Disclaimer: All HP characters are the property of JKR, the WB, and respective publishing companies and all Naruto characters are the property of Masashi Kishimoto. This is nothing more than a simple FanFiction that I have written. I have made no money from this or any of the other stories I have posted on this or other sites.
Warnings: AU for parts of both worlds (i.e. kiss canon goodbye), mild character bashing, mild to moderate violence (there are shinobi involved after all), and a few others that will be announced as they crop up.
AN: This story is self-beta'd; so there may be occasional grammatical or spelling errors that crop up every now and then and for those I apologize in advance.
Chapter 25: Broken Neck Pass
Saturday, April 26, 2003, Late Afternoon
Konohagakure no Sato, Hi no Kuni
"All right, my cute little students; that's enough for today," Kakashi declared during a brief lull in the melee spar the three Genin had been having. "We'll be taking a C-Rank mission tomorrow; so make certain you pack enough supplies and equipment for a week or two and get plenty of rest tonight. You'll then need to me outside of the Hokage's Tower at six sharp tomorrow morning."
"Hai, sensei," all three Genin chirped in unison; all of them excited about the prospect of leaving the village yet again.
Kakashi disappeared in a swirl of leaves two second later and the trio took off towards the Namikaze Apartments above the Wheelhouse. The first thing they did after walking through the door was make a beeline for the nearest shower so they could wash off the sweat and grim they were covered in. Once they were clean, the three of them met back up in the kitchen to grab a snack to hold them over until supper.
The trio then migrated to the living room where they spent the rest of the afternoon oiling kunai, sharpening shuriken, and making a list of those tools and supplies that needed to be replaced or restocked. After supper, the three of them would split up to pack for the mission with Naruto sending out a few clones to collect those supplies they didn't have on hand in order to save time. Naruto had just sealed three extra sets of his non-standard shinobi uniform into a storage scroll when a sharp knock on his bedroom door reached his ears.
"It's unlocked!" Naruto announced loudly instead of bothering to get up and open the door to see who was there.
"Yes, but being unlocked does not mean it is safe to open," Takeshi dryly pointed out as he stepped into the room.
"That should teach you not to try and prank me while I'm sleeping," Naruto retorted as he smirked at his cousin.
"We both know you weren't sleeping at the time; you were far too busy trying to sneak into my room so you could prank the clone I'd left in my bed as a decoy."
Naruto snickered in response to the accusation but didn't bother to try and deny it; that's exactly what he had been doing at the time. Takeshi let out an exasperated huff and rolled his eyes but Naruto knew his cousin was amused because he could feel his cousin's emotions. The fond smile sliding onto Takeshi's face a heartbeat later only confirmed it. Once the moment of shared amusement had passed, Takeshi pulled a small storage scroll out of one of the many pockets in his cloak and tossed to Naruto.
"That has the improved Chakra Suppressing Ward pendant I made for you in it along with a couple of spares in case the one you are wearing is damaged or lost," Takeshi explained as Naruto snagged the flying scroll out of the air. "It also has a dozen of the Temporary Disguise Seals that I designed to hide your hair, eyes, and whisker marks to prevent your father's old enemies spotting your resemblance to him when you're out of the village. The directions on how to apply and remove the seals are included. They're attuned to your chakra signature so you're the only one that can use them."
"Thanks, Keshi-nii."
"You're welcome, squirt," Takeshi replied before he left the room.
As soon as his cousin was gone, Naruto sighed and grimaced at the scroll in his hand. He was touched that Takeshi went out of his way to protect him but there were times when he really hated the fact that he had to hide who he was each time he set foot out of the village. That was especially true when it came to hiding his parentage; he was proud of the fact that he was the son of the Yondaime Hokage.
At least he didn't have to hide who he was when he was in the village. That would have really sucked.
Letting out another sigh, Naruto pushed his dissatisfaction over the need for him to disguise himself each time he left the village out of his mind and quickly skimmed through the directions for the Disguise Tags before he resumed packing.
