Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. How does arthritis work when you're a ninja? Because they have old people still capable of landing from upwards of thirty feet in the air without clack-clack-clacking their knees and ankles.
If I jump off of anything higher than six feet and land on my feet, I have to at least think about it or at least safety roll out of it. I'm not even 30 yet. My knees are shot.
I've met a lot of people who were WAY smarter than me. I've worked with a lot of people who were WAY smarter than me. I've fought against them too. I've gotten to know a bunch. I've gotten to see some of their best ideas all the way from the planning stages, up to when they were finally put into action. I've even come up with a few plans myself. Granted, most of them weren't the most complex things that have ever been cooked up in someone's brain, but hey, you get points for effectiveness, not for style.
Let me tell you a little something about what I've learned about plots, schemes, plans, conspiracies, or whatever you want to call them.
Most of them are really easy to mess up. I did it to a lot of people. Hell, the few times I came up with big plans, it happened to me.
If one small thing changes, or if you don't know everything about something that you think you do, oh boy, you're not going to like how things turn out. That's why all the smartypants people I've ever been around are so meticulous about details and whatnot. To people like me, the little things are boring, but it's important. To the thinkers, the planners, that's the stuff that keeps their attention, keeps them up at night, because one small thing can make your best idea blow up in your face.
In the end, you can be the smartest guy in the world, or the best tactician alive. The mark of being really good, isn't just being able to come up with awesome, mind-blowing plans. It's when those awesome, mind-blowing plans get screwed up, how do you adapt and move forward from there?
Sometimes you've got to play the hand you're dealt, and work with it, you know what I'm saying?
Uzumaki Naruto – 'End of Clan Wars Era Memoirs'
Chapter 28: Chaotic Neutral
As night fell and dragged on over the camp of Naruto's foreign contingent, he stayed awake. It was more than just because someone had to be on guard duty. He also had to make sure they had a plan – a route to take into an increasingly hostile country.
The bandits and petty shinobi lying in wait along the roads had been nothing more than a warm-up. Kurosuki Raiga was just the beginning. Speaking of which, they still had no idea what to do with the boy they found.
His name was Ranmaru, and he put up no fight, not that he could when his body was as frail as it was. He couldn't even walk. Once he was closed up in his bundle, he could hardly even open it without struggle. Kabuto had taken to watching over him, which was for the best, seeing as how he was the only medical professional amongst them. But that just added pressure, putting another person with them that Naruto was responsible for, even temporarily.
He was in charge. Everyone with him was his responsibility. Sure, Tenten may have demanded to come along, and Kabuto may have come along of his own volition as a favor to Tenten, but all of this was happening because of what Naruto wanted. This was a purely selfish mission to settle a personal score.
Tenten was the one who got to hold on to the Kiba blades, the obvious reason being her love for and mastery of weapons. The thought of her reaction to that news made Naruto smile even hours later. The hug she gave him was tighter and more heartfelt than the one he'd gotten after giving the girl her latest birthday present.
They would have to give the weapons up eventually, but for the time being, there was no reason that Tenten couldn't take possession of them. Maybe she could learn something about them? How to use them, perhaps? Perhaps she could study them and find something she could incorporate into her own future works? It couldn't hurt to let her try, so long as no one outside of their party learned that they had them just yet.
Tayuya had been doing her best to get them up to speed on how things worked in Mizu no Kuni. On the massive chessboard that was the chain of islands, the weapons of the Seven Swordsmen were key pieces. Now it was up to how they leveraged that power, and on that, Naruto had been wracking his brain.
His father was something of a revolutionary leader, and he himself had been trained by the man, and some of the best of Minato's top confidants who were all well-versed in the delicate nature of navigating the mine field of the Elemental Nation's politics and relationships. If anyone was equipped to handle unstable foreign affairs, it was hilariously enough Naruto.
The craziness from the day bled into the tentative calm of the night. The next step was the big island. According to Tayuya, the Kurosuki Family would be in shambles after Raiga's death. It would take some time for word of his death to spread, due to the way the country was set up, and that Raiga stuck to the north where there was significantly less activity. That still gave them a window of time to find the Seven Swords owner they wanted to work with, to shop around a bit, before things went crazy when everyone realized Kiba was in the wind somewhere.
The moon was out and bright as Naruto sat guard over the camp. If anyone came at them, it wouldn't be too terribly difficult to see them coming. It definitely wasn't difficult to see Tayuya coming. She crawled out of the nearby tent, sans her straw hat, and walked over to the log where Naruto had taken a seat.
"What are you still doing up?" He asked, "Go to bed."
Tayuya rolled her eyes, "I hate sleeping around you pricks."
Which was the truth. She didn't trust any of them. They didn't necessarily trust her either, but with one person always standing guard, at least there was someone awake to ensure that she didn't get up to any hijinks. Tayuya didn't have such a luxury in return.
Naruto didn't comment on that, instead choosing to focus again on thinking about their next move. He needed to pick Tayuya's brain at some point. They would be moving into the northern part of the mainland, which according to the map she'd marked up was the territory of Biwa Juuzou.
Tayuya moved to look over Naruto's shoulder at the map. He turned back to her with a bit of a scowl, "You're in my light."
Tayuya moved aside and plopped down on the other end of the log. The two fell into a silence for some time while Naruto continued to work out where they'd been, what they'd dealt with, and where they were going.
"So, what's the deal with you guys?" The musical kunoichi asked after the two of them had been settled for a spell, "I know why you're here - looking for some dickhead with a mask. But I mean aside from that."
For the first time in over a week, Tayuya had asked a question about them. Until then, she couldn't have been bothered, "What do you want to know? Not like I have any secrets," Naruto said.
"I thought you shinobi-types were all about your secrets," Tayuya teased, "I don't know. I'm bored. What's it like on the mainland?"
Boredom – as good a reason as any other to try to get to know things. Naruto decided to go with it. It wasn't like there was anything he could tell Tayuya that she could use against them, "Honestly? It's not great. It's cleaner, but there's a lot of fighting all over the place. There's a lot of stuff that could be better."
"And you said Mizu no Kuni sucks. You don't even like where you're from."
"I wasn't born there," Naruto told Tayuya. He stopped and broke out a bigger map of the world as it was known at that point. He placed his finger Mizu no Kuni and dragged it over to where he wanted to show her, "I was born on Uzu no Kuni; another island country," He explained, in case it wasn't obvious from the map, "It was great there. Peaceful. It was a nice place to grow up, even if everyone in my clan hated me."
Tayuya soaked all of this in, noting the proximity of Uzu to the mainland, and its vast distance from Mizu no Kuni, "Why would your own clan hate you? Other than you being an annoying ass?"
Why indeed? He'd asked that tons of times before he knew for certain, "Because my dad is a revolutionary. The way things are have worked out for the Uzumaki Clan, and they don't want to rock the boat... at least that's what I figure," From there, he trailed off, "...Plus, that was before I had Kurama sealed into my guts."
Tayuya raised an eyebrow. She didn't know why he chose to mutter, "What's a Kurama, and why was he sealed inside of you?" How did that even work? Admittedly, her knowledge of fuuinjutsu was limited.
