C's Scouting Report: The situation within... how was this village called again?
"Alright, I was busy and I got several useful informations for us. About that Gato guy, about the Demon, about the involvement of the Organization - who actually isn't ivolved yet - basicly about everything we need to know about. It was actually too easy. But I don't care, it's the result that counts.
So, where to start? I would say... hmm... why am I even bothering with this to begin with...?"
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A Tale of two Sisters - Chapter 28: Chaos in Wave is inevitable
The sound of paper being ripped and scrunched was clearly hearable echoing through Tazunas house when Kakashi entered it with Hanabi and Naruto in tow. Curious about the source were they following the noises towards the living room to find C sitting at the dinner table, currently destroying the report he was writing. "Yo Spooky, what's up?" he greeted the newcomers, giving them a lazy wave of his hand.
"Just training." Kakashi replied casually. "When did you arrive?"
"Before noon, but I was sleeping til maybe 20 minutes ago or so. Was working the whole night after all." he shrugged slightly. "Ain't you missing a girl?" he pointed out, his eyes falling on the two genin standing next to him.
"Hinata stayed behind at our training spot. She wanted to train a bit more on a new technique of hers. Said she would follow once she's done. So... could you get us some useful info?" his eye was fixed on the torn paper.
Seeing Kakashi's look was C laughing. "I sure did. Just saw no point in actually writing a report now, considering that I could simply tell you, right?" he gestured at the table in front of him. "But hey, sit down. No point in standing there while I talk, right? And we could maybe play some cards as well, don't ya think?"
The group took a chair each and settled down, actually thankful to be able to sit and relax for now. In fact were they even thinking about taking C up on his offer of a cardgame, but knowing him was Hanabi activating her Byakugan for a short moment before shaking her head. "He got currently 9 aces and a royal straight flush hidden in his sleeves. I'm not playing."
"Hrmpf! You know that your eyes are considered cheating during gambling, right?" C crossed his arms over his chest, mustering Hanabi with an annoyed look on his face.
"Said the one actually cheating." Hanabi shot back without missing a beat, glaring at the card trickster.
Looking from one to another was Naruto shaking his head, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Guys, don't you think that our mission is more important right now than the fact who's cheating at games?"
The argument between the two stopped right away, and both of them, plus Kakashi, were looking at Naruto with somewhat shocked expressions on their faces. Said boy let out a low growl. "What? Do you think that I'm stupid or something? You think I would have become a shinobi if I were? We got a mission and it is dangerous, remember?" he rolled his eyes. "So can we PLEASE get to the informations now?"
"Huh, sometimes does he really surprise me. I mean, it shouldn't, considering his parents, but still..." Kakashi mumbled quietly to himself, shaking his head slightly.
Bursting out into laughter again was C nodding in agreement. "Ayup, I tend to forget as well that he can have his moments. Righty, the informations. So, where you wanna start?"
They sat there for a good one and an half hour, discussing about Gato and his thugs, the Demon of the Mist Zabuza, how lucky C was for getting away from that encounter without any bigger problems. The part about him visiting the female mercenary afterwards was something he could have skipped and Hanabi made that more than clear by aiming a Gentle Fist strike in his crotch area. C was able to dodge, but he got the message and went on with the important stuff. After telling them that the Organization wasn't involved in this area, but that he would expect them to show up, was he finished with his report.
"So, to put it simple..." Kakashi started thoughtful. "Could basicly everything happen once the construction on the bridge continues. The Demon would avoid the Organization but attack us from Konoha. Gato would fight anyone threatening his business and if the Organization sees you would it be like a living hell. All things considered... are our odds pretty bad, huh?"
"Unless you go ahead and buy some of his mercenaries, yes. But if you want to do that would I hurry. I can tell you that I'm not the first person to have an idea like that." C nodded while replying.
Hanabi was biting her lower lip for a moment, but couldn't hold back the comment in the end. "You mean you actually pay your people and not just kidnap and capture them?"
"Funny." he rolled his eyes. "Yes, the Organization is paying their members. Sometimes at least. It's more threatening them that they wouldn't think about leaving. But, if you want to take over or destroy competition..." he started to explain but got interrupted.
"Yeah, yeah, I get it. If money can reduce the number of opponents you have to face, why wouldn't you take that opportunity, right?" the girl finished for him.
"Yup, something like that." he simply shrugged.
Having stayed silent for most of the conversation was Naruto finally speaking up as well. "Uhm, guys? Dunno if that's important, but... has any of you seen Tazuna since we came back? I mean, without him will there be no construction, right?"
"Good point, actually..." Kakashi agreed before adressing Hanabi. "Search him."
