Chapter 4
The Mission Begins
Shiro was pleased. There was only five minutes to go until his entourage was going to leave and the four ninja weren't even there. He would be able to deny their leader payment because they were late and still demand full service. Their leader wouldn't be able to do anything about it either. Who was this peasant to question his honor when a ninja had none of his own anyway? The principle of ninja tactics was to use stealth and deception to trick their opponent. They didn't face each other face to face like a samurai would in open combat; they preferred a surprise attack in a dark alley. Shiro had no idea that he was being watched by Sakura and Shikamaru.
They were only 20 feet away, calmly crouching on the wall separating the stable area from the rest of the city. With a nod to Sakura Shikamaru jumped off and disappeared. Only a trained ninja would be able to track his movements let alone spot him, but that was the idea. They were hired to be out of sight and take care of other ninja problems, not be seen. Sakura on the other hand dropped down to inform Shiro that they were done scouting the first couple of miles of the journey. They were ready to leave when he was.
Sakura quietly walked up behind Shiro, well quietly for a normal person, for a ninja it was second nature to be silent when simply moving around. She got a small thread of satisfaction as the arrogant boy nearly jumped at her soft voice. He was obviously a few years older than the ninja, but he didn't appear to be any more mature than Konohamaru was. "Nami-sama, we have completed our survey of the first portion of the journey. We are ready to leave when you are."
Sakura was satisfied at his slight surprise that they were not only on time, but they had been working this past hour. Then she got a little angry at his next statement.
"You're late. We've been waiting for you for 10 minutes now."
Sakura almost introduced her fist to the back of the liar's skull by sending it through his face. That would be a good punishment for this arrogant prick. He obviously thought of himself as a 'good looker' by the way he dressed. He obviously thought of himself as better and above anyone he was talking to by the conceited tone of voice he used and posture he took. "I would suggest you don't try and cheat us; we've had you under surveillance since we met." Sakura paused for a second so that information to sink in. "You only got here three minutes ago. We've also been watching the stables for the last thirty minutes. Your stable hands got here twenty minutes ago, they still haven't finished loading all of the provisions, and we are not scheduled to leave for a few more minutes. Lying to us doesn't increase your hold over us."
Sakura was satisfied at the look of anger and shock on the young lord's face. She was about to turn and move into position for the journey when she heard him yell. It was to his servant and guards.
"Guards, arrest this wench at once. She just insulted me and my honor!"
The guards dutifully came running. One had a spear leveled at Sakura and the other looked to be drawing a sword. Sakura saw the smug look on Shiro's face as the guards, who were both more than twice her size moved towards her. Shiro's servant immediately appeared by his side. Sakura wasted little time listening to Shiro bark orders to his servant about how Sakura was to be (mis)treated once she was 'put in her place'. The servant merely replied, in the demoralized, "Yes sir" of a servant, signifying his understanding and willingness to comply. Unfortunately for them Sakura had no intention of being 'put in her place'.
The guards slowed to a walk and eventually stopped putting Sakura within striking distance of their weapons. They wanted to arrest her, not kill her, but for a ninja capture was worse than death. Sakura wasn't about to submit to this jerk. He was worse than Neji had been before the first chuunin exam she participated in. She then made her move, it was faster than the guards could deal with, or maybe it was that they didn't expect her to be stronger than both of them combined. Whether it was the speed, strength, or both the out come was the same.
From Shiro's point of view, he saw his guards just about to arrest the pink haired girl when he turned to the servant that didn't even deserve to be near him. He gave an order to only give her the necessities when he heard a thud and a guttural sound of pain. The groan was a deeper male tone and not that of a higher pitched female voice like it should have been. He looked back at the unworthy ninja and saw her standing over the two guards. One had landed face first on the ground, obviously unconscious, while she had the other guard's own sword leveled across his throat. She looked…pissed.
"Keep your little dogs to yourself! You should know better than to try something like this to a kunoichi. You don't deserve anything because of your father's political stature. You are our client. That is all you are. Don't think we fall under your rules. You don't have any power over us. Now get ready to leave."
The young lord fumed. No one had ever treated him like that before; he was infuriated, this pink loving girl, a peasant not even worthy to be in his presence, had insulted him by calling him a liar. It didn't occur to him that she had been right about him lying through his teeth. He was 'justified' though. They had no honor so why should he, a 'higher lord', show them any respect or honor?
Shikamaru nearly laughed when he saw the altercation and the arrogant lord's reaction. Shikamaru had decided it was best to send Sakura to confront the little punk. Hinata would have been too shy to do what was necessary. The boy couldn't get his way the whole time or he would become even more troublesome. This province would become a tiny third world country once he took rule, not to mention making the mission much harder to accomplish. That brought something to mind though.
