A/N: I promised divergence from canon, and now here it is.
And now I promise you reunions in this chapter.
Hopefully, this will interest some of you.
…
[Streets of Konoha]
The hustle and bustle of the village went on as Naruto walked home, holding a bag of groceries in one hand, and a bag of healing potions in the other. It was a necessity after having had to chase down the infamous cat Tora for her master Madam Shijimi for the third time this week. In all honesty, he didn't blame the cat for running from her master, nor did he blame her for the number of scratches she'd inflicted on him and Taeko; he could also see that Madam Shijimi loved her, albeit too much, hugging the cat too hard every time he saw them together, and he pitied her for that.
"Think it's gonna work, Ms. Ambassador?" Naruto teased.
"I dunno if it will," Taeko sighed ruefully.
"Well, with any luck, your attempt at playing interpreter pays off," he replied, jumping over a fence, "I don't want all our pay to go into Potions at the pharmacy…"
Naruto trailed off when he heard someone calling out, and a big brown horse speeding towards them. Naruto dropped his grocery bags, planting his feet to the ground with his arms outstretched; as soon as the horse neared him, he tackled it, pushing back with just enough force to stop its trajectory. The horse's momentum slowed to a halt before Naruto relaxed his stride, heaving a sigh of relief as he released his grip to pet it gently.
"CUT!" yelled a voice further down the road.
"What's the matter with you?!" asked a feminine voice atop the horse, "Are you trying to get yourself killed?"
Naruto was stunned to silence upon seeing the rider. She was older than him by quite a margin, possibly within her late-teens with dark hair and blue eyes, her skin pale from growing up in a cold location. Her features were very easy on the eyes, with naturally smooth skin under her low-key makeup, which made her fancy kimono and jewelry stand out all the more. He'd seen her in the movies often enough to know her by name.
"Is everyone okay?" called a man running towards them, "Is anyone hurt? What about you, Yukie?"
"Looks like everyone's fine, Makino," answered the woman in question, "Except for the kid here; he stopped Aiko with his bare hands."
Makino looked in Naruto's direction, not at all happy he was here. "What're you doing here anyway, kid? I thought we got permission from the Hokage to close off this section of road so we could film!"
"I normally cut through here to go home," Naruto countered, "Nobody told me about it 'cause I was busy all day."
Makino sighed in frustration. "Y'know what, we got most of the shot anyway; let's just re-roll."
Naruto could hear the annoyed moans of everyone down the road. "Sorry about that," he said, shrugging awkwardly, "Though I never thought I'd almost get run over by my favorite actress, Fujikaze Yukie; I like your 'Fūun-hime' series a lot better than both 'Viewtiful Joe' movies."
Yukie huffed angrily. "Just go before you get in even worse trouble."
"Can I at least get my groceries first?"
The actress said nothing, and instead chose to join her colleagues down the road. Taking that as his cue to hurry, he picked up his grocery bags and sped off. He was only thankful he didn't need to buy eggs today.
…
[Hiyōsai Hunting Hall]
Life went on in the Hunting Hall as people ate their fill before taking on missions, or celebrating after a particularly difficult hunt to the sound of the jukebox. Those that weren't celebrating were busy meeting with clients face-to-face, discussing the terms of their deals or signing contracts. Quite a few discussions could be heard, sometimes in agreement, or in heated payment disputes.
If they weren't eating, then they were occupied at the bar, some watching a football match between the Mizu no Kuni Ludroths and the Hi no Kuni Raths…a first since the Bloodline Rebels came out on top in their revolt against Yagura. Near the corner, quite a few Hunters were competing with Shinobi patrons at knife-throwing games with a thick stump as the target, or playing at the new pool table.
All this went on as Shirohige reclined in his seat, taking a sip from a beer cask while drinking in the sights of the Hunting Hall. Life was good, but still far from the future Minato had wanted to show him.
"Oi! Ossan!" called a feminine voice from below, "Beer again? Really!?"
Shirohige looked down and saw a doctor standing in front of him, wearing an exasperated frown. She had brown hair that was cropped to her shoulders, framing a face that was easy on the eyes with a pair of purple rectangular markings extending from her jaw to cheek. She was dainty, but more than capable of handling a thug or two if necessary…being one of the rare Shinobi with exceptional medical skills, she was never meant for the frontlines to begin with. Under her canvas jacket, she wore a skin-tight body glove with short sleeves and legs, over which she wore a pink apron-skirt.
