Mizu who quickly formed a wall of water to block it. Mizu dashed at Itachi who had drawn his sword and they clashed swords while exchanging stares of sharingan. Mizu pushed Itach back and stabbed him, but Itachi dissipated into crows. Mizu looked around and dashed at a tree which quickly turned into Itachi. Itachi pushed Mizu back, but when he did Mizu fell to water and quickly appeared behind Itachi and swung his sword which Itachi easily blocked.
"So, you can replicate Genjutsu can you?" asked Itachi with his eyes closed.
Mizu nodded and dashed away and disappeared into the surroundings. Itachi quickly looked around and then jumped as Mizu dashed out of the puddle that his clone left. Mizu scowled at Itachi's ability to read his movements. Itachi watched as Mizu stood in front of him and knew that it was a fake copy of him.
While Mizu and Itachi had a battle of genjutsu Kasai ran up to Kisame and prepared to fight him.
Kasai charged at Kisame and went to kick him, but Kisame blocked his foot with his sword. When Kasai jumped back he noticed that he felt a little weaker than before.
'That's right, his sword absorbs chakra.' Kasai thought to himself. He dashed at Kisame again and began to kick at his head, but before Kasai finished his kick he ducked down and swiped at Kisame's legs, but Kisame quickly jumped over the attack and hit Kasai with Samehada. Kasai was thrown back and he rolled over himself a few times before catching himself and sliding back on one knee.
"Damn, he's quick." said Kasai.
Raiu quickly rushed in to attack Kisame and they exchanged blows with their swords. Kisame pushed Raiu's sword to the side and slashed him across the stomach. Raiu quickly fell to the ground grasping his gut.
'You can only do this when someone dear to you is in extreme danger.' rang Guy's voice in Kasai's head. Kasai nodded to himself and quickly pulled his leg warmers down and removed the weights around his ankles.
Kisame laughed as Kasai set the weights next to him and stood up and hopped around. Kasai soon disappeared and Kisame realized he needed to get serious. Kasai appeared behind him and kicked at Kisame's head, but he ducked down. After Kasai finished his rotation he also ducked down and swung his legs at Kisame's feet forcing Kisame to jump. Kasai again flickered away and appeared in front of Kisame swinging his fist. Kisame began to raise Samehada, but wasn't fast enough to block and Kasai dug his fist into Kisame's face sending him flying back flipping over himself.
Kisame stood up, unsteady on his feet and began to weave hand signs, "Water style shark bomb jutsu." out of the ground rose a shark made of water that rushed at Kasai. Kasai easily dodged the shark, but wasn't far enough away when it made contact with the ground and he was caught in the explosion which sent him flying into a tree.
Kasai stood up and took a steady stance and began to channel his chakra. All around Kasai arose an aura until he shouted, "Open first gate, gate of opening." Kasai began to glow and continued to open inner gates until he opened the sixth gate. Kasai's energy was emanating from his body so fiercely that Kisame could feel the power from across the clearing.
Kasai pulled his fist back and struck it forward in a punching motion as a fireball flew out of his enclosed hand.
Kisame raised Samehada in an attempt to absorb the jutsu, but when the fire made contact it forced the sword out of Kisame's hand.
Kasai punched again and again, each time was faster in succession as he yelled, "Asakujaku!"
Kisame tried to dodge the oncoming fireballs, but was unable to move that fast and fell victim to the fire. Kisame was sent flying back unable to move, Kasai collapsed soon after unable to move because of opening the inner gates.
…
Mizu charged at Itachi who again avoided his attack, after a few moments Itachi managed to break the genjutsu. Itachi jumped back and activated his mongekyou sharingan and shouted, "Amaterasu!" Out of the ground rose black flames that rushed towards Mizu who was weakened from the fight before.
Kaze quickly jumped down and pushed chakra through his sword and shouted, "Hitomi!" Kaze's eyes reshaped to have four spirals in opposite corners of his eyes form. Out of the ground in front of Kaze grew an amaterasu flame that met Itachi's. When the flames met there was a large explosion and Itachi took his chance and grabbed Kisame and Samehada and dashed away before the flames died down.
After a few moments Kaze collapsed to the ground and Mizu ran over, "Are you alright?"
Kaze looked up, "Yeah, using the Hitomi uses a tremendous amount of chakra."
Mizu looked around, and noticed he was the only one able to stand. After a few moments Guy and Kakashi appeared and looked around at the destruction.
"What happened here?" asked Kakashi.
"We were sent here to fight Itachi and Kisame." said Mizu gently setting Kaze down.
