"Talking"
'Thinking'
Jutsu/ Bijuu/ Summons
Flashbacks, Letters, and Setting
I don't own Naruto
Chapter 27: Mission to Taki Part 2
Back in Taki
The Genin of Team 7 and Fuu were at the swings Fuu had made for herself, near the outskirts of town.
"So, when do you think Kakashi-sensei will get here?" Sasuke asked as he leaned against the tree the swing was hung from.
"D-don't you think he'll be here s-soon?" Hinata replied as she sat on the grass and picked at the small flowers nearby. She didn't tell her friends outright, but she was scared at the fact that they were in foreign territory with nobody there to watch them. She hoped Kakashi would get here quickly.
"Bah, I doubt he'll get here that quick. From what I've heard from nii-chan, Kakashi-sensei is always late." Narumi replied as she swung on the swings, pushed by Fuu. "Besides, it's kinda nice just hanging out here with just us. We can do anything we want!" She then glared at Hinata. "If only Hinata-chan stopped being so stingy with the money!"
"Y-you know you didn't need so many of those s-stink bombs, Narumi-chan." Hinata replied. "Or the itching p-powder."
"But we have so much money! We can afford a few things for fun!" Narumi shouted back.
"We need to s-save it for emergencies. B-besides, we shouldn't do things that will get us in t-trouble." Hinata answered back.
Fuu giggled as she pushed Narumi on her swing, watching her friends have their little row. She definitely preferred this lively atmosphere over her lonely one, when she would have to resort to talking to bugs.
"Looks like there was a reason Naruto nii-san gave the money to Hinata, eh Sasuke-kun?" Fuu asked Sasuke.
"Hmm. If Narumi got the money, we would have lived like kings for the first two days, and then have to live in our tents for the rest of our time here." Sasuke replied.
He was still confused about the situation they were in. Jonin sensei usually never left their Genin alone like this in foreign territory. He wondered what Naruto was up to.
At the Hokage Office
Naruto glared at the Hokage.
"Asked for me specifically, huh?" Naruto asked the old man.
Hiruzen chuckled. "Well, he did mention you by name. He asked specifically for Naruto and his team. Seeing as we can't afford to send an entire team, that leaves just you."
Zabuza was a little miffed at the situation as well. He had come to hire the legendary "Ghost Squad", but all he was getting was just one of its members. The Hokage had been very reluctant to say anything when Zabuza asked where the other members were, simply replying that he couldn't send a whole team and risk the other villages finding out that Konoha was involved.
"So, let me get this straight. I'll be going to help a civil war, alone." Naruto asked.
The Sandaime nodded.
"And I can't do anything, such as using any jutsu, that lets people, other than the leaders of the rebellion, know that I'm from Konoha?"
The Hokage nodded again.
"So, I'll be going into a war, alone, and with my hands basically tied to my back."
Hiruzen grinned sheepishly. It did sound pretty bad when you put it like that.
"Well, more precisely, I would say hide your abilities until victory is certain." The Sandaime added.
Naruto wasn't the only one unhappy with this decision. Zabuza was carrying the weight of the rebellion's expectations on his shoulders, and he paid all that money just to get a limited version of Naruto. He decided to throw in his two cents.
"I can't be the only one who thinks this is unfair. I paid for multiple S-rank missions for a team of your best, and you give me just one man, and then proceed to limit what he can do?" Zabuza complained.
"On paper, Konoha cannot support a rebellion against a major village. It would set a terrible precedent. I'm afraid this is the best we can do." Hiruzen explained.
"But you can be seen supporting the rebellion if it succeeds?" Zabuza asked.
"They say history is written by the victors. If you win, we can argue that the current Kiri regime was not legitimate, and this was simply the people taking back their place in the village. The Yondaime Mizukage killing the Nidaime Mizukage's clan will be helpful in turning the story in that direction." Hiruzen explained.
"Then why not just use that spin now to justify helping the rebellion? And why wait until the war is practically won before Naruto can use his full abilities?" Zabuza asked, irritated at Konoha's seemingly half-hearted help.
"It would basically be a declaration of war against the current regime in Kiri, which other villages who seek our downfall will be quick to act upon. If the rebellion succeeds, they won't have the time, or the help from Kiri that they need to act against us." The elderly Hokage explained.
"Don't worry about me underperforming. I assure you I've got quite a bag of tricks in my arsenal." Naruto said in defense of himself.
Zabuza grumbled. "I hope so. For all of our sakes."
Back with Fuu and Team 7
The 4 young teens and almost teens sat on a tree, eating the ice cream that Narumi convinced Hinata to buy for them.
"Geez, Sasuke, who orders tomato flavored ice cream?" Narumi asked her friend.
"You worry about yourself. I'm certain you have a problem with your brain, asking if they have ramen flavored ice cream." Sasuke fired back.
"Hey! If they have tomato flavor, it's worth asking if they have ramen flavor!" Narumi yelled back before getting back to her chocolate ice cream.
Fuu giggled watching the two fight. She had been laughing a lot more ever since she met Team 7.
"Do those two ever stop arguing?" Fuu asked her Hyuuga friend.
Hinata giggled as she replied. "T-they're usually a lot quieter after Naruto-sensei trains us into the dirt."
The two girls laughed, and got back to their respective ice creams. It was nice having a friend to laugh together and enjoy things with.
They were so busy talking and enjoying each other's company, that Fuu didn't really notice when a beetle landed on her hand and started heading for her ice cream.
"Umm, Fuu-chan? There's a bug heading for your ice cream!" Narumi yelled to warn her.
"Huh?" Fuu asked before looking at her hand. "Oh. It's just Mushimaru! Hey there buddy! Want some of my very berry ice cream?" Fuu asked the green beetle on her hand.
The 3 Genin of Team 7 looked at her strangely.
