"Are you serious?" The bandit asks, his eyebrow raised. "There are like, four of you. What could you possibly do against all of us? We can overpower you, you know."
"Um, sensei?" Says Madoka nervously. " Are you sure we can take them? Everyone except me is injured. They outnumber us 10 to one, and if you take into consideration-"
"NERD!" Says Kakashi. He's been waiting for a opportunity to do that for a while.
Madoka droops like a wilted flower.
"Kakashi sensei, that was mean," says Naruto. "How could you?"
Kakashi turns to look at Naruto in surprise. He did not expect Naruto to be the one calling him out.
"You knew I wanted to do that," continues Naruto. "We had a deal, I was supposed to be the first one to do that!"
"I'm sorry," apologises Kakashi meekly. "I couldn't resist."
Madoka crosses his arms indignantly. "You guys are mean!"
"Hey!" yells the bandit. "What about us? Weren't you going to fight us?"
"Oh yes, our C-Rank threats," nods Kakashi. "We were paid to take care of C-Rank threats after all."
"Then why did you fight Zabuza?" asks Rain. "He's not a C-Rank threat."
"No, but you see, he and Haku attacked us, so we had to defend ourselves," explains Kakashi reasonably.
The bandit takes on a 'seriously dude?' expression. "Aren't ninjas supposed to follow orders though?" the bandit argues. "Isn't defending the bridge builder against bigger threats than you were paid to handle breaking the mission parameters?"
"NERD!"
They all turn to Madoka in surprise. "What?" he says. "That IS satisfying."
"You are right," says Kakashi. "Defending Tazuna from threats higher than C-Rank DOES break the mission parameters. But like I said before: the B and A-Rank threats attacked us first, so we had to defend ourselves." He grins. "Being a ninja is not about following mission parameters, it's about finding the loopholes and exploiting the heck out of them."
Rain starts laughing heartily.
The bandits shrug and charge towards Zabuza and Haku. Kakashi and his genins jump into action. They run forward to defend the still very shell-shocked and teary-eyed Zabuza and his apprentice. Wind is vulnerable too, so long as she is healing Haku. The bandits are going to reach them first.
Kakashi senses Rain molding chakra, ready to do something, when an arrow whizzes past and lands at the lead bandit's feet. Kakashi turns to look behind him and sees Inari, along with the rest of the villagers, standing at the end of the bridge armed with angry-mob weapons. Kakashi senses Rain relax his chakra.
"Hey, you lot!" yells Inari. "This is our village, and you bandits are not welcome here, so GET LOST!"
The bandits do a double-take. The cold determination on the villagers' faces is different to anything they have faced from any town before. The one of them says, "We still have the advantage! Attack!"
"No," says Rain. "You do NOT have the advantage." He takes off the dark cloak concealing his body to reveal a black cloak decorated with red and white clouds. "Do you know this uniform?"
"A-A-Akatsuki!" the bandit's turn and run.
The villagers start cheering.
"What's Akatsuki and why are they so scared of you?" asks Naruto, tugging on Rain's sleeve.
"Akatsuki is an organization made up of shinobi who feel the world needs to change," says Rain. "We have a fearsome reputation."
"WOW!" Naruto's eyes shine in amazement.
Wind ends her healing jutsu and says, "Haku will heal fine on her own now. I will bandage the injury for you, but you must change the bandage every day."
Zabuza nods and says, "Fine, fine - just so long as Haku will be okay."
Wind smiles and bandages Haku's chest. Then she stands up and turns to the people gathered on the bridge. "Next time you are in this kind of trouble," she says. "Unite and fight a bit sooner, eh?"
Rain throws his cloak back around himself. "Let's go, Wind," he says. "We have business elsewhere." The two of them vanish before anyone can stop them.
"I am beginning to think this was not the best idea," whispers one rogue Uchiha to another.
"Following this Mizuki guy is stupid," the other Uchiha whispers. "We should kill him and be done with it."
The two Uchiha women are waiting for Orochimaru, who summoned them via an ever-increasingly obnoxious Mizuki. At that moment, Orochimaru arrives and smiles the creepiest smile the two women have ever seen. "I would like the two of you to fight," says Orochimaru. "Show me who is stronger."
"Yes Orochimaru sama," says the elder of the pair.
"Is Mizuki still useful?" asks the other. "I want to murder that son of a bitch in cold blood."
"Hear hear."
