Title: Clouds Drawn by the Moonlight

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

AN: Thank you for your reviews. They really motivate me to keep writing!

I also uploaded another story called Under the Maple Tree and you can check that out on my profile. As always, enjoy.

Chapter 6

"Team seven will escort a client safely to the Land of the Waves."

"Who, who, who?" Naruto raved on and on, "I bet they're really important if they need ninja for escort! A princess? No, maybe a lord or the Daimyo!"

The Hokage took a quick puff from his smoking pipe before chuckling, "Calm yourself, Naruto." He shifted his attention to the door and raised his voice. "Please, let him in."

The door slid open and immediately the air permeated with alcohol. I forced myself from pinching my nostrils closed as it might come off as rude.

And there he stood: our client.

"What's going on here?" Our client took a long drink as the sounds of his gulping was audibly heard. "They look like a bunch of wet-nosed brats."

Tazuna was ancient. His hair and beard were unkempt, gray from the years waning in on him. His clothes were also messy and worn and his glasses hung loosely on his nose, barely covering his eyes. The bottle of sake he was holding was a cheap one, the exact one a cousin of mine was caught drinking a few days ago. At first glance, he looked laid-back, not giving a damn about the world around him but with closer inspection, there was a tiny twist of fear that laced his eyes.

"Especially you, the midget, with a face of an imbecile." Tazuna placed his free hand on his hip. "It's a joke, right? You kids aren't really ninja."

Ouch. Well, from the outside we probably don't seem to be ninja. I mean with our youthful looks, and Naruto's bright traffic cone like outfit, we didn't fit the ideal perception of a ninja. Naruto laughed off Tazuna's cold remark at first, not grasping the fact who he was talking about.

He flared after realizing Tazuna was referring to him, "Midget?! Who are you calling a midget? I'll destroy you!"

I grimaced and peered around the room. Sasuke of course, was agitated. The Hokage smiled, seemingly entertained, while Iruka sensei had his face lowered and buried in a hand, slightly shaking his head in disappointment.

Kakashi sensei grabbed a fistful of Naruto's jacket, restraining him while giving an apologetic expression to Tazuna. "Wrong. We're here to protect, not attack."

"I am Tazuna, a renowned bridge builder," he gripped the sake bottle tighter. "I'm building a bridge that will bring change to my home and until I'm safely accompanied back, I expect you all to protect me, even if it costs your lives."

He was underestimating us. And to be honest, with Naruto's outburst, it's looking like he was right about his assumption.

I took a step towards Tazuna, speaking as evenly as possible. "We are ninja of the Hidden Leaf. Though we may be young, we complete each and every one of our missions efficiently and will do the best to our abilities to see it fulfilled." I paused, "…as stated within the mission details with accurate information."

Tazuna coughed, nervously.

I felt my eyes narrow dangerously low again.

Kakashi sensei's hand lightly grasped my shoulder, pulling me back. A warning? Maybe, as he too noticed the shift in Tazuna's demeanor from my provoking statement.

"Do not worry Tazuna," Sensei said as he retrieved the mission scroll from the Hokage, "Although my students are genin, I am a jounin and will ensure your safety."

Tazuna's shoulders relaxed a bit from the reassuring words.

"Alright kiddos. Unlike our other missions, this one's going to take a while. The Land of the Waves is located southeast of the Land of the fire, so I estimate it'll take us at least a week to get there. As stated by the Hokage, our mission is to guard Tazuna until he is safely returned to his home." He glanced at the clock, "Let's regroup at the main gate in an hour. That should be plenty of time to prepare yourselves."

"Yes, sensei." We all answered in various degrees.

I ran back home, anxious about the mission. What were the important parts about the Lands of the Waves arc? Didn't Tazuna have bounty hunters or more like assassins after him? Sent by a powerful person… the founder of a shipping company? Catō? Datō? Anyways, the group was ambushed on their way and I also remember two others attempting to stop them as they left a lasting impact on Naruto. Zabuza and Haku. They died.

They were betrayed by Catō— whatever his name is, but I can't remember why. It would be a nice possibility that I could prevent their deaths but there were too many things unaccounted for and too many things that could go wrong as a consequence.

Hinata was still home as Kurenai asked her team to meet later in the day.

"You're already back." She poked out from the kitchen. "Don't you have a mission?"

