Chapter 11: Urgent Situation!
Naruto walked up to his waiting team, Hana and her 3 ninja dogs noticed him first and sent him a polite nod and smile. This action caused Ino and Ten-Ten who was talking to the older kunoichi to turn around and look at the approaching blond. Both of their eyes widened when they saw the chuunin vest the whiskered blond was wearing.
"Naruto! I had heard you got promoted, Congrats!" Naruto smiled at Ino as he walked to stand with the group.
"I knew you were going to get promoted after the matches you had in the finals and the way you acted during the invasion." Naruto turned to look at Neji and Lee's teammate as he gave her a small nod.
"Thanks, How's Lee doing with his recovery?" Ten-Ten let out a sad sigh.
"He's not doing to great, lady Tsunade will be performing a risky operation today but it's the only chance he has of being a ninja again." Naruto placed his hand the kunoichi's shoulder in a show of camaraderie.
"He'll make it through, he's the hardest worker I know and a fierce fighter. He won't let something like this slow him down."
"Yeah, Lee is super strong. He'll pull through." Ino said as the three young members stood silent for a moment before they were brought to attention by Hana.
"Alright, is everyone ready to head out?" Hana received three 'yes'' and pulled out a picture from her kunai pouch. The photo showed a middle-aged man who was slightly overweight. He had black hair cut short and had brown eyes, he was wearing a blue and red suit and had a scar on his cheek. "This is Ryuga Takahachi, he's a weapons manufacturer that works mostly with the Stone village and the Grass village. We will be extracting information from him while he stays in one of our border towns, Kuwabara. "Hana's gaze focused on the female blond. "Ino." The platinum blond stood at attention. "You'll be the key to this, when we find him we will wait for a moment where he will be alone and then you'll use your clans jutsu to get any and all information you can on his recent business with the Stone village. We'll be traveling by tree so it should take us about two days to reach the town, if our info is right he'll be staying in Kuwabara town for the next five days and after we get there we can find an appropriate time to get to him. Do you have any questions?" The three younger ninjas didn't say anything and nodded in understanding. "Good, then let's get going." With that, the four sped off.
That Night Naruto sat by the fire watching his surroundings, they had drawn lots to determine turn order of who would be taking watch that night. Hana had drawn first with Ten-Ten getting second and Ino third. They would each stay on watch for 2 hours letting everyone get six hours of sleep. Naruto stared at the stars as he thought about all the new information he had received the last couple of days. He thought of his dream to be Hokage, which led into thoughts of the third and eventually his train of thought reached the fourth, his father. Naruto felt weird thinking about him as such, for his whole life he had heard stories about how great a ninja the forth was and he was more of a figure, an ideal to strive for than a person to the blond. Naruto reached into his kunai pouch and brought out the picture of his mother, he had started a habit of carrying it around everywhere he went. He had never had a female role-model in his life and finding out about his mother had filled a hole in his heart he always craved. He would see the relationship other children had with their mothers and it was such an alien concept for him to grasp, now that changed ever so slightly. There was something that calmed him whenever he would look at her photo and Naruto lost himself in thinking about the what ifs.
"She's pretty, who is that?" Naruto was so lost in thought he jumped slightly as he heard Ino's voice speak from behind him. His eyes followed Ino as she sat beside him her own gaze never leaving the picture.
"That's my mom." Ino's drowsy eyes widen and became more alert. Naruto's eyes went back to staring at the picture, a small smile forming on his face.
"I thought you didn't know who she was?" Naruto remembered how some of the older kids in the academy used to bully him for not knowing who his parents were and his grip on the photo tightened slightly.
"I found out a couple of days ago, she used to be a jonin. She died during the nine-tails attack." Ino nodded and the two sat silently watching the fire.
"You have her facial structure and nose."
"Yeah, I kinda wish I had her hair color though, I think I would look good in red."
"Blond works for you." Naruto turned to Ino who flipped her hair. "Besides, blond is the best." Naruto let out a grin as the two started making breakfast for their teammates who were in the process of waking up. The group exchanged pleasantries and once they ate breakfast they started their journey again.
