Alrighty! I do not own Naruto at all! All rights and regulations do go to Masashi Kishimoto! Azuna does belong to me however! Ok now to write this fan fiction I did use the episodes and I used all of the actual sentences said from the anime so all of those rights again go to the producers, Madman Entertainment and of course the beautiful voice actors and everyone on the crew. Thanks guys... hope you like it!
Chapter Eleven: A Dangerous Mission! Journey to the Land of Waves: Part One:
It was beautiful day. The sky was as blue as Azuna's hair and small puffs of white clouds drifted by slowly. Out in the forest Azuna looked at them briefly before turning back to her mission when Sasuke's voice came through the receiver.
"Sasuke: I'm at point B." He said slightly bored.
"Sakura: I'm at point C." She said confidently with her high and annoying voice.
"Azuna: point D." Azuna said after Sakura's voice filled her ears.
Sometime later after Azuna spoke Naruto's voice filled everyone's ears. "Naruto: I'm at point A! Believe it."
"You're too slow Naruto." Kakashi's bored and annoyed voice rang. "Ok Squad Seven, wait, huh? The target has moved! Follow it!"
Naruto, Sasuke, Azuna and Sakura all appeared from behind trees watching their target. They all move quickly to separate trees getting closer to it. "What is your distance from the target?"
"Five metres, I'm ready just give the signal." Naruto said.
"I'm ready to." Sasuke replied.
"So am I!" Sakura yipped.
"Yep, also ready." Azuna sighed looking at the clouds again.
"Ok…Now!" Kakashi commanded.
The four Genin all jumped out from the tree towards the target. Naruto grabbed hold of the brown furred cat and tackled it to the ground. "I got him! I got him!" He shouted. The cat however was trying to kill Naruto and was scratching him as much as he could.
"Did you verify a ribbon on his right ear?" Kakashi voice said through all the meowing.
"Affirmative, we've got a positive ID."
"Right, lost pet Tora captured. Mission accomplished."
"CAN'T WE GET A BETTER MISSION THAN THIS? I HATE CATS!" Naruto shouted through the receiver defining everybody.
"Geez Naruto you have to be gentle with animals." Azuna sighed reaching down and grabbing Tora away from Naruto. "If you shout at them they'll shout back."
When Azuna touched the cat it immediately seemed to calm down. She stroked his fur and let the cat snuggle into her chest. It purred happily making Azuna giggled and scratch behind its ears. "How in the world did you make it do that?" Naruto asked in disbelief as the cat jumped onto the top of Azuna's head, its front paws hanging in front of her eyes.
"I was nice and didn't tackle him. Beside, Tora's not so bad. Let's get back to the academy and return this cat to his owner." Azuna said with a closed eyed smile.
How is that she's good at everything? Sasuke wondered. How she is an excellent Kunoichi, someone I can be happy hanging around with, a girl who's not completely obsessed with me or boys in general and actually trains hard? How does she do it? She looked so sad the first time I saw her yet she still held that smile on her face. She's a lot stronger than a lot of people here. She is a lot stronger than me, in more ways than one.
Squad Seven made their way back to the academy having fully completed their mission. They returned the lost Tora back to her owner. As his owner was hugging the cat so tightly Azuna suddenly felt so bad for it. Tora looked like he wanted to race back over onto Azuna and sit on top of her head so she looked away so she wouldn't steal the cat.
"Stupid cat! That kitty deserves to be squashed!" Naruto laughed scratching his head.
"No wonder he ran away." Sakura sighed disbelieving.
"Now for Squad Seven's next mission we have several available tasks." The Hokage said through the loud meowing. "Among them babysitting the chief councillors three year old, helping his wife to do the shopping, digging up potatoes and-"
"NO!" Naruto shouted completely interrupting the old man. "I wanna go on a real mission! Something challenging and exciting, not this little kids stuff! Come on old man!"
He's got a point. Sasuke thought looking at Naruto briefly. But he's such a pain. Sakura said annoyed from inside her head. Naruto you don't have to be so rude! Azuna mumbled in her head. I knew this was coming. Kakashi sighed.
"HOW DARE YOU! YOU'RE JUST A BRAND NEW GENIN WITH NO EXPERIENCE! LIKE EVERYONE ELSE YOU START WITH SIMPLE MISSIONS TO DEVELOP YOUR SKILLS AND PROVE YOURSELF!" Iruka yelled slamming his hands into the table.
"ARE YOU SERIOUS? BABY SITTING IS NOT A MISSON IT'S JUST A STUPID – GAH!" Naruto shouted before he was knocked over the head by Kakashi sending him flying onto his face.
"Will you put a lid on it?" Kakashi said in an irritated voice.
"NARUTO!" The Hokage shouted. "It seems you do not understand the tasks you have been given."
That made Naruto and the rest of squad seven look up to meet Lord Hokage's eyes.