"Well, sort of." I tilted my head uncertainty. "I have to pack… it's a C-rank."

"A C-rank?" She stared at me quizzically.

Mother stumbled into the living room while holding a basket full of dirty laundry. "What's this C-rank I'm hearing about?"

"We were given a C-rank mission and it's going to take a few weeks or so." I casually shrugged.

"But, it's too early don't you think?" Mother set down the laundry basket, placing both her hands on her hips. "You've only been genin for two weeks. How can they be so sure you're ready for one?"

"I'll be fine." I said as levelly as possible. I didn't want to worry her and I silenced my own doubts at the same time. "We have Kakashi-sensei with us."

Mother sighed, "I suppose. It's only a C-rank and you've been training hard with your father."

Hinata followed me upstairs to my room, to assist with my packing. Well, there wasn't much packing to do as I always kept my mission gear packed and ready to go. It just needed adjustments for different missions. I filled it with a more extensive med kit, extra clothes, an overabundance amount of weapons, while Hinata neatly stuffed in some soldier pills and more than enough of ration bars. Though hunting was more likely the source of our food for these types of missions, she was adamant that I pack them just in case.

I refilled my shuriken and kunai pouches, making sure each were sharp in the process. I changed into more appropriate clothes for the journey, tightened the bindings on my legs and slung the backpack on. We made our way down the stairs with mother waiting at the front door. She thoroughly examined me, double checking if I had everything.

Finally, she pulled me in for a forehead kiss, deeming my gear adequate to her standards. "Please be careful, alright?"

"I will, I promise. Tell Hanabi and father I said bye." I much rather tell them myself but Hanabi was at the academy while father was busy with clan stuff. I turned to Hinata for a hug, "I'll be back soon."

"Hurry back." She softly replied. "And be safe."

I was probably being overdramatic right now, making it seem like I was leaving for a year or something but it was my first C-rank. I was nervous.

By the time I arrived at the front entrance, Naruto was already there, still bubbling with excitement. Which was a first. Usually, I was the early bird. I conducted a thorough examination of his own gear as a small part of me feared that he packed nothing but weapons. He assured me that he didn't but I checked anyway.

I gazed at the main gate, zoning out as Naruto rambled on about how awesome this mission was going to be and how it's his first time actually travelling to another Land. The main gates had the hiragana 'a' and 'n' painted red on each door, which meant hermitage or retreat. I never knew why the village elders decided to use this word; a simple welcome might have sufficed. Civilians think the front gate is the only entrance to the village but it wasn't. There were probably over twenty, maybe more or less secret entrances used by the Anbu or other elite ninja. Heck, even I didn't know where the other secret entrances are located.

"It's past the time he said we'll meet." Tazuna grumbled whilst drinking deeply from his sake bottle.

I shrugged, "Our sensei is always late."

Naruto rolled his eyes, still grudging over his remarks from earlier, "Listen gramps, you shouldn't mess with ninja! Especially not really good ones like me or Kakashi sensei!"

"Gramps?" Tazuna snorted, "Pah! No respect for the elders."

Naruto scowled, but before he opened his mouth to protest, Kakashi sensei and Sasuke arrived.

"Please, let's all get along." Sensei said cheerfully. "Right, if everyone's ready, we can depart now."

"Yeahhh! Road Trip!" Naruto whooped, "This'll be the first time in my life I've ever been outside of the village!"

It'll be my first time outside too. Well, far from home that is. I visited some cousins patrolling the thick forest around Konoha with my father and that was about it. I grew up mostly sheltered by mother and father: from their strict curfews, the fact we always had to have permission, and an attendee was always on standby, following everywhere we went. I remember how uncomfortable Ino and Sakura were when we first met up outside of the academy and our attendees trailing behind us.

The day was bright. It was one of those baby blue skies, not the cotton candy blue nor the washed grey, characteristic of autumn and winter mornings. The clouds scattered about the sky, occasionally covering the sun's rays. We walked at a civilian place in respect to Tazuna and frankly, it was rather boring. I purposely slowed my pace even more to match Tazuna's as I wanted to ask some questions about his home land to get to know him as we'll be spending a week with.

At first, he responded shortly, barely elaborating on his answers. But over the course of my continuous questioning, he began to open up. His eyes twinkled at the mention of his family, his love for the sea, the food, and the culture of his home. He told us everything really, except for the fact he had ninja after him.

