Top of the Tree

XI

Personally I wasn't very fond of them, my teammates. I found them too nosy, too naïve. They weren't prepared for what was ahead of us. They were children playing soldiers. Unconsciously, I was slightly jealous of their ignorance (ignorance is bliss), their care freeness. Try as I might, to act the age I looked, I never quite succeeded; memories of a past life might fade into white noise, but they're still there regardless.

Despite my wariness of them, they became one with the background—Matsumoto–sensei's grunts in displeasure, Toshiko's usual complaints of 'troublesome', and Satoru's endless babbles about being the best ninja, and what not, became all too familiar to my ears. I got used to their presence.

Typically like other genin teams, we started off with the D–rank missions; your usual weed–plucking–babysitting–fence–painting jobs. We spent a very long time doing them, and for the most part I wasn't bothered—I much preferred being in the village, away from the actual combat, safe and sound. However being spoon-fed is for babies, and we definitely weren't babies anymore. So after a period of eight months, we started the C–ranks; delivering scrolls to watchposts, escorting important packages and people, even securing the border with traps.

Eventually with the gaining of experience, the ranks of our missions went up, and we began doing missions for our own team's specializations, the collecting of Intel. In theory we'd subdue the target starting with a genjutsu from Satoru, leading to Toshiko's clan's shadow jutsu to immobilize, and I'd finally deliver the final blow to the unsuspecting victim (we'd collect whatever intelligence they had, be it a scroll, or in their very minds). Of course things rarely go as planned, so usually the final cut wasn't nearly as clean and precise as it was supposed to be. Half the time the ninja would suspect the illusion and dispel it before being caught in Toshiko's jutsu, causing a whole great mess, and forcing Matsumoto–sensei to step in and help us. Our timing was off, as well as our teamwork.

I'll admit that I got along better with Toshiko than Satoru, mostly because we had similar personalities, and neither of us were very motivated for anything. Satoru reminded me too much of Asuma's hyper activeness, and he always sought to rile me up, but never quite succeeded, and then spent too many minutes sulking. And Matsumoto was grumpy all around, never straying from the monosyllable conversations mixed with the groans and grunts (truthfully he reminded me of an Uchiha that had sexual relations with a mountain troll). If he was as I suspected, Ibiki's father, then I felt pretty sorry for the kid.

During training Matsumoto pounded us into the ground, emphasizing the importance of the basics (stamina, strength, speed, stealth, chakra control, and target accuracy). He went so far as to make us wear weights on both our legs and arms, and run 150 rounds around the village twice a day, in the morning and before dinner. I'd like to think that all three of us improved from when we first graduated from the academy, but for the most part all any of us were aware of was pain, hell I discovered muscles I'd forgotten I even had. But there's one thing I learned the hard way: I was way in over my head. Despite having a pretty high rank in my class at the academy, just about everything I'd learned there was scrapped into a crumpled ball labeled under the file 'useless'. It seemed that even my militaristic background hardly gave me the advantage that I'd hoped it would (obviously because I wasn't a child soldier in my former life—the molding was different from what I was used to—and there were otherworldly devices here and vice versa—chakra vs. firepower). I felt powerless, something I hadn't felt in a long while, hell not even when I was kidnapped. It was a rude awakening, and it hit me hard on our first mission without sensei. I celebrated my ninth birthday then too, much to my displeasure.

It all started wrong, so really it's no wonder that everything spiraled out of control fast, leaving us to grasp hopelessly at straws.

The rain fell furiously, obscuring our vision, as well as dampening our moods. We were tree–hopping at top speed, focused only on getting the mission done and over with, to return home to warm food and dry beds. We passed one of the medic camps five hours out of the village, and stopped for a breather. The mood there was much like our own gloom, and there was wariness evident in the ninjas' as well as medics' eyes. They seemed to be stuck on a perpetual edge of paranoia, almost expecting enemy ninja to come skipping into camp and slaughter everyone. Though I suppose it certainly didn't help the condition of the patients that come into their terrain, barely holding on to their own lives. I thought that maybe they had it worse that the front liners, but quickly changed my mind, remembering how exactly I died the first time around. We ate our tasteless energy bars, and checked out with the on–call patrols before heading out again, into the chilled combination of mud and precipitation, much to all of our dismay.

For the most part we traveled in silence, only leaving room for the noise of falling rain.

That all soon changed when Satoru decided to speak up, "I have a bad feeling about this mission,"

"Don't say that, you'll jinx us," I said, not bothering to look behind me, where he was positioned.