"Listen, many different kinds of requests come into our village every day from babysitting to assassinations." The Hokage said wisely. He then went on explaining how the missions were set up and categorised and then explained who would carry them out. He went on and on that eventually they all stopped listening and decided to listen to Naruto's ramen stories. When the Hokage found that they weren't listening he couldn't help but shout. "SILENCE!"
"Oh, sorry." Kakashi apologised scratching the back of his head.
"GAH, you always lecture me like you're my grandfather or something! But I'm not the little brat who used to pull pranks all the time! I'm a ninja now and I want a ninja mission!"
"Naruto wants us to know that he's not a brat he's a former brat and he wants a mission. So be it." The Hokage laughed. Once team seven heard these words they all looked up excitedly, especially Sasuke, Naruto and Azuna. "Since you are so determined I'm going to give you a C ranked mission. You'll be body guards on a journey."
"Really? YES!" Naruto cried. "Who? Who? Are we guarding a Princess or some big weight councillor?"
"Don't be so impatient, I'll bring him in now." The Hokage smiled. "Send in our visitor!"
Everyone turned towards the door as it started to open with curious looks on their faces. The first thing everybody saw as a Sake bottle and then an old man stumble through the doorway. "What the?" He asked in a gruff voice. "A bunch of little snot nosed kids?"
The man than took a big glug of his Sake and Naruto stood up. They were all gazing at this man intently. They all waited patiently for him to finish drinking so he could continue talking. "And you, the one with the idiotic look on your face you really expect me to believe that you're a ninja?"
Naruto burst into laughter, holding his hands on his hips. "Who's the little one with the idiotic look on his face…?" Naruto said trailing off as Azuna, Sasuke and Sakura all stepped closer to him. Sasuke was the tallest then it was a tie between Azuna and Sakura and then Naruto was the shortest. The look on his face almost sent into a fit of loud giggles but a mock glare from Sasuke made her control herself.
"I'LL DEMOLISH YOU! JUST WAIT TILL I GET MY HANDS ON YOU!" Naruto shouted at the old man.
"You can't demolish the client Naruto it doesn't work that way." Kakashi sighed holding Naruto back.
The old man took another sip of his Sake and huffed loudly after swallowing. "I am Tazuna a master bridge builder and I must return to my country. I'm building a bridge there that will change our world and I expect you to get me there safely even if it means giving up your life.
After Squad Seven had met Tazuna they all left to go and get their things before returning back to the academy. Azuna and Naruto bounded off to their home and packed their things. A few days before someone she knew in her village, a Jounin named Sadami, was on official business in Konoha and found Azuna, he return a day later with some of her things like her weapons, everything that was in her home was in possession of Kirigakure waiting for when she would claim it.
Azuna packed all of her weapons into her shoulder bag along with changes of clothes and some food. She ran her fingers along to coolness of her Katana sword and slid it back into its sheath before tying it onto her back. She pulled her bag over her shoulder and smiled at Naruto before they bounded back to the academy.
Soon after they arrived at the academy they were making their way to the front gates with Tazuna. As they stepped across the threshold of the gates Naruto spun around throwing his hands into the air. Azuna however wasn't really concentrating on him. She was more focused on the small bloody claw marks on part of the gate. Was that where she had begged to enter Konoha? Was that where she clawed at the gates until they opened? Screaming until someone responded to her?
Sasuke saw the look of panic on Azuna's face as her fingers ran across the gates. When she moved her hand Sasuke could see gouges in the gates with blood around them. The way that she looked at the marks made Sasuke's skin crawl. Did Azuna make those? Did she enter Konoha screaming and crying for help? Scratching at the door until someone responded to her? Although it was not Sasuke's business he couldn't help but wonder. What happened to her?
"What are you getting so excited about Naruto?" Sakura asked annoyed as Naruto cried for joy.
"This is the first time I've ever left the village! I'm a traveller now! Believe it!" Naruto yipped looking in every direction possible with unbelievable amounts of energy.
"Hey! I'm I supposed to trust my life to this runt? He's a joke." Tazuna growled. This made Naruto stop his bounding around and glare menacingly at a nearby tree.
"He's with me and I'm a Jounin, there's not need to worry." Kakashi laughed.
Why'd we have to get this old geezer to guard? I'm going to cut him down to size right now! Naruto thought unhappily crossing his arms. Tazuna's words rung throughout his mind and Azuna just wanted give him a hug. Tazuna shouldn't be so mean to Naruto. Azuna sighed in her mind. He's goofy but he knows what he's doing.
"HEY! Never insult a ninja it's a big mistake! And I'm one of the greatest ninja ever! Someday I'm going to be a Hokage and you'll look up to me! My name's Naruto Uzumaki! Remember it!" Naruto shouted pointing at Tazuna.
Tazuna took another sip of his sake not really believing in Naruto at all. "Hokage are powerful and wise you are puny and brainless. The day you become Hokage I'll sprout wings and fly."
