Harri strolled along next to Naruto, hands on her back. Briefly she wished for an outfit with pockets rather than the athletic shorts she was still wearing, but dismissed it quickly. She had gotten used to them by now. And it was comfy. At least she wasn't wearing something impractical like Sakura's dress, the thing was way too long for any practical movement. Especially since this was a ninja based world and not a fashion based world.
Naruto was mostly happy. Happy because they were finally going on a 'real mission.' The only down-side in his mind was the fact that the person they were escorting was Tazuna. Harri completely understood why Naruto was not happy with the guy, he got on her nerves a lot. He seemed to be drunk most of the time, and if Harri could easily smell his alcohol breath without any magic to enhance her sense of smell, surely then ninja who seemed to naturally smell better than normal people could smell him. It was a recipe for disaster in Harri's mind.
The day was nice at least; that sort of balanced out Tazuna's aggravating personality. The sky was a clear blue and it had been awhile since Harri had really taken the time to appreciate the beauty of the land. Voldemort had really taken the joy out of just sitting and enjoying nature, there were no opportunities to do it on the run. And then after the lamp, she hadn't really walked around to enjoy it. One place she had been dropped off at didn't even seem to have a sky, just mechanical doorways and hallways.
As they came up to a puddle, Harri grinned at the prospect of jumping in a puddle again. Who didn't like them? Then again, some people didn't like to get wet. But Harri hadn't had an opportunity in forever to jump in one.
Harri waited until the others had drawn ahead a little bit so she wouldn't splash any of them before jumping into the puddle with energy, slamming her feet down in pleasure at the sight of the water arcing up. As the water settled and she stepped away from the puddle; Harri could have sworn that she saw a face in the water. Disturbed now, Harri caught up to the others quickly with one last look thrown over her shoulder.
There was an odd sound behind her, as though it was coming from the water, and as Harri turned around to look, threw herself to the ground as she caught a glimpse of chains racing toward her. Instead, they wrapped around Kakashi and in front of their eyes, pulled him apart. Harri's eyes widened at the sight before turning her attention to the rest of the group. Naruto was standing a little apart from the others, and the two men landed behind him. All three of the kids froze, but Naruto seemed especially still as the two had landed behind him and were aiming at him next.
One of them spoke, "And now it's your turn." Harri felt anger course through her at the thought and hauled herself off the ground. They raised their arms that were connected to the chain, most likely to try and tear Naruto apart the same way they had with Kakashi. Harri wasn't about to let that happen though. Not again. Never again.
"Procident!" Harri hissed in Naruto's direction. She saw him out of the corner of her eye fall down as she turned her full attention to the two brothers. Their facial structures were too similar to not be brothers.
"Depulso!" the chain was sent flying to the tree just as a shuriken slammed into them, attaching them to the tree, followed by a kunai to make it stick even better. Harri turned to see Sasuke land on the brothers before kicking them both in the face. At least Sasuke had some skill.
The chain coming from their gloves snapped off, letting the two go so they could continue on unhindered. One of them went for Tazuna. The other went for Naruto.
Naruto was getting up as the brother came at him. When the blond caught sight of him, Naruto froze at the prospect of a person actively trying to kill him with killer intent. Sure, he had faced questionable citizens, but they hadn't been truly trying to kill him. At least, that's what Harri could read in his expression as she saw the claws on the brother's glove come bearing down on Naruto's raised hand. Before Harri could do anything, the claws pierced Naruto's hand, and Harri felt fury fill her as she witnessed it.
"Flipendo!" the customary loud bang accompanied it as the brother was thrown backwards, right into Kakashi's startled arm. Harri started at seeing him, and then narrowed her eyes at him as she walked over to Naruto. Grumbling under her breath, she grabbed Naruto's good arm and hauled him up. Harri took Naruto's bad hand in hers as she examined it. She raised a hand to begin a diagnostic spell, but before her trained eyes, she could almost see something leaving Naruto's wound, as though it was being burned out. Poison perhaps? Naruto had healed quickly after the beating, so Harri lowered her hand as she watched.