"I don't know why he's sealed inside of me," Naruto said, before hesitating on the next part, "...Also, Kurama is the real name for the Kyuubi."
Hearing that an honest-to-goodness tailed beast was sealed inside of the person next to her caused Tayuya to jump off of the log in fright, "You have the fucking Nine-Tails sealed inside of you!?" She almost yelled, "How!? What kind of crazy motherfucker would-!?"
"-That's what I'm trying to find out," Naruto cut her off, "The prick in the mask; that's who did this to me. I want answers."
Tayuya settled down, seeing as how Naruto wasn't some berserk monster the way the hearsay about jinchuuriki went. She'd been around him enough and pushed enough of his buttons that if he were that volatile, he'd have gone off already, "And you want to take a chunk out of his ass too, right?"
"Probably."
That wasn't the resolute answer Tayuya had expected to hear, "Probably? Come on, Golden Boy. What kind of half-assed answer is that? I was expecting some hellfire and brimstone out of you. I mean, jeez. You're a goddamn jinchuuriki..."
"I don't know how mad I should really be," Naruto said, admitting his conflict, "My life is kinda better now than it would have been, even if it is way harder now," But it was the kind of hardship that he felt gave him purpose. It was more than he could say before any of it had happened, "If the masked man never turned up, I probably wouldn't have met my dad. I wouldn't have met Tenten, or any of my friends. I wouldn't have met you either. Not sure if that's a good thing yet, though."
"Oh, fuck you," Tayuya replied, good-naturedly, giving Naruto a rap on the shoulder.
It was the closest they'd been to being on the same page since they'd met. In fact, Tayuya had been noticeably easier on them since they'd proven they could hold their own. Especially since Naruto had taken Kurosuki Raiga and hammered him into the dirt.
The good times were then unintentionally smothered by Naruto, "So, you hate shinobi."
Tayuya's face twisted into an annoyed grimace, "And we were having such a nice fucking time," She said, showing her displeasure.
Naruto held up his hands defensively, "I was just curious. I'm not saying I need you to talk about it or anything. Just, if we're sharing stuff, you are a shinobi."
"You ever hear of self-loathing?" Tayuya said with a ghost of a smile before baring her teeth, "Shinobi are might-makes-right bullies. Souped-up thugs at best, superhuman tyrants at worst. The only thing that matters to them is what they can take with what they can do. What can they get from someone, for something?"
Naruto didn't know how to respond to that at first, "Were your parents shinobi?"
Tayuya shrugged, idly chipping away at the bark on the log with her fingernails as she spoke, "Who knows? If they were, they must have sucked at it, seeing as how they sold me."
Naruto almost choked on his own spit, "WHAT?"
People did that there? He hadn't seen it yet. Granted, he had only seen a few towns, and they hadn't had a lot of time to look around and take everything in, but to his knowledge he hadn't seen anyone in bondage.
Tayuya appeared to be a lot more blasé about the entire affair than Naruto expected, "You've only seen one part of Mizu. The broke part that can't afford to put up slaves," She explained, "Gird those loins, because this place gets way worse than what you've seen. Sometimes it goes there."
Naruto wanted to reply that what he'd already seen had been pretty awful. But Tayuya was telling a story, she was getting on a roll, and he didn't want to stop her every time he felt his anger rise. He could save that for the end.
Tayuya took his silence as acceptance and moved forward in her tale, "I was sold to the nearest bigwig warlord, one of the Seven Swordsmen at the time, by the way. He's dead now, so don't ask me the name. I don't want to think about that prick," She said with a bite to her tone, "He wanted me to be a courtesan and made me learn how to play music first. I was four. He put a flute in my hand and told me to blow. Then he smacked me when I didn't know how to do it right."
She could remember the bastard as clear as day. Tall and fat, with long orange hair pinned up at the top, his face looked like a fish's, with small round eyes, sharp teeth, and markings on the side of his face. She could still remember the ringing in her ears from the first time she'd been hit.
"Why does a ninja need a courtesan?" Naruto asked, trying to focus on the part of the story he'd heard that wouldn't put him in a near blind rage to hear more of.
Tayuya flitted her hand as if to say 'who knows?', "He wanted the people who worked for him entertained, I guess. Fuck if I know. When I played good, bad things didn't happen, so I got really fucking good, as fast as I could."
"He didn't teach you how to fight?"
Tayuya looked over at Naruto as though he were a fool, "Why would he do that? To make it harder to make me do what he wanted? Or so I'd know how to try and fight back when someone wanted to do shit to me?" She asked rhetorically. No one in their right mind would train someone they intended to abuse, "Eventually, someone more badass than him rode into his compound, lopped his head off, killed a ton of his ninja, and took his sword. I took my chance and I ran. I didn't want anything else to do with you shinobi. But I can't spit in any direction without hitting any of you."
Naruto's shoulders dropped, "I just asked, because I figured you had to get it from somewhere. Someone taught you, didn't they?" Even if it was just the basics.
"I taught me," Tayuya declared, a wild look in her eye, "So yeah, I am a shinobi, because I figured it was all I could do to keep from being victimized," She continued, a glint in her eye growing more dangerous by the word, "It's better than playing in a tavern for pocket change to live off of. Better than selling my pussy in that same tavern to bastards who want to pretend they aren't just taking it."
By then, Naruto's mouth had fallen open in horror, "H-How old were you?"
"Old enough," Tayuya said in a way that didn't keep a squirming sensation from wriggling its way down Naruto's spin, "Oh, get that fucking look off of your face. You know that shit happens."
Naruto's eyes flickered red as he butted heads with her viewpoint, "That doesn't make it any kind of right!"
They were in aggressive agreement, "You're goddamn right it doesn't, but don't look so shocked!" Tayuya snapped, "You've seen this place, what it's like! What kind of chance do you think a girl with nothing but a flute and the clothes on her back had?" She asked rhetorically, "So, by this point, I'd been around you types for seven years of my life. I'd been biding my time... picking up tricks here and there since I was four... and eventually, I got good enough to turn those tricks back around. And I did."
Genjutsu clearly became her discipline of choice for a reason. What easier way to get the upper-hand on violent brutes who didn't think, than by turning that lack of thought against them? She could dominate her enemies in a way that they never could to her.
She wasn't lying. Nothing about her story had tipped him off, and that aside, there wasn't a reason for her to lie. He was already traveling with her. He was already paying her a wage until they left Mizu no Kuni. There was nothing to gain from getting his sympathy.
Tayuya stared out at the moon's bright reflection on the water, her boiling temper having cooled down, "Being a shinobi pays way more than playing music on the road... and people tend not to fucking touch you when they know you can kill them. So, that's what I've been doing for the last three years."
Naruto could fill in the relevant bits on his own after that. From then, somewhere along the line, she came across them, received an offer of pay that she couldn't refuse, and more than a week later, there they were.
"And that's that," Tayuya said with a deep sigh, "Any questions? Anything you want me to go into vivid detail on? Or did I say enough to leave the horrible bits properly to your imagination?"
Naruto tried to think of what to say; what would be appropriate, "Um..." He started, "That is-. That really sucks. I mean... that really sucks."
Tayuya smirked grimly, "It's okay. I wouldn't know what to say to that story either," And she had actually lived it.
