Chapter XII
Wolf sighed in exasperation as he ground the heel of his open-toed boot into the nose of his last opponent. There was a sharp pop as he twisted his foot slightly, and the current owner of said nose let out a muffled squeal of pain. The circle of civilians around him were staring in mild interest.
They'd seen it all before.
"For the record," he said flatly, "it's generally not a good idea for a common thief to try and shake-down an individual who is obviously a ninja." He scratched the side of his cheek in mock-contemplation. "Good lord, how many generations of inbreeding does it take to produce a prime example of mental retardation such as yourself? My money's on ten."
A low moan, a mix of pain and impotent rage, was his only answer. Behind his mask. Iruka rolled his eyes in annoyance. Honestly, he thought spitefully, how stupid can people be? Robbing an ANBU in full daylight? With a vicious kick to the side, he sent his victim rolling away.
"Feel fortunate," he snapped, "that I don't have time to teach you the error of your ways in full." The conscious members of the ill-fated raiding party staggered to their feet and limped off as best as they were able, to light mocking applause from the onlookers.
Apparently, this particular group of bandits were well-known for their poor choices in targets. Iruka was vaguely aware of half-serious threats and castigations thrown by the would-be thieves, but he ignored it as he took to the rooftops of Yukigakure, heading for the large dome in the center of the Minor village. His entire outfit proclaimed that he was a ninja of Konoha – the dark browns and greens of the reluctant ANBU's uniform contrasted sharply with the white and light blue camouflage pattern of the native ninja.
It's even a little ironic, he thought to himself as he flew over the heads of the civilians below, our relationship with Yuki no kuni. Fire and Ice, heh. Well, snow, really, but it's close enough, I think. Not quite an alliance, not quite a mutual apathy treaty. More like a 'you play nice and we'll play nice, but don't expect to be invited to a birthday party'.
"Where are you going, Wolf of the Leaf?" A woman's voice, polite if not exactly friendly, broke him out of his reflection, and his eyes cut to the left where a slender Snow ANBU in a falcon's mask matched him stride for stride, leap for leap.
He nodded towards the dome, still some kilometers distant. "The central dome, of course." He bent his knees and powered himself across a main street divide. He smiled beneath his mask as he sensed dismay and surprise from his companion.
Ninja were capable of a great many things, and could readily perform feats of physicality that seemingly defied logic. But in most cases, there were limits to what one could accomplish, even in the upper echelons of ninja. Iruka had just broken one.
It was, after all, almost sixty meters to the next rooftop.
Halfway across the divide, a flash of steel shot by him and slammed into the rooftop near where his projected landing zone was. A twang was heard as the nearly invisible wire attached to the projectile was pulled taut abruptly, and he glanced back to see the female Yuki-nin using the line as a makeshift bridge.
Inventive, he thought appreciatively. He landed, and not a tile broke from the impact. He could have just let the ceramic tiles bear the brunt of his weight, but to do so would either speak of poor skill or be a sign of disrespect, and he had just demonstrated that he was nothing if not skilled. A mere moment later, his pursuer drew alongside him again, and when she spoke, her tone was a great deal more respectful.
He had, after all, just proven himself the more powerful of the two.
"What, may I ask, is your purpose here Wolf-san?"
"Tracking one of our missing-nin who recently passed through your borders and encountered one of your ninja." He nodded again towards the dome, much closer now but still distant. "I'd like to get whatever recent information on him that you've got."
"Ah, I see. I will accompany you, then." Iruka's eyebrows arched in surprise beneath his mask; while not unusual for foreign ninja to be accompanied to the Main Offices, usually they were designated by the border guards, who had waved him on by.
It was highly irregular for ninja to 'volunteer' themselves for the duty.
"I saw you deal with the Bold Six Bamboo Gang," the snow-ninja said suddenly.
"Oh, did you? Forgive me if I overstepped my bounds in my dealings, Hayabusa-san," Iruka responded, eyes forward. For some reason, he got the feeling that the woman was smirking behind her mask as she waved her hands dismissively.
"Believe me, I would have dealt much more harshly with them. They're mostly harmless, of course; minor thievery and the occasional shakedown, but a criminal is a criminal, ne?"
"I suppose so," Iruka admitted off-handedly. "Why did they go after a ninja, though? They live in a ninja village – didn't they know they were outclassed?"
The woman shrugged as they dropped down to the ground directly in front of the dome. "They're the Bold Six, not the Smart Six. When they get caught by ninja, they're smacked around a bit and let go with a warning," she remarked, "which is precisely what you did. Next time, though, I assure you that we'll be a little harsher. They're becoming less of an annoyance and more of an actual problem."
As they walked to the information counter, Wolf nodded. "I'm just glad I didn't cause an international incident. Leaf Hunter-nin 'Wolf' seeking information on nuke-nin per our country's agreement," he said, directing the latter statement to the young man behind the counter, handing him his papers. The man studied them carefully, going through several illusory release techniques systematically, searching for any hint of treachery. Iruka was impressed despite himself; either the man had been recently given this position or he took his job very seriously. The documents were then examined from several angles to determine whether they could be hiding seals. Finding nothing, the man relaxed very slightly.