She was accompanied by the next shift of shinobi nurses assigned to take care of him, most of whom were greenhorns that were intimidated by his enormous stature. She'd long since retired from active duty to pursue a full-time career as a doctor; rumor had it she'd spent time training under the renegade medic-nin Hazama Kuroo.
"It's one of the few pleasures I have left in my old age, Doc," Shirohige told her playfully.
"And I keep telling you, you'd last longer if you could just cut down on it, even a little bit," replied the doctor, sighing in resignation as she turned to regard her staff, "Everyone, you know your jobs. Once you're finished with the maintenance run, I will personally handle his health exam; after that, you will work in shifts over the month to keep everything running, and keep me in the loop of any changes to his health while I'm gone."
A male nurse that had been eyeing him with distaste decided to open his mouth. "But Sensei, he's-"
"-The person who raised the late Yondaime Hokage," interrupted the doctor, pinning down the greenhorn with a baleful stare, "So you will treat him like he's your grandpa." She then turned her attention to the rest of the team she'd assembled. "I brought all of you here because you need the experience before we let you graduate. Now, enough talk, time to get to work."
Shirohige snickered, until he coughed into his hand. He reclined back in his seat to allow the greenhorn nurses to do their work on the machines, all of them supervised by the veteran nurses present.
At the same time, the doctor looked up at him, her expression softening as she tenderly touched his leg. "As for you, you really need to take this more seriously, Ossan. You were supposed to live long enough to see the day when the Shinobi and Hunters really got along."
The old Guild Master snorted. "The day my son promised me is far off into the future; might as well enjoy what pleasures I have left in this life while I wait."
In addition to her regular duties, she'd been commissioned by Minato to be Shirohige's personal physician…after the Kyūbi Incident, she'd used that as an excuse to be Naruto's doctor as well, agreeing to tell nobody where he was. All things considered, while the old Guildmaster felt she could be trusted with a secret, the discovery of Naruto's existence was inevitable, so the old monkey was bound to find out the truth eventually.
"How are things with that tardy scarecrow brat?" Shirohige asked, "I rarely see his squirrely little ass with yours anymore."
"We went our separate ways a while ago," answered the doctor, knowing exactly who he was talking about, "I think it was for the best; I wouldn't want him to fail a mission if I was a hostage…that aside, I imagine he's busy now: he's Naruto's Jōnin sensei."
The old Wyverian cackled, trying to avoid another cough. "Ironic how things come full-circle. A shame what happened to that Uchiha-brat…I actually kinda liked him."
"I get your pain," replied the doctor.
"Don't worry about your lover," Shirohige assured, "If it's meant to be, then I'm sure he'll find his way back to you eventually. And if you're worried that he's going to be a bad teacher, then don't be; Minato was a good teacher, so I'm sure he'll do a good job."
The doctor nodded appreciatively, before seeing the signal from the veteran nurses that all the machines were in good, working order.
"And now it's time for me to get to work," she said, pulling a needle out from a pocket in her coat for a blood test.
…
[Hokage Tower]
Naruto stood with his team in front of the Hokage, debriefing him on yet another round of glorified chores around the village. The good news was that Taeko's words seemed to have solved their Tora problem for good; the bad news was that it was but a drop in a consistently full bucket of D-rank missions.
Iruka sat nearby, scribbling down the finishing touches for the report. He'd been put on a regimen of rest and Mega Potions, which enabled him to take off most of his bandages, though he still had his arm in a cast. "Well, it looks like the report for the Jagras subjugation mission is in order," he said, "And it looks like you still have the rest of the day to do more missions. So what do you want to do now? Janitor work at the hospital? Long-distance package delivery? Rustling some Aptonoth for the Akimichi farm?"
That last request was directed at Naruto more than anything. The farm that Team Seven were sent to was in need of more Aptonoth to operate their equipment after theirs were mauled by an Izuchi attack; a sentiment of which Naruto understood. While he had nothing against a perfectly good beef steak, Aptonoth meat was on a totally different level: it tended to be marbled from the get-go, was as nutritious as beef, and was just plain delicious all around. It was believed that once one tasted Aptonoth meat, they would not look in the direction of even fully-marbled beef.
The last mission they went on involved rustling wild Aptonoth and bringing them to the farm; it was a test of Naruto's tracking skills to find stray Aptonoth, and also served as a team-building exercise as they manipulated them into the small herd. Despite the fact that it took quite a bit of teamwork, and maybe Naruto's strength to manipulate them, the job was still fairly easy all things considered.
