Ch.6: The Princess and the Piranha
"...I'd very much like to know exactly what is going on here myself. So why don't you go ahead and start at the beginning...your highness?"
The woman known as Shun took a step back in shock, completely caught off guard by the elder shinobi's challenge.
Im...Impossible!...How?
Reacting immediately, Yurinojou and Kikunojou stepped forward and carefully interposed themselves between her and the irate ninja. "What are you talking about, Asuma-san?" Kikunojou responded, quickly. Their chances of keeping their cover were now essentially blown, but they may as well try until they knew for sure what was going on. "What's happened, exactly?"
In spite of themselves, Kikunojou and Yurinojou winced slightly when the tall man's powerful gaze switched over to them. Crossing his arms over his broad chest, Asuma replied, his foul mood plain in his tone, "Just a little while ago, two of my students were attacked by a pair of foreign shinobi. They gave no reason for their attack, but they made it quite plain that they were pursuing this caravan."
On hearing this, the caravaners began muttering nervously among themselves. Meanwhile, the three disguised newcomers from Greens Country couldn't help glancing at one another anxiously, their worst fears being realized.
Asuma continued, "Fortunately, I was able to deal with both of them. I successfully captured one of them, and when I interrogated him, he told me something very interesting…" Stepping forward, Asuma forced the two men to take a step back. His gaze boring into Shun, he went on, "Apparently, they were sent to track down the daughter of the Land of Green's feudal lord, who was travelling in disguise in this very caravan."
This statement elicited even more expressions of surprise from the caravaners, and from the genin as well. Naruto spoke up, sounding confused, "Wait...the daughter of a feudal lord? Wouldn't that be like...a princess?"
Chouji groaned, "Dang it, Naruto...you jinxed us."
"And you're saying this has something to do with us?" Shun, doing her best to regain control of the situation, replied to Asuma. "Asuma-san, you can't possibly think that…"
"Do I look like an idiot to you?" Asuma cut her off sharply. "Don't try to bullshit me. I saw through your disguise almost as soon as we met. Are you going to try to convince me it's a coincidence that these people are looking for a princess hidden in a merchant caravan, and you, a woman disguised as a man, just happen to be travelling in this very caravan with your two bodyguards?"
Asuma ignored Naruto's startled yelp of, "Shun is a what now!?" and continued pressing forward, deliberately letting some of his chakra leak out to increase the weight of the pressure he was putting on the three before him.
"Now I'll give you one last chance to come clean with me," he said, "or else I and my students are leaving the three of you right here."
This statement caused alarm and panic to spread across the faces of the three from Greens Country. "You can't!" Shun burst out, now clearly afraid.
Falling to one knee before Asuma, Kikusuke responded, "Asuma-san, wait, please...it's as you say…"
"Kikusuke…!" Shun hissed at the man.
"I'm sorry, my lady. We have to be honest with them. We've deceived these people long enough." Turning back to Asuma, Kikusuke continued, "As you've surmised, Asuma-san, the three of us are not mere merchants. Our real names aren't Kikusuke and Yurinoshin, either. It's actually Kikunojou and Yurinojou, we're shinobi in service of the royal family of Greens Country. And this…" he went on, gesturing to Shun, "...is Lady Haruna, only daughter of the Lord of the Land of Greens."
This, of course, caused the most surprised reaction from the rest of the caravan yet.
"So wait...Shun is actually a princess!?" Naruto said, "Like, for real?"
"You've got to be kidding me," Chouji muttered.
Stepping forward from the crowd, Ms. Miyako spoke up in wonder, "My word! Are you really Princess Haruna?" she asked, "Look at you, you're all grown up! You may not remember, but you and I actually met once, many years ago, when you were a child. I remember you came to visit the caravan one day with your lord father…" Turning to address her two male guardians, she continued, "And would that make the two of you the two little ninja boys who were always tagging along in her wake? Goodness, you've all gotten so big!"
"I think I remember that, actually," Yurinojou replied. "It was around the time when Tsunade-hime visited the country..."
Kikunojou nodded in agreement. "Those were better times."
"And…" Asuma interjected, trying to get the conversation back on track, "What exactly is the princess of a nation doing in a caravan of merchants?"
"The plan to join the caravan was formulated a few days ago," Kikunojou replied, "when we received intel of a coup d'etat."
"A...A coup d'etat?" Hinata asked.
"Yes," Kikunojou nodded, "It started a few days ago...when we realized that the growing bandit problem in the eastern foothills was actually an army of rogue shinobi assembling within our own borders."
"By the time we realized what was happening, more than half the officials of the Land of Greens had already been bought off," Yurinojou said, picking up the story from Kikunojou.
"Bought off?" Asuma asked, "So the source of the coup wasn't from within the country itself?"
Kikunojou shook his head. "No. The ringleaders of the coup are a trio of criminal-nins called the Janin. We're not exactly sure where they came from. Some rumors stated that they were from a distant land across the great Eastern Ocean...regardless, they're vicious, and cold-blooded killers. They turned dozens of officials to their side under our very noses, and discreetly assassinated any who tried to resist. They were so efficient, we didn't even realize what was happening until it was almost too late."
"When our master, the feudal lord, realized the threat, he made arrangements for Haruna-sama to leave the country," Yurinojou said. "Fortunately, this caravan was set to leave very soon, and his lordship had already hired protection from Konoha to protect them from what he assumed were bandits. It was a fairly simple matter to arrange for us to join the caravan for short while in exchange for working as movers."
"I see," Asuma replied. "So what you're saying is that the feudal lord decided to use these people as cover for his daughter's escape."
Sweating slightly, Kikunojou quickly responded, "Asuma-san, please believe me, it was never his Majesty's intention to place these people in danger, or to cause trouble for you, either. He would never have done so if there were any other option. He planned to hold out against the enemy for as long as possible, and keep the Janin's attention focused on him, hopefully long enough for the three of us to escape the country."
"And yet, you're being pursued already," Asuma replied. "How did they manage to pick up your trail so quickly?"
Kikunojou shook his head. "I'm not sure. Our own forces were outnumbered, but even so, they had the defender's advantage, and they were forewarned. The enemy shouldn't have had enough men to spare pursuing random caravans."
"Don't be a fool, Kikunojou," Haruna spoke up sharply, rejoining the conversation. "You know perfectly well why this is happening. It's because my father is weak." Turning to face Asuma, she went on, bitterness creeping into her voice, "The Land of Greens is a powerless land, full of soft-hearted people who take peace for granted. There's no way anyone there would be able to stand up against the Janin, especially not my father. The fact that they're onto us means he's probably already dead and the battle is over. They most likely started looking for me as soon as they cleared out the castle and realized I wasn't there."
Asuma arched an eyebrow at the woman's response. The cold way in which she announced her own father's death, and the lack of any apparent remorse was a bit disturbing, even to him. Yurinojou and Kikunojou looked chagrined, but didn't say anything in response.
Definitely a story there, he thought, but that's not really my concern right now.
Taking out a cigarette, Asuma lit up and began to smoke as his mind worked through the current situation. Obviously, the present scenario was well beyond the confines of his team's original mission. His first instinct was to take his genin and get the hell out of dodge. During his career, he had seen more than once what happened to shinobi when the clients weren't honest about the mission parameters, and the results were almost always tragic. The last thing he wanted was for he and his team to become yet another sad tale told as a warning amongst their fellow shinobi. At the same time, he knew he couldn't simply abandon the rest of the caravan. Ms. Miyako and her party weren't in any way at fault for the present circumstance, and it wouldn't be at all right to up and desert them. Of course, there was always the option to force the three from Greens Country out of the caravan, and let them deal with their own problems, and there was certainly a strong temptation for Asuma to do just that. The three had taken what was supposed to be a simple, straightforward C-rank mission, and turned it into his worst nightmare. No matter how sympathetic their story was, he knew that as far as the codes of the shinobi were concerned, he would be fully justified in leaving them to their fate.
