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Arc 4, Chapter 5
-Kirigakure-
(Hidden Mist Village)
Coming to a stop at the village gates Ken turned around and sent a steadfast glance at the buildings that were desperately stacked atop each other in an effort to bury the past, and then looked at the Mizukage tower. It loomed frightfully high in the sky disappearing within the fog, giving the village an ominous feel. As soon as he returned from his mission he was going to tell Mei to tear it down.
He was sure the villagers would like that too rather than look up at the reminder of their former tyrannical Kage who seemingly went mad.
"Hey, you," Karin's sharp voice distracted him from his observations.
"Me," Chojuro asked, nervously pointing at himself.
Ken didn't like the boy; he was too fidgety and scared of him for his liking. Sure, the Senju has only spent ten minutes with him, half of which was spent descending the tower in quickened silence. And the remaining five were spent following the nervous swordsman through the damp village.
"Yes you, four-eyes…! Who else could I be talking to?"
Chojuro jumped in fright of the sassily glaring redhead with his eyes pointed at Ken suggesting, that maybe she could've been talking to him.
"Anyways," Karin continued, rolled her eyes, and loosened the intensity of her glare. "Do you know where Haku-kun is?" she brazenly asked, hoping to dupe the Mizukage out of their agreement.
Chojuro sweatdropped and scratched the back of his head while fearfully looking away from Ken's piercing eyes that wanted- demanded to know where Haku was. Why did his sensei leave him here with this world infamous criminal and said criminal's fiery-tempered girlfriend!?
"I… I don't know where he is," he whispered in response, looking up from the ground at the two of them with a hopeful smile. Surely they wouldn't continue to interrogate him over something he truly didn't know.
Right?
Wrong.
"Huh," Karin cupped her ear, "Ken-kun did you hear what he said?"
Ken negatively shook his head at Karin's question. "No, I was about to say the same thing. I couldn't hear him over all of his shaking," he tilted his head making a loud cracking sound. "Mind repeating yourself 'friend?'"
Chojuro felt a portion of his soul slip out of his somewhat open mouth and fearfully backed away from the slowly approaching Senju. "I… I don't know anything…. I swear it guys," he bowed his head just as he backed into his stern faced sensei. "Ao-sensei..." he groaned in both relief and terror.
"Would you man up already Chojuro! We mist ninja's do not show fear in front of our enemies especially you; being one of our Seven Swordsmen!" the eye-patched man hollered loudly. "Here," he threw a small sack at Ken- the folds of a piece of clothing sticking out of the top. "Figured you'd need some clothes for this job," he pointed at Ken's feet.
"Thanks, I guess," Ken grumbled shrugging off the black cloak Karin had lent him. The cloak fell to the stone pavement next to the bag of clothing Ao had thrown him.
"…" Chojuro turned pale and face faulted, as Ken stood in front of him with, but a leaf covering his junk.
Ao deadpanned and turned away, wordlessly rejoicing that he included a pair of boxers with the assortment of clothes.
Karin however, unlike either of the straight men watched with a trail of blood running down her nose as Ken got dressed. "I think I'll wear this now…" she regarded the cloak she had lent Ken with a craving crimson blush.
Ken gave himself a quick once-over. He wore a loose shirt with a short haori over it, adorned with a pair of shorts and wooden sandals. All in all, he looked as rundown and poor as the villagers behind him- not that he cared. 'I guess they didn't want to give me any ninja gear that could be linked back to them…'
The moment Ken was fully dressed and ready, Ao cleared his throat pushing the memory of a stark nude Ken out of his mind. "My student Chojuro and I will only escort the two of you to the Daimyo's palace. From there it is up to the two of you to succeed in your mission but remember," he paused and looked the two in the eyes, "If you fail then we will not assist you with locating Haku of the Yuki clan."
Ken narrowed his eyes, only nodding after Karin nodded.
"If he's truly responsible for why the village is like this," Ken motioned towards a sniveling woman seated atop the porch of one of the many rundown houses, "Then consider him dead already. I can't stand leaders who allow their people to suffer like this," he finished, spitting a wad of spit on the ground.