"Substitution?" Naruto mumbled, looking over where Kakashi had falsely died. Harri also glanced over to see the pile of logs that Kakashi had used to escape death.
"Naruto. Sorry I didn't help you right away. I didn't think you'd get hurt. I just didn't think you would freeze up like that." Naruto's incredulous gaze snapped to Kakashi as his sensei spoke and Harri's grip on Naruto's hand tightened for a split second before she forced herself to relax.
Then Kakashi dug himself into a hole, "Good job Sasuke. Very smooth. Sakura, you did well also."
Naruto really froze now before pulling his hand out of Harri's grasp as he stared at his team.
"Hey." Sasuke angled his body toward Naruto as he addressed him, a smirk on his face, "You're not hurt are you? Scaredy-cat." Sasuke mocked. Harri glared at him and raised a hand, but Naruto jumped in front of her and raised a fist at Sasuke.
"Sasuke you…!" Naruto started, but Kakashi's commanding voice stopped him before he could get any further.
"Naruto. Stand still. These shinobi put poison on their claws. We need to take it out of you quickly, it's in your blood. We'll have to open the wound to get it out. So don't move around because that spreads the poison." Kakashi was so odd, one minute he seemed so condescending and the next genuinely concerned.
Naruto froze as he stared at his hand as it dripped blood, then he looked over at Harri with panic clear in his eyes.
Harri shrugged, "I don't think you'll need my help, you are healing pretty fast on your own. Maybe that fox-thing heals you quickly."
"Now Tazuna. Let's have a little chat." Kakashi said, hauling the two shinobi in his arms over to a tree and quickly and efficiently tied them to it, leaking a bit of killer intent so they wouldn't try to escape. It seemed that the two brothers hadn't quite thought their attack through. Or who they would be attacking. They put on an air of bravado that probably worked on the three kids and maybe Tazuna, but Harri could tell that she and Kakashi could see right through their blustering. But Harri's train of thought was more along the lines of why they would be scared of fighting Kakashi. He wasn't that amazing it seemed like to her. Plus, he had clearly just told Naruto off for moving around while there was poison in his body, and he wanted to interrogate the attackers now?
"These two are chunin from Kirigakure. Their specialty is relentless attack, they don't stop no matter the sacrifices involved." Kakashi explained.
"How did you know about our ambush?" one of them asked, "And who hit me on the head? That hurt! Was it a warning of some kind?" the brother's eyes showed his disgust at the thought, a shinobi showing mercy? Kakashi especially, showing mercy? The very notion was ridiculous.
"A puddle. On a clear day, when it hasn't rained in weeks? You could have picked a better way to hide. And no one hit you on the head before you came out of your idiotic hiding spot. Perhaps your brain cells were simply trying to tell you something." Kakashi said blandly to them.
Naruto looked over at Harri discreetly and the raven-haired girl simply shrugged her shoulders, "I didn't know people could hide in water like that. I just wanted to jump in the puddle."
Tazuna then spoke up, asking concernedly, "Then why'd you leave it for the genin to handle them?" In all honesty, it had been a nerve-wracking experience for him, he really had been close to being killed. Perhaps he should have thought this idea of his through a bit more.
"I could have taken them out quickly." Kakashi conceded, then continued, "But then I would have learned nothing. I had to know who their target was and what they were after." He turned to look at Tazuna who shifted slightly.
"Eh? What are you getting at?" Tazuna blustered.
"I needed to know if this was simply a case of them attacking us, shinobi attacking enemy shinobi, or if they were after you, the Master Bridge Builder. When you put in your request, you asked for simple protection against robbers and highway men. You didn't say there were ninja after you, hunting you down. Otherwise, this would have been a higher ranked mission. We were supposed to protect you while you finished your bridge, but if we had known that we would have had to been watching for enemy attacks at the same time, this mission would have been ranked differently. You apparently have reasons for lying to us, but lying to the mission desk is never acceptable. This mission is no longer C-ranked and is beyond the scope of our parameters." Kakashi finished, glaring at Tazuna as the portly man shifted around, playing with a bottle of his sake.
