Authors Note: Just a quick one, promised. Not sure if Tazuna turned out okay. Kinda feels like I rushed him in some ways. Opinions? Any obvious points I might consider for corrections? After all will I need him for some chapters now.
All together a more funny chapter which was totally needed in my opinion.
And sorry for the cliffhangar at the end, but... I'm not sure how long the demon brother scene will become and I want the fight in the same chapter as the scenes after the battle, so it just made sense to postpone it for next chapter (and it gave me an excuse to not yet write the fight at all - still one of my weak points in my opinion).
Enjoy!
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C's Scouting Report: The Land of Wave
"Alright boss, here's what I could dig out within this short amount of time I got. Already asked for a more detailed report on the circumstances there, but that will take some more. So, yeah, here's what I can tell you so far.
The land of Wave seems to be currently supressed by a thug named Gato. Before you want to ask, no, the name doesn't ring any bells with me. If he's part of the Organization must he have joined after I was forced to leave. If he is part of it at all that is. Might be an indepent person as well. That's one of the things my contacts are trying to figure out right now.
The same applies to the business this Gato is involved in. They are trying to get detailed information on it, but no promises here. All that seems to be sure is that he hired a lot of mercenaries and bandits to work for him to keep the civilians in check. Doesn't sound too professional to me, to be honest. Civilians themselfs are all together pretty poor and are barely having any supplies because his men are taking whatever they can get their hands on.
There are also information about a small group of wood- and stoneworkers trying to built a bridge to connect the land of Wave with the neighboring country to get trading routes started and get independent from their local supplies and with that hopefully loosening the grip this Gato guy has over them. But it seems like his men are sabotaging the building as often as they can, trying to not loose any influence.
Considering all informations I got does it sound like a random group of bandits trying to play important. If you plan on sending a team on a mission there would I say a C-rating will do. Low chunin or maybe even good genin with a decent sensei or something, dunno. No need to get all serious here and send a full team of jonin. That would be... too overpowered for these guys."
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A Tale of two Sisters - Chapter 24: Wave ahoi!
"...and that's all I have to report in this matter." Kakashi finished his report, watching the Hokage sitting in front of him with a neutral expression.
Sarutobi was taking a deep breath from his pipe, thinking about everything that he was just informed about. "Okay, let me get this straight: you tested the genin team applied to you in a scenario which they were basicly unable to fulfill based on their skills and your high expectations, especially considering under the aspect that you rendered one of them not able to help her team at all, and still managed to get beaten by said team? And now do you want to finally keep a team and train it?"
"..." Kakashi was fishing for an answer and kept silent for some moments. "If you put it like that... does it sound like I'm the bad guy here." he finally spoke up, realizing that there was just no good answer he could give.
"From my point of view are you for sure. You just told me that you nearly managed to destroy the friendship between your genin. That you punished Hinata Hyuga for the choice she made years ago and left her tied up for hours. She's still a kunoichi of Konoha and tying up a slave is too much of a clichee anyway. I know that you participated within a war at their age at the rank of jonin, but we are living in peaceful times. And for these times are these three through nearly as much bad events as you were back then." Sarutobi explained with a calm voice, reading the change of expression on Kakashi's visible part of his face.
The change was just small, but it clearly showed a bit of guilt creeping up within the copycat. "Anyway, I'm worried about Hanabi Hyuga and the way she acted at the end of the test. Managed to forbid her getting violent against her teammates and she agreed, but if she isn't getting help might the problem just get worse.". He was simply ignoring the fact that he was being scolded by the village leader.
Sarutobi shook his head because of this bad habit from Kakashi before he continued. "From what I understand might it be worse already and we just don't know it yet..." the Hokage said quietly while nodding. "I would suggest to contact Inoichi once you are back."
"I came to the same conclusion that Inoichi might be able to help, considering that the events are most likely haunting her mind from what I understand." Kakashi agreed before shifting his body slightly, getting a bit more comfortable. "And what do you mean, 'when we are back'? Something I should know about?"
"Yes, yes indeed. We got a request for a mission in the land of Wave. It's a combination of an escort and bodyguard mission requested by a bridge builder currently visiting Konoha. C already submitted a first general report on the situation within the land and suggested it to be a C-rank mission for a good genin team. I'll give you the official assignment within the next two days. I don't think that his detailed report will be available by then, but we can only wait that amount of time before the bridge builder is leaving."