Of course that didn't help much, because he'd already said it, which was more than enough to curse our shitty mission. Hell, as if on cue, Toshiko, who was in front of me let out a curse that sounded more like a yelp, and pushed me and Satoru into a tree on our left.

Boom!

And the all to familiar sound of ringing took over my hearing.

It had been an explosive tag, left by either the enemy. One thing's for certain, there was no way the explosion went unheard.

My teammates and I ended up in a pile of flesh on the floor, with Sotaru and Toshiko sandwiching me, much to my irritation. I pushed Toshiko off with a huff, and stood up to take a look at our surroundings. Satoru sat up, rubbing his head with an annoyed look on his face, and Toshiko was inspecting a minor burn–wound on her arm.

I looked at Satoru with a wave of irritation, "You jinxed us,"

He shrugged sheepishly, while Toshiko rolled her eyes.

"We need to get out of here," she groaned, "There'll be enemy ninjas swarming this area in no time,"

I scratched my cheek, "Let's go then, I'll take lead this time".

And we left, and though not at all religious, I silently prayed that we'd get out of the situation unscathed. Though it took less than five minutes for us to be confronted by a team of two Iwa chunin and three genin. Our chances were meek, and our only guarantee of survival was to retreat.

I looked through my peripheral, and saw Toshiko tilt her head in acknowledgement, and I checked on Satoru, who like the Nara put on his game face.

All three of us fell into our fighting stances, waiting for the first move.

My muscles tensed.

The Iwa nin attacked simultaneously with a kunai in each hand. They were coming in from all sides, when they hesitated, for I don't know how long, but it was all I needed to begin the hand signs, and shoot fire out of my mouth. With Satoru's well-placed genjutsu, I got at least two; though a bit of fire wasn't nearly enough to stop anyone. They dispelled the genjutsu, and Toshiko stepped in, trapping the five in her jutsu. I threw as many explosive tags that I had with me at them, and finally, Satoru placed another genjutsu, covering our presence.

We were out of there, running the fastest possible, like dogs with their tails tucked between their legs; cowards.

I'm not going to lie, I know that it was a strategic play, that if we hadn't left when we did, we probably wouldn't be alive till sundown, but it doesn't change the fact that my pride took a nice hit in the gut. No one likes to run away, myself included.

We didn't head back to the camp, we actually went around the team, and continued through our planned route. We still had a mission to complete, and not to mention, they were probably dead or too injured to pursue us. Since technically we were on Konoha territory, they'd be found by a scout team, or ANBU, and brought to T&I if they survived. It was the lack of luck that the enemy team found us, but beginner's luck that we got out of that scuffle alive.

In my past life I considered myself pretty lucky, sure bad things happened (just like it happened to everyone), but I was forever finding money on the floor, and getting good grades in a test I knew nothing about. Hell, I'd even tattooed a four–leaf clover on the inside on my left upper arm. Maybe some of that luck had followed me into this life. It's seriously the only reason I can come up with as to why we were even alive.

We decided to rest for a couple of hours as we reached a border outpost. Our mission was inside enemy territory, and once there, we didn't know when we'd be able to stop and rest. Entering enemy territory was going to be difficult enough, never mind staying hidden, and finding our target. Usually our mission would be handed to a team of chunin, maybe even jounin, however there were none available (all of them being on the front line or on other missions). It was our very first A–Rank mission, and I, too, had a bad feeling about it.

Arriving at the post, we gave them the standard genin password, and sighed in relief, and we entered the safety of the building. Much to my surprise my brother, Hiro (who was already a chunin), was there, along with Minato and a mini Kakashi (internal fan girl squeal), who seemed to be a genin much like myself.

Hiro leaped from his seat, and crushed me into a tight hug, later holding me by the shoulders to inspecting my incredibly (beautiful) tired body for any injuries. Minato waved hello, and Kakashi didn't even spare us a glance.

"You guys look like you had a rough time," Minato said, with a sympathetic smile.

I scoffed, "You have no idea,"

"We encountered an Iwa team halfway here," Toshiko offered, laying right there on the ground in exhaustion.

Satoru beamed, "they never stood a chance,"

I cut in, "we're lucky to be alive, Sotaru,"

"Troublesome".

I sighed, sitting on the floor, and leaning my head on Hiro's knee, who was sitting on a chair, "anyway, if you guys don't mind, we'll spend the night here and head out in the morning,"

Not that I was asking for permission. There was no way I was budging from that spot.

