Note: Thanks for all your patience, I'll try to get this story back on track and finished A.S.A.P. you all certainly have earned it. I am sorry for my delay.
Part Nine
Embattled
Satsujin watched the group of Konoha Chuunin move through the still smoking remains of a former Land of Fire village. They were coming towards him and his client's hiding place following a dog. "Has our scent." The teenager said to himself.
He smirked and cracked his knuckles, "The first one we kill should be the dog," he mentioned.
"You're aware that there is a dog." The client said with mild interest in his voice.
"I'm not blind, just look!" Satsujin said. He sprang forward and threw some kunai but the lucky pooch backed up rapidly, avoiding death by millimeters.
"So, we finally find the culprit responsible for the attacks," A Konoha Chuunin with a long scarf and spiky hair said, "This'll be fun. Udon, Futaba, let's get him!"
Satsujin laughed, they moved like snails and he'd smash them like snails.
He dodged and kicked their leader in the back, he tumbled and fell.
He turned to one with glasses and kicked him sharply in the face, the Chuunin fell back and dodged but Satsujin leapt away from any counter attack he might have tried to launch.
Finally the girl, Satsujin leapt out and struck her hard in the neck, knocking her down to the ground.
"Puh-lease. I'm a Jounin you puss buckets. Give up now yeah, and I promise to kill you quickly."
The lead Chuunin staggered to his feet and said "You're fast I'll give you that, but I'm not about to just give in!"
"I wish you would." Satsujin sighed, and then he spotted the dog charging towards him.
He sprang for the dog in turn and slammed into it midair, but the large beast turned out to be heavier than he'd expected; it knocked him to the ground and clamped its jaws down on his neck.
He reached up quickly and shoved his arm into its mouth, pushing back roughly so that the animal's jaws couldn't clamp down on his neck.
He kicked it into the air and it landed on its owner, he spun to his legs as the client walked calmly into the fray.
"You may want to take a step or two back young man." The client said.
"What? Why?" Satsujin demanded, and then he heard the thunderous sound.
He turned and saw eight horses riding towards them very quickly, they were friendly--to Satsujin anyway--and some of the samurai on their backs fired bows from their quick moving mounts.
Useless against the ninja really, but Satsujin backed off to avoid being run over by the horses.
The horsemen began to attack the three Chuunin but really Satsujin suspected that the Konoha ninja would win the fight.
If not for him that is.
But then he noticed the client was gone.
"Where the . . . oh you snot old man!" He growled and turned his back on the battle.
He had no idea at the time how fortunate for him it was that he left at just that time.
Naruto saw the smoking husk of a village and a group of horsemen riding willy-nilly around firing arrows from their bows--which he had to admit must have taken a lot of skill since they were doing it on horseback--and swiping with their spears.
And this demonstration of skill would have been interesting if not for the fact that their targets were in fact a trio of Chuunin, most of whom Naruto knew rather well.
He reached into his pouch and threw a pair of shuriken out. One of the armored samurai spotted it and deflected one with the blade of his spear, and caught the other with the shaft.
The armored horseman whipped his steed on and charged for Naruto, spear aimed low to impale him.
Naruto growled and caught the spear, ripping it out of the Samurai's hands. The Samurai should have been thrown far into the air for a no doubt painful if not fatal landing, but the skilled warrior released the weapon right away.
But Naruto spun it around and held it tightly as a second horseman came at him.
He jabbed it back into the ground so that the horse impaled itself, and ducked to avoid it and its surprised rider as they tumbled forward over him.
Hinata pulled Miyuki out of the way just time; he hadn't realized they were so close behind him.
Konohamaru let out a wile cheer when he spotted Naruto, and under less violent circumstances Naruto probably would have grinned with embarrassment, but just now there were eight armored horsemen causing all sorts of trouble.
The man whose horse had impaled itself crawled from the dying animal and drew a katana, he ran for Naruto but Hinata struck out, striking out wherever his light armor failed to protect him, especially his exposed elbows, and then slammed her knee into his stomach so that he doubled over with a pained grunt.
The man whose spear had been lost drew a katana as well and made as if he meant to swipe at Naruto as he rode by, but the young man made some rapid hand motions and thrust his fist out.
There was no Jutsu, he wouldn't waste the chakra on this joker, but the Samurai couldn't read minds, the armored man pulled his horse back with a surprised shout and Naruto leapt out, slamming a fist into the man's armored face.
The Samurai was knocked back and hung limply from his horse as the confused animal rode off into the distance.
