Chapter 41

Last build chapter today. The violence gets underway next time in Chap: 42, it may take me two weeks to do the next chapter since there are so many individual fight scenes happening simultaneously.

Also in milestones, 300 Favourites, damn. Thank you all.

Calm waters before the storm

"Come on Tri, wake up."
"Go away," he sleepily mumbled tightening his hold on her as a child might for a teddy bear. "Tri, it's morning and time to get up, so let go already." He complained a little longer before Sakura delivered him an ultimatum. "Tri, let go or I'm gonna punch you in the kidneys."
"Aw. You're no fun," he whined, releasing her.

She cast her half of the blanket over his head, "Quit complaining already you big baby," she laughed.

"Oh, it actually is morning," he realised as he hurriedly removed the blanket blocking his vision. "Guess our nap became a bit more than just a nap."
"Well, I did say you made for a good pillow."
"In that case then I'll have to make myself available to you for pillow duties more often then," he chuckled. His laughter was quickly cut off as he winced in pain.

"What's wrong?" Sakura asked spinning on the spot to see a hand holding the right side of his neck. He grimaced as he rubbed it, "I guess I rested my head on yours at an angle after falling asleep. It's gone stiff now."
"Move your hand," she ordered kneeling down. A hand of her own replaced it and quickly began to glow green. Tri could feel the tightness in the tendons and muscles loosen. Within a minute he once more had full mobility in his neck.

"That's perfect, thank you," he said with a satisfied grunt as he rolled his neck to the soundtrack of quiet clicks and cracks. "You're welcome," she replied picking up his mask from the ground and offering it to him. He took one look at it and his face dropped, the smile quickly fading.

"You don't like wearing it, do you?" He slowly shook his head, "No," he answered despondently. "Then why not ask your father to take you off the roster for a while. You can't be expected to perform to your best if you're unhappy, surely?"
"Because when I joined ANBU, it was in the understanding I wouldn't solely work ANBU missions, Yet that is exactly what has happened.

"My missions always have the same objectives, I'm away for weeks on end and upon returned am quickly shipped out on another. I feel like I lose another small piece of myself whenever I complete a mission in this outfit. Besides I've already raised this with the Hokage – nothing's changed." Sakura could hear the bitterness in that last sentence.

If it had been any other, Sakura would have simply dismissed such words as a mixture of sheer frustration and being overworked. And although both were true, she took a greater notice because Tri rarely ever opened up like this, especially of his own accord, he'd normally bottle it up and vent away from others.

She could sympathise to an extent, she'd been away on multi-week missions before, she disliked being away from her family for such extended periods of time too. Thankfully such missions were a rarity for her, not so for the young man in front of her it seemed.

Her attention slipped as she was distracted by her own thoughts so she only caught the last few words, "…missions in a row." Again his voice had a bitter tone to it as he took his mask from her hand. With a resigned sigh he placed it over his face, the small piece of Fūinjutsu ensuring it stayed put. His dejected expression now covered by the expressionless black painted porcelain.

He stood and began folding the blanket when Sakura gave him a strong, supportive hug from behind, "I'll see you back at the house," she said before departing. "Ok," was all he said, the neutral tone already back in place.

He stood stock still as he stared out at the endless sea, the water stretching beyond the horizon and he didn't move for several minutes as he considered the conversation he'd just had. Sakura knew otherwise, but most considered him emotionless, devoid of pity and resistant to the mental strain that came from serving in ANBU; In a sense, the perfect little Ninja.

And what hung over him most of all? That those people were becoming increasingly correct. Every time he took a life now, he felt as if he lost a piece of his humanity in payment, what an appropriate form of currency.

Eventually he headed to the house to see everyone crowded into the kitchen once more. He noticed Sakura had quickly changed, the hair around framing her face was damp in places, the light pink taking on a darker hue.

Most were chatting away with another, other than Sasuke that was, Sasuke never talked to anyone. That's when he noticed not quite everyone was present.

