Yo.
Alright, just want to say I'm not a basher, so no Sasuke/Sakura bashing. They will progress normally, yet differently at the same time, if that makes any sense.
This chapter starts the Wave Arc. I mixed it up a little so that there's more fighting going on than what happened in the canon. Personally, I had a lot of fun writing this arc. I hope you enjoy it as well.
I don't always post another chapter of Bloodline... But when I do, I make sure that I'm posting as l3eatdown. XP
Chapter IX: Waves of Turmoil
"I hate this mission!" yelled Naruto while holding a fiesty cat in his arms, outstretched as far away from him as he could get it.
His two teammates and sensei nodded their heads in agreement. None was too stupid to actually want to try to catch Tora the Cat, known as the arch nemesis of all genin squads that attempted the cat's capture. While the feline looked harmless at a distance, especially with the big red bow on one of its ears, any genin and/or jonin sensei could tell you that the cat must have been a demon spawn sent straight from the darkest depths of hell itself.
Team Seven had spent a good half of the day just trying to corner the beast, let alone actually catch it. Currently, it was close to two in the afternoon, and the group of four were treading the streets of Konoha on their way to the mission's office at the academy, where all the new genin teams went to receive and report their missions
Once they were at the office, they were charged by a large woman wearing expensive everything on her. She snatched the cat out of Naruto's outstretched hands, placing it in a death lock hold, when in all actuality she was only hugging it in affection.
"Thank you so much for finding my Tora!" she blubbered, squashing the life out of the animal.
All of team Seven sweat dropped, thinking the same thing; 'No wonder it always runs away and is so mean...'
After the woman exited the office, Team Seven all turned to see several chunin and a rare sight of the Hokage himself sitting at a long table that held several documents and scrolls detailing mission assignments.
Kakashi straightened to attention. "Team Seven reporting mission success. Capture of one Tora the Cat complete."
Hiruzen nodded. "Excellent work Team Seven. Are you going to take another mission? We have several more D-ranks available."
The Professor picked up a scroll labeled "D" on it and read aloud. "Let's see here, we have walking the Inuzuka clan dogs, weeding a council member's garden, cleaning up litter and other trash around our village, c-"
A yell sounded from outside the office. "Tora! Don't run away! Come back to mommy!"
Sarutobi sighed. "Catching Tora the Ca-"
"NO!" was the unison response from the three genin. Hiruzen chuckled inwardly. The only reason they even had that mission up all the time was because the Fire Daimyo's wife paid big money for his return.
The Third snapped back to the real world when he heard Naruto speak. "Come on old man, can we have a harder mission? Please, please?"
Hiruzen thought about it before looking to Kakashi. "Kakashi, do you believe your students are ready?"
Kakashi nodded, giving an eye smile. "Yes Lord Hokage. Their teamwork has greatly improved over these past few months. I believe they can handle something of a higher caliber. that is, if they think they are ready." he said, looking lazily to his three students.
Naruto, of course, was up for it. Sasuke also gave a nod of assurance, letting them know that he too wanted something more challenging. Sakura looked unsure at first, but after seeing her two teammates confidence, quickly agreed with them as well.
Sarutobi smiled. "Then it's settled then. Kakashi, your team will be receiving a C-rank escort mission to the Land of Waves." He signalled to one of the chunin nearby. "Send in Mr. Tazuna."
The team all turned to another door on the opposite end of the building. The door opened to show an older looking man with a dark tan, sporting grey hair and a beard, wearing casual civilian traveling attire, and a straw hat.
He walked into the room, his eyes falling on the shinobi in front of him. He spoke with a little disappointment in his voice. "Are these the ninja that will be protecting me? For God's sake, they're just kids."
The three genin were slightly irked by his comment, but Kakashi interrupted before anything got worse. "I assure you Mr. Tazuna, my genin are capable, and even if I didn't think that my genin were capable enough to handle this mission, I am a jonin, so you have nothing to worry about." he said with an eye smile.
Tazuna nodded his head at the cyclops ninja. "Very well then. I trust your judgment. Do you mind if I get all of your names so it will be easier to communicate to anyone should anything unexpected happen?" he said.