"Ah, I understand. And if everything works out will this help get their minds a bit cleared and away from their problems. Might also help them to be outside the village for once." Kakashi nodded in understanding. "Alright, I'll be seeing to their training til it's time for the mission." and with these words was Kakashi leaving the Hokage's office.
Hyuga Compound
Hanabi was the first to wake up the next morning. Laying in her bed without moving was she trying to recall what happened. Still feeling the dried tears on her cheeks did it come back to her: she cried herself to sleep last night. And that was because...
It was early in the morning, she was still tired, it was hard to think right now. She couldn't help but yawn and tried to rub her eyes, just to realize that it was hard for her to move her arm. That brought her to attention because her mind was present enough to know that this wasn't supposed to be the case. Opening her eyes was she trying to find out why she wasn't able to move her arm and it didn't need her long to realize the reason.
Next to her was Hinata laying in her bed. With all the movements of their bodies did the blanket move away over night, giving Hanabi a good look on her sister. She was snuggling close to her side, holding onto her arm tightly, only dressed in her underwear. It was actually the last point that primary registered within Hanabi's mind because she knew that Hinata always slept in her pajamas. This sight right now was simply alien to her.
Now that she was awake enough to actually think, and after seeing her sister next to her, was her mind finally remembering why she cried herself to sleep in the first place. The events of the day before comming back to her did she start to remember the test Kakashi had them go through, the hours she and Naruto needed to finally find him and Hinata. Guilt crawled back into her when her memories came to the point at which she was about to engage her sister with the whip, followed by the discussion they had afterwards.
Once she parted from her team, watching Naruto and her sister walk to whereever they went, was she heading home all by herself. She barely remembered seeing her father when she entered the house. Did he talk to her? She wasn't sure. She at least wasn't talking to him. Heading straight for her room was she... she was... raising her other arm, realizing that this one wasn't restricted in any way, did she finally rub her eyes. She entered her room, but what happened next? She started to think about the whole situation. But then? Did she do something else? She couldn't remember anything, so she must have been thinking about it, about her guilt, about the talkout the whole rest of the day. No wonder that she ended up crying herself to sleep.
A sudden movement at her side distracted her from her thoughts and her eyes fell on Hinata again, who was just snuggling even closer to her before opening her eyes. Seeing that Hanabi was awake as well did a small smile enter the olders sister face. "Morning Hanabi-sama." she mumbled out quietly before yawning. The dream she had - was it a dream? - having drained some of her energy, letting her feel kinda exhausted this morning.
Hanabi wasn't able to look her sister into the eyes. Not after the events of the day before, not after having endless time to think about it. "Why are you here?"
It was a simple question directed at Hinata. A simple but meaningful question. In Hanabi's opinion couldn't it be possible that her sister would get close to her from her own free will. Not after everything that happened. Hinata was blinking her eyes a few times in confusion, trying to understand what her sister, no, her mistress, just asked her. "Where should I be if not here?" she asked back, slight confusion within her voice. "Naruto-kun only borrowed me for the rest of the day, remember? So I came back home of course."
Shaking her head was Hanabi finally looking directly at her sister. "That's not what I meant... why are you here, with me, in my bed? Don't you hate me?" she asked quietly.
"I already sad that I trust you, silly." Hinata couldn't help but giggle at the look of disbelief her sister was giving her. "And I figured that you might have needed some comfort after yesterday. I wanted to be close to you, to help you."
"But... but..." Hanabi started, not sure what to say. What could she say? Why was her sister that kind-hearted to her, after she acted like an evil bitch towards her in return? She just couldn't understand it.
"Look..." Hinata rolled her eyes at the thought that she really needed to explain it to her sister. The one they said about that she was totally smart and which was able to enter Academy two years early because of that. "I was at your side all the time and I know what you went through. And we are in it together unless you let me go. You got official papers signed by the old man to prove it. And I accepted it, if you remember."
She waited for any reaction from Hanabi. For any indication that she was following the line of thought Hinata laid out in front of her. Seeing a slight nod was she continueing. "But from now on will I also tell you if I'm not happy, if I'm dissatisfied, if you are acting unfair. And for a start, whipping me because you got frustrated about Spooky is no fair move."
Sure, the whipping never happened, both girls knew that, but it was no surprise that Hinata was bringing it up. Hearing her sisters words was Hanabi letting her head hang. "I know, sis... and I'm really sorry. I... I just... wanted to..." she wasn't able to finish her sentence, a quiet sob leaving her body.
