24. Uzumaki Probation Part Three

Story Start: The Morning After The Previous Fights

The morning dawned bright and clear, and while that was typically an excellent sight to see, it had the shinobi hiding frowns. Renga, the head honcho currently after them would be able to use his techniques to the fullest in this weather meaning they were going to have to be extra careful. Haku had a grim look on his face as he periodically fingered a senbon while the convoy was moving and Kairin's eyes had remained closed ever since they headed out after breakfast, the sensor pushing her sensing abilities to the limits in order to provide an early warning.

Given his abilities, it came as no surprise to the shinobi that Renga would attack at high noon. The sun was directly above them as they finished moving down a mini mountain and onto a patch of flat grassland when Kairin called out "Bogey! One jounin level moving fast, ETA fifteen minutes!"

Haku cracked his neck side to side and said "Good, waiting for my enemy to come was beginning to test even my patience. Keep the others safe and stay out of this you three, it's about to get rather cold." The next instant he shot back the way they came and Naruto hummed to himself before he gestured with his head, a clone quickly shooting after his partner. It wasn't that he doubted Haku, it was just common sense to make sure he had back up on the unlikely chance that Renga had a big enough trump card up his sleeve.

Said villain was rapidly running down the path towards the caravan. His brothers had shown their worthlessness when they had failed to retrieve the girl and now it was his turn. (They didn't even get within sight of her for crying out loud!) But that was alright, with the two gone, he wouldn't have to hear their pointless whining about getting their share or killing them himself. Plus, thanks to his lens viewing technique, he now knew how the two redheaded girls fought meaning this fight would be rather easy.

And then his thoughts came screeching to a rather abrupt halt as he ran face first into an invisible barrier at high speed. Thanks to the law of physics that stated every action having an opposite and equal reaction, Renga got thrown onto his ass roughly a dozen feet away from whatever the hell he had ran into. Shaking the stars out of his head a few moments later, he warily got to his feet and formed a one foot long rod of ice in front of him before walking slowly forward. When the rod hit the barrier he frowned and began tapping at it, a nagging thought in the back of his head that he should recognize what he wasn't seeing. And then a masked figure suddenly appeared right where the rod was touching immediately grabbing the hand holding it before shooting out and laying a devastating ice covered haymaker that sent him flying back before his held arm snapped taut and his shoulder rather violently dislocated.

Renga collapsed to the ground with a yell of pain and gripped at his injured shoulder even as he glared up at the masked figure and asked "Who are you?!"

"Who I am is irrelevant." Haku coolly intoned, pun intended, before he activated the hidden mist jutsu and rapidly faded out of sight. Renga rapidly looked around cursing the fact that he couldn't use his right arm in order to make hand signs. If he could then he could have easily burned away the fog with a lens above him magnifying the sun. But because his arm was rendered useless before he started any of his jutsu he had to now rely on the sword at his hip. A sword which he was forced to pull out in a reverse grip with his off hand. Warily looking around, he snarled out "Where are you coward?!"

"You don't actually expect me to answer that do you?" Haku's voice asked from all around him. The next instant, Renga let out a surprised shout of pain as a cut sliced along his lower back, shallow, but it hurt all the more for its lack of depth given that it didn't cut the nerve in the area. Spinning around, he lashed out with his sword only to hit nothing but mist and get another cut along his upper back for his troubles.

"You know that saying about dying from a thousand paper cuts? I wonder if you can even stand five hundred." Haku's disembodied voice called out from every where and Renga gritted his teeth even as a small bead of sweat formed on his brow regardless of the cold mist surrounding him.

Outside of the mist, Naruto's shadow clone let out a slight shiver and thought to himself 'Man, I keep forgetting how sadistic Haku can get in a fight.'

Time Skip: Thirty Minutes Later

The convoy had put a good bit of distance between Haku and Renga's battleground and themselves. They would have put even more between them but they had stopped when they had run into Shizune and Shikamaru who were giving them a status update. They were there because after the first 'fight' with the two mooks that Tayuya had taken care of Naruto had sent a shadow clone back to the village with a report of trouble in the Land of Greens. Tsunade had immediately dispatched two squads of Shinobi in order to access and contain the situation.

Haruna had been a storm of emotions ever since she learned that her father hadn't survived the take over and her two retainers were doing their best to help her with her grief. Naruto watched on for a moment trying to decide whether he should step in before finally deciding against it since the princess soon to be queen probably wouldn't appreciate anything he said given how he had spoken to her last night. Thankfully for him, Kairin seemed to have no compunctions about going over and speaking quietly to her in his stead.

Shaking his head from those thoughts, he instead looked towards the direction they had come from as his shadow clone suddenly dispelled itself. He barely had time to look at the tail end of the memories he received when a mirror formed behind the group and Haku stepped out of it dragging a clearly unconscious Renga by the ankle. All of the shinobi present couldn't help the wince they let out at the sight of his absolutely shredded clothes, the only piece of clothing still in one piece being his underwear. Everything else was just barely held together rags that revealed several crisscrossing thin cuts over ninety percent of his body. Even the man's face was covered in scratches, the closed eyelids showing no less than five lines of red over them, each.

"Geeze, that's brutal, even for me." Tayuya muttered to herself.

"Agreed, it might have been kinder to just freeze him into a solid block of ice from the get go." Kairin said adjusting her glasses a little as she took in the myriad of marks and marveling at how every single mark was the exact same depth as the others. Haku's control was really something to be both amazed and terrified of.

Naruto merely shook his head with a sigh before turning back to Shizune and finished his report as he said "In conclusion, I recommend Kairin Uzumaki and Tayuya Uzumaki to be tested for the sensor corps and special lessons under Jounnin Kurenai respectively."

Shizune finished taking notes and put the written combat report that Naruto had written as soon as he spotted her, quite literally, super speed was very useful, in a storage scroll and said "Very well, we shall expect a full mission report upon your return to the Village in a week."

Naruto nodded and Shizune and Shikamaru walked over to Haruna and her retainers. A few words later, the two Leaf Shinobi left with them back the way they came to escort the princess back to the Land of Greens. Despite her earlier attitude, Naruto wished her luck and hoped that Shizune could finish getting through to her. A moment later though, he shook his head and said "Alright guys, excitement's over, let's get moving again. We should reach the next town just after sunset if we keep a good pace up."

"Hai." the shinobi under his command and the merchants said, Haku placing Renga in a stasis storage seal before taking up the spot that Naruto's shadow clone had taken. (They were waiting on turning over the criminal brothers until they themselves returned home, kept most of the 'useless' paperwork away when it came to getting the bounties afterwards.)

Naruto gave one last look back towards the Land of Greens before he began pushing the cart again.

END

Author's Notes: Summary and Poll on my profile.

Shorter than I would like, not even breaking 1500 but that's how tail ends of arcs fall sometimes I'm afraid. And for those wondering about why Haku didn't go demon ice mirrors on his opponent: A. That would have been a waste on an opponent who he had already robbed the ability of using jutsu and B. He's just that sadistic.

Don't believe me? I give you Naruto Volume 2 Chapter 16, Page 16, Third Panel: Zabuza says and I quote: You're such a sadistic little brat. End Quote. Haku being sadistic isn't fanon, it's canon, so I can totally see Haku taking Renga down this way.