He sighed, internally. All that said, there was something stopping him from simply washing his hands of the three of them. The whole reason he and his team were there in the first place was because of the feudal lord of the Land of Greens. The man had done a kindness for someone Asuma's own father regarded as a daughter. He had helped Tsunade with her no doubt steep gambling debt, and never asked for anything in return. Based on what he knew of the man from what the Hokage had told him, Asuma believed Kikunojou was telling the truth when he said the feudal lord didn't intend to use the caravaners, or themselves, as shields. These weren't the actions of a cold-hearted manipulator, they were the actions of a desperate man with no other options. Conversely, the actions of their subordinates told him everything he needed to know about these 'Janin'. He had encountered more than enough of their sort in his life, as well. If he left the princess and her escort here and returned to the Leaf Village without helping them, he knew he would technically be doing the right thing as a shinobi. Regardless, he also knew that his father would be extremely disappointed to have not been able to repay the Lord of the Land of Greens in any way. He may not blame Asuma for what he had done, but he would no doubt blame himself for failing to help the man when he really needed it, and add it to the ever-expanding pile of guilt the old man seemed to carry with him at all times, these days.
Taking his cigarette out of his mouth for a moment, he spoke, "Yes, well, regardless of what your intentions were, the fact remains that the three of you have put everyone in this caravan in extreme danger. Not only that, but you also lied about it in order to protect yourselves."
Haruna responded sharply, "So what? What are you expecting, an apology? I am the heir to the throne of the Land of Greens, which means my life is paramount! As future ruler of this land, I must be kept safe at all costs. We did what we had to do for my protection, it was worth the risk of a few merchants."
Before anyone else could say anything, Naruto burst out furiously, "The hell do you think you're saying!? Acting like you're so much better than everyone else! What the hell do you think human life is worth?"
Completely unabashed, Haruna replied brazenly, "So long as I survive, the Land of Greens can be restored someday. My life is the future of Greens Country. By definition, that makes it worth more."
"Why you…!" Naruto looked like he was about to throw himself at the arrogant princess.
"Naruto," Asuma spoke firmly, gesturing for Naruto to be still where he was. On the outside, Asuma remained calm and detached. Internally, though, he was in complete agreement with his student. This idiot girl doesn't seem to realize she's not helping herself, here.
Turning back to the three before him, he spoke again to Haruna, his voice even but with an edge to his tone, "I would refrain from saying things like that if I were you, princess. Don't forget, you've also placed my students in danger. Two of them have almost died already. They're technically still in training, they're not ready for a mission like this." Stepping forward, he stared her down, "Keep this in mind: their lives mean more to me than yours ever could. And you're not exactly making a good case for why we should help you right now."
Drawing herself up haughtily, she replied, "A good case? Isn't it your job to protect me?"
Asuma snorted in derisive amusement. He had to stop himself from laughing in the girl's face. Turning to her two shinobi companions, he asked in an amused tone, "She doesn't really get how this works, does she?"
"Haruna-sama…" Kikunojou spoke up, "...that applies to Yurinojou and myself, but these people were hired to protect the caravan, not you yourself. Their protection only extends to you so long as you are considered a part of it as well, and that protection is void if you become a liability to the safety of the entire rest of the caravan."
Haruna was now beginning to look nervous. As if to press the point home, Yurinojou also spoke, "What's more, our presence in this caravan could also be considered a breach of contract. Asuma-san and his team would technically be justified in calling the mission off altogether and returning home."
Asuma took a small bit of satisfaction in seeing the arrogant princess deflate entirely. "Exactly," he said. "That's how it is."
"So that's it then?" Haruna, now seeming like a trapped animal, asked. "You're just going to run away and abandon me here?"
"We don't run away!" Naruto snapped.
"Indeed," Asuma stated, more calmly. His mind was now made up, and he had settled on a course of action. It would be risky, but if they all played their parts, and executed correctly, it was their best chance of getting everyone out alive. "Listen closely, and understand this: I refuse to risk even a single member of this caravan for your sake. My first priority is to get them out of the line of fire. Now...if you want our help, you will do exactly as I say. This is how this is gonna go…"
Stepping out into the forest, Asuma moved a small ways away from the caravan, far enough such that he got a small amount of privacy, but not far enough that the caravan itself was out of sight. Behind him, the caravaners prepared themselves once again to move. Haruna had been lifted up onto one of the carts by Yurinojou. She sat apart from the other members of the caravan who were riding the carts, not that any of them were particularly eager to sit near to her, either.
The petulant princess had been none too thrilled when she heard Asuma's plan. Regardless, under pressure from even her two bodyguards, she had relented, and promised to follow Asuma's instructions in exchange for their continued protection.
Standing in a small space between trees, Asuma took a deep breath and began executing the first part of his plan. Pricking his finger on one of his trench knives to draw blood, Asuma formed a series of hand seals before slamming his right palm into the earth. "Summoning-Jutsu!" A tangle of seal marks spread out onto the ground beneath his hand, before disappearing behind a cloud of smoke that burst forth. When the smoke cloud dispersed, there, standing on the ground before Asuma, was a small, white-furred rhesus monkey.
One only had to look at the creature for a moment to realize that this was no ordinary beast. Aside from its conspicuous coloring, a reddish face standing in stark contrast to its snow-white fur, its eyes also gleamed with a clear intelligence. Perhaps the most noticeable aspect of the animal, though, was the bright-red sash it wore from shoulder to hip. This sash held up a cylindrical message-container, slung across his back.
The little monkey looked around quizzically for a moment, before spotting Asuma. "Oh!? It's Asuma-kun!" the creature spoke in a high-pitched voice. "Well, well. It's been a while since you summoned one of us. How have you been?"
"I've been better, Kozaru-san," Asuma replied. "Listen, I…"
"Oh? That's too bad," the fast-talking summon animal started speaking again before Asuma could go on. "You and your father haven't been fighting again, have you?"
"No, we're fine, but look…"
The white-furred macaque blathered on obliviously, "Well, that's good to hear. You know, most of us think the reason you never summon us is because of this thing with your family…"
"...Kozaru-san, that's not really…"
"...If you ask me, what you and your father really need to do is just sit down and hash things out with each othe…"
"Kozaru-san!" having run out of patience, Asuma interjected sharply, finally getting a word in edgewise. "I'm sorry, but I don't have time for this. My team is in a critical situation. Our status is AE-04."
Recognizing the Konoha code, Kozaru sobered immediately. "Ah, I see," he replied, now all business. "What do you need from me?"
Taking out a folded piece of paper, Asuma opened the message container on Kozaru's back and placed the paper inside. "I need you to take this message to my father." The message was only a few sentences Asuma had hastily scrawled down, but he was certain his father would understand the urgency of his situation. "Tell him to send whatever he can," he said, sealing the cylinder shut.
"Will do," Kozaru replied. "What's our current location?"
"We're in a country called the Land of Greens. If you travel due east from here, you should arrive back in Fire Country," Asuma explained. "Once you cross the border into the Land of Fire, you'll be able to find your way back to Konoha, right?"
"Of course! Who do you think you're talking to?" the white monkey said, puffing out his little chest proudly. "I'm King Enma's most trusted messenger!"
Asuma nodded. "I know. I'm counting on you. And Kozaru-san…" he said, catching the little monkey just as he was about to take off, "...I'll make sure to have something good for you to eat the next time I summon you."
Waving his promises off, Kozaru responded, "Don't worry about that. Just promise me you'll sit down and have a nice, long talk with your father, like I said."
Asuma sighed. "At this point, I doubt I could avoid doing that even if I tried, Kozaru-san."
Kozaru nodded. "Well, good. I'm off, then." Turning away from Asuma, the monkey leapt away and into the trees, speeding away and swiftly disappearing from sight.
Asuma rolled his eyes. Nosy monkeys, he grumbled to himself. Forget my father, the reason I never summon them is because they're always butting into my business.
He complained, but he also trusted that Kozaru would get the job done, better than anyone else could, at that. Kozaru wasn't very strong, but he was incredibly fast. He could move at speeds impressive even to a jounin, and could deliver messages to any location faster than even a messenger-hawk could. If he moved at top speed, Asuma was certain that Kozaru would arrive at the Leaf Village overnight.
