Welcome to the next chapter in the story, before we start just want to say that I've changed the summary because originally it was just something of the top of my head that I didn't think was any good but if you thought the previous one was better do let me know; Just a side mention that this doesn't change anything the story will still be the same going forward.
Not much else to say other than enjoy. :)
"Speaking"
"Thoughts"
"Jutsu"
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He hated pathetic clients; sure, they always paid the best but they were always the worst and this one seemed to top the lot. Shaggy and Scruffy brown hair, his eyes hidden behind small black glasses hiding away the clearest way to see fear and a suit, always a suit, always trying to show their money off by their clothes alone, but it just made them a bigger target.
The man had debated just gutting the tiny client right there and taking what was on him but one glace at his sickening smile told him this was a client smarter then the others, at least by a small margin; he knew the target on his back and wouldn't dare risk carrying much around on his person so it would be a waste of effort to gut him, not that it wouldn't be fun, he always found it amusing the looks on their terrified faces when they knew they were fucked.
Glancing to his right were two other men, Gozu and Meizu the Demon Brothers. A stupid name to him, something they'd come up with as children and stuck with it probably; it was true he himself had a demon moniker but he didn't choose it, it was given to him by his actions and never cared to pride himself on the title; he'd worked with the two a few times but he'd have to bite his tongue at laughing at them pronouncing their childish name or when wearing their stupid dress up, wearing large cloaks and a horn on each of their heads, sure the cloaks were to hide their attached large gauntlets but the horns only appealed to their child fantasies which were a waste of time.
"Zabuza! Are you even listening to me!" the client snapped, a bit of spit flying from his mouth as the man called Zabuza turned his eyes back to the client who had changes his sick smile to a more pathetic scowl as if he was trying to intimidate the much larger man who could kill him with a single movement.
"I don't need the entire story Gato, just tell me the target and pay me when I've given you his head" Zabuza coolly responded moving his resting right hand from the back of the sofa to drape across his Executioners blade; he saw the small man grimace slightly trying not to show weakness under his gaze but deep down, he'd be dead in moments should Zabuza wish it.
Gato's two personal guards, Zori and Waraji stepped forwards placing their hands on the hilts of their currently sheathed Katana's ready to fulfil their payed job to protect Gato but with a raise of the aforementioned mans hand they back off but kept their eyes trained on Zabuza who didn't even bother acknowledge them, knowing they were nothing but show, good for scaring the local townsfolk but in a fight they were worthless.
"Fine then Zabuza, you want the quick explanation I'll give it to you" Gato said in his annoying squeak of a voice as his disgusting smile returned to pretend in his mind at least he held the cards but in truth, Zabuza held the entire deck, "I want you to kill this man, Tazuna the Master Bridge Builder" he continued, throwing a photo over to Zabuza who looked it over.
The target was nothing special, the grey hair and large beard showed he was old and those dark eyes held nothing in them and with those glasses he clearly wasn't any threat, "Fine, I don't really care why you want this old guy dead but I'll do it, providing you pay me the agreed upon amount" Zabuza said putting the photo away but not taking his eyes of Gato who indicated with a simply hand wave.
On command, Zori picked up two cases hidden in the corner and put one in front of Zabuza and the other in front of the brother who'd been very quiet up till now, Zabuza knew they were a lot like him in that respect, they just wanted the information and the money. Opening the cases all three saw they contained a considerable amount of coin, "That is half for each of you, now I know how you operate so I'll keep it simple but a little sporting, whichever on of you who brings him to me dead gets the other half" Gato revealed; as Zabuza noted the man was smart, he did hold a large fortune but he didn't want to foolishly waste it so to avoid paying them all a large amount he'd cut his costs by only having to pay one of them the full amount.
The other likely hope that Gato held was that either the Demon Brothers or Zabuza would kill the other which would help him having one less extremely deadly Shinobi out there that could go after him. Zabuza had to give him credit, for what the man lacked in courage, he made up in smarts.
"He's currently inside the Hidden Leaf village so it'd be foolish to go after him there, plus if you were caught it could go all the way back to me" Gato muttered turning to leave, "But once he's outside the village do as you will, just bring me whatever is left as proof" he added before leaving the darkened room followed closely by his bodyguards who closed the doors after leaving.
The brothers stood giving a simultaneous looks to Zabuza before disappearing into water, likely to plan their assassination attempt. Zabuza waited a few moments and once he was sure they were gone he stood, "Haku… you ready to move" he muttered and immediately he felt an all to familiar presence behind him.
"Let's stash our money away first then we'll head for the Leaf Village… and I'm sure you can guide us there" he commented before walking off closely followed by the smaller robed figure wearing the mask of a Hunter Ninja.
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It had been a month since Team 7 had their first mission, a month since they'd become full fledged Genin of the Hidden Leaf Village and how was that going; they were standing in the Hokage's office watching/sensing the Feudal Lords wife smother her cat Tora with love, yet again; "Oh my baby girl why do you keep running away from me like this, do I not give you enough love" the rather plum woman cooed rubbing her face against Tora who was desperately trying to escape her grip, "Then I will give you even more love if that's what you want my princess".
Turning to the Hokage, the women gave a large smile, "Thank you ever so much again Lord Hokage, you and your Shinobi do a wonderful job at bringing my lovely cat Tora home to me" she exclaimed before leaving with Tora and the rest of her entourage, while the Hokage chuckled awkwardly and the members of Team 7 let out a combined sigh.
"I really despise that cat" Naruto muttered falling backwards onto the floor not really caring if it was messy or not as the cat had ruined his clothes already that day much like it had to every other member of his team who had scratches across their skin and many tears in their clothes, "Why do we always get this damn mission" he wined.
Kakashi glanced down at Naruto and thought about scolding him for just falling on the floor but he honestly couldn't blame him for it.
"Five times in one month, this is ridiculous" Kalis muttered keeling over placing his hands to his knees as he too had had just about enough the continuous mission of finding just the one cat and was even slowly agreeing with Sasuke's views to just kill the cat and claim there was an accident, there was even a plan in his head.
Hiruzen looked at the exhausted team, glancing down he checked over the few D-rank missions they'd done today, uprooting weeds, litter picking, fence painting and finally finding the missing Tora; he inwardly chuckled to himself that maybe he should start classing the infamous Tora mission as an S-rank as it seemed even skilled Jonin had trouble if the few cuts on Kakashi's uniform were anything to go by. Looking over his list everything had now been crossed off with Team 8 returning with the second to last mission a few moments before Team 7 returned with Tora in tow, with a smile he looked up to them again, "Well it seems all our D-ranks are done for the day, you're dismissed for now Team 7" he said rolling his list up and filing it away.
"Yes Lord Hokage" they all said walking out of the office, once the door closed behind them Sasuke immediately took off ahead of them all, something they had all come to expect from the broody boy and this time Sakura didn't even chase after him but instead was watching Naruto intently though no one noticed as they walked through the halls till they exited the building.
"Today was ridiculously long" Kalis muttered stretching his arms into the air till he heard a satisfying click from his back and bringing his arms back down then turning to Naruto, "Fancy heading to Ichiraku's Naruto, my treat" he smiled to him friend and didn't notice the boy looking to Kakashi then back to Kalis.
"Uhh, no thanks Kalis; I've got some errands to run but maybe next time" he replied with a chuckle and rubbing the back of his hair, this wasn't the first time Naruto had rejected the offer his friend had put out which had successfully every time confused the boy and not once had it made sense to him, Naruto would never oppose to getting ramen especially some for free, but the past month he had done just that.
"Oh okay then…" Kalis muttered still confused while Naruto gave his foxy grin and walked off with Kakashi yet again, they'd first said they just so happened to be going the same way but eventually stopped telling them as it didn't need to be said anymore and they had to take it for granted as Naruto's apartment was in the direction they left and they had no idea as to where Kakashi was living.
"Hey Kalis" Sakura asked getting his attention turning to her, "Does Naruto seem at all… different to you?" she asked making him ponder the thought for a moment, thinking back he did seem a tad different, but the most Kalis had really noticed was Naruto constantly rejecting going for ramen so something was possibly up.
"Well now that you mention it, something might be up" he responded tuning his head in the direction the two had left in, "But… I'm sure that if something were wrong, he'd talk to me about it" he added with a smile while walking off.
Sakura took a moment to lament his words before looking after him, "But what if it's something important… maybe Kakashi Sensei is secretly training him" she called after Kalis making him stop and turn back to face her with his usual unreadable expression on his face.
At the mention of that, Kalis immediately thought back to the conversation he had with Soruki a month ago after their first mission; she told him Naruto was trying to become stronger to prove himself to everyone especially him so what kind of friend would he be to interfere with that, "Well I'd wish him the best with that, if he wants to get in extra training I say let him do just that, I for one am tired after today's training though our missions so I'm going to get some food then head home" he answered turning away again and beginning to walk away, "If it concerns you so much why don't you try following him and seeing what he gets up to" he half joked.
Sakura watched as he walked away thinking about what he said to her, could she really spy on Naruto's private life just because she suspected something was wrong and without any proof to back the idea up; though she couldn't stop her legs from moving, seemingly moving without her own volition, heading in the direction Naruto and Kakashi left slowly picking up the pace till she was straight sprinting after them.
It didn't take long for her to catch up to them walking side by side muttering something to each other which she couldn't hear, deciding to make sure they wouldn't notice her she took to the roofs while still following; they went for a while till they entered a forested area when Sakura took to hiding in the trees instead, she was sure she recognised the route they were taking and that suspicion was confirmed as they arrived at the third training ground; she jumped into a tree where she had a clear view of her Sensei and Teammate in the open field, though she was out of earshot but couldn't see a way to get closer without being seen.
"Okay then Naruto, let's begin" Kakashi instructed taking a few steps away and crossing his arms to watch Naruto, they'd been coming here for sometimes after missions or staying here after training sessions with the entire team.
It started a little while ago when Kakashi heard about Naruto's difficult with the Clone Jutsu but he mastered the Shadow Clone Jutsu, this had made Kakashi very curious so he'd decided to bring him here to test some theories about what was wrong, while also giving him some extra training sessions as he was quite far behind the other three, he'd give them their own extra sessions too in time but he currently wanted to focus on Naruto.
"Okay then, get ready for this Kakashi Sensei!" Naruto exclaimed beginning to weave signs, one of the methods Kakashi was trying today was getting Naruto to try some different basic Jutsu's too see which worked for him and which didn't, they were nothing special so Kakashi mainly focused on the results but in the eyes of a certain pinkette who was watching she felt a little jealous.
Naruto had began to sweat quite profusely and was panting hard clear signs of his exhaustion, "Let's stop for today Naruto" Kakashi said walking up to him, placing a hand in his shoulder, "I've seen all I need to for now".
"Well done Naruto, for understanding the hand signs for these Jutsu's" Kakashi praised with an eye smile but it quickly disappeared, "But now we need to have a serious talk…" he added looking directly into the boys eyes with his one knowing this talk had to happen.
"As you know, the Nine-Tailed Fox is sealed inside you do you know what that entails exactly?" he asked Naruto who shook his head slowly side to side, "Well first off it means you will have a target on your back though the Leaf has done it's best to maintain the secrecy of who it is that contains the Nine Tails we can't stop every leak so be sure to always watch your back" he continued.
"Secondly, I suspect the Nine Tails is effecting your Jutsu's, you see having it be a part of you does grant you an substantial increase to your own natural chakra thus allowing you to make so many Shadow Clones that also causes the problems with other Jutsu, you simply have too much chakra so when you try to do simple Jutsu's they just get overwhelmed and don't work" he sighed, "There's not a lot to worry about, with plenty of training I'm sure we get help you control that overwhelming chakra".
Naruto smiled and nodded understanding, he actually felt a bit of pride at learning this, but looking at Kakashi all that faded as he saw a dead serious expression on his face, "But now third reason and the reason I need to talk to you today, you see the seal placed upon you that contains the Nine Tails has been weakening over time…"
Naruto's eyes shot open at that, he didn't quite understand the complex details of Sealings but hearing that the one he had to contain the Nine-Tails was weakening definitely didn't seem a good thing to him, "W-What does that mean…" he trailed off as his breathing became heavy and ragged, his mind filled with questioned while being worried as to what could happen to him.
Kakashi placed a reassuring hand on the boys shoulder, "Relax Naruto…" he began crouching to get on the boys level, "It's no good if you get yourself all worked up, as of right now you have nothing to worry about" he reassured giving him an eye smile with seemed to calm him to some degree.
"Now listen carefully, as what I'm going to tell you is vitally important…" he began making sure he had Naruto's full attention, but with what they were discussing it was impossible for him not to have, "You must do your best to control your emotions; the Nine-Tails is a being of pure hate and anger, if you replicate those emotions there is a chance you could accidentally tap into it's pure chakra while at this stage it can only be a small amount, it could still be enough for it to have serious effects upon you".