Orochimaru smiles. "The winner of this match can kill him."
"Oh it is ON!" says the elder Uchiha.
But it is not on. A man and a woman wearing masks and dark cloaks appear out of the shadows in the training room. "We have come for the Sacred Scroll of Sealing."
Naruto is practicing flying through the trees. He is also patrolling the forest around the bridge for D and C rank threats like rabid squirrels, hired thugs and falling trees. A week has passed since the fight with Zabuza, and the bridge is nearly finished. It should be done in a week. In the meantime, team seven are on patrol duty and Zabuza is waiting for Haku to heal so they can go and join Akataki, or whatever Wind and Rain called their organization. All is calm and quiet in the Land of Waves, so Naruto is taking the opportunity to practice using the antigravity seal.
As Naruto flies past another of the trees he crashed into earlier that morning, he sees two cloaked figures sitting on a tree branch with a scroll sitting between them. It is Wind and Rain. Naruto flies over to them and asks, "Have you guys come to get Zabuza?" Then he notices something about the scroll sitting between the pair. "Hey, that's the scroll Mizuki stole from Grandpa Hokage's house that time!"
"That's right," says Rain, nodding. "We reclaimed it."
"Cool," grins Naruto. "What did you do with Mizuki and his posse?"
"We killed all but one of them," says Wind. "She hid, and since we were after the scroll, we did not bother with her."
"Did you make Mizuki suffer?!" Demands Naruto, eyes shining with bloodlust.
"He suffered a lot," nods Rain. "It was a violent and bloody end."
"In fact," adds Wind, "if it were in a book, the scene would be omitted for being too violent and disturbing for readers to handle."
"YES!" Naruto does a mid-air backflip.
"Catch!" Says Rain, and throws the scroll to Naruto. "Make sure you give this to the Hokage! It is the Leaf's Sacred Scroll of Sealing, and therefore is very important, so don't lose it." Wind and Rain disappear into the trees, leaving Naruto alone with the scroll.
Sacred Scroll of Sealing, huh? Sounds interesting. Besides, they never said he couldn't look at it, just that he has to get it to the Hokage. Naruto opens the scroll and reads the name of the first jutsu. Multi Shadow Clone Jutsu. Naruto cannot make clones. But this jutsu is in a scroll of sealing, so maybe…
Naruto grins and starts reading the instructions for the Multi Shadow Clone Jutsu.
"KAKASHI SENSEI!" Naruto yells at the top of his lungs as he runs full-tilt towards the bridge where Kakashi is reading while he watches over Tazuna and his workers.
Kakashi looks up from his book. Why is Naruto running? He looks completely worn out and is carrying a scroll on his back. What has that boy been up to this time?
Is that the Sacred Scroll of Sealing?
"Mr ANBU!" He shouts. "Watch this!" Then Naruto makes a familiar hand seal and announces, "Multi Shadow Clone Jutsu." About a hundred Naruto's appear in the surrounding landscape.
Kakashi is not sure whether to freak out about the fact Naruto knows he was in ANBU, or the fact that a fresh genin just mastered an A-rank forbidden jutsu. Instead he tries to be calm and asks, "Where did you get that scroll?"
"Wind and Rain gave it to me," explains Naruto. "They said I have to make sure the Hokage gets it. But they never said I couldn't learn its secrets."
Kakashi stares at Naruto.
"What's the matter, Mr ANBU?" asks Naruto, cocking his head to one side in a most adorable way.
Kakashi takes a deep breath and says, "Naruto, how do you know I used to be in the ANBU black-ops?"
"You were my ANBU," smiles Naruto. "I can tell by your scent!" He grins even wider. "I'm so happy you're my sensei now!" Naruto hugs Kakashi and grins up at him some more.
Kakashi is not sure how to react, so he pats Naruto on the head. "The fact I was in ANBU is a secret." Naruto could smell him. Naruto could smell him the whole time. "I am impressed you knew I was there. But if you know my scent so well, why did it take you so long to figure out it was me?"
"Cause your scent changed," says Naruto. "You smelt like someone else for ages. But that scent is mostly gone now." Naruto scratches his head. "It started fading after we left Konoha."
"Oh," says Kakashi. "The other scent is probably my wife's scent." Kakashi pulls out the picture of his wife and kid that he keeps in his jounin vest and holds it up for Naruto to see. "This is my wife and my kid. Once we get back to the Leaf, you and the other two must meet them…"