He had been discussing the mission and Tsunade's decision to send them on this mission rather than her previously selected team with Sakura. It seemed Tsunade didn't believe the story about the Cloud trying to kill Shiro. Not to mention they had seen a Cloud ninja openly walking beside a lord from the Cloud country in Lord Nami's home. There was something more to this mission than the official reason they were given. Shikamaru didn't think that Cloud assassins were going to be the real threat. This was not a simple protection mission anymore. Every move had to be considered. Something had been increasing the tension the last couple of weeks between Konoha and the other shinobi villages. Shikamaru thought Orochimaru was somehow behind it though. The Leaf had been noticing an increasing number of encounters with Sound shinobi in the last few months. What made matters worse was that the Sound seemed to be moving freely through the countries surrounding the country under Konoha's protection, the Fire country. It all seemed to be becoming more than Konoha could allow.
Shikamaru watched as Sakura took her position. The team was well spread out to cover an attack from almost any angle. They were in a staggered box formation. Naruto was on the left side of the road and in the front of the caravan. Shikamaru was the front right side, but he was behind Naruto. Shikamaru's position was about ten yards behind the leading servants while Naruto was about ten yards in front. Sakura was on Naruto's side but she was placed more towards the rear. Hinata was on Shikamaru's side making sure the rear of the caravan was protected by placing herself the standard distance to the rear of the caravan. This meant that she was about ten yards behind the last couple of servants traveling with Nami Shiro. Each of the four man team was about five yards off to either side. This made sure their positions were not easily spotted while they could still see clearly enough to give proper cover.
They were well placed to defend against an attack that came from either side. Shikamaru was in the best place to drop down and give orders to the leader of the caravan. Sakura and Naruto worked best together since they had been on the same team the longest. Naruto could hold the front for long enough with his shadow clones giving time for Sakura move into position to provide back up, and for Shikamaru to give the servants orders. Hinata was the best suited for guarding the rear with her Byakugan. If attacked from behind; Sakura could drop back to help Hinata quickly. The girls could hold their own in any fight Shikamaru could think of. The pink haired girl possessed strength no male could match normally and Hinata had her own advantages because of her fighting style, eyes, and natural agility. Not to mention Naruto was the fastest of the group. If given a fair chance, he could probably get to Hinata before Sakura could.
They were positioned well for an attack or an ambush by lowly highway robbers. This was only a B rank mission and thus only normal thugs were expected. There was the possibility for a low level ninja on this mission but that wasn't likely, not with such an important event for both Fire and Cloud. This marriage was going to keep hostilities at a minimum between the two large countries. No one wanted an all out war between the two, but tensions were still high. The mission's rank could also easily increase. A ninja always had to be ready for the unexpected. Misinformation and lack of information always played into what rank a mission got, and those seemingly small ideas could cost the success of the mission and the lives of the entire team.
The problem was that any ninja with any real skill could easily see the weak spots and there was only one way to guard those, but Shikamaru didn't want to make Naruto make another clone to defend the weak spots of the front right and back left. He would just have to be more careful in guarding his assigned area and have Sakura be more cautious. But in reality it was Naruto and Hinata that had the greatest responsibilities. They were guarding the entire front and back as well as the sides they were on while he and Sakura were merely guarding only part of each side and only slightly looking out for the front and back corners they were stationed at. Though Shikamaru had to be honest, the person with the least defense and possibility for back up was Sakura. Hinata was too far away to properly watch her back if an attack came from that specific corner. No one was back there to cover that area. Sakura was going to be alone for a little bit if any real threat showed itself.
The group was in no real danger of being attacked, especially while inside the city, but Shikamaru made sure they were all in place as they left the Nami estate. He wouldn't put it past Shiro to try and hire someone to attack him just so he could claim the ninja failed. The caravan moved quickly through the city, it was familiar territory to the servants of Lord Nami so they could take the easiest and fastest routes without problem. Their pace was slowed because it took a little bit of time for the group to get through the gates of the city. This was only because the doors had to be opened for them, but once they were outside the city nothing held back their pace. Everyone, except for Shikamaru's team, was either in a horse drawn wagon with Shiro's supplies or operating the carriage Shiro was in. As such they could move much faster than someone on foot.
