Chapter 16
"Sometimes life just throws plot twist after plot twist at you. It's really frustrating at times, especially since you can't guarantee it'll eventually have a happy ending."
Masaru tried to make himself as small as possible as he stood next to Chouji, busy painting a fence. On the other side of the large genin he could spy Ino tilting her head back to get a better look at him, her icy blue eyes seeming to be on fire as she shot him a sly smile.
Of course. Of course when he finally got to work with a team from his graduating class, it would be the one with Ino on it. Because some greater power apparently found it hilarious to place him on the team with his only fangirl. From the second he met up with Team Ten to paint fences, the Yamanake heiress had been all over him, fluttering her eyelashes and flipping her hair over her shoulder with coy little comments.
Considering Masaru still had the social prowess of a skittish cat, he did not take well to the flirting.
Shuddering as she batted her eyelashes, he unwittingly emitted a small whimper and tightened his grip on his paintbrush until his knuckles turned white. Chouji—sweet, gentle, kind-hearted Chouji—turned to offer him a worried look. "Hey, are you okay Masaru?" he asked, genuinely concerned. "You seem kinda freaked out."
"I'm f-fine," Masaru croaked, sweat rolling down his face as he tried to ignore the feeling of Ino's eyes boring into him. Right now, Chouji might be his favorite person in the world. Had he not happened to stand next to Masaru when they started painting, he would have had no buffer against the crazy overbearing kunoichi.
Somewhere on Ino's other side, a sigh could be heard followed by a faint mumble that sounded vaguely like the word "troublesome". "Oi, Ino, knock it off," Shikamaru drawled, sounding vaguely irritated.
"Hey, mind your own business pineapple head!" Ino snapped, huffing childishly as he glared at him. Looking bored as ever, Shikamaru leaned back slightly to look at Masaru, who by this point had shut down and locked into "stress smile" mode.
"She's scaring you, right?" he asked flatly. Masaru made a small distressed noise while retaining that nervous smile, too terrified to bob his head in confirmation. Sweet oblivious Chouji shot Masaru a curious glance, the gears in his head visibly turning as he processed this new bit of information and the panicked smile plastered on the Uchiha's face.
"Yeah, I'd say she is," he agreed after a moment of thought. "You might want to tone it down, Ino."
"What?" At this point Ino physically stepped back from the fence to scrutinize Masaru more closely, and in response to her intense stare his strained smile grew about two centimeters. "Oh, come on! Look at him, he's smiling!"
"...Isn't the Yamanaka clan supposed to be known for reading people?" Shikamaru sighed, shaking his head, and Ino stiffened.
"Shikamaru... Are you calling me dumb?" Her face grew dark, her eye visibly twitching as she glared at him. Watching the pair stare each other down, after about three seconds Chouji abruptly grabbed Masaru's arm and dragged him away from the fence at lightning speeds. Masaru yelped in surprise and dropped his brush, shooting the previously timid-seeming boy a bewildered look.
"Chouji?" he questioned, and the Akimichi boy shot him a nervous smile.
"Sorry, you don't want to be in the blast zone when those two get at it."
"Blast zone? What—" Before he could finish talking he heard a loud crash followed by a high-pitched shriek, and he whipped his head around to see Ino staring at Shikamaru in shock, a large white splotch staining the front of her top. Judging by the brush at her feet, and Shikamaru's suddenly empty hand, well. He had a pretty good idea what happened.
"Told you not to charge at me," the Nara deadpanned, confirming Masaru's theory, and Ino's face turned absolutely murderous.
"SHIKAMAAAARU!"
As Masaru and Chouji watched Ino fling herself at her teammate with a feral cry from a safe distance, the Uchiha found his mind wandering to his cousin. Just a few hours ago he'd stood at the gates to see off Team Seven as they embarked on their first mission outside the village. Escorting a bridge builder to the Land of Waves hardly seemed glamorous, but compared to this, he couldn't help but feel just a little envious.
Hopefully they were having better luck than he was.
"Er... Naruto, if you lose any more blood, you'll bleed out."