"Don't you have anything more challenging for us to do?" Naruto asked.
"Nya! We could've done these so-called 'missions' in our spare time!" Taeko agreed.
"Naruto, I know you and Taeko have been taking on missions for the Guild, but here it's different," Iruka admonished, "For a Genin like yourself, these D-rank missions are perfect for your le…"
"It's all right Iruka-kun," said the Hokage, "I knew this would happen eventually. Just as all Hunters need to take on harder missions to keep their skills sharp, so too do all Shinobi need a chance to prove themselves on the field. The only thing is that it's up to Kakashi-kun as to whether or not his team is ready for a harder mission." He then turned to regard Kakashi with a slightly more serious expression. "Think your team is up to the task?"
"I think it's about time for them to hit the ground running," said Kakashi, "They can't be doing D-ranks all their lives."
The Hokage smiled in approval before regarding the door behind them. "Then you may come in," he called out.
An old man with large, blue sunglasses walked into the office. Naruto recognized this man, as he'd had an encounter with him just a few days ago.
"Team Seven, this is Makino, director of the 'Fūun-hime' movies," the Hokage introduced, looking pointedly at Naruto and Taeko, "From what I understand, two of you have already met him by accident." He then turned his attention back to the Genin team. "He is hiring you as bodyguards for Fujikaze Yukie while she films her latest movie. They're not expecting any trouble from Shinobi, but once they're done filming here, this mission will take you all out of the country to Yuki no Kuni. However, there's a reason why this team specifically was assigned this mission, as Makino-san will explain."
"The troubles started happening not too long ago," Makino explained, "I needed to get excellent shots of snow year-round and I can't afford to wait around here for the snow season, so I announced that we'd be going to shoot in Yuki no Kuni. It wasn't too long after the announcement that Yukie started disappearing twice in a row now; it's only thanks to her assistant Sandayū Asama we were able to bring her back for filming."
"And you're afraid that one of these days, she's gonna disappear and never come back?" Kakashi asked.
"Which is why I specifically asked for a Shinobi team that's also good at tracking a fleeing actress," the director confirmed with a nod, "I would've preferred a more specialized team, but it's to my fortune that you have the Hunter I've encountered with you."
Kakashi turned to his team. "Well? Are we doing it?"
Naruto grinned. "Of course we're doing it."
Sasuke let out an affirmative 'hn' while Sakura pumped her fist in the air. "About time! I was getting bored of these D-ranks!"
"Then make your preparations, get plenty of rest, and meet at the director's office tomorrow," Kakashi said, "I will be sorely disappointed if you're ill-prepared for this mission." He then turned his attention to Makino. "When are we leaving?"
"Two days," replied the director, "We've got all the shots we need, so we're gonna spend the rest of the time packing up so we can go to Yuki no Kuni."
…
[Kuonji Arsenal, Konoha]
It was a tense time for Tenten as she took a sword to the polishing wheel. The client was an active Hunter who wanted to make sure his whole Hunting Trousse was given a more professional treatment to make sure they were working properly.
Once she'd gone over it in one more pass, she took a moment to check the polish and admire the blade. It was a full-tang, slightly curved spring-steel shortsword, with a broad blade roughly the length of an adult human thigh, and a thick spine to handle a lot of abuse as a machete.
She found herself almost mesmerized by the quality of the work done on the whole Hunting Trousse. Of the things she'd been hired to sharpen, the smaller pieces had been easy; the sword had taken nearly a day to run through the various belts on the grinder, before taking it to the polishing wheel to finish it off.
Tenten had heard of the Hunting Swords, blades normally used by Hunters as a versatile cutting tool during the Sengoku Basara, and to defend themselves against Shinobi looking to rob them. Nowadays, they were mostly seen in the hands of Guild Knights, but she'd heard that the older ones could fetch a high price in good condition and they completed a famous smith's debut set of hunting gear. If an apprentice smith couldn't even make a functional set of hunting tools, then any weapons and armor they made could put a hunter's life in danger.
After nearly an hour of work, she heard the bell at the front door chiming, telling her that a customer had arrived. "Coming!" Tenten shut off the polishing wheel and set down the blade to find her client waiting at the counter, his palico on his shoulder, both sporting hitai-ate. "Ah, hey, Naruto-kun! I was about to send a pigeon for you!"
Tenten had met Naruto shortly after he'd moved to Konoha, when he started his hunting career. At the time, he was having trouble finding a reputable place to sharpen his cutlery. Since then, he'd become a regular customer; he never bought any of her weapons, but he did make monthly appointments to have her sharpen his hunting knives and sword.