When the light began to drain away and there was barely enough for the shadows, sensei stopped to set up camp for the night. He instructed us on some procedures but we knew what to do as the survival classes from the academy triggered us to action like a muscle memory. Naruto was to set traps and watch for potential dangers with his clones, Sasuke went to hunt, and I stayed behind to clear our soon to be camping site and build a fire.

I cleaned up the area, first gathering the broken branches and twigs for the fire. Then, I salvaged the rocks and stones that were small enough to place around the fire while moving the large ones. Using a kunai, I dug up a circle of dirt, with the grass still attached, forming the fire pit. In the morning, it will be perfectly placed back into the earth, masking our existence. As ninja, we must move undetected.

I finally went out to look for firewood, which wasn't difficult. We were surrounded with plenty of broken branches that I didn't even have to chop some of them down. I gathered extra to sharpen into stakes to cook the food.

By the time I came back, Sasuke returned with four birds, feathers still intact. Unlike rabbits, birds were a pain in the ass to pluck and so after placing the firewood into the pit, I helped him pluck, skin, disembowel, and clean. Afterwards, I asked him to sharpen the longest branches while I sat to manually build the fire. The good ol' rubbing the stick and a piece of wood together until friction does its thing and my arms fall off.

I started to rapidly roll the stick against my hands, ignoring the burning sensation on my palms. Blisters were likely to form but I could heal those with mystical palm jutsu later. The ache of my arms was the real issue.

I continued with my assigned task when a shadow of someone loomed over me from my right and the stick was snatched away from me. I frowned and turned to see Sasuke standing over me, disapproval in his eyes as they lingered on my bright red hands. When I calmly asked him what the problem was, he struggled to find his words before settling on that I was taking too long.

Well, excuse me sir. I was trying my best here.

Annoyed, I responded with the why don't you try sitting here and furiously rub two pieces of wood over and over again until it decides to ignite itself. To which he retorted that he didn't need to because he was going to use the fireball jutsu. Now, I could just make things easier and agree but his slight from moments earlier awoke the pettiness deep within me. I shrugged him off, saying how it was a waste of his chakra and snatched the stick back. He narrowed his eyes and with a quick weave of hand signs, a stream of fire spurted out of his mouth, forming into a ball on top of the pit I made.

Sasuke: 1 Me: 0

Defeated, I slowly got up to go sharpen the branches. A moment later, he silently followed and sat in front of me, picking up his kunai to finish the branch he was working on.

When Naruto returned, we went back to where sensei and Tazuna were waiting, reporting our finished setup.

"It took a bit long but not bad." Kakashi sensei praised, while peering up from his book.

After dinner, I unsealed my sleeping bag but not a tent as the night was clear. Generally, sleeping bags were not packed due to their bulkiness but I kept my sealed just in case. I unrolled the sleeping bag and offered to keep first watch during the rotation planning. I'd rather have a good, uninterrupted sleep rather than waking up in the middle. Sasuke had the unfortunate middle watch and Naruto at dawn.

Back in the academy, we were taught to 'light sleep' during missions to spring into action when danger was imminent. The lesson didn't matter to me as it did to my classmates as I was already a light sleeper with the smallest of noise had me bolting up.

The first watch was lonely, but warm from the dying fire and peaceful with chirping of crickets being the only indicator of noise. I kept my senses heightened and stared out into the darkness, listening for any intruders. Once in a while, I also did quick byakugan checks, stretching far with my chakra. There was nothing.

Once my shift was over, I quietly walked over to Sasuke's sleeping bag. His sleeping face was so serene, cleared from the tragedy and stress that were permanently housed amongst his features. He was a very tortured soul.

I lightly poked his arm, and was about to again, thinking the first was too soft. He sprung right up, looking disorientated but regained his focus after rubbing the tiredness away from his eyes.

"Uh, it's your turn… your watch." I awkwardly whispered.

He grunted a 'I know' before rolling his sleeping bag up and took the spot that I was at during my watch.

With Naruto recharged from his sleep, breakfast shattered all remnants of the quietness the early mornings usually brought. We still had ways to go so sensei suggested we eat ration bars for now to save time and quickly break up camp.

We broke up camp, effectively erasing our previous inhabitants of the area. I fit the circular patch of dirt back into the fire pit like a missing puzzle piece of the earth and rolled up my sleeping bag, resealing it.

