Thanks for coming back. I hope you like Chapter 18 and the new story arc.
--Jono'
Part 4 - The Jinchuuriki's Mandate
Haku and Naruto are on a journey to stop the Hidden Mist Village from being destroyed. But vengeful ninjas possessing forgotten powers turn out to be the least of what the two must face as present-day ambitions collide with Kirigakure's dark past.
Crossroads
The lone traveler slogged uphill through the morning mist, water beading against the grey armor of his mist-ANBU fatigues and bone-white zodiac mask. Though the sun shone and the cool air was full of heartening birdsong and the sounds of gentle nature slowing coming awake, the ninja was blind and deaf to it. Nothing could ever penetrate the gloom he carried with him, especially when there was work to do. His thick hands reached toward then tightened with anticipation around the handles of his signature weapons – a pair of double-barbed, 'lightning-fang' swords.
Over the crest of the hill the walls of the Five Songs Monastery rose into view. Only here did the broad-shouldered man pause then straighten with umbrage, for the stout, timber gates had already been smashed in.
Passing inside to a columned courtyard lined with fine trees and serene Buddhas, the stranger noted all the strewn clothing, pots and pans, farm tools, brooms, weapons, books and other items abandoned in haste, but then froze to listen when he heard, of all things…laughter – the joyous, carefree laughter of purest youth.
Indifferent to it for now, the white-masked man paced to a watering trough, found a bucket and filled it then turned his head as a big, brown rabbit hopped out from a dark doorway followed eagerly by a little boy, or maybe it was a little girl, it was hard to tell at that age and anyway, he had long, raven hair and was wearing bulky, genderless traveling clothes.
In gleeful abandon the child chased the bunny, which didn't seem at all threatened and actually, very obligingly, stopped from time to time to give its happy, spirited pursuer a chance to catch up.
Around and around, this way and that, the boy (or girl) chased the rabbit until he was completely spent then flopped down to hands and knees before rolling over on his back to rest carelessly in the grass, staring up at the morning sky, panting for breath.
"The monks decided to leave," growled the shadows with an unforgettable air of cold, familiar malice, "brother swordsman."
The mist-ninja's head swiveled toward the voice. He took off his mask then, revealing startlingly unexpected features: a thick-boned but rounded face; wide, heavy lips; sweeping, jet eyebrows and large, dark-lined eyes that were grey rings within grey rings.
"Funny how that always happens when you show up, Momochi," said the newcomer who frowned critically then took a sloppy gulp of water before remarking: "I don't see any bodies."
"I'm in a good mood today, Raiga, so I gave them five seconds to clear the f-ck out."
Raiga stared in disbelief at his fellow ANBU, only just visible now as a dark shape lounging in a colonnade's enveloping shade. A breach of protocol like this was unheard of, especially from HIM.
The child laughed again having, apparently, recovered long enough to rejoin the chase.
"So," began Raiga with what was at best casual interest, "who's the kid?"
"My apprentice," Zabuza explained with an air of significance as the infamous shinobi rose then strolled into view – a chiseled figure with eyes as cold as any man had ever seen, grey as storm-clouds, hovering like dead suns over the wrapping that masked the lower portion of his cruel face.
Again, disbelief. "What?" scoffed the ANBU who could only shake his head and assume his disagreeable colleague was kidding. "Yeah, sure – your 'apprentice'." Raiga crossed his arms and stared dubiously at The Demon of the Hidden Mist's supposed student who looked to be as goofy, giggly, pale and delicate a creature as they came.
"He has a kekkei-genkai."
Raiga looked again at the child then back toward Zabuza. "You're actually serious," the dour ninja marveled. "Which bloodline? I thought they were all dead, a long time ago."
"Aramata Clan."
The man's already-large eyes went even wider. Though he lacked humor, a grave gust of harsh laughter escaped him. "You've completely lost your mind, do you know that? The new Mizukage's already disbanded us Seven Swordsman, got Hunter-ninja Packs scouring the globe for Hoshigake, hates your ass and CLEARLY wanted all the monks in this temple killed and not just run off. You're making the rest of us look bad. And NOW you're gonna adopt THAT," he brayed critically as his already-irritable mood rose to anger. Specks of choleric foam dribbled from his mouth as he thrust a pointed finger toward the little boy and continued: "train THAT; have THAT following you around like-like-like, like some kind of PET or something?