"Is my stuff ready for the next Hunt?" he asked.
Tenten produced the blade in question, her chest puffing up with pride as he inspected it. "As usual! Though don't be afraid to hand me your Hunter weapons when you get the chance."
"Maybe one of these days I will," Naruto said, giving the sword a few test swings before sheathing it, "How much do I owe you?"
"45,000 ryō, as usual," Tenten answered, printing out his receipt, "But if you really wanna thank me, then you can treat me to that barbecue I've heard you make."
Naruto fished out his wallet, counting the bills he had on him. "Totally worth it. But if you want that barbecue, just name the time and place."
"So how's the Shinobi life treating you?" she continued, waiting patiently for him to pay.
"It's getting better," he answered, pulling out a few bills with the Guild's crest printed on it, "We're actually doing a more serious mission this time. Going out to Yuki no Kuni for this one."
"I'd be very careful," Tenten advised him, "You never know what to expect on these missions. You think you're up for it?"
"Well, ever since we started taking on Shinobi missions, Taeko and I did improve our tracking skills," Naruto admitted as he placed the bills on the counter, "I had to buy a Scoutfly cage, and wound up using my binoculars more, but I think I'm a better scout now."
"We needed to, after chasing down that evil little furball too many times, nya," Taeko added, "Glad I convinced her master to be more careful."
Tenten immediately knew what they were talking about. Madam Shijimi's cat Tora had been used as a mission for genin for quite some time now…and nobody had the guts to tell the woman that she'd been strangling her own cat. She had a feeling that the Hokage was deliberately letting this happen though.
"I know your pain, I can't count the number of times she scratched me whenever I did those missions, so you have my thanks, Ms. Ambassador," she said sympathetically, before turning her attention to Naruto, "As for you, make sure you're careful when using those Scoutflies on your missions: if you can use them to track down targets, your enemies can use them to find you. That aside, did you see anything interesting in your time tracking down Tora?"
"Nope," Naruto replied, almost almost too quickly for her taste.
Tenten tilted her head in curiosity, noticing how his skin was subtly reddening. "What'd you see?"
"Nothing."
"Yeah, well your face says otherwise," she teased.
"Believe me Tenten, you really don't wanna know," Naruto insisted, "What I can tell you is that it was totally an accident."
There was no reason for Tenten to doubt Naruto; their relationship had been genial thus far, and he'd been nothing but nice to her in the time since they first met. She simply accepted the money and started counting the bills; ever since the Shodaime Hokage and Shirohige made their agreement long ago, the Shinobi Nations readily accepted zenny for goods and services. Given how much territory the Old World commanded, it was no surprise that the zenny had much more power than the ryō, at a rate of 100 ryō per zenny.
"Is that what I think it is?" Naruto asked.
Tenten looked over at the shelf behind her, and found a sword with a long, double-edged blade that gently flared into a rounded, axe-like tip. The blued steel cruciform guard and pommel were expertly crafted and fitted with red gem accents, and included the crest of the guild on the strong. The grip was wrapped in a reddish leather separated by a band of iron with knotwork carved in, with just enough length to comfortably fit three hands. The blade itself was made of polished bone, and seemed to be radiating heat with a darkened reddish hue. She eyeballed the whole thing to be no less than 100 centimeters long.
"Good eye, it's a Guild Knight's war sword," she confirmed, hefting the blade off its stand with a grunt of effort before setting it on the counter, "I found this one- oof! -a long time ago on a mission near Kaze no Kuni, buried in a skeleton's shoulder. Unlike the stuff you take on a hunt, this was meant to be a straight-up weapon of war; apparently Shirohige had these made during the Sengoku Basara so the Knights could fight Shinobi with proper weapons. Because they're built like regular Hunter weapons, and being that the Knights are still Hunters themselves, no two blades are alike; they even upgrade like Hunter weapons. It's too heavy for me to use well, so I decided to respect its last owner by taking care of it."
Naruto picked up the sword, and watched the edges of the blade heat up from a dark, cherry red to an angry orange and yellow. As he swung the sword with one hand to test the balance, he found the weapon to be a little tip-heavy, but still balanced enough for one- or two-handed swordplay, to the point where he could even use Longsword techniques with it. "How much do you want for it?"