Kakashi shrugged. "I don't see why not, but why would you be expecting anything to happen?"
Tazuna's face remained unchanged as he even stated, "I am a bridge builder for my country, and am currently constructing a masterpiece. However, there are some bandits that don't exactly 'appreciate' my work, if you understand what I mean."
Kakashi nodded. "Understood. In any case, my name is Kakashi Hatake, jonin sensei. This here is Naruto Uzumaki, Sakura Haruno, and Sasuke Uchiha." he said, pointing out each team member individually.
Tazuna nodded. "Nice to make all of your acquaintances. Now, if it's okay with you all, I would like to leave the village early tomorrow morning."
Kakashi gave a nod signalling that it was fine. Tazuna continued. "Excellent. Then I will see all of you tomorrow at seven o'clock at the village gates." he said before turning back around and exiting the way he came in.
Kakashi turned to face his three genin. "Well team, congrats on receiving a C-rank mission. I want you all to prepare for at least a weeks time, since this will be your first mission as a team out of the village. As for today, you all have the rest of the day off. See you tomorrow morning!" he said, disappearing in the usual plume of smoke.
Th three members of Team Seven dispersed shortly afterwards, each heading off to their homes to prepare for the upcoming mission.
***The Next Morning***
Tazuna walked sluggishly to the front gate of Konoha. He was hoping to arrive before the ninja so that they could hopefully leave earlier than he had hoped. Arriving at the gate and seeing no one in the vicinity, he relaxed, happy that he had arrived earlier than everyone else had.
Or so he had thought.
"Good morning Mr. Tazuna." came a voice from somewhere around him.
The bridge builder jumped, a hand clutching his chest over his heart and breathing hard, like he had just experienced a mini heartattack. His head jerked around, looking for the voice that had spoken. "W-where are you?"
""I'm above you." the voice responded. Tazuna's head shot up. There, sitting with his legs dangling below the arch of the gate, was Naruto Uzumaki. He had a peaceful and calm look plastering his facial features, his eyes hazy as he stared off into the nothingness of the twilight sky.
Tazuna regained his composure, looking up at the blonde genin. "Why are you up so early?"
The blonde cracked a smile, humor lacing his voice as he responded to the question. "The same could be asked of you Mr. Tazuna."
Tazuna sighed in annoyance. "I got here early so that we could hopefully leave early. Now answer my question."
The smile never left the boy's face. "I often wake up early in the mornings to come out here to enjoy the serenity and peace that the surrounding nature brings before it is chased away by the business and daily routines of this village."
He shifted on his perch, continuing, "I really appreciate nature Mr. Tazuna. It's one of the greatest things this world has to offer in more ways than one."
Tazuna never tore his gaze away from the blonde. The boy's words, to him anyways, sounded like they were coming straight out of the mouth of an old sage. Tazuna broke his long stare at the kid, his first impression of the boy being that he was really laid back.
After another hour or so after, Sasuke and Sakura showed up at the same time, followed by Kakashi another full hour later, who was given dirty looks by Tazuna and his team save Naruto.
After a lame excuse from Kakashi stating why he was so late (and the prompt accusation of him being a liar shortly afterwards), Team Seven and Tazuna left The Hidden Leaf Village just as the sun was at the midway point between daybreak and noon.
Team Seven made good time out of the village, considering they were traveling at civilian pace. Luckily, Wave Country was less than a days travel from Konoha, but at the rate they were moving, albeit slow, they would reach it within several hours.
The way they all walked was in a simple, but a proven effective formation. All four members of Team Seven formed a diamond around the bridge builder, with Sasuke leading, Naruto on his right, Sakura on the left, and Kakashi bringing up the rear, all spaced evenly apart to boot.
Onward they walked, no one saying a word the entire way except for a few short questions by the genin to Tazuna about Wave Country, to which he and Kakashi answered jointly.
Team Seven and Tazuna had now been on the road for a few hours. Tazuna was relaxing as his fears of actually being attacked by bandits dwindled with every passing hour. Sakura counted the number of shuriken and kunai in her pouch for maybe the millionth time. Sasuke's eyes darted back behind him, but he turned back around quickly.