Around noon, I felt the faint presence of chakra whisking in the trees. In the forest surrounding Konoha, there were always people within the trees, whether it was civilians or ninjas. But we were far from home.

I was on high alert now. I steadied my breathing, glimpsing over the group. So far, no one had noticed my panicked state. If I could sense it, Kakashi sensei did too, much faster. Though, he was relaxed, unbothered even as he didn't look up from his book. And with the enemy not engaging an attack, we kept on walking. However, ever since their discovery, I never stopped worrying, as I mapped out possible ambush sites and traps along the route.

We walked some more, and at mid-afternoon, I soon felt the same, repressed chakra signatures again. This time two, possibly three signatures lightly pulsating ahead of us. I was curious as to why they chose this time and location to ambush. We had passed rivers and ponds earlier that were perfect hiding places and ambush locations.

I skipped my way over to sensei. "It's really hot today, don't you think Kakashi sensei?"

The boys immediately knew something was off as I don't tend to say pointless things and act like this. They sharpened their attention. I silently gestured with my eyes to watch my hands.

Sensei didn't look up from his book, but his eye was angled at me now and matched his pace to mine.

When we were close to the point our arms were barely touching, I tapped the standard Konoha morse code on the back sensei's right hand.

Intruder chakra, a hundred meters ahead.

Sensei hmm'ed, now peering up at the sky, "Why yes, it is." He also pointed at the cracked, dried up dirt, "It also looks like it hasn't been raining for days either."

Details? He conveyed back.

He was testing me. I forced a smile, masking the frowned that was creeping onto my lips. I stretched my chakra further. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary. The surrounding area of trees or boulders were free from pre-casted jutsu or chakra residue. There was, however a puddle on the ground and was radiating with two foreign chakras within it. Aha. Now with the information in mind, they were mostly likely to burst out of the puddle once we were directly over them or they waited until we completely passed them and attacked from behind. It really depended on which option though.

"I hope it rains soon." I chortled.

Two upper level chunin, possible jounin. Middle path, puddle. Ambush.

"I hope it does too." Sensei casually said.

Prepare yourselves. Main focus: protect. He signed.

We slowly formed into a triangle with Tazuna in the middle. I stood at Tazuna's side, prepared to slide myself in front of him. With my byakugan and gentle fist I was most suitable for bodyguard. Kakashi sensei slowed his pace until he was at the back of the group, waiting. Whether they attacked from the middle or behind, sensei will be taking the brunt of the ambush from behind. The boys were tensed, fully aware of the enemy ninja within their proximities but Tazuna on the other hand, seemed unaware of the stressed atmosphere.

My heart was racing, palms sweating, and breathing radical. This was real. One mistake could cost everything. Unlike sparring, we couldn't just yell timeout or end it; only death will. The fact that I was making myself walk towards the ambush, the fact that I knew they were waiting, and the fact that I knew we were about to be attacked was so terrifying.

The puddle was now a few steps ahead of us and it oozed with chakra. Seven more steps, six, five. I tried calming myself. Two, one and the puddle exploded, catapulting two figures up into the air. They each held the ends of a spiked chain and swirled it around Kakashi sensei.

I felt the chakra around sensei flicker as he casted a combination of the replacement jutsu and a genjutsu. The two assassins pulled and he was ripped into shreds. I wasn't too alarmed, knowing that he was actually fine but the genjutsu of his limbs being ripped apart was kind of traumatizing.

"Ah! Kakashi sensei!" Naruto cried out in distress.

I instantly slid myself in front of Tazuna and turned on my byakugan. "Watch their claws! Keep your distances!" I warned. "And Naruto, clones!"

Ranged attacks were the better option as I wanted none of us near those nasty gauntlets. Sasuke was already moving while Naruto hesitantly snapped his fingers into the cross seal, like he was forcing himself to move. We've only really fought together during Kakashi's bell test, giving us some familiarity of our fighting styles and only sparred once, on the day we were given this mission. I was glad and a bit surprised that he didn't automatically freeze up. I guess that one spar taught him more things than it was supposed to.

The clones huddled around the missing kiri nin, providing perfect cover for Sasuke as he prepared himself for a jutsu. The spiked chain combed through the crowd of Narutos like the leaves being raked up during autumn.

I kept my stance in front of Tazuna, using my body to shield. I knew the moment I left him to help the boys, he would be exposed and our top priority was to protect.