The blonde shouted in shock and started panicking as he stared at his bleeding hand, dropping his kunai. "CRAP! I DON'T WANT TO DIIIIIEEEE!" As he freaked out his teammates and teacher just watched in various states of resignation, Sasuke seeming faintly annoyed while Sakura just sighed and walked over.
"Calm down and hold out your hand," she ordered levelly, producing a roll of bandages from her pouch. Naruto quickly complied, still looking fairly distressed at the prospect of potentially dying of blood loss. Kakashi watched her clean and wrap the wound with a keen eye before turning to the two prisoners bound in chains.
Barely a couple hours out, and their mission had already gone upside-down. Tazuna had lied about the actual nature of the mission. Instead of a simple escort, they had to help save a country from a tyrannical business mogul who had monopolized the economy and isolated the nation from the rest of the world. Politics. Peh.
On the bright side, they didn't have to kill said tyrannical business mogul to save the Land of Waves. As long as Tazuna could build the bridge, Gato would lose his control over the commerce and they could trade with other nations freely.
On the other hand though... Assassination would honestly be quicker and easier. Gato would surely send endless legions of assassins after Tazuna to prevent him from finishing the bridge, and given his budget he had plenty of options when hiring mercenaries. The Demon Brothers would likely be on the weaker end of the spectrum.
Alas, killing such a powerful and important businessman could cause various problems for Konoha in the long run, so Kakashi couldn't do that. But maybe if he nudged some more vindictive residents... no, no, he couldn't involve civilians. He sighed at the thought, resigned to the fact that his mission would likely be even more difficult than he anticipated right now.
When they arrived at the Land of Waves, his suspicions proved right. "Get down!" he ordered, dragging Tazuna as he and his students dropped to the ground. A flash of silver swung overheard with a loud, reverberating swoosh, narrowly missing their heads. As Kakashi followed the movement he quickly identified it as a large sword, his eyes narrowing as it crashed into a tree.
He gritted his teeth as he quickly got to his feet, clutching a kunai with a death grip as he glared at a figure that landed on the blade's handle. Behind him Kakashi could hear his students springing into a defensive formation around Tazuna, and if not for the severity of the situation Kakashi might feel a bit of pride for thinking to do so without orders. As it stood though, he kept his gaze trained on the new arrival, too busy running calculations of the upcoming battle to think about that.
"Well, well, well," drawled the man, turning his head slightly to face them. "What do we have here."
Gato had definitely spared no expense in hiring mercenaries. No matter how desperate he may have become for income after defecting from Kiri, Momochi Zabuza definitely would not come cheap.
"Protect Tazuna and don't interfere," he ordered his genin. "This man is far beyond your league." Though he didn't look back he could imagine them nodding, their faces filled with that same resolve they'd shown when requesting the mission and discussing the Chuunin Exams. Funnily enough, it occurred to him that if they survived this mission, Kakashi would have absolutely zero qualms entering them into the exams.
Jaw clenching, Kakashi reached for his headband to reveal his secret weapon, already knowing he'd need it to survive this fight.
Obito, I'm counting on you to give me a hand...
"You are weak, boy. So weak and pathetic."
Cold sweat dripped down Naruto's face as he watched Kakashi-sensei clash with the enemy, their figures little more than blurs in the hazy white mist shrouding the area. Nauseating killing intent radiated from both Kakashi and the enemy, so thick and heavy even Sasuke seemed paralyzed.
"You can't even think clearly right now, can you?"
The loud clank of metal died down as Naruto squeezed his eyes shut, sucking in a sharp breath.
"Pathetic. Truly, truly pathetic."
Amber liquid pooled around his legs as he stood in a sewer, giant steel bars towering above him and disappearing in the abyss. Red eyes glowed in the darkness high above him, inhuman lips curling back in a mocking sneer that exposed row upon row of jagged white teeth.
"Look at you," the monster taunted, leering at the blond disdainfully. "You can't even do anything, can you? You never can. You're just a weak, useless waste of space."
