The Sandaime Hokage stared at the report that one of Kakashi's ninken had brought in which sat innocuously at the edge of his desk as if it were a poisonous snake almost afraid to open it and discover what sort of nightmare it contained. Reports were usually given at the end of a mission after everything was said and done and everyone had all gone home either happy or dead depending on the type of mission assigned. When they arrived in the middle of a mission, it meant that something had gone very seriously wrong and that someone needed to head out there posthaste to clean up the mess. He just knew that he really didn't want to find out what sort of mess Kakashi and his team could create in a week and a half though.
What could go so wrong on a C ranked mission that was basically little more than a glorified walk with a seaside vacation tacked onto the end of it that would result in a mid-mission report? The customer in question had been particularly trying, but not so much so that he'd be turned away for fear of his escort killing him before he reached his destination...Oh god, Sasuke hadn't snapped and killed the client had he? Kakashi had been telling him that the boy had some anger issues, but he'd waved them off as not being too serious, as the boy had not been behaving overly aggressively.
Knowing that he'd have to get it over with eventually and dreading what he would find, he carefully broke the seal on the scroll. After unfurling the scroll, he skimmed the document, stopped, and began to read it more thoroughly, hoping to all that was holy that he had misread what had been written while he'd been skimming the report. He hadn't. Naruto's curse had struck big-time and the C rank had turned into an A rank, and then, when everyone had thought it was over, it had really hit the fan. There had been another "incident" with Naruto on the bridge, and there had been a large number of witnesses this time. Naruto's teammates were now aware of his status as the Kyuubi Jinchuriki. And, to make matters worse, Kakashi had a pair of high risk prisoners he didn't know what to do with, since Naruto had grown rather attached to one of them, making executing them rather problematic for the man whom Naruto had yet to warm up to.
Damn. He knew that he wouldn't have wanted to know. Things would have been a whole lot easier if it had just been one of the Genin snapping and killing the client. He could have found a way to sweep that under the rug at least. It had happened often enough over the years.
As for the prisoners that Kakashi had taken, he could deal with those. He would send a team of ANBU to retrieve Zabuza and his young accomplice. That would give him time to figure out what he was going to do with them, and how to explain to Naruto exactly why he had to do what he had done afterward.
Danzo choked slightly on his morning tea as he read the report he'd picked up after a nice relaxing three day weekend at a bed and breakfast in a nearby town. Things had been going slowly lately, so he had rather foolishly thought that he could take the time off to relax and not bother focusing on work as he had done for the last several decades. He'd thought he'd set everything up so that it would go smoothly without him there to supervise every little detail for a few days, but he was wrong. This was what he got for trying to take a vacation once in the nearly sixty years that he'd been a shinobi.
Gato was dead, and without him there to hire thugs to threaten a few families and break a few bones when bribes didn't work, a number of stalled investigations into his businesses were now rapidly progressing. Because of this, he could stand to lose millions in funding for Root. Not only had he heavily invested in Gato's corporations and the man's less than legal activities, but Gato had hired a number of his operatives for some of his more clandestine operations. Without Gato to head Gato Corp., the company was going to fall apart, especially after the results of the various investigations became public knowledge. Even if he managed to cash out all of his Gato Corp. stock, the price had already fallen to a point where it would be at a loss on his initial investment following the news of Gato's demise.
Adding to this little shitfest was the fact that a thorn in his side that he thought Gato would deal with - knowing the man's tendencies - was still alive. Momochi Zabuza had the potential to become the Mizukage should he finally manage to get his coup off the ground. Unlike most potential Mizukage candidates, the man was ruthless and capable, and while he was willing to sell himself to the highest bidder to get the funds he needed, he was a staunch patriot in his own way. What's worse, the man had his own sense of honor that would preclude him dealing with him, and the loyalty of his followers even though he had flat out told them that they were nothing more to him than tools to help him reach his ambition. All in all, Momochi Zabuza not a good candidate for the position in his opinion. Kirigakure needed a relatively weak Mizukage so they would not be a threat to Konoha, and that was most definitely not Zabuza.
Another person that was rapidly becoming a thorn in his side was the Jinchuriki. It was because of the boy that the most major problem that had cropped up during his short vacation that he wished he was back on if only because he didn't want to deal with this mess. He had known that boy would be trouble the instant he saw the drooling "bundle of joy" who looked so much like his mother who had been a headache and a half in his opinion. When he had seen him again with The Boy who had taken him under his wing, he'd upwardly revised the amount of trouble the jinchuriki would be. The reality however was turning out to be much worse.
Rubbing his temples in order to ward off an impending headache, he called for several teams of Root operatives whom he ordered to clear out all evidence of their dealings from Gato's holdings. He then called for a team which he then ordered to take out Zabuza before the man could escape and cause even more problems that he and Konoha didn't need. That team would of course be at a greater risk than the other one because they were going to be wearing the emblem of a foreign nation so that the ANBU team that the Hokage had sent out wouldn't be alerted to Root's continued existence.
