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-Jono
Part 5 – The Wonders of the Deep
With his plan failed and Naruto's fate uncertain, Haku finds himself again a fugitive. Even with aid arriving from an unexpected source, will Haku be able to save the Mist Village from extinction?
They have seen the works of the Lord, and His wonders in the deep.
-Psalm 107:24
Haku
Along the dark waters of the Mamiya River which flowed in serpentine languor along Kirigakure's western flank, the body of the Demon's Apprentice floated with arms outspread, his girlish face haloed in a nimbus of black hair.
Hideo's colossal, jutsu-conjured wall of water had crested then broken over the young ninja, it's crushing waters parting around him for long moments as if unwilling to trouble the teenager until at last they overwhelmed him and whisked him away in a punishing, pounding whirl that took him crashing into bodies, slammed him against the wall of a building six-stories high then washed him back to the canal. Along the way, spinning uncontrollably and gasping for breath in the current's irresistible grip, the constable went rushing past where Krishenay Rahaman stood in an unruly sphere of space kept clear of the raging waters by the power of his monstrous chakra. The giant chuckled victoriously, a sickening, leering grin on his face, as he lifted the lifeless Naruto high like a hunter inspecting his trophy kill. Instinctively Haku had lunged from the water for his friend and felt his fingertips brush the genin's tattered uniform as he went sweeping past.
Haku's unconscious body, wheeling slowly now in the Mamiya's embrace on its way to the sea, unexpectedly righted itself, turned sharply against the current then began to travel purposefully toward shore. Only when Zabuza's student reached the shallows did his chest lift, the teenager's raven-haired head lolling limply back and forth, to reveal the hand that supported and guided him from beneath the waves. A little further in, Hideo's head and the tops of his shoulders broke the surface as the man slogged forward, carrying the Demon's Apprentice as he went.
Water gushed off the bodyguard's ruined clothes and scarred but uninjured flesh as he set foot at last on the rocky shoreline. His unblinking eyes scanned up and down the coast briefly before he marched further inland and vanished into the depths of the sparse forest.
Upon finding a clearing that seemed relatively hospitable, Hideo un-shouldered his soggy burden and leaned Haku against a tree. The constable looked half-drowned, his breath barely perceptible and his wounds, no longer kept sealed by chakra techniques, had split open all the way down to the bone.
With a grimacing frown, the bodyguard pulled out a kunai and drew its honed edge across his palm. He then clenched a fist, held it up and let the clear ichors flowing within him dribble into Haku's open mouth.
In moments the young ninja's eyes snapped open. He gagged immediately, fell to his hands and knees then coughed up a volume of water; his ragged gasps echoed in the forest stillness. Finally, spent and out of breath, Haku wiped his mouth with a sleeve, crawled back to the tree and rested against it. Out of force of habit, he checked on the more serious of his injuries and was surprised to find them sealing up right before his eyes.
"You are…a very deep well, Mr. Hideo," the Demon's Apprentice offered in gratitude, sank back then looked around with increasing agitation. "Naruto," he inquired urgently and shot a look up at the bodyguard. "What happened? Did HE make it? Where is he?"
Hideo shrugged with his typical stoicism, a gesture that hit Haku like a blow.
"Oh…oh, no." The constable's face went even paler then twisted in anguish as he let his head fall into his hands. "No…no. You should have saved him. You should have saved him before me. You should've…" His insistent words disappeared into a spasm of desolate, shuddering tears. "It's my fault," Haku muttered, staring into the forest, his expression drawn and haunted. "I KNEW I shouldn't have let him come; I KNEW it!"
Wiping his wet face with the heel of his hand, The Demon's Apprentice broke into quiet, bitter sobs.
"Naruto," he began again, "after everything he's been though; after everything he achieved and everyone he was able to defeat – demons, monsters and ninjas of every kind." The teenager looked up at the bodyguard. "He beat me too, easily, when we were enemies." Falling silent, Haku's expression condensed as his thoughts plunged into an abyss of miserable sorrow. "All those years he survived," the shinobi intoned, "even triumphed, all that…and he didn't even last a week in my company. He was my friend, despite a thousand reasons why he might not have been. And I failed him. I failed him like I failed Zabuza."
