C-Rank Mission: FIGHT!
Author's Note: The middle of the mission including a fight scene. We also figure out Neji wasn't being paranoid in thinking Fukui seemed off.
A little explanation on the timing, war, etc: Sasuke and Orochimaru (along with Kabuto) defected and joined with Konoha before the Fourth Shinobi War even started. That means A LOT changed as those three characters helped the Konoha shinobi take down the Akatsuki and company.
BUT, not everyone came to help or changed their minds about the Five Great Nations. The Hidden Rain is still considered hostile and the Hidden Sound decided to remain their own Village even without Orochimaru, thus they are hostile as well.
All these changes kind of slowed down how couples were formed and all that fun stuff. There's also the whole fact it completely changed what happened to Neji as we've all ready discussed.
For those asking why I tagged Sasuke X Sakura: Neji becomes good friends with Sakura in this so eventually Neji and Kankuro "train" Sasuke on how to be a good boyfriend. Also, because Neji becomes friends with Sakura we will (eventually) see a lot of Sasuke X Sakura in this. It won't start till chapter 28. This all ready has 50 chapters written. Yeah, it'll take anyone reading a while to catch up to where I am unless I'm nice and release a bunch of chapters in a month. ;)
Rated M for sexy scenes between characters (mostly between males), swearing, and some blood and guts.
I don't own the characters but I am taking liberty with them and their universe.
Traveling through the Land of Fire was simple and Neji always felt safe walking through his home country. The border between the Land of Fire and the Land of Rain was guarded on both sides, half a mile to a full mile or more in by shinobi from the country. The Konoha shinobi waved to Neji and his team when they came within a mile of the border. A second group of friendly shinobi waved a quarter of a mile from the border.
Kuma, Tora, Akino, and Fukui returned the waves but Neji simply inclined his head. It had taken them three days to get this far when normally it took a shinobi group three days to get to either the Hidden Sand Village or the Hidden in Stone Village. Traveling with a civilian slowed travel down though Fukui did not seem like a normal civilian.
For one, he was barely winded with the pace Neji set. It was hardly quick by shinobi standards but any civilian should have been calling for longer and more frequent breaks. Fukui's stamina could be because of his trade but Neji had doubts.
Secondly the man slept exceptionally lightly. Neji always took first watch and saw the man watching him sometimes or one of his students. Fukui also reacted when a twig snapped too loudly near them. Neji knew there were civilians out there who slept so lightly as there were shinobi who slept so heavily they did not hear an explosive tag go off near them. There was also the fact Fukui could be nervous.
He traveled with people he did not know through a country he was not entirely familiar with. His friends had left him behind and he did not know why. He was about to enter what was still considered by many to be a hostile country and knew three of the shinobi with him were on their first C-ranked mission as genin. Even so, Neji did not think nerve contributed to Fukui's hyper-alert state.
The man was too adept at finding eatable food and setting snares for a fisherman. Even Tora seemed put-off by Fukui's skill in this area and Akino frowned. Kuma did not notice or did not show it but Neji knew it was more the former. Kuma's instincts were not as honed as the other two. The way to train her instincts would be with time and nothing more.
They passed the border. Neji activated Byakugan the moment his foot landed on foreign territory. Tora sensed the flare of chakra, light as it was, and Neji smiled a bit. Akino and Kuma did not notice but Fukui seemed to. Neji frowned but kept his head forward, back to Fukui as Kuma strode happily along beside him.
Their positions had not changed in the three days. They did not stray far from the path but now the trees closed in on them and the path became more like a hunting trail. Kuma noticed the change and her eyes kept moving around from side to side as if she would see something coming before Neji. He was surprisingly proud of her for keeping an extra eye out and noticing the shift in the area around them.
The trip through the Land of Rain would take two days at their pace. They would be in Fukui's village the next day or the evening of the second day. Fukui's ability to keep pace had shaved an entire day of the predicted travel time. Neji normally was not wrong with travel times when it came to civilians.
Tora and Akino kept up a friendly conversation with Fukui as they kept moving. Tora and Akino had tensed when they noticed the shift in scenery as well as Neji's Byakugan becoming activated. Fukui seemed to notice as well and his shoulders had tensed. No civilian could tell the subtle differences between countries until they were in villages. Neji scowled at the implications.
