Once again team seven raced through the trees on their journey to the town of Asahi, each of them letting their minds wander on different things.
Sasuke was conflicted, from what he had read it was possible that the villain wasn't Itachi but the family that was taken from him, if that was the case then why didn't he pass on that information to the Hokage? Or was it even his decision to commit the atrocity in the first place? If so then why did he leave the village? Why did he have to live as a criminal? Why did he spare him? There were so many questions that his father's journal had raised and for the first time in his life he didn't know what to do.
He glanced at his teammates, both of them seemed preoccupied with their own thoughts, he didn't know what they were thinking about however at this point in time he didn't really care. Even if they weren't lost in their own thoughts he wouldn't have told them what he had found, he had already decided that he would speak with the Hokage to make sure he learned the full extent of what his father had written and hopefully, find a way to determine his brothers motive for leaving him alive after killing everyone else.
Sakura felt nervous, despite the entire month of training she was going to be entering a genuine battlefield soon. Her mind quickly reminded her that it wasn't going to be like the academy, in the academy all fighting was one on one spars with set rules and restrictions, here however she would be significantly outnumbered and there would be no rules to the fighting, she would have to focus on everything that was happening, she just hoped she could pull it off and not hold her team back like she feared she would.
Naruto couldn't help but wonder, would he freeze up after his first kill? Or would his adrenaline keep him going until the end? What would a full out battle against multiple enemies be like? There were so many questions flying through his head as he jumped from branch to branch, his mind eventually shifting to the subject of his power. Hōgyoku had been working tirelessly and he already possessed several kekkei genkai including the three main doujutsu… though activating one meant activating them all, which in turn drained his considerable chakra supply at a surprising rate.
Outside of the doujutsu he also possessed several nature release kekkei genkai, though he only possessed the nature manipulation for the jutsu, which meant he was forced to try and combine them with shape manipulation which proved harder than he had first anticipated since several of the 'elements' displayed an immense resilience to being controlled like that.
Despite knowing he still had so much to learn his mind couldn't help but wonder about what sort of power he would possess once all his barriers were broken and his true potential was released. Hōgyoku had told him that he would be strong enough to defeat Izanagi, but just how strong was that? Was the god actually as powerful as he imagined? Or were the Kami weaker than he thought they would be? In the end his curiosity got the better of him as he finally asked the question that had started to plague him.
"Yoku-chan, how powerful are the Kami?" he couldn't see it but his question had earned looks of shock off both the beings contained within his mind, they were both aware of the danger involved when facing a god.
"It is not their raw power that you must beware of when fighting a Kami, it is their state of existence," the orb replied, causing confusion to course through the boys veins as he tried to understand what the older being was trying to tell him.
"What she means is that only a Kami can hurt a Kami, no matter how strong or weak either is," came the simpler explanation from Kyūbi as she remembered her encounter with the shinigami and how she had been rendered powerless against the being as it ripped her soul apart.
"Wait, you told me I would be strong enough to defeat Izanagi, does that mean that I will actually BE a kami?" he asked upon processing the foxes words.
"That is correct, however there is a problem you should be aware of when fighting a Kami,"immediately the boy began to feel nervous, he had no intention of fighting a Kami however from what he recalled of his first meeting with the orb, they didn't exactly like her and he might end up in conflict with them depending on whether or not they would accept him because of his association with her.
"What is this problem?" he thought back, wondering exactly what sort of complication would occur if he did get into a fight with a god.
"The Kami are necessary, let's say, you killed Amaterasu… the sun would disappear and the world would be plunged into eternal darkness and the harshest of winters,"such an answer made Naruto blink several times, if killing a god could cause such calamities then how could there possibly be a god that DIDN'T exist?
"There are certain phenomena that exist outside of a Kami's influence, these things are things we refer to 'existing outside of reason' since they defy the very nature of the universe, I am one such phenomena," the barrier breaking orb stated before being cut off by her host.
"You are not a phenomena, you are alive so don't act as if you aren't," the response was expected but despite that it still earned a small smile from the being as it remembered the boys obsession with making her feel worth something.
"Perhaps, however I believe that once your godhood has been awakened you may possess authority over some aspect of what currently exists outside of reason," she explained to him, causing him to suddenly understand what she was saying, there were things that had the potential for a god to rule over them but didn't yet.