"Just what is it with you, huh?" Raiga went on with his remonstration. "You're a stone-cold killer…massacred your entire class of genin and hate people in general almost as much as I do but now you're telling me you're taking an apprentice and that he's this little kid, all slug-soft and helpless? That's BULLsh-t."
The Demon of the Hidden Mist only chuckled at his brother swordsman's annoyance. "The blood flowing in his veins makes him a union of two worlds," Zabuza explained, obviously relishing the opportunity to do so, "and he belongs to an ages-old ninja clan that stretches back all the way to the very beginnings of the Land of Water. I know Haku doesn't look like much now but there is greatness in him, and in that greatness will I have a powerful weapon for he and his hyouton powers will serve ME!"
Raiga leveled a sour, disparaging and exasperated look back at 'Haku' who now sat crossed-legged on the ground, snuggling lovingly with his fluffy, long-eared pet; a beatific smile in full bloom over his sweaty, dirty, but still girlish face.
Though the ninja's first reaction was how completely ridiculous it all was – Zabuza the killer taking in some little kid, Zabuza waxing poetic on his own magnificence yet again – still, Raiga was struck as he felt an unwelcome sensation stir in the arid precincts of his long-untenanted heart. It was as if somehow that he was the one who was ridiculous, as if maybe he was the one missing out.
Raiga blinked and wiped his mouth with a sleeve, staring, momentarily transfixed at the improbable sight of this…this (could he even finish the thought!) this Demon's Apprentice.
After all, thought the ninja with a surprising ache, when was the last time HE'D been that happy about any damn thing?
Pirates
Standing at the bow of the Fata Morgana with the wind rippling through his uniform, Captain Oomori grinned as his ship pulled along side the clattering sea-liner.
"Really, Oomori," asked Mei-lin who leaned casually against the wall with her arms folded against the leather scales of her armored coat, "another shakedown?"
The Captain scowled at the mist-ninja's criticism. "What do you care?" he fired back. "You and your team'll get your cut just like usual."
"'Your call," the kunoichi remarked with a shrug then strolled away.
Baring a gap-toothed smile, the Captain ordered his boarding-parties ready and watched as they assembled on deck with weapons in hand. He didn't suppose that there would be any actual fighting. A show of force alone from one of Lord Jinsuke's patrol ships was always enough to convince anyone that it was much better to pay an unofficial 'fee' than suffer the consequences.
Looking across at the vessel, Oomori's eyes narrowed at the sight of one small, crazy-looking, yellow-haired kid in an ANBU mask, standing alone amidships in ill-fitting mist-ninja fatigues.
"What the hell is this?" he wondered as the tiny guardian put his hands together to form a seal.
Suddenly the whole deck of the targeted ship was jam-packed with identical shinobi who all drew kunai then stood as if ready for all-out war.
"Mei-lin!" Oomori cried. "Mei --!" The captain's eyes went wide as he felt a thin arm drape lazily over his shoulders in a way that seemed terribly overly-familiar…except for that trio of senbon threatening his neck. That's when the officer noticed, hovering close to his ear, the white, zodiac mask of a ninja of the Hidden Mist he'd never seen before but who was now standing right beside him.
"How'd you get aboard my ship?" Oomori sneered.
"Ninjutsu," answered the stranger in a voice that disturbed with its lilting, matter-of-fact androgyny, "but you must have figured that out by now."
During this short discussion, the mob of blond ninjas guarding the sea-liner came swarming over the water, hopping from wave to wave like crickets across a field, then leaped to the deck of the Fata Morgana where the armed crew quickly and wisely backed away.
A tense silence followed until --.
"Hey, Senpai!" Mei-lin greeted the taller of the two shinobis from the deck of the bridge-house above, flanked by the three genin in her charge. "Don't kill him or it's my ass."
The ANBU declined to reply for a long time before he (she?) remarked, "It would serve you right for not keeping your dog on a leash."
The kunoichi hung her head and pinched the bridge of her nose. "Alright, alright, Captain Oomori got greedy. We didn't know you guys were on board; what can I say?"
"Well…being that you've delayed our mission," offered the ANBU with a disdainful sniff, "you might start with something that'll convince us not to kill everyone on this ship, including you."
Naruto
As he wandered up the cool and misty coastal road, Naruto Uzumaki looked around in an amazed sort of disapprobation. It had taken three days, changing ships twice while dodging, fighting, threatening or bribing privateers, pirates and patrol crews just to get to the island where Kirigakure no Sato could be found.