"Sensei isn't there one more thing you're forgetting to say?" Chojuro asked, gulping when Ao dangerously peered at him in response. "I mean… Like the number of guards, rooms, what he looks like and-"
"That's more than one thing!" Karin exclaimed with her hands on her hips. "Me and Ken will be fine, right Ken-kun?" she questioned.
Ken nodded, not caring in the slightest about Chojuro's needless worries.
"See," Karin grinned brightly after putting on her black cloak relishing in its heat. "We'll be fine, I'm more curious about whether or not you're really a member of the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist, four eyes. Those guys were apparently pretty terrifying back in the day unlike you."
"You've got glasses too you know," Chojuro murmured nervously under his breath with a small shy blush on his face. It wasn't everyday when others were interested in his title as a Seven Swordsmen. It wasn't a popular title anymore mostly due to its ruthless connection to the Bloody Mist Era. But he'd change that someday!
"Save it for the road you two," Ao stated while walking through the gates with one hand gently rubbing his covered and stolen dojutsu. "If you still want to back out Senju, then now is the time," he said with his glare focused on the sleeping gate guards.
It seemed they've gotten careless in their time of peace. He would've woken them up and reprimanded them for their slacking, but he couldn't bring himself to do it. Peace was something that graced their village once every couple of decades before as he liked to call it… Shit hit the fan. He'd let them enjoy their peaceful and relaxed slumber, for now.
"Just lead the way," Ken stepped forward with an eye watching as Karin tried to pry Chojuro's sword off his back. "I'm itching to get this over with. The sooner I save your village the sooner I can meet up with Haku and have some real fun."
Prompted by Ken's brash response Ao nodded in acknowledgment hoping that the missing ninja's, "fun," wasn't something that involved his village. He was a dangerous missing ninja when all was said and done. "Chojuro, man up and defend yourself!" he snapped, smirking at his stunned student who was just softly pushing the redhead away from him. "We're leaving, let's go you three," he felt like he was the sensei of a three-man genin team when each of them nodded and dashed off alongside and behind him.
-Konohagakure-
(Hidden Leaf Village)
"Why not assign my clan the mission to head over to the capital Minato?"
"Tch. Why should you Uchiha's carry out such an important mission? Was it not a member of your clan who released the Sand Biju upon our village?"
"Tred carefully Hiashi. Sensei isn't here to protect you like when we were kids."
"Fitting considering that your kid will be here to see you knelt in defeat before me, Fugaku."
Minato groaned as lightning arced over him curtesy of his two friends. Fugaku; to his right, and Hiashi; to his left. Cracking a smile at the silently brooding teen seated on his office's sofa, he wondered if Sasuke and Hinata, both of his former teammate's heirs would end up like their rivaling fathers.
For his knuckle-head daughter, he sure hoped not…
Byakugan and Sharingan glared at one another.
The lightning arcing over him grew in size, not that Sasuke nor the two clan heads cared.
"Yo, it's pretty rare to see the three of you together like this," a familiarly loud and jolly voice greeted the room's occupants. "Reminds me of the old times, doesn't it Minato?" Jiraiya said while seated on the railing of the open window, one hand holding a note pad and the other scribbling who knows what in it.
"Sensei!"
"Jiraiya-sensei!"
The two clan head's said in surprise, forgetting the fight they were in the middle of having above their seated Kage.
"That's my name kiddos," the Toad sannin hopped up and entered the room grinning at Minato's dry expression. He had forgotten that he didn't want him entering through the window… "Anyways what are you three arguing over now?" he questioned while sending a wave at Sasuke.
He sweatdropped when Sasuke merely glanced at him and then dismissively out the window no doubt looking for Naruto. 'Damn brat is as bad as his old man was at his age…'
His sweat drop grew in size upon seeing Fugaku and Hiashi start up another argument above Minato.
"The Uchiha clan is by far the strongest out of all of Konoha's noble clan's, it's only right that we handle this," Fugaku smirked.
"Hmph," Hiashi sneered in response. "As if brute strength is the only thing that makes one the strongest. The Hyuga clan has many political ties to the Fire country's capital."
