Chapter 13: Welcome to Lightning Country

Despite the carriage which lumbered behind us, getting stuck in mud puddles and frightening the local wildlife, our team had made good time. We hadn't been attacked by enemy ninja or local bandits. No traveling merchants had tried to latch onto our group in an attempt to scam free protection from Konoha ninja. We had barely even spoken to the client, since she spent her days locked inside the carriage's compartment. She would giggle, conspire with her personal mercenaries, and occasionally release an overdramatic sob. At some point, she was probably going to attack us, but so far, the mission had been incredibly boring.

We had just passed the border of Fire Country when Naruto stopped in the middle of the dirt road, blocking the carriage's path. Nene's guards rushed over to soothe the horses while Naruto said, "What do you mean we're going all the way to Lightning Country?!"

Three days into the mission, and he apparently didn't know what the mission was. I raised an eyebrow. "Didn't you read the mission briefing?"

"They're twenty pages long!"

Naruto was exaggerating. This particular packet was sixteen pages, and the last page was practically empty.

"Who actually reads those things?" Naruto said.

"Me," I said.

Kakashi finally noticed that the rest of us had fallen behind, glancing away from his book for the first time since I'd woken up that morning. "I looked at it."

"It's important to fully understand the situation before you're in the middle of it, Naruto," Sakura said.

"Like that ever works. Clients lie all the time. Right, Hinata?"

Hinata pushed her fingers together, staring at them and hunching slightly to make herself smaller. "I…I mean, I've never realized, but maybe I wouldn't know. Uh, I don't know."

Naruto said, "I'm just saying that somebody should've mentioned that we were going really far away."

There was only one reason why Naruto would be so concerned about the unexpected length of this mission. While I couldn't quite keep the humor from my voice, I tried to treat his predicament with sympathy. "What? Didn't bring enough underwear?"

Naruto made a fist and menaced me with it. "Sasuke!"

The client opened her carriage door, only her blue hair and cheerful eyes visible. "Is everything alright?"

"Fine, ma'am," Sakura called. "We'll be moving again in just a moment."

The kunoichi grabbed Naruto by the ear, pulling him forward into a jog. "Stop holding everyone up, you moron."

The rest of our team matched her pace, though Naruto tripped before adjusting to being led around by the ear. "Sasuke's the one being a—"

Sakura viciously twisted his ear and turned to Kakashi with an inquisitive look. "I've actually been wondering why Nene hired us."

"Because she wants her son back," Kakashi said. Behind us, the carriage resumed its sluggish pace.

Sakura reluctantly released Naruto's ear. "No, I mean, why hire Konoha ninja? The Village Hidden in the Clouds is much closer."

"Ah, I see. Kids, sometimes it's worth putting in a little more time and money to get quality." Kakashi returned his attention to his book.

"Because Konoha has the best ninja in the world!" Naruto once again stated the obvious in a desperate bid for attention.

I said, "Everybody knows that. Moron."

Sakura released killer intent in…agreement, I guess.

An angry Naruto clone appeared beside me "We're gonna beat you until there's nothing left to beat."

My Sharingan flared to life, and I locked eyes with him. "I'd like to see you try."

"Enough, you two," Sakura snapped. "We're on a mission."

She was right. This was incredibly unprofessional.

"I won't attack first but, if the dead-last charges me, I'm going to keep setting clones on fire until every last one of him goes up in flames."

Naruto's sharp incisors gleamed as he smiled at me. "Ha. We'll see about that."

Sakura drew her sword, menacing us with it. "Sensei, aren't you going to stop them?"

Kakashi looked up from his perverted book. "Sasuke, stop insulting Naruto. Naruto, stop being insulted by Sasuke. Hinata, learn how to use chakra strings."

Hinata lifted her chin slightly. "W-what?"

"It'll help you with your Byakugan."

Hinata's body resumed its usual, defensive position. "Okay."

We continued down the muddy road for a few more minutes.

The killer intent radiating off Sakura's body thickened until she finally asked, "Are you going to teach her when we camp for the night, sensei?"

"I don't think it really needs teaching. You just put chakra in your fingers and wiggle them. Like this." Kakashi demonstrated.

Though Kakashi was technically only teaching Hinata this jutsu, his explanation piqued our interest and, over the next couple of days, I often caught my teammates' fingers wiggling. My own attempts were reserved for quiet moments, when the journey grew dull or my late-night watch dragged on.

