chapter 14
to wave country
"Oi, teme! Got a little present for ya today!" Naruto shouted out as he reached team 7's usual meeting place on a small bridge a few minutes less than three hours late. He removed a scroll from a pouch at his side and tossed it to the other boy.
Snatching it out of midair, the Uchiha saw that it was a jutsu scroll. More specifically, a fire jutsu scroll. "Where'd you find this, dobe?"
"Doesn't matter," the blonde said. It had been two weeks since the day when the two had finally started being friends, and the jutsu was something he had created specifically for Sasuke. Knowing that his teammate would not react well to this knowledge, he chose to keep it a secret. "It's a fire jutsu, and I can't use those. You can, so I thought you might want to have it."
The dark-haired genin gave a small nod and a grunt in thanks; it was the most gratitude Naruto had ever seen him show.
"Oh, a new jutsu? Does it look good, Sasuke-kun?" team 7's third member asked, trying to peer over the boy's shoulder at the scroll.
The boy read the name and basics of the jutsu out loud for the sake of his curious teammate. "Katon, horyuukubushi no jutsu (fire element, fire dragon fist technique). Concentrate fire-elemental chakra to the fists. The jutsu allows it to be released in a small burst of flame along with a punch. Requires moderate to high chakra reserves and decent chakra control, in addition to fire-natured chakra. So basically it enhances my taijutsu by letting me throw flaming punches. And it says here that with enough practice and control, it can be used from anywhere on the body. Only takes five handseals to activate and it stays active until the user cancels it or runs out of chakra.
"Dobe, were there any more jutsus where you found this one?"
Naruto was pleased that his creation had gotten the dark-haired boy's approval. "Just a wind jutsu. It wasn't too hard to get the hang of." Where he had found it was the seal-protected pouch at his side where he kept small, important things, like his atsuryokuha no jutsu scroll.
Sasuke was about to test out the horyuukubushi when Kakashi-sensei showed up and they went to get their first mission of the day from the Hokage.
This cat was annoying. They had been chasing Tora the cat for the better part of two hours already, and they still hadn't caught the damn thing. Naruto was about ready to take out one of his swords and zap the feline with a lightning bolt. That would stop it running away.
He had heard about the abominable Tora from his friends (team 10 had had to capture the cat twice, while team 8, with their specialty in tracking, had been forced to hunt it down five separate times), but had always thought they had been exaggerating the difficulty of the mission. Now, with team 7 finally having return the runaway kitty to its owner, the blonde saw that his friends had actually toned down just how frustrating the cat was. If he didn't know better, he would say the damn animal was part demon.
Now, though, they finally had it surrounded, and Tora had no way to escape. The blonde sent a kage bushin in to restrain the beast, only for the clone to freeze for a moment on looking into the cat's eyes before dispelling itself.
On receiving the memories of the dispelled clone, Naruto spoke into his radio. "Kakashi-sensei, there's something decidedly wrong with this cat."
Their sensei, who was off reading his favorite orange book, found the interruption annoying. "Nonsense, Naruto. Tora-chan is perfectly normal. I still remember all the times my teammates and I had to chase her down under Minato-sensei. She may be a difficult cat to catch, but she's still just a cat."
The blonde immediately noticed something strange about this. "Kakashi-sensei," he said quietly, forcing the jonin to turn up the volume on his radio "HOW OLD IS THAT DAMN CAT!?" It was looking more and more like there might be some truth to that part demon theory after all.
"Dobe, would you just hurry up and catch the thing so we can finish this mission?"
Five minutes later, they were in the Hokage's office, watching as Tora's owner hugged her "poor, frightened Tora-chan" with enough force that Naruto was sure an ordinary cat would have choked.
Once the fat lady left, he spoke up. "Ojiisan, that cat is part demon."
The old man gave him an amused look. "What do you mean, Naruto?"
"I mean," he said, pausing to take in a gulp of air, "IT'S NOT JUST A CAT! THAT MONSTER NEARLY SCRATCHED MY EYES OUT, IT SOMEHOW MANAGES TO EVADE EVERY SINGLE GENIN TEAM THIS VILLAGE HAS EVER PRODUCED FOR AT LEAST TWO HOURS, AND IT'S OVER A HUNDRED YEARS OLD!!" After they had captured the feline, the blonde had taken the opporunity to delve into its mind with his shinkagan.
The Hokage sighed. "You're right, Naruto. Tora was the daughter of the Nibi and one of the Daymio's housecats around the time of the Shodaime. The qualities it inherited from its demon parent, however, make it perfect practice for genin teams. And before any of you go tell anyone, this is an S-class village secret, only meant to be known by the Hokage."
Everyone on team 7, and Iruka-oniisan, who was helping give out missions, stared in shock.
"Now," the old man continued, "for team 7's next mission, we have picking up dog poop at the Inuzuka compound, babysitting the Ta-
"NO!" Naruto exclaimed. "No more of these worthless missions already. Chasing down hundred-year-old half-demon cats is where I draw the line. We're ready for a C-rank, Ojiisan. And Iruka-oniisan," he added, "we really are ready, so don't start shouting about how we're still new genin."