Activating her Byakugan was said girl quickly scanning the whole house before shaking her head. "He isn't here. Say, C, you were the last one to see him, right?"
"Well, yeah, when I arrived here before noon. But I was sleeping the whole time. Must have left then, cause he wasn't here when I woke up."
"Didn't he mention that he's living with his daughter and grandson here and that they should come back today? But we haven't seen any of these two either, right?" Naruto asked with worry in his voice.
"...you think something bad happened?" Hanabi asked quietly, looking at the two present jonin.
"We better go look for them." Kakashi agreed, quickly getting up from the table and leaving the house, followed by the rest of the group.
Inside the village
He was restless. Tsunami, his daughter, should have been back like three hours ago together with his grandson, Inari. But they hadn't arrived at home and after waiting a good hour, with Kakashi being out training with his genin and C being asleep, did he decide to go search for his family or at least run into them if they might be late. But he made no progress so far and he already was searching for two hours. None of the villagers he asked had seen his family either and he was worried that something might have happened to them.
Another thought that crossed his mind was that he must look suspicious as well, searching the village, asking random villagers about his family. If any of Gatos thugs might spot him and report that - that could probably be the weakness Gato was waiting for to finally crush the carpenter and his bridge building plan. But it was about his family after all, he just couldn't sit still and wait quietly for his daughter to maybe or maybe not come home.
It wasn't really helping that it was getting dark already and the moment he passed another corner did he run into a group of three of Gatos thugs. He silently cursed his bad luck because that was the least he wanted right now.
"Well, well, look who we got here. Ain't that the carpenter making our boss that much trouble?" one of the thugs, a scarred man carrying a huge sword, asked.
"Eh? Guess so..." the second one spoke, a pretty plain man with a katana strapped on his back.
"So what? I'm in a hurry, you know? If you please would step aside that I can continue on?" Tazuna spoke calmly on the outside, but already drawing out the worst possible outcomes in his mind.
The third thug, a woman with a scar across her eye, gave him a weak smile. "I happen to have heard you searching for your family. That's a shame, isn't it?"
"Yeah, tell him that our boss would kidnap them to blackmail him into stopping the building of the bridge." the katana wearing one said.
The woman let out a long sigh and rolled her eyes. "And again, I haven't said any about that. You just gave that information away, you know?"
"Huh?" the man scratched the back of his neck, feeling for the hilt of his katana at the same time. "Wait what? I did?" an appolegetic smile entered his face.
Tazuna's face paled visibly, the thought of Gato having captured his family crushed his determination to continue the work on the bridge in an instant.
"Will ya two shut up already? It's always the same..." the scarred one spoke up, glaring at his friends. "Ya do know as good as I that we ain't having them."
And suddenly did his hope come back, even if just a little. So there must be a logical reason why his daughter wasn't back just yet. It had nothing to do with Gato at least.
"Say..." the one with katana pondered aloud. "Why aren't we finishing him off for good now? I mean, that would solve all the troubles, right?"
Even more colour left Tazunas face just now. He was in deep trouble this time and he was all alone. The shinobi he hired out training in the woods and the strange fellow that joined them later sleeping at his house. None of them had an idea where he was right now and none of them would come for his aid.
"Sure, go ahead." the woman said while shaking her head. "If you want the whole village to come after us. It's one thing that Gato is surpressing the civillians, but it's another to kill off their hope, you know?" she drew a knife from one of the sheaths at her chest and started cleaning the dirt below her fingernails with it.
"I said shuddup ya two!" the scarred man shouted at his companions. "Or do ya want to draw the attention on us here?"
"...am pretty sure that you just managed to do that by yourself, you know?" a voice came out of an backalley at their side and the three of them plus Tazuna looked over to see who was interrupting the situation. "Though I think I'm thankful for that. After all did you help me find my host."
"You?!" three of the four of them said at the same time, watching the blonde man stepping out of the alley. Tazunas voice sported disbelief, he still wasn't really trusting C yet. The scarred man sounded angry. Not only did he loose a fortune to C the night before, no, they, left him sleeping in the bar and once he woke up he also had to pay for all the alcohol they drank. The only female within the group spoke pretty quiet, a small blush entering her face. She hadn't expected to meet that man again that quickly. Just the one with katana stayed calm, pretty much ignoring the fact that he played cards with the guy last night. He couldn't care less.
It wasn't too hard for C to track Tazuna down. Gathering information was his business after all and it wasn't difficult to get the villagers talking about Tazuna searching for his daughter and grandson. In addition to that did he have both Kakashi, a specialist for tracking, and Hanabi with her Byakugan with him. No, it really wasn't hard to find Tazuna. But after realizing the situation the carpenter was in, and more importantly with whom, did he tell his companions to stay hidden. No reason to risk their mission.