Jiraiya groaned and looked at Minato, wondering what his response would be to his bickering teammates. Personally, he'd send another clan just to piss them off further, maybe the Inukuka's they sure knew how to have a good time, especially that Tsume…
Minato looked past his now giggling sensei to Sasuke, he was curious about the boy's answer would be. "Sasuke-kun," he called out getting not just the teenager's attention, but also the former members of his generation's Team Seven's attention. "Which one would you recommend sending? Members of your clan or members of the Hyuga clan?" He inquired wishing to know his answer.
Sasuke wasn't an Itachi, but he was still one of the most promising ninjas he's ever gotten the privilege to watch grow.
Sasuke stared into his father's narrowed Sharingan gaze and then over to Hiashi's skeptical glinting Byakugan. He glanced down at his Uchiha police crest that was tied tightly around his arm, he was loyal to the Uchiha clan, but…
"Send both Uchiha and Hyuga troops, Hokage-sama," He smirked at his father's exasperated but not angered look and Hiashi's widened in surprise eyes. "What we Uchiha's miss the Hyuga clan can make up for, being the second strongest right after us of course." Working alongside his fellow Uchiha's within the police force, for give, or take three years now; he learned one distressing but true fact.
His clansmen were arrogant with their eyesight, especially the powerful ones; sometimes overlooking things that would be obvious to others. And whenever… if that ever did happen… the Hyuga's could pull through for them.
Minato smiled brilliantly and clapped his hands together, "then its decided, the mission to guard the Fire capital from any and all threats will be issued to both the Uchiha and Hyuga clans." Without leaving room for either of the displeased clan heads protests, he declared loudly. "You have until next week to pick out who's going. I want five Jonin ranked shinobi from each of you."
Fugaku and Hiashi glared at one another before nodding stiffly to Minato.
Jiraiya smiled proudly at his two begrudgingly nodding students and wondered what brought the three of them together like this. When he was their Sensei, one of his biggest challenges was not helping them- primarily Hiashi and Fugaku get along outside of missions.
"Good thinking kid." He gave Sasuke a thumbs up, "Naruto was mumbling something about you, ya know, "That Teme better have not left me… Blah blah… Sasuke-teme this, Teme that…" Uh, why are you looking at me like that brat?" Jiraiya questioned Sasuke who had a small cold smirk on his face.
Jiraiya sighed feeling that unforgettable feeling of evil foreboding that only an Uzumaki and or his precious Tsunade-hime could produce. "That orange-clad idiot is right behind me isn't- ahck!" he howled in pain when a fist bonked against his noggin.
"Hey Teme, I'm back," Naruto greeted her teammate with her whiskered head peeking out from behind Jiraiya's hunched over form. "What's up dad?" she turned around after Sasuke nodded at her.
Minato smiled proudly at his daughter.
All she had said was, "What's up dad," but it got his heart beating over time. It was crazy how much he cherished her simple greeting. She was taller, standing probably just a few inches under him- already beating her mother in height. The next thing he noticed was that her hair was still the messy and spiky golden mess that she could have only inherited from him.
He would've cursed his genes for beating Kushina's in the gene race, but her eyes shone just as cheerfully as his late wife's eyes once did.
They were slightly crinkled into a smile and radiated a fierce determination for something only she knew. But he'd support her with it no matter what it was.
"…Okay, anyways…" Naruto said uncomfortably as her father continued smiling at her. "Oi teme, let's go and meet up with Sakura-chan for some lunch!" she cheered; her personality doing a complete one-eighty in just a brief period of time.
"Hn," Sasuke grunted in approval with a knowing smirk on his face. "No ramen though, me and Sakura had it the night before…" And just like that, he walked out of the room through the double doors leaving a slack-jawed Naruto standing frozen in shock.
"Him… and… and Sakura-chan had ramen last night," the whiskered blonde questioned herself before her brows suddenly shot up and her eyes narrowed some. Turning around to her still happily daydreaming father she sighed and snapped her finger's in front of him. "Dad…"
Fugaku huffed at Minato's lack of an answer and placed his hand on the Hokage's shoulder just as Hiashi did the same.