"I see, thank you for the explanation Yoku-chan, Kyūbi," once again his mind proceeded to wander to other subjects, however at the back of his mind he slowly began to wonder what he would eventually rule over and what it would take to understand the extent of his power when he finally ascended to the position of a Kami.
XXX XXX XXX
The village of Asahi was nothing special, it was essentially a collection of houses situated around a small market and a slightly lager house that made up the town hall. It was there that the team reported their arrival before getting a quick meal and starting their search for the bandits they had been hired to eliminate.
"Alright, Naruto, can you see anything that could lead us to the bandits?" Kakashi asked the blond as the group started to make their move within the village.
Placing his hands in a simple seal the boy muttered "Byakugan," before the veins around his eyes bulged. Almost immediately his vision extended as everything became clear to the boy, the leaf on every tree, the insects on and in every piece of wood and the minor indentations that scattered the ground from when the bandits made their last strike before retreating back to the foliage surrounding the town.
"Their tracks are over here," the boy stated as he moved towards the area the several tracks that left the village united. It was a simple trick that didn't really work against ninja, by having the raiding party spread out and attack from several different directions the civilians wouldn't know which direction the camp was located.
The team began to follow the tracks that led to the bandits camp, sticking to the trees and keeping their eyes open for any possible traps or patrols, not that they needed to bother, with Naruto's Byakugan activated he would be able to warn them of anything for about five hundred meters.
"I see the camp, there are approximately thirty seven enemies, twenty two of which have high levels of alcohol in their bloodstream, only fifteen should pose any form of danger," the spiky haired blond stated upon seeing the camp and the group that lived there, "it would appear that there are no hostages within the camp though one of the bandits possess higher chakra levels than the rest, possibly a genin to Chūnin nuke nin."
"I see, what are their characteristics?" the one eyed shinobi asked the boy, even if the opponent wasn't anything special chakra wise it was possible that they had some form of shinobi training that could put one of the children at risk. Despite their strength and the extensive training he put them through he knew that there was no substitute for real combat experience and if this foe was even remotely capable then Kakashi doubted the skills he had instilled into the children could be adapted smoothly to suit the enemy, especially with so many other threats to worry about on the battlefield.
"Young woman approximately 5' 8" tall, short black hair, dressed in a short blue Yakuta with a Katana strapped to her back," Naruto stated calmly, earning a nod off his sensei to show that he had gotten all the necessary information to find the person he would make his 'target'
Hearing that the possible 'ninja' was a woman made the silver haired Jōnin slightly nervous, if it was a man then it could've just been put to the side as him having naturally large levels of chakra which he didn't train, however a woman in a bandit camp was a different story. For a woman to work with bandits meant one of two things, either they were easy when it came to sex or they were strong enough to keep the rest in line and not risk trying anything.
He may have just been paranoid but ninja didn't reach Jōnin if they accepted everything at face value, he knew for a fact that some people with minor chakra levels were incredibly dangerous, two perfect example of this were two of his friends, Yūhi Kurenai and Maito Gai, neither possessed much in the way of chakra capacity, with Kurenai focusing on perfecting the art of genjutsu while Gai focused on Taijutsu, with the result being that they both lacked the reserves to launch many ninjutsu.
"How does her chakra capacity compare to ours?" the cycloptic Jōnin asked him seriously, showing that he was taking this possible threat seriously.
"Her capacity is approximately two to three times greater than Sakura's," the boy answered calmly, not having the same experience with low chakra types that his sensei had and therefore not understanding that the woman could potentially be extremely dangerous.
"Alright then, start with a volley of kunai armed with exploding tags, try to take out as many as you can from cover, only fight them if you have been discovered, if our cover is blown then I'll deal with the woman, you three are to take out the rest," Kakashi ordered, confusing the blond with his decision concerning the woman.
"Kakashi-sensei, why do you want to fight her yourself?" he decided to ask, he wanted to know if there was something he was missing in his assessment of the situation.
"Naruto, do you know who Yūhi Kurenai is?" the one eyed man asked the boy seriously, making the boy blink a couple of times at the question.
"She is the Jōnin Sensei of Team 8," the boy stated calmly, earning a nod of confirmation from his sensei.