"Happy to see you again too." he said smiling, giving them a wave. "Hey Tazuna, you weren't at our meeting point to pick me up. That's not like you. You promised to shelter me after all."
He wasn't the quickest with his brain and all he could reply on that was a "What?", not being able to play along. Gladly for them wasn't that necessary at all, cause the three mercenaries weren't noticing his reaction.
"Ya mean ya are involved with that old carpenter? That means you're our enemy after all!" the scarred one said, lifting up his sword. "So glad. Payback for my money!"
"Don't!" the woman spoke up loudly. "He's involved with the Demon. Better not draw the anger of him and his slave on us!"
"...what?" the scarred man turned his head to look at the female with doubt written all over his face.
"Huh. That's news to me." the katana wielding one said bored. "Wanna flip a coin whether or not we start a massacre here?"
All Tazuna could do was to watch in disbelief at the scene in front of him. He lost track of what was happening the moment C spoke about him sheltering him. His brain simply shut down, waiting for anything to happen that would tell him whether or not he was dying now.
"Geez, guys, relax. I'm noone's enemy, alright? Yes, the Demon and I are old friends, so what? And yes, Tazuna here is giving me shelter while I'm staying here. So?" C shrugged. "Why don't we sit down, play some cards and talk things out?"
That however proved to be the wrong suggestion as he quickly ducked under a slash of the huge sword from the scarred mercenary. "Ya think ya'll can cheat on us again?" he said angryly, glaring at the blonde. "No chance in hell! But if ya wanna play a game, I got a question for ya. Answer right and we'll let ya go." a smirk crossed his face.
"Don't do that!" the female hissed to her companion, the blush on her face increasing by a nuance.
The third raised his eyebrow at her. "Don't tell me you did...?" he asked her with slight surprise, not that he really cared.
The scarred one however wasn't hearing any of that, his eyes focused on C who simply nodded. "Sure, go ahead."
Grinning from ear to ear was he happy right now. Nobody ever answered that question correctly because it was simply impossible. And it meant he could just cut the blonde down afterwards. He did agree to it after all. "Righty. How many knives does she have with her?" he pointed over his shoulder to the female, his eyes focused on C.
Said female was simply shaking her head and sighing. She didn't like being made an object of his stupid bets. Sure, it was effective and all, but still. Plus, this time was the first time they would loose that bet. Could it become even more embarassing?
"That's all you want to know? It's 47 knives all together." C answered calmly with a slight shrug. "So yeah, my friend and I are leaving now." he grabbed Tazuna by the shoulder and pushed him away into the alley he came from, trying to leave as quick as possible as long as the mercenaries weren't reacting.
"Wait a moment!" the scarred one shouted. "How? How did ya know that?"
He wasn't stopping to walk away, only looking back over his shoulder with a sly smile. "Simple. I could count them while I undressed her." and with these words was he rounding around a corner, disappearing together with Tazuna out of their sight.
Getting the looks of her companions was she glaring back at them, mostly at the scarred one. "What? You can't blame me that I wanted to have some fun. Do you have any idea how long ago my last time was? So don't you dare say a word!"
The two males knew her good enough to know that they shouldn't talk back to her now. And they agreed, without needing to talk about it, that they wouldn't tell anyone about this encounter they had right now...
Just a bit later
"That was... intresting." Kakashi stated neutrally, watching C and Tazuna. "I'm really surprised you managed to talk him out of that situation."
Still slightly under shock was Tazuna shaking his head. "What the hell just happened there?" he asked in disbelief.
"Beats me..." Naruto mumbled quietly. "There was just no way to follow that."
Hanabi shrugged her shoulders. "I got lost after the part about C knowing the Demon. They meant Zabuza, right?"
Letting out a long sigh was C looking at Kakashi. "Well, two things just happened. One, we avoided a blood bath and you loosing your cover. Two, I'm going to leave tonight because too many people are already aware of my pressence here. There's just no way I'm able to gather more information now without getting found out. Plus, I don't want to be here once the Organization shows up. And I tell you, they will."
He nodded to that. "Understandable. A spy that got found out is pretty much useless. But I think we already got enough useful info about the situation as whole. Any last advice?"
"Try to not get killed?" C shrugged. "I mean, the construction continues in two days, right? I tell you that this will be utter chaos. I'm sure that Gato will show up with his thugs. The Demon will be one of them, maybe even prior to Gato, but he isn't loyal to him. You might have a chance to talk to him. Anyway, if luck favors you is that all. If not..." he shook his head.