Apparently Shiro had given orders to try and outrun the ninja once they were outside the city. As the carts and carriage picked up the pace Shikamaru merely mumbled his lazy trademark, "How troublesome," before picking up the pace himself. There was no reason to give orders to Sakura and Hinata, their job was simpler now. It was harder to attack from behind if the target was moving fast, but Naruto's responsibility just got harder. Protecting the front would become too difficult for him no matter how fast he really was. Shikamaru had no real knowledge of it, but he suspected that Naruto's spead jutsu was only useable over short periods of time, but that could be only because it wasn't necessary to use it for longer.
Shikamaru quickly moved to where Naruto's position should have been. He wasn't there. Odd, he knew Naruto would probably move forward at the increase of speed but he was no where in sight. Suddenly two Narutos appeared. One coming from the front, and one coming from the side. The front one looked at Shikamaru and told him to tell the caravan to slow down before disappearing using the speed jutsu Naruto used almost all the time. Shikamaru could only guess it was the same one that the fourth had used to gain the title of the yellow flash. Naruto only looked like a orange blurry streak when he used it. The Naruto that came from the side reported no threats from that direction.
Shikamaru was able to figure out what Naruto had done. When the speed increased beyond the expected speed Naruto had created a shadow clone to check the side while he went ahead to scout the areas outside of their preliminary scouting trip. They had only scouted a few miles in their hour but at this pace they would cover those quickly. Naruto had then sent a shadow clone back to inform Shikamaru. Shikamaru trusted Naruto's opinion about slowing down. It was cautious, but also a little reckless. Naruto was obviously trying to take care of the problem himself. That could easily put him in danger and thus the rest of the team by depriving them of information and possibly a team member.
Leaving the clone to the station it was assigned Shikamaru fell back to his position and then moved to address the head servant, the one in charge of the caravan. "You must slow down. There is danger ahead. We are taking care of it, but you need to slow down so Nami Shiro isn't put in more danger than necessary."
The servant, accustomed to taking orders immediately slowed down to a normal pace, one the horses could hold all day rather than in just short sprints like they had been doing. The horses had needed a rest anyway.
Shikamaru noticed the voice of Shiro almost immediately after they slowed down. He seemed angry, like he was being deprived the chance to get back at the ninja. Shikamaru looked at where Sakura and Hinata were stationed. He found them easily enough, but it helped that he knew exactly where they were supposed to be. He noticed the slight fatigue and heavy breathing. They hadn't had a lot of time to rest from Naruto's pace earlier that day. Naruto had set a pace about twice as fast as this, but they had just gotten back from a mission before setting out again so they had a right to be a little tired. Shikamaru looked at each and silently communicated what was going on. Each of the two female ninja understood. There was danger ahead, Naruto had found it and was taking care of it. Both of them showed concern, even though only a ninja would have been able to see it in their faces.
Naruto loved to fight and often disregarded tactics or strategy in any fight. But they trusted Shikamaru to be the leader and if back up was necessary he would send it. As it was it was only necessary to slow down, or at least that was the information Shikamaru received.
Shiro could be seen, and heard, hanging out the door of his lavish carriage yelling at his subordinate and the head of the guards who had come on the trip. When Shiro's tirade wound down the servant simply stated that the ninja leader had advised it and then pointed at Shikamaru. This information seemed to bring some joy to the arrogant lord. He smirked as he called out at Shikamaru.
"Unable to keep up?" There was no attempt hiding the smugness in his voice. The arrogant bastard thought he was going to be able to claim bad service again.
"Actually, our scout, who is ahead of us has reported danger. He requested for you to slow down so you would stay safe while he took care of it." Shikamaru didn't feel like going through the trouble of dealing with the future lord or picking a fight with him that would only escalate later. Sakura didn't seem to feel the same way he did though.
From her hidden position she called out. "You might also want to know that the scout is the genin on our team. And the two weak females are guarding your flanks." Sakura took pride in the slight anger and shock easily read by any ninja on the haughty boy's face. She knew he couldn't see her, her position was too well concealed. That didn't stop her from enjoying watching his futile search for her location.
"Fine, we will stay at this pace until your subordinate reports back. But I expect to be back at our original pace once the danger has passed."
Shikamaru simply nodded his acknowledgement. Then he looked at Sakura and Hinata, a silent order to change their positions in order to protect the caravan better with only three reliable ninja. Hinata would move to a more central position in the rear, Sakura would move up to just in front of the middle on her side while Shikamaru would be in line with her on the opposite side. The clone Naruto was still guarding the front, but since he was a clone he could be dispatched much easier than a real ninja. Almost on cue the clone disappeared into its trademark puff of smoke.
Shikamaru made sure to keep the caravan moving, but at a slower, more easily defensible pace. There were a few minutes of nothing going on except the easily ignored protests by Nami Shiro and their 'painfully slow' pace. Shikamaru then caught sight the orange color associated with distress moving quickly back to them.
