Naruto Shattered Destiny:
Chapter 16: Preparations.
The wagon carefully rolls along the tiny path, barely big enough for it. We watch it from under camo nets under the foliage.
I watch with bated breath, using my hand to keep the brush from hitting my face. "How close?" I ask sensei
Sneak is now level 5. +5 Character XP (36/175)
"Almost."
We're on our own here, Zabuza has his blade at the ready just in case things go south, Satu is shaking silently.
The wagon is getting really close now.
Sneak is now level 6. +6 character XP (42/175)
I bring my hand down and ignite it, it's so close now!
"Light them." Sensei tells me.
-24 chakra.
The firebolt flies from our hiding place, striking the ground in front of the horse. The flames sizzle for a few moments before the explosive notes just beneath the dirt catch.
+360 Elemental Ninjutsu XP (544/225)
I almost choke on my own spit at seeing such a huge number.
Elemental Ninjutsu is now level 9 (69/275). +17 Character XP (59/175)
"Nice shot Keiki-kun!" Sensei praises me. "Let's get out of here before anyone comes to investigate." The net goes back into the scroll it came from and we book it.
"S-something happen Keiki-kun?" Satu-chan asks.
"N-nothing to worry about." I assure her with a bright smile.
"O-okay."
This path isn't too far from our camp, far too close to be comfortable, but we need a chance to recuperate before going anywhere else. "Coming in!" Sensei calls out moments before we hit the ground.
"Welcome back." Ichiyo greets with a nod, then turns back to Funimaru's bandages. There's a pile of old ones next to her.
We've been gone for a few hours and already they needed to be changed? "Which tent's ours?"
"The girls will be bunking together in Tent One, the boys in Tent Two." Ichiyo says without taking his attention off of his genin's bandages. "There we go, cleaned and disinfected."
"Thank you, sensei." Fumimaro bows to his sensei.
"Take it easy now, that's an order."
"Yes, sensei!"
"The seven of us in a single tent?" I blink.
"The tents are big enough for it." My sensei says.
Being an only child and mostly friendless, I've never had sleepovers… Is there a manual for this? "I'm going to take a nap." I tell my team.
"When's food?" Zabuza asks as I walk away.
"Soon." Ichiyo answers.
"Keiki!"
"Yes, sensei?"
"Don't wander off too far!"
"Okay." I climb the nearest tree and settle down, watching the goings on in the camp from my vantage point.
And nearly falling off as I don't have the arm I usually use to keep me from falling. Tree Walking is the best! By directing a pinch of my actual chakra to my back I lock myself into place as I re-adjust, not making that mistake again.
Zabuza is sitting on a fallen log chatting with Koki, Fumimaro slowly makes his way to the tent we'll be sleeping in.
Satu being talked at by the other Kunoichi, and…
…
…
…
"I know your exhausted and all, but you might to eat a few of these." Zabuza-san says holding out a wad of paper, startling me awake and almost out of the tree.
"Food pills?" I yawn at him.
"Yup, it's also getting dark." He continues as I take the edible sandpaper. "You might want to move to the tent, I've got first watch with Ichiyo-sama."
"When's my turn?" I say after another yawn.
"After all you did today? You deserve some rest." He scoffs.
"Yaaay." I say with another yawn, swallowing the pills as fast as possible to avoid the taste. Not fast enough, I break out in a grimace as a pill grazes my tongue. "Seen any wildlife?"
"Nope, and I hope we don't."
"Okay." I wonder if the Land of Lightning has anything cute like sea otters.
"Keiki?"
"Hm?"
"A-are you going to head to the tent?"
"Oh, right." I drop out of the tree, landing on my feet as my chakra absorbs the impact. I stretch as I make my way to the tent. "Good night." I call up to Zabuza.
"Try not to set anything on fire in your sleep, okay." He sarcastically calls after me.
"I only sleep fire start once a week." I jokingly call back.
"Keiki-san."
"Ichiyo-sama."
I enter the tent, it's very dark in here. "Which sleeping bag's mine?" I ask, three of the seven bags look like they're occupied.