"As you get older, if your emotions get out of control the seal will be far weaker and more of the Nine-Tails Chakra could leak out and likely has the possibility for you to lose all control completely" Kakashi revealed, feeling the boy become tense at this revelation; he held on tight and kept his eye focused on the boy while reassuring him.
Naruto took in slow and deep breaths as he wipes some sweat from his brow, as Kakashi had just said, he needed to control his emotions after all, "W-Why can't the seal just be fixed or made stronger so this wouldn't be a problem" he practically begged wishing for any kind of easy way out, or just some way to make it all easier.
To his dismay Kakashi only shook his head, "Trust me, it's an option that's been suggested since it was sealed within you; but the sealing formula is so incredibly advanced and unique that even our best trained can't figure it out, unfortunately the secret of it died with Lord Fourth when he used it" he replied with a sad tone feeling sorry for the boy.
Naruto looked down, all of this was weighing down heavily upon him and Kakashi could understand the reasons why, being told that you have to be careful with your emotions unless you want to unleash a demon is a big task, but Kakashi had made a promise and he was going to keep it.
Standing back up to his full height, he looked down at Naruto he looked up to him, "Come on, getting caught up on this will not solve it" Kakashi said with a smile, "It will definitely be a difficult task, but you shouldn't feel worried as you have plenty of people to help you through it".
"Like who?" Naruto asked, too caught up in the news to really think.
Kakashi scratched his chin in pretend contemplation, "Well there is me for starters, as your Sensei I can't exactly abandon you to this" he joked with another smile, "There is also Kalis, Soruki, The Hokage, One of my old teammates, Sakura probably, Shikamaru and Choji… Oh and your girlfriend of course".
Naruto's eyes shot open with his mouth agape, "G-GIRLFRIEND!" he exclaimed at the top of his lungs having no idea about who Kakashi was referring to.
"You know that Yamanaka girl I see you out with sometimes" he teased leaning down slightly, he knew they weren't dating thanks to Asuma informing him after doing the exact same thing to Ino a week of so back.
"INO! She and I are just friends, where the hell did you get that idea from!" Naruto snapped pointing an accusing finger at Kakashi while he reeled back slightly as his face turned bright red in embarrassment.
Kakashi laughed as he raised himself back up; Naruto would never cease to amuse him, going from sullen worry at some very heavy news to outrageously loud at the mere mention of the idea of him dating a girl was something that made Naruto one very unique person in Kakashi's eye.
Sakura meanwhile had been around the entire time and had to cover her ears at Naruto's loud expressions; she'd heard almost nothing except from a few details the only confused her, "Damnit, I wish I could've gotten closer, all I got was something about a seal in place but I couldn't hear where as they got too damn quiet" though she smirked inwardly to herself at a useful piece of knowledge, "At least I know that Ino is hanging around with Naruto, that's something I can use to humiliate her" she smirked before bolting off happy she got some information with out getting caught but unbeknownst to her, she actually had been spotted by a certain pug hidden in the trees as well.
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Morning's were always a funny thing for Kalis, well he found them funny anyway. The fact that for him, it was always night; he'd never once seen the sun or moon just darkness always darkness no matter the time. If it weren't for his alarm clock, he wouldn't even get up at all, he'd often propped his window open to try and feel the rays of sun on his skin in the morning, but it rarely worked.
This morning however, he could feel those rays brushing the skin of his cheek; it was a nice feeling to him, in truth he could lay there for hours just enjoying the feeling till a cloud covered the sun or it set many hours later. It was a feeling he was sure his family must also enjoy, being a clan that would almost always have their eyes covered, just feeling that which other see every day was a treat to them, weather it was the rays of the sun brushing their skin or the night of the moon sending a light gust to graze over them, it was always soothing just to know there was something out there in front of their bandages.
Kalis sighed as he brought his hands to rest over his chest interlocking his fingers together and pushed his head further back in to his pillow relaxing himself, he knew he didn't need to actually leave his room yet, he'd actually woken up before his alarm though he had no idea how long before as he didn't use a chakra infused one almost enjoying the mystery; he'd decided to just stay awake for the time as he knew the sun was up so it couldn't be long.
His room wasn't anything special, it was mostly bland as he had no need for photo's or other things inside his room, he had a basic Shoji door to his left and to his right was his propped open matching window, the rest was pretty basic with a cupboard and dresser behind him and the opposite side was some empty shelves. The key part of his room however was the tatami mat placed on the floor that the boy was resting on with the duvet having been rolled up at the bottom of the mat.
Next to him was a small wooden platform going the length of the mat, almost like a table without any legs on the floor. Rested upon it were his kunai/shuriken pouch as back pouch as well as a few bandages, his alarm clock and the mysterious person's necklace.
He reached over and felt for the necklace; picking it up he brought it above him and twirled it in his hand inspecting it with his fingers, going over every sharp edge and feeling over the initials' engraving on it, "Just who do you belong to…" he muttered holding the item of question up high letting the mini weapons dangle down as he held it letting his mind wander trying to guess the kind of person who would wear such a thing.
His thoughts were interrupted by his alarm going off, in an instant he brough his hand down and turned it off, he reached back on his bed after setting the necklace back down and stretched his body out seeing that he'd hardly even moved since waking up and after feeling satisfied with his stretch, he rose and grabbed a few items though instinct of knowing exactly where they had been placed and left the room heading for the washroom carrying a towel and other toiletries as he heard Soruki stir in the opposite room to his; he ever so slightly picked up the pace to ensure he got their first as he knew how long Soruki always took in the morning.
After finishing and returning to his room, a quick change later to his usual gear he clasped the necklace around his neck then attached his pouches before leaving the room, grabbing his forehead protector along the way.
Entering into the main room, Kalis's father was present as he'd sense beforehand, in front of him was a kettle with an empty cup next to it, while he himself had a cup wrapped in his hands with the familiar smell of tea coming from it. The eldest Kochi always had a habit of waking up before any of them, mostly due to the fact that he was closely associated to jobs for the Hokage and would often have to leave very early for those tasks or to provide guard duty for said Hokage so it was never a surprise to see him up before any of them or not there at all having left already.
They hadn't talked much since one month ago, when Kalis failed to advance to wind style. He could feel the disappointment from his father, of all his three children Kalis was showing the least promise, at his age Soruki had been a Chunin for two years at was incredibly skilled in their two natural chakra Nature's, while his older brother Furosuti would have had spent his first year in the ANBU while Kalis was still struggling with just performing his Water Style.
Deciding it might be for the best to keep away from his father for a little longer, at least until he could show him some potential at being a worthy member of the Kochi clan; he walked straight for the door but as he reached for his shinobi sandals on the rack the voice that shook him decided to speak up.
"Kalis… We need to talk…" his father spoke, quietly but clearly stopping Kalis in his tracks. He turned back round so that his body was facing his father whose face hadn't moved up from his teacup, instead he indicted towards the kneeling cushion opposite him on the table.
It was extremely disrespectful in the Kochi clan to ignore the clan head no matter the reasons; all Kochi were raised up with such discipline and any sign of disrespect was dealt with very harshly. Kalis knew better than to go against these long standing rules, even if it was his own father it didn't give him free reign to do what he wants; they may not get along very well but he did still respect his father as a Shinobi much like his Sister did as well.
Slowly and almost begrudgingly, Kalis moved over and kneeled on the opposite cushion, his father slowly placed a cup in front of him and poured out some of the hot beverage from the kettle into it before placing it back down. Kalis wrapped his hands around the cup before bringing it to his lips and taking a sip the setting it back down though his hands remained wrapped around it, the action itself provided a silent thank you for the provided drink.
They silence was what annoyed Kalis the most; he felt like it would go one forever and it felt as if it currently was but he knew better than to kick up a fuss about his father not talking, after all Kalis was really the one in the wrong or he felt as if he was, being the only one of his siblings to be almost a failure. His father was likely just trying to find the right words to express his disappointment.
"Kalis… As you know, you've been doing only D-Rank missions as of late…" He began, this shocked Kalis, of all things his father want to talk about it was his missions which he had never seemed to take any level of interest in, but Kalis muted his shock to hide it was best as possible as his father opened his mouth again, "This is normal procedure for any new Genin team… but…" he trailed off again.
Kalis stayed focused, he didn't want to let his mind wander and have to ask his father to repeat himself, "Since you are falling behind in you Water Style; I have put in a special request for your team. Today your team will be given your first C-rank mission, I do not know what it will entail but it's my hope that a more serious scenario could…" he paused for a moment, seemingly searching for the right word to use, "…Entice your abilities out".
It dawned on Kalis exactly what his father was hoping to achieve with this; almost trying to force in a fight or flight response from him, on a mission where it could be much more dangerous that a simple D-rank dog walking mission; the chances of serious injury or worse could possible give Kalis a proper kick to either do or die.
He wasn't to sure how to respond to this news, on one hand he would be taken away from doing the terrible D-rank missions and he may be able to make some serious progress to becoming stronger; on the other hand it would be a much dangerous mission and his father was realistically sending him on this mission to get stronger or die trying but he could understand his reasons.
After their clan was almost entirely wiped out, the surviving members needed to be strong to make up for the lack of numbers and to achieve this, sometimes they would have to go to the extreme to ensure that it's members could stand on their own or risk weakening the clan.
"I… understand father… I promise I'll…" Kalis began but was cut off by his father abruptly raising his hand silently telling him to stop talking.
"Don't promise me anything…" he scolded, "I already expect you to give everything you have, and if you gave less, I would be extremely disappointed in you" he continued lowering his hand down taking another sip of tea, "That is all I have to tell you Kalis, go on to your training".
Kalis gave a nod before downing the rest of his tea, standing, and heading for the door. After donning his sandals, he left without a look back to his father. Hyorei remained in his kneeled position as his son left but decided not to follow him with his senses as he exited the building allowing him to be free.
Kalis sighed as he walked down the stairs and placed his hands into his pockets, "Today is our first C-rank, and it's because of me… what if we're not ready" he mused drooping his head slightly as he walked along the street past the Yamanaka flower shop, "No, my father knows out skill level, plus we'll have Kakashi Sensei with us should anything go wrong and it's only a C-rank… so it couldn't be too dangerous".
Kalis shook his head side to side to clear his thoughts as he continued on, if he let thoughts like that bother him all day then something would definitely go wrong so he pushed them away to the far back of his mind as he refocused on his destination but he just couldn't shake the eerie feeling he was getting.
He reached into a scroll pouch on his leg and pulled out his white and blue scroll he had been given on the night he graduated, he'd not paid as much mind to it as he should have so he'd decided the now knowing they'd be starting a C-rank mission it could come in useful.
As after all, it was a summoning scroll.
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Alarm's were the worst thing, stupid noise makers that interrupted you from that pleasant dream you were having; weather it was you having a dream day out, finally getting to kiss your crush, having an amazing adventure or for one particular whiskered blonde, about to have his first sip of ramen in his dreams; the little bastards would ring out right at the worst moment and ruin it all.
Sometimes they could be useful as you could be having a nightmare; about to be killed by some psycho that you can't run away from no matter how much you moved your legs, just realised you weren't wearing an clothes in class or just possibly your sleep paralysis demon was just being a bit of a ass.
But other than that they served no purpose at all, not one, nope not a single thing; well except for maybe just one thing, that is wake you up one time for that really important thing you have to be at on time, "Crap!" Naruto exclaimed sitting up in bed, realising in his sleepy state he'd launched the annoying ringing machine across the room, not smashing it up but shutting it up from waking him, looking across he saw the time as 8:55am, he had five minutes to get ready and meet his team at the Hokage offices.
In truth, it depended on whether or not Kakashi would be on time but right now Naruto wasn't thinking about that as he jumped out of bed and into his closet grabbing whatever clothes he could, swiftly changing his underwear and putting on whatever the hell he had grabbed to wear then slipping on his sandals and grabbing his forehead protector.
He skidded into his bathroom and hastily brushed his teeth with whatever bits of toothpaste were left on the brush the night before it seemed as he didn't apply anymore, "Must not be late, Must not be late" he repeated in his head as if making a mental note that he was fully aware of already and really not needing to remember it later on.
Throwing his brush in the rough direction of his sink, he went for his kitchen but realised he didn't really have time for breakfast, so abandoned the idea and went straight for his door grabbing his keys as he went; shutting it behind him, he hastily turned and tried locking it but he couldn't get the key in the space, "Just be easy you bastard!" he exclaimed but finally he got it and after hearing a satisfying click he bolted off along the walkway but soon jumped off on to the street to continue his run.
"Excuse me! Outta the way! Awesome but late Ninja coming through!" he yelled through the crowd in an attempt the quicken the speed he went through them by them moving out the way but the early morning hustle and bustle of the Leaf Village made it impossible for Naruto to be heard by anyone, especially the adults who were quite a bit taller than him and simply ignored his existence so thinking quickly he eyed up then jumped up to the roof tops, the favourite place of shinobi.