"Who are you guys, anyway?" asked the tactless Satoru.

Toshiko snorted.

"I'm Hiro, Kozue's older brother," Hiro offered.

"I'm Namikaze Minato, and this is my cute little student Hatake Kakashi," He said, patting the kid on the head.

My lips twitched.

"Eh! But you're, like, three–years–old,"

The little boy literally growled, "Shut up, asshole!"

I chuckled, "cute kid, Minato,"

He grinned, "I know,"

"Sensei!" Kakashi whined.

"Why don't you guys get some rest, I'll wake you up when it's time," Hiro said, getting up from his seat to take over watch from some nameless ninja outside.

I hardly heard him; I was already one step into a dream.

I dreamt of sand, and gunfire, and screaming, and blood, and pain.

Waking up with a start, I gathered my bearings, and squinted in the darkness of the outpost. Everyone was sound asleep except for Kakashi, and Minato who was taking watch. I stretched my limbs, and sought out my pack, looking for an energy bar to chew on.

I glanced up and noticed Kakashi was staring at me.

Raising an eyebrow in question, the boy just shrugged, leaving the both of us in a slightly awkward silence.

"Why are you still a genin?" he asked suddenly, probably curiosity getting the better of him.

Staring at him for a second, I tried to find an answer to his question.

"In such a dangerous career like ours, you shouldn't be eager to move up the ladder," he didn't seem to understand, thus I elaborated, "The stronger you are, the higher the mission rank will be, and the probability of encountering stronger ninja that yourself will increase, suggesting that you'll most likely have a smaller chance of getting out of a mission alive,"

"You're afraid of dying?" he asked, incredulously.

"Of course, I'm only human," I said, reminding myself that yes, there was only so much that I can do, in the end of the day; I'm just your average, flawed human being.

He hummed in understanding, and got up, as his sensei came back from his watch. Minato nodded to Kakashi, and the kid left to start his own watch of the outpost.

Said blond ninja turned to me, "why are you awake?"

I shook my head, "this mission isn't looking too good,"

"Think something will happen?"

I nodded, "gut feeling,"

He tilted his head, inspecting me, then reached into his pouch, and handed me a three-pointed kunai, "If you do find yourselves in danger, use this,"

I took it from his hand, not asking what it meant (I obviously already knew), plus he didn't seem to expect me to ask anyway. Minato's reputation as Konoha's yellow flash was starting, after all. Though I was still surprised he gave me one. And then I remembered that I was the Hokage's kid, and having a hostage like that (who can read, this time around) was pretty dangerous, so why not have a safety net?

Taking a look at the clock on the wall, I decided to wake up my teammates to resume our mission. I also nudged my brother awake, to say goodbye, it'd been two months since I'd last seen him, and even though I didn't get to spend nearly as much time with his as I liked, I didn't want to leave without him knowing.

After gathering our belongings, and saying our farewells, squad 17 was off.

As soon as we reached the border, we stopped and hid ourselves high in the trees, being careful to mask our chakra signatures. I pulled out a map, checking for the weak point in our enemy's terrain, where the camps and outposts were all marked (a map we'd received prior to leaving the village, by the Hokage himself, with orders to burn it before we crossed the border). We all memorized it as best as we could, and I burned it with an E–Rank fire jutsu (used mostly to light cigarettes).

We crossed.

And for the most part, things went accordingly—sure, time and time again we had to stray from our path to avoid enemy teams, but we were able to find our target. A Konoha spy posing as an Iwa ninja was supposed to check in with Konoha a week prior, but what he didn't, be were sent to collect whatever information he had, which was sealed into a scroll.

We tried to get the spy alone, which was proving to be difficult, so in reality it turned into a waiting game. Once the spy left for a bathroom break, of to secure the perimeter, or whatever, we'd move in and out, as quickly as possible and get the hell out of there. We were about ten kilometers into their territory, which was more that enough to get me looking over my shoulder more often than not in paranoia.

The spy left to get its squad water, by a stream that was a good enough distance for us to appear and not be noticed immediately by the Iwa team. Satoru placed a genjutsu to cover our presence, and Toshiko hooted twice like a raven (which was the signal that we were there).

I should have known something was wrong the minute his posture tensed, and his eyes opened in panic.

We were suddenly surrounded by six jounin–level ninja, all more that ready to attack. The captain of the squad let out a slight chuckle.