Asuma sighed. From there, of course, it was anyone's guess how long it would take reinforcements to arrive. Assuming that the Third Hokage even had anyone available to send, there was no telling how quickly they would be able to prepare, move out, and travel all the way to his location. It was a long shot that it would even be helpful, ultimately, but it was one he had to take, regardless. Anyway, in the end, he wouldn't be relying on getting help from the Leaf. Hopefully their group would be over the border before their pursuit got too large to handle, but it could prove vital, if their enemies were bold enough to continue pursuing them into another country.
As he turned back toward the caravan, Asuma saw his three student's approaching him.
"Sensei," Chouji was the first to speak, "the caravan is almost ready to move again. They just want to make sure everything is tied down extra securely to deal with our faster pace."
Nodding, Asuma looked back at the caravan. The caravaners moved back and forth, checking over everything on the carts, and also making sure the very old and very young members of the group were secure in their seats atop them. Naruto clones moved among them, helping in whatever ways they could. It appeared that Naruto's copies had entirely taken over the job of pushing and pulling the carts themselves. Which reminded Asuma of something he needed to talk about with the boy.
"Naruto," he spoke to his blonde student, "I understand you left some shadow clones behind to protect the caravan when you separated from it, earlier."
"Yes, sensei…" Naruto nodded, uncomfortably, not eager to remind his sensei of his recent insubordination.
Asuma nodded. "That was good thinking, at least. It doesn't excuse you abandoning your post," he said quickly, wanting to make sure his student didn't start to think his actions were justified, "but still, that's a good way of making use of them. Out of curiosity, how much longer can these ones last before they run out of chakra and disperse?"
Turning and looking back at his clones, Naruto seemed to think for a moment. "I'm not exactly sure," he said, "When I'm not fighting they can actually stay out for a pretty long time. The ones I made during our Genin test lasted for almost eight hours, and we were running pretty hard the whole time. I'd say a few more hours at least on all of them."
"Good, good," Asuma replied, "In that case, I want you to reassign any of them that aren't helping push the carts. Have them spread out behind us and shadow the caravan from about a mile out."
Naruto thought about this for a moment before coming to a conclusion, "Oh, I get it. You want them to slow down any enemy pursuit, right?"
Shaking his head, Asuma responded, "No, not at all. In fact, if any of them spot the enemy, I want you to order them to dispel immediately."
Naruto's face screwed up in confusion, "But...how would that help us?"
"Because, we want to have as early a warning as possible of when the enemy is approaching," he replied. "Hinata can see incoming threats from all directions, but her range is more limited for the time being. I want to supplement that by scattering shadow clones in the direction the enemy is most likely to approach us from."
"But, I still don't get it," Naruto replied. "If the clones dispel themselves, how are they going to get the message to us that the enemy is coming?"
Pausing, Asuma looked at his orange-clad student for a moment, "You mean...you haven't noticed yet?"
"Noticed what?" Naruto asked, seeming to become a bit exasperated.
Asuma pondered this for a moment. Hm, now that I think about it, that probably makes sense, actually. Up until now, he's mostly just used shadow clones for combat, and always kept them pretty close to himself. The memories were so similar to his own, he probably didn't even notice them.
Coming to a decision, Asuma spoke to the blond boy again, "Alright Naruto, do me a favor and go ahead and create a single shadow clone."
"Uh, okay," Naruto shrugged and complied, a single clone popping into existence next to him in a cloud of smoke.
"Good, now then…" Asuma began running through a series of hand seals, "Shadow-clone jutsu!" With a slightly larger poof of smoke, a copy of Asuma appeared beside him.
"Eh? You can use the shadow-clone jutsu too, Asuma-sensei!?" Naruto said in surprise.
Asuma shrugged, "Of course I can, I'm a jounin. Shinobi of my level have access to jutsus like this."
Suddenly the Asuma clone spoke up as well, "Now, the clones are going to go over there behind that tree," he said, pointing to a large tree several meters away from where the group was standing.
Meeting the gaze of his original, the Naruto clone shrugged and followed the Asuma clone away from the group, disappearing with him behind the selected tree.
Naruto still seemed at a loss. "I don't get it, sensei. What are they gonna do over there?"
"You'll see," Asuma said blithely.
"How am I supposed to see when they're hidden behind the…" Naruto stopped short, appearing shocked for a moment, before his face suddenly screwed up in a rictus of anger. "Hey!" he said, furiously, "What was that for!?"
"What do you mean?" Asuma asked innocently.
"What do I mean!? Out of nowhere, you just flipped me off and then kicked me in the dick!"
To the side, Chouji snorted, while Hinata put her head down, hiding her eyes behind her bangs, embarrassed at Naruto's words. For his part, Asuma continued to stand there looking innocent. "I don't know what you're talking about. We were just standing here talking."
Pointing angrily at the tree, Naruto responded, "Yeah, but your clone…" Suddenly Naruto's eyes lit up in realization. "Oh!"
Chouji spoke up, curiously, "Huh, so wait...does this mean Naruto sees whatever his clones see?"
"More like Naruto remembers whatever his clones remember," Asuma replied, beginning to lecture. "Whenever a shadow clone is dispelled, its memories and a portion of its chakra return to the original. Basically, whatever the clone has seen or experienced, you will remember as though it happened to you."
"Huh," Naruto thought aloud, "You know, now that you mention it...one of the clones I left with the caravan did get dispelled earlier, and even though I wasn't there, I can remember everything it did," he said, smiling slightly at the memories of his clone self tormenting Shun. Or rather, Haruna. Whatever.
Chouji arched an eyebrow, "You've been using shadow clones all this time, and you're only just noticing this now?"
"That's probably because of how he's been using them," Asuma replied. "As it happens, Naruto's use of shadow clones for combat is actually fairly unique. The vast majority of shinobi who use them, utilize them for scouting purposes only. Obviously, because you get their memories back, shadow clones allow a single ninja to reconnoiter multiple places at once, making them a highly useful reconnaissance tool. As to why they're not generally used for combat, the reason is twofold. For one, their damage tolerance is not very high. As you guys know, generally all it takes is one good hit in order to destroy them. Shadow clones represent a sizable investment in terms of chakra, which makes the second point all the more important. Whether a clone is destroyed, or dispels on its own, you still get its memories and a portion of its chakra back. However, when it is destroyed by an outside force, the amount of chakra that you get back is greatly reduced, relative to the amount that is returned when the shadow clone actively dispels of its own accord. That's the reason why most shinobi can't afford to use shadow clones in combat. The few that do either have massive chakra capacities, like Naruto, or are very highly skilled." As it happened, Asuma's father was one such individual. Or at least, had been, at one time.
"Anyway, like I was saying," Asuma continued, "when Naruto uses shadow clones, he tends to keep them very close by, for fighting or whatever else he happens to be doing. Generally, Naruto's clones are always doing the same activity as Naruto himself. As a result, I suspect that when the memories came back, they just sort of blended with Naruto's own natural memories, and he just never had reason to notice them."
Naruto thought about what Asuma-sensei had said. Now that he thought about it, before today he had never really sent a clone off to do its own thing. It had never occurred to him that the memories of the clone might come back to him if he did.
"Um, sensei…" Hinata spoke up for the first time, that conversation, "If all of that is the case, wouldn't it make more sense for Naruto to create more clones and send back as many as he can to scout, instead of just sending the ones he's already created?"
Asuma smiled at the girl's perception, "Good question, Hinata. Actually, that brings me to my next point, and this one is very important Naruto, so listen up." When he was sure the boy was paying close attention, he went on, "It's very important that you not overuse shadow clones in this way. In fact, for the time being, I forbid you from using shadow clones in training, without my explicit permission."
"Huh!?" Naruto asked, "Why?"
"Because, shadow clones have a second limitation, one that's not even a factor for most shinobi."
Hinata tilted her head to the side, in curiosity, "A second limitation?"
