Chapter 1-30

He stared at me and laughed while I felt the gazes of my team.

His laugh was low, cruel, and mocking, which was only reinforced by him leisurely strolling towards us. His sword began to audibly slice through the air in big lazy swings, perhaps one part loosening up and one part intimidation.

And yet here I was, almost smiling.

The tiniest part of me hoped for a spectacular confrontation, blood, death, and carnage, just so I could slip away and simply… go home.

'Sorry Hokage-sama, mission failed, my bad'

"What if don't care?" he asked, making a grand show of truly not giving a fuck about his comrades.

I watched him come closer, perhaps in an effort to intercept me, but I was unbothered and couldn't help but sigh in annoyance at the unbelievable drag my life had become.

"But you do," I responded, making absolutely sure my tone suggested, that I was giving about as much fucks about the outcome of this situation as he was pretending to give about his little boy-wonder.

"You believe me," I continued, unhurriedly going into a small crouch for a shunshin, while my chakra hovered around the tenketsus holding the first and second gate. "And your chakra spiked just for a heartbeat when you heard my threat."

"Now then," feeling the tiniest hints of boredom and annoyance slip through my mask of cold professionality I gave him a flat stare and a final ultimatum. "I will consider your next step your final answer."

It was a glorious moment.

I felt everybody tense up, their chakra taut like a wire, they all believed me. My team even more so, because they stood between Zabuza and me. Zabuza would have to go through them to prevent me from gunning for his comrade.

A little fact, that made me unreasonably confident, and them highly uncomfortable…to put it mildly.

My focus was now sorely on Zabuza and his chakra. Even the most minor surge would be my go signal, and this was exactly the reason why I immediately sensed the moment when the tension left his coils and pathways.

His posture remained taut, but beneath the skin was another story.

Still, I remained poised.

I wanted visibly confirmation of his decision.

"You mouthy little rat," his laugh was cruel and mocking again, but there was something menacing lurking in between.

"Unmo," he called. "I have one condition!"

Slowly but surely the tension left everybody except me.

I was still secretly hoping for an escalation so I could fail my mission and go home.

But, ...no such luck for me, apparently.

Seeing that tiny little spark of hope rapidly dying I quickly and thoroughly buried my streak of insubordination deep into the back of my mind and watched my superior perk up.

"I want this little bastard on my team."

Oh, joy!

"Why am I on his team, too?" Chōjūrō cried out in despair dodging massive sword strikes and hails of icy needles.

"Shut up and be grateful to learn from one of the Seven!" I shouted back and readied Kiba, the pair of swords while impossibly light and sharp, still felt incredibly awkward with the weird prongs on each of them.

At least it was a good sign, I reckoned, that I was even allowed to practice with them before they went back into the Ao's custody and Chōjūrō's Hiramekarei was locked back up at the base.

Practice, yes. Ownership, not yet.

"What do you think this is about?" Chōjūrō asked me, a hint of worry in his tone.

"I mean, why so close to the village?" he continued, his eyes wandering to our teammates.

Haku the picture of serenity with his eyes closed and his chakra as tranquil as a glacier was the exact opposite of 'Sensei' Zabuza, who practically radiated irritation. He was obviously more than just uncomfortable being this close to his former home and more importantly the man he had failed to kill the last time he had been here.

I shrugged, having honestly no idea since it wasn't every day one of Unmo's summons bids you to race to the village outskirts for a meeting with Mei Terumi of all people.

Not feeling like giving Chōjūrō the runaround or letting the silence become awkward I hazard a guess, that was more than a bit farfetched but something fun to think about.

"Maybe she will tell us, that Zabuza-sensei's missing-nin status was rescinded and she wants us to prepare for the next chunin-exam in Konoha. I heard someone mention it at the base, that it's supposed to be in three or four months." I answered with a shrug and a smile in my voice.

"Tsk." I heard Zabuza's clear irritation, but I couldn't help but poke the bear.

"Come on, us versus some genins, you know it would be funny."