Over in Water country, the government in Kirigakure had been in complete disarray since the Yondaime Mizukage Yagura had bit the big one a few months back, and the Sanbi escaped its seal, cutting a swathe of destruction through the village on its way down to the sea. Considering the situation, it was completely understandable that the report regarding Zabuza's possible presence in Wave had gotten kicked around for a few weeks before it finally reached the Hunter-nin.
After bouncing around several departments, the report finally reached the desk of a rather capable captain who had taken charge of the Hunter nin until an acceptable candidate for the position of Godaime Mizukage could be found. After finishing the paperwork he had in front of him, he opened and read the report, swore at its age, and assigned a reasonably skilled team to check out Wave and see if Zabuza's trail could be picked up there. Momochi Zabuza had been a thorn in his backside for far too long...
It is extremely fortunate for Zabuza that the squad leader of the ANBU that the Hokage had sent - who was codenamed Tenzo - had been a friend of Kakashi's when the other man had been in ANBU. Tenzo had hurried his team up a bit because he had wanted to make certain that Kakashi was really alright, and that extra bit of speed had meant that the Hokage's ANBU had managed to reach Zabuza first rather than the Kiri Hunter-nin or Root. Tenzo, who had been chosen for this mission because his Mokuton abilities would make the prisoner transfer process easier, had hurried his team because he was concerned for his old friend since "I'm fine" could cover a wide range of conditions with Hatake Kakashi, ranging from almost dead from blood loss and Chakra Exhaustion, to actually being fine, and his teammates had been willing to go along with this because they were somewhat fond of the former ANBU captain as well. Without any griping from any of the team who had all wanted to make sure that their sempai was well, they had made excellent time to the small port town in Wave.
After checking in with Kakashi and catching up with him a bit, Tenzo had learned that the prisoners in question were at the town's medical clinic where they were being seen to by the town's only doctor, and being guarded by Uzumaki Naruto who had grown attached to Zabuza's young accomplice Haku whom he'd apparently met during the Chunin Exams in Kiri. Leaving Kakashi's side, he and his team swiftly made their way to the clinic to relieve the conflicted young Genin who might end up making a mistake that would follow him for the rest of his career of his burdensome duty. As he and his team were securing the two Mist ninja for transport, two teams of Hunter nin from Kiri showed up. After trading a few hand signs, both teams started fighting each-other.
Tenzo wasn't sure which side to join in this matter. While only one of the groups were a legitimate team of Hunter nin from Kiri, the other group that was fighting was using language from Konoha and therefore could be on a clandestine mission he'd not been informed of. The fact that he hadn't been informed of a mission that could potentially affect his own by the Hokage no matter how clandestine positively smacked of it being illicit. At this point, either group would be needing the aid of himself and his teammates. Should he aid the group from Konoha whom he would have been told about if they had been on a legitimate mission, or should he aid the group from Kiri since he'd more than likely have to arrest the group from Konoha since it wasn't supposed to be here?
Perhaps the best solution in this case would be to deal with all of them and sort them out afterward...
Genji had been a Hunter-nin close to twenty years. Having been a ninja for so long, he had worked alongside Zabuza for far longer than he'd hunted Zabuza, and knew exactly how tough the guy actually was. When he had been ordered to try and track the man in Wave, he had been understandably nervous. It was his duty to bring his former comrade in however, and he was one of the best for the job to which he'd been assigned.
When he and his team had arrived in Wave and learned that Zabuza was hanging around in the local hospital because he'd run afoul of a Genin team from Konoha, he couldn't believe his luck. Actually, the first thing he couldn't believe was his ears, until someone had mentioned that Sharingan Kakashi was the Instructor for that particular Genin team and that the team had a Uchiha on it as well. When the team arrived at the hospital to retrieve their quarry, they arrived only to discover that their luck had not held.
When they had reached the hospital, there had been an ANBU team from Konoha there preparing Momochi Zabuza and his accomplice for transport. Not only that, but there was another Hunter team that he would have to share the credit with should they manage to wrest Zabuza away from the Konoha team hanging around as well. He could have sworn that the Captain had only sent one team out because the lead was so old though...
Just who the heck are you? He signed to the apparent leader of the Hunter team that was trying to impose Kiri's claim over Zabuza, and not getting results.
The response he got back was a rather shaky Hi, I sent to help. While the relative uncertainty of that response would be understandable if the Hunter Nin in question were civilian-born, the leader of the other team had prefaced his statement with a gesture he knew was a Konoha swear, as a friend of his had made it his duty to learn the swear signs of every country and had taught him a good number of them.