Naruto rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly, still trying and failing to be eloquent, "Yeah, I mean, it's not like anyone teaches you the right thing to say when things like that comes up. I mean, if your parents died instead of... selling you off, I could at least settle for something like, 'sorry for your loss', or 'that must have been really hard'. But this... it's a bit more..."
"I know," Tayuya said, taking some of the pressure off of him. And yet, he kept trying to talk.
Naruto shook his head, squinting hard as he continued on, getting more and more flustered, "I don't want to say something stupid like, 'I'm sorry', because that just annoys me, personally. When people do that, it's like, what the fuck are you apologizing for, 'ttebayo? You didn't do it. You couldn't stop it. And I don't want it to seem like I'm pitying you or anything, because you don't need it. Nobody can do anything about it for you now. You got yourself out of it. Also, I don't want to feel what it's like to get hit with a guitar for pitying you."
Tayuya let out a snort of laughter at that.
"And we don't need to talk about it anymore. Not because I don't know what to say, but because... it's out there now, 'ttebayo," Naruto said, his voice growing quiet, "I know it happened. I know you were telling the truth. It's not like it changed my opinion of you at all, because I don't think it matters. And besides, who cares what I think anyway?" He tried to finish in the best smile he could muster, given the topic at hand.
Tayuya sat back and stared at Naruto for several moments. Naruto simply stared back, afraid that he had somehow offended her in his honesty. Eventually, Tayuya spoke, a thoughtful tilt to her head, "Huh... that wasn't a bad answer, Golden Boy. Really, if you felt the need to try and get to the bottom of my fucking feelings, I'd have drowned the both of us in the river."
Naruto still had one question for her, "...Why'd you tell me all of that?"
A great question. One that Tayuya didn't have a definite answer for, even to herself, "I dunno. You have the kind of stupid face where it feels like I can tell you anything," She said, getting an insulted grunt out of Naruto, "I figure, it'll either go in one ear and out the other, or you'll keep it under lock and key until your dying breath. Not like you knowing any of that gives you any power over me."
It was the same reason Naruto had told Tayuya anything to get the ball rolling in the first place.
"No one'll hear it from me, Tayuya," He assured her, "That's your thing to tell. It ain't my place to spread your history around. It's no one else's business."
"Damn straight."
Honestly, it was nice to sit and tell it to someone – to anyone. Tayuya had never gotten the chance to talk about herself and her life before. No one cared, and she didn't tend to stick around anyone long enough to work up the nerve. It wasn't like Mizu no Kuni was filled with trustworthy, easygoing types. The awful things she'd seen and had to experience with before finally working up the power to fight back and stick up for herself, she'd just had to squeeze it all into a ball and carry it in the pit of her stomach.
She was a very angry girl, for obvious reasons. She was 15 years old, and in 11 years of dealing with shinobi had never had an interaction with one that didn't end with someone trying to exploit her in some way. Until now, at least.
It remained to be seen if what she'd gotten from Naruto were really his true colors or not, but he hadn't screwed up yet. He and his crew had been straight shooters with her from the moment they'd met. Despite the rocky start, Naruto had made sure she'd ingratiated into the group as smoothly as possible for as long as she'd be working with them. Naruto himself had even heard out her sob story, hadn't judged her, hadn't pitied her, wasn't going to hold her past over her head, and wasn't going to spill the details to anyone else that hadn't been there to hear it. No one else was going to find out but him. That put her mind at ease.
"I'm going back to bed, Golden Boy."
"Right. See you in the morning."
Tayuya actually slept fairly well that night.
XxX
(Hi no Kuni – Maito Gai's Taijutsu Dojo)
Maito Gai had never been one of the sorts to fall in line with the dreams of others. The man lived by a philosophy of keeping to his own strict rules in a wild world, and he tried to teach the same mindset to his pupils in the School of the Eight Gates. Most of them, however, simply defaulted to doing things Gai's way, which he didn't mind, but missed a lot of the point.
Gai was brash, believed in strength of self, and was oddly charismatic. His abilities and his personality had taken him far in establishing relationships all over the planet.
He was well-traveled, he wouldn't fall for anyone's tripe, and most importantly, if he had seen something off in his time working elsewhere, he would remember it.
This was why Kakashi had come to him. They needed more on this Danzo individual, and as flamboyant as he was, Gai was as reliable a possibility to have seen him as any Kakashi could trust.
Gai heard Kakashi out until the end of his tale before finally giving his thoughts, "Though individuals targeting your unification group isn't new, I can see why this one has you concerned, old friend."
Concerned was an understatement. No matter how imposing the threat usually was, as long as they could identify what it was, there was something they could do about it. They had no knowledge on who or what was out there stalking them, plotting against them.
The thought made Kakashi itch. He didn't like it, "Jiraiya usually has some kind of preceding knowledge of our enemies before they show themselves," He said, "There's nothing he can tell us about this one."
Anko scoffed and kicked at a pillar, "He got the Fire Daimyo to send his biggest and baddest at us. He knew where and when to best get at us."
"He has agents in a sovereign clan. Maybe more clans than we think," Kakashi continued, "But since we can't just go from place-to-place and ask every clan that won't try to kill us on sight to vet all of their members, we've got to go to the source."
As in, take out the person who would be calling these particular shots.
Kakashi let out a sigh. He hated asking for assistance, but it was necessary, "We need your help, Gai. He was last seen in Hi no Kuni's Capital. If you've seen anything..."
Gai frowned and shook his head, "I'm not certain that I can help you with what you're asking, Kakashi," "I've been all over, yes, but I don't believe I've ever seen a man like the one you're describing, and I can't recall the last time I was anywhere near the Capital."
It wasn't what Anko wanted to hear. She looked to Kakashi, as he had been the one to assure her that they would find something worthwhile from coming to Gai's dojo grounds, "Now what, Scarecrow?"
Gai looked apologetic at not being able to easily help out, "I am sorry, my friend. At the very least, please, stay the night before you move on."
Despite Anko and Gai's newly dour moods, Kakashi still kept his standard demeanor, "Maa, don't worry so much, Gai. These sorts of things are always trial and error."
XxX
(The Next Day – With Naruto – Mizu no Kuni Main Island)
Finally making it to the main island hadn't presented them with any better views. The first place they came across was a wide marshy area, covered in thick mist. The place could have been the most gorgeous piece of natural splendor they'd ever been around for all they knew. They couldn't see farther than ten feet in front of their faces.
"I sure hope we're going the right way," Tenten eventually piped up, "Not like there are any landmarks or signs we can see."
"Anyone else think we might be lost?" Kabuto said.
Naruto grunted at the lack of faith in his ability to guide them, "We're not lost. We're heading south."
"How are you sure?"
Naruto stopped and turned around, deadpan expression on his face, "Ocean - that way," He pointed in the appropriate direction, "We aren't so far along that I forgot which direction we're heading."
Tayuya hummed in interest, "I wasn't aware you had a nose for navigation, Golden Boy."
Naruto puffed out his chest, prepared to brag, "My clan is good at sailing and stuff. You can say whatever you want about me, but three things I know I can do are fuuinjutsu and going in the right direction."