Flashback to about one hour ago.
Naruto watched as the small caravan finished moving through the gates and then pick up speed. He was a little surprised at the speed they finally settled at, but it was nothing he couldn't handle himself. He was the lead and in charge of making sure there were no attacks from the front. It had been agreed that he create a clone to protect the front while he would scout ahead every time they came to the end of the area they had already scouted. But now the pace was about twice what they expected. It was a pace the horses wouldn't be able to hold for longer than an hour or so, but they would still cover the scouted distance in half the time they expected. Naruto decided to move forward, farther than his original position so he could provide better coverage as point at the new speed.
When they reached the area where he and Hinata had stopped their preliminary search he created a shadow clone and told it to scout the immediate left then come back and watch the position he was supposed to guard. He then quickly advanced in front of the caravan and searched for any bandits or enemy ninja waiting. It was about thirty minutes later that he found a threat. They were only a few bandits. Nothing major…or so Naruto thought.
Naruto quickly observed their positions and their probable attack pattern. They looked to be taking the ambush style of robbing and killing rather than the "mercy style" of let your presence be known and kill anyone who tries and fights back. Naruto's plan was just like him. It was loud, simple, full of energy, and lacking all common sense and actual thought.
Naurto back tracked to just around the last curve in the road and then created a set of shadow clones. There were now 7 shadow clones standing by his side in the middle of the road. He had moved to the road just after rounding the turn making sure he was out of sight of the bandits. He had previously been in the trees which helped him keep himself hidden. His 'plan' called for there to be enough people to risk the bandits to attack. One he sent back to Shikamaru, one he transformed into Nami Shiro, 4 he turned into the different guards that had come on the trip, one he turned into Sakura, and he stayed himself.
He then started walking. The Sakura clone took the front, she was flanked by two of the guards. The four guards created a box around the noble looking spoiled brat. Naruto would be damned if he ever thought of the arrogant jerk as noble. He was also glad the Feudal lords didn't know where Konoha was, let alone try and say they had rule over it because it was in their territory. Fortunately Konoha was in a different province than what Shiro would be ruling anyway. Naruto decided to bring up the rear.
In a plan like this, point was pretty much expected to die while the sides would take more of the brunt of the attack but possibly survive. The rear was situated at the worst possible place to provide real cover thus making it the least necessary target to take out before going after 'the goods'. Then again, the whole group consisted merely of shadow clones except for the one person in the rear. Naruto rarely actually put thought into anything he did. He was a think-on-your-feet type of guy. As such his 'plans' were always hastily thrown together and only tested when used in actual combat. He preferred to be spontaneous and simply fight without thinking too much about strategy; that was Shikamaru's job. But occasionally he employed tactics.
Jiraiya had beaten him every time they sparred in spite of Naruto's superior speed, stamina, chakra capacity, and over all natural attributes. Well, every time but one. That one time Naruto had finally learned the lesson Jiraiya had been trying to teach him. Attacking the person directly wasn't the proper way to attack everyone. There were times when the person shouldn't be the first target. This idea was the basis of genjutsu, attack their senses not them directly, incapacitate them and you win.
The group of clones walked directly into the trap the bandits had set for a group. The real question was whether his fake Shiro looked like a good enough target to expose their position. If someone came along later they would see the bodies. Well at least the blood on the ground would be seen if the bandits moved the bodies. The element of surprise would be void. The bandits apparently thought it was worth attacking, but the real reason escaped Naruto until the very end.
Immediately as it started Naruto felt the clone personifying Shiro cease to exist via a puff of smoke. The next to go was the one he thought would be taken out first, Sakura's twin. This left only the four guard clones and Naruto himself. The group split and engaged the 10 bandits that seemed to be attacking.
The first couple of bandits were knocked out before the wisps of smoke from the Shiro look-alike had fully dissipated. The remaining 5 Narutos took out the last of the bandits that had attacked before realizing there was one more that hadn't engaged.
Up until now the mission had been simple, routine, and what they had all expected. There had been only a simple group of cutthroats and the slight possibility of a lower level ninja. Now though, Naruto knew the rank of the mission increased to that of the A range. The missing jounin from cloud, Yang Koushi crouched in the trees just off the side of the road. This was the same ninja that had been in Lord Nami's mansion with the cloud lord.
Naruto didn't really hold a grudge against the guy. Ninja were tools, and as such they were often used to do some pretty bad stuff. Naruto however hated the idea that ninja weren't people as well; they could choose to not accept a mission. Naruto lived on his feelings without thinking. If not for his conscience and feelings then he would be as bad as the Kyuubi, killing innocents for no good reason.