Hinata pulled her into a tight hug, a caring smile on her lips. "I know that. And I'm glad that you understand it as well. There are other ways to vent your anger and we will find them. But if you are trying something like that again, trying to punish me for things I'm not responsible for, will I defend myself." the tune in her voice shifted slightly, a touch of older-sister-authority in it and Hanabi clearly heard it.
There she was again, the Hinata that would stand up and defend herself and the ones close to her, if she needed to. A part of her Hanabi hadn't seen in years and for which she was glad that it still existed. "Right sis..." she said quietly. "I'll allow you to do that."
Hokage Office, two days later
Kakashi was stopping in front of the door to take a look over his genin team. His genin team. A small smile crossed his face when he realized that he indeed decided to finally train a team. And than this special one on top of that. The one containing Naruto Uzumaki, feared for being unpredictable, or so he heard. Being honest did his behavior got a bit more rational over the last three years. It was because of his friendship to the Hyuga sisters he supposed. But still, Naruto was still having his moments of unpredictable actions, so nothing to worry about him.
And he had the Hyuga sisters. Hanabi and Hinata Hyuga, both daughters of the clan head, both heiresses to the clan. At least in theory. In reality however did they totally screw the order of heirs by the younger sister enslaving the older one. An action unheard of in history. It was indeed an intresting team and here they were, shortly before taking their very first mission. A C-rank mission, something no genin team would get as their first mission. But these genin were different. He knew it, the Hokage knew it, every jonin being involved with them in some way knew it. So a C-rank, one that got rated by the person that was able to somehow dig out every detail about everything, was acceptable to start with.
"Could you stop looking at us with this creepy smile, Spooky?" Hanabi spoke up, glaring at her sensei. "I mean, it's nice that you can teach us lots of things and all, but the fact that you are a pervert isn't helping."
The smile on Kakashi's face got even wider, letting Hanabi growl. He would never admit it, but he did that intentionally. If the girls were complaining about him being a pervert so be it, as long as they weren't using their brain capacities to fall back into thinking about the things troubling them. It was his short-term solution til they found a real one. "Said the girl that enslaved her own sister. What does that say about you then?"
"You know that it's not like that!" Hanabi shot back at him. "I'm not doing these kind of things with her!"
"You do realize that I can hear you two, right?" Hinata asked sighing. "And would you please stop shouting out that I'm a slave? That's an information not everyone needs to know about.". A blush entered her face. She knew that at least half of the village knew by now because some members of her own clan let the information slip while being out drinking with their friends. That still didn't meant that she was comfortable with the fact of people knowing about it. It was one thing to accept it for herself, but a completely other thing if people judged her because of that.
Naruto placed his hand on her shoulder, squeezing it lightly. "Just ignore them, Hinata-chan. Like I did with with the villagers hate all these years."
"At least you aren't judging me, Naruto-kun." she replied quietly and gave him a thankful smile.
"If you are done flirting..." Kakashi said before turning around and knocking on the door to the office. It took some moments before he heard the sign to enter and opened it, leading his team inside.
The room had one occupant more than the kids expected. Standing in front of the Hokage's desk was an older man with grey hair and beard, his arms crossed over his chest. "Wait a moment. Is that the team you want to give me as an escort?" said man asked, raising an eyebrow. "I mean, seriously, just look at them. The girl there can't be older as my nephew and the boy is looking like a clown with this orange clothing he's wearing. You must be kidding." And the first impression they had from said man wasn't a good one.
"I happen to like this colour, you know?" Naruto shot back, glaring at the grey haird older man. "Got a problem with that?"
"Don't be upset, Naruto-kun." Hinata tried to calm him down, taking his hand and giving it a gentle squeeze while smiling at him. "Aren't you ignoring these things normally? So why not do it right now too?"
"They can insult me all the way they want, I don't care. But it's not acceptable for them to insult the things I like, Hinata-chan." he explained to the girl, suddenly ignoring everyone else in the room.
The visitor was shaking his head. "Just great... a brat, a clown and a loovey-doovey couple... am I getting a circus here?"
"Actually..." Kakashi started, avoiding to look at the girls. "You can even add a slave and her mistress to that list. So, yes, a circus it might be. But a useful one, nonetheless."
"Spooky!" both Hanabi and Hinata shouted at him at the same time, giving him looks that promised painful things to him.
That kinda did the trick in finally shutting the soon-to-be client up, his jaw slightly opened in disbelief. Pretending to not having heard the conversation that just took place was Sarutobi speaking up. "Ah, Kakashi, I'm glad to see that you are on time for a change. Do I guess right that finally caring for a team of genin is somehow effecting your sense of responsibility?"