"Okay, your papers look good. Who's the target?"
"Uchiha Itachi." He ignored the sudden intake of breath from both the secretary and the Yuki-nin who had accompanied him. "We understand that he passed through your eastern border over a week ago, had an altercation with an ANBU, and made off with her clothing."
Lips set in a thin line, the clerk gestured to the ninja who had accompanied Iruka. "Hayabusa-san can tell you everything; she was the one your target encountered." Turning to his countrywoman, he pointed down a side hallway. "Interrogation room eleven is available for your briefing. I trust you have something for us?" Iruka bit his thumb and swiped blood across a seal on his belt. With a poof and a cloud of smoke, a thin folder dropped onto the desk.
"Everything we have on Temma Gosunkugi, S-Class missing nin from Snow. Last update was nine days ago, when he was spotted by a returning jounin on the eastern border of Suna, heading northwest. Be careful; he seems to have picked up a partner – an unidentified female of about fifteen."
Nodding his thanks, the clerk busied himself with the file as Iruka followed the Falcon-masked ANBU to the aforementioned room. Shutting the door behind him, he spun one of the chairs around and sat down, sliding his mask up as he did so.
"I hate this thing," he said in response to her obvious surprise at the casual revelation of his face. "It's uncomfortable, heavy, and it keeps people from being able to look you in the eye." After a brief hesitation, the woman did the same.
Iruka looked at her appreciatively. She was rather pretty, with light brown hair cut fairly short and dark grey eyes set in a pleasantly tanned face.
"I was under the impression," Iruka began, breaking the silence that had been building with the loss of their masks, "that Itachi wasn't in the habit of letting those he encountered live."
"He tried to kill me," the woman said flatly. "He failed."
"Mm-hmm. He got your clothes somehow, and I doubt it's because he asked nicely."
"He made a mistake, one that I took advantage of to keep myself alive," she retorted, clearly intent on keeping the method of her survival a secret.
Iruka chuckled dryly. "I see that our alliance doesn't extend to the exchange of secrets. Fine; tell me what happened then. Please try to be as complete as you can, barring, of course, classified information."
The woman relaxed somewhat as she realized he wasn't going to press her very hard. "I encountered the Uchiha on the west side of the Forest of Ancient Pines. I hid myself in a tree almost twenty meters behind his campfire, but he detected me within minutes. Said he'd heard the melting drops of water my warming jutsu had created from the snow in the tree around me."
"Always did have good ears," Iruka muttered.
The snow-nin nodded her agreement with the statement and continued. "There was a brief discussion, during which he replaced himself with a Kage Bunshin and managed to get behind me. He almost killed me, and he obviously thought he had, because he stole my clothes." She hesitated for a moment, but continued. "He...did, however, put his clothes on me...like an exchange. I did not see which direction he took, but I don't believe that he went any further into my country."
"Is that all you have?" Iruka asked, frowning. Surely there must be more! Dismay suffused his features as she answered in the affirmative.
"It was a very short confrontation," she explained, "four, maybe five minutes long." Seeing the disappointment and frustration on her allies face, she decided to help a little bit more. "I...think he went either north or south. He didn't come deeper into Yuki no Kuni, and he wouldn't have gone back to Iwa, would he?" At Iruka's single shake of the head, she finished. "And going south would have taken him through Grass and closer to Fire Country. In my opinion, he went north."
"Wonderful," Iruka sighed, closing his eyes. "A billion square kilometers to cover." He started to get up, but paused as a question came to him. "One moment, though. How did he try to kill you?"
"Tried to break my neck." Iruka frowned at this, something that the female ANBU noticed instantly. "I managed to fool him into believing that he had."
"Strange. Very strange," he mused. When the snow-nin asked for clarification, he replied, "it's very odd that he didn't try to use his Sharingan on you."
"Maybe he thought he didn't need it," she grumbled, an embarrassed flush appearing on her cheeks. "Which he didn't, damn him."
"That shouldn't have made any difference, actually. Itachi's used his eye-jutsu on opponents far less capable than you; what makes you so special?"
Grey eyes narrowed with thought. "I don't know. The thought hadn't even occurred to me, in fact. Would my being a woman have anything to do with it?"
Iruka shook his head. "I don't think so. Itachi is a little gentler with women, but only so much that he'll kill them in ways that won't damage their appearance." A blackly amused snort was the only answer. "I do know that Itachi's Sharingan is corrosive, and that it slowly robs him of sight when he uses its Mangekyou form, so that may be a consideration."
"Ah. That we know. You're right though," the unmasked Snow-nin admitted, "in retrospect, his actions are very strange." She rose to her feet, and Iruka did the same. "Good luck, Hunter."
"Thank you. I'm gonna need it."
Sorry about the delay...this fic is not dead! This chapter was blocked for a month until last night (Sept. 16th), and then it just came like mad. I finished it at 1311 on the 17th.