Guy looked around, "Must have been one heck of a fight, I'm sorry I missed it, but we need to get out of here." Mizu picked up Kaze, Kakashi picked up Raiu, Guy picked up Kasai, and Suton continued to sit in the tree that he started in staring at the battlefield.
Mizu jumped up next to him, "You alright?"
A single tear rolled down Suton's cheek, "I couldn't do it, I couldn't fight."
Mizu placed his hand on Suton's shoulder, "It's not your fault, let's get back to the leaf so we can find something for you to do."
Suton nodded and everyone rushed back to the leaf village so that everyone could get medical treatment.
…
At the Hokage's Office
"We need to figure out how to help Suton, he's no help on the battlefield." said Kakashi.
Tsunade nodded, "I know, take him with you when you go and search for Sasuke, and make sure you do some one on one training with him so that he understands his duties as a ninja."
Kakashi nodded and left the room, as he exited a group of three genin barged in past Kakashi who looked back and watched them.
"Where's Mizu-sensei, he said he'd be gone for a day or two and it's been a week!?" said a small boy with messy black hair.
"Chunga, Amarini, Ki," said Tsunade,(Chunga is the boy described above, Amarini is a girl with brown hair and was a little taller than Chunga, Ki has flat yellow hair and was shorter than the other two.), "I forgot to tell you that Mizu needed medical treatment after his mission."
Ki's face lit up, "Whoa, was his mission really that dangerous, what did he have to do, I'll bet he had to fight off an army, or maybe-"
Amarini slammed her fist onto Ki's head, "Shut up Ki, Mizu-sensei will tell us if he wants."
Chunga looked over, "I'll bet it was something simple that he messed up."
Tsunade's face glowed red with anger at Chunga's remark, "You little brat, you have no idea what he went through, you're lucky that I don't punch you through that wall! You think Mizu was bad you should see the rest of his team, one of them is still in critical condition and the other two are receiving medical by the hour!" Tsunade clenched her hands as she trembled with rage and tried not to kill Chunga.
Chunga scoffed and walked away with his hands in his pockets.
"What's that guy's deal?" asked Ki watching Chunga walk away, "Sorry about him, he still needs to learn his place."
Tsunade sat down and began to cool down, "Mizu should be fine to start your training tomorrow, so go find him and tell him I sent you."
Ki and Amarini nodded and walked out.
Ki looked over at Amarini, "You wanna go get some food? We gotta keep up our strength for training."
Amarini nodded and the two headed to Ichiraku ramen shop where they saw Naruto eating ramen.
Ki and Amarini sat down and ordered ramen and Naruto looked over at them, "You guys just get out of the academy?"
"Yeah." nodded Ki.
Naruto smiled, "Oh yeah, who's your sensei?"
"Mizu." said Amarini as their ramen was placed in front of them.
"Wow, that guy's really strong, you guys should be happy to have such a strong sensei." said Naruto slurping down the last bit of his soup.
Ki looked at him, "Wow, is he really that strong?"
"Yeah that whole group is incredibly strong." said Tsunade walking into Ichiraku.
"Lady hokage." said Amarini, surprised.
"Who's this group you're talking about?" asked Ki.
Tsunade sat down next to Naruto, "It's Kaze, Suton, Mizu, Kasai, and Raiu."
"But they." paused Ki, "They were a team of five, and I heard that one of them killed their sensei."
Tsunade slapped Ki across the face, "How dare you say that." Tsunade looked at her fist as she clenched it, "Suton had only good intentions, it was the work on an Ikatsuki jutsu that kill Hayate."
Ki's face dropped, "I'm so sorry, I had-I had no idea."
Amarini looked over at Tsunade, "Was that who they fought earlier this week, the Ikatsuki?"
Tsunade nodded as she stared at her bowl of ramen, "I don't know what to do, not even our strongest team of chunin and a jonin can defeat them. There just doesn't seem to be a way to defeat them without expending the lives of ninja."
"I'll bet I can take em." said Ki.
"YOU DOPE!" shouted Amarini slamming her fist into Ki's head, "These are the guys that put Mizu-sensei in the hospital along with his team."
Ki rubbed his head and finished eating his ramen. After both Ki and Amarini finished they headed back to their houses to get sleep.
Tsunade continued to slowly eat her ramen after the rest had left. After a few moments Genma walked in, "I thought I might find you here."
Tsunade looked up, "What do you need?"
"I just came by to make sure you were okay, I know dealing with this Ikatsuki mess can't be easy." said Genma sitting down.
"You're right, but hopefully we'll find a way to deal with it in the time to come." said Tsunade.
Genma nodded and left, and soon after Tsunade left and the Leaf village had fallen silent.