Nodding, Asuma replied, "Indeed. The primary limitation for shadow clones is, of course, their massive chakra cost. It's the reason that most shinobi who can use them do so only sparingly. However, for those few who are able to use them to a larger degree, there's a second limitation having to do with the shadow clones memory retention. As I said before, when a shadow clone dispels, all its accumulated memories return to the original. However, while this is one of the things that makes shadow clones so useful, it has a side effect on the shinobi's brain. You see, when all those memories come flooding back to the original, the brain has to immediately process all this new information. This causes considerable mental strain for the shinobi's mind," he said, tapping the side of his head for emphasis. "It's not a problem for most, because generally this jutsu is only used by older, more experienced shinobi creating one or two clones. You, on the other hand, Naruto, are still very young, your brain hasn't even finished developing yet, and yet you are able to create dozens of clones at a time. Which means this limitation is particularly relevant for you."
"But sensei," Naruto responded, still a little confused, "I've been using shadow clones a lot, ever since I learned the jutsu. I've never had any problems with it up to now."
"I'm sure you haven't," Asuma agreed. "Probably for the same reason you didn't notice the memories until I showed you. Up until now, you've always used shadow clones for very simple things, to support what you, yourself were doing. The memories from the clones were nearly identical to your own, and didn't contain any particularly useful information. This massively cut down on the mental exertion required for your brain to process these memories. So much so that they basically blended with your own natural memories." Gesturing toward the clones over by the caravan, he continued, "The clones you've created today, on the other hand, have spent large stretches of time apart from you, and some of them were deliberately trying to gather new information. I suspect when they start to dispel, you'll begin to notice the side-effects of incorporating all those new memories. That's why, if possible, I'd also like you to make sure your clones dispel at different times, and not all at once."
Chouji spoke now, looking concerned, "Is there a danger to Naruto if he tries to take in too many memories?"
Asuma nodded gravely, "Indeed, there is. There's a story in the Leaf Village about a shinobi who tried to use the shadow clone jutsu to speed up his training. He was strong, but he underestimated the danger of the mental feedback. He ended up putting himself into a short coma, and almost died, when he dispelled all of his shadow clones at once."
Actually, it may have been a bit of an exaggeration to say that this story was well known in Konoha. As it happened, the shinobi in question had been none other than a much younger Hiruzen Sarutobi, which was how Asuma knew the story, himself. Regardless, the example was still pertinent.
"That shinobi was older, and more experienced than you are now, Naruto. So I want you to be especially careful. If you're not, you could end up hurting, or even killing yourself."
Naruto paled, looking suitably cautioned.
"Speaking of which, that brings me to my last point. Chouji," he said, turning to the rotund boy, "Naruto and Hinata have already heard some of this, but I want you to hear it too. This mission has turned into a combat op, so you need to be prepared for what's to come. Two of the enemy have been killed already. Whoever follows after them won't be as careless as they were."
"Umm, sensei…" Hinata spoke up, hesitantly, "don't you mean one? That other shinobi was still alive when we left…"
Asuma paused a moment before responding. Opening his pocket, he took out a packet of cigarettes and began getting ready to light up. "He was still alive when the two of you left...but he wasn't when I did," he said, his voice even and devoid of emotion. "I couldn't afford to let him report back to his cohorts about us, so as soon as I was done interrogating him, I finished him off."
All three of his students paled at this. Naruto was looking around, seemingly unsure of exactly how to react. Hinata lowered her eyes, unable to make eye contact with anyone. Chouji looked decidedly ill.
Lighting up and taking a smoke, Asuma went on, "I didn't particularly want to kill him, but it was necessary. There wasn't enough time to hide the bodies, much less conceal the signs of battle, but even so, if I had left him alive he could have passed on information about us to whoever followed after: how many of us he saw, and more importantly, how strong we were. In situations like this, concealing such information from your opponents can be crucial. Now, whoever comes after us next will know that we were strong enough to take out those two grunts, but they won't know any more than that. They'll have to be more cautious than they would be if they knew what they were up against. Forcing the enemy to come at us blind could end up being the difference between life and death for one of us. That's why I made the choice to do it."
Looking around at all his uneasy students, Asuma continued, "And that's exactly my point. Listen carefully, all of you...the men who are chasing us...I've dealt with their kind before. They won't hesitate to kill anyone who gets between them and their objective. They won't hold back on you just cause you're kids, and of course, just as important," he said, gesturing over toward the caravan, "they won't hesitate to endanger civilians either, if they think it'll give them an advantage. That's why it's absolutely critical that we get the caravaners out the line of fire as soon as possible."
Glancing from left to right, Asuma met each of his student's gazes in turn, driving the point home, "The fact of the matter is...whether we like it or not, we've been dragged into a war here. People are going to die. Some have already died, and more are going to before this is all over. Now, I'm committed to making sure none of us are in that number, and none of the caravaners as well...but I can't guarantee that for sure." Taking another long drag of his cigarette he resumed, "You kids are still in training, and I was hoping there would be more time before you had to face something like this. If I had my way, I would send you three back to Konoha right now, to keep you safe…" Naruto, Hinata, and Chouji looked up in alarm at this statement, "...but...the truth is, I'm not sure I can do this by myself. That's why I need the three of you to be prepared for anything."
Letting out a sigh, Asuma finished, "Look, just promise me this: if the enemy forces you to choose between it being them or you...choose them."
Slowly, the three genins nodded, replying soberly, "Yes, sensei."
Finishing off his latest cigarette, Asuma looked up to see Kikunojou approaching from the direction of the caravan. "Asuma-san," he said, "Everything's set. The caravan is ready to move."
"Good, we're on our way." Taking one last look at his subordinates, he inquired, "You three know what you need to do?"
Nodding, more firmly this time, they replied, "Yes sir!"
"Good, then get to your assigned positions. Let's move out."
The next few hours that passed were uneventful, yet nerve-wracking. The caravan moved along in uneasy silence. Where before the caravan was relaxed and congenial, now the atmosphere was tense and apprehensive. Though relieved of the work of having to move the carts, the caravaners themselves were clearly anxious. Even the children, sensing the atmosphere, were stilled, and clung closely to their mothers up on the carts.
Walking among them, Asuma watched their surroundings, the caravaners, and his genin as well. He was proud to note that his students did an admirable job of keeping their nerves from showing, keeping their voices even when speaking and projecting an air of calm when dealing with the nervous caravaners. Though of course, to an experienced jounin like Asuma, their fear was only too obvious. The way Naruto's eyes darted back and forth constantly, how Hinata kept her hands balled tightly into fists, to keep them from fidgeting, and how Chouji scarfed down several bags of chips, at an even faster rate than usual, all told Asuma how agitated his students really were. Though Asuma supposed there was no help for that. This was their first time experiencing the calm before the storm, there was nothing do but wait for it to break.
As they crested another small hill, Kikunojou came running up to him. "Asuma-san," he said, "that's it, just up ahead…"
Asuma stared off down the road ahead, and saw what he'd been waiting for. Less than a mile away, the road forked, splitting off in two directions. The main road continued almost straight east, while another, much smaller road broke off toward the south. This fork was their primary destination for the time being. The main road led out of the country, while the southern road led to a small village in the foothills. Nowhere important, but the perfect place for the caravaners to lay low and wait for things to blow over.
Asuma nodded, relieved, "Good, let's keep moving then. We're almost there."
It was at this moment that the original Naruto suddenly twitched violently. "Sensei…" he spoke up, worry creeping into his tone, "...one of my clones was just destroyed."
Asuma grit his teeth. Shit! We were so close!
Letting none of his agitation seep into his voice he responded, "Did it encounter the enemy?"
Naruto shook his head, "I...I don't know. It happened so fast, the clone didn't even see what destroyed it...but it was definitely hit by something."
"Understood. Hinata…" getting his female student's attention, Asuma made a gesture, pointing at both of his eyes.
Understanding the unspoken order, Hinata began running through the hand seals for her doujutsu, activating it a second later, "Byakugan!" She paused for only a moment, her eyes scanning the distance, before speaking quickly, "Sensei! One chakra signature, coming from seven o'clock! One kilometer out, and approaching fast!"
"Just one?" he queried.
Nodding firmly, she replied, "Yes, sir. There are no other chakra signatures within my range."
"Good." Preparing himself, Asuma took out one of his trench knives and readied himself to move. Turning to face his genin one more time, he gave a final command, "Keep the caravan moving. No matter what happens, get the civilians to safety."