With his new clearance he could really pick up the pace as no one was blocking his path, so he jumped from roof top to roof top eventually spotting the office in the distance; he could correctly guess he was already likely behind schedule so he went as fast as he could to try and be a little less late.
"I'm gonna make it!" he exclaimed getting ever so close to the building and seeing his team standing around waiting for him, even Kakashi was there, "I'm gonna m…" but he failed his sentence tripping over a black cat wondering along the roofs as well letting out a yowl in pain and terror at being so suddenly ran into.
Naruto fell forward off the roofs and fell to the ground tumbling extremely ungracefully along the ground; he rolled and rolled till he stopped right at the feet of his team looking/facing down to him "Oh… morning guys" he laughed nervously looking up at their very confused faces at his very unusual entrance.
"Morning Naruto…" Kakashi muttered out, "Hate to burst your bubble of thinking you made it here early by rushing, but you're two minutes late" he added with an eye smile before returning to looking down to his book and walking off to the office.
As Kalis helped the blonde up, Sakura decided to be the first person to speak, "What the hell are you wearing today Naruto" she said looking up and down at his attire. He was wearing his usual Shinobi sandals which were fine, but now was wearing some bright orange shorts with a few pockets and a black zip up jacket with orange highlights going down the arms in strips, "Are you trying to copy Sasuke's look or something huh?!" she exclaimed looking down on the boy.
The blonde chuckled awkwardly as he rubbed the back of his head, "Definitely not, in my rush to get here I kinda just grabbed whatever was cupboard and this just so happened to be it" he said giving his signature foxy smile as he too had just realised what he was wearing, while Sakura just sighed at his antics.
Sasuke rolled his eyes and walked off, not particularly caring much about this and had already decided he just wanted to get today's missions over with then go train on his own; Kalis also walked away being suspiciously quiet and seeming to be lost in his own mind showing no interest it what was around him.
Sakura watched Kalis go with interest, he had been unusually quiet this morning and wasn't even speaking to Naruto, when she looked closer she noticed his jacket looked a little scuffed up and there was even a small cut going across it that he was trying to hide to the best of his ability though she still spotted it, after making a mental note to enquire later she turned back to Naruto who was starting to follow the rest of the team with his hands behind his head.
She quickly fell into step beside him catching his attention immediately, "What where you and Kakashi Sensei up to yesterday?" she hissed in his ear, immediately breaking his confused look and replacing his look with one of faux confusion which she saw right through.
"W-What are you on about Sa-" he began.
"I know you weren't just walking home, I followed you and I know he's giving you private training sessions" this irked Sakura mostly because the group training they sometimes had with Kakashi wasn't all that extensive, they mostly ran around the training field while their Sensei sat around reading his lewd books but he seemed to be giving Naruto much more extensive training with whatever they were doing with that leaf yesterday.
The look of panic on Naruto's face was becoming clearer; obviously Kakashi had to of told him that this was to remain a secret so Naruto had not thought of any way out of this situation making the inner Sakura smile triumphantly itself, "Haha, I've not you now Naruto" it cheered thinking it was all won.
"Well now, isn't this interesting?" a relaxed tone of voice said behind Sakura, looking around she saw Kakashi standing behind her, his book away and hands in his pockets and looking down at her with his one eye, "It's rude to butt into someone's personal time you know?" he continued before giving Naruto an indication to go ahead.
Once the boy left, it was Sakura's turn to look panicked as the much taller man looked down at her with at a best guess was a disapproving one, "I-I just thought it was a bit unfair…" she stammered out looking directly into his one exposed eye, "…You hardly train us but you go out of your own way to give Naruto private one on one training".
Kakashi brought one hand up and stoked his chin, slightly infuriating Sakura seeing that he found this somewhat amusing, "So you're getting jealous are you Sakura?" he slightly teased seeing her getting angry, he decided to get a bit more serious dropping his hand, "You see Sakura… I need to train Naruto to some level, if you hadn't noticed he is a bit behind all of you, it's only fair I make sure you're all on roughly equal levels" he answered with some truth behind it, he couldn't really outright say Naruto contained the Nine-Tails, but what he revealed seemed to somewhat appease Sakura.
"Okay, but why keep it a secret?" she asked next crossing her arms.
Kakashi sighed, "How do you think our proud Sasuke would react to the news?" was all he answered, at this Sakura's eyes widened slightly in realisation; it was a good point sure Sasuke was perfect to her but he might himself get a bit jealous and think Kakashi saw Naruto as more worthwhile to train them him.
"I know how you must feel about this but don't worry " he continued cutting off any questions, "If you keep this a secret, I'll give you some one on one training of your own, I'll even throw in some chakra nature training for free" he offered holding out his hand. Sakura thought about this for a moment and decided that maybe if she were able to up her skill level through training with Kakashi, then maybe Sasuke would notice her more, so she slowly shook her Sensei's hand.
Soon after, they were all standing outside the main office, as Team 8 exited with a glum looking Kiba, "This is so stupid why do we get stuck with all the boring missions" he wined and received an agreeing bark from Akamaru on his head.
"Don't make an issue about it Kiba; all Genin squads start off with low ranking missions and sometimes it can be like that for months. It's just the way it is" Shino commented not looking to the hound user, just continuing his path though he himself was getting slightly annoyed by the monotone tasks they continued to be given.
Kurenai exited the room last holding a D-rank scroll, she looked up and gave Kakashi a smile, "It looks like we've got some pretty un-interesting ones on the D-rank today Kakashi" she smiled holding up the scroll she knew just how much the man loathed the low rank missions and was sure his team felt the same.
Kakashi scratched his chin, "I guess today will do no different then…" he sighed placing his hands back into his pockets but seemingly not noticing Kalis's reaction to those words knowing that today wouldn't be they're usual.
"At least you won't have to go after a stupid cat!" Kiba snapped shoving his hands into his jacket but it only made the two Sensei's chuckle a little while most members of Team 7 looked triumphant knowing that today they at least wouldn't have to go after Tora while Team 8's final two members just walked off and soon were followed by the rest.
"Alright!" Naruto exclaimed, "No stupid cat today" he continued to cheer earning a annoyed yet semi relieved groan from the rest of his team save for Kalis who was still remaining very quiet though no one had really noticed as they walked into the assignments room where sitting in front of them was the Hokage and a few other Chunin helping him sort through the lists of missions, one of which was Iruka, who looked up with a smile at them.
"Ah, Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura and Kalis. I'm glad to see you're doing well" the scarred man smiled looking between all of the Genin.
"Ah Team 7, I've been expecting you" Hiruzen said with a small smile but it soon dropped as he looked at the scrolls in front of him where is showed the available missions and who they had been assigned to, one was all of the day's D-rank's where almost all were already assigned to a Genin team, another was a list of the C-rank's where they were gradually being assigned to relevant teams but only one caught his eye, the one circled in red assigned to the present team.
Picking up the relevant scroll, he cast a glance over to the lone Kochi present; he didn't blame the boy, if anything he blamed his father, he always had been far too focused on training and expecting every member of his clan to live up to his standards which were always very high, and while only requesting a C-rank for his sons team wasn't exceptionally dangerous considering the missions never entailed much to happen, there was always a chance of things elevating sometimes to the extreme level.
"So, what boring missions are we doing today then?" Naruto grumbled, he'd stopped complaining about the constant D-rank's about a week ago and learned to just accept what he was given, mostly influenced by the scolding given to him by Iruka and the promise that if he kept up the whining he'd never do anything but D-rank's for the rest of his life.
Hiruzen chuckled at this memory, knowing just how the most eccentric ninja in the Leaf would react to this news, "Today, your team has been assigned your first C-ranked mission" Hiruzen calmly spoke and the look of surprise immediately took over all but two members, Kalis didn't react as he knew this was coming and Kakashi was extremely good at hiding his emotions though that was mostly assisted by almost his whole face being covered.
Naruto started to cheer while Sasuke just hide his expression behind a mask of emotionlessness while Sakura wasn't sure what to do as she looked around at everyone before looking to the Hokage, "W-Why are we being given this mission now, none of the other teams of our year have yet so why us all of a sudden?" she asked.
"Your team has shown promise so we decided to see how you'd fair being given a slightly more challenging task" he answered pretty much lying through his teeth, in fact Team 7 were probably the worst team so far as they still had trouble just working as a team and would constantly break out into arguments but he'd decided to keep the real reason behind the mission a secret as he didn't want the others getting angry at Kalis should something go wrong.
Turning around he looked to the understandably shocked Iruka as he knew that Team 7 were not ready for this but showed restraint in his questions but the Hokage knew he'd have to give the man some form of answer after, "Iruka, can you go fetch the client for this mission. You should know the man, it's the one who came in last night" he smiled. Iruka nodded, as he left, he cast a glance at Team 7 letting his own mind wonder as he closed the door behind him.
Hiruzen handed the scroll to Kakashi, "Your mission briefing, Iruka will return shortly with the client you'll be escorting, the rest is explained inside. Once he arrives, the mission is in your hands Kakashi" he said before returning to his desk.
"Thank you, Lord Third" Kakashi said, opening the scroll he cast his eye over it to skim through it's contents though there was nothing incredibly interesting inside, all they had to do was escort this 'Bridge Builder' from the Leaf to the Land of waves as there's a chance of bandit's nearby which he wanted protection from. He was fairly sure that his team could handle it with some level of etiquette, but something just wasn't sitting right with Kakashi.
"What are we doing Kakashi Sensei?!" Naruto cheered getting up close to try and read what was on the scroll, but Kakashi just raised it slightly too high for the boy to see though he did note that all four members of his team were looking/facing him wating the information themselves.
"It's nothing to exciting. We'll be escorting a Master Bridge Builder to the Land of Waves, apparently there's a threat of some bandits on the road he wants protection from" the Jonin answered and he could see the sparkle in Naruto's eyes at the chance of finally being on a mission where there was a chance of some action.
As if on que, the door creaked open. Looking around they saw a large man walking in, he was a grey-haired, bespectacled man with a large beard and dark eyes. He wore a sleeveless V-neck shirt with an obi, trousers, and a pair of sandals. He also carried a towel around his neck and wore a pointed hat on his head; he currently held a bottle of something presumably alcoholic in his hands if the smell and his swayed stance were anything to go by.
The man leaned on the door frame to support his wobbly legs as Iruka scooted past the man covering his nose as he did from the smell emanating from the drunken client. The scarred man took his seat back and picked up his scroll again still concerned about the mission for Team 7 now seeing how out of it their client was.
The large man took a swig of his drink before looking at them all, "What's this? Are these little brats meant to be my escort?" he commented sizing them all up, "My Grandson looks tougher than them and he's only 8" he bellowed out with a laugh making the team scowl at him.
"I assure you; this is the best team we have available for your mission" Hiruzen re-assured interlocking his fingers and looking to the client.
He rolled his eyes taking another swig, "I suppose you'll do, even if that short little blonde runt there looks like a complete idiot" he mused indicating towards Naruto who immediately gritted his teeth in frustration at this mans disrespect towards him.
He balled his fists and went for the man but was immediately held back by someone grabbing the back of his jacket, looking around he saw Kalis holding him with one hand the first interaction he'd had with any of them all day, "What the hell Kalis! Let me go at this guy, he needs to learn some respect!" the blonde snapped but got no response.
Kakashi watched this and decided it would be best if he stepped up before Naruto did something, they'd all regret, "I assure you Mr…?"
"Tazuna"
"I assure you Mr Tazuna, that we are more than up to the task of your requested mission. Now if you're all ready, we can meet you at the gates in an hour to set off" Kakashi eye smiled standing slightly in front of the still struggling Naruto as if trying to hide his student from view; "Naruto may be gradually improving in his skills, but his attitude will take far longer to get even close to a decent level" Kakashi mused in his head.
Tazuna grunted going for another swig before realising his bottle was empty, with a relenting sigh he pushed himself off the door frame before walking away, "Yeah whatever, I'll meet you at the gate in about an hour. Just make sure your stupid looking blind kid keeps the runt in check" he muttered walking away.
"What did he call me!" Kalis hissed clenching his fists not realising those were the first words he'd spoken in ages as he went to charge after the man much like Naruto had done before but this time, Kakashi was the one to hold him back.
"Now, now, you're meant to be the level-headed one here. We don't need you getting all fired up over petty insults" Kakashi commented releasing the slightly calmed down Kalis before turning to all his team, "You heard the order, go home to grab whatever gear you'll need for the next few days and meet at the main gates in an hour" he eye smiled before disappearing in a cloud of smoke leaving behind a scowling team.
