Summary: Recca, Kagero, and a SI are placed in the world of the Nine Tails
Crossover: Flame of Recca, Naruto, Hitman: Codename 47 and Contracts
Disclaimer: I don't own what other people do. I do own me, though.
Feedback: Sure thing... I like hearing how I can improve :) I also like hearing people's opinions on things. I have a fragile ego and low self esteem - please review?
Pre-fic Comments:
Made a goof in the last part... it's Mr 47, not Mr 43. (What's worse is that none of you guys called me on this.) He plays a major part in changing the plot of this arc. Spot it if you can.
And I still need someone to come up with a cool sounding summary/
ranma hibiki: Mr 47 is from Hitman, and is what the game name suggests :) A very good game, if you can get your hands on it.
Alex DarkFire: Thanks :) And yes, I like tigers too... I've come up with a way of incorporating Shino. ICQ me pls? Lost yer number.
Gatou smiled deeply as he looked out his window at the Wave Country capital city.
Soon, he'd crush that bridge builder Tazuna, and then nothing would stop him from stripping the Wave dry of all things worth anything.
The sound of the door sliding open made itself known. Ah, lunch.
"Put it on the table," he ordered absently.
As the servant closed the door and put down the tray, he thought about going with his men to the bridge, just to twist the knife in the wound.
A hand snaked around his neck, clamping down on his mouth as a sharp, strangely shaped blade gave him a second, ear to ear smile.
The man with the pale grey eyes wiped the knife clean on Gatou's black clothing, then put the shorter man in his bed and drew up the blankets. Putting the Pentagon knife away in his servant's clothes, he walked out the door.
"Gatou-sama wishes to rest," he said, walking to where he had stashed a set of guard's clothing.
One of the guards walked into the room for a routine check on Gatou.
"It's about time," I said from where I was guarding Tazuna-san.
"Hey, a hero arrives at the last minute," Naruto said, grinning madly.
"So act heroic and save our damn skins!"
Through the mist called up by Zabuza's jutsu, the sound of armed men could be heard.
"He's DEAD!"
"We're gonna pillage this town!"
"No more Gatou!"
"Hold," Zabuza commanded.
Kakashi paused, so did Naruto and I, and Sasuke kept attacking Haku. So the crossdresser nailed him with senbon in the neck, putting him in a temporary death state. I guess that if Sasuke had been using his Sharingan (dirty rotten thief), he could have stolen speed from Haku to keep up.
A huge mass of dirty men appeared in the mist.
"What happened," Zabuza asked, Cleaver resting on his shoulder.
"Gatou-sama was found dead in his chambers, and no one knows who did it," the front man said. "So we're gonna kill everyone in town in retribution!"
"No you aren't," Naruto yelled.
"It seems we no longer have a reason to fight, Sharingan Kakashi," Zabuza said, a slight smirk playing on his lips. "But I still want to see some blood."
"We can't let them kill innocent people," I said. "Hey, stupid people, still feel like trying us?"
"You're only seven people, Scar-face, and we have more than fifty men," the spokesman boasted.
I shifted, letting my inner beast show as I became half-man, half-tiger, sharp claws extended.
"Prrrrease, feel frree to trrry yourrrr luck," I purred, an evil smile playing on my lips and inclining my whiskers upward.
"We can still take him," another mercenary said uncertainly.
"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu," Naruto yelled, as about fifty Naruto clones appeared on the bridge. The villagers were running to the end of the bridge as well, all armed and with Inari leading the charge.
That did it for them.
"RUUUUN!"
And so the Wave Country was freed from the menace of the shipping magnate slash crime overlord.
"I bet that Misterrrr Forrrty Seven did it," I said. In this shape, I was about six feet tall. Cool.
"Who," Kakashi asked, confused.
"Never mind," I said, shifting back to my human form. "Well, we've got funerals to arrange and a bridge to build."
"What about Zabuza-san," Naruto asked.
We looked around, but the wily missing nin had disappeared while we had dealt with the chaotic mercenary army.
"We'll pass on the sighting to the Hidden Mist," Kakashi said.
The rest of the mission passed peacefully, as no one seemed to care about Gatou. His corporation was quietly absorbed by the Mist-daimyo, since the short man had never written a formal will.
"Thanks to you, we've completed the bridge," Tazuna said, as we were farewelled by the town, "but this is super sad."
"Thank you for everything," Kakashi smiled.
"Don't worry - we'll come to visit," Naruto grinned.
"You... better," Inari trailed off, eyes suspiciously liquid.
"I fully expect this to be a worthy vacation spot in a few years," I added. "You're lucky, to live in such a beautiful place."
"Inari... you're sad, right? It's okay to cry," Naruto said. "Even if this baka never does."
I hit Naruto for that. Playfully.
"I'm not going to cry," Inari insisted. "But Naruto you can cry too!"
"Fine... later," Naruto said, spinning around so that Inari didn't see the trail of tears starting to flow down his cheeks.
"Ah," Inari said, as his tears began to flow too.
"That boy changed Inari's heart... and Inari changed the people's heart," Tazuna said. "That boy gave us a bridge to hope, called courage."
"Bridge... oh yeah, we need to name this bridge," the foreman said.
"I have a super perfect name for this bridge," Tazuna said.
"What is it," Tsunami asked.
"How about... The Great Naruto Bridge?"