The thing that struck the young ninja most was how weird the place seemed. It was more than just the latitude or the landscape; it was the quality of the light…or, really, the lack of it. The perpetually overcast skies and misty air rendered everything into shades of grey like some of the grainy, black-and-white, olde-tyme movies he'd seen. Gone were the genin's Land of Fire sunshine and forests, where beaming sunlight danced with black shadows in a world of vivid color and contrasting depths. Here everything looked drab, dreary…and flat; the very spirit of the place seemed somber. It was hard to judge distances and the fog clung oppressively against the teenager's skin and seeped into his borrowed clothes. Inside of half-an-hour Naruto wished he was home, feeling like even more of an outsider than he still did at times back home.
Just ahead of him, Haku walked in silence. If the gothic change in the environment had affected him, the ninja hadn't said. The blond suspected that Zabuza's former student was still bugged about this mission, along with the genin's own non-negotiable decision to join him. Upon their arrival, Naruto had asked only about a thousand questions about practically everything before it eventually dawned on him that his friend really, really wanted quiet. It was all the leaf-ninja could do to bite his lip and try to oblige him.
Haku, mused Naruto. Even now he still couldn't believe it sometimes.
Having seen so much death and destruction over his short career, including the Sandaime's sacrifice and the invasion of the Leaf Village, Haku's survival was something of a miracle.
The corners of his lips rising in thought, he'd never realized or appreciated just how much the girly ninja had meant to him, how much he'd regretted his death or how much he'd missed not getting the chance to be friends.
Not until I got his letter! Naruto remembered fondly. I almost flipped out!
But the ninja's smile over the happy memory faded in time before the gravity of their current mission and the doom the descendants of Water Country's blood-gifted clans intended for their former village.
He's a good guy, isn't he, said the young shinobi to himself, going through all of this to save the people of a village that tried to kill him.
When he thought about it, Haku had been the first one who'd given him the idea that you could be a good ninja and still have a kind heart; that your way in life didn't have to be what anyone else said it should be. Haku had been the first to accept him for who he was despite his many (and even Naruto had to admit there were many) peculiarities: the way he looked, acted, dressed, the things he tended to say and the way he tended to say them…despite even the horror sealed inside him whose vast powers and sinister, supernatural character The Demon's Apprentice himself had experienced first hand.
Haku had been the first shinobi ever in who Naruto had found anything like a kindred spirit…even if the girlish ninja's master had been a cold-hearted killer.
In the back of Naruto's mind, the ghosts of his past failures lingered – not being able to save old man Hokage; not being able to stop Sasuke.
The yellow-haired boy's bright, blue eyes flickered up toward the slim profile of the young constable in front of him, and his lips pressed together in a thin, hard edge.
But I CAN save HIM, Naruto reaffirmed fiercely. And I WILL…no doubt about that!
The fire of Naruto's usual determination and optimism yielded to acknowledge emotions yet more profound as he thought: As if I'd let him die twice.
Very contrary to his nature Naruto had stayed quiet for quite awhile as he and Haku followed the sea-shore but it was getting to be too much, especially when everything was so grey and sucky. More than that, he had a question he was just DYING to ask and he just couldn't hold off any longer!
"Hey, Haku," the blond ventured brashly, his gravelly tenor cutting through the haunted, mist-laden stillness, "if Kirigakure is THAT way," he jacked his thumb inland, "why are we going THIS way?"
The slender shinobi looked back at the genin, looked again and smirked. "You don't seem like yourself in that outfit. I still can't quite get used to it," observed Haku with a humorous, offhanded air. "You not in orange?" The ANBU-masked, raven-haired teenager shook his head. "It's just not right."
Naruto bridled at being reminded. Still, he found it quite reassuring to know that Haku's silences were thoughtful rather than brooding like SOME people. 'Kirigakure is not a place for bright colors or loud voices,' Haku had said early on in their journey, then given the leaf-ninja a set of his fatigues.
The blond looked down at his grey pant-legs, rolled up in cuffs, then up at the too-long rolled-up sleeves of the ill-fitting jacket. And though he'd thought the ANBU mask was very, VERY cool at first, it hung from his neck behind his head now because the thing was such a pain in the ass to wear. (How does anybody SEE anything?)