The two days of travel passed quickly and the group reached the edge of Kuwabara town without any difficulty. Hana stopped near the entrance of the town and addressed her teammates. "Alright team we'll split up here and search for Ryuga if you find him radio in using these earpieces." Hana handed each of the teens a small earpiece. "From then we'll shadow him for the rest of the day and try to get as much information as possible about his routine. Ino, Naruto, you guys will take the west side of town and Ten-Ten and I will look in the east." The three nodded as Naruto and Ino separated from the group. "We'll meet up at sundown at the town center." The two blonds nodded and entered the town as the two kunoichis ran to the other side of the town to start their own search. Naruto created 10 clones and had them use the transformation jutsu to disguise themselves as they went into town to search. As Naruto and Ino traveled into town they noticed the streets were bustling with vendors as people ran around.
"It's pretty busy it'll be a challenge to find him." Ino said
"Let's check the weapons shops, for now, we can start searching diners and bars closer to lunch time." Ino nodded as the two headed off. They spent several hours checking multiple locations and found nothing, Naruto had received memories of his clones who also came up empty-handed. The two blonds entered a local restaurant when they heard their radio earpieces come on. "Naruto, Ino, we found Ryuga, we're about to try to gain more information about his schedule right now. Make your way over to us." Naruto hit his earpiece as he replied.
"Copy, well make our way over to you now."
"Got it, we are currently at the Jade Inn casino, we will wait for you on top of the roof of the building across the street from the casino when we're done. See you soon." The two blonds met up with Hana and Ten-Ten after 20 minutes where the older chuunin began explaining what they had learned.
"Ryuga is will be leaving tonight with a small group of mercenaries, We'll follow tonight and get him when we see an opening. We need to get to him before he leaves Fire country for security reasons."
"How many mercenaries are there?" Naruto asked Hana.
"There was a group of three following him but we gathered they would be meeting with another group of three outside." The four spent the day taking turns watching Ryuga and his group while other members gathered food and other materials. The sun was sitting low in the sky when Ryuga's group left town, Naruto and his squad following behind them in the trees. It was an hour later when they noticed the group was slowing down. Naruto looked around the whole situation feeling off to him.
"Be on guard, The Haimaru brothers picked up a scent up ahead they'll be meeting the others soon." Hana received three nods as the group stood high above in the tree's, waiting for the rest of the mercenaries to arrive. Hana ordered the group to the ground and the group hid among the shrubbery. Naruto looked around as he felt tense, something was putting him on edge. Up ahead they could see a single figure walking up when they heard Ryuga shout out.
"AH, Finally! I've been waiting for you Kazuma." Naruto heard Hana curse as the figure became visible to everyone. He was stood around 6 feet and was wearing pure black pants with white wrappings on his ankles. He was wearing a dark brown vest but not wearing a shirt so scars could be clearly seen on his chest. On his forehead, there was a scratched out forehead protector with the symbol of a stone.
"That's Kazuma Ioda a B-rank missing ninja from the Stone Village." Hana's statement made everyone tense up as Naruto started to observe every detail he could. Naruto saw the man smirk as he let out a chuckle.
"Sorry, I had to do some quick preparation." Kazuma's tone was lively and jovial.
'I thought there were three of them?' Thought Naruto as his instincts screamed at him to move.
"Dodge!" The blond screamed out as the land under the leaf ninjas shifted and formed earth spikes, Naruto managed to push himself and Ino out of the way just in time. Hana being in the center was able to push Ten-Ten out of the way but a spike managed to pierce her side. Hana let out a scream as she fell to the ground clutching her wound as the Haimaru triplets surrounded their wounded partner. Naruto looked to the side and saw two ninjas emerge from the ground. One was wearing grey pants with a dark red shirt. His black hair reached his shoulder blades and a bang covered his left eye. The other wore a skin-tight blue body suit and was bald. Both had green eyes and had scratched stone forehead protectors.
