The forests of the Hidden Leaf stretched for miles on end, as if the meaning behind its name wasn't obvious. Usually, the woodlands were peaceful and quiet with only the chirps of the birds and the chattering of the animals to break the monotony. But today, if you listen carefully, you could hear the rustling of leaves on the ground or the creaking of branches from above.
And then, a brief moment of static, followed by a softly spoken voice.
"Gaara here at point B. Target spotted seven meters away."
"Fu here at point C. Target spotted four meters away."
A short paused filled the air.
"Naruto here. I'm at point A. Target five meters away."
"You're slow, Naruto," said Rin over the radio communications. "All right, Team Rin, be ready to – hm?"
There was a sudden flash of movement between the trees; a shadowy beast lurched through the branches, landing securely on the ground and making a break through the bushes.
"The target has moved! Stop it!" shouted Rin urgently.
Before the shadowy beast could run far, a wall of sand suddenly emerged in its path, cutting the creature off. The beast hissed and started scampering in the opposite direction, when something heavy dropped from above, smashing a hole in the ground and sending dirt flying in every direction. The shadowy creature quickly backpedaled and started running the only unobstructed path open to it between the trees. But just as it started to leap towards freedom, a boy in eye-burning orange clothes suddenly jumped out from behind and snatched the beast out of the air, wrapping his arms around its midsection.
"I got him!" shouted Naruto. "You won't get away this time, you stupid cat!"
The cat hissed and flailed, taking a swipe at Naruto with its claws.
It wasn't the first time that their team had to capture this particular cat. It the past three weeks since their team had formed, Naruto, Gaara, and Fu had to go out into the wildness and hunt down the same cat seven times, each venture becoming more difficult as the cat seemed to learn from each encounter. But most of all, it seemed to have a particular hatred of Naruto. Whenever they met each other, whether it was during a capture mission or just a random encounter in the street, Naruto always left with a few new scratches on his face. His teammates didn't seem that interested in helping him either; Fu was sitting on the sidelines laughing as the cat started kicking him in the teeth and Gaara stood away so he could radio their teacher in peace.
"Does he have the ribbon on his right ear?" asked Rin. "Are you sure it's our target, Tora?"
"It's the same cat, Rin-sensei," said Gaara monotonously. "It's always been the same cat."
"All right, the mission to capture the lost pet 'Tora' is complete," said Rin.
"Why are we stuck doing these stupid missions?!" Naruto screamed as loudly as he could over the radio. The outburst not only knocking Rin off her feet, but even temporarily stunning Gaara and Fu. "When are we going to do a mission with a greater sense of urgency?!"
A Dangerous Mission! Journey to the Land of Snow
Roughly twenty minutes and several bandages later, Team Rin marched back to the mission center, which, for some reason, took place inside Hidden Leaf Academy. How Naruto never noticed this in all the years he had been a student, he will never know, but nonetheless, the Hokage was waiting for them along with Iruka, and quite possibly the scariest woman in all of the Hidden Leaf. Wild, unmanageable purple hair and an open trench coat with mesh underclothes that left little to the imagination; a mixture of seduction and danger. Naruto was familiar with the Hokage's lover, Mitarashi Anko, and he would do anything to forget.
But there was one bright spot: when they returned the demon cat known as Tora, Naruto could not hide his delight as it's chubby owner – the wife of the nation's daimyo – smushed her face against the cat's, practically crushing the feline. And even when the cat cried out for freedom, no one moved to rescue it, let alone Team Rin.
"Serves him right, that stupid cat," Naruto laughed wickedly.
"No wonder he keeps running away," said Fu, cringing at the spectacle. "I kinda almost wish we didn't catch him. Almost."
"Even I almost feel bad for it," said Gaara.
"Nice work out there, boys," said Anko with a wicked smile, stressing the word 'boys' because she knew it would irritate Fu and there was nothing she could do about it. "This time it only took you three hours to catch him. I think you're training's finally starting to come in handy. Now, the next missions available for Joint Team Rin is" – she ruffled through the papers on the table, her finger tracing down the list of jobs available – "running errands in to the neighboring town…babysitting the chief councilor's son…helping with digging for potatoes…."
"No way!" shouted Naruto, crossing his arms to emphasis his point. "No! No, thank you! I'm tired of doing these lame missions! I want to do something more exciting! Give us something else!"