Hideo looked down at the teenager, eyes shifting with appreciation.
"He must be a good friend if you mourn him so much," the bodyguard rasped for the first time; his voice a chilling, sepulchral croak that left no doubt why it was he hadn't spoken before now. "I have to envy you both for that. But if he is strong like you say, then you should wait until you know for sure he's dead.
"After all," he continued, "no one would have expected him to turn into a demon like he did. Can you really say it'd be a surprise for him to still be alive?"
Haku nodded in somber acknowledgment of the bodyguard's point…but hearing wisdom and accepting it were very different things.
Rahaman had him, Zabuza's student remembered, an image he could never forget. Isn't it just stupid wishful thinking to believe that Naruto could still be alive after falling into that…that murdering CREATURE'S hands?
Still, he continued after a moment's pause, his mind resting on the blonde's cheerful smile and indomitable spirit, Naruto's nothing if not unpredictable. If anyone could -.
The quality of the forest's timeless silence seemed to intensify, making Haku alert to the energies approaching through the trees. Whoever they were, there were a lot of them and they were skilled enough in ninja techniques to get close, almost right on top of him, before being detected. The Demon's Apprentice noted too how quickly and expertly the approaching shinobi moved to surround them in near perfect silence.
'Figures, he thought with a tired, cynical sigh.
Still, compared to the drama of being surrounded by hundreds and hundreds of pissed-off ninjas, nearly killed by an ANBU assassination team, all right in the middle of Kirigakure with the Nine-Tailed Fox raging, he really couldn't get too worked up about this.
In a few moments, a full score of mist-ninjas stepped out from the shadows and tangles of foliage and their leader, a squat kunoichi with hair the color of seaweed, approached.
Her eyes swiveled back and forth between the constable and the bodyguard for a moment before she jacked her thumb into her chest and commanded curtly: "Come with us."
Haku's grey eyes narrowed at the ninja's presumption; his cool smile crept into a scowl. And when the teenager snorted, his breath misted white in air that had, in that instant, turned very, very cold.
Team Konohamaru
"I'm TELLING you guys, that kid in the overalls is a NINJA!" Konohamaru's shrill voice crested as his determined, brown-eyed gaze swept back and forth between his two partners atop the gravel-carpeted rooftop.
Udon nodded with languid gravity. "I think he's right, Moegi. The kid left Naruto's apartment in the morning and when he came back he was Sasuke."
Konohamaru quickly added: "And I was in the alley when he changed," the leaf-cadet continued to prosecute, resting his case with: "He used the Transformation Jutsu, and that PROVES it!"
Moegi's doubtful eyes fell as she stirred the gravel absently into patterns like a Zen garden in miniature. "But that boy, I mean, you said he was our age."
"There's LOTS of kids our age and even younger that are really, really strong shinobi," Konohamaru answered, again the professor. "Grandpa told me that Kakashi was a JONIN when he was like only seven."
The redhead frowned as she considered this. "Well what," she began hesitantly, "what happened to Naruto then?"
"That's just it," Konohamaru hissed, tossing one end of his long scarf behind his neck. "Obviously he's been KIDNAPPED!"
Moegi gasped then worried her lip. "Shouldn't we tell somebody?"
"Who'd believe us?" her leader argued. "That kid, if he even IS a kid, was slick enough to get away from Chouji and Shikamaru, and Shikamaru's a chunin! Plus he fooled Sakura so he's CLEARLY high level."
Udon leaned forward, adjusting the set of his round glasses. "You mean like those guys you said were after Naruto?"
The boy in the scarf shut his eyes, nodded gravely and folded his arms.
"Yeah, but," added Moegi, dowsing the discussion's momentum as she turned again to her natural yet reluctant role as contrarian, "changing into Sasuke - that was kinda stupid if this kid's supposed to be such a great ninja."
Konohamaru's expression lit with exasperation. "That just proves it even MORE, Moegi," he countered, waving an arm. "Sasuke didn't leave Konoha that long ago so word couldn't have gotten out yet."
