Note: I've gone through and edited the whole thing, although no changes to plot. You can find me on tumblr at chortling-dingo.
edited 06/06/2017
Chapter 10
The first couple days of the trek toward Wave Country were uneventful. Tazuna's pace felt unbearably slow to the shinobi, who were used to traveling at high speeds through the trees. The genin had taken to scouting ahead in turns, using the opportunity to both escape from the bridge builder's self-important comments and to burn some energy. Naruto, in particular, had been grateful that Kakashi agreed to the exercise. She had been feeling a little stir crazy from the slow pace and lack of strenuous training.
"Sensei, next time it's my turn, can I take a moment to burn some chakra?" Naruto asked, clenching her fists to keep her hands from trembling. She dutifully ignored Tazuna's scoff and muttered remark about 'impatient brats', knowing that he had no clue how she felt.
Kakashi slowed to her side and looked down at her. After a moment's appraisal, he frowned. "Hm, you do seem to be a little… wired." He made some mental calculations and hummed thoughtfully. "When Sasuke gets back, make some shadow clones to extend your scout path."
"How many?" Naruto asked, relieved that she would finally get to expend some of her excess chakra.
"I think a hundred would take the edge off, don't you?" Kakashi replied, trying to accommodate the blonde's need to burn excessive amounts of chakra without alerting the entire world to their presence.
It was different in the village. The wall surrounding Konoha was inscribed with layers upon layers of detection and chakra masking seals. A hidden shinobi village wouldn't stay hidden for long if there weren't any method of hiding the chakra of its inhabitants.
Kakashi glanced at their client, visible eye narrowing. He didn't trust Tazuna. The man was hiding something from them. Were this really just a simple C-rank mission, he may have considered letting Naruto cut loose. But then again, it was never wise to draw unnecessary attention in this line of work. Her chakra would likely scare bandits and lower ranked missing shinobi away, but had the unfortunate side effect of goading the more powerful.
"That should help a little," Naruto sighed, disappointed that she wasn't allowed to make more. "Thanks, sensei."
It took a lot of clones to make a dent in her chakra reserves. Every dispelled clone returned most of the expended chakra back to her. However Kakashi never said that she had to pop them, so Naruto privately decided to leave the clones formed until they set up camp for the night. They tended to return less chakra the longer they were out, so she might actually be able to sleep if she left them out all day.
Sasuke finally returned, taking the position at the rear of their formation. He looked relaxed, like he always did at the end of his shift, and there were leaves lodged in his hair. Naruto hid a smile behind her hand. She only wished that it would last. Extended time spent around the bridge builder caused his shoulders to tense and a dark scowl to form on his face. Naruto didn't blame him; Tazuna was a jerk at the best of times and a mean drunk at the worst. Sakura's expression had turned sour about ten minutes ago, and while Naruto pitied her for being stuck with the old man, she wasn't about to switch shifts.
Naruto formed a hand seal and wordlessly created a hundred shadow clones, which immediately dispersed into the surrounding trees. Before she could leap ahead to join them, she stepped knee-deep into a puddle.
"Damn it," she swore, arms waving wildly as she lost her balance. She planted her hands on the dusty ground and stared down at the strangely deep puddle. Pulling her leg from the tepid water, she complained, "How long has that been there? It hasn't rained for weeks!"
"Naruto, get down!"
At Sakura's shout, Naruto dropped to the ground without a second's hesitation. Something whooshed over her head with a deadly whistle. She rolled to the side and leapt to her feet, eyes narrowing as she tracked the object that would have cut her in half had it connected.
A cruel chain made of interlocking shuriken was embedded in a tree on the opposite side of the road. It led back to the depths of the puddle. A second chain shot out toward Kakashi, who used kawarimi, leaving a chunk of deadwood behind to be ripped to shreds by the deadly blades.
Two foreign shinobi, their slashed forehead protectors proclaiming them missing nin from Kirigakure, sprang from the water and attacked without a word. One retracted his shuriken chain with a calculated jerk. The chain arched toward Tazuna, but was knocked off course by a few well-thrown kunai. Sakura planted herself in front of the bridge builder, determination hardening her features.
Naruto grinned fiercely at the familiar expression, knowing from experience that Sakura was running through her already impressive repertoire of ninjutsu for effective countermeasures. Of the three genin, Sakura had absorbed the most knowledge from their sensei, the man of a thousand jutsu.
The second missing nin came at Naruto with a clawed gauntlet, forcing her attention back to the skirmish. She dodged the first strike but lost her balance as she once again stepped into the puddle from which the shinobi had emerged.
Cold steel bit into her raised arm. Most of the claws were stopped by the armor in her gloves, but one slipped through the gap between plates and cut her arm to the bone. The missing nin jerked his gauntlet back for another strike, eliciting a gasp of pain from Naruto as the blade was torn from her flesh. Before the enemy shinobi could attack again, a giant fireball smashed into him from the side, lifting him bodily into the air and flinging him away from Naruto.
Sasuke flew after him, following up with a flurry of punishing taijutsu. Naruto jerked her leg out of the puddle again, extremely irritated that she had gotten caught in it twice. She and several clones, who had finally heard the ruckus and returned to see what was going on, leapt to engage the missing nin currently trying to get to Tazuna.