"Agh, I look stupid," Naruto grumbled as he kicked up a chunk of the lonely road's pavement of compacted sand, pebbles and seashells that crunched underfoot, "like I'm wearing hand-me-downs or something. How long to do I gotta wear this getup?"
"For as long as we're in Water Country, anyway. Come on."
With that, Haku veered from the path, proceeding upslope to the crest of a hill, then crouched down in the tall grass.
Naruto followed and knelt beside him then looked across a stretch of fog-shrouded delta to where a gloomy, patchwork city rose from the murk and dark waters. Waves lapped walls of ancient stone, stained by centuries of mist and rain. Deep colonnades and arched windows, all witnesses to the place's turbulent history, stared like skulls; their ornate, stone brows crowned by populations of angels and demons.
The leaf-ninja stared in open-mouthed wonder as his sapphire eyes tracked serpentine canals that wove through the city, creating tall, narrow canyons between the buildings. He looked then toward the slender, soaring aqueducts and wide bridges that zigzagged outward, web-like over the waters, connecting the secret city to the larger islands around it.
"So that's it, huh?" muttered Naruto, frozen by the sight. "Wow."
Haku nodded as if to himself. "That's it – Kirigakure no Sato, the Village Hidden in the Mist.
"The usual ways of getting there are by boat," the constable explained as he gestured to the port, which opened into a deep plaza fronted by imposing buildings, "or over those causeways. Either way, no one can enter without enduring a thorough inspection which, with me being a fugitive and you an 'enemy ninja', I presume neither of us would pass."
Naruto gave him a sure grin, the wind rustling through his thicket of yellow hair. "I'll just bet you know another way in."
Haku nodded. "I'm not you," he conceded humbly. "So I'm not so sure I would have come at all if I didn't at least know that."
Chuuya and Inari
"Chuuya, will you quit it!" cried Inari who looked up from the Konoha Ninja Training Manual, "you're driving me crazy!"
The bigger, black-haired boy slowed his random pacing but didn't (or rather couldn't) stop. "But this is so BORING!" the ten-year old lamented dramatically, fixing his partner with a pained look as he gestured contemptuously at the surroundings of Naruto's room: the planked floor covered here and there with threadbare rugs, stray clothes, books, scrolls, ninja weapons and old take-out containers; a wood wainscot above which hung an assortment of Leaf Village posters and advertisements for various brands of ramen. "We've been here like FOREVER. When's Naruto supposed to get back?"
Inari grimaced. "I wish I knew," he answered worriedly. "But you gotta know that he and Haku-sensei will get back as soon as they can. Hey," he suggested unimaginatively, a long-shot attempt to distract his teammate, "why don't you practice some more?"
Chuuya dragged both hands through coal-colored hair then down pudgy cheeks, stretching his young face. "We've BEEN practicing…for THREE DAYS, AND training our stances, AND doing push-ups and sit-ups and squats and forms and breathing exercises and reading all these crazy books and scrolls and stuff on ninjutsu!"
When Chuuya's dark brows beetled, his nose pinched and he sucked in a breath like that, Inari KNEW he was in for a fight. Inwardly, the boy cringed. He wasn't used to this. He was an ONLY child, with his OWN room, and without someone THIS intense and attention-hungry in his face every second of every minute of every day.
"Why can't we just go out and SEE the place, Inari? I mean: we're in the Hidden Leaf Village; the Hidden…Leaf…VILLAGE!" moaned Chuuya, arms waving wildly, "but all we've seen so far is this crappy apartment!"
Inari frowned, trying not to let on that he shared the same sentiments, then sprang up and dragged his partner back when Chuuya tried to open the blinds. "Chuuya, dooooon't! We can't let anyone see us."
"Aw come on! I can't even take a look; not even a LOOK?"
"We can't get caught or Naruto'll get in really, really big trouble," Inari lectured then added plaintively, "and us too."
"But I can't STAND it anymore!" the youngest of the Tezuka brood brayed then begged forcefully: "Just-just-just…just let me go for a walk, just around the block. I'll come right back, I swear!"
"Chuuya, no-oooo. Please, Chuuya," Inari countered in a squeaky voice, trying to soothe his partner: "just wait a little longer, ok, please?"
The bigger boy's pink face congealed with pent-up frustration. "But it's like we're TRAPPED here and there's nothing to DO and the food sucks! I mean, instant ramen and skunky milk! Is that ALL that Naruto-guy eats?"