The sudden movement by him, while unnoticed by Tazuna and Sakura, put Naruto and Kakashi on guard. Their eyes carefully scanned the area around them until they found what had put Sasuke on alert; a small puddle of water.
Kakashi eyed it warily, as did Naruto and Sasuke, all of them having similar thoughts. 'It hasn't rained in this area for days. obvious genjutsu.' they all thought.
Sasuke turned so that his peripheral vision rested on Kakashi in the back. Naruto performed a similar action, looking sideways at his sensei.
Kakashi shook his head at them; whoever was doing the genjutsu hadn't attacked them yet, so they wouldn't bother it. For all they knew, it could be a trap.
Understanding Kakashi's body language, the two faced forward again, still eyeing the strange puddle.
The three that had seen the puddle visibly tensed, waiting for whoever was casting the jutsu to suddenly charge out and attack them. But no attack came, even after Kakashi had passed it.
Feeling himself relax some, Naruto looked on once again, but his relaxation was brought to screeching halt by the sound of kunai rattling against each other.
Spinning around quickly, he saw two people emerge - both with unruly amounts of hair on their heads, with one of them having longer locks than the other, camouflaged clothing, slashed Mist headbands, and breathing masks - from the puddle and rush his sensei at fast speeds, pinning him with a chain made of shuriken. Then, in a sudden and quick tug from the two attackers, the chain rope of sharp objects contracted around Kakashi's body until he exploded, sending shreds of him all over the surrounding area.
Naruto eyes showed the briefest flash of shock. But it was quickly replaced by steeled confidence. He had to stop these people. He couldn't let his sensei's untimely demise be in vain.
The two new enemies withdrew the chains connected by the gauntlets on their arms, and rushed the bridge builder. Before the could reach him, though. Sasuke appeared in front of him, throwing a shuriken the hit the chain with precision accuracy pushing it back.
Naruto seized the moment by taking a kunai and accurately hitting Sasuke's thrown shuriken, driving it further back and impaling it deep into a tree.
The shorter haired ninja grunted in slight surprise. "We're pinned." His partner and he reached for their gauntlets and after a few clicks, the chain disconnected from their arms, falling to the ground.
Their arms now free, they faced the two opposing genin that stood between them and the bridge builder. "Out of our way." they said in unison.
Naruto and Sasuke said nothing as they slipped into fighting stances. Sakura broke out of her shocked and frightened stupor and stood in front of Tazuna, a kunai gripped tightly in her hand.
The two enemies raised their gauntlets. "If you won't move, we'll make you." the longer-haired nin spoke. And in a burst of speed, the shot towards the two genin.
The two genin shot off as well, meeting the two ninja halfway, clashing gauntlet against kunai.
***With Sasuke***
With the clang of kunai against gauntlet, Sasuke jumped away from his teammate, the longer haired ninja following after him. They both stood apart from each other, in fighting stances, waiting for the first move to be made.
The ex-Mist nin moved first, shooting forth in a burst of speed, his clawed gauntlet outstretched and ready to sever anything in its wake. Sasuke waited until just the right moment, then vaulted over the man with a front flip, his foot coming down and pushing off the back of the man's head, sending Sasuke higher into the air from the jump he made.
The ninja stumbled from the recoil, then turned to face Sasuke, the visible portions of his face red with rage. He aimed his gauntlet at the Uchiha, and in a split second dozens of senbon laced their way out of the fingertips of the claws.
Sasuke took a kunai out of his pouch and either dodged or deflected all the needles sent at him. Once the nin had stopped firing for the moment, Sasuke glanced at the ground. Several of the senbon littered the ground, their tips moistened in black liquid.
'Poisoned.' he thought, bringing his kunai up for when any more of the deadly senbon came at him.
The man charged the Uchiha, looking to cleave him in two. Sasuke blocked or dodged all of his attempts at an attack, never having the time to properly counter. He finally got his break when the nin over extended his arm. Sasuke put a knee in his stomach, then an elbow to his face. The man recoiled, his hands shooting up to nurse his now bruised and bleeding nose.