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Sliding door shut behind him, Kalis instinctively removed his sandals knowing he'd just put them back on within a few minutes. He walked down the hall and into his room, he grabbed a small black backpack that was resting against his wall on the floor and opened it and began filling it with some basic equipment.
"You off?" Soruki mused from behind it, it didn't make him jump as he'd sensed her coming for quite some time, "I know Kakashi's a bit of a hard ass but its no reason to go running away from the village" she joked putting her hands on her hips as a smile played on her lips but it faded when she didn't get a response, "C-rank?" was all she needed to ask.
"Yeah…".
"Don't let it get to you, father does this with us all. Hell my first forced C-rank wasn't a walk in the part" she grimaced slightly at the memory but shook her head to clear it, "You shouldn't worry so much, if anything goes wrong you'll have Kakashi there, he's one of the best the village has to offer; if anything goes wrong on the mission he'll be there to help" she said with her smile returning but this didn't cheer him up.
"I'm not worried about what'll happen on the mission…" he said getting her full attention though it wasn't like he didn't have it anyway, "I'm worried about after the mission…" he continued, rising up while slinging his bag over his shoulder, "What if after this all, I'm still just a failure".
Soruki immediately grabbed him by the shoulder and spun him around to face him, "You are not a failure!" she snapped tightening her grip slightly but not enough to hurt him, "You are my little brother, you will never be a failure you hear me" she continued, "So what if you still can't perform the advanced Jutsu's, they aren't everything about being a Kochi y'know".
Kalis looked downcast, "But I'm nothing like you or Furosuti… I'm only a Genin, by now you were both extremely skilled and advanced ninja who'd mastered our Water and Wind nature's and our unique ability that came with it" he muttered, "I'm nothing like either of you and father knows that no matter how you see it I am a failure as a Kochi clan member".
There was silence for a while as Soruki processed the information, "What did I just say…" she trailed off in a serious tone making Kalis face back up at her, "There is more to being a Kochi than just moves and Jutsu, it's the person you are that matters most of all" she smiled but noticed Kalis seemed a bit confused still.
"You Kalis are so unique, and you hardly even notice it" she smiled getting down to his level.
"What do you mean?"
Keeping the smile, she placed a hand over his heart, "For starters, you were the only one to give Naruto a chance. You had every single right to hate him, to despise him but you didn't, even after you found out about the Nine-Tails, you still called him your friend" she began.
"Next, how about we stay on the subject of Naruto where you took a large Shuriken to the back just to protect him" she said taking his hand in one of her own.
"Then what about Ino, did you or did you not snap her out from foolishly chasing after a certain Uchiha that would of quite likely resulted in the extreme failure of her Shinobi career as she'd of been to focused on him and her silly rivalry with Sakura to do much else" she chuckled slightly at the memory.
She tapped the neckless next, "How about this, you're wearing a feminine styled neckless out and around in the hopes the owner will spot you with it, or at least someone who knows them will notice".
She brought her hand up to cup his chin standing backup again, "There are so many more instanced of you helping people that you just do instinctively without even thinking about it and that alone makes you the strongest in my eyes" she said keeping her smile, "I think that when you realise you should to do what you instinctively always do without putting so much pressure on yourself to be like someone else, everything will become easier for you" she finished lifting up his forehead protector slightly to kiss his forehead in her usual way.
Kalis smiled for the first time in a while, "Thank you Soruki" was all he needed to say.
"No problem" she said letting him go, "Oh and by the way, you might wanna change your jacket, it's kinda fucked up" she remarked indicating to how scuffed up it was, "The summoning stuff takes a while" she added with a smile before departing but stopped when Kalis called out to her.
"Soruki! Just how will I know I've truly accepted myself and stopped putting pressure on, how will I know that I'm not just saying that in my mind but not actually going through with it, just lying to myself" he asked.
She turned back to him with a smile again, her favourite thing to do it would seem, "It'll be hard to tell, almost impossible even" Kalis looked downcast, "But there is one thing that'll give it away immediately… You'll stop thinking so much about your actions instead you'll just act upon them" and with that she left leaving Kalis to ponder this.
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It wasn't much longer till they were all gathered outside the gate each wearing backpacks filled with supplies and even Tazuna was wearing a large brown pack on his back but he still had a bit of a sway to him, "Right, we moving or what?" he slightly slurred out rubbing his eyes while he felt a bit of a headache coming on.
"Maybe we should stay here for now and leave tomorrow…" Kakashi sweat dropped looking Tazuna up and down seeing that he was in no good condition and wondered just how much he'd been drinking in the last hour alone, much less how the man managed to even get here without falling into a ditch or through some shops window.
"No, we have to leave t-today" he snapped and began walking for the gates with Team 7 watching him stumble along the way.
"You don't really look in any condition to travel" Sakura commented and received a glare from Tazuna in response.
"I don't have the time to sit around waiting!" he snapped, "I'll be fine, this ain't my first time drink y'know, I'll be sobered up in no time so hurry up already. All you need to do is make sure I don't get attacked anyway" he added turning right back round to them and crossing his arms as he looked between each of them before setting his eyes on the un-readably Kakashi who was thinking about the situation.
On one hand, Tazuna was in a bit of a state and could become a bit of trouble during the mission, but on the other hand he clearly wanted to get back quite urgently and since it was only a C-ranked mission Kakashi should be able to handle anything that should get in the way however unlikely that was.
With a sigh Kakashi made his decision, "Alright, the mission goes ahead" he said clearer than usual turning to look down at his squad, "Kalis, you'll be up front with me using your sensory ability, Sasuke you will pull up the rear while Naruto and Sakura will be in the centre alongside Tazuna" he casually ordered before walking towards the gate his team following suit.
"Alright! Our first C-rank mission is a go!" Naruto exclaimed punching into the air as he walked along, while the rest of his team formed up.
"Don't fall behind idiot!" Sasuke snapped not looking around to the boy who scowled at him before running to stand beside Tazuna and Sakura in the centre.
But as expected, Naruto got bored pretty quickly and rested his hands behind his head as he breathed out a sigh. They had only been walking about 10 minutes, but nothing was really happening, he'd expected to at least be in a little action but just silence all around, well silence aside from the sounds of their steps on the hard ground that is. He eyed up some leaves that were going over head an debated grabbing one to try and split it.
Sakura looked over to him, normally she would have scolded him for looking so bored in a mission and not acting professionally but she herself was in the same boat and was fairly sure that the client didn't really care.
"Hey kids can I ask you a question?" Tazuna spoke up getting Sakura and Naruto to look at him immediately noticing his tone being more sober than before though it wasn't completely there yet, "Your teammate next to your Sensei; how does he do anything, doesn't he hinder your progress at all?" he questioned as it had been on his mind since he first saw the boy.
They both looked over to Kalis than back at Tazuna, "Well he has a unique ability, he uses his chakra to sense the world around him or something like that, he tried explaining to me the full details of it but it was really complicated" Naruto said shrugging his shoulder earning a sigh from his teammate Sakura.
"Basically think of it like how a bat uses echolocation, he picks up things in the world around him using his chakra instead of sound but the premise is kind of the same" Sakura answered with a smile.
Tazuna scratched his chin in thought while Naruto crossed his arms, "Well I knew that too, I just didn't think of it right away" he muttered making Sakura growl and clenched her fists.
"Don't try and lie you way out of this one Naruto!" she snapped, "You hardly know anything about it and like everything it always goes right over that empty head of yours" she continued getting the ire of everyone around them.
"Hey, don't you dare call me empty headed again Sakura, how come you know so much anyway!" Naruto retorted clenching his own fists.
"I decided to look up on his clan I'll have you know, there wasn't a lot, but I learned a bit about their Sensory ability" she snapped back crossing her arms almost triumphantly but scowled again as Naruto kept going.
Meanwhile at the front Kalis was getting very irritated by their arguing; while it was true he didn't need to concentrate to use his ability as it was second nature to him, a shouting match from right behind you can seriously effect his thought process as he does still have to notice when his chakra picks up something.
He was currently picking up everything around them but nothing was a threat yet, a Kochi couldn't sense the exact amount of chakra someone or something had but they could sense just how strong it was and if it was pretty high it tended to be something human or otherwise dangerous but all that was around them was simply animal life.
"Bird, another bird, and another… oh a snake probably after one of the birds nests… Oh a frog now…" Kalis mused in his head in a terrible attempt to mentally drown out the argument going on behind him but it wasn't going great, "A bee nest to the left, best not to piss that off… yet another damn bird… some bugs though I'm not sure which… two guys under the ground…. Oh, wow an owl that's interesting…" Kalis trailed off in his own mind but gasped very quietly "Two guys under the ground".
He muttered this thought in his head again as his hand hovered over his Kunai pouch but a hand on his shoulder stopped him, "Let's see just what they are after first, but be ready" Kakashi whispered into his ear to which Kalis confirmed with a simple nod while keeping his hand hovered over his pouch.
Sasuke meanwhile was keeping an eye out for any trouble around them when he noticed the puddle of water they were walking past, "It hasn't rained in days… unless" he looked ahead and noticed Kalis's hand hovering over this Kunai pouch. He may hate the boy and all his clan, but every Uchiha could respect the Kochi's sensory ability and way to convey trouble without a word to more focused members of a team.
He cast a glance at his two bickering teammates who were still going at each other while Tazuna looked increasingly annoyed; knowing that there must be a reason as to why they hadn't immediately engaged, Sasuke uncrossed his arms and hovered his hand over his Kunai pouch imitating Kalis's actions, preparing for their opponents first move.
Two figures formed out of the puddle, both sets of eyes trained upon the passing team as they vanished into the trees. Kakashi glanced an eye around and saw the rustling of the trees, "These guys aren't the most professional at stealth it seems" he mused in his head, "But they're definitely up to something, but these don't seem like the run of the mill bandits" he continued prepared for whatever they would try.
Which meant that when the two horn wearing men leapt out of the trees and wrapped the white haired Jonin in a shuriken style chain he was more than ready for them but to the rest of his team it seemed as if he'd just bene sliced into pieces shocking them.
They both immediately dove straight for the group particularly aiming for Tazuna but he was shoved out of the way by Sasuke who then jumped to avoid their attack but Naruto was too slow and got caught by one of their clawed gauntlets scarring him across the hand making blood drip out on to the floor as the blonde fell back.
Wasting no time, the two attackers rounded again while stretching out the shuriken chain and charged at the group with the attempt to seemingly clothesline them but as quick as a flash the already prepared Kalis launched a Kunai while Sasuke threw a Shuriken and the combined weapons landed right in the centre of the chain pinning it to a tree with the weapons interlocking.
Without missing a beat both boys landed on a gauntlet each breaking the chain where it was connected to the two attackers but they ended up being costly as they were thrown off as the two men charged now released from their bindings, one heading straight to Tazuna the other for Naruto.
Quickly Sakura jumped in front of Tazuna with a Kunai drawn in a vain effort to defend him but she knew she was little more than a human shield for him but luckily for her the two attackers were slowed by with all their equipment allowing Sasuke to jump in front of her in order to defend both Sakura and Tazuna from the one charging at them.
Meanwhile Kalis was in front of Naruto as the boy stood in shock not reacting to the approaching threat, so Kalis had no choice but to protect him from the threat though he wasn't confident as Kochi were limited in their close combat abilities and were more mid to long range fighters.
Luckily before they could be reached by the men, Kakashi re-appeared getting both in a surprise headlock during their fast movement, this impact and sudden stop had actually managed to knock both men out "Now, let settle down here, shall we?" Kakashi remarked with an eye smile not breaking his hold on the men so they could not escape.
Naruto cast a glance over to where they attack started to see a pile of logs in place of where Kakashi had been standing and realised he must of used the Substitution Jutsu to avoid being killed which proved to Naruto just how quick his Sensei was or that he knew the attack was coming before hand; "Sorry I didn't help immediately Naruto, didn't think you'd freeze up like that; Good thing Kalis was on hand" Kakashi eye smiled at the boy who had still hardly moved, "Now well done the rest of you, especially you Kalis and Sasuke, you two can actually work as a pretty efficient team when you aren't trying to kill each other" he said making the boys turn to each other then snap away grumbling under their breath.
Naruto noticed Sasuke was actually glancing over to him once he turned away from Kalis, a smirk on his lips now as he had seen Kalis protecting him from the attack a few seconds ago, "You're not hurt are you, scaredy cat?" he mocked keeping his smirk present uncrossing his arms and placing them into his pockets before following Kakashi over to a large tree trunk leaving Naruto struck and his teeth gritted.
After tying the two attacked to the tree Kakashi finally had a proper look at them and immediately recognized them in the Bingo book, they were listed as the Demon Brothers Gozu and Meizu, two Chunin ranked missing ninja from the Hidden Mist Village who had quite the bounty on their head; turning around he looked to Kalis, "Could you wake them up?" he asked to which Kalis responded with a nod weaving a few hand signs to use a basic water style Jutsu.