The young kunoichi, though not entirely convinced, caught her leader's drift and gave in. "Alright, well," she fast-forwarded, "what do YOU think we should do, Konohamaru?"
"Glad you asked," answered the ninja-cadet with the cleverest grin. "'Cause I got that part all figured out."
Inari
Another knock at the door.
Sitting, as usual, at Naruto's little dining table, Inari goggled in disbelief while Chuuya tossed his head and made a sour face. Both were used to the drill now and had what they had to do nearly down to a science. Quickly and quietly the boys cleared the dominoes, assorted snacks and dirty dishes from the table then Chuuya went to hide in the cabinet under the sink.
I'm glad Naruto has so many friends and everything, Inari thought and, once again, pressed his hands together in a chakra seal, but MAN I kinda wish he had less!
I guess the good part is that I'm going to be like an EXPERT at the Transformation Jutsu by the time this mission's over with. I really hope it's soon.
Identical in every way to the blond leaf-genin, the Wave Country boy released the latch and opened the door half-expecting Sakura, returning as she'd said she would.
The boy plastered a pleasant, weary smile on his face but then gawked in shock. It was not Sakura.
There in the doorway posed the most magnificent and strikingly beautiful woman he had ever seen, a glorious vision who, in a single, smoldering glance promised the mysteries of heaven, yes, and all the delights of earth: the spellbinding face of a goddess; tall, slender and curvaceous, with cascades of straight, silky black hair flowing over perfect, porcelain skin.
Oh…and naked as the day she was born.
Naruto's blue eyes went wide.
"Um, um, um," the blond babbled incoherently, staggering back zombie-like in his pajamas and nightcap with quivering hands held up as the lovely stranger fixed him with significant, sultry look then swayed hypnotically toward him on soft, bare feet. "Lady, I-I-I really, really think you got the wrong apartment or-or something!"
The angel seemed not to hear as she strolled up to the entranced boy, draped a slender arm around his neck, cocked her head teasingly, smiled and gazed raptly into his sapphire eyes.
Inari never saw the uppercut coming.
Chuuya
The woman's surprise punch thundered up into the ten-year old's jaw, clacking teeth and snapping his head back. With a puff of dispersing chakra, Inari's jutsu broke and he fell back straight as a board to the floor where he landed with a thud.
As the victorious vixen grinned in triumph, fists braced on perfect, flared hips, the doors to the cabinet under the sink flew open and the other black haired-boy shot to his feet.
Gasping at the sight of his lifeless teammate, Chuuya seized a frying pan from the stovetop and flew screaming at Inari's beautiful assailant with a singled chakra-fueled leap. The Wave Country boy's improvised weapon brushed the ceiling then rang out loud as it went crashing like Thor's hammer through the goddess' shocked face.
The nude woman spun from the impact, fell along then wainscoted wall then down to the floor in a heap. Mid-way, with a burst of dispersing chakra, she was no longer a lovely, deadly angel but a strange-looking, gap-toothed boy in a yellow shirt, grey, patched pants and long blue scarf.
Transported by a wild-eyed rage worthy of Valhalla, Chuuya stormed forward, raising his foot to lay down stomps when a blindsided tackle knocked the breath from him. The boy from Wave Country staggered in his assailant's grip as he found himself driven back off-balance with his arms trapped all the way across Naruto's apartment. Unable to stop or even slow himself, the apprentice ninja slammed hard into the far wall.
Grunting on impact, Chuuya caught a glimpse of a bespectacled face rising close to his shoulder at which he flailed his round head and gave the stranger a solid crack to the bridge of the nose. Blood squirted, glasses flew. Chuuya twisted in the other boy's loosened grip, dropped low then hammered his fist back hard, 'splitting the uprights'.
His young attacker's face twisted, a breathless squeal forcing itself through the frozen 'O' of his mouth; the boy's hands dropped limply as he sank.
Chuuya, scowling, raised his frying pan to smash but held the blow back.