With that, Asuma leapt away from the group, speedily moving into the forest. Jumping from tree branch to tree branch, he moved quickly in the direction Hinata had indicated.
He didn't have to go far. Within a matter of moments, he felt a wave of killing intent wash over him. Hm, that's an impressive amount of bloodlust. They're also coming at us alone even though they must have seen what happened to the last two, as well. Whoever this is, they're most likely on another level from the ones I faced before.
A second later, Asuma detected the whistling sound of small objects flying through the air at him. Juking sharply to the side, he managed to dodge the brace of kunai that had been thrown at him. Taking out a kunai with his free hand, Asuma returned fire as his opponent came into view. The enemy easily swatted the kunai knife out of the air with a pair of spinning tonfa, then launched himself at Asuma. The two met in mid-air, tonfa clashing against trench knife in a flurry of blows. After a furious exchange, the two pushed away from one another, each landing on a separate tree branch and eying one another closely.
Asuma finally got a good look at his opponent. The man's attire was, for the most part, identical to the two grunts he had fought before, the one big difference being that the kilt-like wrapping at the man's waist was far longer, reaching all the way down to his calves. Unlike the men from before this one wore no face mask, leaving his sneering, contemptuous face in plain view. He had roughly shoulder length hair, and three teal-colored markings adorning his face, a tear-drop under each eye, and a triangular marking on his chin that made it look like he had a goatee.
The man spoke, his voice calm and almost amused, "Well, well. You must be the one who took out my two scouts earlier."
Keeping his voice equally calm, Asuma replied, "Are you angry?"
Shrugging, the man replied in an easy tone, "Eh...whatever. Building up our current forces took us a while, but now that we're feudal lords of this country, men like them will be easy to find."
"We? I guess that would make you one of these Janin I've heard so much about."
Chuckling, the man responded, "You guess correctly. My name is Ruiga, the youngest of the Janin brothers."
"Delighted...though I didn't ask."
The man smiled nastily at Asuma's impudence. "And what about you, Konoha-san? What are you doing so far from home?"
Settling into a relaxed, but ready stance, Asuma replied, "I've been hired to protect a caravan of merchants. I know from talking to your scouts earlier that you're here to attack that caravan."
The man put his hands up in an apparently harmless gesture, "Oh no, I'm not here to attack the caravan. I'm just here to bring back a very particular member of it. If you talked to my men, then you must surely know about the princess?"
Asuma looked back at the man evenly, saying nothing.
"Lady Haruna is the princess of the Land of Greens, she shouldn't be leaving the country during such an important time. I'm just here to bring her back to the capital, where she belongs," the rogue shinobi looked up at Asuma with a smile that didn't reach his eyes, "I believe you were hired to protect a merchant caravan, but are you being paid enough to protect a princess? What do you say...just let me complete my mission, and I'll let you complete yours. I promise no further violence if I'm allowed to retrieve the girl."
Staring back stonily, Asuma replied, "The caravan, and everyone in it, are under the protection of the Hidden Leaf Village. I'm taking the princess back to Konoha with me. Unless you want to risk an incident with the Leaf, turn back now."
Ruiga's eyes narrowed, and he stared hard at Asuma for several moments before responding, "You're bluffing. If the Hidden Leaf had any interest in this country, they would have sent far more troops. I'd be facing a whole cohort of Leaf ninjas, not just one." The man paused for a moment, before suddenly smirking again, "Ah, I see...what did she offer you? Whatever it was, you should know she can't possibly hope to pay. The Land of Greens is an impoverished nation. Trust me...I spent some time earlier today perusing the pitiful wealth of this country myself...it was pathetic."
Asuma shook his head, "Not everyone does what they do for money alone. Besides, if this country is so poor, why are you interested in it?"
"Heh, who says we are? This country is paltry, but it will make a useful starting point. It's just a stepping stone, is all."
Asuma snorted, "So that's how it is, huh? How boring...I've seen loads of guys like you. You get a little power, and you think that makes you conquerors." Setting himself back into a ready combat stance, Asuma continued, "I'm gonna say this one more time...back off."
Ruiga sighed in apparent resignation, "If that's the way you want it then...I guess I'll just have to leave nothing of you for them to find."
As the rogue shinobi spoke, two orbs of water floated up in the air behind him.
Asuma blinked in surprise. Water? Where did that come from? Looking down, Asuma saw hundreds of similar orbs of water floating up towards the tree branches himself and his opponent were standing on. Whoops...shouldn't have let him talk, I guess.
"Water-style: Liquid Memory!"
As the enemy completed his jutsu, the orbs of water suddenly burst forward, converging on the Leaf Village jounin. Asuma was forced to leap away, rapidly changing position in order to avoid the attack.
Asuma clenched his teeth. He's trying to capture me with that water…
Asuma leapt from tree branch to tree branch, forced to stay constantly in motion in order to avoid the grasping orbs. Even as he moved, though, he still managed to keep an eye on the enemy ninja, carefully observing him to watch for any follow-up attacks. Strangely, the enemy never changed his position, standing still in the spot he had been in when the fight began.
Hm, he's not moving. Maybe he needs to stay still in order to focus on his jutsu? In that case…
Managing to get a little more distance between himself and the pursuing water, Asuma threw down a smoke bomb, swiftly disappearing from the enemy's view as pitch black smoke obscured the immediate area.
A small ways away, Ruiga was unimpressed, "A smoke bomb, huh? That won't do you any good."
Sending some of his water up above the cloud, he allowed some of the orbs to burst, causing it to rain down, swiftly clearing the thick smoke out of the air. When a form became visible within the smoke, the rest of Ruiga's water speedily surrounded and enveloped it, completing the capture of the enemy. "All too easy...huh?" As the remainder of the smoke cleared away, Ruiga saw that the form he had captured was, in fact, a log.
From his new position behind the enemy, Asuma launched a cloud of kunai and shuriken at the enemy's back. Let's see...if I force you to move, will that slow down your jutsu as well?
Unfortunately, Asuma wouldn't get the chance to find out. Just a few feet from striking the enemy, all his projectiles suddenly stopped in mid-air. Or rather, not in mid-air. As Asuma looked, he saw that a sphere of water had formed around the Janin, holding all of his weapons firmly in place, and protecting Ruiga from harm. He has enough water to shield himself, too? Where's he getting all this water from, anyway? Is he generating it with just his chakra?
From his spot on the tree branch, Ruiga chuckled. Turning around to face Asuma, he spoke, "I see...you used the smoke to briefly conceal yourself, and then used the substitution-jutsu to get behind me so you could launch an attack. Not good enough, though."
Forming his left hand into a seal, Asuma snarled, "How about this, then?
The next second, the exploding tags that Asuma had attached to the hilts of his kunai ignited and then exploded, still held as they were right next to the Janin by his opponent's jutsu. Asuma watched closely as the smoke from the explosion dissipated...though judging by the way the spheres of water nearby didn't lose their shape, he knew fairly well what to expect. Sure enough, when the last of the smoke cleared, his enemy was still standing in the exact same spot, visibly uninjured. The protective shield of water around him was somewhat tattered, thinned overall and with some holes here and there. Nonetheless, the water appeared to be regenerating at an astonishing rate, the holes filling in within seconds. Soon enough, it appeared as though Asuma's attack had never even happened.
Ruiga laughed openly now, "Not bad! That won't do you any good either, though!"
Asuma stared at his opponent grimly. Did I underestimate him? How is it possible that he's able to create this much water? Using water-jutsu without a source of water nearby requires a lot of chakra. I'm no chakra sensor...but even I would be able to feel it if his chakra was that massive. Something's not right here…
Ruiga smirked at Asuma, "Trying to figure it out? It wouldn't matter even if you knew. My water gives me the ultimate attack and defense! I'll show you!"
Allowing his water shield to drop for just a moment, Ruiga summoned a large ball of water over to him. Pricking his thumb with his teeth, he flashed through a series of hand seals and then placed his palm against the ball of water. "Summoning Jutsu!"
Asuma's eyes widened in abject shock as the summoned creatures came into view. Okay...I gotta hand it to him...that's a new one.