Not one of us produced a wisp of chakra string.

The road we traveled was thin but cobbled, a necessity in a land best known for its frequent thunderstorms. The Naruto clones and Nene's guards had steered her carriage from our muddy campsite to the road, but still we waited. I paced from an indignation-puffed Naruto to a wilting Hinata.

Hinata peered at the carriage, where the client had dramatically retreated twenty-seven minutes earlier. "Miss Nene is…is quite upset. Sh-should we start traveling soon?"

Sakura, sitting on a large rock, struck her sword with a whetstone. It scraped loudly. "You shouldn't let her intimidate you. She isn't in charge just because she's paying."

Behind her back, Hinata anxiously wiggled her fingers. "N-no. I know that. I do. But, but the person who is in charge isn't here right now, so maybe we should try to make her happy. The mission comes first, r-right?"

"If we leave our teammate, we'll be worse than trash," Naruto said with a stern nod.

Hinata's fingers twitched more quickly.

"I don't know what you're worried about. Kakashi's probably just late," I said.

"If he had to go someplace, why not tell someone?" Hinata said.

I glanced at the road, where our client and her retinue were anxious to leave. "Because he's Kakashi. Let's go. He'll catch up."

"You're full of garbage, Sasuke," Naruto growled.

Sakura stood, killer intent pouring off her. "I'm the chuunin here, so it's my decision. Got it?"

Naruto's brow crumpled inwards. "Wait, but I'm a—"

Sakura raised her sword. "I asked if you understood."

Naruto glared at his feet.

Hinata clutched a kunai, eyes darting between Naruto and me, as if wondering if she should get between us and the maniac brandishing a sword. She wisely chose to back up and attempt to blend in with the scarce shrubbery.

"Fine," I said. "What do you want to do, then?"

Sakura's sword fell, and she traced a line in the mud with it, blushing. "I haven't decided yet."

"What are we deciding?" Kakashi dropped out of a nearby tree. That was particularly disturbing because it didn't have any leaves, so I should have noticed him up there well before he chose to show himself.

Naruto and Sakura stated the obvious fact that Kakashi was late.

"Right, sorry. I could smell salt-broiled saury cooking in the nearest village and had to try some"

One of Nene's guards took off his sunglasses and cried, "That's got to be four miles from here. How did you smell anything from that far away?"

"I'm a dog," Kakashi said. "While I was there, I learned a few things about the Iijima family. It turns out, they're perfume salesmen."

"That's in the mission briefing," Sakura said.

"Nene mentioned it during our meeting, too," Hinata said.

"And now we know for sure. They also say that Lady Iijima is barren."

"Rumors"—Nene had exited her carriage, clutching her kimono tightly—"Nothing but awful, awful rumors. Spreading such filthy things…I couldn't have imagined that ninja were such gossips."

What did she think information gathering was? I had always struggle with intelligence-based tasks because I don't naturally take an interest in people.

"But, if that were to be true, I suppose"—Nene's lip trembled—"Well, I suppose that's why she wants my Akihito. You couldn't ask for a better son."

Naruto gave her a thumbs up. "We'll bring him back to you safe and sound, lady."

The woman's lip curled into a tight smile. "I'm sure you will."

As Nene again disappeared into her carriage, Kakashi pulled off his pack, revealing the empty eyes and swaying limbs of the object that had been strapped to it. "While I was in town, I bought this."

"A puppet?" I said.

The puppet was about a foot tall, and looked slightly weathered by age. It resembled a child with white skin and a red kimono. It had been caught mid-laugh, with black crescent eyes and an empty smile. Its hands seemed to reach for something as Kakashi untangled the puppet from the straps of his pack. He tossed it at Hinata, who caught it with a squeak.

"I thought you might like this."

"Thank you?" Hinata held the puppet an arm's length from her body. Only politeness kept her from flinging it into the surrounding country and running. "You really, really shouldn't have."

"Don't worry. It was free because all the strings are broken, and the saleslady thinks it might be possessed," Kakashi said.

Sakura giggled, either assuming Kakashi was joking or reveling in Hinata's misfortune. "You've been busy. I guess you really earned that saury."

Kakashi's eye widened. "I knew I forgot something. Kids, I'll meet you in the nearest village."

He shunshined away, leaving us to go on without him, which we should have done twenty minutes before.

Hinata kept glancing nervously at the puppet tucked beneath her arm as we resumed our journey.