"So this is what Konoha has to offer; a bunch of children? Thanks for the help anyway, Shinji–kun," he said decapitating the spy.

He'd been compromised. That's why he hadn't reported to Konoha.

He blew his cover.

Fuck.

Our team never really stood a chance—hell, not even running away seemed like a viable option then.

We did try our best; we used everything we had in ourselves, especially teamwork. We were able to take down two all because of luck, there was no way genin with two years of experience in their belts could ever bead and entire team of jounin themselves.

We decided that stalling was our best option, as well as moving the fight closer, and closer to the border—sure, we were more likely to attract the attention of other Iwa nin, but it also gave us the chance of gaining the attention of our own forces.

We didn't get too far.

I knew we were done when the second Toshiko cried out in pain, and Satoru fell unconscious. A sword had completely butchered her arm, and she was on her knees in pain, I had a pretty bad concussion that was threatening to take me down like Satoru, and the jounin were readying to finish us off.

I didn't think, just acted.

Pulling out Minato's kunai, I threw it at jounin to my right.

The last thing I saw was a flash of yellow, before I was overtaken by the darkness.

We never stood a chance.

HOLYSHIT! That was one intense chapter! I'm incredibly sorry for the delay, I haven't had a computer for a really long time now, because mine broke, and I have no money to either fix it or buy a new one. I'm actually borrowing my sister's (without her knowledge) because she's out of the country, and can't kill me from too many kilometers of distance. She'll be traveling up until august, so I'll try to write another chapter or two until then, before you're all forced to wait an ungodly amount of time for the following chapters.

Just to prove how sorry I am (and how much I love you all):

OMAKE

He hadn't been too keen on the knowledge of having a daughter, but that didn't stop him from being a father to the child. Biwako and little Hiro had been more than excited, he could understand, though, a little girl would change things, and he hoped it'd be for the best.

Hiruzen hadn't been as nervous for Hiro's birth as he had for Kozue's. He'd been a little boy once, and knew what he'd be dealing with, but Kozue was an entirely different story. Even Biwako had once commented just how odd of a child she was. Though despite the little oddball, they both loved her, she shared her mother's complexion and nose (thank the gods), while she'd taken on his eyes and hair. She was theirs.

Hiro was absolutely mesmerized by everything about her; he could hardly stay more than a couple of minutes away from the baby, and for once, he wanted to stay with Kozue, instead of going to the academy. That was never an option, however; their choices would forever be dictated by their father (something Kozue seemed to catch on far too easily). Hiro seemed to understand her, and though he tried to explain to Hiruzen, the old man still failed to comprehend his daughter's mannerisms.

He'd known from the start that Kozue wasn't going to be like other girls. The moment she'd been born, Hiruzen looked into her eyes, and found something akin to realization and understanding. Growing up Kozue had been far been too broody, even when she didn't have a reason to, and he found that ever since the kidnapping, she'd gotten more mouthy, and disrespectful, however honest in her displeasures. She wasn't the happy–go–lucky child he'd been when he was growing up; she wasn't loud, and bright, and optimistic; she didn't want to p-rove anything to anyone. Kozue knew far too much, and that scared him.

When Kozue had mentioned not wanting to be a ninja, he quickly stomped on such a suggestion. Being the Hokage's child meant being in the scrutiny of the public, and having a bold, red target on your back to the enemies. Hiruzen wanted to have grandchildren one day, and not have to attend his own child's funeral (no parent was supposed to live through that). So she complained, and he didn't give in.

He forced her to be something she didn't want to be, so he understood her anger towards him.

He was all right with being the villain; he preferred it, if it meant that she'd survive and live her dream (reach the age of thirty).

'She'll come to realize, one day,' he thought, watching through the window as she and her teammates exited the building, 'that I'm on her side'.

She was growing up too fast.

Moment of truth: Both points are valid, yes Kozue sees her dad as a villain, and to some extent he is (though he may not realize), and yes Hiruzen loves his daughter. Never doubt a parent's love for their children. But also remember that he's the Hokage, and he has the lives of many on his hands.

Fact, Kozue is a little brat (plain and simple). But we all love her anyway.

Thanks for the faves, follows and reviews, they really helped me get through this chapter.

Question: Has my writing improved since the first chapter? (I'd like to think it has, but that's my biased opinion)

Cheers,

CupcakeLoopy

P.S. I drank a whole 2L coke to get through this bugger.