Appearing within the ball of water in a flurry of bubbles, a swarm of piranhas turned their fishy gazes onto Asuma, their teeth gnashing in apparent hunger.
You've got to be kidding me! He has so much water he can use fish summons on dry land!?
"By all means, struggle as much as you can," Ruiga said with an evil grin, "Difficult prey just makes them hungrier."
The ball of water containing the piranhas jetted forward, the fish inside swimming along with it, their beady eyes trained hungrily on Asuma. Asuma was now forced to move even faster, dodging the large ball of water and the numerous smaller orbs that tried to slow him down. This time his enemy followed after him, his tonfa held out in front of him, directing his water forward and not letting Asuma out of his sight.
Well, I may as well see if this works, Asuma thought as he prepared one more exploding tag. Spinning around in the air mid-leap, Asuma threw an explosive-laced kunai at the piranha ball. The tag detonated as soon as it made contact, blasting away a large amount of water. As Asuma had half expected, though, not only were the predatory fish within not harmed, but the water within the ball seemed to be restored within seconds. Like I thought, my attacks aren't having any effect. The amount of water he has is practically unlimited...I can't attack him or damage his summons. There's got to be something…
It was at this moment that Asuma heard something he really hadn't wanted to hear.
"Asuma-sensei!" Off to his right, his orange-clad student suddenly came into view.
Goddammit, Naruto! Asuma began furiously changing his plans, trying to think of a way to protect himself and his student.
Before Asuma could do anything, Naruto turned and flung a pair of small, silver objects...not at the enemy, but instead toward Asuma. The tiny objects impacted the trunk of the tree whose branch Asuma had just landed on, and stayed there, sticking out of the bark. Then, just as suddenly as he had appeared, Naruto burst into a cloud of smoke and vanished.
Asuma breathed a sigh of relief. Good, it was just a shadow clone...that means I won't have to save him and then kill him later. Still, Naruto's appearance had left many questions. Turning to look at the tree trunk, Asuma saw that the small silver objects Naruto had thrown at him were...Ms. Miyako's dowsing rods. Okay...is this supposed to tell me something?
A small ways away, Ruiga had also stopped, apparently wary at the appearance of a second enemy. "Eh? Who was that? And what are those?" he asked.
Asuma looked back and forth between the dowsing rods and his opponent. As he pondered, he suddenly noticed something about his enemy. Ruiga had an unusual way of carrying his tonfa. Typically, tonfa were held with the long part of the rod tucked up under the forearm, except when attacking. The enemy, on the other hand, had been carrying his tonfa in reverse, with the long rods extending beyond his arms. Even when pursuing Asuma he had run with the tonfa pointing straight out in front of him, following them almost like...like a pair of dowsing rods.
Asuma smiled. Good work, kids. Hinata must have been watching the fight from a distance with her byakugan, then Naruto sent one of his clones along to pass the information she gathered on to Asuma.
Pulling the small, bent rods out of the trunk, Asuma turned once more to face his opponent. "These," he said, "are the tools that are going to help me defeat you."
Ruiga snorted in derision, "If you say so." Pointing his tonfa at Asuma, he sent his water forth, once more.
Asuma once again had to dodge as the numerous orbs of water and the piranhas resumed chasing him. This time, though, he had a plan. Continuing to move around the enemy, Asuma waited until just the right moment, when a small opening appeared between him and his opponent. Not hesitating a second, Asuma leapt forward, heading straight at Ruiga.
Halting and drawing up his shield of water, Ruiga held his ground. "Hmph, useless…"
Still running forward, Asuma flew through a series of hand seals and inhaled sharply, "Wind-style: Air Bullet Jutsu!" Asuma spat out a trio of fist-sized bullets of air, which slammed into his opponent's shield, blasting away chunks of water and opening a few holes in the shield.
"That won't be enough!" Ruiga mocked, his shield already restoring itself.
"It wasn't supposed to be!" Asuma pulled out both of his trench knives and began pouring chakra into them. Flying through the air until he was right in his opponent's face, Asuma slashed out with both of his knives.
Ruiga watched in shock as his shield, already weakened by his opponent's initial attack, was suddenly torn asunder by Asuma's knives. What!? How the hell…? Looking at the Leaf ninja's weapons, Ruiga now noticed that the trench knives were bathed in chakra, long, ethereal blades extending from each of them, turning them into veritable swords. Is that...wind chakra?
"Shit!" His defences brought down for the moment, Ruiga was forced to fall back, flipping around his tonfa and holding them up for self-defense. Asuma pursued the rogue shinobi, furiously striking out with his knives. Forced onto the defensive for the first time, Ruiga clenched his teeth and blocked the strikes with his tonfa. I only need to hold him off for a few more seconds until...there!
As the two exchanged melee attacks, the large sphere of water containing the piranhas had been coming up behind Asuma. Having run out time, Asuma was forced to leap away to avoid being caught and eaten. Now with a bit of breathing room, Ruiga was able to recollect his water around himself, again.
"Huh...that was decent, I'll grant you," Ruiga said, now looking at Asuma with annoyance, "but still, not enough."
Asuma, on the other hand, still appeared quite calm. "Oh, I don't about that. I'd say that attack did what it needed to do," he gestured at the weapons held in his foe's hands.
Ruiga looked down, to see his now-ruined tonfa fall apart in his hands. The rotating blades of wind chakra on Asuma's knives had cut right through them, leaving Ruiga holding the useless stumps that were the handles. Ruiga ground his teeth in irritation, "You think that's going to stop me?"
"Stop you? No. But I do think it's going to slow you down some." Making hand seals again, Asuma repeated his earlier jutsu, "Wind-style: Air Bullet Jutsu!"
Asuma fired off another salvo of air bullets, but this time his target wasn't Ruiga, but rather the piranhas. His first few shots seemed no more effective than before, blasting away chunks of water but doing no damage to the summoned animals within. However, this time the water composing the ball didn't come back nearly as quickly, and the subsequent air bullets tore the sphere apart completely, sending the vicious fish flying through the air, and leaving them flopping helplessly on the ground. Within a few seconds, the piranhas had all vanished in puffs of smoke, the summoning having ended.
Asuma smirked as his opponent watched, dumbfounded. "Like I thought," he said, "You've been using your tonfa like dowsing rods. By focusing your jutsu through them, you're able to find water underground, and pull it up through the earth, giving you a nearly limitless supply of water no matter where you are. Water jutsus are generally more taxing in places without standing water, because they require you to create water using only chakra. But you're able to bypass that with your special jutsu, giving you access to more powerful water techniques even when there are no water sources nearby. It's pretty clever, I'll grant you, but it does come with one drawback…" Looking at the Janin's ruined tonfa, he continued, "You've trained yourself to use those tonfa as a focus. Without them, your control is crippled. I'd wager you can't sense the water underground like you could before, and your ability to pull the water up through the earth is hindered as well."
Grinding his teeth, Ruiga looked down. Much as he hated to admit it, the Konoha Jounin was correct. He could no longer detect sources of groundwater nearly as accurately as before, and what had once been a stream of water coming out of the earth had now been reduced to a trickle. The Leaf ninja had already succeeded at getting through his defenses, even when his jutsu was at full power. Without that constant flow of water, his shield wouldn't last long. Ruiga had no choice but to admit that he was outmatched.
"Control, huh?" Ruiga said, "In that case, I guess I'll have to finish this with brute force!" Slamming his hands together into a seal, Ruiga gathered up all the remaining water he had control of in the area, which was still a considerable amount. "Water-style: Vortex of Destruction!" As Ruiga finished his jutsu, the hundreds of orbs of water he still had with him combined together, forming a massive tornado of water. As soon as the tornado was formed it lurched forward, heading right toward Asuma.
Asuma made a split second decision. It would be possible to destroy the vortex, but it would require a large amount of chakra to do so. Better to just dodge it. Moving quickly, Asuma made his way around the gigantic water spout. As he made it out beyond the outer edge of the vortex, the jutsu continued right along past him, still heading in the same direction it had been. As Asuma had expected, the jutsu was a unidirectional attack, designed to deal massive damage in one direction; and while it wasn't exactly slow, it wasn't nearly fast enough to hit a shinobi of his level without something tying him down.