As the water splashed over the twin brothers their eyes shot open and looked around hastily and once they realised they were bound they tried to struggle against them but it was to no avail, "I wouldn't try that if I were you, you struggle to much the explosive tags I've attached go off and we will be able to get away but you…" Kakashi trailed off which immediately stopped the two's struggle.
"How did you know we were ambushing you" Meizu snapped looking up to Kakashi with a glare.
"Well, for one we have a Kochi in our group, he can sense anything around as long as it has chakra and since all living things do, it was no problem for him to spot you" Kakashi said indicating to Kalis, "And secondly it hasn't rained for quite a few days and there was a puddle in the middle of the road, I just had to put two and two together".
"Now, my turn for questions; why exactly were you after Tazuna here?" he asked switching to a serious expression.
The two men looked at Kakashi with anger, "We don't sell out clients information" Gozu spat out straining the bindings slightly but not too much.
Kakashi only eye smiled, "Ah so you were hired by someone, that's all I needed to know" he said standing up to his full height placing his hands into his pockets in his usual stance while the two twin brothers grumbled to themselves.
"Why didn't you take them out sooner? They almost killed us!?" Tazuna snapped to Kakashi who looked round at him with a raised eyebrow.
"Well I had to find out why there were here of course, just what or who were they after, I never would of let anything actually happen to you" he said brining back his eye smile before losing it and a scowl was present, "Now Tazuna, would you care to explain why someone hired two very dangerous Missing Ninja to kill you and would of likely killed my wonderful Genin here who protected you I might add".
"Yeah, I'm sure we're all interested in what the reason is" Kalis snapped knowing this mission was from his father because of him and if any of them dies the blame would solely rest upon his shoulders.
Tazuna sighed as he rubbed his temple in frustration but knew they deserved as answer as they could of died just now, "There's more to this than you simply protecting me from bandits…" he began looking saddened, "As you know I'm a Master Bridge Builder, my home is in the Land of Waves and they've been struggling there as of late".
He let out a breath, "A crime lord has moved in, a little bastard by the name of Gato, he's extorting the people of the Land but the people there don't really have a choice as he's the only source of necessary supplies as they have no main connection to the mainland so what ever he charges or wants he'll get" he continued looking downcast.
"So that's why you need to get there, to build a bridge to connect the Land of Waves to the mainland so they don't have to depend on this Gato anymore" Sakura connected the dots realising that Tazuna wasn't just some alcoholic, he actually had some level of a caring side.
"Exactly, but if I complete the bridge then Gato's business will be out so he's been hiring assassins to take me out hence why I've hired the services of your village" Tazuna revealed with a sigh rubbing his face with his hands, "I didn't want to lie but I didn't have much of a choice; we don't have much money so I could only afford to pay your village for a C-rank levelled mission".
Kakashi pondered this looking down at the two tied up twins then back to Tazuna, "With these two, this mission has already elevated to at least a B-rank with it possibly going up to A-rank" he commented aloud for everyone to hear.
"Surely we should call off the mission then, this is way to advanced for us to handle isn't it" Sakura pleaded making Sasuke look to her than back to Kakashi as he believed that he could handle this mission as the Demon brothers went down pretty easily.
Kakashi stroked his chin in contemplation, "Well if we did we'd be dooming the Land of Waves essentially, Tazuna here isn't going to pull out even more money to pay for a higher rank mission out of no where is he?" he commented pulling his hand away and looking to Sakura, "And so far the troubles we've faced have been dealt with pretty easily so there's no reason to fall back just yet" he finished.
"B-but what about Naruto, he's hurt…" Sakura pleaded indicating to the blonde who still hadn't moved.
Kakashi cast his eye over to his student who was just standing there with the cut on his hand from the gauntlet; looking on a whim, Kakashi glanced down to the restrained men's gauntlets where he could see some sort of purple liquid dripping from the tip, "That's not a good thing" he mused in his head turning back to Naruto, "Naruto, these guys look to have poison lased in their gauntlets, I need to get it out of your system" he said walking over.
Naruto had been lost in thought but managed to heard what Kakashi had said, raising his hand to look at the cut going across the back of his hand; time stopped for him as he watched the blood dribble down his hand then splatter on to the floor, "I'll need to open the wound up and drain the poison out" he head Kakashi again but Naruto was replaying a different thought in his head.
"You're not hurt are you, scaredy cat".
Naruto, being the impulsive person he was needed to prove himself; in a instant he'd whipped out a Kunai from his pouch and dug it deep into his hand shocking everyone and those with visible eyes winded them including Sasuke who was shocked at the boys sudden action, "Why is it always me…" he muttered though everyone heard.
"I'm always getting shown up, always being treated like a failure and when it comes down to it, I fail to act" he hissed twisting the Kunai in deeper everyone being captivated by his actions, "No… not anymore, I swear I'll never be afraid or be a coward again…" he snapped around to look at Sasuke and Kalis with a foxy grin, "And I especially won't lose to you Sasuke or even you Kalis; I swear it on the pain of my left hand that I will be stronger than both of you… This mission continues!".
Sasuke scowled and turned away while Kalis couldn't help but smile at him, "Naruto… I'll hold you to that" he thought as Naruto finally pulled the Kunai out but kept his foxy grin plastered across his face until Kakashi walked up to him.
"That's all well and good and you may have drained to poison out, but that's still an opened wound" he commented making Naruto's grin drop to a look of panic as the pain finally set in, "Things will get hairy if you don't stop the bleeding quick… Seriously!" Kakashi urged but kept up an eye smile as Naruto began to slightly panic.
"You may be getting stronger with out training sessions Naruto… but your far from being perfect yet" Kakashi thought as he pulled out his first aid kit but noticed the wound was already closing up, "But I'm worried what the future holds for you".
0000000000
That night, the team was settled around a campfire. Sasuke was sat away from them all, resting against a tree, Tazuna was already fast asleep clutching a bottle of something likely alcoholic, Naruto was adding some more wood to the fire with a bandage now wrapped around his hand, Kakashi was writing on a scroll while Sakura watched them all.
They had sent word about the subdued Demon Brothers back to the leaf who should of collected the two by now which meant one problem was out of the way though they did leave out the actual details of Tazuna's mission and just what the Demon brothers were after.
"Kakashi Sensei, what are you writing?" Sakura asked noticing he'd been writing on the same scroll for quite some time now; he looked up at her.
"Oh, I'm just preparing a message to the village in case the mission takes a turn for the worse; just a request for backup is all it is" he answered getting the attention of Naruto now who'd finished adding to the fire.
"What do you mean exactly by 'Take a turn for the worse'?" he enquired cocking an eyebrow in confusions as did Sakura.
"Well all we know right now is that there are assassins after our client but we don't know the level of who would come after us; for all we know the Demon Brothers were the best they had and that was a easily solved problem but it's better to be safe then sorry" Kakashi answered, "But I'm waiting because in truth the Hidden Leaf Shinobi are spread pretty thin so I'd rather not have them send us backup or sending a higher ranked unit when they aren't needed" they both nodded understanding what he meant as silence fell over the group again.
Taking a second to look around again, Sakura had noticed Kalis had vanished and was no where in sight; this had actually began to worry her as thoughts cropped into her head that he may have been taken by one of the assassins in the darkness, "Kakashi Sensei, where is Kalis?" she asked looking to her Sensei for guidance.
He looked up with his usual lazy expression and simply pointed a finger upwards, looking up high into the tree she saw a faint colouration of white in the darkness showing to her that Kalis was sitting on a branch but wasn't sure if he was asleep or not, "Why is he all they way up there?" she asked again getting Naruto's attention.
"Well it's the reason we don't have to have a lookout" Kakashi answered rolling his scroll up as he finished writing the message and placing it in one of his flak vest scroll pockets, "As you know, the Kochi have their unique sensory ability, they practise this ability as soon as they are born and so it becomes as natural to them as breathing but they never stop practising it which is why older Kochi have such superb sensory ability" he revealed.
In truth, he had noticed just how many questions were being asked about the Kochi clan as of late but he wasn't really surprised, even when they were in their prime they were pretty secretive about their abilities preferring to keep them to themselves so with there only being three known left it was expected that many of the younger generation to be curious about the clan and their methods.
"But how does that mean we don't need to have a lookout?" Naruto asked cocking his head to the side in his usual fashion still being slightly confused to which Sakura wanted to scold him for being an idiot, but she wasn't completely sure herself and would just look the fool.
"Well as I said it's as natural as breathing to them, so they don't have to at all focus chakra into their ability they just do it naturally which means that even when asleep they are still sensing the world around them so should anyone try to sneak up on us in the night Kalis would notice them first probably well before any normal look out would" Kakashi answered taking his own glance up the to Kochi in the tree who hadn't moved yet.
He noticed Sakura about to ask another question but could guess just what it would be so he rose a hand to cut her off, "And the reason he in a tree is so any attackers won't notice he's there as if anyone trying to sneak up on a group and a Kochi is in it they become the first target for a long range attack" he said lowering his hand and was glad when Sakura nodded showing he guessed her question correctly.
Sakura noticed that Kakashi seemed to know quite a lot about the Kochi clan which peaked her attention but saved that question for later as there was a more pressing one on her mind that she hoped she would answer, "What exactly does Kochi clan training entail?" she asked, after noticing his scuffed up clothing today and during the bell test he was able to walk on the water as if it was a normal thing not to mention the advanced Jutsu's he was trying to use.
Kakashi sighed at this, "The Kochi much as they training their sensory ability from a young age as do they train for the life a shinobi; you see every Kochi is expected to be a shinobi they are so strung on it that some will serve until they die no matter how old they become; and there isn't a single day without some form of training present for a Kochi clan member, it is pretty common for a Kochi to be more advanced that his classmates as while you've only trained during the academy they've never had a day off" he answered looking downcast.
Naruto and Sakura look shocked for a moment and even Sasuke had looked round to listen to this though he didn't speak a word, "Why? Why do they have to train to be a Shinobi?" Naruto asked, he'd never really asked Kalis about this, but he was now learning just how much he'd kept hidden in their long friendship, thought he did want to know why he didn't share it.
The Jonin sighed again, "Let's just leave it there for today shall we, it's not my place to speak about the Kochi clans methods; if you're so interested you should speak to our own one yourself" he said before pulling out his favourite book to read before he fell asleep "Make sure you put the fire out before you sleep for the night" were his last words before focusing on his book.
Naruto and Sakura looked to each other before looking back to the fire in front of them as their mind wandered with questions; Sakura was mostly just curious as she'd always been interested in the history and customs of people clans and the Kochi was one of the two she was most curious about the other being the Uchiha. Meanwhile, Naruto was wondering just why Kalis had never spoken to him that much about his own clan and partly wondered if it had something to do with what he contained.
What neither of them knew was that high in the tree, Kalis had been listening to the conversation and felt guilt wrack his heart; he knew that as his team, they deserved to know the history of his clan but he just couldn't bring himself to tell them, he especially couldn't tell Naruto just why members of the Kochi had to train so hard all their lives and he just couldn't tell anyone just what their clan have done in the past.
As just thinking about it, brought great shame to his heart.
0000000000
"Lord Gato!" a scrawny messenger exclaimed bursting into a large room where a large window at the back looked over the ocean, in front was said Gato behind a rather large desk that if you were paying attention would seem he was compensating for something; stood either side of him were Zori and Waraji both instinctively placed a hand onto their blades ready to kill the intruder but relaxed when they saw who it was.
The messenger keeled over in front of the desk as Gato turned around I his swivel chair to face him setting some money down on the desk, "L-Lord Gato… The Master Bridge builder has left the Leaf Village and is heading here!" he breathed out through his laboured breathing.
Gato let his favourite sickly smile go across his lips, "Oh has he now; took his time didn't he" he sat back into his leather chair and interlocked his chubby fingers, "Well now it's all up to my assassins to take care of him" he chuckled making Zori and Waraji join in after looking at each other knowing that once the bridge builder was dead and gone the Land of Waves can be their very own paradise to exploit the people for whatever they want.
"T-That's the problem… The Demon Brothers have a-already been beaten…" the messenger trailed off stopping the laughter immediately as he felt three pairs of eyes descend down to him, "I'm not sure who exactly, but I'm pretty sure they must be Shinobi from the Hidden Leaf escorting him" he hastily added fearing for his life under their gaze.
"Well that's not a major loss" Gato said brining his smile back, "I didn't expect them to do much, but it is concerning just who these Leaf escorts might be" he muttered next turning back around to look out his window again.
"But I'm sure Zabuza will do the task I've paid him for unlike those two foolish brothers".
0000000000
The morning had nothing of interest, there were no further attacks but they all remained silent, after yesterday both Sakura and Naruto had not argued to avoid being caught by surprise again just like they were before where they didn't notice the obvious puddle; though there were a few nagging questions on the mind but they didn't want to distract the group and leave an opening for an attacker.