"Right, got it. So, about these three...?" Kakashi raised his eyebrow.
"They were the ones I milked for information last night. And the woman was still with me when Zabuza ran into me." he answered in short. "That all? Good. Well, good luck then. You'll need it." and with these words was he making a single handsign, disappearing in a swirl of playing cards that disintegrated once hitting the ground.
Shaking his head slowly was Tazuna letting out a long sigh. "What a strange fellow. So... uhm, about my family...?" he spoke up hesitantly but got interrupted by Kakashi right away.
"Not much we can do. For one, this isn't our mission. And secondly do we have no clue about them. So I guess you just have to wait and see if they appear or not. Or if any other information becomes available."
"I see..." Tazuna let his head hang in defeat.
"Isn't that a bit cruel?" Hanabi whispered to Naruto. "I mean, sure, Spooky got a point, but..."
"Yeah..." Naruto whispered back. "Just think about how we would react if Hinata-chan went missing all of a sudden." It took him some moments to process his own words before he realized what he just said. "Oh crap." he now spoke loudly. "We totally forgot about Hinata-chan. She's still out training, right? And it's already getting dark..."
The kids looked at Kakashi who simply shook his head. It seemed like this day wasn't going to end anytime soon.
Near the pond inside the forest
The sun was already setting down, the last rays of light breaking through the trees of the forest. Hinata was taking deep breaths, her chest visibly rising and falling, while laying on her back next to the pond. She was drenched from top to bottom because of all the water attacks she destroyed with her Gentle Fist, but also had some holes in her clothes from needles she wasn't able to hit. All things considered would she say that she did good. It was a useful training to her and maybe one day would she be able to perfect that defense of her. A smile crossed her face.
"...are you okay?" a concerned feminine voice spoke up next to her, startling the girl to the core. She tried rising up from the ground to face and, if needed, defend herself against whoever it might be, but the exhaustion was too much and she fell back down halfway up. She instantly felt a gentle touch, two hands holding her body before she could hit the ground hard.
Turning her head slightly was she looking into a beautiful yet concerned face, framed by black hair falling down slightly half of the girls back. She must be a bit older than Hinata, but not too much. "Uhm... thanks..." she spoke quietly, not sure where the other girl came from. There was nobody around while she was training, that she was sure about. After all was her Byakugan active the whole time and she hadn't spotted anyone around.
The girl holding her was pondering about Hinata before the concerned face switched into a slight frown. "You are a slave." it wasn't a question but a statement. "Are you running from your master?"
A slight blush entered Hinatas face and she raised a hand to feel her neck. The headband hanging loose around it moved much around while she was training, revealing her collar she wore below it to anyone looking. She brought the headband back in place and tightened it a bit more to secure it in place, before averting her eyes. A girl she didn't know found her out. "No, I'm not running from my mistress... I was... training." she spoke quietly.
"You know that nobody will believe you around here, right?" the other girl spoke gentle now. "A slave without master around this area is considered on the run and free to hunt and claim, you know?"
"I didn't know..." Hinata shook her head. "I'm not from around here and we just arrived yesterday..."
The unknown girl stood up, smiling down at Hinata and extending a hand to her. "I could tell by your headband. You are from Konoha, right? Here, let me help you up. You can stand, right?"
Hinata had a smile on her face. She now had the opportunity to look at the girl completely and she was really beautiful with her rose kimono. However, she was also able to now spot the collar around that girls neck as well. It was a simple black leather collar, but had a snowflake etched into it's side - somewhat similiar to the playing kitten etched into her own collar. After taking the hand and getting up on her feet couldn't she help but to ask. "You are a slave too? But didn't you just say... that..."
The gentle smile never left the lips of the unknown girl. "Yes, I am. And I love serving my master. There is nothing more fulfilling in life." seeing Hinata's confused expression was she adding a bit more. "Oh, don't worry about me. I'm known around here. Nobody would try to lay a finger on me. You are the one to worry about."
"You... are serious... about me being in danger, are you?" her voice was barely a hearable whisper, unwanted images entering Hinatas mind.
"Totally! You are lucky that nobody ever comes out into this forest. If someone would, well, I doubt that you get to see your mistress again." the girl shrugged slightly. Well, it was easy for her to say after all. Hinata was the one getting even more unwanted images in her mind, one worse than the last.
She hugged herself, holding her chest tight with her own arms. "I... don't want to be seperated from her... don't want to leave her..." Hinata mumbled quietly, her face showing fear, her voice unsteady. "How... could I live... without her? And she... without me?" She kept quiet after that, trying to calm herself down. Yes, something bad could happen, but no, it hadn't happened yet. The girl kept quiet as well, simply watching and waiting for Hinata to speak again.
