Storm Ch 14
WARNING: THIS CHAPTER CONTAINS GRAPHIC VIOLENCE. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.
Despite getting odd looks from Sakura, Sai just sat back down after the spar, not saying anything. Naruto stared at him for a minute, before sitting down next to Tenten.
He leaned next to her, and whispered, "That was weird."
"What? The fact that he wanted to fight you?" she whispered back.
"No. He didn't insult me during the fight."
Tenten thought about it for a second, "Wow….. You're right."
They were interrupted when they noticed that Anko was asking Kakashi about the mission so far. They listened quietly while the masked jounin told them about their meeting with Tazuna, the encounter with the Demon Brothers, and Tazuna's story.
Naruto, Tenten, and Anko were all surprised by the story, especially how well Sasuke and Sai fought the Demon Brothers.
Anko and Kakashi then began to talk about things that were way over the Genins heads, so Tazuna went to bed, and Naruto wandered a short ways off to practice with his bow. Tenten and Sakura followed after him.
"So, Naruto-baka, why do you have a samurai weapon? Are kunai and shuriken not good enough for you?"
Naruto just glared at Sakura, "I have nothing against kunai or shuriken. It just so happens that I can do more with a bow than I can with standard thrown weapons."
Sakura didn't look convinced, so Naruto decided to show her instead. He pulled out a kunai, and threw it into a tree.
"Alright," he then said, "I would like for you and Ten-Chan to each throw a kunai at that tree as hard as you can."
Sakura looked confused, but Tenten just whipped a kunai at the same tree, burying it halfway to the handle. Naruto and Tenten both motioned her to hurry up, so the pinkette took out a kunai of her own and launched it at the tree a hard as she could, and managed to get it to sink into the tree about half an inch.
"Ok," Naruto said as he walked up to the three kunai in the tree, "We can all see that Ten-Chan is the best at kunai. Yours went in a half inch, mine went in one inch, and Ten-Chan's went in three inches. You injured your target, Sakura, I might have killed my target if it hit in the right spot, and Ten-Chan definitely got a kill. Now, I'm going to show you what I can do with my bow."
Naruto and the two girls then walked back to where they had thrown the knives from, and Naruto pulled his bow off his back. He handed it to Tenten, did some quick stretches, and then took his bow back. He then fished around in his quiver for a second, before withdrawing a single arrow.
The arrow had a black shaft, and the head and feathers were a dark green. He set the arrow to the string, and took a deep breath, before raising it up and pulling the string back to full draw. He held it for only a second, before he released the string. It gave a sharp twang, and the arrow sped towards the tree faster than Sakura could see.
Naruto released his held breath, and returned his bow to its position on his back. He calmly walked up to the tree, and tried to pull his arrow out of the tree. He immediately realized it was hopeless, so he just snapped it off where the shaft met the bark. He pulled a whole arrow out and held it up next to the broken one.
"See, Sakura? I got the arrow to go nine inches into that tree. If it were a person, it would probably be able to go through two or three people at this distance. That amount of power also provides extreme range. I can hit targets with a bow two to three times farther away than I can with a kunai, with less effort."
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Naruto and Tenten had gone to bed soon after their demonstration, and were up early the next morning. They quickly completed their morning tasks, and got back on the road.
The trek during the morning was entirely uneventful, with the only highlights being Tazuna's comments about the Genin.
They didn't stop to eat lunch, deciding instead to eat while they walked, since Tazuna said he wasn't tired, and wanted to hurry home.
It wasn't until the end of lunch that things got interesting. Naruto was halfway through a cardboard flavored ration bar when he suddenly flung it into a bush, his other hand bringing his staff in front of him, as he fell into a defensive stance.
"What the hell was that, Naruto-baka?" Sakura yelled out.
"I heard something moving in the bushes," he replied, casting his eyes about for the source of the noise.
Sai cautiously approached the bushes, and peeked behind them. Once he saw what Naruto had thrown his ration bar at, he calmly picked up a severely startled rabbit.