"Huh? Umm… Fuu-chan? Are you talking to a bug?" Narumi asked.
Fuu nodded as if it were the most normal thing in the world.
"Yeah! This is my friend! Say hi to Mushimaru!" Fuu said as she raised her hand closer to Narumi's face.
A few other beetles landed on Fuu's arms and shoulders.
"Oh, hey guys! And this is Mushiken, Mushirama, and the smaller one on my shoulder is Mushiko! Say hi!" Fuu told the Genin.
"Umm… Hi! I'm Narumi! Nice to meet… you?" Narumi greeted the 4 beetles wondering what the hell she was doing.
Sasuke chuckled as he watched Narumi introduce herself to some bugs.
"Oh my. Shino would be so proud of you right now." Sasuke said as he put a hand to his heart sarcastically to tease Narumi.
"Oh! You would totally get along with Shino!" Narumi replied as she snapped her fingers as if she had an epiphany.
"Huh? Who's Shino?" Fuu asked in confusion.
"H-he's one of our friends. He also likes b-bugs, and he sometimes talks to them." Hinata explained.
"Sounds like a pretty cool guy! Anyone who likes bugs is alright with me!" Fuu exclaimed.
The Genin laughed and continued to talk and enjoy each other's company.
A few minutes later, a Taki Chunin appeared at the base of the tree they were sitting on.
"Fuu! Shibuki-sama has summoned you. Come to his office immediately." The Chunin told Fuu in a very business-only tone. He wasn't too fond of the village demon, and was just here due to his orders.
Fuu nodded and prepared to jump down, when Narumi grabbed her wrist.
"Wait. Are you sure you gotta go?" Narumi asked, feeling iffy about the Chunin's negative emotions towards Fuu.
Fuu gave her a smile to reassure her. "Don't worry. Shibuki's my friend!"
"Then can we come with you?" Narumi asked.
"Shibuki-sama just asked for Fuu. You can all stay here." The Chunin said in response.
"B-but Naruto-sensei told us to stick together, and not let each other go off on their own." Hinata told her team and Fuu.
"I'm sure everything will be fine. I'll be back at my treehouse before 5! We can go get dinner afterwards!" Fuu told her friends before jumping down and leaving with the Chunin.
"She's in her own village. I'm sure everything will be fine." Sasuke told Narumi who seemed worried.
There weren't any obvious red flags, but she still had a weird feeling about it all.
"I hope so…" Narumi whispered to herself.
Konoha Hospital
"That should be the last of it. Let me go check if I left out anything." Shizune told Naruto.
"Thank you, Shizune-san." Naruto told the medic-nin who went back to the storage room.
Naruto had just finished sealing the last of the medical supplies into sealing scrolls, when a familiar woman entered the room.
"Guess who I ran into on the way here." The woman said with amusement evident in her voice.
"I don't know, Izumi. Why don't you tell me?" Naruto replied as he got up.
"You sure seem to see Shizune-san often." Izumi said with a smirk. "Looks like someone is taking my advice."
"It's not like that. I was just picking up supplies for a mission." Naruto replied with a twitch on his forehead.
"That's how it starts. You go to her for some supplies, then you go to her for training for your students, then you go to her for healing, then you go to talk to her about your students, and before you know it, you're seeing her everyday. And then you find yourself walking down the street, and you see small things that remind you of her. Oh, Shizune-san likes apples. Oh, that hairpin would look nice on her. Oh, that kimono reminds me of her. Next thing you know, your weekly discussion over your students is taking place at the fanciest restaurant in town, over a candle lit dinner, and the topic of your students is curiously absent." Izumi said with a dreamy look in her eyes.
Naruto watched her go off into her little fantasy of romance with a raised eyebrow.
"…Right. Nice little novel you're writing. Now, why don't you go put it down onto paper?" Naruto told Izumi as he rolled his eyes.
Shizune entered at that moment with a box of extra supplies that was left behind.
"Oh, hello, Izumi-san! Are you here to check on the police-nin that came here the other day?" Shizune asked.
Izumi nodded. "Already checked up on him. He said he's doing fine, and expects to be out within a couple days. Found my buddy Naruto here, so I just stopped by to say hello."
"Oh yeah! That reminds me, I accidentally left this box behind the door of the storage room by accident." Shizune said as she turned around to face Naruto, and placed the box down.
"Thank you, Shizune-san. I appreciate all of the help you give me." Naruto replied.
Meanwhile, Izumi stood behind Shizune facing Naruto and made gestures behind Shizune's back, pointing at her and making hugging and kissing gestures with a dreamy look in her eyes.
Izumi's kunoichi instincts kicked in as she ducked to dodge the checklist Naruto had thrown at her head.
Shizune was shocked by the checklist that flew by her head out of nowhere.
"What was that?!" Shizune yelled in surprise.
"Ah. Sorry about that. There was a fly on the wall behind you." Naruto said with a smile on his face, which was his attempt at reassuring Shizune.
Shizune wasn't quite over her shock at a projectile flying by her face out of nowhere, but she tried to calm herself down.
"Errr… right. Thanks. I guess? Anyway, if you ever need me, you know where to find me." She said with a calmer face, but with an eyebrow raised. She turned around, greeted Izumi, and left.
Izumi gave Naruto a cheeky smile. "You guys are adorable, you know that? I can see it already. Little Naruto Jr. with black hair, and little Shizune Jr. with blonde hair. Sooo cute! Can you guys please hurry and get married already?"
"… We barely said 2 sentences to each other." Naruto replied with a deadpan face.
Izumi gave him a glare. "Just get together, will you? I wanna see some romance! Stop being a pansy and ask her out!"
"Why not just rent a movie? Or better yet, find your own romance?" Naruto asked.
"You know why!" Izumi replied. "And stop changing the subject! I know Narumi would be on my side too!"