"I agree," said Gaara. "We're wasting our talents on these menial tasks."
"I can't believe I'm saying this, but Naruto is right for once," said Fu, flailing her arms exaggeratedly. "I mean, come on! What kind of ninjas do jobs like these? Catch cats, delivering laundry, cleaning attics! These are just stupid jobs that people are too lazy to do themselves."
"I thought it was getting close to time when they would start to get agitated,' thought Rin with a heavy sigh. 'Why did I have to end up with the team of troublemakers?'
"You idiots!" yelled Iruka, slamming his hands on the desk. "You're still just novice shinobi! At the start, everyone moves up the ladder by gaining experience from simple missions!"
"But it's been nothing but dumb missions so far -"
Rin promptly punched Naruto over the head, sending him faltering face first into the hardwood floor.
"Would you know it off already?" said Rin irritably. "You're giving more of a headache than usual."
"I like this kid's spirit," said Anko, chuckling. "But it doesn't sound like you've taught him about the essential basics of how the shinobi system works, Iruka."
"Not for a lack of trying," said Iruka, sighing. "But if you think you can do better, give it a shot."
"Gladly," said Anko, grinning as she leaned back on two legs of her chair with her feet propped on the desk. "All right, brats, listen up, because I'm only going to say this once! Requests pour in shinobi villages all over the continent every day. They range from babysitting to assassinations. A wide spectrum of requests are recorded on the request list and they are separated into A, B, C, and D ranks according to their level of difficulty. In some cases, we even get a rare S-rank mission."
"S-rank," Fu repeated. "You mean like the ones Rin-sensei did before?"
"Well, she qualifies for an S-rank mission, yes," Anko nodded. "In the village, everyone below the Kage is divided up by ability in the order of Jonin, Chunin, and Genin. The higher officials distribute the requests as missions to shinobi who have abilities suited to said mission. And, if the mission is successful, the fee comes in from the client. Since you three just became Genin recently, D-rank missions are about the best you can do…."
"Yesterday's lunch was pork bone broth ramen," Naruto said to his team, who were, for some reason giving him their undivided attention; Anko fell backwards in her chair from the shock. "So I'm thinking today will be miso broth – "
"Do you wanna die, you brat!" screeched Anko.
"Oh, sorry about that," Rin apologized, rubbing her neck sheepishly.
"Ma-a-an, I don't need a lecture from you of all people, Snake Lady," said Naruto, grumbling. "I'm not that little prankster you used to know."
'Ugh, I am so going to get scolded for this later,' thought Rin.
Though his response was disrespectful, Kakashi, Anko, and Iruka were all smiling in their own ways. They had known Naruto longer than anyone in the room, perhaps in the entire village, each one having their own hand in raising the boy (though Anko was strangely absent for the early years until Naruto had moved out of diapers). Anko and Iruka shared a look, nodding in a silent agreement, before they turned to Kakashi. The Hokage's one eye was locked firmly on the pouting boy, as if seeing him for the first time.
"…Okay, fine," said Kakashi suddenly catching everyone off guard. "If you feel so strongly about it, then I suppose I have no choice but to assign you a C-rank mission. Your job is simple: you have to be bodyguards for someone."
"Really?" said Naruto excitedly. "Who is it? Who is it? A daimyo? Or a princess?"
"Now, now, let's not get hasty," said Kakashi patiently. "I'll introduce you now. Could you please come in, ma'am?"
All heads swiveled around as the entrance to the room rattled open and someone stepped inside. Their client, as it turned out, was a beautiful young woman that would make even Rin feel self-conscious (and it certainly did no favors for Fu). Her skin was flawless and fair, her long black hair framing her heart-shaped face. Even her dress and obi were tailored from fine cloth. But despite her beauty, her expression was one of pure apathy; like she didn't care about anything or anyone.
Before either Gaara or Fu could discern who this woman was, Naruto suddenly shouted and answered the question for them.
"Wah! Fujikaze Yukie!"
"Who?" Gaara and Fu asked in unison.
"She plays Princess Gales in all her movies!" shouted Naruto, suddenly bouncing on his feet.
"Movies?" Fu turned to Gaara curiously. "What're movies?"
"They're basically moving pictures with a story," said Gaara. "We don't really have them a lot in the Hidden Sand and I doubt they would have any in a small village like the Hidden Waterfall. Only the Hidden Leaf has the wealth to waste money on such drivel."