Sakura threw up an earth defense wall as the missing nin flung his deadly chain at her. As the sharp blades embedded into the wall, she firmed up the technique, trapping the chain in solid stone. Naruto and two clones hit the shinobi in the back with a flying kick while he was off-guard and beat him into submission.
Kakashi emerged from the ground behind Tazuna, where he had hidden to observe the skirmish while staying close enough to the client to help if needed. He helped Naruto secure the unconscious shinobi to a tree trunk with his own shuriken chain and gestured for her to join Sakura in guarding the bridge builder. Keeping his senses open for more attackers, Kakashi located Sasuke and the other missing nin in the woods.
Naruto waited tensely for their sensei to come back, jumping when Sakura brushed her shoulder with her own.
Are you okay? she mouthed, gesturing at Naruto's arm in concern. Naruto nodded, even though it was throbbing painfully and she was starting to feel a little sick.
Kakashi finally returned with Sasuke trailing slightly behind him. Sasuke's skin was deathly pale and his eyes were black and wild. Blood was splattered on his face and liberally coated his hands. Kakashi finished tucking away a black sealing scroll and Naruto knew that the other shinobi was dead.
"Sasuke," Kakashi said sharply, drawing the boy's attention. "Wash your hands and take a look at Naruto's arm. These two are known for using poison on their weapons."
Sasuke nodded. He shook himself and then focused on Naruto with a clear gaze. He pulled a spare canteen from his pack and set to scrubbing the blood from his hands.
"Sensei, do you know who these guys are?" Naruto asked, trying not to look at Sasuke. The look in his eyes had rattled her badly His personality had been entirely absent. She had gotten a glimpse of that before, when she had visited his house and he had warned her against trusting people.
Kakashi nodded at Sakura, who relaxed and stored away her weapon. "They're chuunin from Kirigakure. In the Bingo Book, they're called the Demon Brothers," he replied, crouching in front of the surviving shinobi secured to the tree.
As he started trying to rouse the man, Naruto sat heavily on the ground. Sweat beaded on her forehead and her heart pounded in her ears. Now that the adrenaline from the fight had faded, she was starting to feel strange. She shivered, suddenly freezing as her chakra attempted to burn out the poison that had coated the missing nin's weapon. Closing her eyes, she wondered if it was her Uzumaki heritage or the kyuubi at work.
Sasuke settled at her side and Naruto peered blearily at him. She was relieved to see that he looked more like himself.
"You still with me?" he grunted, checking her pupils and frowning at the heat emanating from her skin.
Naruto nodded. "Don't worry," she said with a weak smile. "Remember what I said about my clan? A little bit of poison won't take me down."
At least, she hoped it wouldn't. She was starting to feel truly awful.
"Should we try to cool her down?" Sakura asked in concern, kneeling next to them.
Sasuke shook his head. "As long as it doesn't get too high, we should let the fever do its job. It's burning out the poison."
He took Naruto's left arm and gently pulled off her glove. The gauntlet had cut straight through her body armor. Sasuke used a kunai to pry open the links around her elbow to remove the damaged portion and expose the wound. The cut was about midway between her wrist and elbow. Blood seeped sluggishly from it, but it was already starting to congeal.
"I think the poison must have been based on a snake venom," he muttered. "Sakura, can you administer an anti-coagulant while I work on her arm?"
Sakura dug through her first aid kit. "Sorry about the sting, Naruto," she said, jabbing the needle into Naruto's thigh.
"No problem," Naruto replied wryly. "Barely felt it."
His hands glowing with green healing chakra, Sasuke lightly massaged the flesh on either side of the gaping wound to encourage the poison to flow out. After blood began to flow normally, he stopped and cleaned the wound thoroughly. "This is going to need some stitches," he warned.
"Do what you need to do," Naruto said. She hadn't ever had stitches before and didn't think that they would need to be in for very long, given her usual track record with healing. Then again, she'd never been cut to the bone with a poisoned blade before either.
Sakura sat back to back with Naruto, allowing the blonde to slump against her in exhaustion. "Is she going to be okay?" she asked, worried by the heat seeping through her clothes from Naruto's back.
"She should be," Sasuke said. He tore open the packaging of a sterile needle and soaked a length of surgical thread in alcohol to disinfect it. "Seems like a pretty potent poison. But it's a good sign that her blood isn't congealing anymore."
He worked quickly to place several neat stitches binding the sides of the wound together. Naruto watched with morbid fascination.
Kakashi joined them as Sasuke finished dressing the wound and assessed Naruto's condition for himself. "It was good to let her fever burn out the infection, but we can't let her get too hot. Does she feel warmer than before?"
Sasuke checked Naruto's temperature again and scowled. "She does. Considerably warmer."
"Let's get her settled on a sleeping bag and use cold compresses to regulate her temperature," Kakashi said. "Don't worry, you two. Naruto has an impressive immune system."
Sakura shifted Naruto forward and spun around to pull off her pack. She found the scroll labeled 'camping' near the top and unsealed it. She laid out the sleeping bag and then put the scroll back where she found it. Sasuke shifted Naruto to the sleeping bag. She was boneless and unresisting, and Sasuke peered at her face in concern.