"Shut up!" Naruto roared, fury blazing in his blue eyes as he snarled at the physical embodiment of hatred. "Shut up, shut up, SHUT UP! I know what you're doing, you bastard, and it ain't gonna work! I'm never gonna give you control of my body you damn fox!"
The giant fox laughed, a dark rumbling noise full of malice and mocking. "Perhaps not now," the Kyuubi jeered, "But you will someday."
Naruto's eyes popped open in the real world, a flash of hateful red sparking in the blue orbs before vanishing once more, his teeth grinding in frustration.
In Konoha, a certain story circulated among the villagers, a horrible memory spoken only in whispers and history books. One night, the Nine-tailed Fox suddenly attacked Konoha, causing widespread destruction and death. The Fourth Hokage valiantly battled against it for hours, but in the end he could not defeat it without sacrificing his life.
What most versions of the story omitted was that the Kyuubi could not die like a normal creature though, as it had no physical form. Instead, the Hokage chose to seal it in a newborn baby to end its rampage.
That baby had been Uzumaki Naruto.
Naruto had not been told of his burden. He had found out on his own after a particularly bad birthday which ended with the fox feeding on his overwhelming grief to try to possess him. Ever since then, he'd been forced to interact with his unwanted prisoner on a somewhat regular basis, the fox pulling him into the seal to tempt him into using its power.
Right now, the fox certainly had plenty of fodder.
At long last he got to go on his first C-rank mission, finally setting foot outside Konoha and beginning the illustrious ninja career he'd always dreamed about. Yet when faced with his first enemies, he froze.
He just stood paralyzed as Kakashi-sensei seemed to die and couldn't move, not even when one of the enemies hurled a barrage of shuriken in his direction. If not for Sakura pulling him out of the way and Sasuke halting their attacks, he would've been shredded just like Kakashi. As it stood he provided barely any assistance in their first battle, forcing Sakura to protect both him and the client, and he still got poisoned.
When they arrived at the Land of Wave and nearly got their heads lopped off by a giant sword hurled through the air like a kunai, he didn't freeze up again. Naruto felt a fiery determination ignite in him as he moved to guard the client with his teammates, determined not to be a liability. One bad start would be enough, this time he'd actually do something and be a hero!
And yet—he couldn't do anything.
"Everyone! Take Tazuna and run! He can't move while maintaining the water prison!"
Kakashi's voice came out garbled and distorted as he screamed from within the sphere of water imprisoning him, his eyes wide and qwild with panic. The trio of genin stood facing Zabuza in horror, Naruto panting as he glared at Zabuza's foot atop his fallen hitai-ate. He understood now, they didn't stand a chance. He might be Hokage someday, but right now he was just a genin. He didn't have the power to take him on, and neither did Sasuke or Sakura.
He could feel the Kyuubi's taunting smirk, soft whispers echoing in his mind as it tried to coax him into using its power. Naruto's hands clenched into fists at his side as he pushed it away, shoving down his overwhelming fear.
Fire ignited in him once more and he rushed forward, ignoring his teammates' startled shouts. Through some quick moves and a small feint he managed to retrieve his hitai-ate from the missing-nin before retreating. "I won't give in," he growled, tying his forehead protector in its rightful place, the engraved leaf gleaming proudly atop his forehead.
He wouldn't surrender to Zabuza or let the fox gain control.
Brute strength wouldn't work this time, they needed to fight smart. Naruto knew better than anyone he didn't have a naturally strategic mind, but right now he needed to think of a plan. Inspiration struck and his hands flew into a now-familiar seal, dozens of shadow clones popping into existence. They flung themselves at Zabuza with a roaring battle cry, piling atop him in a giant mound of orange.
As the swordsman began slashing through them, Naruto hid behind one and transformed into windmill shuriken, having the clone throw it to Sasuke. To his credit, Sasuke seemed to recognize the plan immediately and did exactly as Naruto wanted, throwing his own shuriken at the same time and having Naruto hide in its shadow. Zabuza clearly didn't have any expectations in their abilities, so they'd count on him to underestimate them.