He started by removing all but one of the new pendants and Disguise Tags from the storage scroll that Takeshi had given him. One of the pendants immediately replaced the old pendant he wore around his neck out of habit while four more were packed amongst his supplies; one in his utility pouch, one is his first aide kit, one in his backpack, and the last one in a hidden pocket inside of his jacket. Four of the disguise seals he'd pulled out were distributed similarly. The scroll holding the last spare pendant and tag and the Disguise Tag instructions was then tucked into his utility pouch until he could give it to Kakashi for safe keeping. The rest of the extras were promptly stored in his dresser for future use.
Naruto then finished packing his spare kunai and shuriken (most of them disappearing into hidden pockets that Takeshi had created in his jacket). The storage scrolls holding his camping equipment, emergency supplies, and spare clothes were then tucked into his backpack along with a box of exploding tags, a roll of wire, two empty storage scrolls, two blank scrolls, and his trap kit. When his clones returned, he'd add the storage scrolls of food and water they'd picked up from the Farm (identical scrolls also being passed to his teammates by another pair of his clones).
Once he finished packing, Naruto set his backpack beside the door where it would be easy to find first thing in the morning before he changed into his pajamas. He'd then make his rounds to say goodnight to everyone; a habit that he'd developed not long after he'd first started living with Takeshi. It was also his way of making certain that his family was both real and safe (there were still times when he feared they would disappear on him or that he'd only dreamed them up in the first place – but that didn't happened anywhere near as often as it had in the beginning).
He would crawl into bed right after he finished saying his goodnights but wouldn't fall asleep until after Takeshi stuck his head through the door to check on him; his cousin's method of insuring that he was safe and where he was supposed to be. Some kids his age would be annoyed if their parents or guardians were constantly checking on them like that but Naruto didn't mind; he liked knowing his cousin cared enough to take the time to check on him each night.
The twelve (and a half!) year old Genin would drift off to sleep just a few minutes later.
It felt like he'd only just closed his eyes when he heard his alarm blaring in his ear early the next morning. Letting out a soft groan of complaint, Naruto rolled over and blindly slammed his hand down on the off switch. He then snuggled back beneath the covers with every intention of going back to sleep. Naruto would bolt out of bed a heartbeat later when he recalled that Kakashi was taking them out of the village on another C-Rank Mission today.
The blond would then spend the next twenty minutes rushing through his usual pre-mission morning routine; which included waking up Housei (who always slept through his alarm), taking a quick shower, pulling on a clean uniform, and double-checking his pack to make certain he hadn't forgotten anything he might need. He would then meet up with Housei and Midori in the kitchen where they found breakfast waiting for them on the table as usual. They quickly ate before they swapped packs in order to check each other's supplies.
That was a routine that Kakashi had drilled into them from the moment they became a team and originally intended as a combination get-to-know-your-teammates-habits exercise and a trust building exercise; since you could learn a lot about a person by the stuff they deemed to be essential to daily function and survival. It also took quite a bit of trust to let someone else paw through your things.
Once they had confirmed that all of them had everything, they trooped out the door and took to the roofs as they made their way to the Hokage's Compound where they were to meet Kakashi. Their perpetually late sensei would show up ten minutes after six and the trio greeted him enthusiastically; the Genin very pleased with the prospect of getting out of the village for a week or two with an added bonus of avoiding D-Rank Missions for the same length of time. Kakashi led them into the Mission Assignment Room just five minutes later where Nara Shikaku was lazily thumbing through the most recent mission requests and ranking them according to risk, difficulty, and priority.
"Good morning, Team Kakashi; are you hear to pick up a new mission or file a mission report?" the Chuunin on duty at the assignment desk inquired by way of greeting.
"We're looking to pick up a C-Rank," Kakashi replied somewhat lazily.
"Do you have a preference for type or destination?"
"No."
"Is your team capable of taking a high priority Search and Rescue Mission?" Shikaku demanded before the Chuunin on duty at the assignment desk could crack open the scroll holding the older C-Rank Missions on file.
"Yes," Kakashi replied as he turned to face the older Jounin.