"This is your enemy, dickless."
Tenten just sweatdropped, and Sakura started to yell at Naruto some more for scaring the poor helpless bunny.
Anko, however, wasn't paying attention to what Sakura was screaming about.
"Kakashi, its summer, and that rabbit is white…."
His visible eye widened, "That means…..EVERYONE DOWN!"
Anko and the Genin hit the ground, with Naruto pulling Sakura down with him, while Kakashi grabbed Tazuna. Just as they got out of its way, a giant sword went hurtling through the space the Genins necks had just been occupying, before it embedded itself in a tree.
A man then appeared on the handle of the massive blade, staring down at them. He had slashed Mist headband on, with the plate over his left ear. His lower face was wrapped in bandages, and he had no shirt on, just some straps that were probably used to carry his massive sword. He had arm coverings on that were similar to Sasuke's, but with a white camouflage design. He wore camouflaged gray pants and gray sandals, with his ankles wrapped in more of the white camo fabric.
"Ah. Momochi Zabuza. One of the old Seven Swordsmen of the Hidden Mist Village" Kakashi stated as he turned to face the new arrival. "I want you all to stay here and guard Tazuna. Zabuza is on a far different level than who we faced earlier. That is the teamwork for this situation," he told the Genin, as he brought his left hand up to his forehead protector. "I am going to have to go all out against him."
"Oh? You must be Sharingan no Kakashi," Zabuza said.
This confused the Genin, since all of them except for Sakura knew that the Sharingan was Uchiha-only, and Kakashi wasn't an Uchiha. Sasuke of course was pissed, since a non-Uchiha shouldn't be allowed to have the almighty Sharingan.
"I'm here to kill the old man," Zabuza continued, "Honestly I don't care about you Konoha nins, so if you let me do in the old man, you all can leave."
Kakashi just finished pushing his headband up, and while keeping his left eye closed, said, "I'm sorry, but we can't do that. We were hired to protect him, and it would reflect poorly on us if we just let you kill him without putting up a fight. I'm sure you can understand." As soon as he finished, he opened his eye, revealing a fully mature three-tomoe Sharingan.
"Oh? I'm honored that you show me the Sharingan right off the bat. It won't help you though," Zabuza replied.
"Eh? What's with Kakashi-sensei's eye?" Sakura asked.
"That is the Sharingan," Anko replied quietly. "It is the bloodline of the Uchiha's, and it allows the user to both predict and copy an enemy's movements, even allowing them to copy Jutsu that is used in front of them."
While Anko had been describing the Sharingan, Kakashi and Zabuza had continued talking, and Zabuza had grabbed his sword and leapt onto the surface of the near by river.
"Ninpo: Kirigakure no Jutsu," Zabuza said, as an unnaturally thick mist began to surround them. It was so thick, that the Genin could barely see each other, and they were in touching distance.
Naruto and the other Genin peered around in the mist, trying vainly to see where Zabuza, Kakashi, and Anko had disappeared to.
"Larynx, spine, lungs, liver, jugular vein, collarbone, kidney, heart, a strike at any of these points is lethal. Now, which one will I use today?" Zabuza said while hidden.
The Genin all froze, never having experienced killing intent like they were right then. None of them could move, because it was so intense. It didn't last long though, as the killing intent all but vanished one of the sources moved.
Suddenly realizing that Zabuza was behind him, Naruto flung his tanto into a hasty defense, while he shoved Tenten, who was standing next to him, out of the path of the blade. He succeeded in getting her out of the path of the blade, and Zabuza's massive cleaver came into contact with Naruto's cheap tanto.
Naruto tried valiantly to hold back the massive cleaver, but his cheap training blades proved no match for the giant weapon bearing down on him. Zabuza's cleaver sliced through Naruto's blades like they weren't even there.
Suddenly, all background noise ceased, as far as those present were concerned. Tenten would remember it vividly for the rest of her life. She distinctly heard the slight shriek of Naruto's blades being destroyed, the clang as the severed blade ends hit the rocky ground, and a wet, fleshy thump as something else landed in the road.
"AHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Naruto screamed out as he fell to his knees, his right hand wrapped around the bleeding stump where his left hand used to be.
When Zabuza had cut through Naruto's knives, he also cut his left hand off at the wrist.
Tenten looked down at Naruto, and saw him cradling his left arm. She then noticed his left hand lying in the dust, the remains of his knife still held tightly in its grasp.
"NARUTOOOOOOOOOO!" she screamed out, before ripping her katana out of its sheath, and hacking wildly at the missing-nin. Zabuza just smirked under his face wraps, and allowed her to drive him back a few feet, before he viciously back handed her with his left hand, sending her flying several feet, and into unconsciousness.
Realizing where their target was, Kakashi and Anko charged the missing-nin, and engaged him in a flurry of Taijutsu strikes. They managed to push him a little farther away from the Genin before Zabuza found enough room to swing his massive sword, causing both of his opponents to flip out of the way, lest they be chopped in half at the waist.
Kakashi used the momentary lull in the battle to reveal his left eye, the three tomoe of his Sharingan spinning wildly.
Anko used the time to look over at the Genin, and her body froze for a second when she realized that Naruto's hand was no longer attached to his arm. She then noticed that Sakura was in a shock induced stupor. Sasuke was also in shock, but seemed at least mildly aware of his environment, and Sai was helping Naruto try and stop the blood pouring out of his wrist.
For the first time in her life, she was tempted to use the power of her curse seal, but managed to fight back the urge. Instead, she launched two kunai at the charging missing-nin, which were immediately followed by three large snakes from each of her sleeves.
Zabuza managed to dodge the kunai, and chop the heads off two of he snakes, but the remaining four snakes wrapped themselves around his chest and sunk their fangs into his upper arms. They weren't poisonous, but being bitten by four snakes at the same time still hurts like hell.
The snakes began to constrict, forcing all the air out of his lungs. Kakashi charged the restrained enemy, but right as he was about to stab Zabuza in the head, he realized that water was coming out of the snakes' mouths. He rammed his kunai through the mizu bunshins head anyway, and watched as it splashed into a puddle.
Kakashi and Anko both frantically looked for wherever Zabuza disappeared to, but did not locate him in time from slamming Kakashi in the chest with the flat of his sword, launching him into the nearby river. A quick throw from Anko revealed this to be another clone.
Kakashi quickly returned to the surface of the river, and as soon as his head broke the surface, he realized he was caught. The water swirled up around him, trapping him in Zabuza's water prison. He was about to yell at Anko to run, but when he saw the look in her eyes, he realized that it would just be a waste of his precious air.
Anko had leveled a glare at Zabuza that would make kage wet themselves. She didn't always show it, but she cared greatly for her two brats, and the man she was glaring at had most likely just ended Naruto's ninja career, and possibly killed Tenten. She hadn't told them, but they were among the only people to know her whole history, and the only other people who knew the whole story was Sarutobi, Ibiki, and Inoichi.
Anko pulled out a few senbon from some inner pocket of her trench coat, and then performed an action that just about made Kakashi's eyes fall out.
She buttoned her trench coat closed.
Never, in his entire career as a shinobi, had Kakashi seen Anko close her coat. He had only even heard of it happening once, and the results weren't pretty.
He watched Anko distribute the needles to her other hand, and then noticed that she was gathering her chakra. She was gathering so much, that Kakashi could see it with both of his eyes.
It wasn't the normal blue either. The chakra swirling around Anko was a sickly color between purple and black, and it had an ominous feel to it.
At first, it pooled around her feet, lazily circling her ankles. A few seconds later, though, and it was whipping around her so fast that it ripped her hair tie off of her head, allowing her shoulder-length purple hair to whip around in the windstorm of chakra she had encased herself in.
She held the chakra storm for about twenty seconds, and then seemingly vanished. She appeared in the same spot moments later, having destroyed all of Zabuza's clones that were hiding in the mist.