"Shut up, this is awesome!" said Naruto, grinning from ear to ear. "We're gonna be Princess Gale's bodyguards. This is so cool. You think she'd give me her autograph?"
"For what?" said Yukie coldly, having overheard the loud chatter. "So that it can collect dust in your drawer, forgotten? I can't believe that a shinobi would want something as stupid as a worthless piece of handwriting. Are you sure these children are capable enough to be bodyguards."
"Don't worry, they are perfectly qualified for this mission," said Kakashi. "And just to be sure, you will also be escorted by Rin, who is a high-ranking Jonin. If you run into any trouble, you can rest assured that she is plenty capable of handling it."
"Very well," said Yukie, almost begrudgingly so. "As the boy already told you, my name is Fujikaze Yukie, an actress. I am starring in the next Princess Gale movie, which is currently in production. We are planning to film in the small nation of the Land of Snow. The film crew for the movie has already has already gone ahead, but I have not yet departed. As an actress, I am a target to many who would wish to take me for ransom. That is why I made a request for an escort. I fully expect you all to give your lives for me to ensure my safety."
"I highly doubt it will come to that," said Rin. "But don't worry, nothing will happen as long as we're around."
They all met up again roughly around noon at the front gates of the village after head to their personal homes to collect any necessary items before they set out on their journey. The Land of Snow was very far away and they didn't know when they would have a chance to restock supplies; better safe than sorry.
Gaara, Fu, and Rin were content as they passed the open gates, but Naruto suddenly bounced around and threw out his arms like he had suddenly accomplished something amazing.
"All right!" cheered Naruto. "We're off!"
"What're you getting all hyper about?" asked Fu, tilting her head curiously.
"I've never left the village before," said Naruto, looking around with a wide grin as if expecting to see a new scope of scenery just because they were outside the boundary. "You can't tell me you weren't this excited when you left your village!"
"Well, I guess that's true," said Fu, smiling with her hands behind her head. "I'd never left the village in my whole life, so it was nice to see something new for a change. I especially love the fast food they got here."
"It was a welcome change," said Gaara, nodded. "Not having to see endless stretches of deserts everywhere."
"Hey, am I really safe with these children protecting me?" Yukie asked Rin, purposely ignoring the annoyed look in the Genin's eyes. "Are you sure you couldn't supply shinobi a little more…capable."
"I promise you, they're all…well, Gaara and Fu are tough enough to handle any situation," said Rin amusingly, purposely annoying Naruto. "And don't worry, we'll be keeping a close eye on Naruto so he doesn't cause any trouble. There's no need to worry."
'Man, I can't believe I thought she was cool,' thought Naruto irritably. 'Well, I got a thing or two to say to her….'
He quickly spun around and pointed an accusing finger at the actress.
"Hey, Fujikaze Yukie!" shouted Naruto. "Don't go looking down on me so much! I'm awesome, you see! I'm a super elite shinobi who will be called Hokage one day! My name's Uzumaki Naruto! You better remember it!"
"Since when is he a super elite shinobi?" Fu whispered to Gaara.
"Just ignore him," said Gaara exasperatedly. "Eventually, you learn to tune him out."
"The Hokage is the most powerful shinobi in the Hidden Leaf Village, correct?" said Yukie in an uncaring tone. "Just by looking at you, I can already tell you don't have what it takes to accomplish such a lofty goal – "
"Shut up!" yelled Naruto; the vein in his skull was rather pronounced. "I'm prepared to do whatever it takes to become Hokage! You'll have no choice but to acknowledge me then!"
"Oh, you are 'prepared to do whatever it takes', are you?" said Yukie, scoffing. "That only prove that you have no real plan in mind. You're just running around spouting nonsense without any thought about how you intend to accomplish your goal. It's plainly obvious now that you can never become Hokage."
"What?!" growled Naruto, stepping closer to the actress.
"Naruto," said Gaara, halting the boy immediately. "That's enough. Let it go."
Naruto huffed, obviously not wanting to let it go, but he relented nonetheless. He'll make the snobby actress eat her words, you can count on it.