Once we got back to Konoha, it was interesting to see how the other genin teams from our year had... progressed.
Sarutobi Asuma's team, made of Ino, Sakura, and Shikamaru, consisted of an ongoing catfight. The canny males had redirected that fighting spirit towards improving their ninja abilities to impress Sasuke, although I suspected that in Shikamaru's case it was more so his ears weren't deafened on missions. I wasn't really worried about that team - they seemed to get their jobs done.
Yuuhi Kurenai's team, made of Domon, Hinata, and Kiba, was... interesting. Domon had something of a friendly rivalry going with Kiba. Both were fiercely protective of their quieter team mate, and I'd heard rumours about confrontations between the two of them and Maito Gai's genin team. Their team was geared towards mass destruction and massacre, with Hinata present to bring the stealth aspect of ninjutsu to the fore when needed.
Gekkyou Hayate's team, made of Recca, Chouji, and Fuuko was an ongoing argument. Not as bad as Asuma's team, but Recca and Fuuko always had been rivals, even in kindergarten. I honestly didn't know what Chouji was capable of, and suspected he was there to make up the numbers more than anything. Recca was... Naruto-ish, I guess, as Ino had put it once. Fuuko reminded me of a cross between Mitarashi Anko and Recca. Their team seemed fitted for straight up assault, taking into account Recca and Fuuko's abilities, although I didn't know how Chouji would affect that.
As for our Team Seven, things were... existing. Not really improving, not really breaking down, just existing. After we'd gotten back from the Wave, we'd had slight hopes of Kakashi continuing to teach as he had taught the treeclimbing exercise, but all we'd gotten from him was D-Rank missions. So Naruto and I met Kagero-kaasan to talk about it.
Kagero knelt in her kimono on the clean tatami. At a respectful distance, Naruto and I knelt side by side.
"Haha-ue, please teach us in the ways of the Hokage ninja," I said, bowing slightly from where I was kneeling.
"Why do you wish this," Kagero asked, hands folded.
"Our jounin-sensei, Hatake Kakashi, teaches us nothing and lets our skills stagnate. I also want to learn about my heritage, and the school of my father."
"And you, Naruto," Kagero asked. "While you are adopted, I consider you my son just as much as Matora is."
A slight glimmer of tears appeared at the corners of Naruto's eyes. "I, too, wanna become better at being a ninja!"
"I see," Kagero said. "Matora, you have received the zanbatou you ordered, have you not?"
"Yes, I have. Thank you for arranging that."
"I will teach you what I know of using it. Naruto, I will start instructing you in the Silent Crescent Moon School, the way of using katana and kodachi."
I strongly suspected that, were it not for the formality, Naruto would be grinning like a loon and hugging 'kaasan for all he was worth right about now.
"Together, I will also instruct both of you in stealth, and how to conceal yourself in all situations."
"Thank you, Haha-ue," Naruto and I chorused, both bowing slightly again.
"How well can you use the zanbatou," Kagero asked.
"I can handle it better than I've read is possible, due to being were," I said. "It also came in a... very unusual sheath."
"Oh?"
"Yes. A scroll contained it, and it is stored in the scroll after use."
"Hello, Metsugaara-san," the thin man said.
Mister Forty Seven nodded. He was dressed in a fine black kimono, a white shirt underneath, with a vividly red sash.
"The Agency has received a... contract... for the demise of a certain person," the thin man continued. "But it must not happen until the Chuunin exam! The client wants this man's contract to be well known."
"I see," Forty Seven said. "Anything I should know?"
"The client wants this certain person to be obviously... contracted," the thin man said. "At this certain time and place."
"I will do this," Forty Seven said.
He didn't ask for details on the client.
It wasn't his job to ask those details.
The Daimyo looked up. "Have you arranged it?"
"Yes," his servant said. "The... Agency gave me assurances of their discretion."
"Good," the ruler smiled. "We cannot afford this leech on our resources any longer."
Naruto and I were enjoying our day off, with Domon, Recca, and Fuuko joining us.
Well, we were enjoying it until we turned the corner to find a pair of Sand-nin. One was blonde, with four (!) short ponytails and what looked like a giant fan strapped to her back. The other was a short guy in baggy black clothes with facepaint and a mummy strapped to his back.
"What are you two doing here," I asked mildly. "I didn't think that the circus came until next month."
"Other nin aren't allowed in Konoha," Fuuko added, licking the tip of one of her senbon.
"Let's play a little before the boss comes," the guy said.
"You may be allies, but it is forbidden for you to be here without permission," I said. "The polite thing would be to explain."
The blonde relented. "You're right, we're genin from the Hidden Sand. We're here for the Chuunin exam."
"Wow, you must have a halfway decent sensei," I said. "Our one barely remembers where to turn up for missions, let alone when to turn up."
"Er, what's the chuunin exam," Naruto asked, Recca nodding beside him.
"Baka," Fuuko roared, thumping Naruto (with the hand without her senbon.) "It's an exam to select chuunin from genin."
"Hehehe, then this Domon-sama should enter, eh," Domon chuckled, making a pose. (He got on great with Maito Gai. He practiced his taijutsu with Rock Lee every now and again, too.)
Post-fic Comments:
Number 47 uses the pseudonym Metzger when he needs to give a name. You should be able to piece together the target, time, and place from the conversations through a process of elimination.