"Where's Rezano?" he asked the assembled crowd in the room. The conversations died out as Kakashi answered, "He and Inari-san had a falling out last night so he left to cool off, we haven't seen him since," the Jōnin answered as if there no problem with what he'd just said.

With a thunderous look on his hidden face a group of clones poofed into existence around Raven startling the civilians amongst them, "Find him," he ordered. A stream of clones rushed out of the back door and off into the forest beyond.

"W-what were those?" Tazuna nervously asked. "Shadow clones," was the blunt answer, Raven was utterly indifferent to the fact that the man had no idea what a shadow clone was. "Hatake, outside now," he barked.

With a shadow clone

Oh boy, the boss was pissed. The clone knew why of course, he had access to the bosses memories.

First and foremost, Rezano was a Jinchuriki. While Raven certainly didn't subscribe the bigoted 'demon' bullshit, it was undeniable that Rezano had the potential to become an immensely powerful Shinobi because of the tenant sealed within him.

But in the years before he was able to fully tap into that potential, he was vulnerable, he was a target. The number of attempts made to either kill or kidnap a villages undeveloped Jinchuriki were beyond counting. And for Kakashi to have simply left him unguarded was a woeful dereliction of duty.

But there was another reason, something known only to a select few in Konoha. Talk of a new group, a small, shadowy collection of individuals who for the past few months had been hoovering up every scrap of information they could get their hands on concerning the current whereabouts and identities of the world's Jinchuriki.

Most of the resources of Raven's information network, that wasn't been poured into expending the network, was being sunk into finding out whatever he could about them. So far his efforts had been met with frustration, he didn't have the names of any members, locations. In fact he'd only learnt two things. Their calling card, Black cloaks with Red clouds and their name. Akatsuki.

The clones spread out into a wide line to cover more ground as they continued through the trees when this one came across a small quasi-clearing, the trees were sparser and there was more wild grass. The grass, however, had been long but had very recently been cut by something sharp and the bark of numerous thin trunked trees was lacerated with countless gashes of varying depth. The clone heard voices, two to be precise.

Coming to stop, the clone hid as best as possible and listened in on what seemed like a conversation. One of the voices was distinctly Rezano's, the other, however, was a mystery. Nor did it recognise them when it was able to visually locate them.

They wore a feminine Yukata, light pink with red trim. Their facial features were very feminine, framed by long black hair. The clone guessed they were perhaps two, three years older than Rezano was.

It was the age difference that initially raised the clones suspicions. The Yukata was similar to design to Tsunade-sama's, it was very open at the front, even from the clones awkward angle it could see the inside half of their collar bones.

But what didn't fit was the total lack of feminine development all girls went through during puberty. The Yukata was low cut enough to show they didn't have wrapping around their chest as most Kunoichi had. And the clone was in no doubt they were a Shinobi or had at the very least received Shinobi training. The assuredness of their movements gave that away.

The clone seemed to have missed most of the conversation because they parted ways shortly after, an agreement to meet either tomorrow or the day after was agreed between them.

With the bosses suspicious nature ingrained into the clones too, this particular one wished to follow the cross-dressing stranger. But it also needed to see Rezano back to the house so it cloned itself, Raven always gave them enough chakra to accomplish this as strange a concept as clones creating more clones might seem. It meant they could re-create themselves before dispelling so the boss could be kept up to date whilst they maintaining their watch.

The clone took action, it duplicated itself and without a word the newly created clone went after Rezano, while this one followed the stranger. They'd split with nothing more than a silent nod.

Rezano's morning had been a strange one. After last night's falling out with the whiney kid he'd stormed off into the forest until he'd found this clearing. He'd spent hours letting out all his frustration before falling to the ground exhausted and falling asleep.

When he'd awoken the following morning he had been greeted by a mysterious girl, a wicker basket in hand. She'd told him she was looking for healing herbs for her ill friend, apparently they were rather common on the forest floor. Despite his training-induced early suspicions he quickly lowered his guard around Haku as he found out shortly before she left. She seemed no different to any other islander, it didn't occur to him he hadn't even met half a dozen.

