I've been playing a lot of Naruto Blazing…I got a four-star Hayate and a five-star with a single draw and I'm a bit amused at that. That's poetic timing on the games part.
26
Yuzuki spoke to the man she was supposed to kill. She was under a henge that was impossible to detect and flirting with him to get him alone. She was playing the part of a dumb brunette and her amber eyes were wide in surprise at something the man said. He hated shinobi with a passion, he didn't see the need for them. Now she could see why someone put a hit out on him. He was stupid.
"Oh my," She said in a high voice that was nowhere near her normal monotone, "You are such an intelligent man."
"I'm glad you think so, beautiful," the man said, and she felt a shiver of disgust go down her spine, "Why don't we go somewhere more private to continue this conversation."
"I'd love that," Yuzuki said while blinking up at the man as she leaned towards him.
She hated the fact that she was doing this, she was not the right kind of person for seduction missions. She felt disgust at each word he spoke and every action she took to get him ensnared. Her kimono was loose around her shoulders and showing off the henged cleavage she had chosen. One could learn a lot from the nearby brothels and bars, the man went after well-endowed women. Brunettes with large amber eyes were his type. The fact that she could come off as innocent brought him into her web even more.
Her thoughts turned to Kaede and she hoped that the Ookami was enjoying her time at the hotel while she could. They'd be leaving town as soon as the man was dead. She left a three-pronged kunai in the hotel room for a quick escape.
She got up from her seat and accepted his arm. The man had no clue that he was escorting a teen around, didn't even know her actual age. The fourteen-year-old was glad that she had the extra twenty-three years under belt to call on. Emotional and physical maturity wasn't something she'd accomplished yet, mental maturity was. She was using it to her advantage. She needed to if she were to be a jonin.
"My dear, you are more beautiful than the last woman I had some alone time with," The politician informed her, her stomach lurched as she hid her mouth behind her hand in an act of shyness.
She was able to feel the heat in her cheeks as she bashfully giggled at the man. He licked his lips as they entered a hotel and quickly ushered her to a room. She kept up the act as she was sat on a bed. He didn't feel her chakra as she began to weave a genjutsu, her hand hidden in her kimono sleeve. He went to sit next to her on the bed and she got up. The charade of a shy, sultry, woman was gone, and the hardened Shinobi stood before him. With quick hand signs she delved into his mind and acquired the information she needed.
She pulled out of his head and used a chakra blade across his throat. He died quickly and laid in the bed with his eyes open. She hiraishined out of the room and into her hotel. Her henge dropped and she stripped from the heavy silk kimono.
Kaede looked up as the clothing hit the ground and watched as her kunoichi quickly bound her breasts before changing into her chuunin uniform. She grabbed the sealing scroll with her mission and equipment, and placed it in one of the pockets of her flack jacket. The heavy kimono was sealed away, and she looked around for her footwear. As soon as her sandals were on the two left the hotel and started to head back to Konoha. Tree hopping was the fastest way.
Mitsu no kuni was beautiful, but the bars and whore houses were not her scene. It surprised her that a Las Vegas-esque town would crop up in a place that had honey in its name, but she supposed more than one substance could be like honey. She made a face at that thought before clearing her mind to pay attention to her surroundings. She was nearing Mizu no kuni, even if the Mizukage was interested in a treaty she didn't want to run into missing-nin who wanted to fight. It was a quick in and out mission.
She broke through the tree line of mitsu no kuni and the smell of honey wafted through the field that marked a border between Mizu no kuni and hi no kuni. She'd have to run across the lake that stood in her way home. She activated her byakugan to check the water for any Shinobi. She really didn't want to risk anything.
"Let's go, Kaede," She said to the Ookami.
She put a foot on the water and the two began to race across the surface. Pale eyes kept moving side to side as she kept an eye on the surroundings. She didn't even know what she could do to avoid death or capture, she could pull a Naruto. She could talk out of her ass and see if that worked. She knew she wasn't as charismatic as the Uzumaki; it would most likely fail if she tried.
She reached the other side and let out a soft sigh of relief before continuing towards Konohagakure. She was missing home and she wanted a shower to get rid of the smell of heavy perfume that was on her person. She didn't know why women wore such things, even in her previous life she hadn't worn the stuff. She never understood it.
