After a group discussion among Team 7, they decided to take up the mission. But they needed all the information they can get from the missing-nin first, who were still knocked out due to chakra loss.
"Akira, get all the information you can about their employer and their plans for the wave," Kakashi gestured to the ninja who they had just knocked out and tied to a tree. They had also been rid of all their weapons and. The Sandaime had finally given the jonin the file regarding Kojin Akira and it was not what he had expected. He had whispered something into her ear, which none of them had questioned.
"Hai Kakashi-sensei," The young Kojin preferred information gathering than fighting in the field. It was after all, all she did in her time outside the village.
The young Kojin retrieved some chakra within in her body. It came out as bright white orb from the back of her neck. She let the ball of chakra float in her hand before she split it with her other hand, producing a flames of blue chakra. She put in the flames back in their members of Team 7 and Tazuna watched her in awe as she made use of her Kekkei Genkai.
The Demon brothers woke up tied up to a tree with a girl seated formally before them. It was one of the pesky genin for the team that they had just failed to take down. Her face was void of any emotion as she held a syringe in her hand.
"Meizu, give me one reason that I shouldn't put this poison in you. Torturing is one of your favourite past times, so you should know that this can kill you the moment I inject it into your neck," she stated with a sadistic smile as she addressed the mercenary by his name.
"Fuck you. I wanna watch you do it, let's see if you have the guts-" in a quick movement, the girl had straddled him and stuck the syringe into his neck.
"Wrong answer Meizu," she said into his ear. The mercenary's body slumped and unmoving. Sasuke and Sakura just watched in horror as their fellow genin took a life. Tazuna looked at the girl as if she was the monster.
"So Gōzu," the young Kojin addressed as she sat comfortably on the dead ninja's lap, addressing his brother. "Do you have information for me or will you be meeting your brother down in hell?"
Over the next few minutes the mercenary began spilling everything he knew about Gato's operation along with the location of the hideout. They were also able to find out that the Demon brothers had been working for Momochi Zabuza, who was originally hired to get rid of the old bridge builder. But seeing as they failed then Zabuza would be coming after them himself along with his right hand man a masked ninja.
"Is that all?" Akira questioned as she remained in the dead mercenary's lap.
"H-hai, that's all they trusted us with. I swear to Kami that is all we were told," Gōzu replied his eye twitching.
"There is something else you are hiding from me. What is it?"
"I am not hiding anything, I swear-"
"Stop lying to me, Gōzu. Here, I thought you were being a good boy for me. I was going to reward you, " the young kunoichi breathlessly whispered into his ear. In a quick movement like the one before, Akira was now straddling the shinobi with the syringe pressing his neck almost breaking the skin beneath.
"Alright, alright. I'm sorry. Zabuza's attendant has a Kekkei Genkai, he can control Ice," the mercenary breathed as he felt the needle about to break the skin and as he felt his arousal rise.
"Thank you for the information, Gōzu " the young kunoichi whispered into his ear before pushing the syringe in to the man's neck.
The horrified stares she got from Tazuna, Sakura and Sasuke were expected. They had never seen an interrogation before. Naruto on the other hand noted that he was not the only one hiding their abilities.
"You just killed them without a second thought, you monster!" Sakura screamed. 'I already knew she was crazy and had a temper but I never knew she was capable of that.'
"They almost killed us. They put Tazuna-san's life in danger which we were entrusted to protect. If you think my actions are wrong then go home, there is no place for you here," Akira chuckled with ill humour as she stood from her previous position.
"They gave you the information we needed, you didn't have to kill them!" the young Haruno retorted.
"Listen Haruno, we are hired to keep people safe and away from harm. If we weren't to kill then who would? That is why we take lives, to do the dirty work for everyone's safety. We are soldiers, meant to fight and protect our village no matter what the cost is. What Akira just did is part of the job. You have no right to judge her," Naruto came to the defence of his teammate.
"Sakura, Sasuke, come here for a second," Kakashi said, stopping the impending fight. He pulled the two genin aside and sat them down. "I know that both of you think that what she did was wrong but what Naruto and Akira said is right. We are hired to protect no matter what the cost even if we get our hands dirty. This is your first time seeing one of your own kill but that is just what we do. Imagine how many people have already died at their hands. Imagine how many more could have died if she had not taken their life. "
The two genin were left with a lot to think about. Sakura with what exactly she got herself into when she decided that she wanted to be a shinobi. If she was going to be a proper shinobi she had so much more to do. She would need to taker her job way more seriously. She was now willing to make that change.