They arrived at a body of water where they walked down a bit to a small wooden pier where a single wooden boat was docked, tied to the pier by a single rope, "We can use this to cross, it's nothing special but it should get the job done" Tazuna said stepping on to the boat which wobbled slightly under his weight.
"You sure this will support all of our combined weight" Sasuke commented watching the boat wobble again as Naruto stepped on and picked up and oar, he also took note of how much the boat dipped into the water as each person boarded, it wasn't that the Uchiha was afraid of the water it's just that he preferred to avoid drowning.
"We'll be fine Sasuke" Kakashi reassured taking a seat down on the wobbly boat but didn't react as it swayed, "It shouldn't be that far of a journey, and I'll be on hand in case you fall in" he teased knowing that the best was to get any Uchiha moving was to give their pride a little jab in the side and sure enough he received and confirming scowl from Sasuke.
"Fine!" he snapped stepping onto the boat and taking his own seat down as they cast off each of them taking turns to paddle the boat across the misty lake.
"Say Sasuke, why were you hesitant to get onto the boat?" Kalis chirped up a small smirk playing on his lips as he turned to face the Uchiha who continued his scowl but focused it purely on the Kochi trying to glare into where his eyes should be, behind the bandages.
"Because it doesn't look that safe does it idiot, the damn thing wobbled with any tiny motion" he snapped out instantly crossing his arms as he sat back trying to ignore the ever present Kochi but something was irking him, as if he knew what Kalis was thinking and he didn't like it one bit.
"All boats wobble, I'm pretty sure that if your boat doesn't wobble then you've screwed up the boat" Kalis commented back not breaking his smirk as Naruto looked round somehow managing to put two and two together as to what Kalis was going at, "Sasuke? What's the real reason you didn't want to get on the boat" Kalis continued to tease his smirk getting wider.
Sasuke just looked away, he didn't need to answer any questions he didn't feel like answering but the faint pink tinge on his cheeks and the panicked expression as the boat shook slightly gave far too much away than he'd like and he knew that the other two boys in his team had clocked on to it and quickly Naruto asked the dreaded question, "Sasuke, can you swim?".
"W-What!? Of course I can!" he snapped glaring daggers at the blonde who didn't give up his foxy grin and neither did Kalis, both boys knowing that they had cornered Sasuke and were going in for the kill, just like a pair of Hyenas even grinned like them too. Deciding he only had one way out, he tried to pass the blame on, "Can you even swim Naruto? Trying to hide you own flaws?" he snapped out.
"I can actually, practised whenever I got bored" he casually answered the question shooting down Sasuke's exit and he leaned back triumphant that he seemed to finally have one over on Sasuke while Kalis just looked ready to burst out laughing; Sasuke wondered just how this boy who'd been almost completely silent the other day could switch gears the next just at the promise of embarrassing the Uchiha.
Sasuke had to think on his feet for a retort, "Well I can obviously swim too, you saw me do it when we were cleaning the river!" he remembered and let his own triumphant smile cross his lips as he had squashed the inquiry, at least until someone else decided to join in.
"You weren't swimming Sasuke" Kakashi lazily spoke up making Sasuke snap to him, "The river was pretty drained at the time, you were just walking along the bottom" he eye smiled when he saw the bright red face of the Uchiha and just like that the Hyenas began to burst out in laughter.
"S-Sasuke can't swim!" Naruto exclaimed clutching at his chest as he tried to avoid falling off the boat and settled resting against Kalis who was in the same positing laughing so hard, he could barley manage to get any form of words out so just kept laughing instead.
Sasuke glared at the eye smiling Kakashi, "Sorry Sasuke, but you always mock other for their flaws it's only fair to get you own" he said casting a glace to he laughing Kalis and Naruto, "It's nothing to be ashamed of we all have flaws here" he continued as the two boys slowly quieted down, Naruto even having to wipe some tears away.
"What do you mean Kakashi Sensei?" a slightly red faced Sakura asked handing over the oar to Tazuna who had been mostly ignoring them; Sakura too had be shocked at the news of Sasuke's inability to swim and wasn't too sure how to react to it part of her had already fantasized about teaching the boy to swim herself.
Kakashi looked up, "Well as we now know Sasuke can't swim, Naruto's a bit of an idiot, Kalis is emotionally unstable and Sakura is useless" he commented with an hidden smile when he noticed the glares he was getting from all his students, "Don't worry, I'm just messing with all of you" he chuckled out "Mostly…" he trailed in his mind.
The rest of the boat ride was quiet but that broke when a large thing began to appear through the mist, as the neared it became clearer and they saw it was actually part of a fairly large bridge still being built but it seemed very quiet for what should be under construction, "This is the progress we had made before Gato put a stop to it" Tazuna grimaced.
"What did he do?" Kalis asked the question on all their minds and it made Tazuna look down as he remembered the day.
"He took some of the builders and brutalized them before he had them executed in front of everyone…" he trailed off gritting his teeth but that wasn't all, "He didn't stop there though, my daughters husband tried to stand up to them and he didn't go down without a fight but they eventually got him down and gave him the same treatment; they cut off his fucking arms before executing him in front of us, me, my daughter and his step-son Inari" Tazuna added a tear going down his cheek at the memory of the horrific event.
Team 7 was shocked; just what kind of monster would do such a thing, and what else had he done in the time Tazuna had been away, "What kind of man would do such a thing…" Naruto muttered to which everyone silently agreed.
"Don't worry" Kakashi said placing a hand onto his shoulder, "If we don't run into the Gato while the bridge is being build, we'll just have to pay him a quick visit before we leave" he smiled changing everyone's attitude knowing that they wouldn't leave the Land of Waves with the threat of Gato still around.
"You would take him out, free of charge?" Tazuna asked looking round to Kakashi.
The Jonin looked over to him, "I'm not a large fan of crime lords at the best of times, and this guy sounds like one of the worst out there so I'm more than happy to go out of the way to deal with him" he eye smiled as Tazuna let his own smile go across his lips.
Eventually they disembarked into a forested area so their arrival wouldn't be noticed by any of Gato's men who monitored the usual port; while it was true Gato knew they were coming, the longer they could put off him knowing they'd arrived the easier it would be to start on the bridge and take him out.
They assumed their escort positions, guarding Tazuna and paying attention to everything around them but also listening and watching Kalis who was almost behaving as their early warning system now and his slightest movements acted as methods of communication to the rest of them to tell weather or not there was a danger nearby or they were in the clear.
Kalis did feel the pressure upon him, he had to make sure that nothing could get a jump upon them weather that was a trap they were walking into, some of Gato's henchmen or some more assassins Kalis was they best way to make sure the attackers wouldn't have the element of surprise on them but so far they had only encountered a few basic pitfall and explosive traps that they had been able to safely disarm.
Naruto however was determined to prove himself, after his freeze up yesterday he was set on making sure that didn't happen again and that for once he'd be the hero so he was paying extra attention to even the tiniest of noises and movements after yesterday he didn't notice the obvious puddle in the open.
But since the blond was so on edge, when the bushes rustled nearby to them it caught his attention immediately; first he just kept his eye on to where the motion came from when a bush further up rustled, whatever it was, it kept moving up alongside them; looking over to Kalis, he was still in a calmer state not reacting to whatever it was, but there was definitely something following them "I know there is something, but why isn't Kalis reacting, could they be able to hide from him?" he thought narrowing his eyes as he slowly pulled out a kunai from his pouch.
As they exited into a clearing connected with a small lake, Naruto waited for the next little movement from the bushes, then he saw it a small shape in the shadows but instead of taking a closer look he reacted "Got you!" he exclaimed launching the kunai into the bushes and heard a nasty impact into something heavy, "I hit them, alright I hit them!" Naruto cheered clenching his fists.
"NARUTO!" Kalis exclaimed going into the bushes where Naruto had just thrown the kunai, he quickly stepped back out holding on to something small, white and terrified though still alive, "What did the bunny do to you?" he commented, behind him Naruto could see the kunai lodged pretty deep into a tree trunk and just below something moist over the grass.
Before he knew it, Naruto was knocked on the head by one angry looking Sakura who immediately began scolding him, "What are you doing you idiot, did you seriously think that cute bunny was a assassin or something!" she screamed a fire burning in her eyes in pure rage at the smaller blond who shrank back a bit.
"I-I didn't know, I just didn't want to get surprised again!" Naruto half stammered, half snapped out in response casting glanced between Sakura and the terrified looking bunny held in Kalis's hands before quickly dashing over and grabbing the bunny out of Kalis's hands rubbing his face against it and spewing apologies out confusing everyone.
Sasuke just sighed in annoyance but couldn't actually peel his eyes away from Naruto, mostly surprised that to boy had managed to live this long with the way he always acted, "Naruto, if it was a threat I'm pretty sure I would've noticed it and given you a heads up" Kalis scolded placing his hands on his hips.
Kakashi chuckled to himself when he noticed the confused looking Tazuna who was at a complete loss at the scene in front of him and when he looked over to the Jonin Kakashi just eye smiled and shrugged his shoulder, "If you hadn't noticed yet, this is a very… unique team" he said which really didn't help Tazuna understand but he just looked away.
Kakashi felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand up, he opened his eye and looked around but he couldn't see anything but could feel something or more likely someone watching them, he slowly closed his book and tucked it away in his back pouch as he continued to look around trying to spot any thing out of place but there was nothing he could identify visually but being the experience shinobi he was, knew that just because he couldn't see it didn't mean they were in the clear, "This feeling, it's not a Genjutsu but there is something here" he through narrowing his eye.
His team hadn't noticed their Sensei's behaviour and were still arguing as Naruto let the bunny free then turned scowling, "Just shut up, it was a mistake; anyone could of made it!" he snapped towards Sakura who opened her mouth to retort but was silenced but Sasuke of all people.
"Just stop it, there's more pressing things to be focused on" he said finally looking away and immediately Sakura stopped any further arguing, "Don't you remember yesterday that while you two were arguing the enemy snuck up on us" he continued and started to walk away with his eyes closed not interested in continuing to talk to the others.
"Yeah, lets just move on already" Kalis said taking his hands off his hips, "This is just getting stupid now; you just gotta remember Naruto that these guys after us don't have the skills to hide from my Sensory ability so I'll be able to notice them well before…" he gasped, "TAZUNA DOWN!".
The older mans eyes widened and didn't have the skills of a Ninja to react in time, luckily for him, Kakashi was ready and grabbed the man by his jacket, pulling him to the ground just as a massive blade soared over their heads barley missing Tazuna before it impacted into a tree with a loud thud but it didn't cut through instead it was embedded deep into the trunk.
A man suddenly appeared, standing on the handle of the blade; he was a tall and muscular man with light greyish skin, short spiky black hair, dark brown eyes, and small eyebrows. He also wore bandages like a mask over the bottom half of his face and donned his forehead protector sideways on his head. He was shirtless, with his chest only covered by a belt to which he attached his baggy trousers that had a striped pattern to them and wore white and black wrist-warmers extending up to his elbows, with matching leg-warmers.
"So you're the one who's been watching us" Kakashi mused putting his hands into his pockets and walking over to the tree the man was up, "If it isn't Zabuza Momochi, rogue Ninja from the Village Hidden in the Mist" he revealed making the Genin look up to the man shocked.
"I'm happy you know who I am, Kakashi the Copy Ninja" the now named Zabuza responded in his deep tone of voice, "I assume you know just why I'm here; or I should say, who I'm here for" he added not taking his eyes of Kakashi's one as if trying to win a staring contest with the man.
"I could guess after your first attack, am I right to assume you've also been hired to take out Tazuna like the Demon Brothers were" Kakashi responded also keeping his eye trained on the rogue ninja, while Kakashi's stance may seem relaxed, he knew that opponents like this could be unpredictable so he was ready to act on a moments notice.
"Ah, so you did take them out; I would say impressive, but beating those two dumbasses doesn't prove much" he said though a small smirk was present though hidden under his bandages at the though of the two childish brothers being taken down a peg and from the look of Kakashi, it didn't seem like it was much of a fight either, "Just give me the Bridge Builder and I'll let you go with your lives".
"What you think you can take us…" Naruto snapped running up to Zabuza but was cut off by Kakashi putting a handout stopping his movement, the boy looked up to his Sensei who was focused on Zabuza.
"You're in the way…" Kakashi trailed off, "Stay back" he added, while there was promise in his team, Zabuza was far too dangerous for any of them to even attempt to take on, "He's too dangerous for any of you to take on, just leave this to me".
Naruto opened his mouth to retort but decided against it, this was the first time they'd seen Kakashi getting serious about something and he wasn't going to take no for an answer right then so slowly Naruto stepped back to the other members of his team guarding Tazuna.