Tayuya let out an amused snort, "That's only two. What's the third thing, math?" She asked sarcastically.
Naruto flipped her the middle finger in response, "Shut up."
Tenten noted the closer proximity of Naruto and Tayuya. Before yesterday, Tayuya kept a healthy amount of space between herself and anyone else. Today, she was just about walking in step with Naruto, "When did you two become friends?" She asked with a scrutinizing gaze.
"Right around the time Tayuya threw up on my shoes," Naruto replied with a laugh, remembering having to clean barf off of his toes once they'd stopped. Thankfully, he had a second pair of shoes packed. He'd buried the other ones on a beach before they crossed islands.
Tayuya gave Naruto a shove and put some distance between herself and everyone else, "We're not friends. I just hate him slightly less than I did yesterday, which is more than I can say for the rest of you."
"The feeling's mutual," Tenten said.
Tayuya faced off with her, ready for a challenge, "Get bent, Buns."
A confrontation had been brewing for a while. Naruto knew it. Kabuto did also, which was why he made it a point to never stand between them. Long distances took a toll when you actually liked who you were traveling with. Tenten and Tayuya hadn't liked each other from the beginning.
"Girls, girls... you're both pretty," Naruto quipped, turning their respective ire away from each other and onto him. Before that could manifest itself into anything, he stopped the party in place, "Wait. Do you guys smell that?"
Kabuto sniffed at the air, looking around to try and find what Naruto was talking about, "Smell what? All I can smell is the moisture in the air."
Naruto wasn't an Inuzuka. He didn't have enhanced senses, but he knew the scent of a battlefield, even if it was somewhat moist, "How can you guys not smell it? Seriously, it's like, strong." 'Kurama, I'm not wrong, am I?' He thought to his tenant.
Kurama took a moment to take their surroundings in. It didn't take long. What he was looking for permiated the very air, "I do sense a lot of negative emotions around here. There was a fight nearby. A big one. You're heading right for it."
Eventually though, they began stumbling across the aftereffects of said fight.
"Got a body here," Tayuya was the first to call out, poking at the motionless body with her foot.
Seconds later, Tenten was the next to stumble across a corpse, "Over here too."
Kabuto had seen and observed several by then, and had already started checking them over for causes of death, "There's bodies all over the place."
"...Knew I smelled blood," Naruto muttered, though there was no reason to take any pleasure in being correct. He walked over to where he saw Kabuto observing bodies and saw the massive gash just above the hip and below the rib cage of the victim, "Holy crap. What'd this guy get hit with?"
"Is it the same thing as this one?" Tenten asked, looking down at another dead body, one of an unfortunate kunoichi, "This one's missing 2/3rds of her head."
Kabuto stopped in the middle of his field autopsy when he noticed Ranmaru from his place on his back. The frail boy's attention was somewhere out into the mists, his eyes glowing red. They hadn't asked about it, but it seemed to be some kind of doujutsu. He silently gestured to Naruto, who nodded and created a handful of clones to spread out and dart forward in search of trouble.
Tenten and Tayuya followed suit and moved in, eventually coming across a figure in clothes common to what they'd seen in Mizu – a blue kimono top with brown pants. The only notable thing was the white porcelain mask with red markings on his face.
No one knew what to do, and in fact many of them had the wrong impression of things.
Tayuya looked to her temporary comrades, stopping on Naruto, "Is this your masked guy?" In fact, Tenten and Kabuto also wondered the same thing by how Naruto paused at the sight of him.
Naruto frowned. Not even close. He would never forget the sight of the person that sealed Kurama inside of him, "...No. It doesn't look anything like him. Let him go."
The masked individual's body language showed he was extremely put out at being surrounded, and quickly took the offer to flee, not even bothering to stick around for any questions from anyone else.
"Wait!" Tenten fruitlessly called out after him, a moment too late after he disappeared in a Shunshin, "Do you know what this was about? Hey!"
Tayuya held out a hand to bar Tenten before she could jump off in pursuit, "Let him go. There's nothing he could tell you about this that me or the kid on Doctor-Boy's back couldn't."
Tenten looked around, and then to Tayuya, curiously, "You know who did this?"
"These are Biwa Juuzou's guys. That's his emblem," Tayuya explained, pointing to a red gridded semi-circle on the armored chest of one of the dead bodies.
"Which sword does he have?"
"Kubikiribouchou. Big ass broadsword with a hole in it."
"That seems structurally unsound."
Kabuto was still kneeled down, getting a better look, despite the violence of the scene, "Judging from the chunk he took out of this guy, I'm guessing it works just fine," He said, "...Hey, Tayuya. You said these were shinobi belonging to Biwa Juuzou, right?"
"Yeah."
"And Kubikiribouchou is his sword."
"Last time I checked."
"But Kubikiribouchou made these wounds?"
"...Yeah?"
"So, why are his fighters all dead from wounds consistent with his sword?"
Tayuya's eyes went wide at missing the obvious, "That is a great question Four-Eyes. And it's not one that I have an answer for."
Kabuto looked away embarrassed for a moment. That had been the most respect she'd ever spoken to him with. While doing so, he noticed the boy on his back staring off and remaining perfectly still, as though he had caught the attention of a predator in the wild, "Ranmaru?"
"Someone's watching," Ranmaru replied quietly.
With that, the mists let up slightly, revealing a tall figure walking their way. As it got closer, everyone saw it to be a tall, muscular man with greyish skin, spiky black hair, and small, thin eyebrows. He wore baggy, striped pants and matching camouflage leg and arm warmers. He went shirtless, and over his shoulder and chest was a harness for the large sword he carried... that looked remarkably similar to Tayuya's description of Kubikiribouchou.
The man chuckled as he came into view, "Well-well-well, I guess there's no use hiding from you," He pointed the length of his imposing weapon at Kabuto and Ranmaru, "That boy on your back has been eyeing me since the moment you got close."
Naruto stood up straight to face their new potential foe. He was covered in blood, and none of it was his, "Biwa Juuzou, I presume?" He asked, sounding deadly serious.
The man shook his head, "Heh, no,"At that, he held up a disembodied head with dark grey hair, sharp teeth, and red grid-shaped markings covering his jaw and a scar on his cheek. There were bandages around his ears and neck, cut off and dripping gore, "You hear that, Juuzou? These kids were looking for you."
Naruto quickly business-like demeanor at the display, "Aw, dude, you're keeping his severed head at your belt? Aw, that's intense. That's not sanitary. Kabuto, is that sanitary?"
Tenten rolled her eyes, "Is that really what you're worried about right now!?"
"...He's not carrying any of our heads."
Tayuya ignored the byplay between the two old friends, keeping her attention solely on the killer in front of them, "Oi. I don't know this guy. But if he's walking around carrying Kubikiribouchou..."
Naruto stopped her right there, "Yeah," If he was carrying it, and the head of the person they thought had it, he was clearly dangerous. Naruto could put that much together, at least.
"So, why were you looking for my friend here?" Kubikiribouchou's new wielder asked, "If you were looking for your own piece of him, I'm afraid I beat you to the punch, and if you came for his sword, well-," He narrowed his eyes threateningly, "-Finders keepers."
"We didn't come to take that sword," Kabuto quickly assured him.
