Chapter 33 – Yasei

Squad 7

==Five Days Later==

Kakashi blinked as his team walked up to the meeting point three hours late. They had actually arrived at the same time he had, "You're all late." "So are you," Shino replied. "We've been enjoying a leisurely breakfast in that restaurant while we waited, and yes, we were keeping an eye out for you," Neji explained. Kakashi looked at Sasuke, "Aren't you going to say anything?" Sasuke raised an eyebrow, "Duck?"

Kakashi ducked and found himself face to face with a duck. A very angry duck. Said duck proceeded to terrorize Kakashi in a manner that only a certain cat had ever been known to. Shino raised his hands and immediately got high fives from Sasuke and Neji as the three watched Kakashi wrestle to get the duck off his head with a tremendous amount of satisfaction.

Almost five minutes later, the smuggest duck in the history of smug ducks walked away victorious.

Kakashi picked himself up panting covered in scratches and extremely mortified that such a thing had happened in public. Kakashi looked at his team, all three of whom were watching him with excellent poker faces. Kakashi searched their faces intently, trying to find some way he could reasonably say that they had something to do with the duck. He raised a finger to tell them off, found there was nothing he could really scold them for without proof, and put his hand back down.

He glared at them for a few more minutes and then stalked past them, "Let's go."

The three wicked grins that spread behind his back disappeared in an instant as Kakashi whipped his head around to try and catch them. As he turned back and felt them return, he worried that this new team was going to be the death of him. Pranksters were annoying, a team of pranksters with reportedly genius intellects all around was just plain evil.

==Meanwhile==

Minato smiled, "Ok Kurenai, we've got your team's assignment. You will be heading to the border of the Land of Gluttony to back up the Leaf contingent down there. Yasei swears up and down he doesn't need any help, but he does think something's up. If he tries to complain just say your delivering the mail." Kurenai smiled at the thought of seeing her Jonin Sensei again.

Minato turned to Izana and Sai, "You two will be accompanying Kurenai's team down there to investigate Yasei's hunch that something's up. We haven't had any recon teams make it back from the Land of Gluttony in thirty years, and Stone is still being stingy with information over the way the last war ended. I don't care what you find or even if you don't find anything, make it back alive. That's a direct order. If you feel investigating further could be unnecessarily dangerous, turn back. At this point any information is more than what we've got, and no information is unimportant."

Izana and Sai nodded in unison, "Yes Lord Hokage." Minato nodded, "Good, now go get ready, you deploy in a week."

==Half an Hour Later==

Kurenai knocked on Tsume Inuzuka's door. Tsume opened it with a smile, "Kurenai! What brings you by? Come in, come in!" Kurenai smiled, "I've just received my team's assignment. We're making a mail run to the front." Tsume smiled, "Well that's a great way to get their feet wet! Where are you going?" Kurenai shot a glance at the pictures on the mantle as Tsume turned and headed for the couch.

"The Land of Gluttony," Kurenai said quietly, "I came by to see if any of you wanted to send a letter." Tsume froze and looked over her shoulder, her mouth open and no sound coming out. Kiba was frozen in the door to the kitchen and then he turned around and called, "Hana! Do we have any paper?" Tsume closed her mouth with a sad expression, "Yes, I'll, I'll send a letter. We all will." Kurenai smiled comfortingly, "I'm sure he'll be delighted to hear from you." Tsume tried to smile, "Yeah, I'm, I'm sure he will."

==That Evening==

Asuma stared at Kurenai, "Seriously? You're running the mail run to the Land of Gluttony? You know Sensei's the only guy we've got down there right?" Kurenai nodded, "Yes, but we both know Sensei is strong enough to cover for a dozen Jonin, even without his ninken." "How did they take it?" Asuma asked. Kurenai smiled thoughtfully, "I think they took it fairly well."

==Meanwhile==

Kiba eyed his beloved coat sadly. "I'm gonna miss this old thing," he told Akamaru. Akamaru put his head on Kiba's knee and huffed his sympathy and condolences. Kiba smiled, "Yeah, you're right Akamaru. It's worth it." He pulled it on and Akamaru hopped in, turning and poking his head out the front as Kiba sat down to write.

