Disclaimer: No I do not own Naruto.

Wings of the White Angel

Chapter 7: First mission revealed

Kin walked into the restaurant slowly, his vest pulled on tightly around his chest and his eyes glancing around calmly. And sure enough, he saw both Yurei and Kai sitting across form each other at a table near the back. ("There's the arrogant…") Cracking his knuckles, he began his approach.

"Well look at this, he's here on time for once," Yurei said jokingly. "So, are you ready for our first mission?"

"Kai…." Kin pointed right in the black-haired youth's face. "What gives you the right to comment on my father?"

Yurei blinked a couple of times and sighed. "Wow…you two should just fight and get it over with."

"Don't mind if I do!" Kin's finger curled into his fist and he cocked back. "Let me show you what I think of your opinion about my father!"

Kai leapt out of his chair and slammed his forehead right into Kin's nose. "Don't get self-righteous on me."

Kin clutched at his nose and glared at Kai through one eye.

Yurei frowned. ("This could take a while…")

Kin was about to leap again, but was floored by a chair to the back of the head.

Aiko casually placed the chair back down on the floor and rested an elbow on it. Her pure red hair glimmered in the flitting sunlight of the room. "As much as I'd like to see the two of you trash each other, we have things to get done. The mission starts in ten minutes." Dropping a scroll to the table, the replication disappeared in a burst of red smoke.

Yurei picked up the parchment, unrolled it, and began to read. "I will not be going with you on this mission. There are things that I have to get done before I can help you get this done. Not that it matters, you should be able to do this. There is a man named Lieutenant Colonel Eribisumaru who is in command of the militia of the mountain village Ackima. Please escort him to his village safely." Rolling the scroll closed, he sighed. "Escort service? How dull…"

Kin rubbed the back of his head to try and get rid of the rapidly developing lump that was there. "Hey, any mission is a good mission, right?"

"That would be something a mediocrity would say." Kai walked out through the front, pursued by an enraged Kin and a sighing Yurei moment later.

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A few minutes later they arrived at the gate. Standing near the gates was a grey-haired man in plain robes. "So you're the three who are supposed to be escorting me?"

"Yeah, that's us. Do you have a problem with that?" Kin frowned and crossed his arms across his chest. "Believe it or not, we're all very strong."

"Are you? I'll believe that when I see it. This is your first mission right? So you have no idea what real combat, do you?" Eribisumaru rolled his eyes. "I'd probably be safer on my own. You three will just be slowing me…" A strange gargling noise came from his throat and he collapsed to the ground on his face.

Kai, who had been standing behind the man, slung the Lieutenant Colonel over his shoulder. "He's so loud-mouthed…"

"Did you really think it necessary to knock the old man unconscious Kai?" Yurei stepped forward. "He is our client, after all."

"Perhaps so, but our job is to get him to Ackima safely. No more, no less. So if him being out cold means we get him there faster and safer, then what I just did is my job." Turning to face the road, Kai began to walk without the slightest decrease in speed, even though he was carrying a man who was probably heavier than he was over his shoulder.

Yurei and Kin exchanged worried glances, but otherwise didn't argue. They disliked the fact that their client was badmouthing just as much as Kai most likely did.

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The sun held high up into the sky, and as noon approached a loud voice could be heard coming towards the mountains in the distance. "I can't believe you'd had the audacity to do that!"

Kai didn't even look at Eribisumaru as he walked along the trail. "You were being uncooperative. As long as you do as we say while you are under our protection, then it will not happen again."

The man growled, but didn't argue. Something about the tone of Kai's voice told him that he would do it if that is what it came to.

Kin rolled his eyes and walked past both of them. "Let's just get this done already."

Yurei trailed behind the group and glanced back behind him. ("We're being followed…") He kept walking, a slight smile on his face. ("Won't they be surprised when I catch them off guard?")

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A single black shape leapt through the treetops towards the group. As it got closer and closer, it snickered at how easy it was going to be to ambush these fools.

"So, where are you headed in such a hurry?" Yurei leapt right in front of the shadowed form and crossed his arms across his chest. Striking a calm pose, he pointed right at the shadowed person. "Speak up at any time you'd like. Because I'm about to attack!"

Narrowing its eyes, the form stood perfectly still.

"So be it!" Yurei jumped right at them, fist locked back to strike. Slamming his knuckles across the person's face, he blinked in complete surprise. ("I was expecting them to dodge…")

The person stumbled, but otherwise didn't move. "So I see…you're not anything at all."

"Huh?" Yurei stood on the branch with a dumbfounded look on his face, fist still clenched tightly. "I just hit you though…"

"That you did…" Wiping a streak of blood from their face, the person smiled slightly. "I suppose my plans are changed. He said to disable as many of you as I could." The figure dropped down from their branch and into a clearing.