Shikaku nodded an acknowledgement as he passed a mission scroll over to Kakashi and stated, "Good, your client is the Daimyou of An no Kuni. He has sent in an urgent request for help in locating his missing daughter, Mitsuhira Kayo (who herself is married to the Daimyou of Mitsu no Kuni), and her small entourage. Kayo-dono was making her yearly pilgrimage through Shu no Kuni which separates An and Mitsu to visit her parents when they disappeared. Their trackers were sent out to locate the small delegation but they lost their trail in Broken Neck Pass due to a rainstorm that hit the area at some point after Kayo-dono's group disappeared."
"How long has it been since they first went missing?"
"Roughly five days ago. How soon can you leave?"
"We're packed and ready to go now," Housei replied when Kakashi glanced at the three of them over his shoulder.
"I will have a runner send out a reply to An's Daimyou and let them know we have a team in route and request that they send a contact meet you in Shu no Kuni's western port of call," Shikaku stated as he gestured to one of the Chuunin that were lounging about the room.
"Let's go," Kakashi instructed as he headed for the nearest window instead of leading them back through the building.
Shikaku muttered a complaint about doors being meant to allow one to move through walls under his breath as all three Genin followed their instructor through the window but Naruto ignored it; the man tended to complain about everything. The trio would catch up to Kakashi fairly quickly as he headed straight for the gates via rooftop in order to save time by avoiding the streets. The four of them would drop down to the streets when they reached the large courtyard situated in front of the gates. They made a brief stop at the gate to check out with the Chuunin on duty before they took to the trees and increased their pace.
"Naruto, do you need us to stop so you can apply a henge to hide your hair?"
"Nah, oniisan finally finished the Disguise Tags he was working on for me and I can apply one as we go," Naruto replied as he reached into his utility pouch to grab the one he'd stored in there last night.
"How many of them did you bring and how long do they last?"
"I packed four and brought an extra one for you to hold onto just in case. And they will last as long as I need them to; Keshi-nii set them up so that they have to be manually deactivated in order to prevent them from dropping unexpectedly in the middle of a mission. I left the instructions in with the extra one I have for you to hold onto."
"How complex is the disguise?" Kakashi inquired as he dropped back beside Naruto to collect the spare tag and the instructions.
"Fairly simple, it just changes my eye and hair color and covers up my whiskers," Naruto answered as he slapped the seal onto the back of his neck and channeled a small burst of chakra through the paper.
As soon as his chakra came into contact with the seal, the paper heated up and sank into his skin while leaving behind a chakra imprint of the seal on his neck. A second pulse of chakra then activated the seal and caused the color of his hair to fade from sunshine yellow to straw yellow while his eyes turned a murky hazel. At the same time, the whisker-like birthmarks on his cheek and the disguise seal on his neck faded out of view. He then took the time to fish out the storage scroll holding the spare tag and pendant and passed it over to his sensei.
"Subtle and effective," Kakashi remarked as he buttoned the storage scroll into his flak jacket. "Is it as easy to deactivate as it is to activate?"
"Sort of, I just have to cup my hand over the back of my neck and channel chakra into the spot where I placed the tag until the tag resurfaces so it can be peeled off. The only thing is that I'm the only one that can use or remove them because oniisan keyed them to my chakra signature. And each tag can only be used once."
Kakashi nodded in response before he moved back up to take point while Midori and Naruto fell back behind Housei in what was known as their Travel Formation; the positioning designed to protect the older teen in the event of an ambush since he was their squad's medic in training. The four of them would then spend the rest of the morning making their way to the nearest port in order to catch a ship to Shu no Kuni. They would reach their destination just an hour shy of noon and the three Genin would sit on the dock and eat lunch while Kakashi arranged for their passage south.
By one o'clock, the four of them were on a cargo ship with the coastline off to their right and the open sea to their left as the ship carried them south on the current. Over the course of the next two and a half days, Kakashi had the three Genin working with the ship's crew to learn everything they could about sailing a ship and navigating across empty stretches of ocean by the sun and stars. When they weren't taking lessons from the sailors, they were holed up in the small cabin they were provided with for the trip going over the information they'd been given on the mission and pouring over maps of Shu no Kuni.
The ship they were on would reach Shu no Kuni around mid-morning on the thirtieth of April and as soon as the boat had been secured to the dock, Kakashi was hustling the three teammates over the side. The three of them were then given two hours to explore the small city port while Kakashi hunted down their contact in order to get more information on the last known location of the missing entourage. By silent agreement, Naruto and Midori let Housei pick their direction and the three of them wandered out of the port and into the city where they did a bit of window shopping.