"Fire Release: Dragon Fire Technique!" Sasuke chanted, spitting out fire like that of a dragon's: traveling quick and straightforward. Unlike the fireball technique that burns everything in its vicinity, this jutsu is narrowly focused on its target.

Sasuke's jutsu targeted right at the center of the spiked chain, melting it in half. The kiri nin abandoned it and decided to split. One changed their pathway and headed towards me while the other to the boys.

I braced myself, spreading my legs for better balance and delivering the maximum amount of chakra to my hands.

"Tazuna-san, stay back!" I shouted.

He didn't have to be told twice as I heard his footsteps running further behind me

I narrowly avoided several lashes of the clawed gauntlet that could've shredded me into curly fries. Ha. Curly fries. I grimaced, now was not the time for humor.

Now this was a tricky matter. I shouldn't place myself nowhere near those claws but I had no choice as I was basically born to be a short-ranged fighter. I had to be within range to implement any damages. With both those in mind, I waited for him to rebound, until the claws were close enough that I saw my own tiny reflection from the shiny metal.

I promptly flared my chakra from all three hundred and sixty-one tenketsu points of my body and rapidly spun, creating a protective dome of chakra around myself. Eight Trigrams: Palms Revolving Heaven. I kept track of how long I twirled, not wanting to feel the dizzy after effects. The missing kiri nin proceeded to viciously swipe his clawed gauntlet at my shield and it responded by launching him away from me with a harsh force. I immediately stopped, momentarily pausing to make sure the world didn't spin.

I then raised my palm up towards the direction of the enemy nin and closed my eyes, taking a deep breath. When I opened them, I was met with the eight trigrams symbol glowing steadily underneath me as I stood at the center. The green light illuminated my surrounding as the target was well within the range of my field of divination.

I scanned his chakra pathway then aimed my hands for the sixteen tenketsu points that were near his vital organs and delivered the sets in rapid successions. Eight Trigrams: Sixteen Palms. Only the quarter of the sixty-four. First set: two consecutive hits, second set: four, third set: eight, and fourth set: sixteen.

The kiri nin violently coughed and his body stilled, yet he wasn't dead. He was close but I rather have them captured. I knew that was just an excuse as I had the full potential of killing. But deep down I wasn't ready for it; the burden of ending a life.

After making sure the kiri nin was immobilized and Tazuna was alright, I sprinted to the boys' battle.

Wave after wave of Naruto's clones stormed at the missing nin as he desperately tried dodging them, clearly overwhelmed. I knew how that felt.

I amplified the chakra within my feet, about to speed my way to the enemy, when a large portion of Naruto's standing in front of the missing nin were speared out of existence from several kunai and shuriken tied to strings. It wrapped around the kiri nin and a nearby tree and with a sharp tug, he was fastened against it. I followed the direction of the strings to Sasuke tightly holding on to them, waiting for Naruto's clones to knock him out.

Knowing the kiri nin will escape soon, I immediately rushed in front of the enemy, unworried about him lashing at me as he was disabled by Sasuke. It looked like the Narutos planted a few nasty strikes, apparent from the bruised up face of the enemy. Unlike me, Naruto had no precise knowledge of the vital pressure points within the body and after positioning my hands into two fingers, I jabbed near the heart. His body automatically went limp.

With the battle over, Naruto's clones poofed out of existence with the real one gulping at the sight of the incapacitated nin. "Is, is he dead?"

I shook my head, "He's just knocked out."

Sasuke wrapped the rest of string around the captured nin but we both knew we needed a rope to add an extra amount of security.

I crouched down to fish out a rope from my backpack. "Get the other guy." I nodded to the direction of the unconscious body. "We need to tie the other one up too."

Sasuke and Naruto went to retrieve the other brother and we tied him against the base of the tree to be arrested later on.

"Sheesh, who are these guys?" Naruto asked, while scratching the back of his head.

"The twin demon brothers. Meizu and Gozu. Two missing chunin from the Hidden Mist." I recited from memory. I pulled their page on the bingo book from the confines of my mind. "The brothers are a paragon for coordinated attacks as each clawed gauntlet housed a retractable, shuriken style chain that runs between them. They are also infamous for using poison within their clawed gauntlets." Okay that last point I completely forgot during the battle. I thought they had to be avoided from potentially shredding us, not poisoning.