Yurei dropped down after him. And when he got a good look at the person he couldn't have been more surprised. "You're…the same age as me?"

The boy had oily black hair that was flopped over the right side of his face. His eyes were distant and empty-seeming, and as a whole he looked more like a corpse than a human. "Ah yes…I suppose so. It's been so long since I've dealt with anyone of the same age as me." He reached into his vest and pulled out a strange machete-like weapon. "My name is Pain, by the way."

"Pain?" Yurei rolled his eyes. "How much more cliché can you get?"

Pain ran a thumb along the edge of the blade, slicing the skin open and drawing blood. "It doesn't matter, though. You won't live long enough for it to matter."

"Huh?" Yurei frowned. "You don't seem that strong. In fact you look a little malnourished to me."

"I'm not going to beat you down. Oh no…" Pain threw the weapon into the air and began to form seals with his hands.

("I'm a lot faster than you are!") Yurei charged, fist locked back and eyes focused completely on his target. ("I'll take you down right before you can complete the technique…")

Pain smiled darkly. ("Come on then…do what you wish to me…") He barely flinched as the fist crashed into his face, sending him stumbling backwards. It left a huge bruise on his pale cheek.

("This guy is so weak…") Yurei leapt forward and struck again, not giving his opponent the chance to form another technique. ("I'll take you down right now!")

Pain's face was now bloodied and bruised, but he continued to smile darkly. "Sorry…it's over."

"What are you talking about?" Yurei cocked his fist back. "I must have hit you too many…" His voice caught in his throat and he dropped to his knees, clutching his face and crying out in pain.

"I believe you just started to feel the effects of my Voodoo technique…" Pain walked around the floored Yurei and picked up his machete. "Surprised?"

Yurei screamed louder, burying his face into the dirt.

"All I need is a piece of you, such as skin. And you left a bit of skin on me after that first attack. Then I activate the technique and we become physically linked. Any damage I suffer or have suffered in the last hour, you feel as well." Wiping the blood from his machete, Pain held the weapon under an elbow and began to make a new set of seals. "And now for the final setup…you won't survive this…so make prayers to whatever gods you believe in."

"What…do you intend to…do?" Yurei could barely move…it hurt just to speak. The damage he had dealt to Pain was shooting through his whole body.

"It's quite simple…" Pain closed his blackened eyes and finished the technique. "Fukkatsu no Jutsu!" Nothing happened though.

("Resurrection technique? But…that can't be. There isn't a technique to revive someone from the dead.") Yurei rolled over onto his back and tried to perform a sit-up. But the pain was still too much.

Taking the machete, Pain looked at the blade and his smile turned from dark to sick. "Perfect…the perfect setting. Don't you think it's a work of art?"

"What are you…doing?" Yurei clutched at his face and stumbled to his feet, dizzy from the force of his own blows.

"It's simple…" Pain lifted the weapon back, its blade pointed at his chest. "I'm going to die."

Yurei felt cold as he watched the weapon rocket towards Pain's chest. ("If he dies…I die…") His feet were moving him towards the other boy, but he already knew that it wasn't going to matter. He wasn't fast enough…

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Kin stared at Yurei, who was curled up in a ball on the ground. "What's the matter?"

Yurei gasped in pain and then exploded into a burst of white smoke.

"It was a shadow replication…typical…" Kai frowned. That meant that the real Yurei had most likely been behind them the whole time. And he was now in danger. "Kin, watch the Lieutenant Colonel."

"I wouldn't bother going back there if I were you." A calm, strangely familiar voice called out from a little down the path.

All three of them turned to see a black-cloaked form standing in the middle of the road just twenty feet away from them. Kai moved himself to in front of Eribisumaru. "Who are you?"

"I am Pride." The figure drew a long katana from under their cloak, the weapon far too big for their size. They were about the same height as Kai and Kin. "Now then…prepare yourselves! Kage Tsuki!" As the male-voice figure yelled this, he disappeared.

Kin looked around wildly. "Where…I didn't see him move…"

Kai removed his sunglasses from his pocket and slid them on. "Kin, get the old man out of here." From behind the shades his eyes widened and he began to follow something out of the corner of his eye. "Go!"

Kin glanced at Eribisumaru. "Come on, let's go!"

"Alright." The man ran on ahead, Kin just a few inches behind him.

Kai hoped he wasn't sending them to their death. ("Sorry, but I need bait…") And sure enough, he saw an after-image of Pride appear right where Eribisumaru was about to go.

The Lieutenant Colonel skidded to a halt as Pride appeared in front of him, katana locked back to strike. ("I'm going to die…")

Kin was too busy back-pedaling to avoid getting trampled to do much more.