*Tick*! The youngest Tezuka brother's head snapped sharply toward the strange sound just inches from his head and the child's dark eyes came to focus on a pointy metal spike that stuck from the window jamb like it'd been there the whole time. Only an instant later did he process that it was a senbon!
Turning back to the door, Chuuya's expression flashed fearfully as the furious red-headed girl who stood there let fly with three more. The kid from Wave Country fell into a crouch and hid as much of his tender anatomy as he could fit behind the scant armor of his frying pan while senbon whistled over his head, nicked his exposed back and pinged off the steel of his tiny shield.
A little shocked, Chuuya peeked out then quickly covered up again as the girl reached up to the twin, 'V'-shaped towers of her orange hair and pulled forth another volley. Sharp steel again rained over the boy, with one again grazing his back while another sank into the meat of his shoulder, making him yelp.
Rising up, his anger rekindled from the pain, Chuuya faced the kunoichi who glared back with more-than-equal venom in her eyes. The girl snarled, balled her fists then rushed him.
Haku's apprentice hadn't been studying tai-jutsu long but knew the set up for the flying side kick that was coming and tried to sidestep but found to his horror and surprise that he couldn't move. With a downward look Chuuya discovered that the boy who'd tackled him, who still lay groaning and incapacitated by that earlier nut-shot, had grabbed his leg and hugged it tight against his chest with both arms.
All the Wave Country boy could do was watch as the red-head took to the air, pivoted her hips, cocked her heel back then sent it rocketing into his chest.
Air burst from Chuuya's lungs as he gasped from the impact which rattled through his bones, making his insides quiver like jelly. The ten-year old had managed to slip the full rib-cracking force and, though shaken, was able to cover up as the girl landed cat-like on her feet then waded in with a fire-storm of punches.
Rolling with the blows, his foot still trapped, Chuuya ducked down and pretended to be hurt much worse than he was. With the level-change an opening came and the boy counter-attacked, slamming his frying pan hard across the fierce girl's shin.
Chuuya wobbled then tumbled back on his butt, thrown off-balance by his wild swing while the red-head shrieked, grabbed at her leg then fell over. The black-haired boy thrashed and strained as he tried to pry his foot out of the other boy's clutches then raised his pan and gave him a hard whack on the top of the head, then again, and again – pang! Pang! Pang! Sitting down like he was, Chuuya couldn't muster much force, but he knew from experience that if he kept at it the kid would eventually let go. Pang-pang-pang!
As the pan rang against the fallen boy's head for the twelfth time, Chuuya was proven right and he clambered to his feet. Once there, it was all he could do to force his lips not to quiver at the sight of his own blood and the senbon sticking in his arm.
After mustering enough nerve the boy took hold of the projectile gingerly, teased it from his flesh then dropped it as if it were a wriggling snake. As much as it hurt, all thoughts of pain were forgotten instantly when his eyes fell again upon his partner's motionless form.
Inari! Chuuya thought, sick with worry, took a step toward him then abruptly stopped.
That other ninja kid, the one with the crazy scarf, was starting to get up.
Chuuya waited as his spiky-haired foe staggered drunkenly to his feet with one hand pressed to the swollen side of his head.
Moaning miserably, the boy looked at Chuuya then his own two fallen teammates then settled back on Chuuya. His young face curdled with wrath.
It's THAT guy! These are those obnoxious kids from before - Konohamaru, Udon and Moegi! Haku's apprentice remembered from the peeks he'd caught through the cabinet doors.
Chuuya returned a malevolent sneer then flexed his frying-pan arm.
Anyone or anything passing between the stare-down at that moment would have been reduced immediately to ashes.
As the long seconds ticked by, one after the other, Chuuya was unable to repress his concern for his teammate no matter how bad he wanted to knock the ninja cadet's gap-toothed face from his body. The boy's eyes kept darting toward Inari just as Konohamaru's flickered towards his friends. Eventually, at a silent and mutually understood signal, a very temporary truce was declared and both of the aspiring ninjas began to move. Chuuya circled slowly towards Inari while Konohamaru crept warily along the living room wall toward Udon and Moegi.