Zabuza looked impressed by the display of speed, but wasn't scared or anything. His eyes suddenly widened though, as Anko hurled both handfuls of senbon at him, and they were traveling extremely fast.
Zabuza had no choice but to release Kakashi from the water prison and try and dodge the needles, but he still took three in his left arm, immobilizing it completely. This did surprise him, since he couldn't effectively use his giant sword with only one hand.
Kakashi, of course, had immediately retreated to dry land as soon as he was free of the water prison, and rapidly began forming hand seals. Taking advantage of Zabuza's momentary lapse in concentration, he launched a water dragon at him.
Zabuza heard Kakashi call out the water dragon, and looked over at it just as it hit him, launching him through a few trees, and away from his sword, which was flung somewhere into the woods.
He was just about to charge back at them, when he was suddenly hit in the neck with another set of needles, and he collapsed into a heap.
"Wow. He really did die…" a voice said.
Kakashi looked over and saw a Mist hunter-nin on a tree branch. He eyed he masked nin for a few seconds, and then jumped over to Zabuza's body, checking for a pulse. When he found none, he quietly exclaimed, "Huh. He really did die…"
Kakashi looked back up at the hunter-nin, who bowed slightly to him. "Thank you. I have been waiting for an opportunity to kill Zabuza for a long time. He is beyond my level, and I hadn't found an opening prior to this." The nin then shunshin'd down to Zabuza's body. "If you'll excuse me, I have to dispose of this body." The nin then picked up Zabuza's body, and shunshin'd away.
As soon as the hunter-nin took off with Zabuza's corpse, Anko and Kakashi rushed over to the Genin. Anko quickly checked Tenten while Kakashi checked Naruto.
Anko was able to get a response out of Tenten, but wasn't able to wake her up.
Kakashi, however, had much worse news. The way Naruto's hand had been severed did not allow for reattachment. Naruto and Sai had managed to stop most of the bleeding, so Kakashi assisted with that instead. It was then that he noticed a slight bit of red chakra surrounding the wound, and it seemed to be helping close it.
Anko came over, and Kakashi just shook his head.
"He will live, though, right?" she asked quietly, as she helped Kakashi bind Naruto's arm to his chest.
"Yeah, he's going to live," Kakashi replied, "But his hand is done for. The way it was severed won't allow for a successful reattachment. I sedated him too, so he'll be out of it for a while."
Anko just hung her head. "Oi, Tazuna, how far is your house from here?"
"Huh? Oh,….. j-just a few miles," he replied, after he came out of shock a little bit.
Kakashi sealed Naruto's hand into a scroll, and then moved on to bringing Sakura and Sasuke out of their stupors. Tenten was picked up by Anko, and Kakashi picked up Naruto once his Genin were moving.
The trip to Tazuna's house was quiet, since all the Genin were either still mostly in shock, or borderline unconscious. When they got there, Tazuna knocked on the door quietly, and it was opened by a younger woman.
"Yes? Oh! I'm glad you made it back!" she yelled out, flinging her arms around Tazuna.
"This is my daughter, Tsunami," he told the ninja. He then whispered into her ear, "Send Inari to his room. There are things he doesn't need to see."
Tsunami looked at him confused, but quickly ushered her son to his room. It wasn't until she returned that she noticed one of the younger ninja had a slightly bloody bandage around where his left hand should be.
"Oh my!" she gasped out, "Is there anything we can do to help?"
Anko looked at Kakashi for a moment, and then Kakashi said, "Just a bowl of clean water and some privacy, as well as any bandages if you have them."
"Of course, Tou-san, can you take the others to the living room?"
Tazuna just nodded, and they all went into the house.
AN: before any of you complain that i just ruined naruto, relax. it was not done on a whim; i have been planning on chopping his hand off since i began planning this fic. his career isnt over, and he will find ways around not having his left hand anymore. fear not, it is all going according to plan.