"I'd normally be charging you 25,000 zenny since the only clients that'd buy this would probably be a Guild Knight or a museum," Tenten replied, "But I'm willing to part with it for 17,000 since we're friends. Just don't treat it like a wall-hanger, out of respect to the Knight that lost it, and keep it well-maintained."
Naruto smiled, fishing out the requisite bills. "Then you've got yourself a deal."
…
[Unknown location]
In the tundra, the shaggy giant ruled.
Not even the snow-heavy winds she had powered through earlier could stop her reign.
The area around her was littered with the bodies of five humans who'd wielded power over ice and snow. Their offense was menacing the timid little ball of puffy white fur that accompanied her, and had yet to develop any of her mother's righteous fury. The five of them thought they could dethrone her and take her daughter; they stood no chance against her, and those pointy little rocks they threw were useless.
While the queen had no love for their arrogance, she'd learned a long time ago that not every human was as cruel as the pathetic fools who menaced her daughter. Once, when she was her daughter's age, she met a young human female who found her while she was injured and separated from her mother. After that, the human came to treat her wounds away from prying eyes until the last day, when she disappeared for good. Ever since that day, she'd gotten strong enough to eventually take revenge on the Tigrex that had injured and orphaned her, and become a mother herself.
She'd lost all hope that she would see the human that helped her again, and time had not given her good encounters with humans…but she would never forget the kindness that was shown to her.
The queen thought of the future for her daughter, and hoped that she would have a fortunate encounter with a human like she did.
…
[En route to Yuki no Kuni, two days later]
The gentle whipping of the winds mixed in with a cacophony of the airship's spinning propellers and the subtle hint of flames licking the air as Naruto sat at the deck, hoping to kill some time in order to fall back to sleep. Sharpened senses allowed them to keep an ear out for the first sign of trouble even as he appreciated the colors of the night sky as he thought back on what he'd seen a few days ago. While he was on escort duty to make sure Yukie didn't run away, they'd been accosted by a few fangirls who were asking for an autograph…only for her to shut them down in the rudest way possible. Well, I guess I can forget about getting one myself, he thought to himself.
Naruto heard footsteps rounding the corner, and looked around to find his companion. He was dressed in a light blue shirt with an indigo jacket and beige pants, and round glasses that framed a pair of squinted eyes. Graying sideburns merged with a small beard and mustache.
"Mind if I sit next to you?" he asked, closing the door behind him.
Naruto waved nonchalantly as the older man took a seat next to him. He'd found her just fine before Team Seven was assigned their mission, and he seemed very loyal and obedient, to a degree. When they both found Yukie in a bar, downing several glasses of booze, it seemed that the old man was at wit's end with her; only Pops was scarier when sufficiently angered.
"First mission?" Asama asked.
"Yeah, as a Shinobi," Naruto answered, looking at the older man, "Though I'm guessing you've seen your fair share of action?"
Asama raised an eyebrow in curiosity. "What makes you say that?"
"I grew up around a lot of veteran Hunters, so I can usually tell when someone's faking it," explained the Ryōshinobi, "You look like a guy that used to be on active duty, but still has some fight left in him…sorta like Pops."
"Pops?"
"Yeah, Shirohige."
Asama looked at the Hunter with disbelief in his eyes. "He's still alive?"
"Yep."
Asama turned his attention back to the setting sun. "To think that a legend from the Sengoku era like him is still alive."
"You've been in a war?" Naruto asked.
"I was a samurai once," Asama admitted, "I've long since retired though."
"Any pointers?"
"Your first battle is always going to be the hardest," Asama began, "Try to keep your mind open so that you can solve problems as they come."
"Is that how you're able to put up with her?" Naruto asked, indicating Yukie.
"Her situation is…more complicated than you think," replied the old warrior, as he stood up, "But I can say that she wasn't always like that."
Naruto grunted. "Doesn't excuse her being a pain in the ass, does it?" Nevertheless, he watched as Asama left the area, before returning to his team's cabin, hoping to catch some sleep before they arrived.
He woke hours later with Taeko before the rest of his team, in order to do a gear check. Giving his items and blades a final check, the Hunter-Palico duo began placing hard plates inside hidden compartments in his tracksuit. It was not as protective as his Hunter armor, but the ceramic plates were light and provided ample protection against kunai and shurikens. Of course, he also brought along his actual armor, in case longer battles sprung up.