It was getting dark when she realized that it would take too long to get back, she needed to set up camp and take a break from traveling. She was far enough away that tracking would be difficult. Not impossible, due to the perfume ingrained in her skin, but the odds were in her favor. She unsealed the scroll and a backpack fell out of it. It was her second time going into the thing, the mission scroll had been destroyed as per instruction, and she was going to keep it out. Just in case she needed something.
She started to set up traps as Kaede hunted for her dinner. Wire traps were set up and she had a few smoke tags and explosive tags scattered everywhere. It was a lot of noise and it would make sure she was up in case someone attacked her. She was hoping that wasn't the case.
She ate half a ration bar and curled up in a ball under a mess of roots that created a safe area that was impossible to see. Kaede joined her and she gave the ookami a soft smile before closing her eyes. Her dreams were interesting, meaning that she couldn't understand them. They were muddled and it was like she was trying to see through heavily frosted glass. It was an improvement over the nightmares that had plagued her for years, but she didn't know the reason behind them. When she woke the next morning she was sweating heavily, it was cold out but humid.
"Must be Mizu's rain season," She muttered as she wiped her forehead with the back of her arm.
It was quick work to remove all the traps she had set up and then leave. She didn't need the breakfast and Kaede would hunt for something along the way. She needed to wake up and jumping from tree to tree was a perfect way to do so. The morning air was truly thick with humidity, but it lowered the further into hi no kuni she got. Her hair was starting to curl from it, and she bared it no mind.
"That was too easy," She couldn't help but mutter as she came across the gates of Konoha.
Jonin missions rarely went that smoothly, sure there were one or two that did but an information gathering mission? Those were the kind that always ended up in disaster or misinformation…unless it was handed to a Yamanaka or an intern from the Torture and Interrogation department. No wonder Tsunade hadn't seemed too worried about sending her out on this mission for her jonin exam, it was to see just how she got information and to see if she could gather it in a way that wasn't normal for her. Huh, it truly was the perfect test and she hated it. A test was supposed to challenge you, the chuunin exams were a challenge this wasn't. The village must've been hurting for new jonin to the point where they were giving easy tests.
She decided to scare her teacher in retaliation.
"Reporting in," She said as she opened the window to Tsunade's office.
She easily ducked to avoid the sake saucer that had been thrown her way. It was empty, and it created a small crater when it hit the ground below. She was able to keep her amused smirk from her face as she fully stepped into the office. She got a whiff of the sake and her nose wrinkled.
"I've spent enough time in a bar to know that day drinking is a sign of a genuine problem," She said to her hokage, "Do you want the report orally or written?"
"Orally, I want to know what you learned and how you did so," Tsunade ordered as she seemed to sober up a bit.
"Satou Ren was conspiring to cut Konoha forces in half with his newest proposal to the Daimyo," Yuzuki began her report and Tsunade saw the shift from playful teasing to serious shinobi, "He was hanging around the whore houses and bars of Mitsu village within Mitsu no Kuni, under a henge I was able to get him drunk enough to tell his secrets and then get him alone to finish him off, his body will not be found until the end of the week when his payment for the room is required. All signs of my chakra on his person will have faded by now."
"Well done, his proposal had no grounds to begin with, but he might've gotten support from the Daimyo," Tsunade informed the girl, "You've completed your mission, and as such have met the requirements to become a Jonin, congratulations."
"Thank you, Shishou," Yuzuki said as she relaxed her posture a bit, "Is there anything else you require of me?"
"Get some rest, I'll send Ibiki a notification of your promotion so that you'll be allowed to interrogate all prisoner," Tsunade informed her, "You'll be back training and learning on Monday, and happy birthday."
"Thank you," Yuzuki softly said before she motioned towards Kaede.
The Ookami went onto her hind legs and Yuzuki hiraishined them to her room at the apartment. Kaede shook her body in slight discontent before leaving the room to go find Genma and bother the man. Yuzuki sighed in amusement as she went to take a shower and change into some civilian clothing, she hadn't tried making clothes again seeing as she wanted to wait until she was finally done growing. The moment she came out of the bathroom she heard something being moved around in the apartment.
Genma was never that loud when moving around. She activated the byakugan and blinked, Ino was in the apartment and looking around for something. She went to investigate, the byakugan no longer in use, and raised a brow at the blonde.
"Kaede let me in," Ino stated as she shrugged, "Now, we're going to have some tea and you're going to tell me why you've been avoiding everyone."
