And we're back! Welcome to Twilight Key, Chapter 15!
Shorter chapter compared to the other recent ones this time. My family moved this week and so I haven't really had time to write this chapter. That is also the reason it took so freaking long to get it out. Well, long compared to what I normally do. At least it wasn't a month or something.
Over 200 follows and 100 reviews? Hell yeah. You guys are awesome.
Screw this damn heat wave.
Possible Kingdom Hearts 3 multiplayer? Yes please.
Holy crap. I hate how bad the last chapter was at certain parts. I could easily point out the parts where I was writing it while tired. It made me cringe a couple times.
Forgot to ask this last chapter. I put "Soifon" instead of "Suì-Fēng." Does anyone actually care? I prefer Soifon.
The canon idea was received much better than I expected. I may have to put some serious consideration into it after all. The problem is what time period would I put it in? I am planning on doing the other worlds during the time skip, but when in the timeline will the canon world be in? Would Naruto visit it while it is before the time skip there? Like chūnin exams or something? Or after the time skip? And I am reluctant to do it after the time skip because Naruto himself would not be at that point yet. That needs some thought.
LordGhostStriker: Good comparison. Thanks for clearing that up. :)
Raidentensho: I have thought about adding some kind of armor abilities, but nothing has been planned. It was more like a brainstorming thing. I'm not against it, but haven't really planned for it. I may add it in the future. And Kingdom Hearts 3 elements? Those do look like fun…
EllieGmanlovesHalo: Pending
Asherrit: There's an idea. But I would probably also want to add a light ability to counter it. But I have no idea what.
FinalKingdomHearts: Is that a question?
erneymatt: I have no idea if I'm doing a pairing yet, let alone who it would be with. I myself like Kairi as well, but hesitate to take that from Sora.
Anyways, on with the Story!
I don't own Naruto, Kingdom Hearts or anything else, I'm just a broke college student...
Normal Talking: "Insert witty remark here."
Normal Thinking: 'Insert witty remark here.'
Biju/Diety Talking: "Insert witty remark here."
Biju/Diety Thinking: 'Insert witty remark here.'
Scene Change: Insert Place Here
Jutsu/Magic/Technique: Insert Jutsu Here
Training Ground 12 (3 Weeks Later)
"Come on, get up!" A female voice called. In response, two more voices groaned in unison. In the middle of the training ground were four people. Three of them were genin who were extremely tired from their latest bout of training, while the last was their jōnin sensei who was standing above their prone positions on the ground.
Yūgao clapped her hands to hurry them along. "Come on. Don't you guys want your mission?" Her grin only got wider when she heard three groans this time.
It has been a little more than a month since team 12 was formed and they started taking missions. It had quickly become the normal thing to train every day and then go out on a mission. While this wouldn't be a problem normally, the issue was that all three of the genins were quickly fed up with all of their typical missions, D-ranks.
Despite all forms of protest and/or begging, Yūgao had refused all attempts so far to get her to allow a higher ranked mission. The reason that they were always given was that they were not ready for them yet.
Secretly, her genin believed that she was secretly some kind of sadist.
It was very likely.
Regardless, their current reluctance was due to this knowledge. The three of them were not eager to go out and get another D-rank mission where they would be forced to do some civilians bidding while being ridiculed by the same civilian. That was definitely not how they enjoyed spending their time. At all.
Yūgao put more force into her tone. "Get up! We're going to get a mission!" She said.
With a deep sigh, Naruto heaved himself up onto his feet. Looking over, he saw his two teammates doing the same. Naruto wanted to groan again. He really hated these missions. He looked over to Yūgao and spoke up. "Yūgao-sensei…" He began, gaining her attention. "…How far off do you believe we are until we are capable of taking on a higher rank mission?" He asked.
Yūgao took on a thoughtful look. After a few moments of silence where she looked each of her genin over, she spoke up. "Honestly? Not long now. The three of you work well enough together and you have completed the minimum number of D-ranks needed to take on a C-rank. Right now, I am simply polishing up some of your skills before we head out for a higher ranked mission. So it shouldn't be too long."