The chunin, who had been about to do exactly that, stopped. Naruto knew him too well, and he should at least put some faith in his little brother.
"Very well," said the aged Hokage, "I have a mission ready to go that will be perfect for your team. You can come in now, Tazuna-san." The last bit was called out to the door, which opened to reveal a man in his late fifties, wearing a straw hat and a sleeveless shirt. In one hand, he carried a jug of sake, from which he had clearly been drinking. His arms were well-muscled, as though he were used to heavy manual labor. Naruto judged him to be in essence a good person, wanting to help others, but he couldn't shake the feeling that the man was hiding something.
"These are the ninja you gave to protect me? That guy only has one eye, and these three look like kids! And you, blondie, have the stupidest face and worst fashion sense I've ever seen. Orange? What a stupid color!"
In an instant, Naruto drew one of his huge swords and held it straight at the man's neck. He spoke and looked at the man completely seriously but was cracking up with laughter on the inside. "Don't insult the color orange." With that, he sheathed his blade.
The Hokage spoke up again. "Now, as I was about to say, you will be escorting Tazuna-san back to his home in the Wave Country and once there you will stay with him as he completes the bridge he is building, all the while protecting him from any armed robbers or bandits who might attack. Understood?"
The blonde agreed along with the others, but he couldn't help but notice the spike in the bridge-builder's worry at the mention of "armed robbers or bandits."
All five decided to meet up at the west gate thirty minutes later after completing any needed preparations. Naruto sent a kage bushin after their sensei both to make sure the jonin arrived on time and to inform him of his suspicions about their client. Sasuke had already been fully prepared, so he spent the extra half-hour practicing his new jutsu. Sakura went to get extra medical supplies for the extended journey. Over the past two weeks, she had made astounding progress in the medical field and could treat mall but the gravest of wounds with ordinary treatment. She had even learned a minor healing jutsu for use on light wounds. Naruto used his time to make sure he was prepared for a B-rank, just in case, then decided that since he was finally on a serious mission, he would wear serious clothes.
On arriving at the gate, everyone took note of the blonde's outfit change. His new clothes were mostly dark green, with patches of dark brown on the shoulders, perfect for camouflage in the forest. They were fairly tight on his body, preventing any chance of the slight sound of shifting fabric giving away his location while also showing off his muscular body, but loose enough to allow completely free movement. In other words, they were ninja clothes of the highest quality that he had picked out specifically for this mission.
"What're you all staring at? Let's get going!" said the energetic boy, leading the way out the gates. His teammates and sensei followed, along with Tazuna, who couldn't help but wonder if maybe these four really could protect him.
The attack came when they had been walking for about three hours. Naruto was walking out in front, with Sakura and Sasuke on either side of Tazuna behind him, and Kakashi-sensei bringing up the rear. The blonde, who had stayed on high alert, sensed the two concealed chakra signatures even before the puddle, which his shinkagan identified as a genjutsu, came into sight. He looked Kakashi-sensei in the eye, then glanced toward the puddle, before returning his gaze to the jonin. The look in the man's eye said to wait for them to attack, then capture them. Judging by their chakra capacities, the two were barely at chunin level, something the three genin could handle by themselves.
Once Kakashi-sensei had gone a few feet past the puddle, the two ninja rose silently from the illusionary water. They rushed at the jonin and wrapped a spiked chain coming from their clawed gauntlets around him, shouting, "One down!" before tightening the deadly chain. Kakashi-sensei escaped using the most perfectly-timed kawarimi the blonde had ever seen combined with a subtle genjutsu. It actually looked like the man had been sliced to bloody chunks of meat.
By this time, the three genin had turned to face the foes, moving to shield Tazuna. Naruto could sense the shock coming off the other two at the sight of their sensei's "death," but both recovered swiftly enough.
The two ninja, both of whom had forehead protectors signaling them to hail from the Mist village, closed in on the blonde, who had moved closes to them and a bit away from his teammates. "Two down!" they shouted out, about to tighten the chain, only for Naruto to draw his swords and bring up a powerful wind chakra field around each of them, slicing through the chain and shredding it to pieces, in addition to putting a few minor cuts on both opponents.
The assassins backed off and regrouped for another assault. Naruto had sheathed his blades, wanting to be sure to take them alive, as Kakashi-sensei had silently ordered. While one charged the blue-eyed genin to keep him busy, the other headed towards Tazuna, Sakura, who had taken out a kunai, and Sasuke, who had activated the horyuukubushi. The blonde saw the men's eyes. Both were still underestimating them, despite his speed with the huge blades a moment ago.
The one coming for Naruto attempted a swipe with the claws on his gauntlet, which the blonde blocked with the sleeve of his shirt, putting enough chakra into it to harden the fabric to the strength of steel. The blonde used the momentum of the blow to spin himself around, trying to take the man's legs out with a sweeping kick. His opponent leapt slightly to avoid the attack, creating a perfect opening to give a hard punch to the man's stomach.