Disbelievingly, the man shrugged his shoulders, "Can't see why else you'd want anything to do with this guy," He said, hooking Biwa Juuzou's head to his belt, "Hn. This little conversation will have to wait."
Everyone else felt it too. Something in the atmosphere surrounding them had changed. More of the mist dissipated showing dozens of figures, all various shapes and sizes, in various forms of dress. The one constant between them however were the white porcelain masks with differing red designs.
Naruto and his friends drew close together, back-to-back. Even Zabuza came together with them, instead of standing against them. The numbers that clearly weren't on either of their sides were too heavily against them not to do so.
Tayuya's fingers itched to reach for her guitar or flute, but figured doing so would invite an attack, "So... any of these guys your target in the mask?"
"God, I hope not," Naruto replied, eyes darting around nervously, "But... I'm still not feeling it in my gut, you know?"
And by 'his gut', he meant Kurama. The fox could see what he could see, and if he was uninterested in any of this, despite the danger, it meant none of these people were the right one.
Tired of the standoff and ready to get to the murdering, Zabuza moved his massive sword from his shoulder, prepared to start swinging.
"I wouldn't do that, Zabuza."
The sound of a woman's voice forced Zabuza's spine to momentarily stiffen, "Crap," He muttered to himself before holstering the weapon, "Alright, fine. Let's get this over with."
Everyone looked at him in shock at actually backing down, and then to the beautiful woman who walked alone through the line of shinobi and kunoichi in masks.
The woman was tall and fair-skinned. Her auburn-colored hair was tied in a top-knot that descended down her back to her ankles. She wore a long-sleeved blue dress, cut low at the shoulders. Underneath, she wore mesh armor that went from her shoulders down her high-heeled sandals, over which she wore shin-guards.
She smiled at everyone, bangs concealing one of her green eyes from view, "Would the rest of you also be so kind as to come with me?"
Despite it being phrased as a question, with the multitude of weapons pointed at them, everyone else didn't feel like it was much of a request.
XxX
(Hi no Kuni – Maito Gai's Taijutsu Dojo)
When the next morning had come for Kakashi and Anko, the latter was anxious at a lack of ideas swirling for what they would do next. It wasn't like they could march into the Fire Daimyo's court and strain the information out of anyone there. Sure, the Guardian Ninja had been decimated, but there was still an army of thousands in place.
"What a bust," Anko said, checking over her travel pack as she prepared to head out, "All this way for nothing. Not even a link to another lead."
Kakashi hadn't done anything to prepare to leave since they'd woken up. It was getting late in the morning. If they wanted to get anywhere that day, they would have to head out soon, "I wouldn't say that."
Anko looked at Kakashi, curious as to how he'd made that consideration, "Gai said he'd never seen or heard anything about Danzo."
"Yes, he did," Kakashi agreed before reaching into his supply pouch to pull out a photograph for Anko to look at, "Funny how Jiraiya-sama's contacts were last able to get this photo from the Capital of Gai at work training officers in the Daimyo's standing army."
That was why Kakashi was intent on going to him first. He was the last person they could speak with that had been anywhere near Danzo. Anko took the picture to look at and saw as clear as day that it was exactly what Kakashi had described, "He said he couldn't remember the last time he was at the Capital. Was he... was your friend lying?"
Kakashi took the picture back and tucked it away, "Absolutely not. Gai never lies. He told the complete truth. He has no recollection of being anywhere near the Capitol," Which means, he didn't remember for a reason. The memory had been more or less wiped, "I don't think it would be wise to underestimate anything about this man."
"Gai or Danzo?"
Kakashi didn't allow himself to be caught up in a cheeky response, "Both. If Gai was around the court at the same time Danzo was whispering sweet nothings to the Fire Daimyo, he definitely noticed something."
"Okay, so, same question from last night. What now?"
Kakashi stood, fully outfitted, but planning to keep his bag in the room for the time being, "Now, of course, I bid an old friend the pleasure of a spar before we go. Just to see something," He offered a hand to help Anko stand, "Do you want to watch?"
Despite looking disappointed at how mundane Kakashi's answer was, she still agreed, taking his hand to let him pull her up, "Not like there's anything else to do around here but train and watch others train. You'd better make it a good show."
Kakashi chuckled as they left to search for Gai, "I'll try not to disappoint."
XxX
(Mizu no Kuni Main Island)
Why couldn't anything ever just be straightforward?
All they had come to Mizu no Kuni to do was search for Naruto's masked man. Sure, in the end they came up with a convoluted plan to try and get the locals to help them search, using local politics pitting the various parties against each other to their advantage, but...
...Actually once anyone took the time to think about that, it made sense as to why the entire thing would fall apart. But Tenten had at least hoped that they would get more than thirty percent of the way into the plan before that happened.
So, there she sat, in a jail cell in the bottom of a castle an hour farther inland from where they had been before.
Ranmaru had been taken away from them and handed over to a doctor. He must have known who they were, because he had no qualms with leaving. They didn't clap him in irons or anything. In fact, he was treated fairly well. It was confusing.
Tenten had been separated from Naruto and Kabuto, and locked up with the last person she'd have wanted to be stuck with out of their entire party, "...I might even have taken Zabuza over her. Severed head and all," At least then she might have been able to kill time by asking him about Kubikiribouchou.
"You say something, Buns?" Tayuya asked, from where she'd been lazing about on one of the two ratty cots in the cell.
"Nothing that matters," Tenten replied, sinking to sit on the floor, cheeks in her hands, "This whole trip has been a complete mess. Not that I expected it to go well, but still..."
Tayuya understood, "-Getting thrown into jail by these weirdos, probably not on a top 10 list of great moments in your life," She looked around to see how close the nearest guard was before lowering her voice, "So, when are we busting out of here?"
"We might not," Tenten said bluntly.
At that, Tayuya sat up with jolt, still keeping her voice down, "Are you kidding me? Golden Boy is probably strong enough to take these clowns out and give us a head-start whenever he wants."
Tenten nodded, "That's right. Naruto can turn this place on its head whenever he wants. They don't know that yet," If they did, they would have taken more security measures in binding him than they did, "If it looks like things are going south, I guarantee that's what he'll do."
"And then what? They took all of our shit," Even Tayuya's instruments, despite her best efforts to convince their captors that they were just the tools of her trade as a traveling musician. When they'd been confiscated, she'd let out an unholy torrent of obscenities, "They even took my fucking hat!"
Tenten look at Tayuya with a raised eyebrow, as though she knew something the other girl didn't, "You think they took all of my weapons?"
Tayuya was uncertain after hearing the confidence in Tenten's tone, "They took all of your packs and scrolls," She said, as though it were obvious. They'd all been frisked, and every potentially dangerous thing they'd had on them had been taken. To her credit, Tenten had been armed to the literal teeth, "Where else are you hiding enough weapons to put up a fight?"
"I can have my secrets," Tenten smiled to herself, "Besides, Kabuto is out there with Naruto somewhere too."
Tayuya visibly deflated at the reminder that Kabuto was the only backup their primary combatant had, "Oh yeah, the cream puff. I forgot about him," In her mind, he'd probably be a hindrance more than a help.