This response was slightly unexpected for the three genin. But after she said it, a broad grin stretched across Naruto's face while a wide smile broke out on Yakumo's. Even Sai seemed to have a smile that didn't seem as forced as usual. But his was less of excitement and more of relief.
Nobody liked D-ranks.
"But not right now. You guys are still going to be doing D-ranks for now." And just like that, all form of hope and happiness died out from their eyes. "Now enough stalling, let's go!" And with that, she walked out of the training ground with three depressed genin following after her.
Missions Office
As the four of them walked up to the missions office, they passed by a woman walking out of it. She was a plump woman with dark brown hair that was kept in three separate poofs. She had on pink lipstick, pink nail-polish and purple eyeshadow. She also had on multiple colored rings. But it was what was struggling in her grasp that really got their attention.
It was a brown cat with a line running down her forehead and three lines crossing that one. Her eyes were an amber color. The cat also had a red ribbon on her right ear.
The cat was struggling with all her might to get free of the woman's grasp as she squeezed the life out of the cat. Instead of frowning at the blatant animal cruelty, both Naruto and Yakumo smirked at the sight. They had instantly recognized the cat as Tora. Like every other genin team in the village, they too had been forced to chase after the demon cat all over the village. Tora seemed to be particularly fond of attempting to claw their eyes out. And because of this fact, the cat wouldn't be getting any sympathy or pity from them.
Naruto even had the nerve to wave cheekily to the cat with a smile as they walked by. While the woman didn't notice, Tora certainly did and seemed to glare back. This only served to make Naruto smirk even more.
Sai, seeing this exchange, spoke up. "That was unadvisable. Now the next time we are sent to retrieve Tora she will be even more violent.
Naruto thought about it. After a moment, he shivered before shaking his head. "That's a problem for future me." He said and continued walking.
Once they entered the missions office, team 12 noticed that they weren't the only genin team there. Ahead of them in front of the desk was team 11. Looking at Narumi and Menma, Naruto immediately noticed that they were both covered in scratches and seemed to be extremely irritated. This made it easy for him to guess who it was that had just brought Tora in.
Team 12 stopped a little ways behind them as to not interrupt the current discussion. It looked as if team 11 had got a mission sooner than normal today and because of it, they had enough time to consider taking out another one.
Minato was currently listing off the possible missions they could take up. But none of them seemed to be anything good. "Hm, let's see now…" Minato said. "You could babysit the chief counselor's three year old. Help his wife do the shopping." His eyes lit up as he looked back up at them. "Oh, or you can help dig up the potato-" He was cut off due to an outburst from Menma.
"No way!" He said as he crossed his arms. "We are sick and tired of all these stupid missions. Give us something better!" He said.
Next to him, Narumi nodded her head. "Yeah, tou-chan! We want something better than these stupid chores we have been getting." She asserted.
Naruto smirked to himself. It seemed that it wasn't just him and his team that were getting fed up with D-rank missions. No surprises there. He tuned back in when Iruka started to speak up after heaving an aggravated sigh.
After closing his eyes and pinching the bridge of his nose, Iruka decided to correct these foolish genin. "You don't get a higher ranked mission just because you are tired of doing your current rank. You are just rookies. Everyone starts off doing this and eventually work their way up to the higher missions." He said.
Menma scowled. "But how long does that take? At some point we will need to take our first higher ranked mission. Why not now? I'd say we mastered the art of painting fences and walking dogs after doing it every day."
Iruka shook his head. "Let me explain this to you. Every day the village gets multiple requests from clients in the form of missions. These missions range from simple babysitting jobs to assassination."
Naruto wanted to roll his eyes. 'Nothing new here…' It looked as if his siblings were of a similar state of mind. They both seemed annoyed to be told this when they already knew all of it.
Not noticing any of the reactions he was getting, Iruka continued speaking. "All of the requests get written down on these lists we have and are divided into different rankings ranging from S to D based on the difficulty. The village shinobi system is also divided into similar rankings."