"Well, you see..." he started to answer, a smile entering his face while he scratched the back of his head with one hand.
"As if..." Hanabi snorted, giving another glare in Kakashi's direction. "He was running late again and we actually had to look for him and drag him here. Found him in the bookstore, picking up yet another of these stupid books he likes to read."
"What can I say? Today came a new release, so I had to get it. Still..." his smile turned towards Hanabi. "Shall we talk about the difference between reading it and living it... again?"
Mumbling some unidentifyable words with a voice that was dripping with vemon was Hanabi crossing her arms over her chest.
"I see." the Hokage nodded slowly, mustering every person present in his office. "Well, you are here because I want to assign you your first mission as team 7. This is Tazuna, a carpenter from the land of Waves requesting an escort back to the country and in addition to that a guard mission for him and his workers while they are finishing the construction of a bridge. The land is currently surpressed by a thug named Gato who hired mercenaries and bandits to control the civilians. It's a C-ranked mission, but I'm sure that you will be able to handle it quite good."
"A C-rank?" Naruto asked, excitement in his voice.
"Guarding him?" Hanabi let out a sigh, glaring at the man now known as Tazuna.
"The land of Waves?" Hinata asked curiously, intrested in learning more about another country.
"Their first mission...?" Tazuna asked warily, carefully eyeing the kids before looking back at the Hokage.
"They are quite capable of handling it, don't worry. Or is there anything you want to add to the report our scouts provided?" Sarutobi asked back, looking at the client.
"..." Tazuna kept silent for some moments, thinking it over before slowly shaking his head. "No, nothing to add. It's describing the situation within my country precisely."
"Very well." Kakashi finally said, the smile still on his face. "Please give us two hours for travel preparations, Tazuna. My name is Kakashi and I will be the leader of your escort and guard team. Meet us at the maingate and we can leave in said time."
"Fine, in two hours at the maingate. I just hope you really are better than you look..." Tazuna replied, a slight tune of worry within in his voice. He flinched under the glare of the three kids, noticing that pissing them off might not be the best idea if they were the ones to guard him.
Konoha Maingate, two hours later
"You know sis, I get that you took your jacket along in case the weather changes. But do you really need to wear it already during bright sunshine? I still don't like when you are wearing it..." Hanabi tried for the at least fifth time once they left the compound, looking at her sister who was wearing her jacket and a backpack over her usual clothes.
"And I told you that I'm not having enough space in my backpack to put it in there." Hinata rolled her eyes. "If you want me to put it away, why aren't you carrying the jacket for me?"
Shaking her head did Hanabi finally resign. "Don't have any space left myself..." she said quietly. She was dressed with loose black baggy pants and because of the good weather wearing a simple grey t-shirt to go with it. Her headband was still bound around her waist like a belt, something she got used to after mirroring Ino in the first place.
"Alright, I trust that you got everything you need?" Kakashi asked, looking at his gathered genin.
"And what about you? Stockpiled your books for the trip?" Naruto asked with sarcasm, grinning at his sensei.
His jaw dropped and the grin faded when Kakashi pulled out five books, showing them to him. "Yup, I'm good for the trip."
"...was supposed to be a joke..." could be quietly heard from Naruto, who did a quick check of his stuff anyway. His backpack was containing all his supplies, his staff was attached to the holder on his upper leg and on his other leg was his kunai pouch. He had everything with him he could think of.
"I still can't believe I'm getting a team here that is fresh out of the Academy without any real experience..." Tazuna was shaking his head before putting up a small smile. "But that's something I won't be able to change now, right? So let's try to get along, shall we?"
"Call me a brat again and we won't." Hanabi said with a sweet voice back at him, but the glare she was giving him told a completely different story.
"Don't take her too serious. She's just in a bad mood because of recent events. She'll calm down and be the happy girl she always was eventually." Kakashi said to Tazuna with a smile, while placing his hand on Hanabi's shoulder.
Nodding his head in understanding was Tazuna accepting Kakashi's explanation, not seeing that the jonin actually put pressure into his hold to give Hanabi a silent warning. The girl wasn't flinching to the pain, she wasn't showing any sign that she actually felt it, but she surely did. And she knew that she should restrain herself, being under close surveillance by Kakashi because of the events from the bell test.
