Sum of our Parts
Blood red fog
A huge thanks to everyone who has read, reviewed, favorite, or followed
***No Money made, no money earned. ***
"Le gasp!" normal talking
'das fuken?' normal thinking
set-you-on-fire-no-jutsu: Jutsu and other techniques
"I will murder you!" Tailed beast/demonic voice
***SooP***
Never before had Kakashi been so glad to have a backup team. Sure he had always been relieved in the ANBU to have his teammates, and even before that during his time with Minato and his fellow Genin it always felt like the Jonin would be there to protect him.
Now though it wasn't relief he felt towards himself but for his students.
Not only had Zabuza made a full recovery, as they had predicted he would, but he also brought along a substantial amount of help. Apparently Gato was willing to pay quite a large amount of money to continue his control over the area and could easily afford to hire more missing Nin.
Along with his Hunter-Nin ally there were the 'Demon Brothers', a pair of C-Class ninja who worked together for assassinations. Worse still was the older man with the eye patch, a man who both he and Kurenai easily identified as 'Ao', a former member of Kirigakure, like the others.
As he stepped forward with Kurenai he ordered Sasuke and Kiba to take on the fake Hunter-Nin, believing that between the two of them they should have a fighting chance, at least until one of the Jonin could finish their fight. Sakura was told to stay back and lend support as needed. He had hoped to keep her out of the fight. Although the pinkette was intelligent and had excellent Chakra control her combat skills were mediocre at best, Kiba had entrusted her to keep Akamaru out of the fight, and though he trusted his companion he did not have the skill to fight alongside him in combat quite yet.
Kurenai had ordered her team to take down the Demon Brothers, and then aid the other Genin if necessary.
Kakashi himself would take on Zabuza, having already fought the man and thus knew what he was capable of, while the less-melee oriented Kurenai would take on their new opponent.
***SooP***
"Alright Sasuke, let's show this bastard who's boss! I'll take the left and you…"
"I don't need your help Kiba, just stay out of my way."
The Uchiha immediately charged forward, pulling a kunai from his pouch and clashing with the opposing Ninja who had pulled out a senbon to counter.
"Stupid stubborn bastard!" The Inuzuka roared as he charged forward anyway, ignoring the glare from his companion as he tried to flank their opponent with an unarmed strike.
Leaping back the masked Shinobi put some distance between the two before throwing a handful of senbon towards the feral looking boy, who just managed to dodge out of the way before his opponent appeared to his side and delivered a powerful kick, sending the boy flying backwards.
Sasuke had taken this distraction to move behind and try a finish blow, only to find his weapon blocked again by his enemy.
"You are in a hopeless situation, Zabuza knows how to counter your Sensei's greatest advantage now and you are hopelessly outmatched. Even with your reinforcements you have no hope of victory. Please surrender and your lives will be spared."
"Yeah and how do you figure that huh? After I am done beating you I will show you just how powerful an Uchiha can be!"
"Foolish boy, your dominant hand is already trapped by mine, which means you cannot use your Jutsu, and now…" To the Genin's surprise his adversary began going through a series of hand signs, with only one hand.
'I've heard it was possible, Itachi once said he could do Jutsu with only one hand. But to face an opponent so young who is capable of such a feat...' Sasuke was pulled out of his thoughts as Haku finished his motion, and stomped the ground, causing the water around them to rise up and form ice needles.
"A Thousand Needles of Death"
Sasuke immediately focused his Chakra into his feet, and managed to jump high enough to avoid the onslaught, watching as Haku was forced to dodge backwards to escape the blow as well, only to continue dodging as Sasuke threw a barrage of shuriken at his opponent.
Coming to a halt the masked boy wasn't fast enough to dodge the haymaker that Kiba launched, knocking him to the ground several feet away.
"Told you it would be easier if we worked together, stupid stuck up prick." Kiba muttered in annoyance as Sasuke walked up next to him, glaring out of the corner of his eye at the interruption of his match.
"You two should give up now, it is quite obvious that neither of you are up to my speed, and even if you were… that is about to come to an end."
Suddenly the area surrounding them became icy cold and the two boys let out a shiver while their opponent stood and went through a series of hand signs.
Just as he finished the air around them seemed to freeze, as large sheets of ice formed in a dome around them.