"That one." Ichiyo answers.
"Thank you." I ignite my hand for some light and make my way over, the smoldering flames held in a clenched fist to limit the escaping light.
Like a controlled torch.
The stars are everywhere. "Keiki." I can hear a disembodied voice pierce through the darkness.
"Hmm?" I ask idly looking around at the familiar constellations.
"You're up, good… The team's heading out in half an hour."
"Oh, okay." I stretch.
"Sensei said to give you these, to hold you over until we get back."
"Bah." I say with a yawn. Something hits my face. "H-hey!"
"Get up!"
I shake my head and sit upright. That's strange, I feel awake but there's-
Oh I get it. With a soft chuckle I pull myself out of the stars and back into reality, I must have slipped into the stars while I was sleeping. Zabuza leaves the tent and I look down at what was tossed at me.
More edible sandpaper… Great. I pick up the paper the pills are stashed in and tuck it away. A few minutes later and I'm leaving the tent, shielding my eyes from the morning light.
Satu and Sensei are going over our packs, Zabuza is sharpening his blade with a whetstone. "Morning." Koki calls out cheerfully.
"Hi." I say, then involuntarily yawn.
"Oh great, now I'm going to-" Koki yawns, giving me the stink eye.
I wave him off and approach my team. "What's going on?" I say stretching the sleep from the rest of my body.
"We're going on patrol for convoys, chances are word of yesterday's raid has reached Kumogakure so we can start expecting ambushes and decoys." Sensei answers.
"I-I'm attaching explosive notes to kunai." Satu holds up one said kunai, the parchment is tightly wrapped to the hilt and connected to the ringed pommel by a string.
"Those part of the bunch we raided?" I ask taking the kunai from her to examine it.
"A-actually… I made it." Satu hides her face behind her scarf.
"What… really?" I blink, looking at sensei.
"Copying an existing seal isn't that difficult." Sensei shrugs it off.
"Sensei helped me make them." Satu says as if compelled too.
"Don't sell yourself short, Satu-kun." Sensei ruffles her hair. "You did wonderfully."
"Wait, how do we know if these things will work?" I ask poking at the seal.
Satu snatches the kunai from me before anything happens. "They'll work… I-I think."
"Remember the one that we burned?" Sensei says reassuringly.
"Y-yes sensei." Satu says, lifting her shoulders with some confidence. "T-they'll work." She tells me with a touch more confidence than before.
"Zabuza-kun!" Sensei calls out.
He looks up from his blade curiously.
"We're moving out soon, grab a few of these." Sensei holds up a few of the explosive kunai, dangling off of her fingers.
Zabuza attaches his blade to his back and approaches. "What about the Frost ninja?"
"Ichiyo's team is tasked with breaking camp, Ai's team is tasked with finding a better hideout."
"We're not staying?" I ask, already knowing the answer.
"We're out in the open and dangerously close to one of the supply lines, if we want to stay alive we need to move."
"What about the traps?" Ichiyo calls.
"Leave them, they'll slow down anyone trying to track us." Sensei turns back to our packs. "Explosive kunai, regular kunai… everyone's weapons, food pills and camo net-"
I tune out the rest and sit down at the base of a tree. Better get what little rest I can before we set out. With a yawn I settle down to-
-5 health.
"Ow!"
"We're about to set out and you're taking a nap?" Zabuza snaps shaking his hand.
"We're not leaving now." I pout. "Are we?" I turn to sensei.
… She's not paying attention, it's almost like back at home when mama would worry if I had everything I needed... I let out a sigh and look down. "Sorry."
"I think that's everything." Sensei says closing the last pack. "Let's get going."
"Yes, Sensei!" We chime with varying degrees of enthusiasm.
Zabuza helps me to my feet. "Hopefully it'll go better than our first raid." He says with a grin.
"Nothing can get as bad as that." I say with a mixture of a grin and a grimace.
"On the map there are three villages with direct paths to the port town of Toumaki." Sensei tells us as we jump from branch to branch. "Two of them share a road, but the two of them have smaller paths meandering about."