Sure enough Zabuza caught the real shuriken and easily jumped over Naruto without releasing his hold on the water prison. As he did though Sakura unleashed a flurry of her own shuriken in the swordsman's direction with an angry shout, her eyes burning with a steely resolve. Her attack did little good as Zabuza easily blocked them with the windmill shuriken, so it barely served as more than a brief distraction.
Naruto could work with that.
Dispelling the transformation, Naruto quickly flung a kunai at Zabuza's arm from behind. The Mist-nin swiveled his head to look at the blonde in surprise, swinging the windmill shuriken to deflect the last of Sakura's shuriken even as he moved to dodge, but it was too late. Even as he jerked his arm away from the water prison Naruto's kunai managed to graze his forearm, drawing a line of blood before barreling into the water clone in front of him.
Winning was outside their reach. But if Naruto could break the water prison and release Kakashi, then Kakashi could handle the rest.
The clone burst in near unison with the sphere, both collapsing into a giant pool of water that crashed into the lake. Zabuza looked even angrier than before, his murderous intent spiking as he spun and swung his sword at Naruto. It proved futile though, because the plan had worked. Kakashi suddenly appeared between them and blocked the blade with the metal plate on his glove, his Sharingan eye burning as he glared at Zabuza.
"Well done, you three," he said, and the three genin perked at the praise, unable to help the small but proud smiles as they quickly regrouped on land.
From that point on Kakashi had the upper hand in the battle, mimicking Zabuza's jutsu even as he made the first hand sign. Towering spirals of water rose from the lake and formed into twin dragons, eyes flashing gold as they crashed into each other. The sheer epicness of the battle left Naruto in awe. Now that Kakashi was winning, he didn't need to be so on edge, which meant he could focus on other things.
"Dammit, Kakashi-sensei's been holding back on us!" he growled to his teammates. Sakura shot him a look of disbelief, her stance faltering slightly.
"Seriously, Naruto!?" she hissed. "You're gonna talk about that now!? When we're up against a rogue ninja who almost beat Kakashi!?"
"...Actually, I think he's right," Sasuke grumbled, making both Naruto and Sakura spin to face him in shock. Teme, agreeing with Naruto? This mission just kept throwing surprises their way one after another, didn't it?
That sentiment proved even more accurate when, after Kakashi pinned Zabuza and prepared to deal the final blow, senbon suddenly flung into the missing-nin's neck. Kakashi stepped back as an unknown ninja appeared out of no where, catching everyone by surprise. Though he wore a mask he seemed young, his height closer to theirs and his soft voice showing him to be in the throes of puberty.
To call Naruto stunned would be an understatement. This—this kid, so obviously close to their own age, just managed to take down Zabuza—Zabuza, who was so strong and almost killed them—with a needle. His stomach churned in disbelief and he felt rage start to surge through him, because how? How could he be that strong?
"Naruto, in this world there are children who are younger than you and stronger than me."
Kakashi's words flooded him with a spike of frustration and rage. Retrieving Zabuza's still form, the Hunter-nin thanked them for their aid in taking down Zabuza and disappeared in a flurry of leaves, but it didn't lessen Naruto's frustration. Shouting angrily, the blonde ran to the spot he stood and started pounding the ground.
"What was all this for?! What are we anyway!? Why are we so pathetic!"
He could hear Kakashi approach but didn't stop pounding, didn't look at him until the man caught his arm. "Things like this happen when you're a ninja," he informed the blond, his voice grave and bordering on apathetic. "If you're frustrated, apply it next time!" Shaking as he suppressed a rage-induced sob, Naruto let his arm go limp and Kakashi released his wrist, allowing his arm to fall to his side.
Satisfied Naruto understood his point, Kakashi turned to the others. "The mission isn't over yet. We need to take Tazuna home." The others straightened at the reminder of their mission, having temporarily forgotten about it in the chaos.
The bridge builder in question released a loud laugh, flashing them a bright grin. "So sorry, everyone! You can rest at my house!"