"Crystal Ice Mirrors"
The two boys could only watch on in shock as they were surrounded, and their enemy stepped into one of the nearby sheets of ice, appearing to fuse into the mirror itself, before his reflection appeared on the others as well.
"I am sorry, but now you have no choice but to perish here, in this dome of ice."
***SooP***
Kurenai slowly circled her opponent, looking for a sign of what he was capable of. She knew from Bingo Book entries that he had been a former Hunter-Nin and specialized in sensing. Cursing she realized that she had let Kakashi choose their opponents based on his need to prove he was better than Zabuza, rather than the more preferable and tactical face offs.
Knowing how powerful their opponents were the Jonin decided that she didn't have the time to waste on a long drawn out battle, especially if she would be aiding Kakashi against Zabuza.
As she passed into the man's blind spot she subtly activated one of her Genjutsu, making a sphere of Chakra appear around him and creating the illusion that she was still harmlessly circling, instead she moved directly behind him and charged forward, hoping to stab the man and quickly end the battle.
Instead he spun around at the last minute, locking blades with her with a smirk.
"So the reports are true, you are a Genjutsu specialist after all? I will need to be extra cautious in this battle but I would imagine that my skill as a Hunter-Nin will prove enough experience that I can overcome you. Men are physically stronger after all and so in a Taijutsu or weapon contest I will have the distinct advantage."
Growling in annoyance Kurenai ducked down, performing a leg sweep to knock the man off balance, instead he back flipped away before going through a few hand signs and launching a wave of water from his mouth at his opponent.
"Water Style: Raging Waves"
Kurenai managed to dodge the pressurized blast before launching several kunai in retaliation.
Ao dodged them with a smirk, not noticing that the last one had an explosive tag which detonated before he could fully move from the area, resulting in a burned shoulder.
"Not bad, I must say I wasn't expecting much from a Kunoichi, especially one from Konoha. It seems as though your village has been earning some rather disappointing rumors about your generation of Shinobi."
"I intend to rectify that mistake. Once we defeat your group it will remind the world that Konoha is a village to be feared."
"Ah but how will you do that when you cannot see your opponent…" Ao called out, as he slowly walked back into the mist surrounding them.
Again Kurenai inwardly swore. They had allowed themselves to walk into a situation that heavily favored their enemies, most likely in part due to Kakashi wanting to have his fabled rematch that he had been mentioning for the past week.
A second later the Kunoichi became aware of a sound from behind as a torrent of water came barreling out of the mist. She quickly dodged, before moving towards its source and relocating her target. As she drew another kunai the two Ninja again came to a clash, only this time Kurenai did not make the same mistake as before, after the initial parry she disengaged and proceeded to launch a fly of strikes, hoping to overwhelm the man with sheer speed.
She had gathered that although he was physically stronger than her, she outclassed him in terms of raw speed.
The Jonin could only hope that the others were doing better than she was.
***SooP***
"I must say I am impressed Kakashi, your two brats put up a better fight than I would have thought they were capable of against Haku."
"You shouldn't underestimate these Ninja Zabuza, Sasuke is the best young fighter from our village and is hailed as a prodigy, Kiba is no slouch in Taijutsu either, and Sakura is our brightest mind."
"It won't matter though, Haku is faster than all of them and with his secret technique he's unstoppable. Plus I have seen into their eyes Kakashi, they are weak, mere children pretending to be Ninja in a world of killers. Have they even made their first kills yet?" Upon seeing his opponent's eyes narrow in annoyance the missing Nin merely chuckled. "I thought not, Haku knows how to kill and will do so, while I bet none of the Genin on your team could do so without passing out immediately afterwards, pathetic."
"You would be surprised at what our Genin are capable of Zabuza."
"The only ones here that will be surprised are you and your little girlfriend. I can just imagine the shocked looks on your faces when Haku brings the bodies of your two little students with him from the mist. Her team won't fare any better. Three Genin against two C-Class missing Nin, please they are already dead. They didn't earn the name 'The Demon Brothers' for being pushovers after all."
Again Kakashi sent out a glare before charging forward, dodging the horizontal sweep from his opponent he spun around, a kunai already in his hand, and stabbed towards the man's neck.