Chuuya, his dark eyes never wavering from the scarf-clad cadet, finally let them fall as he reached his partner then knelt close over him.
"Inari," he whispered with tender urgency as he cradled the unconscious boy's black-haired head and kneaded his shoulder. "Please, Inari, get up. Come on, man, we're in trouble."
Inari
A bubble formed then popped between Inari's lips as he started to stir a little and his eyelids fluttered open. Right above him, filling his vision, his teammate's pudgy, stupid and strangely reassuring face hovered damp with sweat.
"Huh…wha," Inari muttered though his eyes were still unfocussed. Almost immediately the boy grimaced in pain and reached up to nurse his bruised and swollen chin.
"Alright!" Chuuya cheered, carefully and quietly as he looked back at the three goggle-wearing intruders.
The red-headed girl, Moegi, was back up but limping. Udon was still down, being tended to and consoled by their spiky-haired ringleader.
Frowning, Chuuya tried to haul Inari to his feet but his partner was still wobbly.
"What happened?" the skinnier boy asked at last in a shaky voice. "Are-are you bleeding?"
"We're in trouble, Inari. It's those kids, remember?"
Inari sat up and groaned, both hands holding his jaw now, as he looked through bleary eyes at the two boys and the girl then gawked at how battered and beat-up they were.
"Chuuya," he offered in astonishment. "Did…did you do all that?"
"Sure did," Chuuya growled proudly. "And there's a lot more where that came from too! Come on, Inari. You and me, together - we can take 'em."
"Chuuya," Inari cautioned.
Konohamaru, after getting Udon sitting upright, whirled around. Moegi was right beside him.
"ALRIGHT!" the leaf-cadet barked angrily, pointing his finger in hot accusation. "What have you guys done with Naruto?"
Chuuya spat and raised his frying pan. "Like we'd ever tell YOU!" he roared back.
Inari's eyes widened. He turned his head toward then leaned close to his partner, cupped his hand and whispered in a puzzled tone: "What'd you say THAT for?"
"'Cause SCREW THESE GUYS, that's why!"
The boy's brow rose with concern. The heat of his partner's rage was palpable. "Chuuya -."
"NO! This time we do it my way."
"It's not a contest!" Inari argued, still trying to keep his voice hushed. "Come on, Chuuya. What are we gonna do?"
Chuuya glanced at him, breath huffing like a train, his eyes like a tyrant's. "We'll start with mopping the freakin' floor with these losers."
Inari couldn't help but make a face. "And THEN what?"
"What do you mean?"
"It's not like they won't tell anybody," said Inari, who then fought to keep himself from falling over. He felt dizzy. His jaw throbbed and all this arguing wasn't helping it.
"Well," Chuuya stammered. Though Inari's question had flustered him he wasn't about to let that get in the way. "We'll keep 'em here…just…I don't know, tie 'em up or something."
"'Tie 'em up'? What, we're gonna take 'em prisoner too?"
"FINE!" Chuuya spat back. "We'll throw 'em out the window instead!"
"You know that doesn't make any sense. Look, Chuuya, we can't fight here. If we trash Naruto's place Naruto AND Haku-sensei will be really mad." Sensing an opportunity, Inari ventured: "Can I just try talking to them?"
Chuuya hissed in disgust. "Just whose side are you ON? They already knocked you the HELL OUT once, Inari. Did you forget?"
Inari glared at his friend, almost moved to hit him for a comment like that but then saw it in his eyes what had made him so mad. Chuuya cared about him, much more than Inari had ever thought – enough to risk himself for, enough to beat the living hell out of anyone who'd hurt him. The realization left him stunned.
Is this what it's like, the thought crossed Inari's mind, to have a brother?
"Just let me try, Chuuya," Tazuna's grandson pled with greater delicacy. "If I mess it up, or, it doesn't work or something…then we'll do it your way – all in."
"Fine," agreed Chuuya, but his anger was far from gone.
Even more furious at being kept waiting for so long, Konohamaru stamped his foot. "If you're done talking it over, I'll ask you clowns just one more time: WHAT DID YOU DO TO NARUTO!"