He walked in the direction he thought would lead him back to the house when the ANBU Raven dropped down in front of him. "There you are," he said, "Where have you been?"

Rezano's initial impressions were one of extreme apprehension around the ANBU. He just couldn't bring himself to trust him, despite his being a member of Konoha's most capable Shinobi institution.

"I couldn't take any more of that kids whining and complaining about everything last night so I came out here and blew off some steam. I kinda just, uh – fell asleep, I guess," he said sheepishly, scratching the back of his head nervously. "I see. Well come on, you'll have the others waiting on you if you're any longer."

Meanwhile, the other clone was following after Rezano's new friend. It didn't seek to take any aggressive actions, it would instead just follow. Raven's visual prowess to an extent transferred to his clones, they retained the heightened visual perception granted by the Sharingan so keeping them in sight was a fairly simple task.

Haku meandered through the trees for nearly half an hour, his unknown follower behind him, before arriving before a small wooden structure. To the clone it had the appearance of a woodcutters cabin, albeit one that had seemingly been abandoned for some time. Although right now it wasn't as his target entered, shutting the door behind them.

The structure was constructed of wooden planks and rectangular in shape. On one side was a stone chimney while the back wall doubled as one of the walls of a roofed storage space for logs. Three windows were spaced across the walls that remained, two facing the front either side of the only door, although one of them was boarded up. The third was on the side of the building.

It was through this side window that the clone could peer inside. The lighting of candles within improving visibility.

That's when the clone spotted Momochi Zabuza sat on the edge of what it presumed was a bed. 'So this is where you've been hiding.' It had half a mind to dispel right now but decided against it, instead it would scope Zabuza and his little friend out. From the looks of things the boss could come and deal with Zabuza right now but as earlier, the clone had access to the bosses memories and from those he knew the boss would prefer Zabuza remain alive.

For now, the clone would watch.

-(*)-

Raven sifted through the memories provided by the clone who'd escorted Rezano back. Its memories informed him of this stranger but he'd have to wait for the other clone to dispel before he could find out more.

After Rezano had quickly shovelled breakfast into his stomach he and Sasuke headed into the treeline to spend another day running up and down trees under the supervision of Sakura. Meanwhile, their more accomplished tree climbing teammate would learn how to walk on water with Raven.

"Alright then, first things first. You're going to want to wear as few clothes as you're comfortable with, you're going to be doing far more swimming than walking." Usually young Kunoichi would take great offence at such a comment and start hurling around the 'pervert' slurs but unlike them, Meshikamaru could be counted on to engage her brain before speaking.

"So I take it I'll be falling in a lot then?"
"Indeed."

"Ok then. Explain water walking to me," she asked once again removing her sandals. "I won't explain it to you per say, at least not fully. You're smart enough to figure it out so I'll be vague and stick to giving you hints. Take into account how the surfaces of both trees and water differ and you should understand how you need to approach this."

He'd actually given her the clue she needed yesterday, now he'd wait to see if she remembered it.

With her sandals now set aside she removed some loose items of clothing leaving the tighter fitting ones worn underneath. "What's better? Starting at the shore and dealing with the waves or jumping off the end of the pier?"

"A question few have the forethought to ask," he laughed, "Many assume it no different from walking up a tree and so they throw themselves off the pier with predictable results – humorous, but predictable. I would recommend the end of the pier, however, the waters calmer out there but don't throw yourself off, it won't work."

'Wow, that sounded like actual advice,' she thought before nodding. The pier itself while a bit narrow was robust in design, thick support columns were lashed together with thick and well-maintained rope. A wooden walkway nailed on top. It extended about thirty feet out over the water which was calm today thanks to the minimal breeze, the sun was out to, all in all it was a rather pleasant day.

"Don't suppose you fancy giving me a demonstration?" she asked the ANBU who'd followed her up the pier.