"Kabuto's not a-," Tenten started to defend Kabuto's toughness before Tayuya gave her a deadpan stare, "Okay, he's kind of a cream puff, but you really should be nicer to him. You don't want the only person around who can put you back together pissed off at you."
He was the medic. Nobody smart messed with the medic or the cook. That was day one stuff.
"That's fair," Tayuya accepted with a sigh. Both girls sat in boredom until Tayuya felt the need to amuse herself, "So, which one of those two are you banging?"
Even in the dingy cell, the red that rose to Tenten's cheeks and ears could be seen, "W-What?"
A victorious grin split Tayuya's face, Tenten's flustered reaction was like a drug to her. She needed more, "Yeah. Golden Boy or Four-Eyes? Which one? I've gotta say, you're doing a good job at keeping that shit a secret so far. I can't tell."
"I'm not with one them!"
"So, both of 'em? You get the sensitive, smart one and the tough, spirited one? Look at you. Go, Buns."
Tenten sorely wished she had something to throw across the six feet that separated them in their cell, "Neither one of them! None of them! I'm not sleeping with Naruto or Kabuto!" A guard coughed near the doors to the jail, indicating that he could hear her yelling, "Shut up!"
"Really?" Tayuya asked, honestly sounding surprised, "Huh. That's a waste."
Tenten huffed, wrapping her arms around her knees to duck her head and brood, "Platonic relationships are a thing, you know."
"Yeah, like I said – a waste," The pink-haired girl said without missing a beat, "Golden Boy especially looks like he can sling dick if you give him the chance."
Never did Tayuya's rampant vulgarity cease to amaze Tenten, which was saying something, seeing as how she knew Anko, "I don't want to think about-, why are we even talking about this?"
"Because you said it yourself. We're waiting on whatever Golden Boy is waiting on. Until then, we've got nothing to do but stare at bars and walls."
The girls settled back into silence. Eventually Tayuya started drumming her fingertips rhythmically off of the wall nearest to her cot. It was actually well-done enough that Tenten didn't mind the sound. It also gave her something else to try and establish a rapport with the girl.
"So... you play music," Tenten started somewhat lamely before coming up with an equally pedestrian question to match, "How many instruments do you play?" Tayuya started to count on her fingers on the hand she wasn't using to drum. Once she got past five, she shrugged and gave up, "Do you sing too?"
"Not for free."
"Not even to piss off the guards?"
Tayuya gave Tenten an arrogant smirk, "I guarantee, if I start singing, it won't piss them off. Not even a little bit," But that did give her an idea, "...You think these fuckers have keys on them?"
XxX
(Meanwhile – With Naruto)
"We're going to die."
"Chill out, Kabuto."
"We're going die, and these guys in the masks are gonna kill us!"
Naruto rolled his eyes as he, Kabuto, and Zabuza stood on a platform in the middle of a boiling pool of water, "No we're not. No they're not," He looked around at the two dozen similarly attired masked individuals around the pool, "I really don't think they're related to the guy I'm looking for."
Kabuto rammed his head into Naruto's side. The blasé way he was reacting to everything was ruffling the medic's feathers, "How do you know? All you've had to go off of for years is that whoever you're after has a porcelain mask," He gestured with his shacked hands to their captors, "Well, here you go!"
Zabuza chuckled from nearby, "He's mouthy when he's scared, isn't he?"
Kabuto turned to glare. Zabuza was an imposing figure, but he was shackled just like they were, making him next to harmless, "Why are you here? They know we're not with you, right?" He asked before yelling out to the guards, "You know we're not with him, right?"
"I really don't think they care," Naruto said, shifting in place uncomfortably from Kabuto's headbutt, "Oi, No-brows. You know who these people are?" He directed at Zabuza, whose eye twitched in irritation.
"I wish I could say no, brat. But yes," Zabuza said, before providing some free advice, "I'd watch that mouth of yours around that woman. She'll only find it cute up to a point."
The boiling of the water around them only intensified as a massive set of doors flew open, revealing the woman from before that had ordered their capture. For a man capable of removing the head of one of the Seven Swordsmen and killing a large amount of his men to be wary of her, she had to be powerful. Naruto also had a nagging suspicion that she was the reason the water was boiling to begin with.
Whatever power she had was hidden underneath the surface of her beauty and her pleasant demeanor, with which she greeted them amicably, "Momochi Zabuza... you've finally gotten one of the Seven Swords for yourself. I'm sure you're very proud."
Indeed, he was, holding his head up high to gloat, "It took time, effort, and a lot of bodies... but yeah. I'm pretty pleased right now."
"As you should be," She told him with a smile, before addressing Naruto and Kabuto, "And you lot. Who are you?"
Naruto leaned over to Kabuto, "I'll handle this," He whispered loudly. It did not give Kabuto much faith in him. Naruto then mustered up the friendliest tone he could, "I'm Naruto. This is Kabuto. Can you let us go now? We're not with him," He gestured his head to Zabuza.
Zabuza rolled his eyes at Naruto's attempt to get distance from him, "They were looking for Juuzou, Mei. I'm guessing they were after his sword like I was."
Naruto scoffed in return, "Good for you. You're wrong."
Mei looked over at Naruto and Kabuto and clicked her tongue chidingly at Zabuza's accusation, "And you already have one. Greedy, aren't we?" Naruto and Kabuto both went still at her determining their possession of a sword, "Do you have an alliance going to take control of the rest? I don't think I can allow that," She said with a devious smirk.
She knew they had Kiba. How? It had been 24 hours, if that, since Naruto had killed Raiga and taken it. Tayuya estimated that they would have a week or so until word spread far enough that Raiga was dead for it to affect them.
Zabuza turned to look at Naruto and Kabuto, no small measure of surprise in his eyes. He must not have thought much of them until hearing that they had killed one of his rivals. Naruto was far from concerned with him though.
"We have eyes all over the place," Mei said with a wink, "You newcomers popped up on my radar out of the blue getting into a fight with Raiga in the middle of a town. Word may spread slowly, but not for us."
"Forget that! What do you mean you can't allow us to get the swords?" Naruto snapped, friendliness swiftly forgotten, "You're telling me someone actually cares?"
Mei took Naruto's volatile attitude in elegant stride, "There's a delicate balance in this country. One that multiple swords changing hands at once could throw into wack, especially with someone who has no plans on staying."
"Delicate balance?" Naruto repeated skeptically, "All I've seen since I've been here is a bunch of violent shit. All I've heard about since I've been here is a bunch of violent shit. What kind of balance is that?"
Mei gave him a bitter smile in return, "Would you believe me if I said it could easily get worse."
"That's what I've been told," Naruto muttered equally bitter.
Mei brightened at having found some common ground with the odd young man, "Right. So, in order to maintain the balance, you two are now Seven Swordsmen," She said, leaving no room for argument. She would get none from one of the parties present, at least.
One of the masked shinobi promptly unshackled Zabuza and returned Kubikiriboucho to him, which he took with no fuss, "Killer. Dibs on Juuzou's territory," He looked over at Naruto and apologized for leaving him with the 'lesser' territory, "Sorry, kid. But Raiga let his place devolve into an unprofitable shithole. I'm not starting behind the eight-ball here."