Naruto laughed. "Heh, I guess you're really a part of the team, now. Right, Hinata?"

She colored slightly. "W-what do you mean?"

"Well, Kakashi gave Sakura a sword and me some exploding tags and Sasuke the Sharingan, and now he gave you a creepy dummy. So it means you're one of Team Seven now."

Sakura clapped her hands together, eyes shining. "It's like a welcome gift."

"I see"—Hinata paused to stuff the puppet into her pack—"I don't understand why, well, why give th-this present, though."

"He's probly trying to teach you a lesson," Naruto said, checking that his exploding scrolls weren't primed to explode.

Her fingers stroked the puppet's flared sleeve. "R-really?"

Naruto was clearly botching this explanation.

I said, "Kakashi isn't like Kurenai-sensei. She teaches things. Kakashi is more subtle. He makes you figure everything out for yourself."

"He drops little hints that sound insane at first," Sakura said, "but they're full of clues."

"For example," I said, "he once told me that the only way to beat a Nara is to not have a shadow, and I didn't think that was possible. But when I was fighting Shikamaru, I realized that all I had to do was set myself on fire."

Hinata glanced towards my feet. "Oh. Right. I, uh, remember that. Did you heal well?"

Sure, I had some mild scarring, but there had been no permanent damage. I gave her a small nod of acknowledgment and began our walk towards the next town.

We planned to leave the client and her guards in a small cave a few miles outside of town. If anyone had recognized her as the missing boy's mother, Nene had claimed, he would be in terrible danger. Although a few Narutos had begrudgingly agreed to remain, the rest of our team had disguised ourselves as traveling merchants looking to sell our wares to the wealthy Iijima family.

Our forehead protectors lay hidden in Kakashi's cart beneath dozens of henged Narutos. Sakura, Hinata, and I had replaced our usual clan-marked clothing with the browns and greys common among civilians who spent long stretches on the road. Kakashi had reluctantly removed his flak jacket. Naruto wore his usual clothing, disguised as a civilian who wanted to look like a ninja but couldn't quite pull it off.

"Sensei," Sakura said, "won't it be suspicious if the targets see a Hyuuga with us?"

"Good thinking, Sakura." Kakashi leapt several feet, snatched the sunglasses from one guard's nose, and tossed them to Hinata.

"Wear these," he said.

Hinata put them on. "Um, because…"

"Because you're blind now, and nobody wants to see that." Kakashi winked, or maybe he was just blinking emphatically. He had replaced his forehead protector with a bandana and his mask with a slightly larger mask, so we were actually seeing less of his face than usual.

We started down the road to town, the client's entourage and Hinata's creepy new puppet watching us go. After roughly twelve minutes, Kakashi—who was pushing the cart at the front of our group—said, "Hinata, trip more. You're blind."

"Sorry." Hinata faked a stumble, which turned into an actual stumble. She nearly toppled into the dirt, but I yanked her upright by the back of her shirt.

It was a medium sized town, more drab than Konoha and slower-paced, but the people were well-fed. A pasty-faced woman with round eyes approached us. She snatched Hinata's arm. "You would like a new ribbon, wouldn't you?"

"I…I," Hinata stuttered, frantically wiggling the fingers of her trapped hand.

"I've plenty in my stall. Would you like a look?"

"I…"

Naruto stalked back. "Hey, lady, get off her, will ya? Can't'cha see she's blind?"

While Hinata and I caught up with the others, Naruto stayed to argue with the saleswoman. That was fine. There were plenty more of him in Kakashi's cart.

Hinata's fingers continued to wiggle as she peered anxiously at the other merchants shouting around us. I gestured towards her hand. "Still working on that?"

"Yeah. Kakashi-sensei told me what to do, but"—Hinata's fingers twitched faster and her voice fell to a whisper—"I can't get it right."

A thought occurred to me. "Hn."

Hinata glanced at me. She was really doing a pitiful job of faking blindness.

I said, "Kakashi's a genius. Complex jutsu may come naturally to him, but people like you and me need to figure every little thing out, things Kakashi doesn't even realize he's doing."

Hinata's hands stilled, and she stared forward, which was much better for her disguise. "I see."

"Besides," I said. "I'm pretty sure Kakashi doesn't know how to make chakra strings."

Hinata abruptly halted, Naruto racing past as he rejoined our group. "W-what do you mean?"

"If he knew the technique, he'd have shown it off by now."

Her usually polite smile grew a hair larger. "Thank you."