Koushi was much like Zabuza in that he was willing to kill an innocent man if he was hired to do so. Neither of them liked doing it but assassinations were part of the life of a ninja. That was why emotion was supposed to be removed from a ninja's mind when completing a mission. The situation surrounding Koushi and Naruto's encounter was much like his encounter wit Zabuza. Koushi had been hired to kill a poor farmer so the greedy and rich business man could get more power and money. Naruto and Jiraiya had been hiding out on a farm in the country, away from any sizeable town. Naruto was paying for their stay by helping do chores for the farm. Jiraiya's reason for making Naruto do it alone was that it would help build his strength and stamina. After the chores were done Jiraiya would train him until he passed out from exhaustion. This sometimes lasted until sunrise when Naruto's chores started over.
Naruto was in the farmhouse when he noticed something was off. He immediately searched for what was wrong. Finding Koushi about to kill the family; Naruto attempted to stop him. He came very close to winning the fight, Koushi was off balance but with agility and flexibility Naruto didn't expect his resengan was dodged and a kunai was sunk into his own chest. The penetration wasn't deep but it put him at a severe disadvantage that he couldn't recover from. Oddly Jiraiya conveniently returned from his 'research' just in time to save Naruto's life…again. The cloud jounin fled after a brief attempt to finish the mission in which Jiraiya demonstrated clearly that he was the stronger of the two. There were no further attempts on the family's lives for the next couple of months that Naruto and Jiraiya stayed there.
Apparently this cloud jounin did hold grudges though. He must have been angry because his mission failed because of an enemy genin. Now he had either been hired to rob/kill Shiro or this was strictly personal.
Naruto decided to stall until his messenger clone got back. It would be best to take him on with as many as possible, especially since he lost the last time he fought him. "Its been a while since we saw each other last. What rich bastard hired you to kill Shiro?" The original attack had probably been aimed at Shiro since that was the first clone to be taken out. Shiro and Sakura were probably taken out by him because of the speed they were 'neutralized,' if Naruto wanted to use Jiraiya's word for a dead clone.
"No job, this one is for fun." The tone of voice in which it was said made Naruto's blood run cold.
The man was practically dripping with killer intent. He seemed to enjoy and want to kill for fun. This was nothing like the Koushi he had encountered before. Something was wrong.
Naruto didn't have time to think about it though. The cloud jounin attacked immediately. It was fast, it was precise, and it was not possible for Naruto to dodge. The only thing that saved Naruto's life was one of the 'guards' jumping in the way and taking the hit.
Naruto was able to take advantage of the clone's sacrifice though. He used the 4ths speed jutsu to place himself just behind the clone that was about to puff out of existence and throw a punch at the jounin's stomach. If successful the wind would be knocked out of him giving Naruto just long enough to knock the man unconscious. The plan worked perfectly. The body of the 'guard' blocked Naruto's movements from view until the last second when it ceased to exist. This gave his opponent no time to react except to tighten up and accept the blow.
Naruto was fully ready to follow through with his plan and knock the man out when something happened he did not expect. The henge(transformation) the ninja had been using was released. His punch did hit right on the spot and knocked the wind out of his target. The result was the ninja lost his concentration and let the illusion drop. Naruto was taken back and consequently lost his chance to take advantage of the reeling ninja. It was a sound chuunin.
The whole appearance of the ninja had changed. His hair was dark, his skin pale, his eyes were yellow with snake like slits in them. His movements seemed to be fluid as if he was a snake. Naruto realized he was strong. Probably higher jounin in strength and probably with a cursed seal like the sound five had been. Naruto looked at this…boy. He was only about 9 or 10 and yet he practically reeked of killer intent and what seemed like lethal experience in the art of death. If Naruto had to guess he would have thought the kid's father had been Orochimaru, but he knew that even if the evil ninja had fathered a child he would consider them no more important than any stick you threw on a fire.
The boy didn't take long to regain his composure and prove his experience by moving into a fighting stance. Naruto quickly regained from the shock he had been put in too and started to regard this boy seriously. It was a miracle that Naruto hadn't already been defeated. Shinobi battles never lasted more than a few minutes, it was the mistakes that got one killed, not necessarily the skill or techniques of their opponent. The true art of being a ninja was trickery; not seeing the truth was more dangerous than the opponent's killing blow.
The stance the boy was using was one that Naruto recognized as an offensive style, a derivative of Rock Lee's lotus style. It must have been one of the techniques Orochimaru stole from Konoha and adapted to his own uses and purposes. The next thing that went through Naruto's mind was the pain of a kick to the stomach that sent him flying. The impact made him loose concentration and all of his clones that were still in human form quickly turned into nothing more than little balls of smoke being blown by the light breeze.