"Well well well. What do we have here? A little far from home aren't you?" Naruto glanced to the main road where Kazuma stood in front of the frightened Ryuga.
"Leaf Ninja!? What is the meaning of this!" Ryuga gained more confidence as he spoke once he was firmly behind Kazuma.
"Negima spotted them following you and we decided to take care of them." Ryuga looked at Kazuma with gratitude as he and the rest of his mercenary group began moving away and the rogue stone ninja jumped up to a tree branch.
"Right, take care of this quickly then, I'll throw in a nice bonus when you're done." Kazuma smirked as he looked at the leaf ninja. Naruto glanced at his teammates and quickly formulated a plan.
"Ino, Ten-Ten take Hana to safety and go after the target, we can't have him leaving without getting the information." The two nodded and quickly moved over to Hana who shot the blond a concerned look as she began treating her wound. Kazuma let out a laugh as he jumped down to the forest floor as he eyed the downed Hana.
"What makes you think I'll let any of you go? You're all so pretty, I'm sure I can get some value out of you." The two younger girls shivered as Hana glared at the stone ninja. Kazuma had to quickly bring his arm up to block a strike as Naruto surged forward and delivered a punch. Kazuma's eyes widened as he was blasted back and hit a tree. "Coating your arm in earth chakra to increase its weight and hardness, smart. Negima, Sakazu!" The two other rogue ninjas dashed at the whiskered blond who crossed his fingers and uttered his most used jutsu.
"Multi-shadow clone Jutsu!" Naruto created 20 clones as they spread out. Two of the blonds rushed the charging stone ninjas but were dispelled immediately making a smoke cloud that blocked their view. Naruto was going through hand seals with his clones when the ground shifted beneath him.
"Earth Style: Earth Flow Jutsu!" Naruto managed to jump away just in time to void Kazuma's jutsu, he watched his clones get dispelled when they were swallowed by the shifting earth as tree's toppled over.
"I got you now!" Naruto brought up his arms in a cross shape as he blocked a punch from the bald rock ninja that sent him rocketing to the ground where he was met with a kick to the face from the long-haired one.
'Shit! They cover each other well.' Naruto glanced back and saw that Ino and Ten-Ten had taken Hana away. 'Good, I can cut loose now that I don't have to worry about them.' Naruto was brought out from his musings when he brought out a Kunai to block a sword swing from Kazuma. The blonds arms and legs buckled from the strength of the blow. 'That thing must weigh a ton!' Naruto was forced to jump back when the two companions of Kazuma performed a pincer maneuver and tried to stab him from his sides with kunai. The bald ninja came forward and tried to punch Naruto who spun around the blow and kicked the older man away. Naruto created two clones to distract Kazuma while he sped off to deal with the long-haired one. The rock ninja tried a lunging stab so Naruto used his kunai to parry the blow away from himself. The blond was about to thrust his own kunai into the rock ninjas neck when his instincts screamed at him to duck. Naruto felt the wind slice above his head as some of his hairs fell in front of his face, he quickly spun and had to block Kazuma's sword once more, this time he was sent skidding back as his kunai chipped and cracked from the force of the blow.
"You're more skilled than you look. Most chuunin and even some jonin would have fallen by now." Naruto glanced at his kunai as he threw it away and brought out another. The bald ninja had managed to re-grouped with his companions.
"Negima, Attack pattern alpha!" Naruto saw the long-haired man yell to his partner as the two rushed Naruto. The bald man -Negima- tried to do a sweeping low kick. Naruto stepped back to avoid the attack. His partner Sakazu leaped off his back to deliver a dropkick, Naruto dodged to the left and was forced to once again block a sword a swing from Kazuma. His eyes widened when he observed the blade more closely.
'His blade is black!' Naruto had to reinforce his body with chakra so he wasn't sent skidding back again. Naruto saw from the corner of his eye that Negima and Sakazu were going through hand seals. Pain exploded from the blond's chest as he was sent flying from a kick from Kazuma, who taunted the blond.
"You're not the only one who knows how to augment his hits with earth chakra kid." Naruto landed on his back and was able to flip himself back unto his feet.