Naruto noticed that Iruka was in full lecture mode now. He sighed quietly. 'This could take a while.'
Unimpeded, Iruka kept talking. "At the bottom of the ranking are the academy students. Above them are the genin like you, then the chūnin like myself, then the jōnin such as your senseis." He motioned to where Minato sat. Throughout this entire lecture, Minato looked amused at the faces that Narumi and Menma were making. Iruka never noticed, of course. "Finally, there is the Hokage. The leader of the village."
'Does he even realize he is talking to the children of said Hokage? We all have heard this so many times before…' Naruto thought to himself.
Iruka just kept talking. Even Kushina was starting to look impatient with him. "The missions are then assigned by us to the designated shinobi. The rank assigned depends on the experience and rank of the shinobi. If the mission is completed successfully, we get payment from the client." He motioned to Narumi and Menma. "You two are only new genin. D-ranks are all you will be getting for now." It was at this point he looked back over to team 11. He popped a vein at what he saw.
"So we had pork ramen yesterday, so we should have miso tonight." Menma was in the middle of suggesting dinner to Narumi and Kushina. They both nodded along to what he said. More ramen sounded good to them. Minato was growing increasingly amused at the situation but hid it well.
Iruka surged to his feet. "Hey! Listen to me when I am talking, dammit!" He demanded.
This caused all three of the redheads to look over. Kushina smiled sheepishly. "Ah…sorry about that. What were you saying?" She asked.
Before Iruka could respond, Narumi spoke up. "Whatever! I don't care about any of that, just give us a higher ranked mission!"
Iruka scowled and crossed his arms. "No. Not until your jōnin sensei requests for one after confirming you have suitable abilities to pass such a mission." He said in a sage like manner while nodding his head.
This last statement caused Narumi and Menma's eyes to gleam. "So what you're saying is…" Narumi began.
"…If kaa-chan says we're good enough right now, you will hand us a better mission?" Menma finished.
The two of them gained huge grins and turned to Kushina together. Kushina for her part, looked amused at what was going on. She turned her gaze to Menma when he spoke. "Kaa-chan, don't you think we have proven by now that we can take on a higher ranked mission?"
Narumi followed up after him. "Yeah, we have taken so many D-ranked missions already, I know we have passed the minimum by now. Plus, we were super close to each becoming the rookie of the year, we know we are tough enough for it."
Hearing them request a higher ranked mission so simply caused a new wave of anger to rush through Iruka. "It isn't that easy! Not only that, but you are also short a person on your team!" He yelled at them before turning to Kushina. "Kushina-sama. Please tell them how they are not yet ready to take up a higher mission." He requested.
Kushina for her part, looked as amused as her husband at the current course of events. But she knew it was time for her to make a decision. She looked at Narumi and Menma with an assessing gaze. They had been doing well enough, and had reached a decent level. But were they ready for a higher ranked mission?
Everybody in the room was silent as they waited for her to speak up. Eventually, she came to a decision. "They are not quite where I want them to be for a C-ranked mission." She said. Both Narumi and Menma instantly deflated at this. Iruka however, looked satisfied. But then she kept speaking. "However, if there was another genin team willing to go with us, then I would approve." This caused Narumi and Menma to perk back up and Iruka to gape.
Minato nodded. "That could work. Team 12 should be reporting in for a mission any minute now. We can ask Yūgao if she is willing to grant her team this joint mission." He said.
It was at this moment that Yūgao chose to announce team 12's presence and stepped forward. "We are already here, Hokage-sama." She said.
Minato nodded and smiled at her. "Can I assume you already heard the discussion?" When she nodded, he continued. "Good. So what do you say? Are you willing to let your team join team 11 on a C-ranked mission? Two teams may be a little overkill, but both of them only just graduated last month, so it evens out."
Yūgao looked over her team. Taking in their hopeful expressions. Naruto was having trouble restraining himself from showing just how eager he was to take on a higher mission, but knew that he was failing somewhat. Looking over, he noticed that Yakumo also looked excited and that even Sai had some hope in his eyes.