Her expression suddenly changed into one of sudden realization. "Unless… you swing for the other side?"
Naruto said nothing as he pulled out his pen he was using to check off his checklist. He channeled his wind chakra through it, making it razor sharp.
Izumi gave him an innocent smile as she slowly inched towards the door.
"Anyway, I just remembered, Mikoto-sama needed me for… something. Gotta go! Bye!" she hastily greeted him and slammed the door just in time as the pen went through the door and penetrated deep into the concrete floor next to Izumi.
Seeing the weapon was now gone from Naruto's hand, she decided to tease him one last time before she left.
"Say hi to Shizune-san for me! Tell her your fancy dinner is on me!" She said with a cheeky smile on her face as she slightly opened the door and stuck her head in.
She slammed the door shut and ran away before Naruto finished the hand seals for a Katon jutsu.
He dragged his hand down his face as he sighed after he drove off his childhood friend.
He needed to find and drag Itachi back to the village to satisfy her need for romance or something. He needed to do something to get her off of his back.
'Maybe if I faked a relationship she would stop teasing me.' He thought to himself.
At Shibuki's Office
"Hey Shibuki! What did you need me for?" Fuu asked with a friendly tone as she entered.
She was surprised to see Suien instead of her friend.
"Oh. Sorry. I thought Shibuki would be here." Fuu told Suien.
Suien gave her a smile that was meant to disarm her, but failed to.
"Don't you worry about that. He'll be here any moment." Suien told Fuu, before he gave a non-verbal command with a look to the 2 foreign shinobi that were beside Fuu.
They nodded before suddenly jumping her and binding her with chains and chakra restraining seals.
Fuu wasn't expecting an ambush, and was easily bound, as you would expect when 2 Jonin jump an unsuspecting, petite 13-year-old girl.
"Wha-what's going on? Why are you doing this? Fuu yelled out in surprise. "Let me go!"
Suien got up and walked over to her, grabbing her roughly by the cheeks with one hand.
"I'm going to use you, the way you were meant to be used. Now shut up, and only speak when you're spoken to, demon." Suien told Fuu before he ordered his 2 Jonin to gag her.
A few moments later, Shibuki entered his office, and was surprised to find Suien sitting in his seat, with 2 foreign ninja holding up a bound and gagged Fuu who's eyes were wet with tears.
"What's going on here! Who gave you permission to tie Fuu up like this! I demand you release her at once!" Shibuki yelled out in fury.
Suien gave the command, and soon Shibuki also found himself bound by the 2 Ame-nin Suien had hired.
"Wh-what is the meaning of this! I'm the village leader! This is treason!" Shibuki yelled out.
Suien slapped Shibuki in the face. "I don't think so. As if a coward like you could lead this village properly. From now on, I make the rules around here. You got that?"
Shibuki tried to protest, but one of the Ame-nin twisted his arm, forcing him to cry out in pain.
Suien then drew a kunai and put it at Fuu's throat.
"Now listen carefully. If you don't do as I say, I'm going to make sure this demon has an extra hole to breathe through."
Fuu's eyes widened, and Shibuki could do nothing but clench his fists in anger.
Suien smiled when he saw the defeated look in Shibuki's eyes.
"Good. Looks like you understand your position. Now, I want you to go and get the Hero Water that your father hid, and bring it to this location." Suien told Shibuki as he handed him a small map that showed how to get to a warehouse.
"I took the liberty of capturing the village elders and their families. If you get any ideas and bring any other shinobi with you, I'm going to kill them all, and maim this bug bitch for life."
Shibuki hung his head in defeat, nodding meekly.
He realized Naruto's suspicion about Suien was right. If only he heeded his warning earlier.
"Good. Now hurry up. Every 5 minutes past 7, I'll start killing the hostages one at a time." Suien said with a wicked smile on his face.
"Now hurry up. I haven't got all day."
At Fuu's Treehouse Shack
"It's past 5 now! I'm hungry! Where's Fuu?" Narumi asked impatiently.
"Shibuki probably has her on an errand. Let's just get dinner on our own and save her some." Sasuke commented.
"Y-you think everything's fine? W-what if she's in trouble?" Hinata asked.
"She'll be fine. She's a strong girl, she can handle herself." Sasuke replied.
Narumi frowned. That bad feeling was returning to the pit of her stomach. Was everything alright with Fuu?
They decided to wait a few more minutes before leaving to get dinner on their own.
After a few minutes of waiting, they were getting up to leave, when a green beetle landed on Narumi's hand.
"Hey! It's Mushimaru!" Narumi exclaimed.
"I'm pretty sure that's Mushirama." Sasuke corrected her.
"A-are you sure? Isn't that M-mushiko?" Hinata questioned.
"…" The 3 Genin realized they were arguing about a bug's name.
The beetle buzzed it's wings and flew a short distance away before returning to Narumi, and continued to do so multiple times.
Narumi coughed into her fist. "Ehem. Right. Well anyway, I have a feeling Mushimaru wants us to follow him.
"… right. You really want us to follow Mushirama? This is a bug we're talking about, not a dog or even a summon." Sasuke said in disbelief.
"Trust me! Mushimaru knows where Fuu is. Let's go!" Narumi yelled before she started following the green beetle that flew off.
Sasuke sighed. He couldn't believe they were going to be chasing a stupid bug, but he wasn't about to let his friend potentially get into danger by herself.
"Sigh… Let's go Hinata." Sasuke told Hinata, who nodded and started to chase Narumi.
At the Warehouse
The 3 Genin of Team 7 chased the beetle until it led them into view of a warehouse, before it landed on Narumi's head.
"Hey, Hinata-chan? Can you see what's inside that warehouse?" Narumi asked Hinata who nodded.
"Byakugan!"