The group started their travel after double-checking one last time that they got everything they needed with them. They travelled a good 2 hours in peace and with a bit of smalltalk going on, mainly Hinata asking Tazuna all kind of things about the land of Waves. The two were walking in the lead with Hanabi being slightly behind them and Kakashi in the rear. Naruto, slowing down to fall back to Kakashi, started a conversation with him that quickly got Hanabi's attention who poked her sister in the back to get her attention as well, that they could hear into the talk.
"Say, Spooky, we will have free time as well on this mission, right? I mean, we aren't going to be on guard duty each and every day for the full amount of time?" he asked curiously, looking up at the jonin.
"Huh? Well, of course not. The workers on the bridge will walk home to their families to eat and sleep and stuff. Or have you ever seen someone working for 24 hours straight?" Kakashi replied to the boy, not exactly sure what kind of information he was trying to get.
"So, if we aren't guarding the workers at the bridge at all times... will there be enough free time for you to teach us new things, right?" there was a happy grin entering Naruto's face once he realized that they would still be able to get training done.
"Well, basicly yes. Unless Tazuna here is fearing an attack even at his home. In that case would we be on guard duty the whole time." his eye wandered to the man in question, a slightly hopeful glint in it. Kakashi was after all a lazy person who was thankful for any excuse to not do his work properly.
Stroking his beard in thought was Tazuna thinking about this statement before slowly shaking his head. "I don't think that this will be necessary. So far haven't they tried to attack any of us away from the construction side. And you will be staying at my home while you are there, meaning that should be enough protection anyway."
"Great! So we will have enough free time for you to teach us all kind of cool stuff!" Naruto cheered happily after getting the information he was looking for.
Looking from Naruto to the girls and back to Naruto was Kakashi starting to sweat, thinking about all the work he would have to do. "Well, it does depend. Naruto, you finally able to use elemental chakra? Hanabi, how are your chakra control exercises going along? And Hinata, any progress with the task I gave you in regard to your Water nature chakra?"
He couldn't help but grin slightly when he saw all three of his genin starting to grumble, knowing quite well that none of them could have made any real progress the last two days. "Thought as much. And unless any of you will make any kind of progress will I focus on the basics in your training. Without them is everything in addition out of the question anyway."
"But chakra control exercises are boring..." Hanabi pouted, feeling like she got the worst individual task of them.
"So?" Kakashi asked, looking at her. "You want to end up in the hospital with chakra exhaustion again because you use way too much chakra for your Earth Style jutsu? There is just no point in using them if you are rendered helpless after just two jutsu. That's why you got to do chakra control is priority."
Hanabi was blushing slightly at his statement. It was embarassing to her that he actually knew about the incident that happened after the sparring match between her and her sister when they were testing their elemental progress. She kept silent, hoping that he wouldn't go into any more details.
"You know that this isn't fair, right?" Naruto asked. "Why are you even giving me the task to learn to use elemental chakra if I'm having no affinity at all? Will you ever teach me anything at all? It's just unrealistic!"
"See, Naruto, I think that it isn't natural and that there must be a way for you. And unless we find a medic that is able to tell us the reason for that is the only way for you to try and try and try til you might be able to use elements even without an affinity." Kakashi explained.
"And how am I supposed to figure out if I'm on a good way or not? I don't even know what kind of indications would tell me about any progress..." Naruto complained, crossing his arms over his chest.
"I know... well, I'll train you a bit in taijutsu if we got spare time from the basics. You need to be able to fight even if you loose your staff." it was a weak offer and Kakashi knew it.
"Whatever..." Naruto grumbled, his good mood from before gone completely.
Kakashi's eye wandered to Hinata, looking at the girl who looked back at him. After a moment was she speaking up. "What? Expecting me to complain as well? I understand that it makes sense to learn to sense water sources with my Water chakra. And that the next step would be to use the water that exist inside the air and ground. It's just hard, you know?" she simply shrugged before activating her Byakugan to do a quick check of the surroundings. "It's just that there isn't any water source nearby that I could actually try to sense at all."
"True enough." Kakashi simply stated before motioning for the group to start walking again. None of them had realized that they actually stopped to discuss about things. Not even Tazuna who listened intrested, trying to learn more about the shinobi he got from the Hokage as his guards.
Konoha, inside a bar
It was afternoon and a small group of jonin was enjoying the rest of the day with some good drinks and a card game. The only woman in the group was grinning like mad. "You know, I thought it would be more fun having you two at the same table for some gambling. Suppose I was wrong.". Looking from one blonde man to the next blonde man was her disappointment clearly visible.