After a moment of deliberation, Yūgao looked back over to Minato. "I am willing to have my team participate in this mission. They are skilled enough for it and it should do them good to take part in a higher ranked mission." She stated with a nod.
Naruto had to clamp down hard on the urge to cheer. A real mission? Not a D-rank? Hell yeah! He noticed that both Narumi and Menma also seemed extremely happy about it. Iruka just gaped even more.
Minato nodded and took out a scroll. While handing it to Kushina who was closer, he started to speak again. "Very well. Teams 11 and 12 will carry out a joint C-rank mission to the Land of Waves. You will be acting as bodyguards."
The genin grew interested at this. "Who will we be guarding?" Narumi asked. "Some kind of famous person?"
Menma followed up. "Or maybe a princess or daimyō?"
Minato smiled. "Hold on a moment. I will call in the client now." He motioned to an attendant. "Please send in the client." The attendant nodded and left the room. After a moment, she returned with an older man.
He had grey hair and glasses, along with a large beard and dark eyes. He wore a sleeveless V-neck shirt with an obi, pants and a pair of sandals. He also had a towel hanging around his neck and a pointed hat. In his hand was a bottle of sake. Even from where he stood, Naruto was able to pick up the scent from the sake coming off of the man.
The man took a single look around the room and frowned. "This is all I get? Five super brats and their watchers?" He looked over the genin again and paused on Sai's blank face. "And this one is super creepy…" He said, causing Naruto to smirk and Yakumo to giggle a bit. Sai only tilted his head.
The man shook his head. "I am the super bridge builder, Tazuna! It is your job to make sure I get back home safe. Even if it costs you your lives!"
Minato continued when he finished speaking. "Team 11 and Team 12, your mission is to guard Tazuna-san as he travels back home to the Land of Waves and then to continue protecting him as he finishes constructing the bridge. Any questions?" None were raised. "Very well then. You will leave at 8:00 tomorrow morning. I leave additional details to your jōnin senseis. Dismissed."
They bowed and left the room. After speaking a few words with Kushina and Yūgao, Tazuna left. Following this, both Kushina and Yūgao turned to the genin. Kushina was the first to speak. "On this mission, as you heard, we will be guarding Tazuna-san. It will be a journey to the land of waves where we will then be guarding him as he completes his bridge."
Yūgao started talking when she stopped. "This mission shouldn't be that high of a risk. Possibly some bandits, but not really much else. Pack for a month of being out of the village. It has already been asked, but I will ask again. Any questions?" There still weren't any questions asked. Yūgao nodded. "Good. Then meet at the east gate at 8:00 in the morning. Make sure to get a good night of rest."
And with that, both Kushina and Yūgao disappeared in identical swirls of leaves. The genins just stood there for a moment before they all started grinning. Except for Sai, he just had a blank look. Narumi grinned and pumped her fist into the air. "Yes! We don't have a crappy D-rank again, this is going to be awesome-ttebane!"
Menma grinned as well. "Plus, we got Aniki along with us on this mission-ttebasa!"
Naruto smiled at them as well. "Yeah, this should be pretty cool. But then again, anything that isn't a D-rank is guaranteed to be way better than what we have been doing."
Yakumo joined in at this point. With a sigh of content, she said, "I am looking forward to this as well. Any mission where I don't have to put up with demon cats or picking fruit is a welcome one with me." But after a moment, she frowned slightly. "Although it seems like we still have an annoying client."
Menma shook his head. "Yeah, you're right. But just having a real mission already makes this infinitely better." He looked over to Sai. "What about you? You've been pretty quiet. What do you think?"
Sai only looked back in response. After a moment, he smiled. "I admit to be relieved that we are done with D-ranked missions, for now." They all nodded along when he said this.
It was at this point that Naruto yawned. He started talking once he was able to get it under control. "Well, I don't know about you guys, but I'm going to use this extra time to nap." Last night was nightmare. 'I hate those nights where all Yami wants to do is spar…'
Naruto didn't care what Hikari and Yami said. He still woke up tired from nights like those, regardless of a resting body.