"We're genin. We don't have the training for this sort of thing yet. We should head back. And I'm really worried about Naruto's wound. Back at the village there are lots of competent medics who specialize in poison and they can deal with it." Sakura really did sound concerned about Naruto and Harri glanced at her appraisingly. There seemed to actually be some caring bones in her body, it just happened to be buried under a whole bunch of idiocy.
Kakashi turned to look over at his blond student, "Naruto's wound could become a problem. We probably should head back to the village."
Naruto looked down at his hand with a slight downward tilt to his mouth before suddenly whipping out a kunai and stabbing himself in the hand. Everyone seemed to freeze a moment as they stared at the kunai sticking out of Naruto's hand.
Harri's mouth dropped open and she took a single step toward the blond when he spoke, stilling everyone.
"Why am I so different? Why can't I just… Ugh! I just want… I will never give up!"
"Naruto, cut it out, what are you doing?" Sakura questioned a bit hysterically.
"I worked too hard! I trained too hard! Pushing myself! To reach my dream! I will never back down again, and let someone else rescue me. I will never run away, and I won't ever let Sasuke beat me like that again. Upon this wound, I make this pledge, believe it! Bridge Builder, I'll complete this mission and protect you with this kunai knife! A real ninja never gives up and neither will I! Don't worry about me, I'll be fine! Now let's go!" Naruto pledged to the builder, a fierce expression on his face as he turned towards them more fully.
"Naruto, that was really cool how you took the poison out and all, but if you lose any more blood, you're going to die." Kakashi blandly stated.
There was a brief silence as everyone looked at Kakashi and Naruto. Harri slapped a hand to her face and shook her head at the ridiculousness of that statement.
Naruto's face drained of all expression and colour before suddenly, "Ahh, I'm too young to die!" Naruto yelled as he started freaking out, his bleeding hand staying suspiciously still as his other hand flailed around in his panic.
"Good idea to stop the bleeding now." Kakashi suggested, walking over to Naruto and reaching for his hand, "Give me your hand Naruto."
Naruto hurriedly stuck out his hand for Kakashi's examination and Kakashi took it surprisingly gently. Harri came closer as well and raised an eyebrow at the sight of the wound closing slowly. Earlier it seemed as though poison was leaving his wound, but now there was steam or smoke, or whatever it was slowly rising from the wound. Was that normal for him? Normal for ninja? Or did Naruto just have super-healing powers?
"You have a really serious look on your face, is everything okay? Am I going to be okay?" Naruto questioned panicked.
"Uh, yeah, you should be fine." Kakashi assured the panicking Naruto. When Naruto looked at Harri for reassurance, she rolled her eyes again and shook her head.
"You weren't going to die from that sort of wound." Harri told him, tone slightly exasperated at Kakashi's actions. Naruto relaxed slightly at that and observed Kakashi as he wrapped a bandage around Naruto's hand. At least he knew Kakashi cared.
"What are your thoughts, Sasuke, Sakura?" Kakashi stood up and turned to the other two once he finished bandaging Naruto's hand up.
Sakura looked nervously at Sasuke and his blank face before looking at Naruto and his determined face. She bit her lip, then spoke up, "I think we should continue. I mean, we handled those two pretty easily, and Naruto got the poison out."
Sasuke just grunted, and looked at the ground. However, he was casting short, longing glances in the direction of Tazuna's village.
Kakashi sighed, looked up at the sky for a moment before turning to Tazuna, "You're in luck. We'll continue the mission. Come on, time to head out." Then Kakashi started walking nonchalantly down the path without a backward glance.
Tazuna let out a sigh of relief before following after the jonin. Sakura and Sasuke followed soon, with Sakura throwing one last glance over her shoulder at the blond who was staring at his hand lost in thought.
Harri slung an arm over Naruto's shoulder, leaning on him, "Don't look so down, we're still going on the mission aren't we? At least we didn't get turned back." She gave him a sideways hug before letting go and strolling along casually after them.
Naruto brightened at that, but didn't say anything to her, mindful of the two brothers still tied to the tree. He gave said brothers one last glare before running to catch up with the others. Thank goodness Harri had made sure that he had made it through the encounter with only a small stab wound.