Veins began to bulge around Hinata's pale lilac colored eyes as she activated her kekkei genkai.
She began looking into the warehouse before she let out a gasp.
"What is it? What do you see?" Sasuke asked Hinata.
"I-I found Fuu! She's t-tied up and has chakra restraining seals on her! But there are also around 20 other p-people who are tied up inside! They're guarded by what looks to be 12 shinobi from… Amegakure?" Hinata reported.
Narumi's eyes narrowed. "Is that guy Suien also there?"
Hinata looked around for a second before confirming.
"Looks like Nii-chan was right. That slimy jerk probably hired those Ame-nin to do his dirty work." Narumi said with disgust.
"W-what should we do?" Hinata asked her 2 friends. She didn't want to leave her new friend Fuu as a hostage, but there were only 3 of them, while there were 13 opponents, who were all at least Chunin, some of them even Jonin. Meanwhile, they were still merely Genin.
"Well I'm not gonna leave Fuu like that, so running away isn't an option." Narumi said resolutely.
"M-maybe we can get some help? We could t-tell the Taki shinobi." Hinata suggested.
Sasuke shook his head. "We don't know who's on Suien's side. Besides, we don't know what will happen to the captives while we go and look for help."
"S-so, we're going to fight them?" Hinata asked in fear. "But there are only 3 of us! And w-we're only Genin!"
"Naruto nii-chan always said a good plan can help a weaker force defeat a much stronger force. If we come up with a good plan, we might have a chance of saving Fuu." Narumi told her friends.
"S-so, what should we do?" Hinata asked Narumi.
She shrugged. "I dunno. Got any ideas Sasuke?" she asked.
"Way to stick the planning with me." Sasuke complained, before he began to think.
"Well, Naruto-sensei told us that the unknowns can come back to bite us from behind, and that underestimating your opponent can get you killed." Sasuke began.
"Soo… that means?" Narumi asked, not sure what Sasuke was getting at.
"Well, they don't know that we're stronger than the average Genin, and we each have a few tricks up our sleeve. They're also probably not expecting us to do anything, so we probably have the element of surprise on our side. If we can split them up into smaller groups of 1 or 2, we could probably pick them off if we catch them by surprise." Sasuke continued.
"Great idea! What's next?" Narumi asked Sasuke.
"Well, we need to come up with a way to get them to come out of the warehouse one at a time, or go somewhere where they'll be alone. We can set up ambushes and pick them off." Sasuke said as he thought.
"Only problem is how we'll get them to come out one at a time, and not as a group." Sasuke said as he rubbed his chin with his hand subconsciously, like he had seen Naruto do before when he thought.
Narumi thought for a second before snapping her fingers. "I have an idea!"
The 2 other Genin looked at her, asking her to elaborate.
"Hah! Told you these will come in handy!" Narumi said to Hinata as she pulled out the stink bombs and itching powder she was able to buy.
Sasuke raised an eyebrow, wondering what she was planning to do with them.
"So, I'm gonna seal this itching powder into a timed tag, which we'll attach to a kunai. One of you guys can throw the kunai into the ceiling above the ninja guarding the captives, and after a few seconds, the tag will start sprinkling the itching powder onto the guards. It's pretty subtle, so they won't think much of it, and will probably go to the bathroom to wash themselves." Narumi explained.
"Brilliant!" Sasuke commented. "We can have Hinata hide in the bathroom, and use her Byakugan to see if it's just one person coming to the bathroom, and stay hidden if it's multiple people. If it's just one person, she can wait until they're busy washing off the powder, and use her gentle fist and knowledge of pressure points to knock them out quietly!"
"Great plan! Let's get to it!" Narumi told her friends.
"How about the s-sound the kunai will make when it hits the c-ceiling?" Hinata asked.
"Shoot! That'll alert them." Sasuke said in concern.
"Hmm, I'm not as good as my nii-chan yet, but I think I can draw a silencing seal onto the kunai to make a small bubble that will absorb all the sound around it for a few seconds." Narumi suggested.
"Perfect! That'll do just fine." Sasuke continued. "Now we just need a few backup plans, in case things go awry. We might get discovered, or we might have to fight multiple opponents at once."
"We can lay some traps! We can lay fake traps to throw them off and multiple layers of traps to make sure they fall into at least one of them!" Narumi squealed in glee. All she had to do was use the pranks she was dying to try out, and make them slightly more dangerous.
"Anything you h-have in mind?" Hinata asked.
Narumi grinned. "So my nii-chan was teaching me how to make my own paper bombs, and also how to make self-replicating tags. I haven't mastered it yet, but basically, I can make a big boom. If we can plant them somewhere, we can pretend to run away and lead them there."
Sasuke also grinned. "I can use my ninja wire to lay a few traps as well. If you don't see them and run into them, they can cut you, and they can also be a conduit for my Ryuuka no Jutsu (Dragon Flame Technique). It can be a backup trap, or we could use it to herd them to Narumi's trap."
They continued to strategize for a few minutes, ironing out the details. This would be their first operation that they would plan and execute themselves, and they had no backup. Things needed to go perfectly or they were in serious trouble.
A couple minutes later, Hinata spotted Shibuki entering the warehouse, and handing over a bottle to Suien. Suien then had Shibuki tied up as well, and went into to a back room to read a scroll, taking the occasional glance at the bottle.
It was now or never. Team 7 finally decided to execute their plan.
Sasuke snuck into the warehouse, using several silencing seals Narumi had created for him. He found a secluded corner, and cast a genjutsu over himself which would make unsuspecting people overlook him.
He took a deep breath. He would be the one to start off the plan. He carefully aimed his prepared kunai, and threw it above a guard.
Several seconds later, the tag slowly started to sprinkle undetectable amounts of itching powder unto the guard.