The memory of his first C turned A rank mission came to mind. Kakashi's reassuring statement…if you could call it that, ran through his head. "In this world there are people younger than you, and yet they are stronger than me." Naruto had just met one of them. This boy had probably been trained by Orochimaru for his entire life. Now, Naruto was facing ten years of pure training under the most evil ninja he thought ever existed. The Cloud weren't after Shiro, but the Sound seamed to have a reason to want him dead.
Naruto's realization about the origin and identity of this fighter only got him the reward of feeling a kunai slash across his back because of the time it took to think about it. The cut was deep and Naruto immediately noticed two things. The distinct smell of blood and the warm feeling of his blood flowing down his back seemed impossible to ignore. Naruto knew he was in deep trouble. He needed to get out of there fast or he would die. He could still take care of the mission but he needed to live. The Kyuubi's healing affects couldn't be relied on, nor could they be controlled. He needed a medic, namely Sakura, to get to work on his back and quickly.
Naruto created two clones. One ran directly at the mini snake ninja and one picked up the real Naruto and ran for all it was worth back towards the caravan. Naruto had called up as much of the Kyuubi's chakra as he could manage while becoming dizzy with blood loss and pain just before creating the two clones. The result was the Kyuubi's chakra that was called up was split evenly between the three Narutos.
Naruto had learned to use his clones in multiple and very crafty styles to always be unpredictable. The charging Naruto formed his favorite attack in his hand, the resengan. The technique was more powerful than a chidori to someone who knew how to use it. But it was not because of raw power. If that was the only criteria; then the resengan was only equal to the chirori, maybe even inferior. The resengan required less actual chakra to perform, but much more control. So it was much harder to use the full form of it. The chidori on the other hand required the sharingan to use properly as it was strickly a thrust. It got its power from the strongest and fastest strike a human could do, the straight thrust. This strength provided by the thrust and enhanced by chakra, was also its greatest weakness as it was easily countered. The sharingan helped anticipate the opponents attempt at countering and increased the chance of a decisive strike. The resengan on the other hand had no such limitation in its movements. It could be moved around and used as easily as a fist. Simply put the resengan was more powerful due to its adaptability. An unforeseen attack pattern could mean death. The ability to use the resengan in any situation made it a greater technique and tool in battle than the chidori.
The Naruto charging the Sound ninja didn't plan on using any of the agility the attack afforded him though. He cocked his arm back so that the attack would be just like a punch. The resengan was smaller than he normally created but the damage done by even a small one was significant. Unfortunately the little chuunin side stepped and easily avoided the swirling ball of ckakra. Just as the clone's shoulder was passing the face of the chuunin the clone exploded. Trickery was a shinobi's greatest weapon. Naruto had used the resengan to mask his true intention of using what he called a 'blast shadow clone'. He had put as little chakra as possible into the resengan and still make it properly to preserve as much for the explosion as he could. Consequently the explosion was very powerful and perfectly masked the escape of the two retreating Narutos.
The result was a thick dust could that took a few minutes to dissipate so one could see through it. The reduction in the ability to see only served the sound ninja, or so he thought. He was wearing gray, the best all around camouflage color. Naruto on the other hand had a harder time at stealth because he was wearing "LOOK AT ME' orange as he had heard the pink haired girl call it. The effect on the enemy ninja was more than just visibility though.
He had to use a lot of chakra to shield himself from the blast. It had caught him off guard and he was unable to avoid it. Fortunately he survived with only a few scrapes and cuts, no serious damage. The problem was that he couldn't attack the caravan in the state he was in. He had almost run out of chakra and they would now be ready for him. As the cloud dissipated he saw the leaf genin had vanished. The sound ninja let the leaf genin go, he would kill him later. The young chuunin melded back in with the forest and disappeared. He left his 'comrades' on the road for whatever fate found them.
Naruto was slowly going into unconsciousness. He was getting dizzy from the blood loss. He could 'see' the trail of blood he was leaving through the eyes of the clone that was carrying him. He was on its back, but it had to check for the enemy every so often. Naruto felt tons of pain too. He was probably poisoned, but poisons often have little to no affect on him. The Kyuubi tended to hate that stuff and would easily neutralize it. His back on the other hand continued to leak out the precious fluid that kept him alive. Naruto slipped in and out of unconsciousness in the couple of minutes it took for the clone to get him back to the group. It was a miracle he was able to keep the clone around when almost completely out. It came from tons of executions of the technique in battle type situations and practice that made it almost second nature.