Chuuya rose to his enemy's fury, cursed, lowered his brow and took a menacing step forward but Inari intercepted him.
Presenting himself hesitantly with his jaw still throbbing in time with his heartbeat, Inari answered as best he could: "We haven't done anything to Naruto. We're just…we're just watching his place while he's gone."
"LIAR!" shouted Konohamaru who raised his tightly-clenched fists. "Naruto's gone away LOTS of times and never had anyone do that, let alone strangers!"
Inari's expression flashed as he struggled to control his own temper. Gettin' punched in the face and then called a liar too? Maybe Chuuya's right! his thoughts simmered. Nevertheless, sticking with his idea for now, he managed to add in a more or less diplomatic tone: "It's different this time."
"Different HOW?"
"Because no one's -!" Inari cried, stopped himself then gulped, fearing he'd already said more than he'd meant to. But he had to tell them something. "Because no one's supposed to know he's gone."
Konohamaru, clearly not believing any of this, folded his arms. "Oh, yeah?" he taunted, "gone where?"
Inari shook his head. "I can't tell you that."
"No?"
"I swear I can't tell you!" Inari insisted. "He's…well, he's gone to help out a friend. I can say that much."
Konohamaru's brow beetled in near-revulsion.
"Look, my name's Inari," said the black-haired boy who then tilted his head toward his heftier partner, "and this is Chuuya. We're Naruto's friends too and -."
"Oh, like I'm gonna believe a story like -.
"Wait," said Moegi for the first time. "Inari…from the Land of Waves?"
Konohamaru looked at her as if she'd just levitated. "Moegi…you," the boy sputtered, "you KNOW this guy?"
"Inari," she repeated to her leader as if that should be explanation enough. "Wave Country," she continued when the cadet's blank look answered plainly that it was not, "you know: Haku, Zabuza, the bridge-builder. Don't you remember? He's the kid Naruto told us about." The redhead turned toward Inari and blinked. "So you're Tazuna's grandson."
Inari grinned a little at the idea that maybe, just maybe, they were making progress then nodded. "Yeah! That's me!"
Awkward looks followed all around then at the dawning realization that all this ruckus might have been both avoidable and unnecessary.
Still wary and mistrustful, both groups went to Naruto's freezer, cabinets and his stash of medical supplies. After a few minutes all had icepacks banded to the relevant parts of their bodies, all bleeding stopped and all cuts and punctures cleaned and bandaged. When Konohamaru and Moegi, Inari and Chuuya gathered around Naruto's little dining room table, it looked like poker night at the hospital.
Udon, with head tilted back and icepacks against his nose, didn't feel much like moving and remained where he was on the floor.
Chuuya bit his lip, glanced over at the boy and his face sank guiltily. From across the table Moegi gave Chuuya a cold glare, sniffed then folded her arms.
For awhile all just sat in hurt, sullen silence.
"Inari, huh?" mumbled Konohamaru at last, leveling his one open eye at the engineer's grandson. "I sure don't remember Naruto saying anything about you being a ninja."
"I'm not really," he answered sheepishly, "just trying to be, like you guys, I guess."
Konohamaru's eye swiveled harshly toward Chuuya. "And YOU," he snarled, distinctly bitter, "are the dirtiest fighter I've ever seen!"
Chuuya, his temper gone cold as his icepacks, frowned sadly and quietly at the accusation and it was Inari who came to his defense: "Hey, don't even start with that!" the smaller of the two Wave Country boys grumbled pointedly then shivered at the memory. "Using the Sexy Jutsu on me wasn't exactly 'fighting fair' either. I think I'm scarred for life or something!"
"I suppose," the spiky-haired boy conceded but turned again to Chuuya: "where'd you learn to fight like THAT anyway?"
"At home," Chuuya muttered. "We fight all the time – me and my four older brothers…and one equally-mean older sister."
Konohamaru's brow rose then he just spat out a breath and shook his head.
"So, what village are you from and who's you guys' sensei, anyway?" asked Moegi.
"Um…sorry," Inari answered carefully, reluctant to rekindle hostilities, "but we -."