"Okay. Everyone!" Kakashi's volume rose, his voice switching to the more commanding tone of a military leader commanding his soldiers. "Let's perk up and go." Nodding, the trio of genin and their client began following him. However, Kakashi barely moved a step before he froze, his body twitching before he toppled forward.
"Kakashi-sensei!" Shouts of horror rose from the genin as they watched their teacher fall the genin, even ever-stoic Sasuke joining in with a look of horror. Rushing to his side, Sakura dropped to her knees and pressed her fingers to his neck, her lips pressed together in a firm line as the others formed a circle around the fallen jounin.
"His pulse is there," she told them. "I... I can't be sure, but I think he passed out from chakra exhaustion." The others exchanged grim looks at the diagnosis.
"Is that bad?" Tazuna asked warily, looking between the grave genin worriedly.
"It means he used too much chakra in the fight," Sakura explained. "I read about it in my free time, and he should recover if he rests." Sasuke stared at Kakashi with narrowed eyes, seeming deep in thought as he considered something. After a moment he rose, his back straight as he turned to face their client.
"Tazuna, you're the tallest one here. Can you carry him?" The bridge builder looked at him in surprise but quickly nodded.
"Yeah, that's the least I can do." The genin stepped back as the elderly man bent down to heft Kakashi up, slinging one of his arms over his shoulder. Rising to his full height with a grunt, he turned and said, "Come on, I live this way." The genin nodded and started following him, only to freeze when Kakashi suddenly disappeared.
Kunai instantly slid into their hands as the genin leaped into a defensive formation around Tazuna, Sakura absently holding out a hand to steady the bridge builder as he nearly toppled at the sudden disappearance of Kakashi's weight. "What the hell?!" Naruto sputtered, looking around wildly in search of their sensei.
"Shit, there's more?" Sasuke hissed, tightening his grip on his kunai.
Spying a flash of movement in the trees, Naruto snapped his head in its direction only to freeze. Color drained from his face as he stared, his grip on his kunai momentarily loosening. "G-guys," he whispered, and his teammates glanced at him before following his gaze and instantly stiffened.
A man in a hooded black cloak stood atop one of the tree branches, his form blurred by the lingering mist. Shadows shrouded his features beneath the hood, making it hard to make out any details, but they could catch a glimpse of a bright crimson mask covering his face. What truly worried them though was the sight of Kakashi slung over his shoulder, his form limp and unmoving.
Their breaths caught in their throats as they stared at him, their faces darkening with identical displays of horror and apprehension. "K-K-Kakashi-sensei," Sakura whispered, the name coming out as a shaky breath that trembled as much as her body. The stranger waved his free hand in an animated wave, his head tilting to the side slightly.
"Hello there," he greeted in a surprisingly chipper tone, and Naruto could almost hear the smile under the red mask. "Sorry to intrude. I just need to borrow your sensei for a bit."
What? The trio grew even tenser at his words, their eyes widening. This time, Naruto recovered first, and when he did he felt unbridled rage. Roaring furiously, he launched himself at the man and wound his arm back.
"Let him go, you bastard!" he snarled, flinging the kunai with his full strength. Before it could hit him though the man disappeared—no, "disappear" sounded too normal. He seemed to blink out of existence, his form not even flickering as he vanished. Naruto stumbled in shock at the sheer abruptness of it and lost his balance, crashing into the ground with an 'oof'.
"Tsk, tsk, Naruto," scolded a voice from somewhere within the trees, its location impossible to pinpoint as it seemed to echo around the trio. "Don't rush unknown opponents head-on. That's, like, Ninja Strategy 101. Kakashi really needs to work on his teaching, huh?" The insult rankled Naruto's nerves, his eyes flashing dangerously as he gritted his teeth.
"Hey! Don't even think about badmouthing him! Kakashi-sensei might be lazy and perverted and super-late all the time, but he's an awesome ninja!"
"Wow, that is such a glowing review," Sakura quipped sarcastically, though she still remained tense and rigid. Her hands shook as she clutched her kunai, her eyes darting around the clearing in search of the enemy. Sasuke seemed just as tense and on edge, but neither of them broke away from Tazuna's side.