Sasuke eyed up Kakashi, "This guy has gotten even Kakashi concerned, for once he seems to be getting serious; but why did Zabuza call him the Copy Ninja…" he thought as Kakashi raised his hand grabbing hold on the part of his forehead protector that covered his other eye, he glance over to Kalis then back to Kakashi, "Could he have something in place of that other eye…" he wondered knowing his own clans abilities.
"This could be treacherous" Kakashi muttered to himself knowing that he couldn't avoid this fight and knew that is certainly wouldn't be an easy one by any means, "Quickly, form up around Tazuna, you must protect the Bridge Builder!" Kakashi ordered.
"Yes, Kakashi Sensei!" they all responded stepping back till they surrounded Tazuna in a close formation all drawing a kunai ready to protect the man at all cost though all of them were worried about what the next couple of minutes will bring.
Kakashi pulled up his forehead protector showing a closed eye with a scar going down it "Okay then…" he opened his eye showing a red coloured eye with a single black pupil in the middle but with three Tomoe surrounding the pupil, "I'm ready!" he exclaimed putting his hands to his side looking at Zabuza with his own more advanced Sharingan.
Everyone gasped upon this reveal, "Sasuke, Kakashi Sensei's eye looks kinda like what yours does sometimes" Sakura said looking over to the Uchiha who couldn't take his own eyes off of Kakashi's, "What is it?".
"It's called the Sharingan, it unique to the Uchiha clan, well its supposed to be…" he trailed off glancing off, "The one I possess is the lowest level with only one tomoe in the eyes; it's a extremely dangerous ability to those who face it, it can help the user to predict the opponents moves and react faster to them, the more tomoe in the eye the more dangerous the user is".
Naruto and Sakura looked in shock at the reveal, they'd seen Sasuke change his eyes before but have never gotten the chance to ask him about it but Kalis chimed in before they could ask anymore questions, "That's barley scratching the surface isn't it Sasuke" he commented making them turn to him while Sasuke glared, "The Sharingan also possess the unique ability to analyse any of their opponents technique and use it for themselves providing it's one of the five primary chakra natures" he revealed not feeling like sharing how he knew so much about the Uchiha's famous visual Jutsu's.
"The blind one is right hence why your Sensei is know as Kakashi the Copy Ninja or more commonly, Kakashi of the Sharingan" Zabuza said crouching down on the hilt of his blade, a smile again going across his lips as he supressed his excitement of getting the chance to fight to finally fight a opponent who was actually a challenge and not some pathetic weakling, "So, I'll have to eliminate you first, eh Kakashi?" he said jumping down onto the lake pulling his weapon effortlessly out of the trunk of the tree as he did.
"Watch out, he's up to something" Naruto commented as Zabuza put the blade onto his back and formed a rather unique hand sign with a hand in front of him and the other above both extending only two fingers while the rest stayed down as a mist began to form all around them.
"Ninja Art: Hidden Mist Jutsu" Zabuza said and right before their eyes Zabuza vanished but the mist remained all around them partially blinding them from seeing to far in front of them.
"Where did he go?" Sakura asked looking around hastily as the others did the same trying to find any sign of the assassin thought they could hardly see, "Kalis? Can you sense him at all?" she asked hastily knowing the Kochi could probably see better then them right now.
Kalis shook his head side to side, "I can't sense him anywhere, in fact I'm only sensing the six of us right now; he can somehow completely hide from my sensory ability, earlier I didn't know where he was until he was practically on top of us" he said gritting his teeth in frustration as he felt completely useless but he was also the most vulnerable not being able to see the attack in anyway now even if he was right in front of him.
"Kakashi Sensei, how dangerous is this?" Naruto asked backing up a bit, so they were all shoulder to shoulder and he tried to see through the thick mist being barely able to make out Kakashi a few metres in front of them.
"As the name suggests, Zabuza is hiding within the mist. It's best used to pick off people one by one, so you need to all stay together, it'll give you the best chance of survival" The Jonin answered slowly stepping back to his squad himself clutching a kunai in his hand.
"8 points…" Zabuza's deep voice cut through the mist startling them all, "8 kill points on the body, but I wonder which I should use first, I think I'll go after the spine first that's always fun especially when you start to scream…" his icy voice cut through again, terror making it's way through the group not able to work out which direction the voice came from.
Kakashi could feel their fear and had enough of this game, he put his hands together in the ram sign then expelling chakra around him dispersing the mist to some level though it was still slightly present and Zabuza still was no where in sight, Kakashi could feel the fear still within his Genin though they tried to hide it; he couldn't blame them for being scared, Zabuza was something else entirely and they knew that he could probably kill them at any moment, "Don't worry…" Kakashi said getting their attention, "I will not allow my comrades to die, trust me" he said looking to them with an eye smile and it calmed them a little save for one.
Kalis was still worried, with Zabuza able to hide his chakra presence till he was close Kalis was the most vulnerable target as everyone else could at least see Zabuza coming to some degree and could avoid the attack if they were quick enough. Kalis stood no chance, he tried to simply listen, but it was just silence. Slowly he rose his free hand up to the back of his head where his bandages were tied on, he debated undoing it but something was stopping him, he couldn't work out what.
Kalis forgot those thoughts immediately as he finally sensed the presence he'd been searching for but he didn't react to it he just gasped in terror as Zabuza had managed to get past all of them, in fact Kalis could sense the man directly behind him; everyone was realising to late, none could turn to stop him in time as he swung his blade around intent on decapitating them all in an instant but the movement was stopped by Kakashi who as quick as a flash leapt in knocking the blade off course so all could dive out the way then swiftly burying his kunai deep in the chest of Zabuza.
But to everyone's shock, water leaked out of the wound and dripped down the blade before Zabuza burst into water, "Sensei, behind you!" Naruto exclaimed but it was too late as Zabuza swung his blade around aiming directly for Kakashi.
"DIE!" he exclaimed cutting though Kakashi but to his surprise he wasn't splashed in the blood of the Copy Ninja, instead he was covered in water, "The Water Clone Jutsu, it can't be" he thought realising that Kakashi had also swapped out with a Water Clone of his own when Zabuza performed the Hidden Mist Jutsu.
"Don't move".
As the cold steel of a kunai touched the neck of Zabuza he realised what Kakashi had done, "So, you replaced yourself with a Water Clone then hid within the mist yourself waiting for me to strike so you could sneak up on me" he said to Kakashi.
Kakashi didn't give him any sort of acknowledgement, he only gave the simple sentence, "Now it's over" in response brining the Kunai closer to the assassins neck as he did.
Zabuza smiled knowing that Kakashi really was a good opponent, "Very nice try…" he started, suddenly a second Zabuza appeared behind Kakashi shocking him, "But I'm not that easy to fool!" he finished as the first one burst into water and the real once swung his blade around again, luckily Kakashi ducked just in time to avoid the death blow but quickly Zabuza brought the blade round again not giving Kakashi a second to think he went to dodge but instead got a swift kick to the side launching him towards the pond.
Zabuza dashed ahead of Kakashi brining his blade around to slice the man as he approached but Kakashi was able to push himself of the ground before the blade stuck and go over the top of Zabuza falling into the water instead, "Hm, foolish…" Zabuza remarked jumping off as Team 7 called after their Sensei.
Kakashi re-emerged in the water shaking his head, "This water, it isn't normal; it feels heavy and dense almost as if…" but he couldn't finish his thought as the water suddenly picked him up and formed a ball around him "Escaping into the water, was a bad mistake"Kakashi commented looking over to Zabuza who was standing over the ball with one hand inside the ball keeping it in effect.
"It's hard to fight when you can't move" Zabuza said with a hidden smirk, "So much for the great Kakashi" he added before looking over to the Genin all standing in the way between him and his target, The Bridge Builder. He raised his free hand to perform a one handed hand sign, "Water Clone Jutsu" in front of him a second Zabuza formed out of the water looking over the Genin while Kakashi cursed under his breath having no choice but to watch being trapped in a much stronger Water Prison Jutsu then before.
The Clone formed the same hands signs as before as he disappeared in to the mist again, the team searched around again but he was no where in sight, "You may have all succeeded in becoming Shinobi…" the icy voice trailed off again scaring them all, "But you're still no match for me!" it exclaimed out of no where Naruto suddenly went flying back landing hard while breathing heavily.
"Naruto!" Sakura exclaimed looking round to him in fear but saw that he was still alive.
"Damnit! Listen he's using all his strength to keep me in here so he can only fight you with his water clone!" Kakashi yelled out hoping that could somehow help his struggling Genin but he knew that even a water clone was far stronger than all of them.
Naruto slowly stood when they heard the clone stamp down on something, that was when the boy noticed his forehead protector was missing and that the clone of Zabuza was now insultingly stamping down on it, "How dare you!" Naruto said getting angry as that item meant so much to him, "Take your damn foot off that right now!" he snapped.
"Why don't you try and get it first" Zabuza mocked but was surprised when Naruto actually did charge though he was only met with a swift boot to the face, "How pathetic" he mused as Naruto clutched at his chest.
"Damnit!" Sasuke thought looking away from Naruto to Zabuza's clone, "How can we beat this guy, there's no point in me even trying to use my Sharingan if Kakashi's more advanced one was no good" he thought gritting his teeth, he looked over to Sakura who was frozen in fear then to Kalis who was gritting his teeth, looking at his options Sasuke knew he had no choice but to swallow his pride just this once.
"Kalis…" He said getting the boys attention, "I hate that I have to even say these words, but we need to work together to take this guy down" Sasuke practically grumbled out not likely the idea at all but knew he didn't have a choice in the matter.
Kalis was taken aback at first but knew that it was their only way and starting an argument right now was possibly the worst thing they could do so if Sasuke could swallow his pride, so could he, "Alright… I suppose you have a plan of your own ready", he answered turning back to the clone Zabuza, "So I'll just follow your lead" he added with his own grimace on his face.
Sasuke nodded, he quickly charged straight for Zabuza activating his own Sharingan for the little help it could give, getting lucky he was able to barley dodge the blade as it came down and impacted the ground instead; Sasuke swiftly went for the killing blow but Zabuza caught it with his other hand but that went according to plan as Kalis skidded behind the clone with shuriken between his knuckles and launching them all at the back of the clone Zabuza who swiftly kneed Sasuke in the chest sending him away before blocking the incoming projectiles with his blade.
But instead of trying again, Kalis charged straight past going for the real Zabuza but the clone was too quick suddenly appearing next to him and kicking him hard in the gut sending him into the water himself; he looked at where Kalis went in and didn't see any movement so turned away but waiting like a predator Kalis jumped out of the water throwing multiple kunai and shuriken's at the real Zabuza but a large wall of water created by the clone rose up stopping them all then he swiftly got behind Kalis launching his onto the land again where he rolled along the ground for a bit.
Sakura looked wide eyed from her position in front of Tazuna while the clone took his position before the boys attack; all members of her team were down, and she was all that stood but not for long as Naruto began to rise again.
Naruto was terrified, so far Zabuza had captured their Sensei and made their two strongest fighters look like push overs, what hope did he have; he felt as if this was were their story ended, he would die his as would the rest of them, this guy was just too strong, why did they just run away! Then it hit him as he looked at his bandaged hand the promise he made yesterday that he would no longer be afraid or a coward and that most of all, he was going to be stronger than both Kalis and Sasuke someday; if he wanted to fulfil that promise he couldn't give up now, he had to prove to everyone who he was.
He stood with a new determination in his heart; Naruto looked at where the forehead protector was in front of Zabuza's clone now and smirked seeing that he no longer held it under his boot, "I'll be taking that back!" he exclaimed before charging again though the outcome was the same, he was greeted by a swift knee to the face before being thrown back in the dirt as Kalis and Sasuke rose up again.
"Naruto!" Kalis exclaimed worried for his friend who was already getting up again.
Sakura looked worried but noticed that Naruto now held something in his hand, "The headband, he just wasted an attack on getting that stupid thing back?" she thought completely lost at the blonde's actions.
"I made a promise to myself and everyone yesterday…" Naruto said holding his forehead protector tight, "That I would never run away again or be afraid to fight no matter who my opponent was…" he continued bringing the item up and re-placing it on his forehead, "And I'm not breaking that promise anytime soon, you hear me!" he finished with a smirk while a bit of blood trailed down the corner of his mouth.
"Naruto… You really are determined aren't you…" Kalis thought as a smile played his lips.
"Listen kids" Tazuna cut in getting their attention, "You fighting this guy is all my fault, you shouldn't have to deal with this but I guess there's not going back now so I can only say this… stop worrying about protecting me, save you Sensei, you got that" he said giving them all a rare smile to which the all acknowledged with a nod.
"Alright, Kalis and Sasuke, we need to come up with a plan" Naruto said showing a far different side to himself, a weirdly confident one but none of them could really complain about it as right now they needed the best out of each of them.