The guard felt a small itch, that he decided to ignore at first. However, as time passed, the itch became harder to ignore, and he began to scratch himself more and more, until he couldn't take it anymore.
"Damn! This fucking dusty-ass warehouse is making me itchy! I'm gonna head to the bathroom and try to wash myself or something!" the guard announced as he headed to the bathroom, scratching himself all over.
He entered the bathroom and took off his shirt. He began to wash his neck and back, as well as his arms.
Hinata saw that no one else was coming, so she sneaked out.
'Ok, Hinata. You can do this. Your friends are counting on you.' She thought to herself to gather the courage she needed.
She crept up behind the distracted Chunin, and struck him at a pressure point at the base of his neck with a Jyuuken strike, rendering him unconscious. She tied him up, and applied a chakra restraining seal that Narumi had drawn up, and hid him in one of the stalls.
Sasuke continued to place the kunai with the tags over the guards, causing them to fall into their ambush one by one.
The plan went smoothly for a while, getting around 4 of the missing-nin, but then some of the guards started getting suspicious when the guards who went to the bathroom weren't returning to their posts.
A few clones of Narumi were stationed around the warehouse, watching to see if anything went wrong. If they saw anything, they were to dispel, so that Narumi could get the memories, and act accordingly.
One such clone saw 3 of the guards heading to the bathroom to see what was going on, and dispelled itself.
When the memories came to Narumi, she knew it was time to act.
She made 3 clones, and had them transform into the Genin of Team 7. The henged clones then went to the front entrance of the warehouse, where they were seen by the 2 guards that were posted at the entrance.
"Halt! What are you kids doing here!" they yelled at the henged clones.
"We were looking for our friend, Fuu. Have you guys seen her?" the Narumi clone asked.
The guards looked at each other. If they were really looking for their friend, and came up to ask a bunch of random people guarding a warehouse, there was a high chance that they already knew Fuu was here, and they needed to be eliminated.
They whistled to get the attention of the other guards.
"Hey! We got some intruders here!" they yelled out.
The 3 guards that were heading to the bathroom turned around and ran towards the front entrance.
"H-hey! Who says we're intruders! We're just looking for our friend!" the Narumi clone said defensively as she began to backpedal.
"Go catch those brats, and send them to Suien!" one of the missing-nin yelled, and 3 of the Chunin guards began to chase the 3 clones.
Hinata breathed a sigh of relief when she saw the 3 guards walk away from the bathroom.
She could see there were only 6 enemy shinobi left. Unfortunately, 4 of them were Jonin.
The 3 guards chasing the Genin clones were led into a forest.
One of them ran into a wire trap, and received cuts to his arms and face.
"Argh! The little shits led us into a trap!" he yelled out, as a log trap swung towards him.
"Watch out for the trees! They're booby trapped!" he yelled out as he jumped back to avoid the giant log that swung towards him to crush him.
The 3 Genin clones seemingly tried to hide in the forest and avoid stepping into the occasional clearings in the forest.
"Those little bastards know we'll kick their ass in the open so they're hiding in the forest! True cowards like the leaf bastards they are!" one of the pursuers told his two comrades.
Another one of the pursuers smiled as she pulled out several senbon. "If they don't want to go into the open themselves, we'll just have to force them to go there."
She began to throw the senbon at the Genin clones, and they were forced into the open to avoid the barrage of senbon that flew their way.
"Hah! Right where we wanted them! Let's finish them off!" One of the missing-nin yelled, and the 3 surrounded the Genin.
"You should have minded your own business, and you might have lived long enough to hit puberty. If you want to blame anyone, blame yourselves." The female Ame missing-nin told the Genin as they tightened their perimeter closer around the Genin, until they were in striking distance.
Suddenly, the Narumi clone smiled.
"What are you smiling at, brat?" the kunoichi missing-nin asked.
"This. Kai!" the clone yelled.
In the warehouse, Narumi received the memories. She was hoping to take out more shinobi with that trap, but was disappointed she only got 3 of them.
In the back room of the Warehouse
'With this antidote Orochimaru gave me, I can use the Hero Water without the side effects! All I have to do is work with him and give him some of the water so he can study it, and he'll give me all of the antidote I'll need! I'll use the demon and the Hero Water to lead Taki into a golden age as we should have done a long time ago!' Suien thought to himself as he read the scroll Orochimaru had given him.
He thought about the elders he had captured along with their families.
'If only those old fossils saw the error of their ways and didn't oppose my glorious plan! I wouldn't have to kill them, like I killed Shibuki's old man. Oh well. If you can't handle the change, it's time for you to go. I don't need those useless geezers anyway.'
Suien suddenly heard and felt a large explosion from not too far away. He immediately became wary.
"Kirisame, Hisame, Murasame! Take care of whatever the problem is!" he yelled out towards the Ame missing-nin who were the leaders of their respective teams.
The 3 Jonin who were in the room nodded and stepped out.
Kirisame couldn't hide his face of glee. "I wonder what fools dare get in our way." He licked his lips as he prepared himself to hurt some people.
In the Warehouse
The 3 Ame missing-nin Jonin came out of the room, and ordered the 2 Chunin to check out the explosion.
They noticed the rest of their Chunin who were supposed to be guarding the hostages were missing, and became alert. They split up and began to look through the warehouse themselves to find any perpetrators.
Hinata held her breath nervously when she saw Kirisame start heading for the bathroom. She wasn't ready to fight a Jonin yet!
One of Narumi's clones noticed this, and began trailing the Jonin secretly.
Murasame, circled the outer perimeter of the warehouse, before he started following the Chunin who headed to the source of the explosion.
Meanwhile Hisame, being the smartest and sharpest of the 3, noticed a slight warp in a corner of the warehouse, and noticed there was a genjutsu cast there. She smiled and dispelled the genjutsu easily, and began slowly walking over to where Sasuke had hid himself.