Just like good old times, I thought as my genuine cheer took a sharp turn towards cruel self-deprecation.

Speaking of old times.

"Incoming in ten seconds, six o'clock, Unmo, Gozu, and Meizu," I relayed dutifully to my team and slipped back into a slightly more professional mode.

There had been some shuffling since Zabuza and friends had been recruited.

It had been quite obvious almost from the start, that we, as in me, Chōjūrō, Haku under the guidance and leadership of Zabuza were meant to be the new and shiny core of the next government's Seven Swordsmen.

Which was nice and dandy for us, but it also meant, that Unmo, who was now leading the Demon Brothers, had gotten the rather unfulfilling job of being Mei Terumi's glorified messenger.

He basically had to always remain near the village, but obviously of off sight, just in case Terumi-sama had the need for his seagull summons to relay an urgent message.

Luckily for him and everybody involved he was smart and professional enough to know, that while maybe boring his part was simply too crucial for the rebel effort.

By now it was obvious to everyone, that every week this cold war could become very hot very quickly and when push comes to shove the rebels just couldn't afford to lose precious time with something as essential as gathering manpower.

Sigh...

Aaaanyway…

"Unmo," Zabuza growled as a way of greeting when the three-man-squad dropped into the clearing. "Why are we here?" he immediately asked, not even giving the man in question the second to right himself.

"I don't know, Terumi-sama's Shadow Clone gave the order to gather and according to it she's on her way, too."

Having sensed our esteemed leader racing towards our position for quite some time now, I finally judged her distance to be in a believable range for my character and dutifully gave a heads-up for everybody present once again.

"Incoming in 30 seconds, four o'clock, it's Terumi-sama." I stated and watched as everybody seemingly decided to hold their tongue until the boss-lady was here.

3…2…1

And there she was.

Her chakra was as extraordinary as her cleavage, which instantly forced me to make an honest effort to keep my eyes above her neckline, which truth be told wasn't much of a loss either.

I could see and understand why people would rally behind her.

"Gentlemen," Mei Terumi said calmly, an aura of a true leader surrounding her.

"Terumi-sama," Unmo and Chōjūrō instantly stood at attention, while I tried not to look embarrassed at having missed my cue to join in.

"Thank you for coming," our leader began only for my idiot-'sensei' to cut in.

"Cut to the chase," he growled, perhaps becoming increasingly annoyed to be forced to come face to face with someone in a position he dearly wished he was in this close to the place of his greatest failure.

Still…rude and uncalled for in my opinion and apparently, I wasn't the only one thinking along those lines.

Unmo and Chōjūrō looked downright offended on Mei's behalf, even Haku gave Zabuza the stink eye, which I thought was hilarious and rather telling in itself.

Mei gave him a flat stare for a few heartbeats, while we watched on…and then simply focused on us and Unmo.

I couldn't help but smile at our leader effortlessly brushing off the disrespect while simultaneously disregarding the offender, which simply must piss off Zabuza even more.

He was a great shinobi, a powerful swordsman, and a harsh but effective teacher, but more importantly, he was also a colossal asshole, which is why I was quite glad to see him receive a reminder, that he simply wasn't the biggest fish around.

"Mangetsu Hozuki was found dead, and his brother along with Nuibari is missing."

Terumi revealed flatly and I saw the words struck Zabuza more than anything else she could have come up with.

"What?! How?" he asked visibly reeling from the sudden loss of a former associate.

"Who would be capable of…"

"He was found poisoned," Mei went on before Zabuza could derail the matter at hand even further.

"I called you here so you can act as reinforcement to Ao and his team. They found a promising trail heading north apparently left by Suigetsu using their clan's secret technique."

"North? Do you think Kumo is involved?" Zabuza asked and by now I just heard cold hard professionalism in his voice.

"I don't want to jump to conclusions. You have a capable sensor and the power; I want you to help find him and resolve the situation as quickly as possible. Unmo, you and your squad, will join them and report to me as soon as possible. If this is truly Kumo's doing, we must prepare accordingly."