"Sure," he replied before simply stepping off the end. The soundscape of waves lapping against the shore was decidedly lacking a large splash. The beautiful scenery was devoid of a spray of water. All Meshikamaru noticed was what sounded like a wet slap as Raven's sandals hit the water's surface. He walked around for about ten seconds, even doing a backflip, his body rising and falling as waves passed under him before he jumped back onto the pier.

Just as she had for the tree climbing, she watched very closely, her mind analysing everything it could discern from those ten seconds.

After thanking him, they both sat cross-legged, she went over everything she's heard and seen while he began meditating. Meshikamaru spent a few minutes like this before standing again.

She squatted down at the edge, grabbed hold of the wooden plank and hung from it. It was just the right height for her to dangle her feet on the water without going through it. She knew she wouldn't have long since she didn't possess great upper body strength.

Quickly sending chakra to her feet she placed them one at a time on the water's surface. It held for a fraction of a second before dropping through. She was able to try for a second time before she had to let go, again it held for a moment.

Her mind was already working as she resurfaced. Since the water was relatively warm, instead of getting out she relaxed and let her body float on top of the water. As she looked up at the sparsely clouded sky she was frustrated to find she didn't learn very much. The time-frame was simply too short to discern anything meaningful from it.

Raven made mention of clues but going back over what's he'd said not a few minutes earlier she again couldn't get much from them. She'd already figured out what he meant by surface differences between a tree and water; a tree's surface was firm, unchanging while water was in constant motion. But she couldn't figure out why it mattered.

That's when she remembered he'd spoken briefly about water-walking yesterday. She cast her mind back to the previous evening, trying to remember what he'd said. The only word that jumped out at her was 'modulate'.

'Hmm, Modulate. Does he mean modulate my chakra? Wait, that does make sense. A tree's surface is unchanging so the chakra levels wouldn't need changing either. But since water's surface tension is far smaller and is in constant motion I need to constantly alter the flow of chakra to compensate.'

She lifted her hand, previously floating in the water, to her face. She clenched her fist several times before giving it a try. She drew chakra to the hand and held it just above the water. When ready she laid it on the surface, just like her feet it passed through after holding for a moment.

She tried again, only now she experimented with alternating levels of chakra. As a wave approached she tried increasing and decreasing the levels to see what happened. After a few minutes she found something resembling consistency. As a wave passed under her hand she found decreasing the chakra levels increased the time her hand stayed on the surface.

Subsequently increasing it again as the wave passed her also allowed her hand to float a little longer.

She spent the next hour just floating there practising with one hand, then the other, then both together. By the hour's end she could hold her right hand, her primary hand on the water's surface for some fifteen/ twenty seconds. She now felt she was ready to try standing again.

She swam to the shore, shook herself off, squeezing the excess water from her hair. She walked back up the pier past the unmoved Raven, she couldn't really tell if he was paying attention to her, which he was. He was silently impressed that she'd so quickly realised that you could practise whilst in the water.

The rest of the morning until lunch, she spent holding onto the pier's edge. After lunch she felt confident enough to let go. She took her first two tentative steps out onto the water when a slightly larger than normal wave passed under her, her concentration broke and she plunged in.

Two days later

Meshikamaru resurfaced with a little groan of annoyance. It had been going so well, she'd almost reached a minute when she, almost without warning went through. "Alright Meshikamaru, that's enough for today," Raven called out to her.

She looked around to see the sun was in the early stages of setting so she swam back to the pier. At least the ANBU hadn't been throwing stones at the water around her to disturb it today. The first time he did that gave her an almighty fright and she'd resurface coughing up water and hurling insults.

She grabbed his extended hand and he pulled her out before offering her a towel. She'd already tried pulling him in when he'd first offered to pull her out when they finished yesterday. Instead of him falling in though, he'd pulled her out and thrown her clean over the pier to land in the water again on the other side – she never tried again.