==The Next Morning==

The Namikaze family were in their kitchen/dining room eating breakfast. Minato and Naruto were at the table eating and Kushina was cooking. Naruto had tried to help cook one of the first few days his parents had been back and Kushina had promptly shooed him out of the kitchen demanding to be allowed to cook her husband and son breakfast. Naruto had beat a hasty retreat, unsure whether to be delighted to be getting a meal from his mother or terrified of the ominous aura around her and the waving tendrils of red hair.

Minato was going over the messages and intel that had arrived overnight as he ate, and he hmmmed with interest as one particular letter caught his eye, "Ay sent me a letter? I knew he loved fighting with me, but surely he wouldn't come all the way down here just for a match…" He opened the letter and read it, "Ahhh that's what he wants!" He laughed, "I guess we can do that! Hey Naruto, how do you feel about a mission to Lightning Country?"

Naruto shrugged with a smile, "I'm cool with that. What rank and what am I doing?" "C-Rank security detail," Minato replied. "What's he guarding and for how long?" Kushina asked over her shoulder. "There's a railroad being built up into Lightning Country," Minato replied, "They need a security detail since those mountains are still kinda treacherous. I figure if I send Naruto's squad they can get practice with their demolition techniques and get some experience. Also Ay wants to meet and spar when the two halves of the railroad meet and the job's finished."

Kushina thought about it, "How long?" Minato thought about it, "Well, depending on how much Naruto's squad can accelerate the construction, could be anywhere from a few weeks to a few months. I'm not sure how strong Captain Yamato is these days, if he's as strong as he was twenty years ago then he can probably cut the time down to a few weeks with his Wood Release to build the frame work for the bridges. If I remember correctly, Ain has Lava Release," "She does," Naruto interjected, "It is very scary and kinda awesome."

Kushina nodded, "So she can make short work of any tunneling needs. Sakura's going to be as strong as Lady Tsunade one day, so she should be able to provide plenty of gravel and help with moving supplies, and if you use Kurama's chakra Naruto, you can burrow through mountains easily." Minato nodded, "I would advise against using Thunder Release too recklessly there, an explosion in the wrong place can bring down avalanches."

Naruto nodded and then he frowned, "I thought we were a demolitions team? Why are we being assigned to build stuff?" Minato and Kushina smiled, that was a common question, "Well you see son, Demolitions is only half the job. A lot of Demolitions shinobi are also in charge of rapid action construction jobs. Like when a position is becoming untenable on the front and would be maintainable if there were a fortification there. Demolitions shinobi have the raw power to use things like Earth Release Mudwall to such a degree and scale that they can build an entire fortress in less than a day."

"You probably won't get many jobs like that since you don't have any Earth jutsu," Kushina added, "but you could still blast open a ravine or bring down a mountain pass to stall an enemy advance easily. Sakura has Earth Release, so she'll probably be the rapid construction member of your team once she gets a bit more scope and control to her Earth Release. When you hit B-Rank, your team will probably be called for jobs like that. You'll cover Sakura and maybe Ain while they do their construction work, and then you'll guard the fortification until sufficient reinforcements can arrive to garrison it. If Sakura makes Jonin then she'll be strong enough to take jobs like that by herself if she has to, but it's rare that we only send one shinobi for something like that. Usually it's one Demolitions specialist, a Recon specialist and an Anti-Personnel for jobs like that so that there's a balance."

Naruto nodded, "Ah. Alright, yeah I'm down for this." Minato nodded, "Alright, I'll draw up the paper work to assign your team to this mission as soon as I get to the office."

==Two Hours Later==

Naruto, Jiraiya, Tsunade and Guy were all there to see Anko's team off. There was a great deal of hugging and assurances from the newly made/revived Chunin that they'd be fine and there was no need to worry. Eventually Anko sighed and declared loudly, "Okay okay, that's enough teary goodbyes. We need to go or we're going to miss our train!"

Hinata stepped away from Naruto after giving him one more kiss good bye, and Gin did much the same with Guy, except they had far more sunset and beach illusion to their farewell.