It was for this reason that he'd prepared the way the non-Knight Ryōshinobi did during the Sengoku era. In addition to his hunting knife and sword, which he kept as an improvised set of Dual Blades, he also sealed a ranged Hunter weapon and plenty of ammo and a heavy Hunter melee weapon in a special bracer. He also kept his kunai and shuriken in the satchel at the small of his back, along with a separate storage scroll containing a plethora of traps and provisions, particularly Hot Drinks, which he got at a discount from the Haruno's shop.
As he finished his gear check, Naruto watched Sakura and Sasuke rouse from their sleep while Taeko made sure to check her own armor and weapons. "What're you doing up so early?" Sakura asked groggily.
"Making sure I've got everything ready before we head out," Naruto replied, putting all his equipment back.
Sasuke stretched, yawning. "And what if you don't have everything?"
Naruto shrugged as he continued packing. "Then I'll find what I need on the field."
The door to the cabin opened as Kakashi walked in. "We're almost there, so I would take this opportunity to re-check your gear, make any last-minute preparations, and stretch out."
There was nothing else to say. Naruto and Taeko gave their blades a light sharpening as they waited for Sakura and Sasuke to be done with their preparations before the four of them started stretching together. It would be an hour before the airship Taihōmaru landed at the dock. A Popo caravan was waiting for them; one with a wagon for transporting the cast and crew, the others for the movie equipment.
Naruto sat atop the wagon with Taeko, serving as an overwatch while drinking in the sights of the countryside. It was a wide expanse of white and baby blue snow and ice, which contrasted with the darker colors of trees and rocks that occasionally broke through the monotony. Off to the side, he could see wild Popo and Anteka grazing near a stream, while a Beotodus lurked in the snow nearby, waiting for a chance to strike. A little further up ahead, he could see the woolly form of a Banbaro making its rounds in the forest for food to eat, only to be ambushed by a Barioth that had been hunting it. Overall, Naruto felt that the ecosystem of Yuki no Kuni was very healthy…and yet, something seemed amiss to him.
"See anything interesting from up there?" Kakashi asked.
"Looks to me like the game's still very plentiful here," Naruto answered, "And if I'm being honest, I'd want to visit these hunting grounds one of these days…"
"Maybe you will," replied the teacher.
"I think we've found a good spot to shoot," Makino called out, pointing at a clearing in a nearby valley, "That clearing over there!"
"You see anything wrong, Naruto?" Kakashi asked.
Naruto looked through his binoculars, finding nothing but snow in the clearing as it ran up to an icy cliff face. "It looks clear, but I don't trust it. Either way, it's probably best to take a look before we do anything."
"Your movie, your call," Kakashi said to Makino.
"It's too good an opportunity for me," answered the director, "Just a quick shot while we still have the light, and then we leave."
"Why not? Might as well stretch our legs," Kakashi sighed, turning to regard Naruto, "Your mission is recon; at the first sign of trouble, run and get us."
Naruto nodded, before popping the cork on a Hot Drink and gulping it down briskly, letting the spicy flavor of the potion warm up his body. As soon as Taeko grabbed onto her master's neck, he sprinted into the treeline before leaping into the branches. The forest was quiet as he hopped from branch to branch, taking care to ensure his landings were light so as to avoid alerting anyone in the area of his presence. The valley was dead ahead, but he couldn't shake the feeling of being watched.
As he came to a stop near the clearing, Naruto brought out his binoculars to survey the area. The wall was an interesting interplay of blue ice and the specks of black, snow-covered rocks, surrounded by forest, which would make for an interesting scene. The biggest problem was that the area was a deathtrap; there was only one easy way in or out, and the forest would stymie any attempts to escape.
After hearing a loud snap nearby, Naruto turned and hopped back the way he came. He was forced back when he saw a pillar of ice forming in front of him.
"Meowster, look out!"
Naruto turned just in time to see something diving towards him. He immediately rolled away, landing on the snow, before using the Kawarimi no Jutsu to avoid a volley of kunai that exploded into clumps of growing ice spikes that would have impaled him. Looking around for his attacker, he saw a shadowy, feminine figure flying overhead that was doubling back. Both ran, but their escape was cut off by a hulking bear of a man with a false arm; Naruto's response was to scoop up Taeko, vault through the gap between the man's legs, then roll back up. He quickly encountered a purple-haired man wearing a happuri-style hitai-ate, trying to stop him from leaving with a volley of kunai and shuriken.