Looking over to where his opponent still stood, Asuma inquired, "Are you sure that was the best way to use the rest of your water? You didn't even come close to hitting me."
"It wasn't supposed to hit you," Ruiga replied calmly.
Asuma glanced in the direction of the vortex. The waterspout was still going, tearing through the forest, ripping apart foliage and knocking down large trees, moving steadily away from the two dueling shinobi. Likely the jutsu would continue on for a while, until the chakra sustaining it ran out. It was headed in a generally eastward direction, toward the road...and the caravan.
Shit!
Some ways away, the caravan continued on. As their commander had instructed, the three Leaf Village genin had kept the caravan moving the whole time.
"Can you see anything?" Chouji asked, looking at Hinata.
Allowing her byakugan to recede, Hinata shook her head. "No, they moved beyond my range a little while ago. I can't see what's happening anymore. I'm not even sure if the clone completed its mission...I'm sorry," Hinata apologized. Not for the first time, she cursed her own weakness. If the range of her byakugan had been as large as it should have been, she would have been easily able to observe Asuma-sensei's battle even now.
"Don't worry about it," Naruto said firmly. He had received his clones memories a short while ago. "The clone completed its mission. It got the dowsing rods to Asuma-sensei."
Chouji sighed, "Now we just have to hope sensei gets the message…"
Naruto replied with certainty, "He got it. Don't worry, Asuma-sensei's going to win."
"I sure hope you're right…" Chouji replied.
A few more minutes passed in silence, leaving each member of the caravan alone with their own thoughts. The only sounds that could be heard for a while were the creaking of the cart wheels, and the huffing and puffing of the clones who pushed them.
After a while, Hinata began running through a familiar set of hand seals. Noticing this, Naruto spoke, "Hey, Hinata...Sensei warned you not to overtax your byakugan, remember?"
Nodding, Hinata replied, "I...I know...i-it's just...do you hear that?"
"What do you mean…?"
Even as Naruto spoke, he became aware of the sound Hinata was talking about. It sounded like thunder off in the distance, but instead of fading, it got louder over time, like a waterfall as one approached it. Soon even the caravaners began hearing it too, causing them to nervously look left and right for the source of the approaching sound.
Completing the seal sequence, Hinata once again activated her bloodline-limit. As her pupils came into focus and the veins surrounding her eyes bulged, Hinata began scanning with her enhanced eyesight. An instant later her eyes bugged out visibly, and she sputtered in shock, "Oh, shit!"
Ordinarily, hearing such crass language coming from Hinata of all people would have been absolutely hilarious to Naruto. Unfortunately, he had no time to enjoy seeing the Hyuuga heiress using the first expletive of her entire life, as a brief second later he too saw the source of her consternation.
A few hundred yards behind the caravan, an enormous tornado of water burst through the trees, heading right for the party. The water spiral picked up entire trees and massive boulders and hurled them through the air, destroying all in its path.
Time seemed to freeze for Naruto. He looked around, seeing the faces of all those he was supposed to protect. He was glad to see that, fortunately, his clones didn't even need to be told what to do. Several of them had already scooped up the smallest of the caravaners, the children, and leapt away toward safety, moving as fast as possible to get them out of the path of the vortex. A part of his mind noticed in passing that Kikunojou and Yurinojou had already done the same with Princess Haruna. Unfortunately, that still left the majority of the caravaners in harm's way, many of whom were diving for cover under the carts...not that it would do them any good, but there was no other shelter available.
Naruto's mind churned a mile a minute. He knew what he needed to do...he needed to summon up a host of new clones to carry all the remaining members of the caravan to safety...but even as his hands flew through the seal combination for the shadow clone jutsu, he knew he wouldn't be fast enough. The tornado was barreling down on them, coming closer every second. Beside him, Naruto saw that Chouji's hands were growing to massive size, taking hold of the sides of one of the carts and preparing to pick it up wholly off the ground, while Hinata screamed at the caravaners over the roar of the water spiral to get up on top of the cart and not under it. The looks in their eyes told Naruto that they also realized that their efforts were likely in vain. As he mentally calculated the duration it would take for them to complete their jutsus and carry all of the civilians to safety, Naruto came to the inevitable conclusion that they were going to run out of time.
We're...we're not going to make it, he realized with growing horror, We can't save them!
As their doom barreled down on them, the large, familiar frame of Asuma-sensei suddenly appeared out of thin air between themselves and the vortex.
Pouring as much chakra as he possibly could into his trench knives, Asuma crouched and then leapt into the air, bringing the weapons together as he did so. "Wind-style: Rising wind!" As Asuma rose into the air before the water tornado, a massive blade of wind grew out his trench knives and cut through the air before him, slamming into the vortex of water. When wind and water jutsus met, the more focused wind jutsu cut right through, splitting the tornado of water vertically in two. As the waters were separated, the jutsu lost cohesion, and hundreds of gallons of water crashed to the earth, soaking the road, the caravan, and the surrounding countryside.
With the roar of the water jutsu now gone, the ensuing silence was deafening. For a moment, nothing could be heard but the sound of the waters receding and the coughing and sputtering of the stunned caravaners as they slowly picked themselves up off the ground.
Looking around at the group, Asuma slowly relaxed, the tension in his body easing as he realized that the danger had now passed. "Is everyone alright?" he asked.
"We're fine, sensei," Chouji replied, speaking for himself and his teammates.
"Somehow...I think we are all alright, Asuma-san," Ms. Miyako replied, watching as Naruto's clones returned carrying the younger children, many of whom were bawling as the clones handed them off to their mothers.
"Asuma-sensei," Hinata spoke up, "the enemy…?"
"Got away," Asuma replied simply, not saying any more about the matter.
Internally, Asuma ground his teeth at the memory. The instant that Asuma had realized the trajectory of his enemy's jutsu, the Janin had swiftly taken off in the opposite direction. Asuma had tried to snipe the enemy with one of his remaining kunai, but had known in advance that he wouldn't be successful. Faced with opposing objectives travelling in opposite directions, Asuma had been forced to make a choice: pursue and finish off the enemy, or return and protect the caravan. Unfortunately, his opponent had guessed correctly what kind of shinobi Asuma was, and he had been forced to let the enemy go. Asuma didn't regret his choice, but the memory still infuriated him, especially given that it had been his own fault. He had let his guard down after the rogue shinobi's weapons had been destroyed, and it had cost him his chance to eliminate one of the primary threats.
Forcing down his emotions and once more regaining his equilibrium, Asuma spoke, addressing the caravan and the trio from Greens Country who had just returned from the woods, "I know it's a lot to ask, everyone's been through a lot today...but we need to get moving again. The fork is just up ahead. Please...just a little further, everyone."
Agreeing with their protector's instructions, the caravaners, with shinobi assistance, slowly but surely got the carts moving once more. And so the caravan, exhausted, bedraggled, and soaked to the bone, limped down the home stretch to its first destination.
Leaping from tree branch to tree branch, Ruiga cursed everything, loudly and repeatedly. The fight had gone from good to bad so quickly it gave him whiplash. He had been so certain of his impending victory, right up until the moment his opponent had torn down his defenses with contemptuous ease and proceeded to cripple his jutsu. Without his tonfa, his technique was vastly weaker, and he had realized immediately that his opportunity to win had been lost (if it had ever even been there in the first place).
Clearly, he had substantially underestimated his opponent, and perhaps even...he shuddered with rage to even think it...overestimated himself a little bit. He had, of course, seen the bodies of his two dispatched scouts, and known that the enemy he was soon to face wasn't a complete pushover. That said, while the two had been proficient enough killers, they were still rather run-of-the-mill rogue shinobi, so it was no great surprise that they had lost to a hidden village ninja. Even so, he hadn't been expecting more than perhaps a decently skilled Chunin, and his initial success in the fight had seemed to bear that out. But it was clear to him now that the Leaf ninja was much, much more than that.