He was parried at the last second apparently Zabuza hadn't lost any speed since their last encounter, and kicked backwards.
Landing a few feet back Kakashi went through a blur of hand motion before launching a blast of water from his mouth.
"Water Style: Water Bomb Jutsu"
Zabuza had been ready though, and launched his own Jutsu to counter it, laughing as he did so.
"Water Style: Exploding Water Shock Wave"
At the two attack collided Zabuza's grew stronger upon absorbing his opponent's and surged forward with even greater strength, forcing the cyclopean Jonin to jump high in the air to dodge the assault.
'This is going nowhere fast, from the fluctuations in Chakra it seems like the boys aren't doing so well anymore, the girls are also struggling, and Kurenai is locked in combat with her own opponent. I need to finish this up so that we can help the Genin. I will not lose a student here!'
With his newfound resolve Kakashi decided that the only way to end this battle in a timely manner was to activate his trump card. So once more he lifted up his headband and became 'Kakashi of the Sharingan'.
***SooP***
Meanwhile Natsuko, Hinata, and Akane were busy locked in a lethal battle with the two Demon Brothers.
The two Chunin had made up for their numerical disadvantage with superior individual skill. Strangely enough the teamwork of the opposing teams had roughly evened the two groups out.
The two men had tried for an early victory by charging forward with the chain connecting them, hoping to catch at least one of the younger Genin off guard.
The Hyuga and redhead had dodged to either side, but the blonde had been caught, and then poofed out of existence.
'A clone? But it felt solid, how?' The two Shinobi stared shocked, just as the blonde launched a kunai from up above, having leapt up into the air.
The weapon impacted the chain, bolting it to the ground and forcing the two men to release the chain as the two remaining Kunoichi flanked the men at the same moment, each launching a barrage of Taijutsu blows to try and disable the two men.
Unfortunately the two older men quickly regained their balance and were able to fend the two women off, with Hinata receiving a kick to the stomach and Akane was punched in the stomach after dodging a blow from the clawed gauntlet.
Just as Natsuko landed she was the target of a wave of water launched by Gozu. Luckily she was pushed out of the way by her sister, who received a glancing blow from the spray and was thrown backwards into the nearby bridge guard.
"Akane!" Surprisingly it was Natsuko who screamed out to her, for the first time in years feeling fear for her sister.
She then went through a blur of hand signs and fired a barrage of dirt spikes at the two men, forcing them to dodge out of the way.
"Earth Style: Falling Earth Spears"
Meizu however was unable to do so, his legs stuck to the ground with vines that had ripped their way out of the bridge. Since he could not dodge the Chunin had to block the attack, which severely dented his weapon and caused him to abandon it to retain hand movement.
"How in the hell did she do that vine trick, I've never heard of…" The Demon Brother muttered out before glancing in the direction of the girl's Sensei. "Genjutsu, damn bitch…"
Before he could warn his brother about the danger he had to shout out a warning about the injured Kunoichi who had snuck up on the man's blind spot.
"Gozu behind you!"
The man immediately dodged sideways, narrowly avoiding the Kenjutsu slash from Akane, but walking right into a series of Juken strikes from Hinata, who had cloaked herself with another Genjutsu.
Again Meizu charged forward, knocking the redhead back and creating a wall of water to separate Hinata from his brother, when a gust of wind hit the two from behind, throwing them off their feet and preventing any further follow up attacks.
"Wind Style: Great Breakthrough"
Growling in annoyance the two men recovered and put a bit of distance between the three Genin.
"This is not how it was supposed to go brother, we need to remove one of them and then separate the other two."
"I agree the redhead is already injured, it should not take much to remove her permanently from this fight and from there the other two will be sitting ducks. The one is a Hyuga though, and wields Genjutsu so we must be careful."
The two Shinobi began a combination of hand signs together, and summoned a massive wave of water, launching it towards the three wide eyed Genin.
"Natsuko make the strongest barrier you can to give us time, then dodge backwards, we need to give it time to dissipate!" Hinata commanded, immediately seeing the Chakra flow due to her Byakugan.
The blonde immediately obeyed, creating a powerful earth wall in front of them while Hinata grabbed ahold of the still injured Akane to help her escape from the attack.