Sasuke wasted no time. He went through a quick series of hand seals, finishing by bringing his a cupped hand to his mouth. 'Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu!' he yelled consciously, emitting a large burst of fire from his mouth straight at the disoriented ninja.
The man's eyes shot up in fear as the fireball approached. He tried to do a hand seal of his own, but the flames washed over him faster than he could have reacted.
Sasuke smirked, watching the flames burn the ground where his enemy had once stood. He was just turning to go help Naruto when a punch hooked him right in the chin. The impact of it sent him sprawling back. Rubbing his chin, he opened an eye to see what had gotten the better of him.
Standing there was the same man Sasuke had just fried, with absolutely no sign of singe marks on him. Sasuke's eyes shifted down, and he saw the puddle of water the man was standing in. 'Of course. He dropped into the puddle from earlier. He must have had water on him to do the jutsu.' he thought, standing back up and glaring at the ninja.
The ex-Mist ninja let out a deep, menacing laugh. "You'll have to do better than that kid." he sneered before breaking out into a sprint for Sasuke.
Sasuke wasted no time in running to meet the ninja, pulling out a kunai and clashing it against the deadly gauntlet on the guy's arm.
***With Naruto***
While Sasuke was handling the other ninja, Naruto found himself dodging and blocking every attempt at an attack by the shorter haired ninja, who was using his gauntlet to the fullest, slashing down on Naruto, then jabbing with his razor claws.
The blonde finally found an opening and did a kickflip off of the ex-Mist enemy, putting some distance between him and the ninja.
He quickly created four shadow clones, who all rushed the guy from different directions, hoping to disorient and confuse him.
How wrong they were. Being a ninja, he used his awareness and flexibility to strike from all directions at the clones. His clawed gauntlet ripped through the chest of one clone, dispelling it immediately.
Letting a grunt of victory, he jumped over another clone that passed below him. He brought his gauntlet down on the clone's head hard, dispelling it on impact.
The man spun around to face the two remaining clones. Neither of them made a move forward, trying to assess the situation.
Unfortunately, the enemy ninja wass not going to have any of that. He pointed the gauntlet at one of the clones. The gauntlet made a clicking sound, and in a flash it was whizzing through the air, a thin cable attached to a handle in the man's hand where the gauntlet had once covered.
The large and deadly projectile hit home in the gut of a clone, dispersing it before it had a chance to even react. Then as fast as it had come out, the claw retracted back to its master, clicking back into place on the guy's hand.
The last clone broke out of his shocked stupor and charged the ninja. And the ex-Mist ninja charged back. Naruto held a kunai outstretched in his hand. The man's gauntlet shot forth.
Just as the two were about to connect, the clone smirked. Right before dispelling itself in plume of smoke. Emerging from the other side was the real Naruto, his fist ready to connect with metal, covered in rapidly swirling wind.
The ninja tried to pull back, but it was already too late. The two hand-to-hand attacks collided, neither budging or giving way at first. Then, after a few seconds, cracks began to crease in the gauntlet, before it shattered altogether, and the ninja was blown away by Naruto's punch.
Naruto landed on his feet in a crouch. He rose up, his eyes still on the enemy ninja. Said ninja stood shakily, then charged Naruto with a kunai in hand. Naruto charged forth also, his swirling twister of a fist cocked for another blow to the man.
Naruto felt his head become light and eyes flutter. He looked at his wind-laced hand and saw that the twirling current was disappearing at a rapid rate.
'Dammit! I still can't keep it going long enough!' he thought, and cursed under his breath as he came to a complete halt. He closed his eyes and waited for the ninja to take his life as the kunai was only inches away from piercing his chest.
And then in a blur of movement, someone had landed a punch to the man's gut, and hard too. The ninja's eyes bulged from the impact, the breath knocked out of him as his head sunk down. In the newcomer's arms was the ninja Sasuke had been fighting.
"Not a bad fight Naruto. You did well." came the voice of someone Naruto knew really well now.
He flashed a genuine smile up at the person that had just saved his life, his excitement, surprise, and relief heavily laced in his voice. "Kakashi-sensei!"
Next chapter - Chapter X: Waves of Wisdom