"Heh, thought a mindreader would actually be a challenge for me, Anko?" the one blonde man asked her back, dealing the next set of cards.
"Yup, that's what I thought, C." Anko nodded in confirmation. "I mean, we all know that you are cheating us but we still play with you. Just thought that it would go different with him around." she pointed to the other blonde man, her co-worker.
"Excuse me if I'm not willing to use my skills in a situation like that." said blonde man answered, looking back at Anko with a serious look. "All I want is to enjoy myself here with some friends and some good drinks. Especially after my princess told me about the thing she did for the Hyuga girls."
"Can totally understand that. Sure, she was clueless, but entering their minds was a bold move from Ino." C shook his head. "Even asked them if they were crazy when they told me they asked her to do that in the first place."
Inoichi let his head hang and nodded slightly. "Crazy? From what she told me are both minds a living nightmare for an outsider. And she entered them completely unprepared."
"So?" the last person at the table asked, taking a deep inhale from his cigarette. "She does know that the sisters are friends with C here and into slavery, right? Should have known that it might get ugly for her.". Getting looks of disbelief from C and Anko was Asuma raising an eyebrow. "What?"
"How can you be so emotionless about that?" Inoichi asked his friend, not able to believe what he just heared. "My princess is on your team, remember? You are as responsible as I am to help her through this. Haven't you seen her state during your training?"
Asuma was simply shrugging at that. "Honestly? Thought she would have finally given up trying to get the boys to train and join them in the lazyness."
Anko bursted out into laughter, holding her stomach. "That's just great. You are even too lazy to realize that your genin has a problem. Can't wait to tell the old man!"
"Have fun." he stated calmly. "Pops knew what to expect when he put me in charge of a genin team."
Shaking his head was C dealing another set of cards, pondering if he should do the thing he had on his mind right now or not. There was one major point that stood for doing it: Asuma's genin would learn to survive out there. Against it stood the fact that Anko would most likely kill him for that. Oh well... "Yo, Asuma, how about we play with high stakes now?"
Anko knew the tune C's voice had and glared at him. "Don't you dare, you..." she hissed out, the air thickening around them.
"Hmm?" Asuma looked at C questionly. "What are you proposing?"
"If you are willing to bet that you will start to teach your genin like you should am I willing to bet the one thing in my possession everyone seems to want." he stated cryptically and pulled out a joker card with the image of black panties on it.
Inoichi palmed his face. "Really now?" he asked with a sigh. "Starting to use it as bait for other things than informations now?"
"What works, works." his answer was short and simple. Quickly moving his head to the side was he avoiding the kunai Anko threw at him, totally ignoring the woman next to him. "So, what you say?"
"You think I got a use for Anko's underwear?" Asuma asked surprised, lighting up another cigarette. "Though, might be intresting to have something Anko wants to have and be able to get a favor from her. Sure, why not." he agreed and pulled out a piece of paper, quickly writing a few words stating that he will start to train his genin properly and signed it.
"You are dead and you know it..." Anko said quietly, picking up her cards. "Alright, bring it C. I'll win this time and will have something at hand against both of you.". Giving another glare at C left a groan her lips and she pulled out a strangely formed kunai and placed it on the table. "I'm in."
Raising an eyebrow was Inoichi looking at his co-worker. "You got that kunai? And here I was wondering where it disappered to when it vanished from T&I... Should have known as much. Fine, I'm in as well.". He thought about his bet for a moment before nodding towards C. "The book you are intrested in? That's my bet."
Hearing that put a grin on C's face. "Heh, I knew I simply had to nag you about it til you break. Alright, let's do it!"
Just moments later and after everyone took new cards were all of them grinning at each other, everyone sure he got the best poker hand to beat the others and win the good stuff laying on the table. They knew that C was cheating again, they actually expected it, but they also knew that their friend got a twisted sense of humour at times and wouldn't play that dirty if stakes were that high.
And it was true. He did manipulate the cards given out, but in a way none of them would have expected. What he didn't knew however was the fact that this round wouldn't have any winner at all. Everything was planned out, sure, but he never got a chance to finish his plan.
"What the..." Asuma asked in surprise, looking at his cards in disbelief when one of it suddenly started to glow in a dim blue. Sure, the cards belonged to C and it shouldn't surprise him that they were special, but still...