The remaining samurai were only encouraged by the defeat of their comrades, two of them continued trying to pin Konohamaru and his squad with arrows, the other three--Konohamaru had taken one down--were charging towards Naruto, spears ready.
Uzumaki Naruto watched the carefully and dodged the first two, on the third he again grabbed the spear, this time deliberately cutting his hand on the spearhead. He threw the spear at its owner; it slammed into his side as he turned to draw his sword and attack again.
He used the blood from his hand and a scroll from one of his flack jacket's pouches and summoned.
The toad appeared, massive and bedecked in armor it croaked and its tongue shot out, catching another armored horseman and hurtling him off into the distance.
Naruto leapt onto it's back, "Nice one, Gamakichi!" He said.
"Heh . . . look at 'em run." The large toad croaked.
Indeed the remaining samurai were ridding off with all speed.
Naruto slid down off of Gamakichi's back and looked at his team with a grin, "All present and correct?" He asked, and then he noticed that Hitomi wasn't around.
"What happened to Hitomi?" He demanded, looking around.
"Lost track of her." Miyuki said with a frown.
"The heck, did she run away or something?" Hara demanded, seeming to realize too that she wasn't there.
Naruto got back onto Gamakichi's back, "You see her?" He asked the toad.
"Her who?"
Naruto swore under his breath. He looked around for her.
Nothing.
Moments earlier as the trio of horsemen rode towards the group Hitomi had used her eyes to her best advantage, watching one of the horsemen carefully when the time was right she leapt up, landing on the shaft of his spear she sprang up and punched the horseman in the face. Then the toad's tongue came out and hit the horseman next to her, she stumbled and fell, holding onto the reins with both hands, trying desperately to climb back up with her feet, using the staggered Samurai to climb back up.
She reached the top as the horse rode on its way after the other two, she yelped in surprise as it jumped over the debris of a building, and nearly fell to her death.
The rider was recovering now and pulling himself up, one of the other Samurai spotted her on the horse and took careful aim with his bow firing a shot that she barely managed to avoid.
Unfortunately his aim was too good to hit his comrade, who's hand lashed out, striking Hitomi hard across the face. The girl gripped the reigns tight and she fell from the horse.
But in so doing she pulled the horse sharply of course just as it entered the trees. The animal tumbled over an unexpected log, Hitomi let go and rolled several feet.
She got up and looked at the injured horse and the rider, who'd either been knocked unconscious or killed when the horse tumbled. She rubbed her head because it hurt and realized the world looked a little different.
She gasped in surprise, realizing that one of the lenses from her goggles had come out, she looked around for it in panic, she didn't want the others to see her eyes, Naruto-sensei would abandon her and Hara and Miyuki would hate her for sure.
She didn't have time to think though when the two mounted bowmen entered the woods on their horses, arrows ready to fire.
They were moving carefully looking for their comrade but no doubt they'd be in a hurry to escape from the ninja.
If Hitomi could remain hidden she might--
An arrow slammed into the tree trunk next to her head, and then her legs began to move almost of their own will.
She didn't want to run . . . but her body did.
So she complied and put her mind to it as well, running in what she suspected was the direction that Naruto-sensei and the rest of the team were in. The horsemen followed her, she didn't have much chance of outrunning them though she was more maneuverable than they were in the woods their bows--which they'd proven already to be quite proficient with--would make short work of her.
She ran through the woods not necessarily in terror, but far too scared to be sure what else to call the emotion she felt. There was a loud crash and one of the horses disappeared, it'd probably tripped.
Lucky for her but not quite lucky enough, the other horse rode on after her, its rider taking aim with his bow, Hitomi watched him with one eye, once he fired she leapt out of the way just in time.
She ran through the trees until, to her horror she came upon a clearing.
She tripped and the mounted bowman rode past her, he reared his horse and took aim at her with his bow.
Thinking quick and using her eyes to take perfect aim Hitomi threw a pair of shuriken.
Her eyes could aim perfectly but her hands weren't great at following instructions yet, one shuriken slammed into the man's bow but the other cut his bowstring just as she'd intended.
The samurai swore and threw the bow at her so that she was forced to duck as he leapt off of his horse. Katana drawn in a flash he came after her.
Hitomi closed her exposed eye and glared with the one still behind a lens. She drew a kunai and prepared to defend herself.
"Don't think that just because I'm a little girl I can't defend myself, I'm a Genin of the Hidden Leaf village, I'm a trained warrior." She warned the man, though the vocalization was more to calm her own nerves.