"I haven't been avoiding everyone," Yuzuki shook her head in disbelief as she took a seat at the dining table, "I've been busy, there's a huge difference."
"Yes, well, while you've been busy I've figured out how to get into a person's mind," Ino said with a grin, "My training with Dad has caught up to where I should be, in a few more month's we'll be on par."
"Have you decided what branch to go into?" Yuzuki asked her.
"Information gathering, it's a branch of the hunting department," Ino answered as she poured the ready tea.
"Really, are you going to be on a team with Shikamaru and Choji?" Yuzuki questioned as she began to drink her cup of tea.
"Yeah, sometimes we'll work with Hinata's team," Ino nodded.
Yuzuki smiled at that and she wondered why Ino would choose such a route. She wondered if it was because she wanted to stand out against the girls of their year. Two of them had gone into torture and interrogation, one was in hunting. Tenten had gone into a line of work that dealt with weapons and was creating weapons that worked well with chakra, something Yuzuki was planning on looking into for a new weapon to add to her fighting style.
"What about you? All I could smell upon entering was heavy perfume, is there something you aren't telling me?" Ino questioned.
"I just became a jonin," Yuzuki stated.
Ino simply blinked at that for a few minutes as it slowly sunk in. Her hands slammed on the table and the blonde shot up in her seat. Yuzuki backed up a bit at the frown on her face.
"What the hell do you mean, you just became a jonin!?" Ino shouted.
"Oh, that's cause for a celebration," Genma's voice cut through the air and Yuzuki slumped in her chair and tried to ignore the glare sent her way from Ino.
That's what she gets for not keeping contact with anyone. She knew that's what she was doing, but she liked being kept busy. Like she once told Hayate, she really liked the dolla dolla. She wanted to build her own house; she even had enough money saved up for such a thing. She just needed to find a nice plot of land near the hokage monument, or on top of it, and then a builder that would build according to her design.
"I swear, you need a break," Genma sighed as he lightly bopped the top of Yuzuki's head, "You keep forgetting to tell us important information."
"I would've told you before I left, but Tsunade-shishou told me not to," Yuzuki tried to explain, but a raised brow from Genma informed her that it wasn't working.
He simply shook his head at that and walked to the door. Ino watched as the older man left the apartment and then turned to Yuzuki. She was looking down at her cup of tea with glossy eyes. The blonde realized that she had simply let herself get too busy. She slowly reached out and placed a hand on top of the taller girl's head.
"I'm okay," Yuzuki softly said, "He's right, I keep getting too busy and I'm starting to hold information close to me."
"You tend to do that without thinking," Ino commented and she didn't get the reaction she was hoping for, "He's just a bit upset, he'll get over it."
Yuzuki didn't reply to that and Ino reached forward to flick the girl in the forehead. Yuzuki frowned at that and rubbed at the reddening spot. She still didn't say anything and Ino sighed. It hadn't changed how she was feeling, it had made things worse.
"Hey, get some rest," Ino told her, "We can all celebrate with Neji and you when he gets back from his exam."
"Yeah, see you then, Ino."
Ino paused at the sight emotionless way the other girl said that before ignoring it and heading out of the apartment to leave the teen to her sulking. The teenage angst had hit her hard, the raging hormones were making themselves known and she had trouble thinking through them sometimes. Somedays she was fine, other's she didn't even know who she was. She felt as though a rift was forming between her and the two men she had come to rely on.
Genma she saw during meals, but she was always so tired that she didn't really talk to him. She hadn't even seen Hayate in that time and as such she didn't really have that close bond with him anymore. Sure, she'd "seen" him around the village, but it felt like he was busy as well. She was sure that he was trying to get into ANBU to be one of Tsunade's guards, something he had wanted to do while the Sandaime was alive but due to his illness he couldn't. She didn't blame him, and wished him the best.
She just couldn't help but think she should change her specialty from interrogation to isolation. She ran a hand through her still wet hair and looked towards Kaede, she wasn't completely alone but sometimes human interaction was needed. She didn't need a date or anything, something that Ino would definitely prescribe if she were ever to voice her problems out loud, she just needed someone to talk to that wasn't training her. She could try to talk to her prisoners, torture them with kindness, but that wouldn't work. She also didn't want Ibiki mad at her, the man still scared her, even if they were at the same rank now.