"Shit! I've been spotted!' Sasuke tensed when he saw Hisame walking over to him with a wicked smile on her face.
"Well, well. Looks like a Leaf rat managed to sneak in." Hisame said to Sasuke, who pulled out a kunai and prepared himself for a fight.
Hisame laughed mockingly at Sasuke.
"Hah! You think a pathetic little Genin like you stands a chance against me?! I'm a Jonin!"
Sasuke clenched his jaw. This was bad. Real bad. This wasn't how the plan was supposed to go.
At the Bathroom
Kirisame opened the door and stepped in, sweeping the room with his eyes, looking for any signs of trouble.
At first glance, there weren't any signs of trouble, but at a second look, he noticed a hand that was barely visible through the cracks of one of the stalls.
He grinned to himself. He found the little rat.
He kicked the door open, and found 4 tied up and unconscious Chunin piled up on the floor.
His instincts told him to dodge, and he spun out of the way of Hinata's attack from behind.
"What have we got here? A little girl who needs to get punished?" he said in a sing-song voice.
Hinata said nothing, but continued to try to jab Kirisame with a Jyuuken strike.
Kirisame easily dodged all of her attacks.
He noticed her Byakugan and whistled.
"A Hyuuga huh? Looks like a main branch one as well! I'm gonna enjoy ripping your precious little eyes from your head before I kill you!"
He stopped merely dodging Hinata's attacks, and began striking at Hinata.
Hinata dodged a punch that came towards her face by tilting her head to one side, and managed to jab Kirisame's outstretched arm a few times, before Kirisame' foot buried itself into her gut and sent her flying into the wall behind her.
Kirisame stepped out of the stall so he could have more space to move.
He began going through some handsigns, before shouting out, "Suiton: Suiben (Water Release: Water Whip)!"
He used the water in the toilets to form a long whip of condensed water which he held in his hand.
"Oooh, I'm gonna enjoy this." He said with a sadistic smile, before whipping the water whip towards Hinata.
At the Warehouse
Fuu was in the corner of the warehouse, bound up by chains and chakra restraining seals.
Unable to move or speak, she had been left to her thoughts, and her desperate attempts at staying positive were beginning to fade with her hope.
'I guess this was what I was created to be after all. A monster, who's meant to be used as a weapon for the village. I guess it was silly of me to think I could live like a regular girl, making friends and even finding a family of my own.'
Tears began to fall from her eyes. She had never met her parents, so their faces weren't what came to her mind. Instead, it was the faces of Naruto and Team 7 that she thought of.
'I guess it was nice while it lasted. Thanks for making me feel normal for once. I hope you guys can get away safely, and not get involved in this mess.' Fuu thought to herself.
Meanwhile, Narumi snuck around to where Fuu had been bound up. She looked around to see if anyone was there, and found that all the guards were either defeated or busy searching elsewhere.
She revealed herself to Fuu, who's eyes widened when she saw Narumi.
Narumi went over and quickly removed the chakra restraining seals, before using her sword and the wind chakra Naruto had stored in it to slice open the chains to release Fuu.
"Shhh! We have to keep our voices quiet. Are you alright?" Narumi asked Fuu, who nodded.
Narumi immediately proceeded to embrace Fuu in a hug. "I'm so glad you're alright! We were worried we wouldn't be able to save you in time!"
Fuu smiled as she hugged Narumi back. So this was what it was like having friends. They wouldn't leave you behind. It warmed her heart, and all of the negative thoughts that had been weighing her down vanished instantly.
She then remembered that she saw Shibuki being dragged away, also bound up. It was her turn to be a good friend.
"Shibuki is somewhere around here, I'm gonna go find him and release him." Fuu whispered to Narumi. "Go help Hinata and Sasuke so we can get out of here!"
Narumi nodded before heading off to help Hinata.
Fuu began sneaking around to find Shibuki. She soon found him and untied the ropes around him. Suien didn't think Shibuki was a threat, so he had simply bound him with ropes.
"Fuu! You're alright! Thanks for saving me! Now let's get out of here!" Shibuki whispered to Fuu.
"Wait! We gotta help the others too!" Fuu told Shibuki, referring to the other hostages.
Shibuki felt a little embarrassed, having only thought about his own safety. He agreed and followed Fuu.
With Sasuke
Sasuke jumped to one side to avoid the whip of condensed water that Hisame also created.
She wasn't giving him any time to use jutsu, so he was left with trying his best to beat her using his taijutsu, but she was faster and more experienced than he was, and easily dodged his attacks while counter-attacking.
He was barely able to dodge her attacks, and the extra reach the whip gave her made it difficult for him to close in.
'Shit! I need to create some space between us so I can set up my jutsu, but she won't give me any openings!' Sasuke thought as he ducked to dodge the water whipping right where his head was a second ago.
"Is that all you got? You're pretty slippery, I'll give you that, but your other skills are pretty weak!" Hisame mocked Sasuke.
Hisame whipped her water whip back and forth, seemingly making Sasuke dance.
Sasuke threw a bunch of shuriken at Hisame, who easily dodged them.
He pulled back his right hand, and several shuriken which had been attached to ninja wire came flying back at her head from behind.
She had to duck to avoid the shuriken, and Sasuke began to weave through some hand seals for his signature technique, the Goukakyu no Jutsu (Grand Fireball Technique).
Hisame saw this and whipped the condensed stream of water at his hand, disrupting the technique.
'Damn it! I need some back up to distract her!' he thought to himself.
With Hinata
Hinata panted hard, with blood dripping down from her head, after she had been struck with the water whip by Kirisame.
She had been able to dodge most of his attacks, but she had still taken quite a few hits, which left painful welts all over her.
Kirisame was fighting to inflict pain, instead of trying to finish the fight quickly, being the sadist that he was.