==Four Days Later==

Kiba gave Kurenai a hug, "Pass that on for me will ya Sensei?" Kurenai nodded, "Of course I will." Kiba looked very strange without his previously ever present coat as he and the rest of Squad 10 set out with the Leaf contingent under the Second Hokage for Hidden Sound. Kurenai smiled, "Take care of him Asuma. Don't let him flirt with too many strange Sound Kunoichi and keep him away from alcohol." Asuma smiled, "So he's his old man made over huh?" Kurenai nodded, "An exact replica." Asuma laughed, "Then this oughta be fun!" He stooped and kissed her, "See ya in three months beautiful!"

==Three Days Later==

POW! It wasn't easy to hear much on the train. It was a military train, which meant it wasn't that well insulated against the sound of the wind rushing by outside and the thunder of the wheels on the tracks, but the sound of Izana slapping Sai so hard she nearly knocked him from his seat was certainly easy enough to hear. She stormed off towards the back of the train, her Sharingan active and blazing at everybody to back off. Tenten and Kurenai swapped glances, "Well, they seem to be getting along nicely," Kurenai said as quietly as she could and still be heard, which wasn't very quietly at all.

"I wonder what he did!" Tenten said in an equally unquiet voice. "I don't know," Shikamaru replied, "but look at him, it looks like it didn't even phase him!" They looked and sure enough, Sai had sat up and started drawing something as though nothing had happened. Lee blinked, "I wonder what he's drawing." Without waiting for anyone to guess he hopped up and went to see. Tenten saw his eyebrows shoot up as Sai showed him and then he walked back and sat down, looking very surprised.

"So? What's he drawing?" Tenten asked. "He is drawing Miss Izana. I'm not sure what he did to offend her, but perhaps one of us should intercede? I do not think he would draw her in such a flattering light if he had meant to offend her." A moment later Sai found Tenten and Shikamaru squeezed in on either side of him, looking at his sketch. He paused, "Hello, what are you doing?" "That is really good!" Tenten exclaimed. Even though he had been drawing for less than five minutes, he had drawn Izana's smiling face with such accuracy that it looked like a photograph.

"Thank you," Sai replied emotionlessly, his face not even beginning to crease in a smile. "So what did you do to make Izana so mad?" Shikamaru asked. Sai thought for a moment, "I am not sure. She was discussing our hypothetical relationship, postulating that since her grandmother created me that made me her uncle or cousin or even her brother. I believe this is a view shared by many of the Uchiha as they've made me an honorary member of their clan, but I told Miss Izana I did not wish to think of her as my sister." Shikamaru made a face, "Yeah, that's probably what set her off." Sai blinked, "Oh, I did not mean to offend her. It is just that if she were ever to pose for my work in the nude it might make me seem a pervert if she were my sister." Tenten's face was utterly priceless.

Shikamaru had a hard time not cracking up as he patted Sai on the shoulder, "I'll go tell her that's what you meant." Sai smiled what seemed like a forced smile and without any extra emotion, "Thank you, that is very kind of you."

Shikamaru came back five minutes later covered in soot with a fair deal of his ponytail burned off, "She says no way and you're a pervert." Sai blinked and still without the slightest inflection or emotion, "Damn."

==Two Days Later==

The front was in chaos as the Leaf shinobi arrived. There was currently a battle going on. "Should we, help?" Shikamaru asked tentatively as they over looked the valley. "Absolutely not!" exclaimed their Stone-nin escort. The younger leaf nin looked at him in surprise. "What?! Why not?!" Lee exclaimed. The stone nin looked at them exasperatedly, "Don't you people know anything? Half the clans in Hidden Leaf originated in the Lands of Envy, Gluttony and Sloth! They're our most frequent opponents! If there are any Nara, Yamanaka, Akimichi, Hyuga and especially any Uchiha, a battlefield down here is the last place you need to be! You'd draw as much friendly fire as our enemies if the guys down there didn't recognize you!"