He spotted some Hidden Rain Village shinobi 790 meters to the north but they did not see him. They were headed away from the group and were gone within moments. Neji let out a breath and kept focusing around to see if any other border patrol would come at them. Eventually someone would.
He was proven wrong. As the sun set he did not see any other Hidden Rain Shinobi which put him more on edge than relaxed. Their border patrol normally was not this lax. They had traveled far past the ten mile mark of the border but no one had stopped them. Neji settled in a clearing. Kuma and Akino went for firewood as Tora set up snares near them. Fukui began to set up an area for a fire pit.
Neji set up their sleeping area and kept an eye on his genin. They all came back without incident and Neji let out a little breath of relief. They made tea and ate the food they had found on the path. Tora began setting up a stew which would cook overnight so they could eat well in the morning.
They ate their meal in silence and drank their tea. When the sun fully went down, Kuma, Tora, Akino, and Fukui took to their sleeping area while Neji put his back to the fire to look out into the night with Byakugan. His hour and a half passed uneventfully and Neji woke up Kuma. She yawned hugely but nodded to him.
Neji smirked when she too kept her back to the fire. She would keep looking over both shoulders over the flames to see if anyone kept coming. Kuma would also do squats and some kicks to keep herself awake for the hour and a half. Neji closed his eyes and de-activated his Byakugan.
Something snapped and Neji's Byakugan activated before his eyes opened. Tora was on watch and her head turned towards the snap. Neji knew Tora alone could not handle the issue. Three Hidden Rain shinobi were coming towards them, all with chunin or above levels of chakra. Neji scowled and got to his feet.
"Wake up Kuma and Akino," Neji said.
"All ready up," Akino muttered.
Kuma leaped out of her blankets and got into a ready position. Neji wanted to hug them. Now was not the time.
"Three chunin, Rain Nin, coming towards us from two o'clock. Stay back but take aim to disable when you can. Cover Fukui," Neji said.
The three nodded and took up loose fighting stances around the sleeping fisherman. Oddly Neji's instructions, though quiet, had not woken the man up. No. He was awake, his chakra said so, but he stayed down and pretended to sleep. Odd.
The Rain Nin leaped into the clearing but Neji was ready. Two flew back through the trees with his Eight Trigrams Vacuum Palm. The third got six of his main tenketsu closed off which made him collapse. The other two had come back by now but Neji easily disabled them. He scowled at the three enemy shinobi. That had been too easy.
"We're moving," Neji said.
Instantly his genin went to tearing down the camp. Tora stored the half-cooked stew, Kuma put out the fire, and Akino folded up the blankets. Neji woke up Fukui who folded up his blanket. Akino scattered the twigs they would have used to feed the fire in the morning while Kuma went about dusting away the traces of the fire pit. They were ready to move in five minutes. Neji nodded to his students and looked to Fukui.
"We're going to move at a jog," Neji said.
Fukui nodded and Neji set the pace. It was nowhere close to his regular speed but it felt nice to be moving faster than a walk. Tora, Kuma, and Akino he expected to easily keep pace. Fukui did as well and Neji scowled. They traveled for ten miles before Neji called for a halt. No one was within his vision field and Neji let out a breath.
"We will set up a new camp here," Neji said.
They were half-way through doing such when Neji made them stop. Three Rain Nin were coming from the north, different ones, and another three came from the south. These ones were closer to jonin level chakra. Neji could likely take them but he would not risk the chance of them surprising him and killing his genin or Fukui.
"Pack it all up again. Fukui I will be carrying you until I believe we are in the clear," Neji said.
Three more enemy Nin were coming at them, nine in total. Neji did not like the look of this. Fukui did not complain when Neji brought the man into a piggy-back position. Everything was packed up and Neji looked to his genin.
"Keep up," Neji said.
They nodded. Neji took off into the trees and began running. He knew they would have to veer slightly south to avoid the Hidden Rain Village but that did not matter. It would be easy with his Byakugan activated though Neji had hoped to do it in the day.
Kuma kept up pace right next to him. Tora was four yards back and Akino kept pace with her. Neji knew Tora could move faster but Akino had not gained the speed of his lighter teammates, not yet anyway. He was not as slow as he had been two and a half months ago but Neji wished the boy could move faster.