Pride snapped the weapon down as hard as he could. "Too slow, fool!" As the weapon began to fall, it was stopped by a single shimmering shuriken that slammed into the hilt of the weapon. A loud crack could be heard and then the weapon fell apart, shards of steel raining down on all three of them. ("What?")

"So your name is Pride?" Kai casually readjusted his sunglasses. "I just ruined your sword…are you going to let your pride take that kind of a hit?" Tilting his head to the side casually, he smiled. "Or are you going to take me on?"

"What was that technique you used?" Pride stepped around Eribisumaru and Kin like they were nothing, approaching his new target slowly.

"Technique? It wasn't a technique…just some special shuriken made by my mother." Kai cracked his knuckles. "Now then, are you ready to begin?"

"Very well…" Pride's cloak billowed out. "I will kill you first before I go after my target…are you ready?"

"Let's…" Kai realized a moment too late what Pride was doing under the billowing cloak. ("A technique?")

"Kamon; Kaminari Shot no Jutsu!" The cloak was destroyed as a blast of roaring electricity exploded from it and slammed right into Kai, sending him flying away instantly.

Kin ground his teeth and then pushed Eribisumaru roughly. "Go already! He's buying us time!" As they hurried away though, he hoped that Kai would be okay, because he wasn't done with the conceited bastard yet.

Pride felt the two leave, but shrugged it off mentally. ("Hate will get them when they go up the pass.") He began to form the Thunder Shot seals again. ("Now to end it!")

"Katon; Goukakyuu no Jutsu!" A fireball shot out of the smoke cloud and swallowed up Pride. Kai stepped out of the smoke calmly, already making the seals for his next technique. His sunglasses and clothing were charred slightly, but otherwise he was fine. "Don't think me that easy to beat! Katon; Goukakyuu no Jutsu!"

As more fire washed over him, Pride sighed mentally. ("Well, it looks like I'll actually have to try this time.")

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Kin kept an eye both to the front and rear of them. He didn't trust any of this. ("We're being separated, aren't we?") Almost as if on cue, he felt something whistling towards him. "Look out!" Shoving Eribisumaru to the ground, his legs moved. For a few moments, he was nothing but a body. And then when he was done he saw the dozens of shuriken buried in the ground around him. ("I'm glad I'm fast…") "Get to cover!" His hands began to move as quickly as they could. "Fuuton…"

A body dropped out of the sky towards him. "Incoming."

Kin blinked in surprise as an incredibly pale and small white-haired boy was dropping towards him. ("He's so small…like a midget.") Leaping back, Kin went into a roll so that he could get as much distance as possible between himself and the new opponent.

The little boy was only 2' tall, his pale white eyes and skin glimmering in the noon sun. He looked at Kin meekly. "Um…hi. I'm here to kill you. Sorry…"

Kin face-fell in mid-roll, dragging along the ground for a couple of feet before stopping. Leaping to his feet he glared at the child, who couldn't have been any older than seven or eight. "Don't sound so casual about it. Besides…I'm faster than I look." Smiling slightly, he bent at the knees. "Here we go!" His image blurred and he disappeared.

The little boy blinked in surprise. "Huh?" Moments later he was flying through the air, a bruise on his chin.

Kin stood in astonishment. ("He…didn't see me? I wasn't even moving at twenty-five percent full speed…") "You're no match for me…are you?"

The boy crashed and bounced along the ground, before coming to a stop when he slammed into a boulder. After a moment he stood up, unharmed. "You're quick…"

Kin growled angrily. ("You're letting yourself get hit? You ass!") His hands began to move. "Fuuton; Shirakaze Hane no Jutsu!" Sneering calmly, he charged. "Try this on for size, shorty!" Right before he reached the small boy, he disappeared so quickly there wasn't even a dust trail to show the basic direction he had gone.

The boy stared in amazement, completely caught off guard as Kin hammer-fisted him in the back of the head. Then a blow slammed into the back of his neck, and another, and another…

Kin kept striking, because he was sure he wasn't doing any damage at all to the child with his normal attacks. ("I didn't need the White Wind Angel though; I just needed a single feather of the angel's wings. A single burst of speed for a surprise attack.") As the boy began to fall towards the ground he snapped his foot up and kicked the child in the stomach, sending him up to eye level with him. And sure enough, his eyes reflected no true pain. ("This kid is incredible…it looks like I'll have to take him down with full power!") Winding up a punch, he caught the boy on the chin and sent him careening into another boulder. "Sorry, but I don't have time to play! Fuuton; Shirakaze Tenshi no Jutsu!" ("Now to test my new limiting abilities…let's see if I can shut it off before it burns me completely!") As wisps of white silk began to float in the air around him, he locked his eyes onto the boy's body. "Here we go! It's time for the ten thousand hit combo!"

To be continued…