Shikamaru and Izana stared in shock, "What?" The Stone-nin looked at the battlefield and swore, "Look! Look if you don't believe me! That guy down there that just hit the battlefield and started mowing down everybody in his path? That's one of the Shouchiha, the original Uchiha clan!" The stone-nin fished out a pair of binoculars and paled, "Oh hell…That's Akaryu Shouchiha…" He lowered the binoculars, "You people need to get out of here. Akaryu is one of the Shouchiha's strongest, he's an SY-Rank fighter known for mowing down entire battallions single handedly! If we're lucky we might be able to turn him back with sheer numbers, if not this position is as good as…"

A loud howl cut him off. The entire battlefield was suddenly still as the hair raising howl drowned out the noise of the battle. The Stone-nin's look of fear immediately changed to a smug grin, "Never mind." Kurenai smiled excitedly, "Watch close you five, you're in for a show now!" The howl sounded again, louder this time and joined by what sounded like seven more.

Down on the battlefield, Akaryu Shouchiha readied his blade with a huge grin as his Sharingan blazed, "Finally!" Six forms, five massive and one human sized erupted over the side of one of the cliffs, silhouetted dramatically by the evening sun behind them, "ROKU-RYU-GATSUGA!" The six forms suddenly grew tremendous and began to whirl.

The six massive tornadoes of death whirled down onto the battlefield, bouncing like balls and savagely tearing through the enemy, leaving nothing but splatters of gore in their wake as the Imperial forces bolted back to the safety of their own line to give them room to work. The enemy forces retreated as well, knowing a turned tide when they saw it. Only Akaryu Shouchiha remained. Five of the tornadoes whirled past him chasing his troops, two trying to splatter him on the way past only for him to effortlessly bounce up and over them.

The sixth one suddenly shrank and turned into a man in a gray hat and green Hidden Leaf flak jacket loping towards Akaryu on all fours before jumping and disappearing. He reappeared right in front of Akaryu and his chakra hardened claws clashed with Akaryu's sword in a blaze of sparks. Akaryu noted with amusement that the man's eyes were closed, "So we finally meet Yasei Inuzuka! Your reputation precedes you!"

Yasei grinned a fang filled smile, "Yours as well Akaryu, it's a pleasure to kill you." Akaryu laughed, "You think it will be so easy? I am the strongest of the Shouchiha Clan aside from my brother the Clan Head and his wife!" Yasei grinned, "Yeah? Well I'm head of the Inuzuka Clan, and I can tell your arrogant ass right now, you're not fast enough to beat me, even with my eyes closed."

Akaryu growled and turned as red as his Sharingan before blasting out a fireball. Yasei effortlessly ducked under the flames, shoved Akaryu's sword over his head and slid inside Akaryu's guard in a movement so quick even Akaryu's Sharingan could hardly register it before Yasei's rock hard fist was crashing into his jaw.

Akaryu went flying high into the air, and before gravity could take hold, Yasei was on top of him again. Even as they were falling back to the ground, Yasei's claws blurred into motion, lashing out in a hurricane of strikes that Akaryu was stunned to find he needed both hands to deflect with his sword and strong enough that even then every lightning fast clash of metal on claw was nearly enough to shock his weapon from his grasp. The exchange was so fast that even with her Mangekyo Sharingan, Izana was having a very hard time keeping up with their strikes through the binoculars the Stone-nin had loaned her. One thing was imminently clear though, Akaryu was losing, badly.

Then his sword broke under Yasei's suddenly electrified claws. Yasei's claw sheared right through Akaryu's sword and left a huge gaping bloody rent in Akaryu's shoulder and chest as the lightning imbued claw tore through the steel armor like it was made of paper. Akaryu's concentration was shattered and that was the end of it. Yasei's next strike tore his head half off, all before they hit the ground.

Akaryu's corpse landed on it's back, and Yasei's foot landed on his chest. Yasei whistled sharply and the five tornadoes of death he had brought with him suddenly stopped and were revealed to be immense hairy dragons before turning into dogs varying in size from "rhino" to "large elephant". The massive dogs, one of which had three heads, bounded back to their master's side as he casually fished out and lit a cigarette. He looked down at his fallen enemy with disdain, "Loser. Fugaku was a hundred times tougher than you."

The Imperial forces exploded in cheers as the decimated enemy forces retreated. Up on the ridge Shikamaru, Lee, Tenten and Izana stared in shock, "That's Kiba/Hana's dad?!"