Konohamaru cut him off: "Yeah, yeah, you can't tell us 'cause it's SUCH a big secret."
"Something like that."
"Yeah, I get it. You've been using your Transformation Jutsu to trick people into thinking that Naruto's still here while he's really off saving the world or something."
Inari and Chuuya glanced at each other.
Moegi caught it. "Hey, wait a minute," she interjected. "What are we talking about here? Naruto's not in danger is he?"
Inari frowned. "Kind of. Yeah," the boy admitted. "At least, H – our sensei was really, really worried."
Konohamaru frowned for a moment then broke into an easy smile. "Relax, guys. Naruto's super-tough. He's been on all kinds of dangerous missions and beat up the nastiest bad-guys around!"
Inari brightened a little. "Yeah, you're right about that."
Chuuya, distracted and troubled from the moment they'd sat down, broke away then made his way over to Udon who sat in sullen silence on the floor.
"'You okay?" the Wave Country boy offered hesitantly, resting hands on his knees as he knelt.
The leaf-cadet mumbled affirmatively through his ice-packs but didn't sound that convincing.
Chuuya plopped down beside him. "I'm really sorry about – y'know," he confided awkwardly.
"S'ok," muttered Udon with a shrug. "It's my own fault. I'm supposed to be a ninja. I guess I'm not a very good one."
"Don't say that. I mean, none of my brothers ever got right back up from, y'know, a shot downstairs like that, not even Jimon and he's eighteen." The ten-year old's dark eyes lifted in painful remembrance. "I SURE caught a beat-down afterwards though, even worse than the one I got this one time for biting a chunk out of his leg!"
Udon, still miserable, managed a polite, conversational smile.
"Come on, Udon. There's no such thing as a ninja who NEVER got beat up. We all got to learn somehow. The first time I tried to do ninja stuff, I ended up breaking BOTH hands," said Chuuya, holding up his arms with fingers curled dramatically. "Anyway, my sensei told me that being a ninja's about a lot more than just fighting. A real ninja helps his team; helps his village and the people close to him.
"For me," the boy from Wave Country continued, "I'm really glad you were there to keep me from kicking Konohamaru. And I would have, HARD." He sniffed a breath then lowered his voice: "I was kinda mad after he punched out Inari."
Udon nodded, but more encouragingly this time.
"Seriously, Udon, I am really, really sorry. And, I mean, if there's any way I can make it up just let me know, ok?"
"Ok," the cadet agreed through a promising shadow of a grin.
Smiling with relief, Chuuya pushed himself to his feet and went back to the table where Konohamaru nodded at him with subtle approval, cracked a smile himself then, inexplicably, broke out laughing.
The whole room stared at the boy who pounded the table, almost lost his icepack then pointed a shaking finger at Chuuya. "Y-you," he gasped breathlessly through tears of pain and mirth, "you really hit me in the face with a frying pan!"
"Yeah," admitted Chuuya, another prophet of the obvious, as he rubbed the back of his neck, "I guess I kinda' did."
"You're CRAZY!"
Inari grinned. "Yeah, Chuuya," he accused in a half-serious tone then added: "Next time, use the WOK. It's LOTS heavier!"
Haku
The forest clearing was strewn with twitching bodies, half-frozen and peppered with senbon. Those mist-ninjas that were still mobile limped, crawled or crept away through a blanket of snow towards the shelter of the tree-line and away from the two figures commanding the center of the carnage.
The shinobi leader glared in disbelief at the near decimation of her platoon then hissed vengefully at Haku and Hideo who, for all her and her troupe's efforts, remained un-subdued.
Joined by her lieutenants, the kunoichi was signaling to attack again when a commanding voice broke in: "Stop! Stop this foolishness at once!"
Haku turned toward the sound and his brows lifted as a tall, silver-maned man of advanced old-age strode from the forest; a man the Demon's Apprentice recognized at once.
The newcomer, none other than the Clan Patriarch and Mist Village Councilor, Lord Kissohamaru Hirai surveyed the damaged, winter-shrouded landscape then cast his imperious gaze around at his demoralized subordinates.