As they set out on their journey, Rin was very specific in the pattern that they walked. Yukie would be in the center, obviously, and Gaara would be out in front as the first line of defense due to his sand's reach and speed. Rin would be next, walking alongside Yukie while keeping watch of the tree line. Naruto and Fu stood in back as the last line of defense; Fu for her quick offensive capabilities and Naruto for his seemingly unlimited shadow clones. So far, it didn't look like needed to test the formation, which was a good thing in Rin's opinion.
"Excuse me, Miss Fujisake," said Fu. "You said we were headed to the Land of Snow, right?"
"Yes, I believe that is what I said?" answered Yukie. "What about it?"
"Rin-sensei, doesn't the Land of Snow have shinobi, too?" asked Fu. "I think I remember Shibuki-kun complaining about them at one time. Do they have a village there, too?"
"Yes, the Land of Snow has its own shinobi village called the Hidden Snow Village," said Rin. "They used to be a very social village and were one of the few nations willing to participate in the International Selection during the Fourth Hokage's time. But ten years ago, the previous leader was killed in a horrible accident and the current leader, Kazahana Doto, withdrew from the International Selection and isolated the Land of Snow from other shinobi nations."
Rin noticed that Yukie's hand seemed to clench as she spoke, but didn't say anything of it and pressed on with her explanation.
"From what I've heard, the Hidden Snow shinobi place a higher value in tools rather than personal skill. According to whispers and rumors, they have chosen to follow in the ways of advancing technology over spending time creating new jutsu and strengthening their shinobi. On average, they have a couple hundred shinobi – not much compared to the major villages – but they also developed a new type of armor that is said to drain chakra, rendering genjutsu and ninjutsu useless. Such technology would be considered dangerous for most of the Shinobi Continent, but they quickly ended production of these Charka Armors once they started gaining attention from the Western Continent."
"The Western Continent?" Gaara repeated curiously. "I think of heard of that place before."
"As you should," said Rin, frowning suddenly. "The Western Continent refers to the nations directly west of the Shinobi Continent, just beyond the boards of the Land of Earth and the Land of Wind. Unlike the Shinobi Continent, the Western Continent is entirely military-based filled with advance technology from mobile vehicles to long-range weapons. The Shinobi and Western continents don't have the most stable relationship due to their opposing political views. The Western Continent believe in absolute authority and discipline their people to be soldiers from a young age, as opposed to the Shinobi Continent, which places values on freedom and choice."
"Did the two continents ever fight?" asked Fu.
"They did, at one point," said Rin. "It was back in the early days when the shinobi villages were just beginning. The five Kages at the time tried to establish peaceful relations when the Western Continent took advantage of their kindness and tried to expand their territory into ours. As you can imagine, the Kage didn't much like that. It became a feud that ignited the First Shinobi World War, marking the cornerstone of current warfare. The Shinobi Continent was losing ground fast due to their strong military tactics and advanced weaponry. In order to fight back, the Shinobi Continent make a pact with the continent across the ocean: Ishgar. Once we had their help, we were able to drive off the Western Continent."
"What's so special about Ishgar that turned the tide of the war?" asked Gaara.
"Ishgar is a thriving continent with an abundance of magic," said Rin.
"Magic? What're you talking about?" said Naruto, raising his brow.
"I don't really understand it myself, but they have a lot of powerful people over there," said Rin. "There was this one girl they called 'The Fairy' that led the Shinobi Continent to more victories than any other leader in our history. Once the Western Continent was out of our land, a treaty was formed that keeps them away from our territory. Of course, when they hear that a shinobi village has made advancements in military technology, they tend to crop up every once and a while. That's why the Hidden Snow stopped making their Chakra Armors – they didn't want to make enemies with powerful people."
"Whoa…that's a lot of info to suck up," said Fu astonishingly.
"Well, don't you worry about it," said Rin lightly, patting her head. "Like I said, the Western Continent won't be crossing our borders, and I highly doubt we'll be running into any trouble from the Snow shinobi for a simple escort mission."
"Yeah, I guess you're right," said Fu, chuckling.
Rin and Fu seemed lighthearted and Naruto was confused as always, but Gaara felt more than a little suspicious. He kept noticing something strange about Fujikaze Yukie. Ever since they left the safety of the Hidden Leaf, she had been glancing around fretfully every few seconds, almost as if expecting an attack. That didn't look like the face of someone worried about common thugs or bandits in Gaara's eyes. It was the kind of look someone had when they were expecting much worse – Gaara knew that from personal experience.