"Hands off Hiashi, I'm going to snap this idiot out of his weird little fantasy."
"Quiet Uchiha, can't you see that I'm going to be the one to wake him from his delusions."
A vein throbbed atop Naruto's head as she slammed her hand down on her dad's desk waking him up before either clan head could. She brushed her hand through her hair and glared at her dad. "Have you heard anything about Ken's location yet? Ero-Sennin said that none of his spies has been able to locate him, so I was wondering if you had."
Minato gulped, an action nobody in the room missed, and looked at his sensei, silently questioning why he didn't inform Naruto about Ken's most recent appearance. Receiving an apologetic shrug from the super pervert he sighed readying himself to tell her that Ken had just killed one of the leaders of the Nadeshiko island.
"Hey dope, how much longer are you going to make me wait? My shift starts in an hour, so we need to hurry," Sasuke asked/demanded, standing at the door with an impatient glare pointed at the blonde.
Naruto looked away from Sasuke and then back to her dad.
"We'll talk about it when I get home tonight okay?" Minato asked hoping she would accept his response.
"I wanted to visit with Karin-chan and Laiya-oba later tonight, but I can do that tomorrow Dattebane! I'll see you later dad!" she yelled whilst running out of the room throwing her arm over Sasuke's shoulder before the door closed.
The room fell silent as the younger Namikaze's voice disappeared down the halls.
"What's with those faces," Jiraiya questioned his former students. "She already knows that Ken is a multi-national missing ninja… what else could it be?"
Minato's gaze depressingly lowered to his desk, "Karin-chan left the village under the cover of the night shortly after Naruto, Shikamaru, and Sasuke were summoned to the Fire Daimyo's palace by Lady Kikiyo. I wish I would have noticed in time, but I was… dealing with my own problems."
"That's almost three years ago!" Jiraiya shouted in surprise.
"Yeah," Minato nodded, hoping that Karin was safe and sound. She was as much of his cousin as she was Naruto's.
"You need to tell Naruto tonight Namikaze. She'll appreciate your honesty, trust me."
Minato nodded again albeit slowly, having never thought he would be getting parenting advice from Hiashi of all people along with Fugaku nodding sagely from behind. "I'll tell her everything. I won't lie or hide the truth like I've done to so many people," he glanced solemnly at Fugaku. "I'll trust her to make the right decisions with this information," he promised.
Jiraiya couldn't have been prouder.
Seeing all three of them not killing or hurling insults at one another made him think of the three Ame (Rain Village) orphans he taught before them. How he cherished each of his students. He closed his eyes and sighed, however, forcing away his emotions. He knew what he had to say next would not only shock the three, but also possibly enrage them.
"As we all know Danzo vanished from the village after the whole Chunin Exams fiasco for some unknown reason…" he was curious as to why Minato and Fugaku shifted uncomfortably but continued, nonetheless. "My spies have seen him and a couple of his root nin's entering Otogakure (The Hidden Sound Village). I believe that he and Orochimaru are teaming up to finish what that snake started three years ago."
Minato gulped and shared a look with Fugaku. Neither he nor Fugaku told their sensei or even Hiashi about Orochimaru's possible new body. Taking the Uchiha's nod as a, "Tell them," he cleared his throat and opened his mouth to tell the two men about Orochimaru.
-Land of Water-
Contrary to the Fire Daimyo's palace that was protected within the heart of the Land of Fire's capital, the Water Daimyo's palace was located slap dab in the middle of a dark and swampy marsh. The palace resembled an old castle that was walled off by four sets of stone walls. The inspiration from the distinct architecture found in the Land of Iron was clearly used in its construction.
Ironically stationed atop the walls walking back and forward militantly were samurai- adorned in their specific armor with their longswords attached readily to their hips.
Ao turned to face Ken and said, "This is as far as I can take you two. Infiltrating and performing the deed is all on you, kid. Remember to keep Kiri's name out of your mouth- better yet convince Daimyo Raiser to believe that this is your will not Lady Mei's."
Ken nodded and glanced down at the palace from atop the hill he and the other's were located on. The castle was tall; not nearly as tall as the Mizukage tower, but easily half the height of it.