She told herself that this was no different than fighting off schoolyard bullies. She'd beat him into the ground and he'd wish he'd never tried to hurt her. She'd make him pay for shooting arrows at her, making her run through the woods, she'd teach him not to mess with Konoha's Ninja.
Hitomi fell into a defensive stance and the Samurai rushed forward with a war cry that fell silent when a pair of gloved hands suddenly grasped his head and twisted sharply.
Hitomi looked away in horror as the dead man toppled to the ground in front of her. Shaking she looked up at the man's killer.
She was a little shorter than Hinata-sensei but probably not much younger. She had a pair of short blades, one strapped to each thigh, though she obviously hadn't used them to dispatch the Samurai.
The most important detail of all though, was the forehead protector she wore, obscured ever so slightly by her tangled locks.
It was a leaf. She was a Konoha ninja, a Chuunin Hitomi would guess.
She was a friend.
Hitomi kept her exposed eye closed but examined her rescuer with the other, as the woman asked "What squad are you with kid? What's all this with the horseman?"
"He tried to kill me!" Hitomi cried.
"Yeah I know, I mean I waited until I was absolutely sure that that was his intention before I made my move, but yeah it was pretty clear from his actions that he meant to take you down." The young woman put her hands on her hips, "What're you doing here?"
"Came with my sensei and my team. We ran into these three Chuunin, and a dog, and the horsemen and we were fighting. I got stuck on one of the horses when they retreated." Hitomi explained as she removed her goggles and pulled her forehead protector down over her exposed eye before returning her goggles to her head.
When she found the others she'd just say that she'd injured her eye. Sure . . . that'd work. They'd believe that. She found her sharp eyes could still see through the cloth of the headband so she wasn't at any major disadvantage. Her vision wasn't as clear as it was with the goggles, but she could still use both her eyes.
She saw the Konoha Chuunin examining the dead Samurai's body. Hitomi frowned, "What're you doing?"
"Looking for any sort of orders, or identification. Not having any luck." She rummaged a bit more and shook her head, "Well let's move out."
"Gimme a second!" Hitomi complained, panting. Her lungs burned and she'd just been scared out of her wits a moment ago. Didn't this Chuunin care about any of that?
"You're a Konoha Genin aren't you? Or is that headband just a toy? Come on kid; let's find our friends before this guy's friends find him." The woman said.
Hitomi frowned, "Who're you?" She asked.
"Name's Matsuri," The Konoha Chuunin said evenly, "Assigned to Team Konohamaru."
Hitomi folded her arms as she followed Matsuri down the trail the horsemen had left. "Why did you tell me that? I mean I could be a spy."
"You mentioned they had a dog, that means the team you and your sensei stumbled upon was mine, the dog you saw was Futaba's so if we follow this trail we'll find our friends. Simple, isn't it?" Matsuri smiled.
Hitomi followed her, "There's another Samurai you know, his horse tripped back there, he had a bow too."
"Well I'll keep an eye out." Matsuri said. "Name?"
"Yeah, you already told me, thanks." Hitomi said evasively.
"Yours." The Chuunin laughed.
Hitomi sighed, "Hijiri Hitomi under Uzumaki Naruto."
Matsuri whistled, "Wow. That's quite a Sensei. Least Konohamaru and Udon think so."
"Who're they?" Hitomi asked.
"The morons who left me lookout in a tree while they had all the fun fighting a bunch of Samurai." Matsuri grinned.
Hitomi frowned and followed the Chuunin on the dangerous trek through the woods, hoping that that other Samurai wouldn't get the drop on them.
Satsujin swore when his Jutsu failed to hit both the Samurai. He knew it'd miss the first one, but there'd been that hope.
The other horseman rode on, probably assuming that his comrade's horse had just tripped.
The rain ninja slid down from the tree he'd been perched in. That Jutsu would have turned that Konoha Genin into a red stain on the forest floor, but one small thing had saved her life.
Right as she passed under him, an instant before he killed her the young Jounin had glimpsed that the goggles she wore over her eyes were broken, one of the lenses was missing and Satsujin had just happened to get a look at that eye of hers.
And in that instant he knew she needed to be kept alive, he needed to learn more about her.
He needed to know everything about that eye . . . because it looked just like his own.
And even though he'd had just an instant to glimpse it, though she'd been running through the woods at high speed he was certain. Her speed meant nothing. His eyes didn't miss a thing, even her run had been like a slow motion video to him and in that instant when he saw her and she, in her fear failed to see him--or at least failed to register his presence, he was rather well hidden if he did say so himself--he knew.
He'd find her again, and she'd tell him everything.
Then he'd kill her.
To Be Continued . . .