Inari sank. "I know," he rasped quietly, realizing all too keenly that he didn't have much to work with as far as a good selection of counter-arguments. "I feel the same way. I miss mom and granddad a lot. I miss my home and I hate that we can't even leave the apartment but we GOT to do this. Chuuya," the apprentice's apprentice began again urgently, "we're trying to be ninjas…REAL ninjas! And ninjas train their whole lives to protect people and they got to sacrifice a lot. Just think about Haku and Naruto going all the way to Kirigakure to try and save all those people. They're risking their lives, and all we got to do is watch this place and pretend to be Naruto if anyone comes over. Even though we're just kids, that's the LEAST we should be able to do."
"I --," muttered Chuuya who, taken-aback, stared, sighed then hung his round head guiltily.
Inari allowed himself to relax a little, knowing he'd gotten through. Chuuya knew what was at stake just as much as he did…but that didn't mean either of them had to like it.
"I guess you're right," his teammate relented sadly at last, completely deflated, maybe even ashamed.
"Come on," said Inari more brightly as he shook his partner encouragingly by the shoulders, feeling a little guilty himself now. He'd meant to talk Chuuya down but not THIS far down! "Let's work on that Transformation Jutsu," he offered. "You need to be able to do it too and I need the practice."
"…I guess."
Inari gave a weak smile. It had only been three days. Could they last a week like this? What if Naruto and Haku's mission took longer – two weeks, a month…a …a year?
Sh-t! thought Inari who swallowed hard as a great number of uncomfortable thoughts crossed his mind, like: 'I hadn't figured on being away for a year'; 'Grandpa and mom are gonna KILL me if they find out where I am,' and 'No one in the Hidden Leaf Village is gonna believe that Naruto could be sick for a whole year. Not even the stupidest ninjas in the whole world would believe that.'
Lifting his eyes heavenward, Tazuna's grandson offered a quick prayer and hoped beyond hope that this would all work out somehow, and that Naruto and Haku would hurry back soon…like -- really, really, really, REALLY soon.
Naruto
The two had walked for quite some time, passing weathered farmhouses and fishing shanties where most everyone fled at their approach and not even the dogs dared bark.
"What's all THAT about?" asked a puzzled Naruto to which Haku replied:
"Our uniforms. Generally speaking, people realize that of all the things that can happen when you encounter a mist-ninja, most of them are quite bad. They're right to be afraid."
"I guess you're right," Naruto agreed then snickered. "Hey, you know, speaking of which, YOU were pretty scary back when we got stopped by that patrol ship. 'Ooo, I'm gonna kill everyone on the ship!' You even sounded kinda like Zabuza," the blond piped, "only more girly!"
Haku spared an awkward smile. "Since mist-ninja have a reputation, we might as well use it to our advantage. Plus, we really ought to stay in character.
"As for being scary, I don't know. At least, no one's ever called me that. But being Zabuza's apprentice for eight years, I suppose I must have learned to talk like him when appropriate."
Haku lead Naruto further inland through a patch of dank, low-lying forest to a long-abandoned farmhouse where the two paused for lunch beside a crumbling barn overgrown with tangled vines.
"So what's the plan?" asked Naruto once he'd gulped down the last of his onigiri, fish and rice rolls, in a couple of greedy bites.
The young constable cocked an eyebrow from where he sat primly on the uneven lip of an old, stone well, then teased with fake innocence: "What makes you so sure there is a plan?"
Haku's remark drew a pained, knowing and squinty-eyed look over crossed arms. "Come on, Haku, you got a plan." Naruto sounded sure as he pointed and said: "You're definitely a 'plan' kinda guy."
The taller teenager frowned in thought. "Do you really know me so well already?" he wondered in a philosophical tone then proposed, "Maybe I could stand to be a little more like you, more fluid, more capricious, more, what's the word…" The black-haired ninja leaned back and tumbled backwards down into the well, his last word trailing as he fell, "un-pre-dict-a-ble!"
"HEY" barked Naruto who followed Haku in a flash, vaulting over the stone lip after him. Down the dark shaft the genin plunged until a hand shot out from nowhere, caught him at the wrist and hauled the blond sideways to a hidden ledge.
"Naruto," Haku inquired as they met nose-to-nose in the dim light. "Did you really just jump down a well without even looking first?"
