Trickshot
Chapter 8
-Tenten-
Blowing a strand of loose hair from her face, Tenten huffed in boredom. She was watching the shop alone today as her dad recovered from a bug, but she'd barely had a single costumer to occupy her time.
"Booooooored." She groaned, slumping down on the counter, pleading with the universe for even a short relief from her current situation. She couldn't even really train properly in here without risking damaging the shop or the merchandise.
"Sup Tenten!" hearing the chipper voice of her training buddy, Tenten sat up with a grin.
"Hey Naruto." She nodded to the blond, "What you in here for?"
"Picking up some supplies." He gave her a nervous grin. Weird, she'd never seen him nervous, only ever cheerful or their talk during his breakdown.
"D ranks being a pain?" she winced, knowing how horrid those were with how long they lasted. If she had to guess the stress was having him go back into pranking.
"Actually, I stopped counting D ranks after I did thirty of them." He waved it off as her eyes bulged, the blasé way he said it clueing her in that it wasn't an empty boast "No…this is my first C rank."
"Well, Daaaamn Naruto." Tenten gave him a grin, punching his shoulder playfully, "Gonna make the rest of us look bad. How the hell did you do so many D ranks so fast anyway?"
"Shadow clones." Naruto shrugged as she blinked in confusion.
"What clones?" Tenten frowned, having never heard of that type of bunshin, just the regular one and the elemental variants.
"High chakra cost ones that return the memories of the user once they 'pop'." Naruto explained, "Apparently, I'm one of those people who were born with absurdly high chakra capacities, too high to use the basic bunshin. Kind of like this one Missing nin Kisame-"
"Kisame Hoshigake!" Tenten knew her eyes were practically sparkling as she got to talk about a holder of one of the coolest swords in the world, "The Tailed Beast without a trail. Weird title aside, he's one of the most powerful swordsmen in the world. But why haven't I heard of more people using this jutsu if it's so useful?" there were other students who'd had to work harder to get the clone jutsu down after all.
"It's in the Forbidden Scroll as a Kinjutsu." Naruto's answer made her choke on her own spit "Most people don't even have enough chakra to safely make one outside of a Jonin. Although I have heard a few have combined the concept with basic elemental clones to make singular clones that are more durable but still transfer memories."
"I wish I had someone to teach me that kind of stuff." Tenten sighed, "Gai…well he's Gai. Apart from what you pointed out to me before I've been thinking more on it, and I don't really think he should have been a Jonin Sensei. He'd be great at training a single person in just Taijutsu as a master to apprentice relationship but that's it. He teaches our team but it's just on Taijutsu and stamina conditioning with a bit of pointers for basics for other arts. Apparently, most of the shinobi arts are things he can't physically do or has zero talent in."
"And he's still trying to claim Lee's not his bastard kid?" Naruto raised a skeptical eyebrow in regard to her sensei.
"He claims the eyebrows are a complete coincidence." Tenten nodded, "But I've not found anything that really helps you know? I'd love to learn medical jutsu or more elemental ones, but I don't have anyone to teach me."
"Best I could do is keep helping you with your seals." Naruto shrugged, the blond and her having brainstormed seals together as she saw his natural profanity with the art, "But my sis-…Hana Inuzaka-" Tenten repressed a smile at Naruto almost calling the girl his sister, knowing how close he'd come to the bestial clan "is a vet for the ninken. She might have advice on basic medical jutsu and Kiba's dad is a civilian nurse so you could learn some non-Chakra healing stuff from them. I could ask if they'd show you?"
"I'd appreciate it." Tenten gave her friend a warm smile, appreciating what he's willing to do, "But anyway, you said you had a C rank yeah?"
"Bandit elimination. A small group attacking merchants to the capital." Naruto's smile became strained and nervous again, "I…I'm the one who's supposed to take the camp out. My sensei said she'd only step in if the bandits get too close to me if or when I'm spotted or if there's a missing nin."
"Naruto." Tenten's voice softened as she remembered her own first kill. Helping the three of them through it had been one of the few truly good moments Gai had as a sensei, "These people are attacking people, killing them. They're preying on the weak and defenseless so it's no different than putting down a wild animal." Technically it is as a bandit was worse given that they choose that life.
"I know." Naruto's hands trembled a bit as he got a few more quivers of arrows, some kunai, and sealing ink up to the counter, "I…I just…what if I freeze?"
"Then you freeze and do better the next time, even if only a little." Tenten's voice was gentle as she rang Naruto up, making sure to keep looking into her friend's eyes, "You don't need to be the Hokage right away Naruto. The journey of a thousand miles has to begin with a single step. All that matters is that you don't break. Your sensei will be there for you, your friends Kiba and Sasuke will be there for you, and I will to." Tenten wasn't sure why the grateful smile made her stomach flutter, but she pushed it aside, her friend needed support right now, not confusing feelings.
-Naruto-
Taking in a slow breath, Naruto moved through the trees. He knew Tsume Sensei was around, but he had no idea where. After so long of training with him, she'd picked up some of his stealth tricks and now even he couldn't find her if she didn't want to be found.
In the small clearing bellow, he saw a group of bandits. He could count sixteen out and about in the camp but was sure there were still more in the tents themselves.
Reaching to his quiver, he remembered what rules he'd been given for the mission as he called out the arrow he wanted from the storage seals.
Each bandit has to die.
Each bandit has to be in good enough shape to have their heads turned in.
The camp can't just be blown up or other collateral damage as Tsume wished to investigate it and make sure they aren't working for anyone.
And he had to be careful of where he shot and what he shot in case they had innocent people held as slaves or prisoners.
"No more than a rabid dog." Naruto whispered the advice from Tenten to himself as he drew the string back on his bow, the arrow covered in seals that flowed like wisps of smoke down the shaft.