Anko's and Inoichi's eyes went wide as well. Not because of the glowing card. They saw that already from time to time being around C quite often at T&I. They didn't knew what it meant, but they knew the glowing at least. The reason why they were shocked was the reaction of C.
"The seven of spades..." he mumbled quietly to himself. "Damned, that report is urgent, gotta need to pick it up..." he continued, still ignoring his friends. Finally throwing his cards face down on the table and with that giving up was he raising from his chair. "Gotta go. That's an urgent one for the boss man. Laters."
Giving his friends a quick wave was he leaving the bar, leaving a confused group of people behind. It took them some time to get out of their stupor and Inoichi was the first to speak. "Hey, Anko, do you have any idea how exactly he's getting all these reports of his? I mean, he got his network, I get that, but..."
She shook her head. "Nope. He's never speaking about this. He's pretty serious in keeping his methods and connections a secret. But it's scary that he's able to dig out every detail about everything, isn't it?"
"Well, he's on our side, so why do we care?" Asuma asked with a shrug. "Anyway, with him out are the bets mine. Straight flush, 6 to 10 of spades.". A grin entered his face when he layed his cards out in front of him. However, he wasn't expecting his friends to groan out simultanous, raising an eyebrow. "What?" Both Inoichi and Anko laid out their own cards. Anko was having a straight flush, 6 to 10 of diamonds. Inoichi got the same as well, just with hearts.
"If he's having a royal straight flush in clubs am I going to kill him. That would be so typical for him to play us just like that..." Anko groaned out, snatching the cards laying on the table. "He's so dead..."
She threw the cards on the table, showing indeed the royal straight flush she was expecting. It was Inoichi who said the next words that were important. "Well, he left so he didn't won. But we got a draw at hand, so nobody looses their stuff. Only question remaining is: how are we going to split Anko's panties between us?"
He didn't need to be a mind reader to expect and see the kunai coming his way. Dodging it with ease was he watching into Anko's anger filled eyes that clearly told him that she would keep C's bet all to herself and not split it up between the three of them.
On the road leading towards the land of Waves
They already walked for hours and the sun was slowly setting down, the group discussing about how far they would want to go today and where to rest for the night. It was Tazuna's suggestion that everyone agreed on. Slightly an hour away, further down the road, was a small hotel located for travelers. They could get something to eat and a room for the night there. So another hour of walking and killing time.
Hinata was quiet by now, having asked basicly everything about the land of Waves already. That and she got a light scolding from Kakashi to not bother their client too much. It was because of that and the fact that the rest of the group was also walking in silence that she tried focusing on her chakra, trying to sense any source of water nearby. It wasn't much, but it was at least more than Naruto or Hanabi could do because their training needed more than just concentration.
"Huh..." Hinata suddenly spoke up, getting the attention of everyone else while looking at Kakashi herself. "I think I can sense something. I'm not too sure because it's not much I can sense, but... I think there is a small source of water ahead of us."
"A small source?" Kakashi pondered aloud, thinking it over. "Well, I know the area around here and there is no natural source at least. No river, no pond, nothing. Why aren't you checking it out with your Byakugan? Am intrested in what it is that you might sense right now."
Nodding in agreement was Hinata activating her Byakugan, scanning the road and area further ahead of them. She kept silent for a minute, looking around carefully before deactivating her Byakugan again. The group actually stopped while she was looking around, waiting for what she would find. "That's strange. All I could see was a small puddle on the road ahead, maybe in a kilometer distance away." she shrugged slightly.
"A puddle?" Kakashi asked, raising his eyebrow. "Well, it's kinda impressive that you are able to sense that on this distance. That's something it usually takes a master of the Water Style to do, considering the little amount of water it may contain."
Shaking her head was Hinata looking back at him in doubt. "But there is no way that I have improved that much that quick. I just started to even figure out how to sense water."
"Isn't it strange that there is a puddle at all?" Hanabi asked in thought, getting the looks of everyone, ranging from confusion to questioning. "What? Haven't you realized that we got bright sunshine all day?"
"Someone must have been clumsy and dropped a larger supply of water for it to form the puddle." Naruto said with a slight grin. "I saw stuff like that happen before."
"A puddle is a puddle." Tazuna stated, shaking his head. "I don't see why you all get so serious about a puddle on the road. There will be a reason why it's there, but is this really that important for us to waste time standing around?"
"He got a point there." Kakashi agreed and nodded. "Alright, let's get going again. We won't find out about it anyway and we still have an hour of walking before we reach the hotel." and with that was the group on the move again.