The genin grimaced then rubbed the back of his neck. "Ah, kinda…I guess," he answered sheepishly, definitely getting a vibe from his teammate that he'd messed up. "Maybe?"
Haku blinked, returned a tight smile then shook his head as he rummaged in his pack for a lantern. Once it was lit, the former Demon's Apprentice lead the way through a short underground passage to a wider chamber. At the opposite end lay another opening flanked by columns, the center sections of which were iron instead of stone and covered with strange sigils.
"So what the hell is THIS place?" Naruto inquired as he looked around uncertainly.
Though the room lacked the gothic layers of dust and hanging cobwebs, it didn't need those kinds of trappings to convey its antiquity.
"An escape route," explained Haku, his tone flat. "Some of the original clans had their houses and compounds inside the Mist Village just as others still do. In an abundance of caution, many of them had secret ways of getting out should the need arise."
Naruto's eyes rose with comprehension. "Oh, I get it! So all WE gotta do is follow the tunnel and we're in!" The blonde beamed then snickered cleverly, "Ve-ry sneaky."
"It's a bit more sophisticated than that. This shaft connects to a passage concealed inside the construction of the Shingen Aqueduct, which runs northwest to northeast," the older teenager illumined then went to the two columns. Haku reached out to them and, to Naruto's surprise, set the metal, middle-sections spinning.
"These are 'prayer wheels' inscribed with Dao magic," said the ninja, answering the question on the genin's whisker-marked face as Naruto watched them go around and around. "The characters embossed on them have real power. All it takes to activate their spells is movement. What I hope that means," he turned to look at Naruto, "is that our passage into Kirigakure will not be detected."
The Last Coup de'Etat
Timbers rattled, polished stone cracked, plaster fell from the ceiling, and much of the heavy furniture piled up in haste against the stout portals to the Mizukage's canal-bounded palazzo shook from the impact and went clattering to the floor.
"Steady!" Isazu shouted to the remaining guards then lowered his eyes to the five fellow mist-shinobi seated on the floor in a semi-circle, facing the doorway.
He could see the sweat wash down the ninjas' tense, straining faces as they continued their guttural chants; fingers entwined in seals. Without them, all was lost for only their wu-shing, five-star seal kept the insurgents at bay. The other twenty in the company were all well-trained, armed and ready for whatever would come but there was no way they would be enough.
"Sh-t!" the captain of Lord Oku's praetorian cursed. "Where the f-ck IS everybody!"
Lieutenant Katori looked at him for a moment, as if wondering if her senior officer really wanted to know. "Some of us are in here," she grumbled coolly then tilted her head toward the trembling doors, "some are out there. The rest…are waiting to see how this all turns out."
Isazu fumed, shaking his head furiously. There was no questioning that reality could be an ugly, ugly thing. "F-ck this sh-t!" he spat then gave a contemptuous wave toward the door. "I can't believe it. HIM of all people, one of the Seven Legendary Swordsmen, a traitor! Who'd ever thought he was anything BUT loyal."
"He was, Sir…to the Third Mizukage, anyway."
The Captain shot her a look, his usually stoic demeanor showing cracks. "Where IS the Fourth?" the shinobi asked in a more receptive tone, letting his subordinate's observation, and all it meant, pass.
"Fled," answered the kunoichi who gave a curt gesture toward the mansion's west wing, "after nearly getting his head chopped off."
Isazu's face fell under the realization that the sum of all his doubts had actually come to pass.
The besieged portal hissed then as water, pregnant with angry chakra energies, seeped through its widening cracks and seams, boiling into globular shapes that rolled across the floor, crawled over the walls and floated upward toward the ceilings of the splendid foyer.
The protective glyphs painted over the doors glowed bright.
Suddenly, the building itself groaned and the ceiling, fashioned to look like an underwater paradise teeming with colorful fish and coral, cracked apart, yielding to a dragon's watery, fang-filled maw. The great, translucent serpent spiraled into the floor with a resounding crash, breaking into a torrent of raging waves but, outracing them, was the man – the striding figure of the Demon of the Hidden Mist himself!
In a flash, the heads of the five ninja manning the barrier flew from their bodies, severed by a single swipe of the ninja's massive, zanbato sword which painted the gilded walls with garish, arterial spray. While a dozen of Isazu's company sprang to engage or surround the traitor, Isazu, Katori and those remaining leaped back, their hands flying through ninja seals none of them would ever complete.