"Earth Style: Rock Spears!" Dual shouts rang out as dozens of spears hurled at the whiskered blond who let out a curse. Naruto blazed through his own hand seals as he slammed his hands onto the ground.
"Earth Style: Mud Wall!" His mud-wall came up just in time to block the spears which shattered on impact. Naruto used the opportunity to create five clones and had them dash into the trees and hide themselves, Naruto himself jumped up to a nearby tree just in time to dodge a giant rolling boulder that tore through his mud-wall, he clutched his chest as he felt more pain from the wound Kazuma had given him.
'Damn it, that might have broken a rib.' Naruto thought as he heard Kazuma begin to speak.
"I think that's enough playing around. Negima, Sakazu go deal with the others I'll handle the blond." Just before the two left the group was forced to jump back as a fireball came out of the forest.
"No, you won't. I'll end this now." Naruto finished his sentence as two more fireballs flew at the Stone ninjas forcing them to separate even further. Naruto saw his clones come up behind Negima as Kazuma and Sakazu were being distracted by hails of kunai and fireballs from his clones hiding in the trees. The two clones sped though hand seals and called out their jutsus.
"Fire Style: Grand Fireball Jutsu!" "Wind Style: Great Breakthrough!" The original orange flames of the fireball turned blue as they started burning with more intensity, being fueled by the wind jutsu the fire roared as it tuned everything in its path. Negima was unable to move out of the way completely as his legs were severely burned from the flames and he screamed out in pain. Naruto body flickered next to the downed ninja and stabbed his kunai through his skull ending his life.
"NEGIMA!" Naruto heard Sakazu shout out in rage as he charged the blond.
"Sakazu no!" Kazuma tried to warn his comrade but it was too late. A clone came out of the bushes and slammed his electrified hands into Sakazu's chest.
"Lightning Style: Electromagnetic Murder!" Lighting surged from the clones hand as Sakazu began to spasm and after a couple of seconds fell to the ground smoking and charred. Naruto saw Kazuma grit his teeth as he slammed his hands on the ground.
"Earth Style: Earth Shift!" The entire area began to shake as slabs of the earth began to flip upwards uprooting trees and dispelling all of Naruto's clones. there was now a circle around Kazuma of clear land from the flipped earth. "You will pay for killing them you damned brat!" Kazuma body flickered to blond and swung down with his blackened sword. Naruto channeled chakra to his arms as he blocked the strike. The blond had to hold a grimace as his chest once again began to hurt. Kazuma began a series of strikes with his sword and the blond was put on the defensive just barely keeping up with the older ninjas speed. The two continued to clash as sparks formed every time their blades clashed. Kazuma moved swiftly in a tornado of blows andNaruto was being pushed back to the edge of the clearing unable to do anything. Because of the reach advantage, Naruto was unable to get in close and he wasn't able to escape as Kazuma was just as fast as the blond. Kazuma thrust his sword forward trying to impale the blond who had bumped into a tree.
'There!' Thought Naruto as he shifted to his side as the blade grazed his chuunin jacket and impaled the tree. Naruto exploded forward as he started to gather and spin chakra in his right hand, Kazuma's eyes widened and filled with a burning hate when he saw the jutsu the blond now held in the palm of his hand.
"Rasengan!" The whiskered blond slammed his jutsu into the older rock ninjas chest as the Rasengan began to grind into him, Kazuma was sent spinning away as the Rasengan exploded in his chest. Naruto watched as Kazuma began coughing up blood as his breathing slowly died out and the blond collapsed onto the ground.
"You did look familiar, I just didn't expect you to be the son of that devil." Kazuma's chest stopped moving as his whispered last words echoed in the clearing.
'son of a devil huh.' Naruto thought as he gazed at the dead ninja before his head snapped to the far side of the clearing when heard dogs barking. Hana and her ninja dogs came barreling into the new clearing, her side bandaged and marked with her blood from her wound. She looked around and saw the dead bodies of the rogue ninjas and let out a low whistle.