"Is the pride of Kirigakure," he began, frowning direly, "really unable to apprehend a child and a reanimated corpse?" After giving his recrimination time to settle in, his cold, aristocratic gaze fell upon the young constable. "Still up to your old tricks, I see."
Haku frowned, adopting a defiant posture. "So it seems."
"And, once again, out of your depth." Hirai sniffed. "But we're wasting time with this pointless reunion. Come along," he commanded, waved his hand then turned to go.
"I'm sorry, Lord Hirai," the Demon's Apprentice called after him, "I see no reason why I should."
The elderly ninja-lord turned back. "Recalcitrant as ever," he remarked then looked to his ninjas. "Did any of you at least get what I'd asked for?"
One of them hastened up to the man, knelt down and handed him something. Haku had to stare hard to see that it was a strand of hair - a long and black one.
The old man produced a paper talisman from his coat, folded the hair up inside it neatly, opened his mouth then swallowed it down.
"Now then, Haku," Lord Hirai reasserted once it had cleared, "come with me. You no longer have a choice."
The Councilor spun around and walked away whereupon Haku's body, divorced from the wishes of his mind, obediently followed – a prisoner of the old man's Tao magic.
"You too," added Hirai to Hideo. "I have questions for you as well. If you fail to answer them or make a nuisance of yourself I can unmake you with a single word."
The Fire-Tongue Fleet
The sea-eagle glided with determined effortlessness through veils of cloud. A few strokes of its muscular blue and grey wings carried the bird higher before it settled into a spiraling descent toward a lonely island moribund under a thick canopy of green.
Dropping down over the lush treetops, the osprey flared its wings wide and landed on a perch inside a camouflaged tower no human eyes would recognize even if they were standing right next to it.
A surprised mist-ninja glanced over the top of his magazine from where he lounged, leaning back in a chair with his feet propped up on the guard-wall. The young man stared at the newcomer, blinked as if it were a hallucination then moved slowly to his feet. With the trepidation of someone who'd never done this before and mindful of its hooked beak, the shinobi crept toward the bird then delicately unfastened the small scroll case from its leg after which he looked around for some food and water to give it. Finding none, the ninja let the messenger have the rest of his own lunch – half a sandwich and tea from his canteen, figuring that was better than letting the thing go hungry.
"Wow," the sentry muttered in grave appreciation as he held up the little cylinder, "a real message."
Frowning with resolve, the ninja raced to the base of the tower then into a vast water-filled bay packed with long, wide-bodied ships. High above, sunlight filtered through a canopy of vine-draped netting held aloft by a web-work of vinyl-jacketed steel cables. Sailors, deckhands and technicians turned to watch as the sentry sped along the docks then turned hard into the command bunker – an unhappy cube of stained, reinforced concrete.
"Boss!" he cried, raising a look from his commander who was otherwise engaged in a game of mahjong with two lieutenants.
The older man ran his fingers along a three-day old growth of beard then gestured for his subordinate to continue.
"We got a message."
The three players looked at him then at each other in mild surprise before one of them rose to take it.
"It's coded," grumbled the senior kunoichi after she'd cracked it open. "Shit…it's gonna take me some time to decrypt, Commander Okun."
"Quick as you can, Aino," the officer instructed lazily.
Hours later, Aino returned with a sheet of paper and a strange look on her face.
Already expecting that something was up, Okun took the translated message and read it, read it again…and then a third time just to be sure there was no misunderstanding.
"A drill?" Aino inquired. "It's gotta be a drill, right?"
Her commander shook his head. "We're sailing at dusk – the whole fleet. Spread the word."
The kunoichi snapped to attention, shaking off in one instant years of rust. "Yes, Sir! We'll be ready."
The commander turned to a long unstudied map of Water Country and began to lay out a course. One thing was for sure – somebody somewhere was about to have a very bad day.
Thanks for reading and all the nice encouragement! It means a lot to me so I sure hope you enjoyed. To ease any doubts, I fully intend to complete this story. Having said that, I'm going through something of a transition now with a new job and everything so updates may be a bit more random.
Take care :) -Jonohex