When they passed a small shop selling hand carved wood and stone trinkets, Naruto couldn't resist buying a cherry wood carving of a six inch tall howling wolf for Satoshi. The younger boy adored anything and everything about wolves due to the stories that Takeshi still told him about his birth father. Naruto had actually made it a habit of collecting little wolf trinkets to bring back for Satoshi each time he left the village on a mission. So far he'd brought home six stuffed wolf toys (each one in a different color or different position), a necklace made from old teeth, a small painting of a wolf pair, and a clay tile with a huge wolf track in the center of it.
He also brought back gifts for little Aika, though he never stuck to a specific theme for her gifts. The last gift he'd gotten for her had been a stained glass window with pretty pink cherry blossoms. This time, he bought her a teak carving of a sleeping rabbit that was situated on its back in a little wooden basket and its fore-paws crossed over its chest. The last thing he brought from the trinket store was a small two inch tall jade carving of a toad for himself. Like the gifts he always got for the children, Naruto always bought himself a little something while out of the village and he usually got himself a toad because of the summoning contract his father had held.
As soon as he paid for his three purchases, Naruto sealed them into a storage scroll and tucked it into his backpack so that it wouldn't get lost. Housei teased him (as usual) about buying souvenirs but Naruto teased him right back when they stopped in a candy shop so that Housei could buy a bunch of sweets. The older boy had something of a sweet tooth and loved to try new kinds of candy and treats. Midori wasn't without a vice either and as soon as Housei had paid for his new stash of goodies, the three of them headed to the bookstore so she could buy a map and guide book for Shu no Kuni to add to her collection. She only ever bought maps and guides for those countries or cities they visited as a team.
After Midori had sealed away her new purchases, the three of them wandered back in the direction of the docks so they could meet back up with Kakashi-sensei and find out if he had met up with their contact. They would find the Jounin talking to an unfamiliar man at the meeting place and the three of them hung back to observe the man talking to Kakashi and to scan the immediate surroundings for any signs of trouble. Once they determined that there were no suspicious characters watching their sensei, the three of them approached the pair.
"…lost their trail near the northern entrance to Broken Neck Pass," the stranger finished as the trio came to a stop just a few feet away. "We combed the entire length of the pass but found no evidence that they entered the pass."
"Could they have taken a different route?" Kakashi inquired with a slight frown.
"No, Broken Neck Pass is the only way through the High Neck Mountains. The only other way to get to An no Kuni from Mitsu no Kuni is to travel by ship but Kayo-dono dislikes traveling over the sea unless there is no other choice because she is prone to seasickness."
"Is there any chance that one of her father's or husband's enemies might have taken her hostage?"
"It is possible but unlikely as there was no indication that any one was targeting Kayo-dono and neither her husband nor her father has received a ransom note from a kidnapper. We did not ignore the slight possibility that an enemy of either court was behind her disappearance though; hence the reason why her father sought Konoha's aide in locating her."
"Are there any ruins or caves where a small force could have set up base within the pass?"
"The only thing that one will find in the pass is the haunted ruins of Kubisaki Castle."
"Did you search the ruins for any sign of Kayo-dono or recent occupation?"
"No."
"Why not?" Kakashi demanded as his frown shifted into a scowl beneath his face mask and Naruto could tell that his sensei was a little irritated that such an obvious location had not been searched.
"The castle ruins are haunted and any who trespass on the Kubisaki lands perish without a trace. Kayo-dono's guards would not have allowed her to set foot on the path leading to the castle and any bandits foolish enough to set up camp on the grounds would have been eaten alive by the terrible spirits that haunt the land."
"I see."
"Was there anything else you wished to ask me, shinobi-san?"
"Yes, do you have anything that belonged to Kayo-dono? I will need something with her scent on it so that we can track her."
"I did not bring anything of hers with me as I did not know that I would need it. Shall I send a runner to her parent's and ask them to send something of hers here for you?"
"No, it will take too long for a runner to get there and back. We'll have to make do with the information that you've already given us. If you'll excuse us now, we'll be on our way so that we can make the most of what little daylight is left."