"Kakashi-sensei, what about them? Won't they be able to get loose quickly and come after us again?" Naruto questioned his sensei once he caught up to him, walking next to him.
Kakashi hummed then answered, "I don't think we will have to worry about them again. Just trust me on that Naruto."
Naruto looked down at the ground in confusion, but didn't argue. A miracle in and of itself. Naruto glanced over at Harri walking besides him. Harri winked at him and put her arms behind her head as she walked. In the silence, Harri started whistling. Naruto glanced over at her, an amused smile appearing and disappearing as quickly as it came. Too bad no one else could hear her whistling. She was actually pretty decent.
"It used to be pretty popular where I'm from. There was a really big country that was having issues and eventually, like a year after the song was released, the song actually became pretty popular. The big country that was having issues had fallen, so the song become fitting to its downfall. It was called 'Wind of Change.' Appropriate I always thought." Harri explained once she finished the song. "My aunt was surprisingly okay with my whistling, she used to test me on my whistling abilities. If I failed, I'd have even more chores and less dinner. But we could actually bond over it." A small smile graced her face as she thought back to the few times her aunt and her would actually get along.
Naruto looked pensive at the idea of someone sort of caring for you but also hating your existence. Was it like how Iruka used to hate him but tried to see past it?
"We're coming up to the sea. Do you have a way for us to cross?" Kakashi spoke up, his head tilted upward a little. He must have been smelling for it or something because Harri could see no sign of water ahead of them.
Tazuna nodded, "Yes. A friend has agreed to take across to the base of the bridge. Then I'll lead you to my home to rest until I can get started on the bridge." He explained.
Kakashi nodded his consent and then continued to lead in silence.
{{LINE BREAK}}
The water seemed to be unnaturally still as the boat cut through the water. Everyone seemed on edge, and Harri attributed it to the fog surrounding them. It could have just been that the younger kids had never been on water like this before, which was very possible seeing as how Naruto had been very excited to leave the village walls. Or they could sense that the water could become a perfect place for an ambush, Harri knew she was carefully watching the water. Especially after how those brothers had just emerged from a puddle.
Examining the bow of the boat, Harri was hit with a great idea. Being careful to not rock the boat, Harri went and stood at the bow of the small ship and then couldn't help but yell, throwing her hands up to the side in fists, "I'm the King of the world!" she could see Naruto look at her funny, but ignored it as she laughed and then sat back down. She grinned idiotically as she had never been able to do that back home. Naruto was practically itching to ask her, but in light of the fact that no one else here could see her, he would have to settle for waiting until later.
Seemingly out of nowhere, a gigantic thing emerged out of the fog and everyone looked at it in appreciation. No wonder Tazuna had 'Master' attached to his title.
"Wow, that thing is huge!" Naruto shouted as they passed by it.
"Quiet!" the guy who was rowing hissed, "Why do you think we are being all secretive, leaving the motor off and just rowing as well as going when there is dense fog? We don't want to be heard."
Naruto clapped his hands over his mouth as he glared at Harri who just let out a small laugh. It was all her fault.
Kakashi then turned to Tazuna, keeping his voice deliberately low as to not arouse the rower's ire, "Mr. Tazuna, before we land on shore, I need to know why those men are after you. If you choose to not answer, then we will head back to the village and leave you here. Why are the men after you?"
Tazuna then told them of the business man Gato and how he was actually a low-life who dealt with drugs and other contraband. Harri thought it resembled Lucius Malfoy quite well. Then Tazuna continued on after Kakashi had questioned him, spinning a tale about how his daughter and her son would be upset and how they would then curse the members of Konoha forever. Harri just rolled her eyes at his story. She had heard better stories before.
The shore couldn't come any faster. Naturally the three kids had been completely suckered by Tazuna's tale, even if Kakashi and Harri hadn't been. And man did Naruto have one persuasive mouth on him. Just a few short sentences from him and Kakashi was willing to continue on. Not without reservations of course, but still willing to go on. Harri thought detachedly that Naruto may even have been able to get some of the more reluctant Death Eaters a shot at redemption.