"Damn, I rushed over here for nothing, looks like you handled everything." Naruto chuckled and winced as his chest reminded him of his injury.
"I think I broke a rib in the fight." Hana kneeled down next to the blond as her hands began glowing green and she touched the blond's chest.
"Yeah, you have two broken ribs and 3 cracked ones. Give me five minutes and I should be able to at least mend the broken bones and make the pain lessen a bit." As Hana began to work on the blonds injury Naruto questioned her about Ino and Ten-Ten.
"Did the others get Ryuga?"
"Yes, when I left them Ten-Ten had taken care of his mercenary guards and Ino was in the middle of extracting the information." Hana finished healing the blond as the two chuunin stood up. "Let's get going, we don't know if Ryuga hired any more rogue ninjas." Naruto nodded as they left to go find their teammates. The two chuunin followed the main road and found the three mercenaries tied up as Ten-Ten watched over them. Ino was not too far away with a tied up Ryuga who seemed to be passed out as she held his head in her hands.
"Naruto! You're ok. I'm glad Hana was able to find you." Ten-Ten waved the two over as the two injured members sat near the two genins.
"How long has Ino been interrogating Ryuga?" Hana said.
"She's been at it for at least ten minutes, We were able to get them easily."
"Good." Hana turned to the whiskered blond. "Naruto, you did well out there."
"Thanks, It was tough though, they had amazing teamwork." The trio's attention was brought to Ryuga who let out a sharp yell as his head dipped further down as Ino released his head. Ino opened her eyes as a grim look overcame her face. The two chuunin glanced at each other with frowns as Hana spoke up.
"Ino, What did you find?" Ino looked over at Hana and Naruto before she took a deep breath.
"Ryuga has been meeting with many council members of the Stone village for the last week. They've been negotiating prices for mass manufacturing of supplies. The first shipment will be leaving a factory in river country for the Stone village in three weeks with regular shipments coming every two weeks." Naruto frowned as he stared at the moon which shined with an ominous light.
'They're preparing for war.' Naruto thought as the group stayed silent as they digested the information Ino had given them. A heavy silence lingered with the group until Hana finally spoke up breaking the tension that had formed.
"We need to get back to the village with this information now." The others nodded when a shrill cry of a hawk was heard and a messenger bird swooped low and landed on Hana's shoulder carrying a message from the village. Hana grabbed the message and read it, her face cycled through many emotions before it eventually settled into a fierce scowl.
"Sasuke Uchiha has gone rogue. He was spotted leaving the village by his teammate and because of how undermanned we are at the moment the Hokage was forced to send a group of genin to chase after him. She's requesting we send any back up we can to re-enforce them as we are currently the closest team to their location." Naruto closed his eyes as he let out a long breath as Ino and Ten-Ten watched on with looks of shock and anger respectively.
'Sasuke you idiot.' Naruto opened his eyes and looked towards Hana. "Hana, you should take Ino back to the village and Ten-Ten and I will go back up the retrieval team." Ino shot the blond a glare.
"No way I'm going too!" Naruto glared back as Ino flinched slightly.
"Ino, you have all the information from Ryuga, we can't afford any delays in informing the village and Hana is already hurt. Me and Ten-Ten going makes the most sense we're the most combat-ready plus Hana will be able to sniff out any enemies before you encounter them." Ino was about to retort when Hana interrupted her.
"Ino, Naruto is right this makes the most sense." Ino huffed but didn't argue any further. "Ten-Ten, are you up for going as re-enforcement?" The weapons specialist nodded.
"Yes, I'm ready." Hana nodded as she glanced at Naruto.
"Are you sure you're ok to go?" Naruto patted his chest twice and noticed he had a slight discomfort but it wasn't anything debilitating.
"Yeah, I'm fine to go." Hana nodded once.
"Alright, then we'll meet you guys back in the village we don't have time to waste." The group split off as they headed to their destinations. Naruto jumped through the tree's with Ten-Ten as a hard look came to his eyes.
'Sasuke, I won't let you get away with another betrayal.'