Narumi rolled her eyes while Yakumo giggled. "Nii-chan, you sleep way too much."
Naruto just smirked and shrugged his shoulders. "I said it before and I will say it again. I just like to sleep." He waved at them. "See you all tomorrow morning. I doubt I will be getting back up anytime soon." With those parting words, he headed back home.
Urahara Shop (The Next Day)
Naruto walked into the shop and looked around. It had been a few days since he had been here last. The last time was for a few hours of helping out in the shop.
Naruto immediately noticed that there wasn't anyone around. That was a normal thing for when someone wasn't around to man the register. Usually, when someone came into the shop they would call out or ring the bell on the counter. Urahara would then come out and help them. 'I guess that means that Soifon-san isn't around-either…' Naruto thought to himself.
Naruto walked over to the door leading deeper into the building and walked through. He headed straight to the tea room. And just like he thought, Urahara was there. Yoruichi was curled up on a nearby cushion as well. They both looked up when he walked into the room.
Seeing who it was, Urahara smiled. "Ah, Naruto-kun, you've returned! Welcome, welcome. What can I do for you?" The man asked from behind his fan.
Naruto shook his head. Was it tiring to always act with such an attitude? Naruto was pretty sure he would never be able to pull it off. Deciding to spend as little time as necessary in this man's presence, Naruto started speaking. "I have a mission. It is higher rank than normal and I will be leaving the village for a while to perform it."
Urahara's eyes sharpened marginally. "Is that so?" He fanned himself for a few moments. "How long will you be away?"
Naruto tilted his head in thought. "We were told to pack for a month. So I would assume if all goes well, then a month."
Urahara nodded thoughtfully. "Hm, can you tell me what you will be doing?"
Naruto shrugged. "Sure. We will be escorting a bridge builder to the Land of Waves then continue guard him as he completes the construction of his bridge."
Urahara frowned a bit. "Land of Waves?" He asked.
Naruto frowned a bit at the tone. "Yeah. That's it. Is there a problem with me going there?"
Urahara slowly shook his head. "Potentially. I've been hearing some bad things about that place for a while. It seems to be overrun by a business tyrant who holds the small country in an iron grip. It is extremely difficult to get anything in or out of that place. And you say the guy you're guarding is a bridge builder?" Naruto nodded. "Then I wouldn't be surprised if he has angered the tyrant and is a hindrance to his plans." He looked Naruto in the eye. "Be careful out there. There is a darker side to this type of business. The owners often delve into the criminal underworld as well."
Naruto frowned. "I see where you're going with this. This mission may turn into something harder than a C-rank if this guy sends someone after us. Someone that isn't a bandit, anyways." Urahara nodded. "Thanks, I will be careful." He tilted his head in thought for a moment. "Who is this business guy you mentioned? What's his name?" He asked.
Urahara fanned himself with a smile as he replied. "The business tycoon's name is Gatō. He owns this whole shipping company as well as being some kind of crime lord. Remember the name."
Naruto nodded as he turned to leave. "Will do. See you when I get back. Tell Soifon-san I said bye."
Urahara smirked at him. "Sure thing." He said as Naruto walked out.
East Gate (7:55)
Naruto had left the Urahara shop and was now approaching the east gate. He saw that all of the other genins were already there along with Tazuna. While the genins were grouped together, Tazuna was standing off to the side, drinking. Again.
Shaking his head at the drinking habits of the old man, Naruto walked over to the genin. Most seemed excited about the mission they were about to undertake. Sai was just being Sai.
Naruto grinned as he got close to them. "Morning, guys. Ready for this?"
Narumi was bouncing up and down in place. "Don't know about you people, but I am so ready for this-ttebane! I am so pumped to be getting a real mission!"
Yakumo nodded along with her. "I know. I was getting so tired of doing all of those stupid chores for those ungrateful civilians. There were some days where I was tempted to just stab them with a kunai…" This last part was said quietly to herself.
Menma smirked. "With all of us going, it should be a piece of cake."