"She's unconscious," he said, checking her temperature again.
"Not unexpected," Kakashi said. "But let's hurry with the cold compresses."
Sakura pulled off Naruto's other glove, sandals, and headband while Sasuke wet a cloth from his canteen. He mopped the sweat from her flushed face and rested it across her forehead. More cool damp cloths went around her neck and wrists to bring her temperature down.
"Tazuna-san, is there something that you wish to tell us?" Kakashi confronted the bridge builder, disapproval lacing his voice. "It isn't particularly normal for civilians to have chuunin-level missing nin after them."
Their client mopped his forehead and looked solemnly at Naruto. "The truth is…" he sighed, "the truth is that Gato is after me. He has Wave Country in a vice! He's draining us dry of every resource. My bridge would change all that. People wouldn't be dependent on his ships to trade anymore."
"So he's planned to kill you to stop the bridge from being completed," Kakashi mused. He folded his arms over his chest. "This mission is definitely above a C-rank," he said. "If you've managed to cross one of the richest, and most crooked, men in the world, he isn't going to stop at just two chuunin. And given how potent that poison was, Naruto should probably be admitted into the hospital for evaluation."
He turned to assess Naruto's condition and was surprised to meet a pair of bleary blue eyes.
"Sensei, we don't have to go back on my account," she said, blinking away the fog. She propped herself up on her unwounded arm. She fumbled to catch the cloth that fell from her forehead.
Kakashi crouched at her side, gesturing for Sakura and Sasuke to give them some space. "How quickly are you recovering?" he asked in a low voice.
"Pretty fast," Naruto replied just as softly. "I think you-know-what had to get involved to burn out the poison. That's why my fever got so high. But now that the poison is mostly gone, I'm gaining back my strength."
"When will you be on your feet again? And be honest," Kakashi added.
Naruto dutifully evaluated herself. "I think I'll be good to start moving in a couple hours, but I probably won't be back to full strength until morning, at the earliest" she admitted. "That blade cut me down to the bone. I can't even make a fist yet."
"Okay," Kakashi said, a smile curving his visible eye. He reached out and ran a gentle hand over Naruto's hair.
She leaned into the touch briefly, smiling in return.
Kakashi turned back to Tazuna and was immediately amused to see Sasuke and Sakura glaring the bridge builder into submission, standing over him with their arms crossed disapprovingly. He coughed to cover a bark of laughter, catching the attention of his students. He sobered and motioned for them to rejoin their wounded teammate.
"Tazuna-san," Kakashi said. "Give me one good reason why we shouldn't turn back to Konoha right now."
Sasuke gritted his teeth at the thought of abandoning their first C-rank mission. No matter how justified, it wouldn't look good on their record. Naruto patted his arm in sympathy.
The bridge builder spun a sob story of how Gato had choked the life from Wave Country and how he had publicly executed Tazuna's son-in-law for bringing hope back to the town. Because the country was so oppressed by the shipping magnate, he couldn't afford to pay for a higher level mission, so he had downplayed the danger he was in. "And if you don't protect me, my daughter will cry and my poor grandson will grow up hating Konoha," he finished.
Kakashi sighed and rubbed his temple. He sympathized with the man. He really did, but this could get dangerous for his kids. "What do you three think?" he asked, eyeing his students. "Since the Demon Brothers failed, Gato will likely send someone stronger to do the job."
Sakura bit her lip. "I don't know. I mean, don't you think Naruto should go to a hospital? I'm worried about potential nerve damage to her arm."
"Sensei, I'll be okay soon and I want to help him," Naruto said firmly, trying to fend off Sasuke, who was determinedly blotting at her face with a refreshed cloth.
"If you don't stop fighting me, I'll vote to go home," Sasuke growled through clenched teeth.
"You wouldn't!" Naruto gasped in shock.
"I would," he insisted, brandishing the dripping cloth like a weapon.
Naruto scowled, but subsided and allowed him to fuss over her. "Talk about a bad bedside manner," she muttered.
Sakura rolled her eyes at their antics. It was a clear sign that Naruto was rapidly improving, which made her feel better about continuing with the mission. "If she's well enough to try fighting off Sasuke when he's in 'nurse mode', I think we can handle the rest of the mission," she said, crossing her arms over her chest. "I'm not happy that Tazuna-san lied to us, especially because Naruto got hurt, but I do understand why he lied and I think that Wave could really use our help."
"If this idiot promises to dodge the poisoned weapons in the future, I would like to continue with the mission as well," Sasuke added, jerking his head irritably at Naruto, who gave him a wounded look in response.
"How could I have known that the gauntlet was poisoned?" she protested as Sasuke bullied her back into a prone position. "That being said, I definitely don't want to experience that again. It was terrible."
She lifted her arms to keep them from being trapped in the blanket that Sasuke was pulling up to her chin.
"Naruto," Kakashi said, sweating slightly. "I think that poison would have killed anyone else."
"It's a good thing I'm not anyone else then," Naruto replied, snuggling deeper into her sleeping bag.