Naruto grabbed Taeko and kicked off a tree trunk with enough force to land on top of the branches before sending his own volley of shuriken and kunai at the man; most of the projectiles hit each other, but the few that hit his opponent bounced harmlessly off his armor. As she held onto his neck for dear life, Naruto jumped through the trees to expedite his escape while reaching into his satchel for a bamboo tube nearly triple the size of a kunai grip. He used a Wirebug to yank himself out of the way of a volley of ice needles thrown at him from below, before vanishing in a puff of smoke when they doubled back, transforming into a flock of swallows that detonated a small barrel bomb he'd left behind.
The explosion had bought Naruto enough time to point the flare-launcher skyward, grabbing the ring at the end and pulling hard, sending a bright light whistling high up into the air before exploding in a loud 'pop' that could be heard from afar. With all avenues of escape likely cut off at this point, their only option was to stand their ground and hope that backup came; a forest was as good a place as any to bring out his ranged weapons…he reached for a line of seals on his bracer, and ran his finger across it. As the smoke cleared, he reached into it to pick up a gigantic bow with thick bone limbs decorated with Pukei-Pukei feathers, its string a twisted rope of hemp reinforced with monster sinew. Once Taeko mounted the quiver at the small of his back, she drew her cleaver, ready to fight back anyone that came too close to her master, while watching his back.
By the time he'd drawn his first arrow, there was no time to get a coating; just enough to load, take aim, and watch the flying pink-haired woman gasp in shock as he loosed the javelin-sized projectile with a loud 'thwap.' The sword-like broadhead streaked through the air, impaling her in the midsection, only to reveal that he'd hit and shattered a Hyōton Bunshin. Drawing another arrow, Naruto grabbed Taeko and leaped aside as a loud 'bang' resounded from behind. As he aimed down the scope of his bow, he saw the one-armed man reeling himself in on a hook, his arm bent and ready for a lariat, and released the arrow as the hulk neared him. Instead of hitting his mark, an ice wolf leaped in from the side and was engulfed in an explosion of ice, bamboo and iron shards, obscuring the large man's vision with smoke. Naruto then drew a special arrow with a pair of rockets attached at the base of the head, scraping it across the ground to ignite both fuses before taking aim and releasing it to penetrate an ice-wolf pouncing on him, nearly shooting down its master behind it.
"Behind you!"
Before he could shift targets, Naruto saw the hulk running at him, ready to slug him across the face with his false arm when he noticed someone leaping into view, kicking the hulk with enough force to disorient him. On the one hand, he was grateful that he was being rescued…on the other, his rescuer was Sasuke. "Overkill much?"
Naruto was rescued for the second time in a row when a volley of mud balls flew at high speed, shooting down a number of ice wolves before Kakashi arrived, his hitai-ate raised over his left eye, revealing the legendary Sharingan. "Our priority is fighting our way out. Bicker later, kids."
"Like we'll let you!" countered the purple-haired shinobi, leaping after Kakashi. The pink-haired woman dove in from above the treeline, her hands flying through seals as she contended with Sasuke, leaving Naruto and Taeko to deal with their hulking teammate.
The large man charged, his hand reared back for a hook; Naruto barely had enough time to drop his bow to duck under the punch and counter with a quick draw-slash to his abdomen using his knife. After evading a follow-up elbow drop, Naruto drew his sword, and slashed at his opponent's side; he was unable to cut through the hulk's armor, but he could see that the force of his blows enabled him to knock him around. Just as his opponent recovered, Taeko landed on his face, allowing Naruto to create breathing room by kicking him away before touching the blades of his knife and sword together above his head.
Channeling chakra through both of his blades, the adrenaline rushed through his veins as he began his assault, evading the bear-man's devastating blows, while Taeko attacked his footwork. Every second he spent in Demon Mode tired him, but Naruto felt bolder with every hit he landed as he slowly but surely chipped away at his opponent's armor. The hulk found an opening to backhand Naruto, sending him flying in one blow before launching his hand at his ankle, only for Taeko to kick off from a tree trunk, and slice the cable in one downward cut. Naruto kicked off from another tree, arms crossed before making an x-shaped slash at his opponent's neck, only to destroy another Hyōton Bunshin.
With his opponent nowhere in sight, Naruto reached for his bow and started searching the area until he found Sasuke still in the middle of a fight with the pinkette, who was flying all over the place. "Keep an eye out for me," he said, drawing an arrow.
"You're not gonna do that trick, are you?" Taeko asked.
"Just make sure nobody bothers me."