"That is correct, do you have any idea how much chakra she has?" at that question the blond shook his head in the negative, he had never activated his Byakugan around people outside of his teammates, plus he thought it was rude to look inside a person full stop, let alone an ally.
"Her chakra capacity is approximately two to three times greater than Sakura's," the more experienced ninja told them seriously, earning widening eyes off the group, a fully fledged Jōnin could have those levels of chakra? It didn't seem normal to them, "do you understand now? Despite her lack of chakra she could potentially be highly dangerous."
"Hai Kakashi-sensei," came the unanimous call from the group before they started preparing their Kunai for the attack they were going to launch.
XXX XXX XXX
Dammatsuma Shura couldn't help but feel nervous as she sat in her tent in the middle of the bandit camp. She had no fear towards the men she lived with, quite the opposite in fact, the last time one of them had tried anything with her, he had been made an example of and the bandits lost all eagerness to fight her.
Then again picking a fight with someone that could hold her own against A-rank criminals was generally considered a stupid thing to do. She had no delusions however, she knew that if she was to face an S-rank then her best bet was to run for her life, those monsters tended to possess abilities that were inhuman, something she knew from experience when she decided that the traitorous Uchiha Itachi was probably just being hyped up to try and instil a sense of fear into the other villages that Konoha could produce monsters like him.
She had been lucky when she fought him, since he was still going through puberty at the time she had managed to take advantage of his newly appearing hormones in order to trade her life for a night with her body, she wasn't too proud to deny that she would resort to such measures to survive if she had to. She wasn't a ninja like so many others, she had simply learned about kenjutsu and genjutsu from her father before he passed away, leaving her with nothing but a sword and some skill that would allow her to follow in his footsteps.
She had trampled on that dream, her hatred for the man was greater than the love she was supposed to feel as part of a family. Outside of training and feeding her, the man had done nothing for the girl, allowing her to live an empty childhood that would never be returned to her.
What she was currently concerned about wasn't the group she had joined when she was still a child, they either feared or loved her, the ones that had been around since she joined all considered her their little sister and although they wouldn't protect her from any advances, it was only because they knew who would get hurt.
What made her nervous was the feeling she had that only appeared in her head when shinobi were near. She had heard that there were people that could sense chakra and she was almost certain that she was one of those people, however she had never had anyone to teach her how to focus her ability and the most she could do was tell that a team of shinobi was near.
Fortunately the group had a specific system put in place for such a situation, namely a small device that sent out a pulse that set off several others to let everyone know that she had detected a presence and that they should prepare for battle. The technology may have been expensive but simply being capable of knowing that there were ninja around made their chances of survival increase, especially with the training the woman had given them.
The biggest problem she knew her group would have was the number in the group that had become drunk, she had warned them all about it, that no more than a quarter of them should be allowed to drink at any time but it was the one suggestion that the group refused to agree with, saying that it wouldn't hurt to allow everyone to drink when they wanted, the chances were that they were going to pay the price for it now.
Slowly raising from her prone position on her bed, she straightened out the katana she always wore before leaving her tent, her objective clear in her mind, start preparations for a ninja attack, something the other sober members of the band made to do as well.
XXX XXX XXX
"That's interesting, it would appear that the bandits are already aware of our presence," Naruto muttered loud enough for the rest of his team to hear, making his sensei go even further on edge, it seemed as though the woman may have possessed some skill as a sensor.
"What are they doing now? Defending or retreating," the Jōnin asked with a tone of authority, despite his usual laid back attitude he wasn't one to take unnecessary risks and knew that this situation was a bad one, unfortunately he didn't have enough evidence to indicate that the mission was potentially a higher rank than it had been recorded.
"They appear to be taking up defensive positions around the camp, it would also seem that they are either just being paranoid or they know we are here but don't know which direction we will come from," the spiky haired boy stated, causing the man to give a small nod.
The Jōnin was now pretty sure that what they were dealing with was someone with sensor abilities that had not trained them, otherwise the bandits would've already been in this defensive positioning before they arrived or they wouldn't have taken it at all, he just hoped that the woman wouldn't have higher combat skill than sensor capabilities as he gave the team the signal to start the raid, their first C-rank was finally underway.
Now as I said before this story will not be updated, it may be rewritten at some point however that is dependent largely on a poll I set up on my proper profile.