"How'd today go then?" he asked. "I feel like I've gotten the application of it down. I just need practice now. I'm not exactly sure of my best time, however."
"Two minutes eleven," he told her. "Wait, what? But I only counted a minute ten at best."
"And you were too busy concentrating to keep time properly." Her smile told him the obvious, she was very happy to hear that.

And that ended three entire days of Meshikamaru learning to walk on water. Neither of her teammates had yet joined her. Sakura felt neither were accomplished enough to do so, much to each teens chagrin.

"Do you know if we'll be doing this tomorrow. It's just Sakura-san's timeline for Zabuza is pretty much up…"
"Unfortunately not. I think it'll all come to a head tomorrow." He put a hand on her shoulder, he could spot the nervous look on her face, he couldn't blame her, this mission was beyond Genin, no matter how talented those Genin might be.

Raven already knew for certain that Zabuza was fit again, his clone had informed him of such, re-creating itself and dispelling twice a day kept him up to date. In fact, he was expecting his clone to dispel shortly. Of course he'd have to share the information he'd been gathering over the past few days since he wouldn't be with them tomorrow, at least not initially. Some of the others would probably be annoyed that he hadn't acted on any of his intel.

Tomorrow he'd be completing the mission he was actually sent here to fulfil.

The team of clones he'd had combing the island since his arrival had found Gatō's hiding place, although calling it a 'hiding place' was a stretch, it was lacking in subtly. It was nearly 100ft wide and three stories tall, it was the tallest structure on the island… He hoped Gatō had paid for its construction, it would make blowing it the fuck up so much more satisfying.

His clone as anticipated dispelled right then, the memories it provided brought him to an immediate halt. It wasn't the integration of those memories that stopped him, it was the contents.

"Ah, shit," he exclaimed without thinking.

"Raven?" Meshikamaru said in mild concern having heard him swear. He looked at her, "We need to get everyone together – now."

They hurried back to the house, thankfully Sakura had brought the boys back just minutes earlier. Raven called everyone into the kitchen where they quickly assembled. "Okay Raven, what's this all about?" Kakashi asked.

"First off, Zabuza is fighting fit again," he revealed, it was met with silent dread. "But that's inconsequentially in comparison, it's also not why I immediately got you all in here."
"What could you possibly have to say that could make it worse?" Rezano said sarcastically in an attempt to hide his evident nervousness. "As we suspected, this Hunter Nin is with him, but it is not them that concerns me. It is the third Shinobi that's now with them."

"Who?" Kakashi asked eyeing the ANBU, there weren't many Nin who could worry Raven. "Ringo Ameyuri," he answered. Kakashi immediately leaned forward in his chair, his eyes widening, to most that name meant nothing but not to Kakashi. "That's not possible!" he stated. "How so?" asked Sakura with a raised eyebrow.

"Ringo Ameyuri has been dead for years. Killed off by some unknown disease, which came as a great relief to some of the higher-ups in Konoha."
"I take it she was, is a strong Shinobi?"
"Sakura, Ringo joined the Shinobigatana Shichinin Shū as a young teenager, Zabuza was in his, I think, early twenties when he joined. Raven, are you absolutely positive you've not misidentified this person?"

Raven threw an out-dated Konoha Bingo book onto the table, it was opened onto Ringo's entry page. "I am in no doubt. She still wields Kiba, those swords can't be faked."

Kakashi face-planted the table, this revelation would greatly complicate matters. "I don't suppose you'll be able to handle her tomorrow?" he asked tentatively after picking his head up.

"I cannot," was the answer, a reply that made Kakashi groan and simultaneously incense Rezano who jumped to his feet. "Why the hell not?" he demanded to know. Raven slowly turned his head to look at his younger sibling. "Because, he coldly stated, "I will be completing the assignment I came here to accomplish. With Zabuza out of the way the path to my target opens."
"Gatō?" Kakashi presumed. Tazuna and Tsunami looked the Raven in hope and he gave it to them when he answered, "Correct."