Naruto's clone took him as far as he could before Naruto finally entered the unconscious realm and releasing the clone to go back to non existence. Naruto fell unceremoniously onto his back but the momentum of how fast the false ninja was carrying him rolled him onto his stomach. He came to a stop about eighty yards ahead of the approaching caravan. The clone had been traveling along the side of the road so as not to hinder his friends from moving past to engage the threat. Fortunately though, the threat was not following him because of his escape plan.
Naruto entered the familiar hallway that held the entrance to the room containing the Kyuubi's cage. It had a thin layer of water on the floor like always and it was dark, but Naruto had gotten used to darkness. As a ninja, he now preferred the masking darkness to the revealing light. Naruto then thought for a second. He was here, that meant not only was he not conscious, but it was something that seriously affected his chances at survival.
Naruto had known the Kyuubi affected his healing, but it was more along the lines of only improving the speed of his healing rather than rapid regeneration. That only occurred when he almost completely let go and allowed the Kyuubi's chakra to engulf his and nearly control him. His back would require more than just natural healing to stop death. Sakura's or Hinata's skill would be needed to save his life. Sakura would be preferable because of her advanced training under Tsunade. It would be easier for her to adapt her healing techniques to the odd affects the Kyuubi's chakra had on Naruto's body. However this was secondary in Naruto's mind, he would much rather have Hinata provide her care.
He started walking down the hallway to the cage he knew was there. He had only been there twice in his life, once when he first demanded the Kyuubi's chakra to summon the toad boss and once when he had almost died fighting Kabuto. He arrived to find the smiling evil face of the nine tailed fox demon. Only its red eyes and white teeth were visible, but that was how it always was. The fox chose to speak up before Naruto could fully enter the room.
"You have almost killed us. I will not die because of a weak container." Its voice was just as Naruto had remembered it, arrogant and filled with killer intent. Naruto then saw the Kyuubi's chakra lash out at him and attempt to drown him like it had done on the first occasion and like it probably had done every time the Kyuubi had taken partial control.
Naruto fought back, he tried to swipe at it to get it off but it was useless. It was going to win. Naruto then noticed a faint light green chakra fighting the Kyuubi's. It was coming out of his back in particular but it was giving him just enough to push the Kyuubi's chakra back with his own. Then, without warning the room started to fade and Naruto lost sight of the massive bars and smiling demon fox.
As Naruto regained conciousness, he was feeling the warm caress of chakra massaged into the cut on his back. The healing technique stung, but he could bear it. Sakura's chakra control was impossibly good; she seamlessly mixed tiny threads with the ones Naruto could feel were the Kyuubi's attempts at healing him. After a few seconds he felt the last parts of his muscles and skin on his back knit together, he opened his eyes as his senses were coming back to their normal strength. His senses were heightened when reached the age of puberty and the Kyuubi's chakra started to affect his development. As a consequence his sense of smell, hearing, and touch were permanently enhanced. His eyes were especially affected, this made it easier to direct the Kyuubi's chakra specifically to them, and utilize the better night vision that the fox eyes provided. His teeth, while not a sense, were also affected. His canines grew longer than normal humans but short than a predatory animal's.
These 'improvements' simply made him better at noticing the details, now it helped snap him out of the half sleep he seemed to be in when he recognized the distinct smell of fresh blood. His next sense to kick in was his hearing as he definitely heard Sakura's voice arguing with the asshole's about twenty yards away. This confused Naruto because he didn't think she knew how to use them. Even if she did know; she didn't use them, especially when she needed to concentrate on healing. Then it hit him as he noticed the hand resting on his shoulder and the voice telling him that he would be fine were both too soft to be Sakura's. He turned his head from looking straight into the dirt and looked up into the face of his love.
He could look at that face indefinitely. He didn't want to move or say anything to ruin the effect. The sun was just over her shoulder. It cast her in a light that made her look exactly like he felt about her. She was an angel, very gentle and kind, but she had strength the world didn't see. She was deceptively strong using a fighting style that used finesse and gentle movements as weapons to disrupt an opponent's body and attacks rather than specifically try and break them. She also possessed the difficult ability to heal. One needed accurate and precise chakra control to do it properly. One could easily destroy but to mend and create took true strength. What he admired about her the most, was she saw something in him that no one else did and despite strength that none of the adults seemed to see, she was the gentlest person he knew. That was probably why she was able to heal his wounds so easily.
He started to get out of the blood soaked ground he was lying in, but the muscles in his back that were just put back together made their protest known. It wasn't as much as he expected it to be though, so he continued to right himself. Hinata really did have a talent for healing. The feeling of pride for his girlfriend didn't last long though. The obnoxious voice of Nami Shiro made itself a pain to everyone's ears. Naruto finished standing up in time to see the caravan come to a stop about ten feet from where he was along previously lying unconscious.