Katori writhed as she hit the ground, a senbon having appeared deep in her eye socket as if transported there by magic while Isazu himself stiffened then went slack with two of the long, steel needles sticking from his neck. None of the others had fared any better. Who could have imagined such a basic weapon being used at THAT level of mastery!
Just as quickly, the shinobi sent to engage Zabuza Momochi now lay at his feet, dead and dismembered. It was all but over now.
Haku, it seemed, had a perversity his sensei lacked for the boy had left some of his victims alive to bear witness to their failure – that the last line of the Mizukage's defenders had fallen.
The palazzo doors fell open, admitting the rest of the Swordsman's faithful – a legion of vile traitors, rogues and killers of every description, all gloating and capering around in expectation of imminent victory.
Their master, Zabuza, his grey battle-fatigues spattered with the blood of his former fellow mist-shinobi, took a moment to savor the sight of the carnage then, as if by sheer predatory instinct, shot a look in the very direction the Mizukage had fled.
"Let's go, Haku," the ringleader growled in a chilling, determined voice, "Oku's not far."
As the Demon's Apprentice, Haku, walked past, picking his way through a landscape of staring corpses, twitching, freshly-severed limbs, abandoned weapons, cracked beams and shards of wreckage strewn amidst pools of water and blood, Isazu gurgled.
Though the question, if it was a question, was unintelligible, Haku actually paused to spare him a look through his expressionless, zodiac mask. "It's nothing personal," he tried to explain in a voice sweet with youth, "but my dream is to serve him." Zabuza's disciple paused in a profundity of thought. "What else can I do?"
Chuuya and Inari
"Dang it!" grumbled Chuuya crossly as he went again through the series of hand seals, again without effect. "How come this is so HARD!"
Inari grinned in sympathy. "The Transformation Jutsu takes a balanced, even flow of energy through your 'Light' chakra. Don't try to force it so much. Like Haku-sensei said, it's the opposite of Cannon Fist 'cause that jutsu channels all your energy into your hand then lets it go all at once when you hit something."
He kind of hated sounding like sensei, especially since he had yet to master Cannon Fist which ought to be simple. "But trust me," Tazuna's grandson added, "once you do it right, you'll never forget how."
A loud, rhythmic knock sounded at the door. Both boys looked up: startled at first then fearful. They'd known this was bound happen at some point. Still, they'd been hoping that, somehow, it'd be a while longer.
"Sh-t!" whispered Chuuya in a panic, dark eyes wide as saucers. "Whatdoowedoo?"
Inari put his hands together for the one jutsu he knew.
"Remember," Chuuya cautioned at the last second, "you're supposed to be sick."
Inari nodded gratefully for the reminder as he executed the seals. In a flash he was a weary-looking Naruto in pajamas and sleeping cap. "Ninja, scatter!" he commanded, but Chuuya had already vanished.
"Wow," he said to himself, impressed and surprised that his heavy-set partner could hide so quickly, "nice job."
Flipping the bolt, 'Naruto' opened the door and peeked out at a face that was truly unforgettable, it having round, black eyes, glossy, black, bowl-cut hair and a gleaming 'cool-guy' smile.
"Oh!" said the disguised Inari as the boy recognized him, "uh, hello Mr. Lee."
The green-clad ninja straitened. "Naruto?" he greeted in return then grinned knowingly, "you really must be feeling bad not to call me 'Bushy Brows'."
"Huh?" said 'Naruto', his blue eyes darting worriedly. "Oh – oh yeah, I - I guess so."
"Well I have brought just the thing to reignite your power of youth!"
With a bold gesture, Rock Lee swept from behind his back a big, wicker picnic basket then whisked off the checkered towel that had been covering it. Inside was a thick-walled pot. The smell that issued from it was potent enough to make Inari's eyes water and almost break his jutsu.
"What…what IS that?" Inari dared to ask.
Smiling ear-to-ear, Rock Lee presented it to him as if it were lost scripture. "The Curry of Life!" the tall, emerald leaf-genin cried merrily. "When I told them that you were sick, Karashi and Sansho made this batch up extra-special. It is guaranteed to set you right in no time at all, and will give you the strength you'll need when we spar again – from sunrise to sunset if that is how long it takes to determine the winner!"