The anger he'd been feeling when he'd realized that his team had arrived a little too late rose to murderous levels. The Konoha ninja he could ignore for the moment since they didn't need that sort of mess, and the Konoha guys had gotten Zabuza fair and square. The other group however...A bunch of fucking impostors had been standing there trying to take the kill they would have snatched from the Konoha ninja if they had dropped their guard for even one second. Hopping mad at the impostors, he signaled his men to attack the fake Hunter-nin.
He was Root, and he served Danzo-sama as an extension of his will for the good of Konoha. That was all he needed to know about himself. He had no need of emotions, and therefore swallowed the slight uncertainty he'd felt when a team of genuine Kirigakure Hunter nin had shown up before the target could be eliminated. Had it just been the Konoha team that he'd needed to fool, things would have been fine, but now, he was not the best choice for this job. While he could almost perfectly imitate a Kiri Hunter nin in movements, tone of voice, and accent, there was one flaw in his training. He was not fluent in "Kiri".
Much to his dread which he rather swiftly buried as soon as it had appeared, the leader of the real team of Kirigakure Hunter nin signed something that looked like an interrogative. The two most likely choices considering the situation were "Who are you?" and "Why are you here?". He hedged his bets and signed back with both his personal call sign and the answer as to why he would be here were he a real Hunter nin from Kiri.
He had apparently made a mistake however, because the next thing he knew, he and his team were in a fight for their lives against the Kiri Hunter nin. A few minutes later, the Konoha ANBU joined the fray, and he didn't know exactly which side they were on since they seemed to be fighting just about everyone.
After the initial amazement at the ANBU fight that had suddenly erupted wore off and common sense stepped in, Naruto quickly got Zabuza and Haku under cover. At that moment, he didn't need anyone to tell him that, to put it politely, the fecal matter had hit the ventilation device. There were three teams of ANBU duking it out in the middle of the street, and anywhere near the immediate vicinity of that fight was most definitely not a good place for injured people, or anyone else for that matter to be.
Kunai were flying everywhere, as were fireballs, and Water jutsu, and defensive Earth walls, and trees for some strange reason. And, when he didn't think it could get any worse, the mist started up, obscuring the entire area and making it near impossible to see when to dodge. That didn't stop the fight however, as he could still hear the clang of steel, the roar of fire and water, and the rumble of earth being torn from its moorings.
What the hell was that all about? he wondered as the battle began to move off into the distance.
After several long moments of struggle Tenzo finally managed to wrap one of the fake Kiri Hunter-nin securely in the branches of his Mokuton technique, and bury him in the ground until only his head was showing. After the impostor was secure, he pulled off the man's mask. After studying the man's features, he realized that he didn't recognize him as a fellow ANBU or one of the rank and file, but noted that he resembled someone he had known during his days at the Academy. There were several top-secret groups that were rumored to exist in Konoha, and it was possible that the man belonged to one of them.
After memorizing the man's appearance, he rendered the man unconscious and drugged him for capture, hoping that he wasn't making a mistake in doing so, and that he hadn't harmed a fellow Konoha ninja who had been sent to help his team. He would have to report his findings to the Hokage, but it was possible that the man already knew.
As soon as the fake Hunter-nin was dealt with, he moved back to the battle that was following the path of the retreating fake Hunter-nin whose team his captive had been a member.
He was Root, and he served Danzo as an extension of his will for the good of Konoha. He had failed. He had been captured and was unable to complete his objective. He knew what to do in case of capture. He bit down on a seal inside his cheek, and it released a small amount of a fast acting poison into his system. It was enough. He was dead.
Back at the main battle, the Kirigakure Hunter-nin Genji hurled a Kunai at one of the Konoha shinobi that chased him through the mist. It didn't matter to him whether it was one of the fake Hunter nin or the team of ANBU who had joined the fight, adding to the general confusion when they attacked both his team and the team of impostors, they were all the same as far as he was concerned. The kunai failed to hit its target, and he nearly received a fireball to the posterior courtesy of a Katon Jutsu in return. The way things were going, the battle was turning into little more than a farce as everybody tried to fight everybody else in what was rapidly becoming a free for all that was going in circles and causing a great deal of collateral damage and little else. To add to the confusion, there were civilians fleeing everywhere.
Zabuza or no Zabuza, he was not going to let this continue. He was calling a retreat before something happened that brought humiliation to his village or worse, caused an international incident that sparked a war which Kiri most definitely didn't need at this time. As soon as his team extracted themselves from this debacle, they would regroup, head home, inform the Captain that Konoha had captured their quarry, and let the diplomats deal with it after they got that whole Mizukage mess sorted out.
Despite the fact that he was loath to leave a fight unfinished, he called a general retreat, and made for the sea with his remaining teammates and one of the Konoha ninja following behind.
Edited 11-28-12