"Earth Style: Mud Wall"
Just as they dodged back the wave slammed into the wall, cracking it and eventually causing it to cave under the pressure.
Luckily the defensive structure held long enough for the three Genin to escape the blast.
Then Gozu appeared behind Akane and Hinata, thrusting forward with his gauntlet towards Akane, but with the Byakugan still active Hinata was able to move his intended target out of the way and instead the Hyuga was stabbed in the shoulder with his poison tipped claws, causing her to cry out in pain. Luckily Akane's reaction was fast enough and she thrust down with her katana, impaling the man directly through his gauntlet and hand in the process.
Natsuko had been forced away from her two allies by the other brother when she saw the attack. Immediately after she activated her favorite Jutsu, creating a massive group of clones which descended onto her opponent while she went through a different series of hand signs without thinking. A second later several massive earth and stone spikes shot up from the ground, impaling the man who had injured her teammate, and taking his life.
"Earth Style: Stone Column Spears"
"Brother! I'll kill carve you up you damn…"
Before he could finish three kunai impacted his back, followed by another two into his ankles, effectively stopping his advance and leaving him to bleed out on the ground.
***SooP***
Kiba had never been in this much pain before everything hurt, including things he wasn't even aware could hurt. He and Sasuke had been covered in senbon.
The only saving grace had just occurred, with his teammate awakening his stupid Sharingan finally. Though it had helped to prevent further damage it hadn't allowed for any type of offensive and the damage had already been done to the two boys.
Now they were just waiting for the end, nearly huddled together as the supported each other while Sasuke attempted to hold off any further impacts while trying to figure out any kind of counter attack.
Just as another hail of needles came flying at them a shadow enveloped their sight as a dome of earth and rock surrounded them, completely repelling and stopping the attack.
"Earth Style: Rock Shelter"
"Wha-what is that what happened?" The Inuzuka questioned, but received only a surprised gaze from his partner
"KIBA STAY INSIDE THE DOME."
He recognized the voice of the ever excitable and joyful blonde Uzumaki, though it was surprisingly tense for her.
"Natsuko?" he muttered out, trying to push himself up to a sitting position and called out a bit louder.
"YOU ARE SAFE INSIDE STAY THERE"
Just like she said Kiba heard the faint pings of Senbon against the structure, almost sounding like rain drops against a tiled roof as they bounced off.
Finally the boy managed to prop himself up against one of the sides, before starting the slow, and painful, task of pulling needles out of his joints. As he did so he glanced up at the other occupant of the rock structure, Sasuke.
The boy was fuming, for what reason the Inuzuka would never know who would be angry at having their life saved?
"Sasuke chill out and sit down, it's a waiting game now, and apparently he can't get to us so it's only a matter of who runs out of Chakra first. If he does we smash his face in, if Natsuko does then we are back to square one."
The Uchiha merely growled back, before examining the structure that now enclosed them.
***SooP***
'High swing, meant for decapitation, duck low and counter with punch to stomach.'
As Kakashi proceeded with his plan to gain an advantage in the stalemate he was seriously considering some training after they returned to Konoha, maybe get his team into some D-Rank missions for a few weeks while he worked on building up more stamina.
What was even worse was that he had made such a grave tactical mistake at the start of the fight, splitting up the Genin in the way he did while insisting on taking on Zabuza alone. He should have switched with Kurenai. Zabuza wouldn't have had as much experience against her and Ao seemed to be more of a sensor type than a direct combat Ninja, something that the Jonin could have exploited.
Zabuza managed to jump backwards just in time to avoid the attack before turning slightly and looking off into the mist, if the Hatake could have seen the man's face he swore that it would have been in the form of a sickening grin.
"It looks like your student is too prideful for his own good."
"What are you talking about now Zabuza?"
With a slight gesture Zabuza parted some of the mist, allowing the Sharingan wielding Jonin to glance over to where he directed, to see a sight that froze his blood.
Sasuke had somehow managed to break out of a protective earth dome and was currently riddled with senbon, and facing down the masked Hunter-Nin alone.
***SooP***
Akane looked up as she saw the mist beginning to dissipate, and witnessed the Uchiha making another stupid mistake.
Sasuke had charged out to confront his opponent, who had luckily dropped the mirror Jutsu after realizing that it was merely burning Chakra.