He loosed his shot, taking out a bandit who was isolated as the arrow flew silently, the seals absorbing all sound as it hit the bandit in the jugular. They fell, crying out and clutching their throat where the arrow was stuck, blood gushing out.
So much blood, the bandit was so afraid. Naruto forced himself to not think about it, distracting himself by noting that the other bandits didn't seem to hear the commotion or noises from their dying friend. Did his sound nullification arrow spread to those it impaled? He'd have to figure out more later.
Drawing out more silence arrows, he took out everyone who was out of sight, noting that each one failed to draw attention with their death cries.
Soon enough though, he only had the ones out in the open left. Lowering his old goggles over his eyes, special seals in place on their frames, he drew back a new type of arrow and fired, hitting the one who looked like they were in charge given their placement and focus on a table of maps. When it his them in the back of their skull the arrow released a massive burst of blinding light, his goggles protecting him as the bandits all cried out in shock and pain. He rained more and more arrows down, working to eliminate the bandits quickly before they could figure out where the arrows were coming from.
Of the sixteen that had been there at the beginning, he'd only taken out eleven. And more were coming out of the tent, including-
His train of thought was cut off by the clap of thunder from a lightning jutsu, the largest tent bursting open as a man with a slashed Kumo headband stepped out. There was a missing nin, and one he recognized.
Tsume had given his shadow clones several copies of the bingo book to memorize just in case, to know about the various opponents he might run into.
This was a B ranked missing nin, former Jonin of Kumo, Goro Raiden, the fist of thunder. He went rogue after trying to stage a coup in Kumo, fleeing and abandoning his allies when it was clear he would fail.
The man was blasting killing intent as Naruto choked, not used to feeling the horrible energy as it filled the clearing. He grit his teeth, trying to force his body to move through the killing intent the missing nin was blasting indiscriminately, his own bandits trembling and some even having heart attacks from it.
Tsume made said efforts needless.
The head of the Inuzaka surged from the tree line doing the Inuzaka 'fang over fang' technique, hers so strong it was making a cyclone of wind behind her. Every bandit she passed fell to pieces, quite literally, as her claws cut them to ribbons.
He saw his sensei hit the B ranked missing nin with the power of a rampaging bull, slamming him hard into the ground as the killing intent dissipated from his shock.
Tsume didn't waste time. She didn't brag, or grandstand, or boast. She just grabbed the stunned criminal's neck and jerked it sharply, snapping the vertebrae as the Missing Nin who'd frozen him with a single blast of killing intent was eliminated in a moment by his sensei.
"Naruto!" snapping to attention at his sensei's shout, Naruto looked at where she was staring up at his hiding spot, "Shadow clones. Sweep the camp and the forest for traps and lingering bandits, GO!" doing so instantly, Naruto spammed as many clones as he could, hoping if he focused on a new task, he wouldn't…wouldn't have to think about the blood.
-Sasuke-
Expression blank, Sasuke stood at the back of the room as he observed the three adults in the room. Apparently Kakashi had complained to the Hokage about Asuma Sensei burning his collection of porn books for refusing to show up to train Sasuke.
"I warned you what would happen." Asuma glared, "You want to mourn? Do it on your own damn time. It's been years Kakashi, and yet you still do nothing but wallow in pity and self-loathing, screwing with everyone else's lives when they need you to do something!"
"Enough!" the tired Hokage raised his voice a hair before Kakashi could respond, "Kakashi, I'll have words with Asuma about breaking into your home and destroying your possessions, but he was right to be upset. You had a responsibility and you neglected it. Consider this meeting your last warning, if I don't start seeing improvement then I'll have to take action. You're dismissed." The two Jonin nodded, albeit reluctantly, and vanished but Sasuke stayed put.
"You're still here?" the Hokage raised a questioning eyebrow, not scolding but more curious.
"…I had a couple questions." Sasuke stepped forward, "You're the only one I can think who'd be able to answer them."
"Well, I don't have any other meetings for a half hour." The Hokage checked his clock, "What are your questions?"
"First…what would I need to do to reclaim my father's seat as the Police Chief of Konoha?" Sasuke tried to straighten his back as he talked about his family's old institution, the Shinobi Police Force, a force he intended to rebuild better than it had ever been.
"Achieving the rank of Jonin would be best." The Hokage answered easily, "Prove yourself as a Chuunin and I could be convinced to at least let you start rebuilding a proper police force. Nobody would take orders from a Genin Commissioner seriously."
"I figured that." Sasuke nodded, "And my other question…why do the villagers hate Naruto?" Sasuke demanded, feeling his Sharingan bleed red from his budding frustration, "He's my…companion." He wouldn't admit to the blond being a friend, "And the people of this village, his village hate him. They spit on him. They continue to betray him. I want to know what the hell gives them the right?!"
-Omake-
-Naruto-
Gaping in confusion, Naruto watched as his sensei fight and grapple with the missing nin, Selina Kyle 'the Catwoman' from the hidden village of cats. The missing nin, for some reason wearing a cat suit, was rolling on the ground as she and Tsume Inuzaka wrestled and grappled, hurling insults at each other like…well like cats and dogs.
"I…I don't even…wha?" Naruto gaped at the absurd fight down below, the angry battle only pausing when the two worked together to kill the rest of the bandits who were calling for 'hair pulling' and 'torn clothes!'.
"Why is this my life?" Naruto sighed as he slapped a palm to his face.
AN: So, yeah, Goro Raiden was an OC I made up for this chapter. Let Naruto see what his sensei could do and give a power scale I was thinking for her. The Omake was a snarky idea I had when thinking on what sort of missing nin could be there.