The nine enemy shinobi converged five hundred meters behind Neji and his team after fifteen miles. The nine fanned out, creating a semi-circle and Neji scowled. They would catch up at this pace. Neji could easily out run all nine as he had been a student of Guy-sensei but Kuma would not even be able to keep up. They were still at least a hundred miles from the border between Rain and Hidden in Stone. They would never get there before the Rain shinobi were upon them. Neji bit his lip in thought.
Standing and fighting was not a good idea. Even if they kept Fukui at their backs there was no way he would remain there or the Rain shinobi would not simply go around Neji and his genin to get to Fukui. Wait. They were not supposed to be after Fukui.
"Do you have any enemies in this country?" Neji asked.
"Huh? No," Fukui said.
The Rain Shinobi were after Neji and his genin then. He scowled. It still did not make sense. None of the border patrol except the Leaf had seen Neji and his students enter the land. He did not see any cameras and none of the shinobi behind them wore binoculars. Someone must have tipped the Rain shinobi off this was the path Neji would take. The only person who would was Fukui.
Neji let out a little breath. He could not worry about how the Rain shinobi found him at this moment. His first priority would be to get rid of the Rain shinobi and get his team to safety. Then he would beat the hell out of Fukui to see who the man really was.
Neji licked his lips and considered all his gear. The Rain shinobi were three hundred meters back, the border still too far away. Neji let out a little breath and focused on Fukui for a moment. The man had a frightened look on his face but there was a gleam in his eyes Neji did not like. There was also more chakra in Fukui's body than Neji remembered sensing back in Konoha.
"Fukui, I need to move my hands. Keep your legs clenched around my waist tightly," Neji said.
He heard Fukui gulp and saw the man nod. Neji let go of Fukui's legs and grabbed a smoke bomb in his left hand and an explosive in his right. He slowed down, matching pace with Tora and Akino.
"Kuma, stay with Tora and Akino," Neji said.
She nodded and Neji allowed himself to fall back by a yard. The three kept looking back at him but they did not slow down. Two hundred meters. A hundred meters. Fifty. The enemy kept moving in. Neji kept his eyes on them. Twenty-five. Fifteen. They were in range.
Neji tossed both the smoke bomb and the explosive back. They both landed and as expected the Rain Shinobi jumped up. Both the bomb and the smoke bomb went off, the bomb throwing five of the nine off their intended trajectory with shrapnel hitting two others.
The other two covered their eyes but the smoke bomb went off a moment later, blinding all of them and mixing with the bomb's smoke to make a sort of sleeping gas. It would not put the nine to sleep as they were spread too far but it would make them dizzy and sluggish. God love Tenten and her creations.
Neji kept his speed as the nine Rain shinobi had to stop to gather their senses. Two had been knocked unconscious from the ones that lost their trajectory. One's ankle was injured. One other had a dislocated shoulder from the fall and one was hanging over a tree limb, semi-conscious and bleeding from the mouth.
Of the two who took shrapnel, one was bleeding profusely and the other had lost an eye. This one had also received some pretty lengthy scratches across the face and exposed skin. Only two of the enemy were in any kind of condition to keep chasing him. Neji smirked but kept moving. He had bought them some time.
The unconscious two would regain consciousness. The one with the dislocated shoulder would have the shoulder snapped back in place. Injured ankle and bleeding from the mouth would stick back with blinded and bleeding profusely. It meant five of the original nine would be able to give chase in half an hour, perhaps longer if they were lucky.
Neji and his genin might be able to make it ten miles, maybe fifteen at this pace in half an hour. In an hour they could make it twenty miles. It would help profusely as the five Rain Shinobi would have to work hard to catch up. Neji kept the pace and watched around the area. His back and shoulders were getting tired from carrying Fukui but he could do nothing about that. The man was a few inches taller and about thirty pounds heavier.
Neji said nothing nor did his team as the minutes passed. Half an hour went by, about twelve miles and Neji still saw nothing. He smirked. They might be in the clear. If they kept pace they could be in the Hidden in Stone Village in seven hours.
"We're not stopping again, are we?" Fukui asked.
"No, we're not. We can make it to the border and beyond in about seven hours at this pace," Neji replied.
He knew Kuma could keep the pace without issue. Akino could as well if they stopped for ten minutes in three hours. Tora might be the one to give them issue as her stamina was not as good as her companions. She was not running at her top speed though so they might be okay. They would see in three hours.