Now the young prodigy was injured, alone, and facing off against a superior opponent.
With a quick flash of his hands the boy fell down to his knees, senbon sticking out of his joints and forcing him to fall.
With her enhanced hearing she could just make out their conversation.
"That was foolish of you, even with your Sharingan you are too injured to continue fighting. You were safe in that earth Jutsu why did you decide to leave it?"
"Screw you! An Uchiha does not run and cower, the only thing that can defeat a Uchiha is another Uchiha!" the injured boy loudly shouted back, yelling being the only thing he could accomplish at this point.
"If you are so confident that those eyes of yours will save you, then allow me to bring some humility into your life, and remove them."
With that the boy pulled out a pair of kunai, and began moving towards the helpless Ninja.
She saw Kakashi glance around hastily, trying to find a way to save the boy. But he was locked in combat, and attempting to exit it would undoubtedly free Zabuza to kill whomever he wanted.
Kurenai was in the same situation.
Hinata had been poisoned and was currently instructing Natsuko on how to administer anti-toxins.
Sakura was being useless.
Then his gaze fell on her, their eyes met and she could practically feel the pleading in them. She knew what he was asking her to do, begging her to do.
For a split second her eyes narrowed in hatred towards him, giving him something to muse over after the battle before she growled and picked herself off the ground. Pushing herself forward towards the two battling warriors, she set her mind to the task at hand, ignoring the bruised ribs she bore from her own fight.
***SooP***
He was going to end this threat to Zabuza-Sama, he would be the man's tool as always before. Those damnable eyes are what were causing him so much trouble with his current opponent, so why allow this boy to grow up and eventually seek revenge?
No it would end here.
Maybe he wouldn't kill the boy, maybe he could just destroy his eyes and that would lead him to retire from the Shinobi business, after all he certainly wasn't suited for it. Not with his personality.
Haku hadn't noticed the young redhead moving full speed to intervene his vision had been tunneled onto his opponent just in case the Uchiha managed to throw out a last minute Jutsu.
As he thrust forward with the two Kunai, aiming low for the boy's face, he suddenly found his view obstructed by another person. His two weapons plunged into the girl's stomach, earning a gasp of pain.
His eyes, though hidden behind the mask, widened in shock as he looked at the face of the girl he had met the other day, her eyes boring back into his with intensity he had witnessed few times before in his young life.
"Wha…"
The words wouldn't form, why had she sacrificed herself for this boy? Surely he had never shown her kindness before, not this boy who cared only for himself and his own gains. Why would she protect him at the cost of herself?
Suddenly his extended arm was grabbed by the girl that now stood in front of her, looking up his eyes widened when she saw her slight grin.
"Gotcha, let's see your speed help you now."
A knee was smashed into the Hyoton user's stomach, it felt like being hit with a tree trunk instead of a girl's leg.
Gasping out the boy instinctively tried to pull his arm free, only to find the grip tightened to the point where he was sure it would leave bruises, assuming he survived to check.
Her free hand came down in a fist, slamming into his face, cracking the mask in the process, just before delivering an elbow strike to his chest in quick succession.
It was during these blows he had attempted to counterattack only to find his strikes pushed aside. At one point he tried to form hand signs, only to have her twist her torso, breaking at least one bone in his captured arm in response.
That was when Haku realized what had happened.
Overwhelming speed was only an advantage if you could dodge away from your opponent.
Superior agility could only be utilized with freedom of movement.
His Jutsu required him to be able to move, either into a mirror or away from any backlash that might be caused.
She had effectively denied him all of his advantages while emphasizing hers, raw strength and stamina.
He had failed.
A quick kick to the boy's knee snapped it and bent him over in pain, which was when an arm was quickly wrapped around his neck.
A cracking sound filled the air.
***SooP***
Emotions previously suppressed worked their way through Zabuza's body as he watched the young boy, who he had secretly thought of as a son more than an apprentice, fall to the ground dead.
Letting out a roar of pure rage he charged forward, ignoring everything else with vengeance being the only thing he could see.
That was why he never heard, or perhaps his brain filtered out, the sound of a thousand birds chirping in behind him.
The last thing he would feel is the white hot energy tearing through his chest from behind.