"Of course, shinobi-san; I shall remain here in case you have need of me further."
Kakashi nodded an acknowledgement to the man before he turned to trio of Genin and ordered, "Let's go."
"We're going to search the haunted ruins first, aren't we Kakashi-sensei?" Naruto asked as the four of them took to the rooftops in order to avoid the crowded streets.
"Hai, nine times out of ten, 'haunted' locations are only haunted because some criminal has taken up residence in them and subsequently chase away any potential witnesses to their illegal activities. The rest of the time, the 'hauntings' are caused by natural phenomena or human imagination."
"And then there's the times when there's an actual spirit involved, sensei," Naruto pointed out as his thoughts immediately flew to the spirits that his cousin had called upon over the years in addition to his father's fixed presence.
"The ghosts that Takeshi calls upon are a unique circumstance and I have yet to run into a spirit that hasn't been summoned forth by your cousin," Kakashi dryly retorted and Naruto couldn't help but snicker as he recalled how Kakashi had reacted the first time he'd seen Takeshi training with Kushina and Minato's spirits.
Kakashi reached out to lightly slap Naruto on the back of his head (for laughing at him) but Naruto ducked at the last second; he was far too used to both of his cousins doing the same thing. Their playful demeanor would drop away as soon as they reached the edge of the port city; their minds once more back on their current mission. The four of them quickly fell into the same formation they had used previously the moment they left the rooftops and took to the road that would take them to Broken Neck Pass (the trees in Shu no Kuni far too small and widely spaced to travel through the tree tops like they had previously).
Team Kakashi would keep their pace to a steady ground-eating lope until well after sunset when they found a sheltered clearing and set up camp. They then ate a light supper before turning in for the night. Kakashi would have them up before the sun the next morning and after a light breakfast of fruit and beef jerky, the four of them hit the road once more. Their second day of travel of would see them reaching the entrance to Broken Neck Pass near sunset and Kakashi had them set up camp outside of the pass before he summoned all eight of his ninken.
Naruto watched his sensei give the eight dogs their orders before they split up into four pairs of two and disappeared into the night to search for any trace of the missing woman they had been hired to find. He and his teammates were very familiar with the small pack of ninken; Kakashi often summoned them on those missions where they needed to track down their target. Most of the time, the dogs would stick around long enough to greet the three Genin except those times when they were called upon to handle a time-sensitive task; such as searching for a missing nobleman's wife.
Once the ninken had vanished in the darkening twilight, Kakashi ordered the three Genin to eat and get some sleep. The trio didn't hesitate to comply and within a half an hour, all three of them were sound asleep. One of the first things that Kakashi had taught them once their team had been formed and long before they'd taken their first mission out of the village, was the ability to drop off to sleep on command. They had also been conditioned to sleep in any number of uncomfortable positions, inhospitable terrains, or inclement weather.
Their sensei's reasoning?
A full night's sleep on a comfortable bed was not always obtainable on missions and it was best they learn how to rest when and where they could while they still had had the luxury of training their bodies to adapt instead of being forced to learn how to do so when their lives were on the line. They had also been taught how to function while suffering from sleep deprivation, how to snap into wakefulness with full awareness without revealing the change in their state of consciousness, and how to cat nap while appearing wide awake.
Naruto actually excelled at the latter type of training because of the way that the Kyuubi's presence (and the steady influx of its chakra) constantly washed away his fatigue. It had been far harder for him to teach his body how to fall asleep on demand though; since he was usually too full of energy to sit still or empty his mind. That was especially true now that he wasn't using any where near as many clones in his daily training as he used to prior to his return to Konoha.
Adopting Takeshi's penchant for using disks for a day-long chakra control exercise helped. Only, instead of trying to work with glass disks, Naruto had taken to collecting interesting pebbles. And like Takeshi's glass disks, each pebble was unique; each one a different size, shape, and texture on top of being made from different types of rocks, minerals, and ores. They were also carved with recall runes so that they could be reclaimed if they ever got lost; though, Naruto couldn't actually recall them himself since he didn't have even a drop of magic. It was easy enough to ask his cousin or one of the elves to recall them for him if he needed them to though.
