Chapter fourteen: Missions, what a drag
Moriko chuckled as she watched the genin attempt to catch Tiger, the elusive cat of Lady Shijimi. Did they have no previous experience with animals? After she finished laughing, she knelt down in front of a hollow tree the cat had run into. "Tiger, here kitty kitty. There's a good kitty, c'mon." The cat meowed, slowly emerging before snuggling up in her arms, purring in content. Smiling, she stroked the cat's back, cooing at the happy cat. The genin had finally caught up, staring at her. She tilted her head to the side, confused at their confusion. "What? I like animals."
Kakashi appeared from the forest's thick cover, causing Tiger to hiss unhappily at the surprise. Moriko turned her attention back to the agitated cat, cooing softly to calm him. Once the cat was calm, Kakashi walked over, examining the now content feline. "This is our quarry. Good! Then "Mission: Find the missing pet" is accomplished! Let's head back then."
Moriko watched sympathetically as Tiger was cuddled unmercifully by his owner, who was squealing and cooing happily at the miserable cat. "With an owner like that, I would run away too." As the woman left to pay the one of the desk workers, Sarutobi held up a list, naming off the seemingly endless list of D-ranked missions available. Moriko peeked over at Naruto, who was scowling unhappily at their Hokage. Moriko softly sighed, counting down the seconds until the blonde blew up. "In 3….2….1…." "No way! No thank you-! Boooorrrriiinng! Give us something different to do. Something important! Something amazing!" Moriko sighed, staring at the tactless blonde.
Iruka was sent off into a rant about how ninja were divided based on their skill level, and how they were still genin and whatnot. Naruto, now ignoring his previous sensei and Sarutobi, began muttering about which Ramen he wanted for lunch. "ARE YOU EVEN LISTENING?!" Naruto scowled, unhappy at his current situation. "But it's not fair! There's more to me than the troublemaking screw-up the old man thinks I am!" She glanced back over at Sarutobi, who was chuckling. Naruto pouted, his arms folded over his chest. "Very well. Since you put it that way, I will permit you to attempt a c grade task-usually reserved for shinobi of the journeyman level… the protection of a certain individual."
Naruto cheered happily, grinning happily at the Hokage. "Who is it? Some great lord? The daimyo?! A princess!?" Sarutobi chuckled, bidding Naruto to calm himself as he asked for the man to come in. Moriko sighed as an apparent drunkard walked in, immediately insulting her teammates. Naruto laughed. "Who'd you mean? Which midget? Which imbeci-?!" Seeing that he was the shortest in the group, he roared. "I'll kill him!" Kakashi grabbed the blonde, scolding him. "Wrong. No killing the old man you've been assigned to protect." She chuckled, walking over to the pair before lightly bonking the blonde on the head.
The man introduced himself as Tazuna, a well-known bridge builder who needed escorted to his next place of work. After they were briefed, they were sent away to pack for the mission. Luckily, Moriko had packed beforehand, in case she was sent on a sudden overnight mission. Hopping into her apartment window, she grabbed her bag from her living room closet and left right after. She hopped from building to building before landing in front of the village's gates. Tazuna was already there, staring at her. "You seem familiar, have we met before?" She chuckled. "If we had, you'd either be dead or crazy." Tazuna gulped, taking a few steps away from her. Soon after, the others had finally caught up. As the gates were opened, Naruto cheered, immediately running out to exam the woods outside the village. "That's right, he's never been outside of the village before. This is all new to him." She turned to face kakashi, laughing before she ran out after the blonde.
She barely heard the soft chuckle he gave as she immediately grabbed the boy by his jacket and pulled him back toward the group. "Am I really expected to place my life in the hands of this fool?" Kakashi sighed. "There's no call for concern. I'm an elite ninja and I'll be along too." Tazuna nodded toward me. "And who's that?" "That's the Red Death, a new member of the village. Red will also be joining us." Tazuna relaxed, much to moriko's suspicion. "Something's up. Why would he seem so relieved that an assassin would be in the group?" "You are dead!" She glanced up in time to see Kakashi restrain Naruto. "I SAID no, you little dunce."
Moriko laughed, amused by Naruto's shenanigans. As the group began their long journey, she felt a presence drenched with the stench of bloodlust and greed. She glanced at Kakashi, who seemed to make nothing of it. "So my suspicions are right, there's more to this mission than Tazuna has let on. Why would there be assassins after him?" The group walked right past a puddle, and she glanced at Kakashi, this time making eye contact. He gave her a barely noticeable nod, and she knew that he knew about the assassins as well. She felt them closing in behind, and couldn't help but cry out as chains wrapped around kakashi, tearing him apart.
"Kakashi!" She felt a familiar swirl of emotion in her gut. Hatred, fury, bloodlust. She slowly turned to see them appear behind Naruto. She glared at them, her emotions showing clear through her mask. She sprinted past the others, grabbing the blonde and pulled him to safety. She pushed him towards the genin. "These two are mine!" "One way or another, I'm going to make them regret coming after us, for killing Kakashi!" A thick silver aura slowly steamed from her body, and she slowly looked up at them. "Water style, blood rain!" Water slowly drained from nearby plants, floating around the two men. "You're dead." The water turned to spikes, piercing the mens' flesh as they ran.
She pulled the bracelet from her pocket, turning it into a sickle and chain. She managed to catch one of the men, pulling the chain tight around his frame. Sasuke, seeing the other man running at Sakura, ran to stand in front of her, his arms spread. Moriko snarled hatefully, her pupils turning to mere slits and her canine teeth sharpened to a point. All she could feel at this point were hate and bloodlust. The chain around the enemy tightened, crushing his ribs. He cried out in pain, blood beginning to spill from his lips. With a final, sharp pull, the chain slashed through the man's body, tearing him in half.
She was about to go after the other man, but to her surprise, Kakashi had appeared, catching him around his throat. Sasuke pouted (not that he'd ever admit it) but turned his gaze to the blood-soaked woman. She looked from the bloody corpse to Tazuna, who stared at her fearfully. "Tazuna… You've got some explaining to do." The man swallowed thickly, terror permeating from his body. She turned her gaze from the trembling man to Kakashi, staring him down. He returned the gaze. "So do you, Hatake." "I can't believe he would do that! I thought the little git had died." She glanced at the corpse at her feet, and the unconscious body Kakashi was holding. "Well, at least he's alive. I can't believe I lost control like that. Maybe the chemical that Orochimaru injected me with is acting up."One could only hope. Tazuna sighed, explaining that his village was poor, and they could only afford a c-rank. Naruto, still shaken from the experience, slowly walked to stand next to Moriko. She placed a hand on his head, ruffling his hair lightly. That had been a close call. Sakura piped up about how they should go back to the village, since the mission was too much for them to handle.
Of course, Naruto protested, and after some deliberation, and manipulation on Tazuna's part, they all agreed to continue on. A small group of Tazuna's friends ferried them across a small lake and they continued their journey on foot. Naruto, not wanting Sasuke to show him up, threw his kunai around, shouting about how he saw someone, or something. Sakura bashed him over the head with her fist, yelling at him to knock it off. Kakashi, curious, walked into a bush, to find a white rabbit shaking, with the kunai inches above his head.
As Naruto ran over to cuddle the terrified bunny, Moriko's eyes narrowed. "Why does this rabbit still have his winter coat? Surely it would have darkened by now." From the look of it, Kakashi was having the same thought. "Everyone, take cover!" Moriko ducked quick enough for a rather large sword to fly over her head, landing in the side of a tree. A familiar man leapt from a nearby tree, onto the handle of the huge sword. Moriko's eyes widened. "Zabuza, is that you?"