'Naruto' looked at the now enraptured and wild-eyed ninja as if he were deranged. "Really," he squeaked pitifully, "that long?"
"I know!" Rock Lee assured him, beside himself with anticipation. "I cannot wait either! Eat up, Naruto, and get some good rest. You'll have to be at your very best the next time because I will not go easy on you!" With that, the lithe, black-haired teenager gave 'Naruto' a gleaming smile and thumbs up then bowed his farewell.
"Um, sure, and uh, thanks a lot, Mr. Bushy Brows," 'Naruto' called after him.
No sooner had a much-relieved Inari shut the door and released his jutsu then Chuuya snatched the pot from him and rushed to the little dining room table.
"Holy crap!" cried Chuuya excitedly. "That green guy brought us some food; REAL food! How awesome is that! When he found us on the road to Konoha I thought he was really weird with those tight clothes and crazy eyebrows and everything, but that guy's the BEST!"
Eager and expectant, the boy took off the lid, letting loose a mini-mushroom cloud of acrid steam that made both boys recoil as it wafted up then dispersed across the ceiling.
Gradually, the two approached the pot and peered in cautiously as if something might jump out.
"Whew, that smell!" Inari offered then looked toward Chuuya. "Is curry supposed to be all bright red like that? My mom's is always brown."
A volcanic bubble popped inscrutably from the brew as if to answer.
"Who cares?" determined Chuuya, thrusting a spoon toward his teammate as he drew one of his own. "As long it's NOT instant ramen."
The two boys took up heaped spoonfuls then, on a count of three, had their first taste of the 'Curry of Life'.
On the streets below Naruto's aerie apartment, puzzled passers-by gazed around at the sound of protracted wailing.
A leaf-ninja patrolling Konoha's walls looked skyward. All the birds had suddenly taken flight and he wondered what might have startled them.
Naruto
Naruto followed Haku for a long way through a winding, stone-lined tunnel then up a ridiculously high spiral stairway. Only after they'd reached a landing that opened onto a corridor that ran straight at a steady, downward slope could the genin really picture where they were – inside a secret passage built right into one of Kirigakure's aqueducts just like Haku had said.
"Remember, Naruto," Haku's cautious voice intoned out of the blue, "it's important that we go unnoticed, so once we're inside don't do or say anything that might draw attention."
"'Kay," Naruto agreed, though his partner's instruction seemed kind of obvious.
A few minutes passed.
"Don't stare or look around too much. If anyone approaches us, let me do the talking."
The blond raised an eyebrow then squinted. "Got it," he answered bluntly.
"Naruto," said Haku again a little later on, "regardless of how this mission goes you must make your own escape a primary consideration."
Feeling a little insulted now, the genin snorted and rolled his eyes. "Hey, I'm a ninja too, y'know. I know the risks."
"Do you?" replied Haku, uncharacteristically curt. "If we are discovered, the worst the Mizukage and his shinobi will do is kill me. But you…I can only imagine what drastic measures they would undertake to get at the power inside you."
Naruto gave out an exasperated gasp. "Haku --."
"Listen to me, Naruto," the teenager interrupted. "The Mist's ANBU and their interrogators are not to be underestimated. I've heard stories of genjutsu used to create worlds of torture, victims being medically altered or used for experiments --."
"Will you just SHUT UP?" the younger ninja barked impassionedly. "Listening to you you'd think we failed already! We BOTH know what we have to do; that's why were here! You can plan all you want to for some stuff but for a mission like this, like for what we're about to do, where we're about to go, it's about MAKING IT HAPPEN!" Naruto raised his fist then swept it back the way they'd came. "If you don't think you can do that then YOU'RE the one who should head back."
Haku stiffened but walked on in silence as the echoes of Naruto's gravelly tenor and racing, angry breaths died away.
"Maybe I am…pessimistic by nature," the constable admitted at last. "And though you have a point, what I really wanted to get across to you, Naruto, is that there are fates worse than death and outcomes worse than failure." Looking over his shoulder at the genin, The Demon's Apprentice insisted: "letting the Mist get a hold of the Kyuubi no Yoko is one of them."
The sloping passage ended in a small, low chamber from which another spiral stairway descended. Following it, Haku lead Naruto down into the ruins of an old mansion and from there out into the grim streets.
Turning to Naruto, Haku opened his arms and said simply: "Welcome to Kirigakure."