He'd actually lost count of the number of pebbles he'd collected over the past year as he inevitably brought home a new handful at the end of each mission; even the ones that took place in the village. He'd also lost count of the number of pebbles he held in place on a daily basis as he didn't bother changing them out every day like his cousin did. He only ever changed the ones he was using or added to them once a week or at the end of a mission. There were a few times when he'd even showered with them in place just because of the challenge it offered.
His chakra reserves were even larger than Takeshi's though and that was why he had even more problems than his cousin did when it came to chakra control and excess energy. When he'd asked why they didn't have the same amount of chakra, Jiraiya had told him it had something to do with him having had half of the Kyuubi sealed in him at birth while Takeshi had been nineteen when he'd had the other half of the Kyuubi sealed into him. Apparently, the nine extra years he'd held the Kyuubi had made a big difference when it came to how large his reserves were.
On top of that, he had been born with larger than average reserves due to his Uzumaki heritage; which meant that he'd had far more chakra to start with even before he'd had the Kyuubi sealed in him. His coils were also far more flexible; which allowed his reserves to grow at a far faster rate with only a minimal risk of his chakra coils suffering from the steady influx of the Kyuubi's chakra.
It was the Uzumaki's vast chakra reserves and that coil flexibility that made them ideal Jinchuuriki. Magic users also made excellent containers; providing the bijuu was sealed into them at birth or their magical reserves were large enough to heal the extensive damage caused by the sealing (which eliminated more than ninety percent of the magical population world wide).
Kakashi would wake his Genin up an hour before sunrise so they could dismantle their camp and eat breakfast. As soon as they had finished eating, they headed into Broken Neck Pass at a steady lope using their Sweep Formation. The new formation was basically a mirror image of their Travel Formation with Naruto and Midori running point along the edges of the pass (Naruto to the left and Midori to the right), Housei ten feet behind them in the center, and Kakashi another ten feet behind Housei where he could watch their back trail, keep an eye on all three Genin, and scan for any clues they might have missed.
They'd barely been traveling through the pass for three hours before they reached an overgrown turn off on the right side of the pass. Seated to one side of the turn off, were Guruko and Uhei; two of Kakashi's ninken. Both dogs looked rather nervous as they continuously swiveled their ears back and forth to audibly scan their surroundings while their eyes never stopped moving to visually cataloge the immediate area. Kakashi loudly snapped his fingers (the sound enhanced with a thread of chakra) to wordlessly instruct the trio to switch formations as they turned onto the side path.
Naruto sped up as he crossed the pass while Midori slowed down to fall into step five feet behind him and Housei caught up so that he was five feet behind Midori with Kakashi doing the same (so that he was five feet behind Housei); the four of them seamlessly shifting into the Spear One Formation. As they passed the two ninken playing sentry, Naruto could have sworn he heard Guruko let out a soft whine but soon put the dog's obvious worry out of his mind as he focused on scanning the side trail for tracks, traps, and enemies.
Another hour of travel placed them roughly halfway to the ruins and it was at the midway point that they found another pair of ninken waiting for them; this time it was the mismatched pair of Pakkun and Buru. The reason why the two dogs were waiting for them there was quite obvious as they were guarding the busted remains of a palanquin. The broken pieces of wood had not been in the pass for very long; the wood itself was not weathered or rotten enough to have been there for more than a week.
"Did you find any trace of the missing entourage, Pakkun?" Kakashi inquired as he inspected each piece of the wrecked transport while the three Genin formed a loose perimeter and kept watch for threats.
"No, there have been at least three severe rainstorms passing through the area and the rain obliterated all tracks and any hint of a scent," the talking pug replied sourly. "How much longer are we going to be here? I don't like this place. It feels wrong and there is something seriously creepy up ahead."
"We stay until we find our missing hime," Kakashi answered as he finished inspecting the wreck.
"Kakashi-sensei…?"
"Nani, Naruto?"
"There's something not right ahead of us," Naruto replied as he tried to quell the nausea he felt from the steady aura of negativity he could feel fairly close by. "It's… it's the worst thing I've ever felt not counting Keshi-nii's icy fury."