Sai looked over to him. "It is inadvisable to be overconfident in one's ability while completing a mission. It may lead to mistakes and failure of the mission."
Menma frowned as he scratched the back of his head. "I guess…no need to be such a downer about it, though." He muttered.
Naruto smiled and shook his head. He was going to speak, but was interrupted as two figures appeared in twin swirls of leaves. This scene caused Naruto to sweat drop. 'You would think they rehearsed it or something with the way they time it so well…' He thought silently.
Yūgao grinned at them. "Oh good, you're all here. And I assume you've all packed well enough for this?" Nods all around. "Good!" She looked over to Tazuna. "What about you, Tazuna-san? Are you ready to go anytime?"
Said bridge builder took another swig of his sake. "Of course! I'm super ready to go!"
It was Kushina who responded this time. "Good. Travelling at civilian speeds, we should reach the Land of Waves in a few days. If all of us are ready, then let's head out!" And with that, they were on their way to the land of waves.
One Day Later
'Ugh…I hate walking at civilian speeds.' Naruto just couldn't see the point of travelling at such a slow pace. I mean, sure, the client is a civilian and therefore cannot travel as fast as a shinobi, but surely one of them could carry the old man?
Naruto shook his head when his this thought entered it. That would be too much of a pain in the ass. Letting his gaze lazily drift around the surroundings, Naruto pondered what had happened so far on the mission…or lack of what had happened.
'I know this a C-rank…but it has been so boring so far.' There hadn't been a single exciting thing so far on this mission. All they had done up until that point was walk. Naruto sighed silently to himself as he thought about Urahara's warning. 'I almost wish Gatō did send some goons after us…' It was at this point that Naruto noticed something up ahead on the ground in the middle of the road.
A puddle.
It took all he had not to face palm right then and there. 'What a bunch of idiots…' There were too many of them on their side for such a small ambush to actually work. He highly doubted they were actually able to fit more than two or three people into a puddle that size. Although, he did just basically ask for something like this to happen. Nice to see his karma is still working.
Naruto discreetly glanced around at his companions to take in their reactions. It looked like the only other genin to have noticed was Yakumo, most likely because she was able to recognize a genjutsu when she saw one. Naruto then looked over at the two jōnin. They truly were the elites of the village. Although he couldn't see any visible signs, Naruto was sure they had noticed judging by the fact that they both started to casually slow down a bit to walk at the back of the group.
Naruto frowned internally in thought. 'Now then…who are the targets? Us shinobi…' He slid his gaze over to Tazuna's back. '…or him?' Although, judging from what he already knew of the situation, it was probably Tazuna who was the target. But how to get the rest of the team to know?
His eyes widened after a moment. 'Of course. That's why they went to the back of the group! They are going to pretend to be taken out, and then see who gets attacked…Fine then. Let's do that.' And with that last thought, the group finally passed the puddle.
At first, nothing happened. But eventually, Naruto was able to pick up the sound of chains. It was so quiet, he only noticed because he was looking for it.
"Now!" Naruto nearly shook his head in exasperation. What kind of shinobi announces when they are attacking?
"What?!" Yūgao cried out.
"The hell?!" Kushina followed. The two of them were quickly wrapped together in chains as two men stood on either side of them. The chains extended to some weird devices on their arms.
"Two down." One of the men said as he and the other tugged on the shuriken chain. The two women screamed out in pain as their bodies were torn to shreds.
Naruto smirked a bit. 'Wow. What a convincing performance.' It really looked like they were killed at the first glance. But Naruto noticed the signs of a quick Replacement Jutsu. Namely the logs on the ground. But judging by the fact that neither of the men paid any attention to that, they hadn't noticed.
In fact, the two of them were now advancing onto Sai. But before they could wrap him in the chains as well, Menma, although initially surprised, got over it quickly and used some kunai and shuriken to pin the chain to some nearby trees.
It was just in time too, as the two men were only a couple feet away from Sai. Using the surprise of being stopped as an opening, Naruto shot forwards and kicked the closer man in the chest, sending him tumbling back a bit before he was stopped by the chain.