After a few minutes, which Hinata needed to calm down, was she shaking her head, her mind being made up. "I won't let that happen. Nobody is going to seperate me from my mistress as long as I can do something against that!". She nodded to herself in confidence in the end, before the blush on her face suddenly got stronger, when she finally processed another information she just got. "Wait, you love serving your master? You mean like... you know... uhm..." she gulped, not really daring to speak it out loud and it was just a mere whisper when it left her lips. "Like... sexual?"
That somehow hit the unknown girl by surprise and she watched Hinata for some moments, blinking her eyes a few times, before finally starting to chuckle. "Hell no. Of course not! I mean, I'm a boy. My master isn't into that kind of thing." she, or better he, shook his head.
"You... what?" Hinata was unable to process that information. There was clearly a girl standing in front of her, but claiming to be a boy. That couldn't be right. "Uhm... if you say so... so... what are you doing out here?"
"Just taking a little stroll, enjoying the fresh air. And you were training, right? Being exhausted, but not having run away and in addition wearing a ninja headband. You must have trained, right?" the girl, no, the boy - Hinata really had problems to get that into her head - responded to her in a voice still sounding feminine.
She nodded slowly. "Yeah, I did. I need to become stronger to protect my mistress and my friends. The thought of loosing them is just too much for me..."
The smile entered back into the face of the strange teen. "Ah, that's good to hear. So you do love your mistress as well, right? That's how it should be. One should always love their master or mistress, no matter what. Because they are the only ones one has." there was a sparkling glint in his eyes, showing how serious he meant these words. "You know, devoting oneself full-heartly to the owner will help the slave to grow beyond every point imageinable."
Hinata kept silent for a while, thinking these words over. She was thinking back to the bet that brought her into this position, to the time when C captured them and explained things to them, up to recent events. She figured that she grew even closer to her sister, her mistress, during these years. "I... think that you are right. I feel a deep bond with my mistress and I'm happy about this."
"Really, I'm glad to hear that." the teen smiled honest at her. "Will you be okay to get back? You recovered a bit, right? It's getting dark."
Blinking her eyes a few times was Hinata hit offguard by that. She hadn't realized that the sun was as good as gone by now. "Yeah, I'll be alright. It was... nice talking to you." she smiled gently back.
"Hope to see you again soon." the teen, catching Hinata offguard again, pulled her into a hug before turning around and wordlessy walking away into the forest.
Shaking her head to get out of her stupor was Hinata wondering about that strange teen. Who was he and why was he here? And more importantly, why did she just talk honest about her situation with a stranger? Also... was he really a boy? Quickly activating her Byakugan was she checking the direction the teen had disappeared, finding him in a bit distance. Using her Bloodline was she checking the body of the teen, a smirk entering her face. "Huh... I knew that couldn't have been a boy." she spoke quietly to herself and shook her head again. Well, who was she to question why someone would lie about that? Must have been a reason for it.
Storing that information for later use, and realizing that the sun was gone completely by now, was she heading back to Tazunas house. Her team must be worried by now she figured, not wanting to let them wait any longer. She really had failed to keep an eye on the time that passed and was glad that she could see even in the dark with her Byakugan, making the way back much easier than for a normal person.
Somewhere unknown - but not too far away
She was inside a cave. At least, she thought she was in one, if the occasional echoing of footsteps and other sounds were any indicator. But she couldn't be too sure, given the fact that she was blindfolded. Sitting on the ground, there was at least a blanket for which she was thankful if she really was inside a cave, were her hands tied behind her back.
Having given up to speak, there was just no reply and even shouting seemed to have no effect, meaning there was most likely nobody around to hear her, was all she could do wait. Wait for anything to happen, wait for someone to come for her. There must have been someone who brought her in this situation in the first place, so there had to be someone coming for their prisoner, right? At least she hoped so. Starving in this situation was something that wasn't sounding too appealing to her. But then again, the echo of footsteps was an indicator for someone being around.
She remembered traveling back to her village together with her son, after having taken a short vacation trip to the neighboring village. Her father recommended it to her, to not stay alone at home with her son, while he was traveling to Konoha to hire shinobi as guards for the bridge building. But what happened then? She shook her head, unable to remember what happened. The next thing she knew was that she was in this situation, alone. And where was her son? Was he here too? But why didn't he answer her?
Letting out a long sigh was she placing her head on her chest. There was no use to struggle, so why should she even try? And if nobody came for her, or talked to her, maybe even interrogated her, what reason was there to waste her energy? She understood at least that much.