"Can you pick out which negative emotions you are sensing?"
"Bone deep weariness, echoes of sheer terror, and something deeper that feels like nothing at all; like whatever it is that is feeling it is empty or numb. It's malevolent but it doesn't feel like killing intent."
"Alright, here's what we're going to do," Kakashi stated after he took a minute to analyze Naruto's assessment; the Jounin one of the few individuals that knew about Naruto's empathy. "Pakkun and Buru are going to circle the ruins from the left and I'm going to circle them from the right; we'll be searching for any signs of occupation and note alternative exit routes in case things go south. The three of you, in the mean time, are going to continue down the trail until you sense any hostiles; at which point you will dig in and scout."
"If you make it to the ruins and don't see any sign of an enemy, then you will cautiously proceed towards the ruins to search for signs of our missing hime and the rest of her party. Naruto; you're in charge from this point forward. If at any time, the three of you are attacked, you are to regroup and fall back immediately and set off an emergency flare to get my attention. I fully expect all three of you to watch out for each other from this point forward. Any questions? No? Then let's move out."
Naruto watched both the two dogs and his sensei disappear into the rocky cliffs that lined the trail before he returned his attention to his two teammates. He felt more than a little nervous about being left in charge but the mission's parameters was rather similar to one of the training simulations that Kakashi had put the three of them through in the past. Each of them had been trained to lead in certain situations and this one just happened to be Naruto's specialty because he was essentially a one-man army thanks to his clones.
"We'll continue in the Spear One Formation and follow behind an Invisible Shield with a small group of clones playing rear guard," Naruto stated calmly as he called up exactly one hundred clones (all but three of which transformed into an assortment of wild animals that immediately moved up the trail and spread out to scout for threats) before he moved to take point. "Signs and sounds only from this point forward. Ikuzo."
As one, the three Genin fell back into their previous formation (minus Kakashi) and began stealthily making their way deeper into the mountains. The last three Kage Bunshin that he'd created fell into step behind them; the three clones spreading out so that they formed a line of protection behind the Genin in order to guard against attacks from the rear.
Translations: Japanese to English
An no Kuni – Red Bean Jam Country (also called the Land of Candy in the English subtitles of the Japanese version of the anime)
Dono – honorific used to denote a lord or lady from what I understand
Ikuzo – let's go
Mitsu no Kuni – Honey Country
Mitsuhira – not quite randomly selected last name for Kayo-dono as I purposefully searched for one with the prefix of 'mitsu' in order to link it to the country that her husband is supposed to be from and this particular name was the one I liked best out of the list of names available.
Shu no Kuni – Neck Country
Techniques/Skills:
Kage Bunshin no Jutsu – Shadow Clones
Notes:
Broken Neck Pass – you know, I must have spent well over an hour trying to find the Japanese translation for Broken Neck Pass but even Google Translate only spewed out gibberish. So, I left it as is.
Geographic Locations – the exact locations of An, Mitsu, and Shu no Kuni in relationship to Konoha have not been revealed and so I took the liberty of placing them south of Kaze no Kuni.
High Neck Mountains – author created name for the mountains in which Broken Neck Pass is located.
Invisible Shield – a pack of shadow clones henged as animals that act as forward scouts in dangerous situations.
Kakashi's Ninken Pack – Pakkun (the talking pug), Shiba (the one with the black crest on his head), Bisuke (little one with tattoo on forehead), Akino (one with glasses), Guruko (little one with the hitai-ate on his forehead), Uhei (one with bandages), Urushi (the white one), & Buru (the big black bulldog)
Signs & Sounds – an author created command to communicate through hand signs (sign language) and specific sounds or animal calls instead of using words. It is designed to reduce the chances of an enemy overhearing plans and for use in areas where speaking could draw far too much attention to them.
Things Go South – a reference to things going wrong; a politer way of saying a mission is fubar'd.
* This chapter was partially based on the Naruto Anime Season 8, episode # 194: The Cursed Phantom Castle (title also translated as The Haunted Castle in some translations) which is an anime only filler arc that took place after Sasuke's desertion.
10-25-15: Minor edits made to chapter to fix spelling/grammar mistakes and removed unnecessary author's notes.