Inari scoffed, "Yeah right. You've got no chance. Even with his Ninja bodyguard out of the way, you won't get past all his other thugs." Now it was Raven's turn to scoff, "You would do well not to compare me to you, boy," he harshly retorted, " Unlike you, I am actually capable of looking after myself." Raven had laced his words with a tiny smidgen of killing intent, it was still enough to leave the boy cowering behind his mother. And judging by the unimpressed look Sakura was giving him he was going to get shouted at for it later.

"So, how are we dealing with this undead one?" Sasuke irritably put to his Sensei and the ANBU. "The only real option is to have Sakura and Kusuri handle her until either I'm able to put Zabuza out of the fight or Raven is able to get rid of Gatō and join them."
"That's probably the best we can do on such short notice," Raven concluded. "Also, Tazuna-san, Tsunami-san, I don't suppose either of you knows if Gatō commandeered the great big house he's staying in or if he paid for its construction?"

The two civilians looked at each other, "Gatō's thugs did ship an awful lot of building materials over like ten months ago," Tazuna remarked to his daughter who nodded in agreement. "Excellent. I really look forward to demolishing it now."
"What? You're going to blow it up?"
"Oh yes. How better to remove the legacy of his crimes than by blowing it sky high, hopefully with him still inside. I'll be going early tomorrow morning to prep the explosive tags and kill anyone there."

"Hang on, back up a little," Meshikamaru cut in. "How long have you known where Gatō is?"
"I've known where the house is since yesterday. I'm yet to visually confirm Gatō is actually present, however."
"And Zabuza?"
"My clone only found him this morning," he lied. Meshikamaru suspected he wasn't being entirely truthful but possessed no knowledge she could use to call him out on it.

The next hour passed with them planning everything out. Since Zabuza, the Hunter Nin and Ameyuri had to come to them they could choose the battlefield, they chose the islands end of the unfinished bridge since it was a large open space away from the nearby town.

As before Kakashi would combat Zabuza. The Genin would tackle the Hunter-nin, alternating regularly to prevent them tiring out, two at any one time would fight while the third would rest whilst simultaneously guarding Tazuna who unfortunately for him had to play bait. Sakura and Kusuri had the unenviable task of taking on Ameyuri Ringo when nobody knew how strong she actually was.

Raven, in the meantime would make a move on the house in the early hours and flatten it. A final late modification to the plan was for Tsunami and Inari to not remain in their house tomorrow, they were to hide with neighbours. With all the Shinobi engaged, they would be vulnerable.

The group broke briefly before dinner, Raven got a hold of Kakashi's arm and guided him away from everyone else.

"Kakashi, I need you to do something for me when you encounter Zabuza tomorrow. I need you to pass a message to him for me." The look the copycat Ninja gave him almost made him laugh. "Might I inquire as to why?"
"You know I have an intelligence network of my own like Jiraiya," he nodded. "Well for the last year I've been expanding mine but I've not been able to get any eyes and ears in Kiri. With the civil unrest everyone is suspicious of everyone."

"And you want to recruit Zabuza of all people," he asked incredulously. "Yes. I know it's a long shot. But I know for a fact he utterly despises the current Mizukage, Yagura. You've no doubt heard of the powder keg that brewing in Kiri," again Kakashi nodded. "Well I know who's leading the soon to be rebel forces and I reckon Zabuza will want in on anything that seeks to overthrow Yagura."

"Ok, that all sounds fine in theory. But, why would he believe me at all?"
"As I said, it is a long shot, but tell him I've known where he's been holed up for several days. That I know about the Woodcutter's hut, that I know about Haku. That should at the least get his attention."

"Ok… So say I do all that and he still doesn't show interest."
"For the record, I think he will. But, if for whatever reason he doesn't, then he's of no use to me, do with him as you see fit." Without another word he walked away leaving a very bewildered Kakashi.

Raven wanted to find Sakura next before dinner so he could get her telling him off out the way, he'd need an early night tonight ahead of an early start.

End Chapter