Naruto was upset, but not about that, "Wait a goddamn, rice-picking minute! No! I don't want to be one the Swordsmen!" He didn't even use swords, for crying out loud.
An uncomfortable silence rolled through the room. The kind that came when someone rejected an offer they couldn't refuse. Zabuza looked around and broke the silence, "...Dibs on both Juuzou and Raiga's territory then. I can probably turn it around in a year or two."
"Not now, Zabuza," Mei snapped, holding up a hand to him while keeping a steely gaze locked on Naruto, "If you don't want to be one of the Seven Swordsmen, simply hand over Kiba."
There it was. An offer to let bygones be bygones. Naruto gave up a national treasure, and he would be allowed to walk. If he had no interest in being one of the Seven Swordsmen, he had no need for the swords.
"Nah," Naruto said, throwing his hands up behind his head without a care, "You have no idea how to open the scrolls where we keep our actual valuables. I guarantee it. Seals are kind of my clan's thing," He finished with a grin.
Mei gave him an interested look, "You're a clan shinobi?"
Naruto nodded, "Uzumaki. You know 'em?"
"They venture near Mizu no Kuni often enough," Mei said, sizing Naruto up in a new light with this updated information, "Funny, you don't look like one of them."
"I get that a lot."
Mei gestured to the contingent of masked shinobi she had standing guard, "Well, if you won't cooperate, we'll simply have to interrogate you and your friend until you give up the method to unseal your scrolls."
A quick flaring of overwhelming chakra got them all to stop in their tracks as Naruto broke his shackles, "If one of those goons comes near me, I'm killing everybody in this room and burning this place to the ground," He said with a threatening growl. A whimper next to him got Naruto to roll his eyes, "Not you, Kabuto."
"That's not why I whined," Kabuto said before trying his hand and lessening tensions. The most reasonable person there seemed to be this Mei lady, "Look, what if we just find someone to take Naruto's place!?"
Mei raised an eyebrow in confusion, "So... find someone to kill him? I was under the impression you two were friends."
Kabuto's jaw fell open at the leap in logic, "No! Why does he have to die to hand it off? You were just about to take it from him and let him leave so you could do it yourself!"
Mei laughed, hand covering her mouth in mirth, "I know. I'm just teasing," She assured Kabuto before taking the idea under consideration, "It certainly would save us the trouble of finding a new candidate. And you would be willing to do this?"
They had planned on doing that in the first place, only with people who were already Swordsmen. At the time, they hadn't known there was someone trying to dictate the balance of power in the country. Things had changed slightly now that Naruto knew this was the case. They didn't know everything they needed to. If nothing else, this would buy them time.
"Uh, sure," Naruto said, before trying to take a mile with his inch given, "I'm gonna need a favor though."
A dangerous glint came to Mei's eye, "Oh? What kind of favor?"
Naruto waved his hands defensively. He didn't have a lot to safely leverage, so he had to make sure his request seemed less than bothersome, "Nothing big! Nothing big! Just, uh... I kinda need help looking for somebody."
"And you think I can help you?"
Naruto had little patience for her attempt to play coy, "You just said you had a spy network. I'm thinking you're my best bet at this point."
"Let me rephrase that. You think I will help you?"
Naruto's fingers drummed off of his biceps impatiently, "Kill everyone in the room. Burn down the building," He reminded her of his threat.
The second time the challenge was presented was one time too many for Mei's hospitality, "Zabuza?"
Her attempt to call the new Seven Swordsman into action was met with Zabuza staring down an unflinching Naruto for several moments, "No, I'm good," He eventually decided, moving away from Naruto instead of moving to behead him, "You do you, brat. I've got what I came for."
Mei did a good job hiding her exasperation, but couldn't mask it completely, "Seriously?"
Zabuza was ruthless, ambitious, and arrogant. If he didn't want to fight Naruto in exchange for whatever reward he would receive for it, there was a good reason, "Mei, this kid killed Raiga yesterday, and doesn't have a scratch on him. Do you think any of these losers could beat him?" He said, not caring whether or not he offended any of Mei's masked operatives, "You'd have to fight him yourself, and then you'd destroy the building if he didn't first."
Zabuza didn't know if Naruto could beat him, but Naruto killed Raiga, and wasn't afraid of him, Mei, or being held captive in the slightest. He'd already shown that the only reason he hadn't tried breaking out yet was diplomatic faith. Despite not knowing what Naruto's capabilities truly were, the balls it took for the lad to carry himself in such a way didn't come from nowhere.
Naruto realized he might have ramped things up a bit too far in his attempts to get Mei to back off, "Look, it's not like I'm asking you to help me for free. Just help me find this guy, and I'll find you a replacement swordsman," He tried to reason after showing his strong hand, "I don't even know who you people are, anyway."
"We're simply concerned citizens. But you can call us Seigyo-ki (Regulators)." Mei replied, "Alright, Uzumaki-san. I believe we can work something out."
XxX
An hour of negotiation later, the door to the guardhouse swung open, allowing Naruto and Kabuto to fetch their wayward companions to walk in, much to their delight and relief.
"Naruto, Kabuto!" Tenten reacted brightly upon seeing them, "You're not dead!"
Naruto waved tiredly. The last few days had been taxing, "Yeah, we're all alive," He looked over the two girls and found their body language a lot more amicable than before, "Is it just me, or do you two seem a lot nicer to each other. When did you two become friends?" Not that he was complaining.
Tayuya answered, "We're not friends. I just hate her slightly less than I did yesterday," She said, grinning along with Tenten afterwards.
"Why do you have your stuff?" Kabuto asked after noticing that they were armed again. Also, all of their travel packs were situated at the foot of the cell.
"Oh, we've got your stuff too," Tenten said, excited to hand Naruto and Kabuto's equipment over, "Tayuya sang and put our guards under some kind of spell or something," The fact that Tayuya didn't need hand-seals or an instrument to serve as a medium to enact a genjutsu that effective was highly impressive to the weapon specialist.
Tayuya was very proud of her ability to be dangerous even in captivity, "Fuckheads didn't have the keys though. They're going to get 'em now. How'd you two break out?" Naruto didn't have any blood on him, so it didn't seem like they'd fought their way out.
Naruto and Kabuto looked at each other before the latter answered, "We didn't break out. Naruto cut a deal. It's kind of a tentative truce for the time being," Until one side undoubtedly found a way to screw over the other, which could have happened at any time.
"-And you guys just put a genjutsu on some of their people," Naruto pointed out. The atmosphere went tense with the realization of what that could mean to the truce, "...We should probably get out of here before they snap out of it," Otherwise, Naruto would have to make good on his threat to burn the place down.
"Yep."
"Agreed."
"How did you two get the goddamn keys?"
XxX
Mei watched from a window on the second floor of the main mansion building as Naruto, Kabuto, Tenten, and Tayuya quickly made their way off of the premises. Smart children. The tension between Naruto and Mei had been too thick for them to think it was alright to linger. They weren't friends or allies. They were meant to exchange favors with one another.
It was about time for Zabuza to be leaving as well to go and begin setting up his own seat of power in the wake of taking over in Biwa Juuzou's stead. She knew this by his checking in with her before departing.