As advice went, that wasn't even particularly helpful. I shrugged.

"N-not just for, for this. During the tournament, as well."

Right. If somebody had tried to save my clan from being massacred, I'd be grateful, too. Sure, the Hyuuga Clan had already figured out how to deal with their traitorous members, but I liked to think I'd made a difference that day. "How's Neji treating you lately?"

"He's nicer," Hinata said.

Good. I had taught the mad Hyuuga something, after all.

We could see the Iijima mansion's lawn from across town, its lands carpeted with flowers that grew as densely as the grass in the Forest of Death. A gardener scurried among the early morning dew, watering some flowers, planting others, and ripping out those that had died overnight. The Lightning Country climate couldn't be kind to the flowers. Even grass and ferns often struggled to survive among the rocky terrain and violent storms. But no one would guess it upon seeing the Iijima's lands.

A delicate wall surrounded the home, comprised of thin, white piping that appeared bumpy, as if it had been painted over many times. We passed through the swooping archway and into the smaller garden outside of the mansion's tall doors.

Four ninja waited inside.

They were a genin team. A sharp-eyed blonde jounin lounged in the corner, eyes closed as if she was napping, but her ears twitched at every noise. The rest of the team seemed average—two boys and a girl.

"This mission is never going to end," the girl said. She was black-haired and dark-eyed, with the brown skin common among Lightning citizens.

The taller boy laughed. "I sure hope it doesn't. We're getting paid to do nothing. It's great."

The girl crossed her arms, paused, then crossed them again but lower, to prop up her small chest. "It sucks."

"Shut up, moron," the other boy said. "If you keep bitching, you'll get us put back on D-rank duty."

"D-ranks were better than this. I mean, seriously. What are we even defending against?"

Their sensei cracked one eye open, watching us coldly. "Children, do your job and greet our guests."

The taller boy, darker skinned and lighter haired than his female teammate, turned towards us. "Who are you?"

Kakashi's eye smiled. "Perfectly ordinary flower salesmen."

The boy crossed his arms. "Why'd you say it like that?"

"Like what?"

His dark eyes widened. "All suspicious-like!"

"Suspicious-like isn't a word, Chigau," the shorter boy drawled, running a hand through his lightning blond hair.

"It might not be a word, but it's a thing." Chigau stuck his tongue out at his teammate.

Meanwhile, the girl sidled up to me. "Hi, cutie."

Hinata abandoned me in my time of need, stepping forward to whisper in Naruto's ear.

The kunoichi laid a kunai-calloused hand on my arm, giggling. "So, you like flowers, huh?"

I took a step to the right, smashing my sandal into the floral lawn. "I sell flowers."

"Mm"—she took a step after me, leaning to whisper in my ear—"Wanna give a girl a discount?"

"No." I reminded myself that using kunai, fire, or my full strength to fight her off would jeopardize our mission.

The shorter boy walked over, scowling. "Cut it with the seduction techniques, Suku. Nobody's interested."

Suku let go of me, trailing a hand down my arm as she left. She turned towards her teammate with pursed lips. "Oh, Ya-ke-ru. Are you jealous?"

Yakeru turned away with a sneer. "You're such a slut."

She languidly followed him. "Oh, you are so jealous."

"Sensei," Chigau said. "The flower people are spies."

"Well, that's a hefty accusation," Kakashi said.

"Sensei, they're obviously spies."

Suku rolled her eyes. "Did you seriously just accuse somebody of being a spy both out loud and right in front of them? God, you're dumb."

Chigau said, "I'm not dumb! I'm gonna be Raikage someday."

"No you're not"—Suku leaned towards him with a vicious smirk—"'cause you're dumb."

"Also, nobody likes you," Yakeru added.

"You're an asshole," Chigau spat back.

Their sensei spoke through gritted teeth, her voice a hiss. "Children. If you think someone is a spy, detain them."

"Sorry, Yugito-sensei," they said.

"Well, since we won't be selling these flowers…" Sakura overturned the cart, and every flower transformed into a shouting Naruto. There were Narutos everywhere. Some charged at the Cloud ninja while others ran away. The rest of our team henged into him and fled.

It had been long enough that our distraction was no longer necessary.

A/N: Hinata's puppet is based on Japanese Ichimatsu dolls, which I had to stare at for a prolonged period in order to write a decent description. In other news, I am now terrified of Japanese Ichimatsu dolls.