Hinata charged in once again, hoping to land a lucky hit.
Kirisame kept her at a distance however, as the hit she had landed on his arm earlier left his arm still slightly numb and tingly, and he had trouble channeling chakra through it.
Hinata lunged forward like a fencer, hoping to land a hit anywhere on his body. Anything she could do to slow him down.
Kirisame easily sidestepped the lunge, and kicked her between the shoulder blades, sending her flying into one of the stalls.
Hinata crashed into the toilet, causing it to shatter. She received several cuts on her hands and arm from the fall. She turned around to see Kirisame looming over her.
"Looks like you don't have anywhere to dodge anymore." He licked his lips in anticipation of the pain he was about to unleash on this girl. He wouldn't kill her though. Not until he plucked the eyes out of her skull. He wanted to hear her scream and watch her writhe in pain first.
Hinata stumbled to her feet, and got into a fighting stance. She knew she couldn't win, but she would at least go out fighting.
"Looks like you still got some fight left in ya. Good. This will make it more delicious when I beat it out of you." Kirisame said with a sadistic glint in his eyes as he licked his lips.
He drew his arm back to whip the girl into to submission, completely focused on the girl in front of him.
He was about to swing his arm forward, when he felt a sharp pain on his arm.
The water whip fell apart with a large splash as the water hit the floor.
He screamed as he tried to pull his arm back in front of him to see what happened, but he only saw a stump, cut from just below the elbow.
He turned around to see who had attacked him, and saw a red haired girl looking at him with a fire in her eyes, and wielding an intricate katana. She was standing next to his severed arm.
"How dare you hurt Hinata-chan like that!" Narumi screamed at Kirisame and began swinging at him.
He drew a kunai with his other hand, and began blocking her slashes.
"You bitch! I'm going to fucking rip your throat out!" Kirisame screamed in fury.
He was successfully blocking her slashes, when he suddenly vomited a torrent of blood from his mouth.
He fell to his knees, and looked behind him.
Hinata stood behind him with an outstretched arm. She had destroyed his kidneys, liver, and lungs with jyuuken strikes from behind, while he was occupied with Narumi and blinded by rage, which made him forget about Hinata.
"You'll do no such thing to Narumi-chan!" Hinata said angrily, surprisingly not stuttering.
Kirisame's eyes rolled back and he fell over, unconscious.
With Fuu
Fuu and Shibuki had just untied the last of the hostages, and were leading them out quietly, when the door to the warehouse swung open.
"Kill them all!" Murasame yelled out angrily.
He and the 2 Chunin with him had found the spot the explosion had occurred rather easily, as a large number of trees had been reduced to splinters.
They found the smoldering remains of their comrades, with the best preserved one missing an arm and the lower half of one of his legs. The worst one? Well, he looked like the stuffing you put into dumplings.
Simply put, Murasame and the Chunin were not happy. They decided they would kill whoever was responsible.
When they found the hostages escaping, they decided they would kill them as well. The boss had gotten what he had needed anyway.
The 2 Chunin charged in towards the hostages, and Fuu and Shibuki put themselves in between them.
"Hiden: Rinpungakure no Jutsu (Hiden: Hiding in Scale Powder Technique)!" Fuu yelled out after forming a few seals with her hands, and she exhaled a cloud of sparkling powder from her mouth which blinded the 2 Chunin.
Shibuki used the cover to herd the hostages away from danger, while Fuu charged into the cloud to attack her blinded opponents.
The two Chunin were disoriented by the cloud of shiny powder, and one of them was caught by surprise when the petite girl delivered a crushing uppercut to his jaw, which sent him crumpling into the floor with a broken jaw.
The other Chunin groped around blindly, until he stepped out of the cloud by pure luck, though he was still temporarily blinded.
Fuu didn't have the same drawback from her own technique due to the tenant inside her, and rushed towards the standing Chunin to punch him as well.
Her fist was about to plant itself into the man's temple, when a whip of water caught her wrist.
She was roughly yanked towards Murasame, and fell at his feet. He proceeded to kick her in the face, and sent her flying into some crates.
She spat out blood from her busted lip, and got back to her feet, only to have her ankles caught by the whip, and yanked off of her feet once again.
She fell with a thud, but quickly rolled away before the kunai thrown by Murasame would leave her skewered.
Once the hostages were a safe distance away, Shibuki ran to help Fuu.
With Sasuke
Sasuke was struggling against Hisame. He had been unsuccessful in his attacks against her, and now she had caught his wrist and had it wrapped around one of the columns holding up the roof with her water whip.
No matter how much he struggled, he couldn't break free from the condensed stream of water, and it left him both unable to use jutsu, and vulnerable.
"Finally got you to stay still, you slippery eel!" Hisame yelled out. "Now dodge this!" she threw a handful of shuriken at Sasuke.
'Shit! There's no way I can dodge this!' Sasuke thought to himself as the shuriken came rapidly flying at his face.
He was about to resign himself to his fate, when he suddenly saw the shuriken clearly. He could almost physically see the path they were on, and where they were going to land. It was as if he was watching them move in slow motion.
He used this information to dodge all of the shuriken, by twisting and dodging all of the shuriken, with the minimal movement that he needed, and was allowed.
Hisame's eyes widened.
"Your eyes! You're an Uchiha!" she yelled in surprise.
Sasuke was confused for a moment, before he understood what had happened. He had just unlocked his Sharingan.
That didn't mean much right now though, as that didn't free him from the water whip that bound one of his arms to a column.
Hisame continued to throw several kunai and shuriken at Sasuke who easily saw them coming and dodged them all.
She gritted her teeth. If his fancy eyes were helping him dodge projectiles, she'd just need to get up close to finish him off.
She drew a kunai and charged at Sasuke.