"Good teamwork." A voice from behind said brightly.

"Kakashi sensei!" Naruto jumped in relief but stopped to look at the splintered logs laying on the dirt path. I felt a twist of guilt; he had truly been worried. Though, I had no way of telling him during the battle. "How? But you… the chain… replacement jutsu…?!"

Tazuna was in shock and I don't blame him. He just witnessed the death of our sensei in the most brutal way possible and three kids whooping some ass. The whole attack happened in the matter of minutes and for someone who wasn't trained at all, would be overwhelmed. "You… you were fine? Then why did you let them attack you? Why did you let the kids fight?"

"I could have killed them at any time." Sensei slowly blinked at Tazuna, "But I wanted to figure out who their real target was. Was it us, the ninja? Or you."

Tazuna paled and finally broke down, summarizing his unfortunate status of his village and also sprinkled in a heart-felt story of his grandson. My little questionnaire a while back gave me a few insights and piece together his situation. Ninjas weren't cheap. Add another zero and there you have it; the difference between a C-rank to B-rank. And I sympathized with him, I really did.

"Well, this is certainly not within the mission's original criterion." Sensei's eye twinkled with humor as he spared a glance at me; possibly referring to my first reaction towards Tazuna's mission. He then scratched his masked chin out of uncertainty

"We can't go back!" Naruto protested. "Especially now, after hearing Gramp's situation! We gotta go through with it. Besides, what kind of ninja quits just because it got harder?"

Tazuna's face softened despite the fact Naruto just called him gramps.

Kakashi sensei turned towards Sasuke and I, asking for our opinions without a word.

I wish I had Naruto's confidence. Yes, as ninja we shouldn't quit from the sudden change of difficulty. Also as ninjas, we should be able to think ahead and change courses according to the situation. But I was scared. We were now closer into encountering opponents that were well out of range and I didn't want to solely rely on Kakashi sensei to protect us. For that was one of things I detested the most: being absolutely useless.

Sasuke crossed his arms, new found determination written in his features and he nodded. The group now looked to me, waiting for the final decision.

I sighed. I guess what doesn't kill you makes you stronger, no? Not. I was totally being peer pressured into this. I was already outnumbered anyways and we needed to challenge ourselves both individually and as a team.

"Fine."

There was no going back now.

We waited for the boat Tazuna had arranged to ferry us across the islands that made up the Land of the Waves country. Given the situation with the Shipping company, I assumed that this was the only way in and out.

"We'll be able to see the bridge in a minute." The boatman mumbled; voice probably blocked by the fog. The fog was so thick that you could barely even see the outline of your hand and I bet it could block sound as well.

We maneuvered easily through the calm waters. Soon, the bridge slowly came into view as it loomed over the fog.

"Woah! It's huge!" Naruto said, clearly impressed by its sheer size. It was monumental.

I nudged his arm. "Lower your voice."

"Huh? Oh, sorry." Naruto whispered.

We continued to sail under the bridges that connected the islands, with the boatman sighing in relief. "So far, we haven't been caught, Tazuna. But just to be on the safe side, we'll take an island waterway through the village to a point where we can land under the cover of Mangroves."

"Thank you." Tazuna said.

Once we made it out of the archways, the fog immediately lifted, with the sun rays replacing it. The wooden buildings were all connected by a walkway that doubled as a dock. The boat docked near a house or some kind of store, allowing us to carefully get off.

We still had ways to walk as Tazuna's home was located at the opposite side of the village. The village itself was… eerie, without a person in sight. Almost like a ghost town but I knew they were watching behind those curtained windows.

With the combination of Kakashi sensei's quietness and the boys keeping a lookout, it was obvious they were feeling uneasy. I, myself was jittery, constantly scouring the forest with my chakra in search of any foreign chakra signatures.

Then suddenly, there it was. I felt a massive wave of chakra, malevolent and intimidating. Just the sheer amount of chakra reeking from the trees indicates how outmatched we were as genin. Actually, the word outmatch was an understatement. We were far, far below that.

"Take cover!"

A giant, metal thing boomeranged out of the trees, whipping through the air. I grappled an arm over Tazuna's and threw both of us to the ground as Naruto and Sasuke followed me.

The metal thing collided with a tree, producing a loud 'thwacking' noise and in a blink of an eye, a man was standing on top of it.

Zabuza Momochi.