"I'm heading to bed, Kaede," She informed the Ookami, "You know the rules."
She got a bark in confirmation and she got up from her chair to clean up before heading to her room to get some sleep. She put her towel up and climbed into her bed. She laid there, her eyes dry, fighting sleep. She brought a hand up and ran it down her face, she messed up. She knew she messed up. It seemed like that was all she was good at doing. She shut her eyes at that and forced herself to sleep, she needed the rest.
She spent the rest of the year trying to catch Genma before she left to train or work, but it seemed as though he needed space. She didn't bring it up with Tsunade, she didn't want the man to feel like he was forced to listen to her, but even the hokage could tell something was wrong. She was training the two girls while the hokage guard squad took the chance to make sure that all the protections within the office were still working properly, that's when she noticed the rift between the two of them. She sighed through her nose and watched as the brown-haired man seemed ready to say something to the diligently working teen, but he seemed to change his mind and went back to working on the seal above her door.
"Yuzuki," Tsunade called and said girl looked up, "I want you to deliver this scroll to the hospital, the head nurse Tomoko needs the new schedule."
"Yes, Shishou," Yuzuki nodded as she accepted the scroll.
She headed out of the office and Sakura looked up from her scroll and towards the blonde woman, she was planning something, and it had to deal with the other girl that just left. Tomoko usually got the schedule every Sunday at noon so that the workers would be aware of when they had to work. The fact that the schedule was being released this early spoke of a plot. It wasn't any of her business and she didn't want to get caught up in it. When the other girl came back and gave her a shrug no one said anything.
Another year passed, and the two girls were starting to surpass Tsunade in their skills. Ibiki was able to spend more time in his office and on the training ground due to the Yamanaka taking over his paperwork and some of the harder to crack prisoners. The fifteen-year old was able to get through the stacks of paperwork fast with the clones she made, never more than three at a time. He was quite glad for the reprise, but he knew it wasn't going to last.
Tsunade was proud of the two girls and how much they had grown. Sakura was still working on her temper but her abilities had skyrocketed since she began to learn under her. Yuzuki was as still a quick study, she could use what ever was taught to her and use it to her advantage. She saw the productivity of the hospital increase as more kunoichi went into the medical field after rumors of the two girls started to circulate. Sakura-Sama and Yuzuki-hime, one girl seemed surprised and fought to make sure she was worthy of the title, the other slightly annoyed at it but slowly coming around.
Yuzuki had left the apartment and was now in her own space. She never told Genma or Hayate, she didn't know how to approach the man she thought of as a father that she was moving out. She couldn't deal with the avoidance on both their parts. She took the cowards way out, and decided to have her space where she and Kaede could call home. It was never home in her mind. To her home was a man with a senbon hanging from his mouth, a man she called father.
She needed to get away from the village for a while, if anything she needed a long mission to clear her mind so she could grow a spine and talk to the older man. She wanted to mend things, but didn't know where to start. If she got that time away to think, she might be able to mend the bond she had with Genma. The one she had with Hayate, well…that one would be tricky.
The last time she had saw the man her palms had grown sweaty and she became extremely nervous. She didn't know why exactly, yes she had a crush on him as a preteen, but she hadn't spoken to him in two years. It puzzled her, and she didn't like it. If she wanted to be teased she'd bring it up to Tsunade or Anko, but she didn't. She wanted a straight answer and she didn't feel right going up to Hinata's sensei to ask. She had to make up her mind, and do it fast before she lost courage.
"I would like a long mission, shishou," She said one day after she was done with training, "It will allow me time to start training with my summons out of the watchful eyes of the Inuzuka."
"You want to keep your techniques a secret from them?" Tsunade questioned.
"I believe that the techniques might be similar to the clans and I don't want to be accused of clan theft," She explained, "A place where no one can bother me or no clans are watching will be perfect and I'll be glad to do any mission for it."
"I have one up in the land of snow," Tsunade stated as she moved the scrolls on her desk around, "You won't be coming back until a few months after Naruto's estimated return."
"I understand," Yuzuki nodded, "Be sure to give the knucklehead a hug from me when he gets back, and an apology for not being here."
"Tell him yourself when you come back, brat," Tsunade grumbled as she handed the right scroll over, "Be safe and dress warm for kami's sake, we don't need you brought back in a box."
"Yes, Ma'am."