"You know..." a deep male voice spoke up next to her, startling her. "You are no fun at all. Woman usually tend to struggle a lot and scream and try to get free if they are captured. But you really disappoint me here. Already resigned to the fact that you could be sold as slave soon?"
Turning her head in the direction of the voice, even so she couldn't see the man it belonged too, did she shook her head. "No, I didn't. But there is no reason for me to uselessly waste my energy, is there? Besides, with all the pressure and fear forced down on us from your boss Gato for all this time... you think we don't know what might happen to us?"
She wasn't sure where she found the courage to talk that defiant to the person who captured her, but then again, panicking wouldn't help her either. The male watching his captive, a sturdy man wearing a full body suit, couldn't help but smile. It seemed like getting information about that Gato wasn't going to be too hard if this woman just kept on talking. And talking she did. He wasn't sure why the woman continued, but he didn't care at all.
"So what? Did you sunk low enough now to take me hostage, to blackmail my father into stopping the construction of the bridge? Well, you will be in for a surprise! He went and hired shinobi from Konoha as guards. So if you show up at the bridge are you in for a good beating. There's no way that we won't get our independence back from your boss." she took a deep breath, having talked herself into rage. It felt good to tell one of Gatos men what was on her mind. And as long as they let her talk would they surely not do anything bad to her, right?
"Konoha, huh?" the man asked surprised, a grin entering his face. "Well, talk about a coincidence. I got business with them too. So maybe can I settle two things while being here, great. So... about that bridge you mentioned?"
It was then that the woman realized something. If this guy didn't knew about the bridge was he none of Gatos men. And if he wasn't one of Gatos men might her life actually be in danger cause she had no value to him as a blackmail object. That thought finally brought panic into her mind. "Where's my son?" she asked quietly, her voice having dropped in volume, the courage gone in an instant.
The man couldn't help but to laugh at that. "Finally figured that I have nothing to do with Gato? Thanks for the informations so far though. And don't worry, he's here as well. Just had to knock him out for being too noisy. So..." his voice getting serious again. "I believe you wanted to tell me about that bridge your father is working on?"
She wasn't sure what to do. Her life was basicly over, she realized. No matter if she would give him the informations he wanted or not, he would take her away. Or maybe just leave her behind and not come back because he got killed, letting her to starve whereever she was right now. Inwardly she cursed her bad luck and let out a long sigh.
Tazunas house, the next morning
The group sat around the table, eating breakfast together. Tazuna was still worried about his daughter and grandson, but there was nothing he could do right now. As much as he hated it, the shinobis were right about the fact that they hadn't any information about their whereabouts and with that no way of effectively tracking them down. That strange C guy might have had a chance to do that, he figured, but he left during the night. It wasn't easy for him to understand the reasons behind that, but Kakashi explained that it had something to do with C's former connections from years ago. Oh well...
"Uhm... sorry if I worried you all..." Hinata spoke up, looking at her team. She ran straight into them the night before when she left the forest, being overwhelmed by Hanabi and Naruto who were just about to search for her. Kakashi simply had a reliefed expression on the visible portion of his face, but she wasn't too sure if it was because of her being safe or because they didn't need to search for her.
The group let the topic be at that point and simply went back into the house and to bed after that long day they all had. Which left Hinatas explanation for her late return for this morning. "I just... totally forgot the time while I was training. And when I had new energy after it, to finally head back, was the sun already gone. So, I'm really sorry." she had an appolegetic smile on her face.
"I'm just glad that nothing happened to you, sis. So, was your training succesful?" Hanabi looked at her sister, a mixture of relieve and curiosity on her face.
Nodding slightly was Hinata careful with her words. "I think... that I managed to improve a little?" she spoke pretty vague, a mishievious glint in her eyes.
"Awww, come on... that ain't fair, sis. Do I need to order you to tell us?" the younger girl pouted at her sister, crossing her arms over her chest.
"Well, tomorrow will the work at the bridge start and from tomorrow on are we on guard duty there. And if our informations are correct will we most likely have enemy encounter. Guess we'll know then whether or not her training was useful." Kakashi interrupted the argument before it could start. The last thing he needed was Hanabi going dominant over such a trivial matter.
"Oh, that reminds me..." Hinata started, pausing to take a bite from her breakfast. "I actually had an encounter inside the forest last night before I came back."
"Huh, that's odd. Nobody ever goes into it..." Tazuna pondered aloud, her teammates and sensei looking at Hinata with different expressions.