***SooP***
After Haku and Zabuza's death Ao had covered the area in smoke bombs and retreated from the battle, not being foolish enough to try and take down two experienced Jonin.
It was then that Gato had emerged with a large grouping of bandits, intending on backstabbing Zabuza and completing the task himself.
Fortunately he hadn't been counting on the entire town rallying together and trapping the bandits between two Jonin, and their own overwhelming numbers.
Gato and many of his men were killed in the ensuing battle.
***SooP***
In the days following the Ninja from Konoha continued to rest and recover from their ordeals while the town went through some healing of its own.
Gato's resources had been discovered and distributed allowing for Wave to continue its road to recovery.
The bridge had been named after Inari's adoptive father Kaiza in memory of his courage and sacrifice.
Soon the two teams set off to return to their home. The two Jonin stood in the middle while team seven took point and team eight came up from behind.
Sasuke was busy brooding over his interrupted match and perceived failure, but had been happy with his activation of the Sharingan.
Kiba was training with Akamaru as they walked, determined to be of more help during any future confrontations.
Sakura was staring at Sasuke dreamily.
The two Jonin stayed mostly silent, observing the Genin and figuring out future training plans as well as the upcoming Chunin exams.
Natsuko had been able to cope with the lives she had taken with a bit of help and was back to her bright and cheerful self. She was busy talking to her two teammates.
Hinata had healed from the injury and poisoning and had gained even more confidence after being able to protect her friends in combat.
Akane's mental state had completely recovered and though she was still as quiet as ever, she no longer avoided eye contact or conversations as before.
Before long the walls of Konoha were in view, and the various Ninja looked forward to returning to some peace and quiet of their own village.
***SooP***
Hiruzen Sarutobi sat behind his lovely Mahogany desk in contemplation as he listened to Kakashi and Kurenai's reports on the missions.
The continuing escalation of the Wave mission was starting to become tedious, at the end they had decided on it being classified as A-Rank.
What was more disturbing though was the number of lives that Kurenai's team had taken during their two missions, and the young redhead's reaction to doing so.
"Hokage-Sama, with all due respect Kakashi-San and I have agreed that we need to inform the Uzumaki sisters about their… burden. We were lucky in that they hadn't tapped into their tenant's Chakra on the missions but if they had…."
"Plus the fact that Kurenai-San has a Hyuga on her team as well, we won't be able to hide that type of thing from her and it would be better to inform her before anything happens rather than after the fact."
"I agree with you both, we will inform them tomorrow after they have been given a day to rest."
"One more question Hokage-Sama, but I feel it should be asked in private." The Hokage nodded before signaling the ANBU to clear the room and gesturing the Jonin to continue. "How many people know about their lineage?"
The Third Hokage glanced over at the Kunoichi, who seemed rather peeved, before letting out a deep sigh.
"Everyone in this room is aware along with Anko, Jiraiya, and Tsunade."
"Wait since when does Anko know?" The Cyclopean Shinobi inquired.
"She was with me when I found out Kakashi-San, how the hell do you know?"
"Minato was my sensei. I was informed of the girl's birth following the attack."
"When are we going to tell them about that? You both know how important the information about their family is to them…"
"We cannot risk it, not yet. I understand that they are both mature enough to know but if the information were to get out… we could risk another Shinobi War."
Kurenai nodded at her leader's reasoning and turned to leave with Kakashi after they were excused.
"You do know that if they somehow find out on their own that they will never trust anyone from this village again correct?"
She let the question go unanswered as she left, leaving the two men to ponder her statement in silence.
***SooP***
The following morning both Uzumaki sisters were summoned to the Hokage's office by their Sensei.
"Hey Jiji!" The happy blonde squealed as she ran to hug the older man.
"Hokage-Dono" Her sister merely bowed her head as a sign of respect.
"I have brought them as ordered Hokage-Sama."
"Ah thank you Kurenai, if you three would please have a seat we are merely waiting on a few more people before we begin."
Over the next few minutes Gai, Asuma, and Anko all arrived, and everyone sat down to await their final member.
A few minutes passed as the Natsuko happily hummed a tune to herself.
A few minutes turned into an hour as Kurenai realized who they were waiting on, and growled in annoyance.
"Can he be on time to anything!?"