Naruto sighted the pinkette as she glided through the air, taking a deep, strained breath while drawing the string until he reached a point where he could potentially snap his bow in two. He felt the tension in his arms as he held onto the string and his breath, tracking his target as she evaded a volley of rapid-fire Katon jutsu. Naruto released the arrow with a sharp 'hah!' and watched as it sailed through the air and pierced one of the enemy Kunoichi's wings, sending her crashing to the ground. He then ran towards Sasuke, and found him standing in a small clearing, doubled-over and panting, and the enemy Kunoichi nowhere in sight.
"Nice shot," Sasuke said between breaths.
"Thanks, it's the first time I tried it," Naruto replied cheekily.
Sasuke took a moment to glare at Naruto before looking around. "Where's Kakashi?"
Before Naruto could answer, the two of them heard a rumbling sound nearby as a pair of gigantic narwhals breached the surface, crashing into each other and collapsing into a mass of snow. Off in the distance, they could see Kakashi hopping through the trees. "We've got our opening, now let's go!"
Without preamble, Taeko jumped onto her master's back as the three of them used the tree-hopping technique to speed through the forest. It didn't take long for the three of them to catch up with the caravan, and land on the roof of the wagon.
"Everyone all right?" asked Kakashi. He received a thumbs-up from both boys and the team pet as they caught their breath.
Satisfied with his answer, Kakashi turned to regard the driver. "Stop the caravan, now."
As soon as the wagons came to a complete stop, Naruto watched as his teacher climbed over the edge of the roof, and looked into the wagon. "My team was sent out to do a C-rank mission, but the presence of Shinobi should make this no less than a B-rank," he said angrily, "Mind explaining to me what we're doing sending Genin on a mission that's clearly intended for Chūnin?"
"Coming here wasn't Makino's idea," interjected the voice of Asama, "It was mine; I convinced him to come here."
"Why?" Kakashi demanded.
"This is neither the time nor place to talk," replied the old soldier, "But I assure you, this mission needs to be completed without fail; the future of Yukigakure depends on it."
Kakashi sighed as he looked at each member of his team seriously. "As you can see Team, the mission just got more complicated; therefore, we are well within our rights to leave. I want to know what your thoughts are on this."
"I say we see it through," Naruto began, "From the looks of things, I think he really needs our help; that, and we've already come too far to just turn back with our tails between our legs, so we may as well finish what we started."
"I hate agreeing with the barbarian, but he's right," Sasuke added, "I also believe we were bound to run into a mission that changes like this sooner or later. We just have to adapt and be more careful from here on out."
"Yeah!" Sakura and Taeko finished.
Kakashi turned to regard Asama with a baleful glare. "You got lucky; we'll keep going until we find a safe place to set up camp. But if you want us to continue helping you, you'd better stop holding out on us."
…
A/N: And with this, we have our divergence.
Please give NorthSouthGorem and ravenking64 thanks for giving this story a read and review.
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Vocabulary/Translations
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And like in "Hunter Effect" if you have a Hunter that you'd like to show up here, (if only as a cameo), here's the following info I'd like you to enter…
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Name:
Race: Human or Wyverian (They're the only races we see doing any active hunting)
Gender: No transgenders, please! I highly doubt MonHun-planet or Naruto-verse would have the technology or techniques to do so.
Age:
Height: In centimeters (please make it believable)
Weight: In kilograms (please make it believable)
Body Type: Slim, Muscular?
Skin Color:
Eye Color:
Hair Color:
Notable Features: Tattoos, scars, amputations, etc.
Personality:
History: Just a little of what they've done before going to the Shinobi Nations, like what was the biggest monster they killed, or where they come from. That, and what they've been doing while in the Shinobi Nations, and how long they've been there (or if they were born there). And like in the body measurements, please make it believable.
Guild Branch: Don't tell me who the Guildmaster is, I want to know which Guild Branch in the Shinobi Nations they are active in: Hi no Kuni? Rai no Kuni?
Guild Status: Are they still active? If not, then what do they do now? Are they Guild Knights?
Handler: Do they answer to a Handler, a receptionist, or the Quest Board? If they answer to a Handler, give a brief description of them; name, gender, personality.
Hunter Rank: Are they Low- or High-ranked? Master-ranked perhaps?
Equipment: Just what weapon they normally use, and the armor they wear; yes, even the slinger is allowed
Knife: Describe the knife they carry (this is optional)
Companions: Just a short description of the pets they have available to them. Palicoes, Palamutes, Scoutflies, or Cohoots, and a name for any of them
Voiceover: Optional, but you can choose whichever Japanese or English voice-actor you'd like for their voice.