Sasuke smirked. His life was in danger, but he was excited to finally use his family taijutsu in conjunction with the Sharingan, the way it was meant to be used.
Being able to predict the movement of Hisame's slashes and stabs, he was able to use his free hand to intercept her strikes, hitting her wrists and inner elbow joint to stop her movements dead in their tracks.
While one of his hands was bound, Hisame's hand was also occupied by the technique she was using to bind his arm.
Hisame wasn't the close range fighter amongst the 3 former Ame Jonin, and had never faced a Sharingan user or the intercepting fist before.
She was growing frustrated with her inability to kill a simple Genin.
"You damn brat! I'll rip those damn eyes out of your head!"
She wanted to use her jutsu to attack him instead, but that meant she had to release him from her water whip so she could use both hands. However, she didn't want to go through the hassle of catching the slippery bastard again.
"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu! (Shadow Clone Technique)"
A female voice rang out through the warehouse.
Sasuke couldn't have been more relieved to hear his friend's voice.
5 Narumis charged at Hisame, forcing her to release the water whip and jump back to gain some space.
"Sasuke! Are you alright?" One of the clones asked Sasuke.
Sasuke nodded as he rubbed the wrist that had just been released.
"Sasuke! Your eyes!" the clone exclaimed in surprise when she saw his Sharingan.
Sasuke smirked. "I say it's about time to try these babies out."
With Fuu
She and Shibuki were able to barely put up a resistance against Murasame, but once the Chunin recovered and joined in, they were getting pummeled.
"I don't know how long we can keep this up!" Shibuki yelled out to Fuu.
"We have to try!" she yelled back as she ducked the Chunin's punch, only to be kicked in the chest by Murasame and sent flying.
Her flight towards some crates were interrupted when she was caught by Narumi.
"Narumi-chan!" Fuu yelled out in relief, turning around to see at least 10 clones behind her, who rushed in to fight against Murasame and the Chunin, hoping the superior numbers would help her.
Narumi saw the bad state Fuu and Shibuki was in, and called over Hinata, who was also in a similarly beat up state.
"Hinata-chan, take these two and try to patch them up as much as possible. I'll try to buy some time."
Hinata nodded, and supported Fuu away, while Narumi's clones relieved Shibuki from his fight.
"Who is this damn bitch!? How can she create so many shadow clones?" Murasame growled out.
He was able to easily dispel many of them, but it was getting annoying.
The Chunin however, was getting overwhelmed when 4 clones surrounded him and began slashing at him all over.
He screamed in pain as he fell to the ground.
It was looking good for Team 7, with Sasuke and Narumi's clones slowly gaining the upper hand against Hisame, and Narumi continuing to summon clones to keep Murasame busy. Hinata was also able to patch up Fuu, Shibuki, and herself, while their opponents were continuing to be worn down. If they kept this up, they'd be able to win soon.
However, their good fortune took a downward turn when a door slammed open.
"You damn Konoha bastards! This is the last time you'll interfere with my plans! I'm putting an end to this right now!" Suien screamed out in rage.
"Shoot. This can't be good." Narumi commented.
Shibuki however, began to pale. "Oh no…"
His eyes lingered on the bottle that was stashed in Suien's Jonin vest.
If he drank that… it would be a disaster.
*Author's Note*
And that's the newest chapter of the Jinchuuriki's Brother! What did you guys think?
So far I've received several suggestions for Narumi's pairing. Here are a few of them:
Neji, Lee, Omoi, Chojuro, Atsui, Sai, and I'll throw in Chouji in there as well.
Now, some of them are from other villages so idk how i'd write them together. It'll be easier for certain villages, and much harder for others.
It would be easiest with Konoha shinobi but most Konoha shinobi are already paired. As Narumi is essentially an OC, i'd have to break up an existing couple. It's tough trying to decide.
So here are some other pairings to consider. I decided to write a short description of what their dynamic with Narumi might look like in a pairing. At least for the ones I'd consider. I've removed the ones I decided i'm going to pair with other characters. (Such as Shino)
Neji: Narumi teaches him a lesson, humbling him. He eventually falls for her sweet, caring, and bubbly personality, helping him break out of his pessimistic outlook on life. Tries to act serious in front of her, but Narumi will push his straight man act to the limit, similar to how Guy and Lee do for him in Canon.
Chojuro: Meets him due to Haku somehow. Chojuro respects her as a kenjutsu user, but is also immediately attracted to Narumi's appearance and personality as well. He's too shy to approach her for a while, until Haku nudges them together. Narumi thinks his shyness is cute, but also respects him for his sword skills. Helps him become more confident in himself.
Chouji: Narumi doesn't care about his weight, actually likes how snuggly and teddy bear-like he is, and his kind and loving personality. Chouji appreciates how Narumi helps him with his self confidence issues. Maybe Ino could get them together?
Gaara: Narumi tries to help him become more normal with things like emotions and making friends. Never having anyone who didn't fear him at all, or anyone who tries so hard to help him, he is interested in her, platonically at first. A relationship where Narumi would be a passionate or emotionally aware person, who tries to teach an awkward and socially unaware Gaara how to act appropriately, with Gaara trying to be a good boyfriend but making weird gestures to show his love.
Shikamaru: Finds Narumi troublesome, but somehow finds himself doing troublesome things for her. Relationship will have some similarities between Yoshino and Shikaku. Ino would try to make him be a better boyfriend, but he's too lazy to listen to her most of the time. Will come through in clutch situations overcoming laziness and a tendency to avoid troublesome situations to be there for her.
So, what do you guys think? Any other suggestions? Any suggestions to develop their relationship dynamics would be helpful for me to picture in my head and justify putting them together. What would you guys like to read?
Anyway, that's all for this chapter. I hope you guys enjoyed it!
Stay safe and hope you guys have a good day!
Until next time!