Naruto was careful to hold back a good deal on his punch to keep his opponent from being sent flying, but the blow was still powerful enough to knock the wind out of the man. The genin took the opportunity to spin around behind the enemy nin before grabbing the man's wrists in his left hand while with his right hand, he reached into his kunai pouch and drew out a chakra suppression seal then slapped it to the back of the man's head, effectively ending the fight.
Sasuke had a bit more trouble with his opponent. Not possessing the blonde's speed or the option of blocking the claws, he resorted to taking a hit to his forearm and grabbed the man's wrist with his other hand. He used his grip to pull his attacker forward before delivering a leaping kick to his chin.
Using the moment it took the man to recover, the Uchiha threw a punch at his chest, letting out a burst of flame to increase the pain. Kakashi chose that moment to step out of hiding and come up on the enemy nin from behind, putting a kunai to his neck.
"Naruto," the silver-haired jonin ordered, "Take these two into the woods and interrogate them while I talk to Tazuna-san." The blonde slapped another chakra suppression seal on the other assassin and dragged both into the forest.
"Now, Tazuna-san, would you mind telling us why you're being targeted by ninja?"
Naruto had tied the two ninja firmly to a tree. Then he performed the soundproofing jutsu he'd learned by watching Ojiisan. No need for his teammates to hear any screams. He went into serious mode, all traces of the energetic ramen-loving boy vanishing in an instant. "Just so you know ahead of time, I will get the information I want, and if you lie to me I will hurt you." He wanted to avoid using his shinkagan's mind-probing abilities if he could. The less people to know he had such a powerful bloodline the better. "Now, what are your names?"
"Kenza and Kazuo." answered the one the blonde had fought. They obviously weren't scared enough to talk yet.
"I warned you not to lie," the boy said while breaking their left arms simply by grabbing just above the elbows and twisting his wrists. With the chakra suppression seals limiting their chakra levels to that of an ordinary person, the bones snapped like twigs. They screamed in pain. "Now, let's try that again. What are your names?"
Both were a bit frightened at how he had known the names were fake and the ease with which their bones had snapped. "Gozu and Meizu," grunted out the one with a burn mark on his chest.
"Good. Who hired you?"
"We don't know. We work for Momochi Zabuza. Zabuza-sama ordered us to kill the old man."
"Tell me everything you know about Zabuza and anyone else working with him."
While Kakashi-sensei talked to their client and Naruto dragged the defeated nins into the forest, Sakura took a look at Sasuke's wound.
"It's not deep. Should heal soon enough given proper treatment. It seems those claws were poisoned, though. Hmm..." she said, pausing a moment to analyze the poison. "We're lucky. It's a common poison, and I have an antidote for it among my medical supplies." The pink-haired girl searched through the large bag at her side, before handing the boy a vial of bright green liquid. "Here, Sasuke-kun. Drink this."
He did as asked.
About twenty minutes later, Naruto came back out of the forest. "They're Gozu and Meizu, a pair of chunin missing-nins from the Mist village, who are listed in the bingo book as the Demon Brothers.
"They work under a jonin missing nin from Mist named Momochi Zabuza, who was one of the Seven Shinobi Swordsmen and is called the Demon of the Mist. They don't know who hired Zabuza, they were just ordered to kill Tazuna-san. Zabuza is highly skilled and likes to open fights with his kirigakure no jutsu to make him hard to spot. He is a master of silent killing, and is able to track opponents by sound alone. He makes use of a variety of water jutsu and normally uses his zanbato in close combat.
"Also, working with Zabuza is a boy a bit older than the three of us named Haku. Haku has apparently been trained by Zabuza directly for much of his life and is completely loyal to the man. His preferred weapons in a fight are senbon, and he has a bloodline that allows him to use ice-elemental techniques."
Seeing that the blonde had finished, Kakashi-snsei spoke up. "And now, knowing what we face, we have to decide wether to continue this mission or not If we do continue, know that this will be classified as an A-rank mission on our return to Konoha. What do you three say? Sakura?"
The pink-haired girl gave her thoughts. "I think that between the four of us we can handle it, Kakashi-sensei. And I don't want to abandon Tazuna-san. If what he says is true, the people of Wave need him."
The jonin turned next to the Uchiha, who smirked. "One jonin and a kid with a bloodline limit? I think we can take them."
Then it was Naruto's turn. "Once I start something, I don't stop until I'm done. And Tazuna-san is a good person. I'm sure he had a reason for lying to us."
"Thank you, kids. You don't know how much this means to me," said the old bridge-builder.
"Okay, move out," the silver-haired jonin commanded. "I'll send a message to Konoha about the Demon Brothers and the updated mission status, and while we walk, I want Naruto filled in on what we learned from Tazuna-san. Excellent work with your first interrogation, by the way Naruto."
"Thanks, Kakashi-sensei," the blonde said, grinning proudly, "They only tried to lie to me five times."
As they continued, everyone explained to Naruto about how Gato was trying to destroy and take over Wave country, and Tazuna's bridge was the only thing that could stop him. The boy onle felt more sure that he had made the right decision.