Their journey had been relatively peaceful, all things considered. Walking nearly an hour without any attacks or Yukie complaining as they had expected most actresses to be like. It would still be several hours before they reached the port village on the edge of the Land of Fire and take a boat to the Land of Snow.
Speaking of which, it had suddenly become surprisingly cold despite it being in the middle of summer. Naruto shuddered and Fu rubbed her arms, shivering. Rin's brow furrowed with suspicion as she looked around the tree line, and Gaara quietly reached up and removed the cork from his gourd.
A few seconds of calm silence passed…then the trees shifted violently above them as three figured suddenly jumped out into the open, soaring high above them. From one glance, they could see that they were shinobi: the forehead protectors prominently displayed, all of them wearing matching icy-blue uniforms. Their group consisted of a thin man with long, lavender hair, a bulky man short purple hair, and a woman with pink hair in pigtails.
The pink-haired female of the group withdrew a handful of kunai from her pouch and threw them at Rin. The Hidden Mist Jonin did not move, knowing that they were not going to hit her and instead stabbed the ground at her feet. At first, it seemed like the kunoichi made a mistake, but Rin noticed at the very last second that there were blue orbs attached by strings at the ends of the kunai.
"What?" Rin managed to sputter before –
"Here's the first one," said the lavender-haired man.
The blue orbs exploded. Gaara's sand quickly built a wall to protect himself, Naruto, Fu, and Yukie from the blast. They could hear the heavy thuds against the Sand Shield and a sudden drop in temperature; a cool mist passed under their feet.
When the immediate danger had passed, Gaara lowered his shield. What they found on the other side was their teacher, lying on the ground, needles of ice piercing her from every side. The scene was so horrific that Fu's mouth fell open, but she couldn't scream.
Luckily, Naruto did it for her.
"R-Rin-sensei!"
"And now the second one."
Naruto froze up; the voice came from directly behind him.
He hesitantly glanced over her shoulder to see the largest of the attackers raising his armored fist over his head, fully prepared to crush Naruto into the dirt. The large shinobi swung his fist around when a blur of white and green flashed between them and the attacking shinobi suddenly found his fist stopped halfway from his objective.
Naruto fell down with a gasp, staring in awe as Fu had stepped in between them. Despite the enemy shinobi being three times her size, Fu was doing an amazing job of holding back his metal-covered fist with only one hand. The kunoichi from the Hidden Waterfall was furious; she gritted her teeth and took deep gasping breaths, fighting back the tears that were threatening to spill over.
"You…BASTARDS!" Fu snarled.
She closed her fingers to make a fist, ripping apart the opposing shinobi's metal gauntlet. The large man stumbled back holding his broken gauntlet, whimpering fearfully, leaving himself open as Fu jumped up to meet him at eye level and delivered a swinging kick to the crook of his neck. The sound of cracking bones echoed in the forest and the enemy shinobi fell to the ground, unmoving.
Naruto just watched; jaw dropped in awe.
'W-wow,' he thought.
"You bitch!" Everyone looked up, spying the pink-haired kunoichi hovering above the battlefield. "You killed Mizore! I'm gonna beat the shit out of – GWAH!"
She didn't make it any further than that. Before she could realize what had occurred, she suddenly found herself suspended in the air, enclosed in a cocoon of sand. Gaara's raised his hand upwards towards the kunoichi, silently commanding the sand to climb higher over its victim until they were completely covered. Then, without even flinching, Gaara closed his hand and the sand cocoon contracted accordingly. Her screams were muffled by the sand, but the wet spots that formed in the sand were all the indicators they need to know what happened.
"Mizore! Fubuki!" the last shinobi cried. "Son of a…you kids! You monsters! If I'm going to die, then I'll at least do what I came here for!"
The lavender-haired shinobi was fast, easily running past Fu before she could step in his path and much too quick for Gaara's sand to return in time. He bypassed all of them and made a beeline for Yukie. The actress cringed and raised her arms in a defense position as the shinobi leapt at her with a kunai in hand. And when he had come so close – only inches from his target – the shinobi was suddenly lurched back when an open palm struck him squarely in the face, effectively knocking him out cold.
Naruto, Gaara, and Fu quickly turned around as the enemy shinobi hit the ground and Rin waved nonchalantly to her students.
"Yo," she greeted them.
"Rin-sensei! You're alive!" Fu cheered happily.
"Hmph! Show off…' thought Gaara.