Sasuke stepped up next to the blond with a smirk, "Alright then, I'll work with you for now, any bright ideas in that airhead of yours" he commented not taking his eyes which had gone back to normal off the clone.
Kalis stepped up behind the two, "Guys, there's something I need to tell you…" he said getting the boy to look round at him as Kalis began to whisper to them.
Sakura watched them, there wasn't anything she could really do and hated that she was having to rely on the three boys to do something, as she watched them form a plan she looked downcast knowing that they knew full well she was useless but she shook those thoughts from her head knowing that now wasn't the time to get caught up on things and needed to focus just in case an opportunity for her too would pop up but she felt a hand on her shoulder, looking around Tazuna was looking at her and gave her a kind smile which re-assured her to some extent.
"He's too strong! You all need to get out of here right now, that's an order!" Kakashi exclaimed but it fell of deaf ears, his team was set on doing what they set out to do and no amount of shouting would get them to change their minds.
"I've had enough with just toying with you all, my next blows are aiming to kill" the clone remarked hoisting his blade over his shoulder narrowing his eyes at his next victims, a sick smile going over his hidden lips.
"That's a half decent plan Naruto" Sasuke said returning to his usual emotionless expression as he pulled out a kunai going over the plan in his head.
"That might just work" Kalis added with a smile puling out his own items from his pouch while hidden behind the other two boys in preparation for their plan to finally beat Zabuza's clone at the very least.
"Thanks, now lets get to it!" Naruto exclaimed with a victorious smirk.
"I hope you don't think any foolish tricks will get past me, I've killed many brats like you before, a few more is no different" Zabuza chuckled slightly impressed with their ability to keep getting up to try and face him but he noticed that his words had an effect upon the kids, "You're probably wondering what I mean by that".
"You see I am from the Mist Village, years ago when I was a student studying at their academy I was ready to take the graduation exam… now I'm guessing that ours are very different, for you it was nothing too difficult which is the Leaf's way but for me it was a truly extraordinary experience, you see in order to graduate…" Zabuza reminisced as if it was a happy memory, "You need to kill all your other classmates, the last one alive graduates" he chuckled psychotically worrying them all.
"That experience gave me one of my most important skills, let me show it to you now" the clone said smashing his knee in to Sasuke sending him back then stamping a foot on his grounded body reaching around for his Executioners Blade.
Suddenly he was surrounded by a number of Naruto's, "Shadow Clone's? Interesting" he remarked as they all jumped for him but it was a vain effort as Zabuza simply swung his blade around hitting them all as they got close making a large could of smoke, "Pathetic" he remarked as he turned to take out Sasuke when out of nowhere he was charged into launching him back a bit.
He stood looking at Kalis who was grinning, they had used the clones to create a smoke cloud allowing Kalis to get close and tackle him away from Sasuke, a clever trick but it was a short lived victory as Zabuza wasted no time going after the blind boy, he swiftly dodged the first attack but as he swung with the kunai, the clone brought the blade back knocking the weapon away leaving Kalis wide open.
"DIE!" Zabuza exclaimed again and everyone watched in horror as the blade came down slicing through Kalis's chest the force immediately forcing the limp body into the ground leaving everyone in shock as Zabuza's clone chuckled kicking the body, "One down four to go" he muttered looking at them all loving their scared looks.
This was when the clone noticed a sizzling sound, he looked on his body for any sign of something attached but saw nothing, then he looked to the end of his blade where it dripped with water but what adored it were a couple of, "PAPER B-" but he didn't finish as they exploded taking out the clone.
"Your Student used himself as a sacrifice to take out my clone" Zabuza muttered slightly shocked at this tactic but got no reaction from the wide eyed Kakashi who couldn't believe what he'd just seen, his own student had just given his own life to take out an enemy, surly that couldn't of been the plan they had concocted, something about this just didn't add up to Kakashi.
There was no time to think as a fuma Shuriken flew through the cloud of smoke left by the explosion surprising Zabuza though he was able to catch it with his free hand; what caught him off guard however was the second one that flew right for him seemingly appearing out of nowhere, he couldn't catch this one as neither hand was free, thinking quick he jumped barley having the weapon go underneath him, "Ha, nice try…".
The second fuma shuriken puffed into smoke, being replaced by the smirking Naruto Uzumaki who launched a kunai in Zabuza's direction, "Catch this!" he exclaimed as he splashed into the water, though going at such speed had messed up his aim and the kunai was gonna miss Zabuza completely.
"No need, you missed" he chuckled as the kunai soared over his arm but then the water exploded below him and a the familiar figure of Kalis leapt out grabbing a hold of the airborne kunai swinging it down on to Zabuza's outstretched arm, having no choice left he yanked his arm out of the Water Prison and stepped backwards barley missing the kunai from the very much still alive boy; Zabuza wasted no time and brought the large shuriken down to kill Kalis but the attack was interrupted by Kakashi using his arm to block the attack.
Naruto re-emerged at let out a cheer, "Yes it worked!" he exclaimed.
"That was quite a plan you came up with there, how'd you pull it off?" Kakashi asked to which Kalis responded by indicating over to Naruto.
The boy gave his signature foxy grin, "Well you see, the Kalis you saw over there wasn't the real one he has been underneath the both of you for quite some time" he revealed thinking back to when they found out.
Kalis stepped up behind the two, "Guys, there's something I need to tell you…" he said getting the boy to look at him as Kalis began to whisper to them, "I'm a water clone, the real me swapped when he went under the water but he can't attack as Zabuza would notice before he could do anything useful" the now clone revealed, "He said he's waiting on a idea from you guys and he'll go along with what he notices".
"Once he told us that most of the plan was clear, all we had to do was take out your clone and distract you in the process" Naruto continued keeping his grin plastered across his face.
"The clone Kalis was able to get close enough to your clone than any of us could considering he wouldn't really die and placed a few bombs when your clone struck, easy to do when you won't really die; then with the smoke I was able to perfectly throw the shuriken's the first one being real, the other being Naruto" Sasuke said from the land his own smirk present.
"I hid in the shadow of the first so you wouldn't notice it but when you dodged the second one I took a risk and threw a kunai, and when I said 'Catch this' I wasn't talking to you…" Naruto trailed off.
"He was giving me the heads up" Kalis said next holding the thrown kunai up, "The me who is very much still alive" he finished with a smirk towards Zabuza.
"Well I'm impressed to say the least, you managed to formulate a plan even without one of you being present but made it obvious enough for him to realise the plan while it was in action" Kakashi praised but kept his eyes on Zabuza.
"But still giving me a heart attack, I thought Kalis had died!" Sakura screamed from the land looking very angry about the whole situation she was kept out of the loop about, "That was the craziest plan ever!" she exclaimed clenching her fists at the thought of the many things that could've gone wrong in the execution.
"Well believe it or not, most of it was that idiots idea" Sasuke said crossing his arms but nodding his head towards Naruto.
"Well then, well done Naruto it seems that you can formulate pretty good plans when you're determined eh?" Kakashi said getting a foxy grin in return, "But for now both of you get out of here, I'll finish Zabuza off myself" Kakashi added, Kalis nodded and went over to grab Naruto.
Zabuza processed all this and couldn't stop himself from laughing, to him this was hysterical, "It seems I really underestimated all of you" he began while keeping his laugh going, "I never would of expected such a trick, especially from you lot but now I think about it, it's a plan that really should have come from you lot" he said looking to all of them, casually snapping the fuma shuriken in, so all the blades were on Kakashi's arm, "So, I suppose I can't take any of you for granted now can I?".
Kakashi pushed back against the shuriken which to his surprise worked, Zabuza abandoned the weapon and it was launched away as he jumped away from Kakashi, getting some distance between the two men; staring each other down, Zabuza placed his hands in the Ox hand sign before weaving to the Monkey sign, Kakashi, using his Sharingan, immediately noticed exactly what he was planning and began weaving the same signs himself imitating Zabuza perfectly.
"Ushi Saru Oo Ne E Tori Ushi Uma Tori Ne Tora Inu Tora Mee Ushi Itoshi Me E Hitsuji Ne Genne Saru Tori Tatzu Tori Ushi Uma Hitsuji Tora Me Ne Saru Ooh E Tatzu Hitsuji Ne Ushi Hitsuji Tori Ge Ne E Tori!" the said at the exact same time, the water began to take shape in front of them, to large almost serpents emerged created of only water, "Water Style: Water Dragon Jutsu!" they exclaimed as the two dragons reared back charging into each other.
The ensuing explosion of water crated large waves in the small lake, Kalis and Naruto were able to get of the lake just quick enough to not get caught in the waves of the unsettled lake; Zabuza had not moved not able to see through the large mass of water in between him and Kakashi; then he saw it, a single red eye caught his through the waves, everything felt wrong but he couldn't place it though he couldn't tear his eyes away from the red one, he was frozen in place, his body wouldn't respond to trying to move.
He saw Kakashi weaving move hand signs be he could react to fight or stop them as a giant swirling pool of water started forming heading straight for Zabuza, his eyes widened as it hit him absorbing him inside and pushing him along, he could feel the pressure of the water cutting into him as he struggled to breath inside.
Eventually, he impacted into a tree as the water broke its form but his body was in bad shape, cuts wear all over his body and blood had practically changed his skin colour, breathed heavy as he looked up to Kakashi approaching me, "Huh, good technique… I couldn't even react" he breathed out, feeling his breath struggle to get out noticing he definitely had some level of internal damage, but couldn't lift his arms to feel as they wouldn't move either.
"Its over Zabuza, just surrender" Kakashi said pulling out a kunai as he approached while the rest of his team and Tazuna gathered behind him.
Suddenly, two large needles were sent straight through Zabuza's throat his eyes widened before his body fell over limp and lifeless; looking over to a tree Kakashi saw a figure up in a tree. Their outfit consisted of a pinstriped outfit which stopped at their knees. Over this they wore a green haori with white trimmings, and around the waist a brown sash with a fringed trail wrapped around their waist twice. They also wore light-brown platoon sandals with straps in the same colour as the kimono and nail polish on his fingernails and toenails in matching blue green colour. Their long hair was gathered in a white bun holder, while two locks hair fell loose framing the mask they wore, bound with metal hair cuffs at the ends.
Kakashi kept his eyes trained on the assailant as he moved over to check Zabuza's pulse, he knelt down and placed two fingers to his neck but found no pulse, "Who are you?" he asked looking round at the figure in the tree.
"My name doesn't matter…" they responded with a feminine tone of voice, "I've been tracking this Zabuza Momochi for quite some time, your battle gave me to opportunity to finally catch him, I thank you for this but I must now ask that you hand to body over to me" she ordered jumping out of the tree and walking over, she looked round to keep an eye on those Genin around but could barley tear her eyes off of Kalis, she glared at him but he didn't notice.
"Who do you…" Naruto went to retort but Kakashi put a hand out to stop him making the boy look up confused.
"Leave it Naruto, she's a hunter ninja" he saw that his answer didn't really clear things up, "She's from the Hidden Mist, just like Zabuza was but instead of being a mercenary she's been tasked by the village to track any rogue ninja and either take them out, or forcefully bring them back to the village" he revealed looking over to the ninja currently standing over the corpse of Zabuza but her eyes were trained on something over Kakashi's shoulder, likely a member of his team.
"We won't get in your way, he's all yours" Kakashi answered, putting his kunai away then placing his hands into his pockets to make it clear he hand no intentions in mind, they fight with Zabuza had really drained them all and it was best not to tussle with a well trained hunter ninja. She snapped to him almost as if her mind had been somewhere else but simply nodded to him before kneeling down taking a hold of Zabuza, casting one more looking over to Kalis she vanished in a swirl of leaves.
Kalis felt odd though he couldn't place it, he didn't know the hunter had been staring at him but he could sense her Chakra and it felt almost familiar to him but he didn't know who it was, no one came to mind so he'd never met them before but something felt so familiar about her.
Kakashi sighed as he replaced his forehead protector over his eye, "At least this is all finally over, but I should make sure to check up on hunter ninja with red wavy mask designs just in case" he mused in his mind as anyone could just say there were a hunter, better to be safe than sorry, "Alright, lets get go-" he began but as he took a step forward he felt a sharp pang of pain shoot through his body, all his joints locked up as he fell forward onto the ground.
"KAKASHI SENSEI!"
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And that's the end of part one of the land of waves.
This chapter kind just kept growing and growing until before I knew it, its kinda the longest chapter I've written. Woops.
So you might notice the Zabuza fight didn't change much other than a few Kalis bits added in but that was because I wasn't sure how to change it up to make it very different to the original but this was only their first fight, the second one will be… interesting, that's all I'll say.
So, for now I'll see you in the next chapter, I'll try and get that one up during the month not at the end of it.