"What do you want?" Sasuke demanded lowly. The man's thoughtful hum seemed to echo around them.
"Well, a lot of things, I guess. But right now? I just need to borrow your sensei. Just for a little bit, that's all. I'm sure I'll be done before Zabuza-san wakes up."
The last sentence struck the three genin like an electric bolt, their postures going rigid as their breaths caught in their throats. What...?
"Wakes up?" Surprisingly Tazuna was the one to break the stunned silence, his jaw dropping in horror as his shoulders rose in apprehension. "You mean that guy's still alive!?"
"Hell no!" Naruto exploded, springing to his feet and whirling around in search of the enemy. "Don't lie to us! There's no way he's alive, you're just trying to throw us off!"
"Yeah!" Sakura agreed, nodding with firm conviction as she collected her nerves. "We saw it happen, the Hunter-nin hit him with a senbon right in the back of—" She abruptly cut off with a gasp, her eyes widening as she staggered back. "The... the neck..." Her voice tapered off at the end, prompting her teammates to shoot her worried looks. The kunoichi had a stunned look on her face, her eyes wide as she stared vacantly into the distance.
"Sakura?" Naruto ventured, unsettled by the strange look on her face. Even Sasuke seemed a bit unnerved by it, concern actually flickering in his face briefly before quickly schooling it back into that stoic scowl he always wore.
"Sakura, what's going on?" he questioned, turning his gaze back to the surroundings. Sakura audibly swallowed next to him, taking a deep, shuddery breath as she shook her head.
"There—there aren't any vital points in the neck that could be lethal if targeted by senbon. Kunai and shuriken, of course, but... Senbon are too precise, they're only lethal if they hit specific vital points." Gulping loudly, she inhaled sharply and declared, "That hunter-nin—he wasn't real. He must be working with Zabuza. Which means Zabuza—he's alive."
She whispered the last word, unable to bring herself to say it any louder, yet it seemed to ring through the clearing all the same. Naruto and Sasuke both froze, their eyes widening with disbelief. Laughter began to echo around them once more, and a black form materialized several meters away from them.
"Ding ding ding, we have a winner!" the stranger declared, awkwardly shifting Kakashi's weight on his shoulder so he could applaud in approval. "Wow, really weird to clap with a guy on your—woop!" He stepped to the side as a flurry of kunai and shuriken surged past him, shaking his head with a sigh. "Rude."
"You're kidnapping our sensei and you're calling us rude!?" Naruto stammered in disbelief, and the man shrugged.
"Well, yeah. I mean, I don't interrupt you when you talk, do I? Anyways, more importantly, yes, Zabuza is alive, but he'll be paralyzed from the neck down for a bit. I estimate it'll take him about, oh, one, two weeks, to recover?" Shrugging lazily, he continued blithely, "I think I'll be done with Kakashi by then, but you should probably get to training, just in case."
"What the hell do you want with Kakashi?" Sasuke growled, but he didn't move to attack him, still remaining close to Tazuna. "Where are you taking him?"
"That's for me to know, and you to find out. He'll thank me for it later, trust me. Or don't, since ninja shouldn't trust masked strangers that easily. Anyways, on that note, I should really get going. The sooner I get started, the sooner I can get him back to you guys. So sorry again for the interruption. Later!"
The man raised his hand to his forehead in a mockery of a salute and blinked out of existence once more, leaving the trio of genin staring at the space he just occupied in shock. Slowly processing what just happened, Naruto felt his knees give way as he fell to the ground, barely registering a shaken whispered "no" from Sakura and an angry hiss of frustration from Sasuke.
Inside his head he could hear the Kyuubi's mocking laughter thunder loudly, its mouth twisting into a taunting smirk.
"Like I said," it sneered, crimson eyes glimmering with sadistic glee. "Useless." Naruto ground his teeth and roared in frustration, his head tilting back as he screamed to the heavens.
"DAMMIIIIIITT!"
A/N: And so canon begins shattering. Bet none of you saw that coming either, did you?