"Well, It was kinda strange, if I think about it now. There was this girl that said to be a boy. She was a slave too, said she was worried about me, cause a slave without master would be taken and claimed on sight. But when I mentioned her being alone was she laughing, telling that she's known around here. We talked a bit and then she left. I... checked her out when she was gone and it really was a girl. Really don't know why she said she's a boy." Hinata shrugged in the end.
"Why would a girl say that she's a boy anyway? I don't get it." Naruto spoke up, shaking his head at that idea. "I mean, you are who you are, right?"
"Could have different reasons, Naruto. Some do not feel comfortable with their gender and wish to be the opposite one. Or it might simply be for self-protection. Female slaves tend to get raped and stuff quite often." Kakashi explained in a calm and neutral voice, hinting that he knew what he's talking about.
"I... that's..." Hinata shook her head. "That's cruel..."
"It's the nature of slavery. A slave is just property to the owner and the owner can do whatever he or she desires. Though I was under the impression that the two of you should know that." he raised an eyebrow at the older girl who simply let her head hang.
"Uhm, that aside... don't you think it's weird?" Hanabi spoke up, thinking about the matter. "A girl, slave, that said she's a boy. Doesn't that sound familiar to you?"
"You think so?" Kakashi asked, looking at the younger girl.
"Now that you mention it, yeah. I kinda have the same feeling. But not sure why." Naruto pondered aloud.
It was Tazuna who remembered, his face paling. "You... were busy fighting these brothers who attacked us. But they started discussing at one point. About a slave and whether it's a boy or girl..."
Hinatas eyes widened in realization, she too paling slightly. "...right. It was about the slave of the Demon..." she trailed off.
"You mean you met the slave of the Demon, that Ice Style user, inside the forest? Did she... knew who you are? Did they watch our fight with the brothers? Did she remember us from back then?" Hanabis voice got quicker the more she asked, panic starting to claim her. The last thing she needed was a repeat from three years ago. It was worse enough that the chilling mist haunted her inside her mindscape.
"Pull yourself together you two!" Kakashi spoke loud, authority in his voice. "She wasn't attacking Hinata when she had the chance, so she probably had no intention of harming us. However, we now know that the Demon is aware of our presence here, something we anticipated anyway. It doesn't change anything. Tomorrow will we guarding the workers on the bridge and, like we expect thanks to C's informations, will it most likely become ugly. So we will prepare for that anyway."
"Hey, Spooky, do you think we got a chance?" Naruto asked worried. "I mean, even if Hanabi-chan pulls herself together..." said girl just glared at him "...will we have to deal with the Demon and his slave, most likely a lot of bandits and mercenaries working for that Gato and on top of that with the Organization, right? And we are... just a team of 4."
Kakashi simply smiled back at him. "I want to tell you two things. First, I already faced worse situations and I am still alive. And second, all of you three got a lot of potential and I believe in your skills."
That earned him three hesitant nods from his genin. At least for the moment were they, more or less, confident about the next day.
Zabuzas hideout
"Haku." Zabuza spoke up without looking in the direction of the girl. "I noticed you were out last night again. And you seem to be strangely happy today. So?"
"Uhu." Haku hummed in reply. "I met the one girl from Konoha. Turned out that she actually is a slave and that she loves her mistress. I'm just glad to have heared that. So no need for me to tell her how great it is to be a slave."
Turning his head around to look at his property was Zabuza raising an eyebrow. "...just one of the girls? All alone?" he let out a silent laugh. "How stupid are these Konoha guys? Letting a girl alone at night in this land. Can't believe they actually defeated my tools. Anyway, you are forbidden to leave my side from now on."
That hit Haku hard. She always was a good girl, she never did anything wrong. "But... why, Zabuza-sama? Everyone knows that they shouldn't try anything funny... I... didn't do something wrong, did I?" she asked fearfully. The thought of having displeased her master was just too much for her.
"Has nothing to do with you. I ran into one of these Organization guys yesterday. He said he wasn't here for us, but they are clearly up to something. I'm not trusting them at all. That's why I want you close to me from now on. Not gonna risk them to snatch and sell you away." he spoke with clear anger in his voice.
"...I understand, master." the girl agreed. "But does this change anything with your plans?"
"At least not for now, no. We will be at the construction site tomorrow, as ordered by Gato. Not that I would trust him either..." he trailed off after that, shaking his head and thinking about it. "And then... who knows. I'm not sure if the money he pays is nearly enough to deal with these Konoha shinobi and the Organization on top, should they show up. We will decide spontanous, once time has come."
Haku tilted her head to the side, watching her master for a moment. "You haven't told him about the Konoha shinobi?"