Ao did not need to worry about him slipping up and revealing that he was taking the assassination mission for Mei because truthfully he wasn't doing it for her. He was doing it for her village's residents and of course for information on Haku's whereabouts.
"Karin, I'm not exactly the type to sneak around…" he turned to the redhead with a fierce smile. His smile shifted into a smirk when Karin nodded with her own smile neither wavering nor diminishing at his eagerness for battle.
"You're not thinking of leaving me behind with four eyes and one-eyed are you," Karin asked amusedly as the two Mist shinobi sulked dejectedly. She wanted to follow Ken forever, even into the samurai infested castle below them.
"F-Four eyes… You've got glasses too though…"
Ken silently laughed at Chojuro's dismissed complaint and said, "Let's finish this then so that we can find Haku." He extended his arm out to her and pulled her close to him when she grabbed his hand.
"Cheer up dork," Karin flashed a grin at Chojuro. "Me and Ken-kun together can accomplish anything! So don't worry about us," she exclaimed with a wave as Ken picked her up and leaped down the hill out of sight.
Chojuro deadpanned, he wasn't sad because he was worried about her safety. He was feeling down because she made fun of him again…! "It's like she's in her own world… Everything has to revolve around her," he whispered as he walked towards the edge of the hill. Although he wasn't too concerned; he peered over to see if his newest friend was all right and silently sighed in relief upon seeing her standing atop the back of a wooden dragon with a thumbs up directed towards him.
The grin plastered upon her face reminded him of Mei's smile that he vowed to protect. He wanted to be strong like… like Ken, who was confident enough in his strength to bring Karin with him on such a dangerous mission.
He sweat dropped and backed up in disbelief when the wooden dragon charged straight for the castles gates with Ken standing tall readying for the impact.
"H-He's insane sensei…" He changed his mind; he didn't want to be like Ken Senju.
A boom echoed throughout the marshland they were located in and the sounds of fighting could then be heard as each of the numerous Samurai rushed to Ken and Karin's location.
"When you're strong you're allowed to be as eccentric as you want Chojuro. Think of our single despite being in her thirties Kage… she's pretty insane too don't you think?" Ao grinned at the chaos Ken was stirring up, before turning around motioning for Chojuro to follow. "The rest is up to the Senju and Karin-chan, let's return to Mei-sama before she gets too lonely."
Chojuro nodded with a small blush on his face. Sending one last glance at the cloud of smoke he smiled seeing Karin standing completely relaxed behind Ken. He someday wanted to protect his Mizukage like how Ken was faithfully protecting Karin. With that, he followed behind his sensei wishing Karin and Ken good luck on their assassination mission.
-Kirigakure-
(Hidden Mist Village)
Mei sneezed for the umpteenth time, causing one of the Hunter Nin's in front of her to snicker beneath their mask and try to play it off as a cough when she glared at him. Not being able to hold back another sneeze; she furiously wiped her nose and stood up from her seat with a single paper in her hands.
The paper had the faces of two men. With their respective bounties and names located beneath them.
"You all have your targets so hurry it up and get it done this time!" she yelled and immediately sneezed. Wiping her pink nose and mentally cursing whoever was talking about her, she sniffed and cleared her throat. "I want them both back alive, but if the Yuki proves to be too much trouble, then use of lethal force is available. And if it comes down to it… tell him that we've got his Senju and Uzumaki friends held captured." She shooed the Hunter Ninja's away with a smirk and stepped back when they each nodded and exited her office.
Plopping down in her seat she wiped her nose again and wondered who was talking about her. 'Maybe it's a handsome young man who's brazenly having lewd thoughts about me,' she giggled perversely to herself only to sneeze and let out a delighted moan. She felt like she was forgetting something, something important that she forgot to mention to Ken, but… She sneezed again and giggled, reaching for the small orange book hidden beneath some piles of paperwork.
All the while Chojuro and Ao spent their entire trip back to Kiri making fun of and teasing the Mizukage behind her back.
End
An: Not too much going on this chapter in terms of action, rather I focused on hyping up the next few chapters, Arc's, and whatnot. Hope you enjoyed, till the next update.