An hour went by and Neji spotted movement at the edge of his vision field. The five Rain Shinobi were back. Neji cursed mentally and kept moving. The enemies would catch up again. At least this time they might have a better chance of defeating them. Neji could not stop to set up a trap and he knew they would not fall for the same trick.
Neji let out a breath and started looking for a clearing which would suit his student's styles. Kuma needed a bit of space. Akino needed enough room so he did not have to pay attention to trees. Tora was fine in any environment as was he. He spotted no clearing and the Rain Shinobi were six hundred meters away. Damn it.
"Five on our tails, six hundred meters back," Neji said.
His students glanced back at him. Kuma's expression was serious as was Akino's. Akino had a deeper frown than normal, worried, but Tora had wide eyes and was biting her lip. She was all ready thinking Neji would take on two Rain Shinobi while they all took on one. Fukui would stay on Neji's back for a quicker escape.
"Five hundred meters now but there is no clearing. We will have to fight in what little room we have when they hit us," Neji said.
Now Kuma frowned. Her kicks were not meant for full out aerial combat but Neji knew she would adjust. Akino nodded. Tora let out a breath.
"I'll handle two and keep Fukui on my back. You three try to disable the other three. No kill, just disable. We don't know what they're after. Four hundred meters," Neji said.
Kuma blinked. Akino scowled. Tora kept nibbling her lip.
"Aren't they after Fukui?" Kuma asked.
Neji shook his head. Kuma bit her lip and thought about it. She let out a breath a moment later. Neji did not have time to explain. The enemy were two hundred meters back and closing. Neji could try another smoke bomb but it would not help much. One hundred meters. Fifty. Twenty-five. Fifteen. Tora, Kuma, and Akino could see them now.
Kuma loosened her hands from her bag and Neji saw she began running on the balls of her feet instead of on her full foot. Akino tightened his fists. Tora took a kunai into her dominate right hand. All five Rain Shinobi leaped to close the final gap.
Kuma leaped into the air and her foot came down toward one enemies' head. He gaped and managed to dodge but Kuma kept moving. Akino threw a punch once the Nin who went after him was close enough. The Nin doubled over in pain, stunned, and coughed up blood. Akino gave a follow-up punch to the back of the head.
Tora was locked in combat with the third. The fourth and fifth were coming in at opposite sides and Neji prepared to fend them off. He caught movement from Fukui's hand and pushed the bastard away. Pain radiated through the back Neji's left shoulder from Fukui's kunai. Fukui had been aiming for Neji's throat.
Neji started his Eight Trigrams Sixty-four Palm attack. He managed to get ten hits on both of the Rain Shinobi attacking him but they fell away as Fukui lashed out with a water style attack. Neji fell into his Eight Trigrams Palms Revolving Heaven to block it then leaped out of the rotation, flying towards Fukui with chakra laced hands.
Fukui's chakra expanded. He had stopped hiding it and Neji scowled. The man was jonin level, almost equal to Neji and Neji inwardly cursed. Another water attack came at him but Neji dodged and tried to get in close to Fukui. He would not allow it. Thankfully Akino was now helping Tora. Kuma had tied up the shinobi she had taken down.
"The other two," Neji got out.
Kuma understood and ran towards the two shinobi Neji had disabled. Akino and Tora finished off the shinobi they fought and Tora tied him up while Akino went to help Kuma. Neji released his Mountain Crusher attack which sent Fukui into a tree. The bastard rebound and flung several senbon that Neji knocked away. His left arm did not react as well as he needed though and one senbon embedded into his left bicep. Neji winced.
He heard Kuma and Akino scream and saw one of the shinobi Neji thought he had taken down had feigned how serious his injuries were. He grabbed Kuma by the hair and sent her flying towards a tree. Kuma managed to catch herself and flung her body onto the tree branch above her head. Akino went in to deliver a punch but was too slow.
Neji felt his breath catch in his throat as Akino was gutted by a kunai. Akino's body disappeared in a puff of smoke and the Rain shinobi gaped at the log in front of him. Akino's punch landed on the Rain shinobi's back but the man turned in a skid before flinging out some kind of water attack. Akino was knocked off his feet, his head surrounded by water. A senbon embedded in the man's eye and Neji saw it had come from Kuma. Neji smirked.