"Wait, if Rin-sensei is there, then…," mumbled Naruto.
He looked over where Rin's corpse was supposed to be, only to find a discarded log punctured by the ice spikes.
"So Rin-sensei used a substitution when no one was looking…," Naruto mumbled.
"Naruto," Rin called to him. "Sorry I didn't help you right away. I didn't think you'd freeze up like that. As for you, Gaara, Fu, you both performed superbly. Though in the future, it would be preferred if you kept the enemy alive. We needed them for information. Fortunately, we still have on breathing, so it wasn't a complete loss."
It suddenly hit Naruto like a pile of bricks. All he did was freeze up at the first sign of trouble while Gaara and Fu took out the enemy. And not just take them out, but downright killed them. The idea of killing someone had never crossed his mind before and these two did it without hesitating.
'I…couldn't do anything…,' thought Naruto fretfully. 'But Gaara and Fu…it was their first real battle…didn't they feel scared at all? They saved me like it was nothing and without getting any dirt on their clothes….'
"Naruto…," said Gaara in a soft voice, making Naruto stiffen as he turned around. "Are you all right? If I thought you were going to be paralyzed with fear, I would have moved you out of the range of the battle. That's my fault."
Naruto knew he wasn't trying to be rude or condescending, but hearing his own teammate pity him make Naruto feel even worse about himself than before. He choked back his frustrated gasps, tightening his fists until the nails started to cut into his skin. It was just like during the survival exercise…. He was helpless while his teammates were fighting with everything they had…. It made him so angry….
"By the way, Miss Fujikaze," said Rin with a furrowed brow.
"Yes?" Yukie replied coolly.
"You have something you need to explain," said Rin, reaching down and lifting up the last enemy shinobi like he weighed nothing. "These aren't just random shinobi that we happened to cross paths with. See their forehead protectors. They are Chunin from the Hidden Snow Village from the Land of Snow. The same region we just happen to be escorting you to. I knew from the start that they were Snow shinobi – they specialize in ice-based weaponry such as ice bombs to create snow in places where they don't normally exist. The cold their weapons gave off immediately alerted us to their presence."
"If you knew this," said Yukie, "why did you leave it to the children to fight?"
"If I felt like it, I could have killed these guys before they even blinked," said Rin plainly. "But I had to know who the target of the enemy was."
"If you have something to say, then say it," said Yukie impatiently. "I hate it when people beat around the bush."
"All right, then I'll just say it," said Rin with a menacing scowl. "I had to know if they were after you, or one of us that were being targeted. I have a lot of enemies, so I wouldn't have been surprised if they came after me. But they specifically went out of their way to kill you, even at the risk of their own deaths. You never told us anything about you being targeted by shinobi. The content of the request was supposed to just be protection from gangs, thieves, and the like. After this, the mission is immediately bumped up to B-rank, maybe even A-rank. The request was supposed to be protection until you finished your movie…but now I get the suspicion that there never was a movie to begin with, was there…?"
Yukie purposely turned her eyes away.
"I'm sure you must have a good reason for lying," Rin continued, "but being lied to in the request won't do. This is beyond the scope of our mission."
"I don't see the problem," Fu interjected. "We took them out pretty quick, if you ask me."
"Those were only Chunin," said Rin, making Fu flinch under her authoritative glare. "No doubt they'll be sending for someone strong next time. A Jonin at best. This mission is too soon for you kids, especially Naruto" – the blonde boy stiffened at the mention – "you saw the way he froze up like that. It'll be worse next time. We're stopping the mission now. From here, the Hidden Mist village should be closer, so we'll stop by there and inform Lord Mizukage of this development. He'll assign a proper team for the job."
Naruto sucked in a deep breath. He couldn't believe his teacher was ending their first real mission all because he got scared. It was upsetting to say the least. It felt no different than being in the academy when he was almost being held back for not being good enough. If they went back now, this would only prove Iruka and Anko right and that he didn't have what it takes to do anything beyond menial D-rank missions. He couldn't let that happen!
Before any of them had the slightest clue what he was thinking, Naruto suddenly whipped out a kunai from his pouch and stabbed himself in the back of the hand. Fu's jaw dropped dumbfounded, Yukie looked at him like he was an idiot, Gaara facepalmed himself again, and Rin shook her head with a sigh.