Sasuke reevaluated his ambition of killing his brother, he wanted to kill the man more than ever but now he took in to consideration what that really meant. That he would not only the man that killed their parents but he would also kill his older brother whom he had idolised and loved. He would now not only kill Itachi for himself but also for the people he had killed along the way, to protect others from his grasp.
"We have to move faster now, knowing that Zabuza we could be following us right now we have to take caution. Akira, are you ready to get going?" Kakashi questioned the girl who had gone silent and was sitting on the grass.
She took one gulp from her jug of water then stood up. "Hai Kakashi-sensei."
"You mind masking us until we get to their house?" Naruto questioned, knowing fully well that the girl had the ability to mask chakra signatures. ' But I'm not sure if she mask us all together at once'
"I will, but I will begin to lose chakra. If it comes to the point that my hair has no more white and my wrist tattoo is only a single triangle, please put chakra through there."
The team set off with a much faster pace, stopping only once to tend to the old bridge builder who gone silent since the interrogation. 'These kids give up their innocence to protect their village. I can't believe how much has been taken away from them for them to harden their hearts like that young girl has. It scares me but I'm thankful because of people like them Inari won't need to lose his innocence.'
"Sakura, I hope you know that I didn't kill them. I just injected a fast reacting poison that will keep them knocked out for a day and sick for a week until back up finds them. I am not that heartless," Akira said quietly as she breathed heavier than before.
Her pink-haired companion was immediately filled up with guilt as she heard this. She nodded and gave her fellow kunoichi an apologetic smile. Sasuke seemed to relax as he heard their exchange. Naruto just smiled, suspecting that she hadn't. There would be way more opportunities for them if she kept them alive, they could prove a source of intel. She was not that blood thirsty. Kakashi was impressed by her prowess.
"Leave them alive and do not do anything too bloody," the jonin had whispered to her before giving her free reign.
"But I have taken a life before. I couldn't sleep for awhile because I kept imagining the blood on my hands. I kept seeing the face of the man I killed. But then I remembered what he had done, the countless girls he had raped and killed just like he was going to do to me. I do not regret taking his life," the young Kojin said, reminiscing about her life outside the village we she hadn't never spoken about before.
"When the time comes, I won't regret it, " Sakura had stated with a new light in her eye. The girls smiled at one another, finally getting along with each other. That was the start of their budding friendship.
The rest of their journey continued on relatively silent but the tension between everyone had disappeared. They arrived at Tsunami's house winded but none more than the young Kojin who had halfway through needed to be carried by Kakashi due to the amount of effort and strain that was place upon her when she was masking all their chakra signatures.
Tsunami welcomed them and immediately set up a futon for the young kunoichi in the spare bedroom the female ninja would be sharing. Even though she was put down, she continued to mask their signatures, completely unaware of their location.
" We are safe, you can stop now," Kakashi had told her quietly. She finally let go and the most of the strain disappeared from her but she still had difficulty breathing.
"My medicine is in my left pocket inside the vest. Two pills. Before doing that tell Naruto to do as I told him," she had uttered before she passed out. Her hair had gone fully black and her tattoo had shrunken, meaning she was fully drained of her chakra.
The jonin nodded and immediately retrieved Sakura and Naruto and brought them into the room. He told them what she had said and Naruto immediately grabbed onto her wrist. He focused his chakra into his hand and pressed into her tattoo. He immediately felt his chakra being taken away as the colour was returning to her face. He hair began turning white again and her tattoo spiralled. He let go and breathed heavily.
Sakura told him to get a glass of water, and he returned a few moments later. Sakura had already taken out the pills out of the girl's vest. They had no way to make her swallow the pills without choking her so she crushed the pills and mixed it into the water. She lifted her head up and made the knocked genin drink the water.
"Naruto, Kakashi-sensei, could you please leave now? I'm going to change her," the Sakura stated. The blonde slightly turned red and they both left the room.