He had been about two hundred yards away when he collapsed. Hinata had immediately run to him. She had been using her Byakugan to look ahead and behind ever since they slowed down. She had seen him a little before Shikamaru had noticed him but what put her into shock was the solid line of blood trailing behind him. He was bleeding badly, imminent death badly. Seeing him collapse into the dirt snapped her out of her shock. She moved with all speed she had to get to him. Sakura had been very startled to see Hinata blow past her before she even realized Naruto was in danger.
Sakura was currently in a heated argument with the asshole of a client about the 'wasted time' of taking care of Naruto. Apparently Shiro had tried to order Hinata to leave him alone and let the horses run him over to finish the job as that was the more 'humane' thing to do. He would only hinder them as he was only a genin. His condition obviously showed he was incapable of handling things himself.
Sakura was showing great restraint. She would have already hit Naruto with enough force to bring down the Hokage tower for even suggesting something half as absurd. Naruto reasoned her restraint was because normal people were frail, and this guy looked like he couldn't even take a decent punch from a kid let alone Sakura. Naruto walked over to the fuming lord as if there had been nothing wrong a minute ago.
The future lord stopped mid rant when he saw Naruto moving around without a problem. The dark red line down the center of the road and the stain on the back of his jacket and pants were more than enough to say he should be dead. The blood still looked wet, and now he was moving as if there was no injury at all. He wanted to yell at him for holding up his passage, but he was too shocked at this novice's utter lack of concern with coming that close to death. What came out was weaker than he wanted to sound, but at least it was insulting. "Your pay will be reduced. You are delaying my arrival. You couldn't even take care of one simple problem without holding me up. What good are any of you?"
For Sakura's part she stayed rather quiet. Though, this was probably because Naruto, being Naruto, couldn't let a statement like that sit. "I'm the future Hokage! I was able to stop a foreign ninja of higher rank from killing you.' Naruto slightly paused and lowered his voice. He stepped closer and looked hard at the person he was supposed to protect. "Or would you rather I have let him kill you without any problems? If it weren't for us, YOU'D be dead now."
Confronting the jerk with his probable death without them seemed to put the lord back in his place. He fumed but obediently went back into his carriage. Naruto backed off and went to where Hinata was still standing. She was standing just to the side of here Naruto's blood had pooled under him as she was healing him.
Naruto couldn't think of anything to say. He loved her, wanted to thank her, felt pride for her ability to heal, but he couldn't express it in words. He got to her and brought her into a tight hug. Then almost on call he immediately spun her around in an enthusiastic gesture akin to Naruto's style of being the number one most hyper active and surprising ninja.
Hinata was too shocked to properly enjoy the hug. It was improper to show special care for one teammate over another while on a mission. That had been her thought as Naruto strode towards her. That idea went out the window as he brought her into a hug that felt perfect. Even the overly energetic spin felt perfectly right. She wanted to stay in that hold and was glad that she had saved him so she could enjoy this. Shikamaru coughed lightly into his hand trying to give a subtle hint to break it up while Sakura merely laughed at their antics. Unfortunately Naruto had never been good at picking up hints and Hinata was in too much of a blissful shock to notice.
"Do you think we can keep going now?" It was Sakura's playful jab that separated the two and put them into full blown embarrassment. Hinata turned a shade of red that was very similar to a dark red rose while Naruto put his hand behind his head accompanied by his trademark laugh. Shortly after that the four ninja moved back into their original positions and the caravan started moving again.
All in all, there were only about ten minutes 'wasted,' according to Shiro, on healing Naruto. The head servant didn't try and set a pace faster than the ninja could travel by foot, by this time he knew it was useless. He doubted even a single horse and rider could outrun them. He simply kept the pace he knew the horses could hold without getting too tired. They wouldn't need to work for too much longer though. It was already only a few more hours to sunset. They would camp for the night. After all, Nami Shiro had no idea what it meant to keep moving through the night. He would demand a hot meal and a bed to sleep in.
Author's Note
Well I hope you guys liked this chapter. I'm about to head into a very demanding section of my semester so it might take a while for me to update again. I want to thank Crystlshake for reading through this chapter and helping me out with some of the feel of it. I don't have this story fully set in my head, I generally write it how it feels like it should flow. Keep writing reviews. It really helps to know if you liked it or hated it. I do try and reply to the reviews in the review section if a question is asked. Any way, I hope this isn't a waste of your time reading.