On the other side of the chain, Narumi was executing a similar maneuver with the other man. While this brief reprieve was happening, Naruto looked over to Tazuna and saw that Yakumo was standing guard in front of him.
Hearing the sounds of chains again, Naruto swirled his head around. He mentally swore at what he saw. The two men had detached the chain from their gauntlets and were now moving independently of one another.
One of the men were rushing towards Tazuna. Normally, Naruto would have rushed after him, but there were two reasons he didn't. The first was because he was simply too far away. The other reason was because the second man was rushing him again.
Naruto threw up his guard and got ready to counter him. But before he could, the man was stopped cold by the appearance of another combatant.
Standing in between the man and Naruto, with her fist embedded in the man's gut, was Yūgao. Hearing a cry of pain, Naruto looked back over to the other man to see Kushina pinning him to the ground.
"You did well." Slightly startled, Naruto glanced around to see Yūgao smiling at him. He smiled back. Yūgao looked around at the other genin. "You all did well." She said.
Kushina grinned as well. "That was fantastic-ttebane! You all worked together and covered each other as needed perfectly!" The man that she was pinning to the ground attempted to struggle, but another painful twist of his arm ceased all forms of resistance. "We should tie these two morons up."
10 Minutes Later
The two men were now tied to a tree. Now that they weren't being attacked, Naruto took this chance to finally take in their appearances. The first was the man who attacked him. He had shoulder length, wild brown hair and dark eyes. He had a rebreather on that covered the lower half of his face. On his left arm was a large, clawed gauntlet. He had on a camouflage suit with bandages around his waist. He also had on dark colored, knee length sandals and several pouches around his waist.
The other man had shoulder length, dark brown hair and dark eyes. He too wore a rebreather that covered the lower half of his face and a large, clawed gauntlet. But his gauntlet was on his right arm. Like the other man, he also wore a camouflage outfit and bandages around his waist. Furthermore, he too had on knee length sandals. To complete his outfit, he had on a ragged black cape.
Both of them had on a headband from another village that had a slash going through them, marking their status as missing-nin. Taking a closer look at the headbands, Naruto was fairly sure these men were from Kiri.
Naruto was pulled from his thoughts when Yūgao spoke up. "These two are Gozu and Meizu. Also known as the Demon Brothers. They are mercenary missing-nin from Kiri. Known to fight on until the end no matter what."
'That would explain why they attacked such a large group on their own like that…But it was still extremely stupid of them.' Naruto thought.
One of the men, Gozu, started talking. "How did you know that we were there?"
Kushina rolled her eyes. "A puddle in the middle of the road on a day like this? Plus it hasn't rained in a while." She shook her head. "That made absolutely no sense."
It was at this point that Tazuna spoke up with a scowl on his face. "Why did you two let the kids fight if you knew that?" He demanded while looking between Yūgao and Kushina.
Kushina frowned at him. "If we had wanted to, we could have killed them instantly."
Yūgao followed up. "But we needed to figure something out first. We needed to know who they were after. Us, as shinobi." Both of the women shot hard looks at Tazuna. "Or you. And judging by the fact that they didn't save you as the obvious civilian for the last target, it means that you were the target."
Kushina scowled at him. Tazuna had lost his own scowl by this point and looked nervous. "We didn't hear anything about other shinobi coming after you…Our mission was only to protect you against bandits and the like."
Yūgao shook her head. "This mission is now at least a B-rank. It isn't some simple C-rank protection detail anymore. I don't know why you did it, but you obviously were unwilling to pay for a B-rank mission. This is beyond our current team's capabilities."
Kushina looked at him harshly. "It causes problems for us when the client lies about the mission." She looked at Yūgao. "This mission is now beyond specified parameters. We should turn back."
This declaration sent a jot of surprise rushing through everyone else there besides Yūgao. Menma was the first to speak up. "What?! No way-ttebasa!"