"He's paying us to do his dirty work and he said often enough that he isn't intrested in what we have to say, remember? Still... I don't know what will happen tomorrow, so I want you to rest up."
"As you wish, master. I'll be in my room for the time being. Please call me whenever you need something." Haku nodded and turned to leave. She had a small pout on her lips. It was boring not being allowed to go outside, but she wouldn't complain. It was an order from her master and following them was all she lived for.
Gatos hideout
Gato, a man with not that much height and wearing a suit, was looking with displeasure at the three mercenaries standing in front of him. He wasn't too happy at all about the report he received from his men regarding this specific group and he had no problems letting them know.
"For what do I actually pay you scum? You got just one night off and you managed to spill basicly every important point about my operations to a complete stranger you just met at a bar and played cards with. How stupid can you be? I thought at least two of you had at least somewhat of a brain..." he shouted at them, watching their reactions.
All three of them weren't even flinching. Either a sign that they were really battle-steeled mercenaries or - and that might be more the case - they weren't really taking their employer too serious. Like most of the bandits and mercenaries did. Sure, Gato paid good money, but that's it. Not that any of them would tell him that into his face.
Growling at the lack of reaction did he continue. "But no, that's not all. The morning after was that stranger be seen entering an alley together with the Demon. What the hell? Care to explain that?" he was glaring at the woman of the group. "They told me that you were with him til that point. Speak!"
She gave him a weak smile and shrugged slightly. "They said they were old friends." she answered truthfully, before smirking slightly. "Afraid that this stranger told the Demon about your operations? From my stand is he informed about them anyway, isn't he?" she supplied helpfully.
"Just SHUT UP, bitch!" he was loosing his temper, throwing his arms into the air out of frustration. "The worst part is yet to come. I mean, how stupid can you three be?"
"Stupid, huh?" the man with Katana on his back spoke up. "You mean like our big boy here, good ole 'dozer. You could tell his charging into enemy ranks stupid, but it's effective, you know?" he shrugged, his voice bored as usual.
"Ain't nice, man, ain't nice..." the scarred man replied, shaking his head.
"I said SHUT UP! All of you! Just SHUT UP!" Gato was really loosing it now, his eyes showing pure hate towards the mercenaries who, finally, decided to better listen for now. Their boss still was the one holding the power around here. "You had the bridgebuilder cornered. You got seen! And what did you do? Let the same stranger from the night before take him away..." his voice trailed off, the hate in his eyes still visible before he poked the scarred man on his forehead multiple times. "Hello? Anybody inside? You got the bridgebuilder. The guy giving me all the trouble. And what did you do? STUPID IDIOTS!"
"...we found out that his daughter and grandson went missing. He were frantically searching for them. Would say his will is somewhat broken." the female replied for her companion, drawing the attention from Gato on herself.
Three seconds. That was all the time needed for Gatos mood to completely turn around before he bursted out into manical laughter. "That's excellent! So he finally showed us a weakness? Perfect!". It took him several minutes to calm down, the mercenaries still not moving, before he looked at them again. "Fine. He wants to continue the construction tomorrow, right? We will strike then. You three will be part of the vanguard. Disappoint me and you got your last payment..." he threatend in the end.
Acknowledging these orders was the group leaving. Once they were out of hearing range was the bored man turning towards his friends. "Vanguard, huh? So we gotta get rid of the workers and other trouble before he's going to show up?"
"...meaningless slaughter, ya know?" the scarred one cracked his neck. "The money's good, but that's it. I want a challenge, ya know?"
"I got a bad feeling about this..." the female spoke quietly to herself, drawing one of her knifes out of its sheat. "Like totally. How about we leave and look for a new contract tonight?" seeing the looks her friends gave her was she shrugging her shoulders while examing the blade. "Was just asking, geez."
XXXXX
Authors Note: I guess you could say I set all rails for an utter and complete chaos on the bridge. Please place your bets now whether or not I screw up keeping track of everything during the "Clash on the Bridge" chapter *coughs*
Just had to take C out of the picture/arc. He got a shiny moment here, but he would make the next chapter way too complicated. I over-focused on him during this chapter in the first place, so yeah, logical consequence.
And if you wonder about it: thought it would be a nice touch to use the three mercenaries as "representatives" for Gatos thug army. Like, dunno, giving his cannon fooder some character and a face or something. To make it something more than just cannon fooder. You get the point, right?
So, final point: your thoughts on the Haku/Hinata scene? We all know what Haku did for Naruto in the original - but I switched him out with Hinata here. But in the end didn't she really need a push, did she? Though, I hope I still got the spirit of this scene captured, cause in the end did she understood something different, didn't she?