Now he was left with no choice but to return to the castle empty-handed. Without his tonfa he stood little chance of succeeding in his mission, and he unfortunately didn't have any spare tonfa with him. Of course, returning in his current state carried with it its own set of risks. Doubtless, his brothers were already aware of his failure, Renga's far-seeing spy jutsu would see to that. It was entirely possible that one or both of his brothers would take advantage of his weakened state to rid themselves of him. Still, he didn't have many other options but to return. He would just have to hope that his brothers still had need of his strength for the time being.
As he ran forward, Ruiga suddenly sensed a presence directly ahead of him. He stopped dead and prepared himself for anything.
"Well, I'd say from looking at you that things didn't go according to plan, eh?" Emerging from the forest, his elder brother, Jiga, appeared directly in front of him.
Ruiga looked at his brother with surprise and suspicion. "Jiga, what are you doing here? How did you get here so fast?"
Jiga shrugged, casually. "Renga thought that you might have trouble handling it yourself, so he sent me along to back you up. Lucky he did, too. So, what happened? How'd you end up getting chased off like a mangy dog?"
Grinding his teeth in humiliation, Ruiga responded, "The enemy is a shinobi from the Hidden Leaf Village. Guy's a jounin, too...has to be. I wasn't expecting resistance of that caliber, that's all. I need to go get my spare tonfa, and then I'll come up with a plan to deal with him."
Shaking his head, Jiga tutted at his brother's naivete, "There's no time for you to go all the way back to castle. We need to deal with this situation now, before the princess crosses the border. If we combine our strength, you and I should be able to deal with a jounin."
"There's more," Ruiga replied, calming down now that it appeared his brother wasn't here to kill him, "There's at least one other Leaf shinobi. This one's just a kid though…"
"A kid, huh?" Jiga said, thoughtfully, "Like master and disciple? In that case, there's probably at least two more. The bigger villages like to send out their greenhorns in groups of three, with a higher level shinobi as their leader and instructor. Guess we just got unlucky that this group had someone really troublesome as its commander."
"We'll need to find a way to separate the jounin from the group, or else those kids could end up getting in the way…" Ruiga said. He had no intention of mentioning to his brother that that was precisely the reason he had lost his previous fight.
Jiga just chuckled in response, "Oh, don't you worry about that, little brother." Jiga snapped his fingers. As he did so, a group of their henchmen shinobi appeared from the forest surrounding them, landing on tree branches in a circle around the two Janin. "We noticed that you didn't take ten men with you, like Renga told you. So I brought them along, just in case. We'll let the grunts deal with the grunts."
Ruiga nodded, still looking at his brother with a bit of suspicion, "Fair enough. You and I will take the jounin together, then?"
Jiga smiled a smile that didn't reach up to his eyes, and nodded. "Together."
Chapter End
A/N:
Thanks as always for reading. Please leave a review, even just a few words are highly appreciated.
I know, I know...I didn't do any better of a job getting this chapter out in a timely manner either. I'm trying.
Anyway, I actually had a lot more fun writing the fight in this chapter than the last one. Because the shinobi involved are much higher level, I was able to focus on the tactics and jutsu that were used, rather than trying to give a detailed description of taijutsu, which is not my strong suit. Let me know what you thought, and if you enjoyed the fight.
(1.) So I introduce another OC this chapter: Kozaru the rhesus monkey summon-animal. Obviously, this means that in this story Asuma also has the summon contract with monkeys, like his father. In canon, the Third Hokage is the only one ever seen to summon monkeys, but this story assumes that both of his sons also have access to this summon contract. Also in canon, Monkey King Enma is the only monkey summon we ever see. But I mean...he's got to be king of something, right? Anyway, this story also assumes that there are lots of different monkeys to be summoned, as there are with other summon contracts. For the time being, Hiruzen is the only one who can summon King Enma, but Asuma and Gendo can summon many of the king's subordinates, such as Kozaru. As an amusing side note, the name Kozaru literally translates to "little monkey" and was apparently the nickname given by Oda Nobunaga to his subordinate Toyotomi Hideyoshi, which is where I got the idea.
(2.) This chapter also answers a question that a lot of you have been asking about, that being the shadow-clone jutsu's memory retention function. I have indeed been planning to address this all along. I wanted to make sure that I gave it some time, and that I provided good justification for everything. It's really important to me that this jutsu not become too OP. There are far too many fics that I have read where Naruto just spams out a bunch of clones and proceeds to ascend to jounin level in like, a week. This jutsu can, indeed, be used to accelerate one's development, but there needs to be some kind of limitation, which, fortunately, canon provides for us (not that the limitation ended up counting for much in canon). It is true that in Shippuden, Naruto is able to train with hundreds of clones and not suffer too much in the way of consequences, but again, this is years later after he has developed a great deal. At this point in the story, I am assuming that the limitation is still a serious concern for Naruto.
I also hopefully provided a decent explanation for how Naruto could go so long without ever noticing that he received the memories of his clones, which in my opinion is a rather large plot hole in canon.
(3.) I'd also like to take a little time to give a slightly more in-depth explanation about how water-jutsus work with regards to this story, how Ruiga's jutsu relates to this, and why this means he was able to hold his own against someone much stronger than him, like Asuma.
There are two different ways of using water jutsu: one is to create water directly from one's chakra for use in the jutsu, and the other is to use an existing outside water source. A shinobi can transmute their elemental chakra directly into that element itself, thus a water user can literally create water out of nothing (other than chakra) for their jutsu. From what I can tell, this appears to be the case in canon as well. The obvious drawback to doing this is that the chakra cost for any given water jutsu is much, much higher, and also the difficulty of creating the jutsu is much greater as well. Conversely, if there is any standing water nearby, a shinobi can simply infuse the water with his chakra, and use that as the basis for his jutsu, instead. For the sake of this story, I am saying that doing this decreases the chakra cost of a given water jutsu by more than half, as well as making the jutsu easier to use. This obviously has a huge impact on the effectiveness of a shinobi who utilizes water style ninjutsu. Water style is somewhat unique in that regard, in that a given shinobi's strength will actually vary wildly depending on where they are. For example, in a place with no standing water sources, only an extremely high-level shinobi, like the Second Hokage, will be able to use high-level water jutsus, and average shinobi will be restricted to smaller, lower level techniques, and will pay a higher cost for using them. Conversely, when there is abundant water nearby, a water jutsu user will be able to use higher level jutsus, and at a lower cost.
This is where Ruiga's Water Style: Liquid Memory jutsu comes in, as it compensates for this potential weakness. Ruiga, with his special water sensing technique (a massively powered up version of Ms. Miyako's dowsing technique), is able to locate water sources underground, and then pull the water up through the earth for his use. In so doing, he is able to use much higher level jutsus for less chakra no matter where he is, even in places where there is no water. In addition, this also means he can utilize water in ways other shinobi would never dream of doing, both for his summons and for his own personal defence. What's more, he can use this to continually replenish the water he uses, making his jutsus and his defences that much stronger. It's actually quite a brilliant workaround, and makes Ruiga much more effective than he would otherwise be. It comes with a fatal flaw, of course, that being Ruiga's dependence on his tonfa. So while, no, Ruiga is not as strong as Asuma, because of his unique jutsu he is still a pretty legitimate threat, even to someone on a higher level than him.
(4.) Wind Style: Air Bullet Jutsu - This is a canon wind jutsu, and while Asuma is never shown using it, it seems like a pretty basic sort of wind jutsu to me, so I think Asuma being able to use it is fair. Pretty self-explanatory, the jutsu user spits out a varying number of fist-sized air bullets. Somewhat different compared to Asuma's other wind jutsus in that it deals impact, rather than cutting, damage.
(5.) Wind Style: Rising Wind - This one is not canon, but is pretty simple in concept. Basically, Asuma creates a blade of wind originating from his trench knives, but instead of staying connected to the weapon, he can project the wind blade forward. He can do this to create multiple small blades of wind or, as he did here, pour lots of chakra into the jutsu to form one massive wind blade.
Anyway, next chapter will be almost entirely action. Hope you guys will stick with me.
Thanks a lot for all the favorites and follows, and especially for those that took the time to leave a review. It's really encouraging, and highly appreciated.
Regards,
MD