Even the Hokage was becoming annoyed at this point. This wasn't some miscellaneous errand but a very important subject that the man had asked to be present for he could have at least had the decency to be early for it.
An hour following, and after several rather interesting suggestions on how to summon the cyclopean Jonin, Kakashi arrived in a puff of smoke.
"Yo, sorry I'm late. An old woman was walking across the street so I had to take the long way around to avoid the bad luck that I might have found on the road of life."
The assembled Ninja just stared for a moment, as the hidden ANBU resisted the urge to face palm.
"Kakashi this was something you insisted on being present for, next time I would appreciate you at least being on time." The eldest man stated, glaring at the silver haired man in question.
"Of course Hokage-Sama."
"So Jiji what are we here for? Don't tell me we are in trouble again."
"Of course not Natsuko-Chan you are here because we need to discuss a rather serious topic with the two of you."
The few Jonin who had not been told already looked at each other nervously, wondering if the Hokage was going to reveal what they already believed he would.
"You two have probably read about the Kyuubi's attack fourteen years ago correct?"
The two nods confirmed this and the Hokage continued on, taking a deep breath to help him relax.
"Contrary to what you were taught the Fourth Hokage could not kill the creature, instead he had to seal it. With the technique he used it did indeed cost him his life but it also required two newborn's for vessels of the creature. I am sorry but he was forced to choose both of you for its containers. Each of you has half of the Nine Tailed Fox sealed inside of you."
There were many reactions that Sarutobi and the other Ninja expected from the two young girls. Anger, frustration, depression, and denial were just a few of them. What they hadn't been expecting though was the almost bored look from Akane and the happy giggle from Natsuko.
"What about it Jiji?"
The silence from the Shinobi and Kunoichi would have made the ANBU jealous.
"Y-you knew?" It was Kakashi who first stumbled out a response, having dropped his orange book in shock.
"Of course we did… we were contacted by it years ago." The redhead clarified, again looking somewhat bored at being told this again.
"Why didn't you ever tell anyone? It could be manipulating you!"
Again Akane stared back at the village leader before giving an answer that hurt more than a kunai to the chest.
"Who were we supposed to trust? So far everyone has let us down in one way or another. As far as we knew it was the reason we have been treated the way we were. So either you were unaware, in which case telling you might make more enemies, or you knew the entire time and didn't feel it important enough to tell us about. Since that is the case then it obviously wasn't important enough to tell you that we knew as well."
"Plus Kyuubi-chan is like super nice so it's no big deal."
"K-Kyuubi-chan?" Asuma echoed, unsure of how to take the idea of a fourteen year old girl calling one of the most powerful beings in existence 'chan'.
"Sure what else would I call her?"
"Natsuko the Kyuubi is very dangerous and manipulative you must be very careful around it. Undoubtedly it wants its freedom so that it can…"
"Nah Kyuubi-chan already told me that if I let her out I would die so she's happy with where she is."
Again the Sandaime thought he was having a heart attack at this information.
"Akane what do you think of…"
"That monster can burn in hell."
Kurenai stared at her student, who had gained a fire of rage in her eyes worthy of any Jonin.
"Okay… well we will be having team training today around eleven so meet at the usual training ground, and I would like you two to consider telling Hinata about your 'burden'."
The two sisters nodded before departing the now silent room.
As Anko and Kurenai stood up to leave the Jonin Sensei called out one more time.
"They have held this secret for this long with none of us being aware, and the reason we are not telling them the other part is…" at that the two Kunoichi left, earning some suspicious glances from Asuma and Gai.
***A/N***
So as per suggestions I am trying to balance the screen time of Natsuko and Akane a bit more, hope I did better this chapter at least.
I know a lot of people are probably going to be upset that I stuck with canon Haku, him being a boy, and then killed him. But he died in the manga as well. The Demon Brothers were upgraded in this version because they were supposed to be fairly decent originally as according to their stats they completed an A-Rank mission. Also I wanted to ensure that the characters weren't become too overpowered, Akane only beat Haku due to removing his speed, otherwise she wouldn't have won.
Next chapter will be some more team interactions and the mentioning of Chunin exams.
Pairings are still up for debate PM or comment with any suggestions!
As always I hope you all enjoyed reading as much as I enjoyed writing.