"Check the road first, then the rest?" Zabuza pipes up.
"That's the plan."
You are now hidden.
What the? I stop on the next branch, almost immediately my team stops as well. "Keiki?" Sensei calls out.
"Something's nearby." I say looking around frantically, I don't enter stealth unless I'm trying to hide from something I don't want seeing me.
And I really don't want Lightning to see me.
"Tutorial?"
"The one and only." My team gathers around, zabuza with blade in hand.
"Keep it down, whoever it is might hear us." Sensei interjects, eyes darting around faster than I'd think possible to process.
Sneak is now level 6. +6 character XP (65/175)
"We should hide, just in case they're tracking us." Zabuza suggests.
"I agree." She nods. "Satu with me, Zabuza with Keiki."
Without another word we split off into our teams, jumping into the canopy of the trees.
Sneak is now level 7. +7 character XP (72/175)
I ignite my hand, but hold the flame in a clenched fist. Zabuza is nervously fidgeting with his blade, I don't dare say anything to give us away.
Sneak is now level 8. +8 character XP (80/175)
Some shinobi come into view but… They look different. This isn't a shinobi team, at least not one I've seen before.
In the academy we were taught how to recognize Anbu on sight, these aren't Lightning's anbu. What if a team of Anbu gets sent after us? The thought sends a jolt of fear through my heart.
Sneak is now level 9. +9 character XP (89/175)
Durable or not, I wouldn't last a second. Would I even see them coming? Something grabs my arm. "F-"
"Shh! Do you want to give us away?!" Zabuza whisper yells at me.
I bite down on my tongue-
-1 health.
-to avoid shouting. "Soy." Ow, my tongue.
"You were hyperventilating." He turns his attention to the vanishing shinobi. "Do you think they're missing nin?"
"Missing nin?" I blink. "They look like every Lightning shinobi we've fought."
"You didn't see how rugged they were?"
"No, I was thinking about… other things." No use in worrying about what isn't happening…. Yet.
Sneak has leveled to 10. +10 character XP (99/175)
"Where're they going?" Zabuza asks as the shinobi vanish from sight, they're in quite the hurry.
Before long sensei and Satu emerge from hiding, we follow suit. "What were they?" Zabuza asks.
"Shinobi, but not a team."
"Are they missing nin?" I raise my hand.
"It's a possibility." Sensei scratches her chin. "Until we know more we're going to treat them like any other Lightning shinobi."
"Yes, sensei!"
"Let's keep going, but keep an eye out." Sensei says taking point.
I take my place at the back, flames smoldering in my hand as I nervously look around. Are they looking for us? Are they waiting to ambush us?
Only one way to find out. Sensei stops abruptly and once we regroup it's obvious. We've reached the road, if we kept going we'd never know it was there.
How the heck is this a trade route? The road curves, swerves, rises and falls. "If we follow the road south, we should emerge from the woods." Sensei tells us.
"Are we going to set up an ambush there?" I ask.
"No." Sensei shakes her head. "If there's a convoy out there we need to destroy their cargo before they can get too close to Toumaki."
We set out. "Just like our first raid?" Zabuza asks.
"No, we can't afford to be bogged down in a fight near Kumogakure or the port." Sensei responds immediately. "Get in, destroy what we can, get out."
"Yes, sensei."
"Keiki."
"Yes, sensei?"
"Take point, your 'shouting' can help with any surprises."
"Yes, sensei!" I jump ahead of the team, I make eye contact with sensei as I pass her, determination mixed with trust.
I won't let her down. Where did the missing nin go? There's been no sign of them. I'm jumping at shadows, but we don't run into anything.
Something isn't right.
We stop at the edge of the woods, looking out at the port town. "No wonder you didn't want us fighting out here." Zabuza whistles.
You can see the main gate from here, the guards mere specks in the distance. "They must be pulling every resource they have for this invasion, huh?" I think aloud.
"Do or die." Sensei says glumly. "Now you understand the importance of this mission?"
"I-I knew before… b-but if they've abandoned the rest of their country." Satu says.