A bit later was the group reaching the point of the road on which the puddle was located. Hinata was the first to spot it, having seen it before with her Byakugan and made a headstart to it to inspect it further. Curious as she was did she want to know why she was able to sense it with her chakra. Kneeling down next to it was she looking into the bit of water, noticing that it was indeed not much at all. She could clearly see the ground and guessed that it would be maybe enough water to fill five glasses and not more.
When the group got a bit closer, not slowing down in their movements at all, was Kakashi speaking up. "We won't be stopping for a puddle and we won't be waiting for you to play around with it. So once we pass should you be moving again."
"Yeah, yeah, okay. I'm just curious." she answered, closing her eyes and concentrating again on her chakra. It was the same result, she was feeling the same she felt before. The only difference was that it was right in front of her instead of farther away.
"Really now, sis, are you a child, playing with a puddle like that?" Hanabi couldn't help but mock her when they reached her. "Now get going, we don't have all day."
"I'm trying to understand how sensing water with Water affine chakra is working. That's not playing around." she grumbled quietly but stood up to join the group anyway. Being left behind wasn't something she was too eager to be.
They barely passed the puddle and were having it in their backs, being just a few meters away from it, when there was a loud splash hearable behind them. There wasn't even enough time for them to turn around to see what was happening, when two figures quickly jumped out of it, charging straight at Kakashi. It all happened within just a second and the first thing the kids and Tazuna saw was that Kakashi was laying on the ground, a chain wrapped around him that was somehow connected to some strange looking metal gloves both of the assailants were wearing, using the chain effectively as a weapon between them.
Both of them were wearing plain grey clothes and a scratched Kiri headband. One was standing next to Kakashi, while the other one, in addition wearing a black cloak over his clothes, was sitting atop of him. They tackled him with enough force to throw him a few meters in front of the group, letting them all see what was happening. Kakashi himself somehow managed to turn around in time before he got tackled, but he hadn't had any time to defend himself, and was currently laying on his back, trying to get out of the chain binding him up. He knew that he hadn't much time for it, if the vicious look on the face of the one sitting atop him was any indicator.
The one sitting on him put on a grin and rammed the front of his glove, that also had some claw-like attachments, straight into his torso and started to sing in a twisted way. "I stab your heart, make sure you die, I stick a needle in your eye!" and with his last words was he raising his glove again to let it fall down on Kakashi's face.
The one standing was watching the spectacle before speaking up. "You know, brother, you don't have a needle." he pondered aloud, ignoring the kids and old man watching the whole scene in shock.
Raising his hand again and looking at his bloody claw-like attachment was he shrugging it off. "Works as good, if not better, this way, brother."
"Where did you get that creepy song anyway? Sounded weird to me." the first one spoke again, eyeing his brother carefully.
"Huh? Heard the slave using it the other day while playing with that bunny of hers." the second replied, checking if his victim was indeed dead before sinking his glove on the head a second time just to be sure.
"The slave? But isn't he all against fighting and killing? No way that he used something like that." the first raised an eyebrow at his brother.
"Yeah, that's what she's saying all the time. But she isn't hesitating to kill without warning when the demon orders her to do."
"True, it's quite scary how effective he is in killing. Am glad that we don't need to fight him."
"You know that the slave is a girl, right?" the sitting one suddenly changed the topic, looking up at his brother.
"No way. The demon and the slave are always saying that it's a boy. And the demon must know, right? It's his slave, after all." the standing one replied, glaring at his brother.
It was that moment, when the two started to discuss with each other about the gender of a slave, that Naruto finally broke out of his shock. "What the hell?!" he shouted out, looking at the scene in disbelief. Not just did he saw his sensei dying right now, no, the ones responsible were just discussing about something like nothing happened.
Turning their heads towards the nuissance did both brothers start to grin. The sitting one finally standing up was he watching the rest of the group. "Well, brother, would say we can discuss that later. Right now do we have to deal with the rest of them and our target."
Nodding to that was the one with plain clothing agreeing. "Sounds good to me. Let's get rid of the target and the boy and let's play with the girls afterwards."
"I like your way of thinking, brother." the one with black cloak nodded as well. "Alright, let's do it that way!"
And with that were they charging at the group, aiming for Naruto this time, the chain between them both ready to catch their next victim. The four of them watching with wide eyes at the two who just easily killed Kakashi, a veteran ninja of one war, known and feared widely for his skills. And now did they need to fight these two, if they don't wanted to end in a similiar way...