Once they had finally landed, the rower was quick to get them all of the boat with one last warning to both Tazuna and the shinobi before swiftly rowing away without a backwards glance. That wasn't very comforting. At all. Like he was condemning them to the Devil and was entirely okay with it. Apparently everyone here was really shaken up about this Gato guy.
Harri thought he sounded like a right and proper idiot. Honestly, who seriously described this evil, terrible man as a short midget with a long shadow? Maybe in another life Tazuna should have been a poet.
"Alright Mr. Tazuna. Let's head out. Standard formation you guys." Kakashi ordered eventually, making sure his students had everything properly packed out and distributed. It wouldn't do if they packed wrong and caused pain later with their backpacks.
For a long time, their walk was peaceful and unimpeded, if not tense. The genin had finally seemed to catch on that things were only going to get worse from here. Naruto especially was feeling on edge, Harri could tell. He was more fidgety than normal and kept looking around at the forest surrounding them. His fingers kept twitching towards his weapons pouch. Harri kept an eye out too, but was more content to keep one on Tazuna himself. If it did turn into a fight, the others would probably be too busy to really defend their client. Naruto and Sasuke at least would definitely join their sensei in fighting someone.
Sasuke caught up to Naruto and Harri could almost see the wheels in his head turning as he stared at Sasuke. Suddenly Naruto ran forward and looked around quickly before throwing a kunai in the bushes. Everyone stared at him as he ranted for a few moments before Kakashi told him off about randomly throwing kunai knives. Well, maybe Naruto really was tired if he was just randomly throwing out kunai knives.
What happened next was interesting, because Kakashi turned his head towards another bush nearby, and then Naruto threw another kunai with more confidence than last time. Someone, or something, was there. And surprisingly, Naruto had sensed it as well as Kakashi. Harri heard it hit the tree beyond the bush and walked over, avoiding the bush itself. An eyebrow rose as she stared at the terrified bunny. Well, at least it wasn't a person. However, it was white. Harri didn't know many of the animals around here, but a white rabbit in the middle of summer? Something wasn't adding up.
The bushes rustling behind her made Harri look up to see Kakashi simply staring at the rabbit with an unreadable expression on his face, a mix of something like exasperation, amusement, and dark thoughts.
"Naruto! Look what you did! The poor thing is terrified!" Sakura scolded when she saw the shaking form of the rabbit.
"Ah, a bunny! I didn't mean too!" Naruto panicked, rushing over to the rabbit. He picked it up and started apologizing profusely to it. It was an amusing sight, but there was something in the air, something that made Harri's battle instincts light up. She stood up, looking around seriously at the dense forest. It was a feeling she knew well from her year on the run.
Harri could tell Kakashi knew as well.
Someone was out there.
Someone was watching them.
A/N:: Hey everyone! As a birthday present from me to you (even though it's my birthday and not your guys') here's the chapter! I'm legal now, so scary!
So this is a shorter chapter than normal, but that seemed like a good stopping point, rather than bringing in Zabuza. I really did mean for Zabuza to be introduced, but that seemed like a good stopping point. I'm sorry to all those who wanted a super long chapter! If it makes you feel better, I really did do my best to go back and check everything to make sure it made sense and was correctly spelled!
Speaking of Zabuza, I've left a plot hole. Sorry! It's the dangers of not really planning ahead before you write! It's not shown in this chapter, but will be in the next, and I have to say that I'm sorry! Unfortunately, I won't go back and fix it right now because it will require delicate work to fix it and still make the chapter work with the rest of the story, sorry!
To the reviewer who has been leaving long reviews but not signed in and just as guest: It's hard to explain my reasoning to you when I can't contact you at all. But thanks for the long-ish reviews.
I apologize for the long wait, but college is amazing you guys, I love it here! And the work load hasn't been terrible yet. Though perhaps my classes are just lulling me into a false sense of security.
So, right now, there are 136 reviews (yay!), 517 favorite (yay!), and 783 followers (yay!). Thank you everyone! That makes me so happy! It's up from 103 reviews, 700 follows, and 450 favorites! That's so exciting!
Next is the battle with Zabuza, the full thing!