"What'd you just say?" I ask, spinning around to look at my teammate.
"Abandoned the rest of their country?" She blinks.
I climb to the top of the tree I'm in, a sinking feeling in my gut. On the other end of this road are two villages, and the pit in my stomach deepens as I can see the smoke in the distance. That's where they went. "Stars." I say as my voice cracks.
The rest of my team catches up. "Aren't there villages that way?" Zabuza asks, mesmerized by the smoke.
"Two." Sensei says, her voice flat.
"Sensei?" I tug on her shirt, looking at her helpless and hopeless.
"Risking our lives for an enemy country that we're trying to sabotage." Sensei looks me dead in the eye, maintaining her emotionless expression.
"But… they're civilians." I try. "Do they even know that we're at war?"
Satu and Zabuza watch on silently.
"... Lightning can take care of their own." Her voice is strained, but firm.
I bite my tongue, Shouting at her is out of the question.
Sensei lets out a sigh of relief. "We're going back to camp to regroup with Ichiyo's team."
"Yes sensei." Zabuza and Satu chime.
Sensei leads the way back, running along the road and towards the smoke before making a sharp turn into the woods and back to camp. "My job as a jonin is to teach you how to be shinobi and keep you three safe." Koi says, breaking the silence.
"That includes ignoring people in trouble?"
"It means not handing ourselves over to Lightning on a silver platter." Koi retorts understandingly. "If we weren't at war then it wouldn't be a question, but if we showed up and there's lightning shinobi there in addition to the missing nin." She shivers. "Those are a whole other ordeal."
"Did you recognize any of them?" Zabuza asks.
"No, nobody's shared bingo lists in decades." Koi shakes her head. "For all we know they could be S-rank missing nin."
"S-sensei?" Satu meekly calls.
"There's no way I'm making any of you fight an S-rank shinobi, we barely managed to kill a zombie!"
"S-sensei…"
"I'm not underestimating any of you, Zabuza-kun you are incredibly skilled with that sword of yours."
Zabuza grunts in agreement.
"Satu-kun, you picked up how to make seals really quickly, I think you might have a knack for it." Koi chuckles.
If she weren't currently making sure she wasn't going to collide into anything Satu would have hid behind her scarf, but it doesn't stop her from squeaking.
"Sensei." Zabuza now starts up.
"Keiki-kun, I've never seen anyone take hits like you and shrug them off." She shakes her head, remembering each encounter they've had so far. "Even now you're in the process of regenerating-"
"Keiki's not here." Zabuza interrupts.
Koi's heart stops as the blood drains from her face. She spins around to face her team, sure enough she's missing a genin.
Everyone stops immediately, Koi turns her attention to the smoke in the distance. "F-"
They're going to kill me when they find me, I've come to terms with that. The smoke is getting closer.
Flames flicker in my hand, I might have only one arm but I'm still dangerous. The village comes into view and I'm forced to stop, my stamina bar is angry with me.
The village is in flames, a corpse is flung out of one of the buildings as one of the missing nin emerges, examining a spear he just obtained. It… looks almost like Zabuza's sword.
I jump to the ground, extinguishing my hand as I catch myself from face planting. "HEY!" I shout at the bandit, getting into a stance. I won't be able to use my tonfa for this.
Amused, the bandit turns to face me. "Who has the guts to challenge a Land of Water shinobi?" He taunts.
"A Land of Water shinobi, faker!" I shout back at him. The smoke isn't overwhelming.
Stamina regeneration reduced by 25%
But I still cough. "A child like you?" He laughs scornfully, making my blood boil. "Nobody would allow a one armed child to be a shinobi." He closes his eyes momentarily as he laughs.
A moment is all I need.
-24 chakra.
Author's notes: Aaaand another one done! Thankfully I didn't have to rip up the foundations of this chapter (like I usually do) in order to make it. Shattered Destiny has almost a hundred followers… I'm in shock. Thanks to everyone who decided to check out my story and liked it enough to continue reading. I hope you enjoyed and that you'll stick around for the next bit!