"Do you think you can actually trust him?" Zabuza asked, arms crossed over his chest as he stood by the side of the window, looking out, "He isn't from here, you know."
Mei hummed pleasantly, "Uzumaki-kun seems like a straighforward boy. But no," To trust him, or anyone for that matter, was entirely foolish. She knew for a fact he didn't trust her, "He said he would try to find a replacement. Not that he absolutely would. And he won't stay to do it himself. But he will."
Zabuza cocked a near hairless brow at that contradictory statement, "Wait, you just said-."
"I know what I said, Zabuza," Mei said with a comfortable smile, "The thing is, he won't have a choice. He's searching for a man in a black mask with an orange spiral. We'll give him the details he wants. He'll have to go to different places to find a trail of his own."
Zabuza slowly realized what she was getting at, "You let him keep the sword in his little scroll that no one else can break the seal on, didn't you? Now he's a target."
Mei figured Zabuza would recognize this. After all, he was in the same boat as so many other who wanted the power and influence that came with being on the level of the Seven Swordsmen, "There are plenty of potential candidates in Mizu no Kuni who would love for a chance at the Kiba blades. Honestly, Uzumaki-kun has basically put a bounty on his own head by simply carrying them."
People would leap at the opportunity to take them from Naruto. No one knew who he was. Even if he was strong enough to kill Raiga, he was still a highly unproven commodity to the country. Uzumaki Naruto was a nobody to them, sword or no sword.
"The Seven Swords are a national treasure, not a bargaining chip for a child," Mei said, her gaze hardening at the departing forms of Naruto's traveling party, "He will not leave Mizu no Kuni without properly handing them over, either to Seigyou-ki to find a replacement, or to whoever simply kills him to take it."
After all, bloodshed was a time-honored tradition in their land. Long before the Sage of Six Paths spread chakra to the world, humankind was plunged in never-ending war. Entire millennia had passed since then, and things hadn't changed that much. Not in Mizu no Kuni. Not anywhere else either for that matter.
No matter how much the rest of the world liked to think things had moved forward from those days before their history was properly recorded, barbaric violence had been a practice that had never gone out of style. The denizens of Mizu no Kuni were very well-versed in that practice.
XxX
(Hi no Kuni – Maito Gai's Taijutsu Dojo)
Anko had expected nothing more than a spar that consisted of Kakashi and Gai going through the motions, especially when Gai had insisted that it be a display for the students. Just a display of the more practical uses of recent things he'd been teaching them. There were very few active shinobi amongst Gai's students, so Anko didn't expect them to need to see much to be impressed.
Even if they didn't, Gai wasn't the kind of person to half-ass anything, even a spar with a friend. Kakashi seemed prepared to handle that.
From the moment she'd said 'go', she couldn't believe how hard they actually went.
Kakashi kept things in Gai's area of expertise – taijutsu, but even then, while Kakashi was outstanding, Gai was seemingly perfect in comparison. When Gai attacked and Kakashi blocked, it was always to Kakashi's detriment. When he attacked and Kakashi parried, Kakashi was never able to exploit the opening given.
And yet, there was something off about the whole affair. Kakashi was putting his best foot forward, fighting with all he could muster. But he refused to get some distance and try to use his copious amount of other tricks when it was obvious to anyone who knew what they were looking at that he was slowly losing.
A flurry of blows from Gai ended with Kakashi attempting to strike back. Gai spun backwards underneath a punch from Kakashi and flattened him with an elbow to the sternum. Kakashi hit the ground flat on his back, with a thud.
"Ow..." Kakashi groaned out loud.
Anko took that as good an excuse as any to end things then and there, "Alright, that's the match. Gai-sensei wins," She declared.
The taijutsu students stood and applauded; none louder than the mini-Gai with the massive eyebrows, "Gai-sensei! I knew that you could do it!" He seemed overjoyed that his master won. It was almost too much, "You really are the best!"
Gai laughed boisterously as he stood over his fallen opponent, "Aha! Kakashi, that brings the overall record in our competitions to 25 wins for me and 24 for you! What a marvelous match!" He said with a smile, "But why didn't you use your ninjutsu? I never established any rules."
Kakashi shrugged and let out a pained cough after the motion, "Oh, you know. Just wanted to test myself. See how my taijutsu work was going. You're the best, after all, Gai," Gai's grin only widened and gleamed in the sunlight. He extended a hand down to Kakashi that the masked shinobi readily accepted, "Anyhow, thank you for letting us stay here, but it's time we get going. Thanks for trying to help with Danzo."
Gai's grin fell after he pulled Kakashi to his feet. Instead of his normal jovial self, he seemed confused, "Danzo... Danzo..."
"Yes, Gai?" Kakashi asked, knowingly.
"I'm not the best with names and faces... but now I think I may remember seeing a man like the one you mentioned," Gai said, seemingly realizing this for the first time, as if he were coming out of a haze, "Yes, definitely in the Fire Daimyo's court, like you said."
Kakashi's single visible closed eye signified that he too was now smiling, "That's great, Gai. We can talk about it later. Give you some time to get through your training today and clear your head. We can stay a little longer."
Anko came over to help Kakashi walk away while Gai got back to work with his class. It would have been a pathetic sight to watch him try to hide his limp all the way back to their room, "Any particular reason you took that asskicking, instead of just breaking the genjutsu?"
She was teasing for the most part. It was extremely rare to see Kakashi in a state anywhere close to this. She had certainly never seen him beaten up before, even if he hadn't been going all out.
"Gai would never let anyone actually touch him unless he initiated it, friend or not," Kakashi said, "And he never knew he was under one. He would have never believed it if he was told. I wasn't even sure that he was under one. It was just a hunch."
Also, Kakashi did kind of want to train with Gai a bit. It had been a while since the last time one of their contests involved an actual fight, and Gai was a damn good person to test himself against.
Anko laughed and nudged him in his undoubtedly sore ribs, "It seems to have paid off."
"It was worth a try," Kakashi groaned back, "All it cost was a beating," No pain, no gain, after all.
"Hold back a little less next time, why don't you?"
"Ah, but then Gai wouldn't hold back as much either," Kakashi said, relishing the look of surprise on Anko's face, "What? You thought that was close to his best? If Gai was going all out, I'm not sure there's anyone I know of who could really defeat him."
Hatake Kakashi wasn't one for making friends. There wasn't anyone that he identified with that title who could be considered a pushover.
Jutsu List
Kijou no Uta (Song of the Siren). B-rank genjutsu, supplementary, all ranges. An illusion cast by the user's voice. Whoever hears it will be entranced by the pleasurable sound of the song, and temporarily fall under the control of the singer. The clearer and louder the song can be heard, the deeper one will be caught under its spell and the longer its effects will last once the singing ends.
And that's the chapter.
Hey, you know what they say about best laid plans, and all of that noise. Just because you come up with something, doesn't mean you have all of the details you need when you do... or that someone else doesn't have plans of their own.
...All our crew wants is to find the guy in the spiral mask. Is that so much to ask? Maybe with an actual organization with intelligence capabilities, that can be a reality. It just requires more sword drama first... unless something else happens. And the quest for Danzo continues.
That's all I've got for you guys this time, I hope you enjoyed.
Kenchi out.