Kushina frowned at her youngest son. "Menma, this is beyond your capabilities. No genin team should be sent off to complete a B-rank mission with a chance of escalating to an A-rank."
Narumi shook her head in protest. "But…" She frowned before turning to Tazuna, who seemed extremely scared of the possibilities being laid out before him. "Why did you lie?" She demanded. When he looked taken aback, she pressed on. "Why did you lie about the mission?" She asked again.
Tazuna hesitated before opening his mouth. "My village is extremely poor. We simply cannot afford to pay for anything higher than a C-rank. The hope is that with the completion of my bridge, we will be able to bring in more trade and gain more money."
He then did something that surprised them all. He got on his hands and knees and bowed. "I am extremely sorry for lying to you all about this mission! I really had no other option but to do it."
Yūgao sighed in a frustrated manner. "You do know that if you had simply told the village, we could have made some deal with you, right? Like we do the mission, and you pay us back on a later date."
Tazuna looked ashamed. "No. I did not know that was an option. I was simply too worried about my village to worry about anything like that…I only had getting home to help my family and people in mind."
Naruto frowned a bit. 'Hey, hey. Don't go for the sob story, now…It will make me want to help.' But deep down, Naruto already knew he was going to help them anyways.
It looked like the other genin, besides Sai, were less resistant than Naruto was. It was Yakumo who broke first. She looked at Yūgao. "Yūgao-sensei…I would like to continue the mission." She said.
Yūgao frowned at her. "Yakumo, this is too much for you guys. We should head back to the village."
Narumi was the next one to voice her opinion. "I also want to keep going."
Menma supported his sister right away. "Yeah. It isn't right to just drop out in the middle like this and leave the geezer hanging like this." Although Tazuna looked offended at being called a geezer, he did not voice any complaints.
Kushina objected to this. "That really isn't a good idea. The next people to come will probably be stronger than these two."
Naruto closed his eyes in thought. Both sides were absolutely right. On one hand, they weren't prepared for a mission like this. The suggested course of action would be to turn back right then and there and head back to the village. On the other hand, it wouldn't sit right with him to just brush off someone in need like that.
With a deep sigh, Naruto spoke up. Looking at Yūgao only, he said, "I also would like to keep going. While it is true we aren't equipped for something like this, I think we can handle anything they throw at us." He paused. "Or at least, we could probably handle a couple chūnin and jōnin level shinobi with these teams."
The two senseis frowned more and observed the determined expressions on the genins before looking at one another. They seemed to hold some sort of silent conversation. After a minute, the both of them sighed in unison. Kushina turned back to the group. "Very well." Instantly, Tazuna's entire frame relaxed. Following this, the tension leaked out of the genin as well.
Yūgao cut into any form of celebration. "But you must take this seriously. This mission will be getting even more dangerous from here on out. So you must follow any and all instructions we give you, exactly as we say." Nods all around. "Good. We should continue on our way. We want to be in the Land of Waves in two days."
Unknown Location
"You failed?! What the hell, I paid a lot of money for you lot! You were supposed to be highly skilled shinobi!" An irate voice yelled.
"Stop your stupid whining." A second voice responded. There was a swish through the air like the sound of a blade being swung. A gasp came from the first voice, followed by an audible gulp of fear. "This time, I will go myself. They will die on my blade."
The first voice started speaking again when the second finished. "Are you sure? Apparently, the old bastard hired some skilled shinobi of his own. And now that the Demon Brothers fucked up, they will be more careful."
The second voice growled in irritation. "Who the hell do you think I am? I am known as the devil of the mist for a reason."
Another gulp of fear. "Very well, but take the others with you. I want to get in my money's worth."
"Tch. Fine. But they better not get in my way."
There we go! All done with Chapter 15!
So because I'm an uncreative and lazy ass, I am just doing the wave mission.
I would like to get the next chapter out sooner than a week from now again, but I'm not sure what will happen. While my family is now moved into the new place, I myself am moving into a new place today. I actually am putting off heading over there to move in so I could write this chapter.
Questions? Comments? Concerns? Post a review!
Until next time,
Kog6943