Neji knocked away another set of senbon and none had hit him so far. This made Fukui enraged and he came in to attack him. Neji smirked and launched into his Gentle Fist techniques. Tora ran over to Akino and Kuma to help them finish with the final Rain shinobi. Neji was about to deliver a paralyzing blow when he saw ten more Rain Nin coming at them.
"Shit," Neji muttered.
His blow landed but Fukui dispersed into a water clone. Neji found him charging at Kuma's exposed back. Akino saw him coming though and pushed Kuma out of the way, taking the kunai in the right shoulder. Akino did not disappear this time but Kuma caught her balance and kicked Fukui in the knee. He went down which gave Tora the opportunity to punch him in the face. Kuma followed up with a hard kick to the man's temple. Neji stood beside Akino a moment later.
Akino stood in place, eyes closed in pain and clutching his right arm close to his body. The kunai had not hit a vital area but they did not have the time to patch him up. They had to go, now. The other ten Rain Nin were four hundred meters away.
"Fukui's—" Tora tried.
"Not a client," Neji said.
He bent and patted down the man's body. Neji found a scroll with a torn Rain Emblem on it. He read it quickly and scowled. Damn it all.
"They're after my Byakugan. It's all detailed here in Fukui's mission plans," Neji said.
The three gaped at him in wonder. Neji tucked the scroll into a pocket in his vest. Neji grabbed Kuma and tucked her under his right arm. He pulled Tora into his left arm.
"Get on my back, Akino," Neji said.
Akino nodded but got on easily, ignoring the obvious pain in his shoulder. The enemy shinobi were a hundred meters out. Neji took a breath once Akino was settled then took off at full speed. All three of his genin gasped. Neji put three hundred meters distance between him and the enemy right off and grinned.
"Neji-sensei," Kuma gaped.
"You're so fast," Tora got out.
Neji chuckled. He headed due south. He was closer to the Wind Country's borders than the Fire Country's border. The Hidden Sand Village would be two days out but he would be in friendly land. The Rain Shinobi would not follow him for long once he hit the sand's borders.
Neji concentrated on running as the Rain Shinobi noticed they had to speed up. Fukui had joined the party as had the shinobi he and his genin had subdued. That was sixteen after them now. They really wanted his Byakugan.
He did spot Tora reading the scroll. Her eyes had gone wide and he nodded at her amazed look. The Hidden Rain Village had planted Fukui in Konoha. Fukui requested a guard, more specifically a Hyuuga guard and said he was going to the Hidden in Stone Village. The bastard even had fake papers to show he was a fisherman from the Hidden in Stone Village. The plan had been to get Neji into the Hidden Rain Village on a certain date and damn had Neji walked right into it.
Fukui had carried a radio transmitter which sent out a signal to every Rain Shinobi in the damned country within fifty miles. The transmitter sent out the signal every three minutes which meant any Rain Shinobi would hit him. No wonder there were so many on his tail. Six more had joined from the right and two from the left. Apparently this was a C-Rank mission for the Rain Shinobi and everyone could take it.
No wonder everyone was out. It did mean some of the shinobi were around Tora, Kuma, and Akino's strength. Neji did not want to test which ones were which though. The mission itself was to capture him. It did not matter who did it. Once he was captured they would kill whoever was with him then take him back to the village to study his eyes.
The border was not far now, twenty miles. He could make that in a few minutes. The air had all ready grown colder as they approached the desert of the Wind Country. It was bad timing to be running into the Wind Country at night but it could not be helped. Ten minutes later the trees began to thin out. Two minutes after that, there were no trees and Neji ran through sand. His students gaped in awe.
"Welcome to the Wind Country," Neji said.
He kept running and noticed the Rain Shinobi left their country. Neji scowled as he kept moving. Gaara did not post guards on the edges of his country as moving from any edge of the desert to get to him took at least a day. The walls of the Hidden Sand Village were guard enough against intruders. Gaara (unfortunately for Neji) did not need border patrol.
"They're still following us," Kuma said.
She had turned her upper body to look back. Neji knew the Rain Shinobi were still following. He could see them at the edges of his vision field. He was outrunning them but even he could not keep this pace for two full days. Eventually he would slow down. Hopefully the enemies behind would do the same. In the Wind Country there was nowhere to hide.
Cliff hanger, sorry. Reviews welcome, next chapter coming soon.