"What the hell was that for you, idiot?" shrieked Fu. "What'd you go and stab yourself? Have you finally lost what little sense you have left?"
"I should be getting stronger," Naruto said in a strained voice. "Here I am, steadily carrying out missions and doing special training by myself every day. I'll never get into another situation from which I'll need to be rescued. I'll never be afraid or run away from things. And I won't lose to you or Gaara. I'm going to swear on this oath of blood! I'll protect Miss Fujikaze with my own strength! So we're going through with the mission!"
"If you say so," said Yukie, not at all moved by his speech. "Though did you really need to cut your own hand open? All you did was hurt yourself, stupid."
"Hey, I'm trying to be serious here!" snapped Naruto.
"Naruto," Rin interrupted. "It's all well and good to see you so passionate about the mission, but if you keep cutting your hand open like that, you'll bleed to death."
A sudden pause passed over the forest clearing; only the chirping of the crows and the blowing of the wind filled in the silence. The rest of Team Rin looked at their teammate with half-lidded eyes of exasperation when their third teammate started sweating profusely. Rin slid in next to him with a placid smile, saying:
"Things will get hairy if you don't stop the bleeding quick…. Seriously."
"Gurk!" Naruto chocked, flailing his arms and legs around like a madman. "Argh! No! No! I can't die like this!"
"Show me your hand," Rin demanded lightly and Naruto quickly complied.
"Nooo! Please, help me!"
"And this guy tried so hard to act cool a second ago," said Fu amusingly, chuckling with her hands folded behind her head.
"He's just an idiot," Gaara muttered. "A masochistic idiot."
But while Naruto panicked and his teammates taunted him, Rin's eyes narrowed in on the wound her created.
'Just as I would have imagined,' thought Rin, taking note of the tiny, almost unnoticeable heat wafting from the wound. "He's already starting to heal. This must be the Kyuubi's work….'
"Um…sensei," Naruto voice brought Rin out of her thoughts. "Am I okay? You look awfully serious…."
"Well, you should be okay," said Rin, pulling out a roll of bandage from her pouch and dressing up the wound. "Nothing to be worried about…honestly…."
The Land of Snow was a harsh landscape dominated by snowy mountains and constant blizzards. In the heart of the mountains was a stone castle, fortified by natural defenses that barely shield those inside from the cold. Inside, seated upon his obsidian throne was a tall and well-built man of advanced years and very pronounced features. Standing opposite of him halfway across his throne room were to people: an elderly man and a young woman.
The man was very muscular with faded blond hair reaching down his back and a prominent scar on his right cheek. He wore normal shinobi gear of a gray color and a short cloak over his shoulders. Most of the man's face was concealed by a helmet-like respirator upon which bared the metal plate of the Hidden Rain Village.
The woman on his left was short and thin with light-blue hair that was kept in a spiky ponytail not too dissimilar to Anko. She wore an asymmetrical green dress where the right sleeve was shorter than the left and a white fluffy collar. Her dress was branded with a large white lotus flower in a way that she wanted everyone to see immediately.
It seemed like the man and the woman had just finished filing a report to the man sitting on the throne and he did not seem pleased.
"What do you mean they failed!" shouted the man, pounding his fist on the throne. "How could Roga's team fail?"
"Because they were weak, obviously," said the woman, rolling her eyes. "Isn't that why you hired us? Because the ninjas of your village aren't worth crap – "
"Guren," said the man sharply, and the woman instantly went quiet. "He is our employer. You must show your respect."
"Yes, my lord," said Guren, though she didn't sound happy.
"I am truly sorry your men have disappointed you, Lord Doto," said the man respectfully. "But rest assure, Guren and I will handle the matter personally."
"Are you sure you'll be able to handle it?" asked Doto suspiciously. "It seems like the enemy has hired shinobi from one of those teams in that ridiculous International Selection. It's unlikely you'll be going against a team with only one set of skills. On top of that, they've likely tightened their guard after Roga's failure.
"Do not worry yourself, Lord Doto," said the man. "We have yet to fail a mission. Come along, Guren," he commanded his partner, walking away.
"Yes, Lord Hanzo," said Guren.
Okay, now we're setting foot into some new territory here. I'm still using the Land of Waves Arc as a base, but this will involve a new plotline with some instances from the Clash in the Land of Snow movie, including new characters, new interactions, new fights, and soon, new jutsus.