"AH! SHUT UP! I'M WILLING TO DO ANYTHING TO BECOME HOKAGE NO MATTER WHAT IT TAKES!" Naruto screamed. "AND WHEN I DO EVERYONE WILL HAVE TO ADMIT THAT I'M THE TOP NINJA INCLUDING YOU!"
"You can become Hokage ten times over and to me you'll still be nothing, a loser."
Just as Naruto was about to go rank on Tazuna, Kakashi pulled him back. And Azuna, who had had enough of this old man picking on her friend stepped forward placing a reassuring hand on Naruto's shoulder.
"Mr Tazuna, you do not have to be so rude to him." Azuna said softly and politely, although her eyes were telling another story.
"Why? The kid's a joke! You are a joke to just look at you! You look like you haven't fought a battle in your life! You really expect me to believe that you can protect me?" Tazuna growled.
"You can insult me all that you like Mr Tazuna. You do not have to like us but you do need to trust us. I cannot save a man you doesn't trust me enough to do so." Azuna said as she got strange looks from her team.
"You talk like you older than I am, and that you know so much more but –"
"That's enough." Kakashi said. "Let's just go."
Tazuna walked off without another word and Squad Seven followed after him. Sasuke fell into step with Azuna and she sighed looking down at her fingers. Where she had ran her fingers against the gates the powered blood rubbed off staining her hands. Sasuke saw this and nudged her slightly, making her look at him with her eyebrows raised.
"Was that you back there?" He asked his voice low enough so only they could hear themselves. "The one who made the scratch's on the gates?"
Azuna nodded slowly letting her hand drop by her side. Sasuke dropped the conversation as he saw the pain that flashed across her face as he mentioned it. One day she might tell him, one day she might open up to him. And maybe, she'd let him open up to her. Not like Sasuke needed to do that, but maybe she would like to hear his sad, sad tale.
"Say, Mr Tazuna." Sakura said staring into the sky as they walked.
"Yeah, what is it?" Tazuna growled as his eyes flashed to the blue haired girl briefly.
"Your country is the Land of Waves right?"
"Yeah? What of it?"
"Kakashi Sensei there are ninja in that country to isn't there?" Sakura wondered in her high voice.
"No. There are no ninja in the Land of Waves." Kakashi said simply. "But in other countries there are hidden villages each with their own different customs and cultures where ninja reside."
Kakashi then went on explaining the five ancient lands of Fire, Water, Lightning, Wind and Earth and their hidden villages: The Village Hidden in Leaves, the Village Hidden in the Mist, the Village Hidden in the Clouds, The Village Hidden in the Sand and the Village Hidden in the Stones. Azuna already knew this from her lesson's with Nozomi so she didn't really pay too much attention to that bit, but when he said the word 'Mizukage' Azuna's ears couldn't help but tune in.
"Only the leaders of these Villages are permitted the name Kage, which means Shadow: Hokage, Mizukage, Raikage, Kazekage and Tsuchikage. These are the leaders, the five shadows that reign over thousands of ninja."
"Oh! Then Lord Hokage's really important!" Sakura yipped. Is that old man really such a big deal? I'm not buying it. Her inner form however said.
I got him with my sexy Jutsu, he can't be that great, believe it. Naruto thought crossing his arms again.
"HEY! You all just doubted Lord Hokage didn't you? That's what you were thinking?" Kakashi growled.
Sakura and Naruto started sweating and shaking their head furiously. Azuna and Sasuke just stayed quiet. Sasuke wasn't thinking anything at all and Azuna was thinking about her brother. If Nozomi hadn't died he would be Mizukage right now. He would be the best ninja in the Hidden Mist Village. I would still be there living happily with my brother, and there wouldn't be this hole in my heart. There wouldn't be a chunk of me missing, there would just be Nozomi. Sweat, strong, sensible Nozomi.
"Well, anyway." Kakashi continued placing a hand on Sakura's head calming her down. "There are no ninja battles in a C ranked mission so, you can relax."
"So we're not going to any foreign enemy ninja or anything like that?" Sakura asked cheerfully.
Kakashi laughed. "Not likely."
They all continued walking through the forest. As they came up to a small bridge going over some water Azuna smiled at the fish swimming. It reminded her of her home, the fish in the clear water; it reminded her of the ocean. Squad Seven and Tazuna continued walking along the path in silence. As they were walking Azuna noticed a puddle on the road. A puddle? Azuna thought confused. On a day like this?
She looked up at Kakashi who was looking at it to. When his eyes met Azuna's and he smiled turning towards the front again. Good job Azuna, you picked it up. Well done. He praised inside his head.
Azuna walked passed it pretending to ignore it when it was truly bugging her. What the heck is a puddle doing there? Why would there be a puddle on a clear day?
Then, from behind them two men rose from the water. One flew into the air while the other sprinted towards the group. They were joined by a chain that they had attacked to their large metal clawed gloves. The men quickly wrapped their chains around Kakashi and pulled tightly chopping Kakashi into little pieces.
Sakura looked like she wanted to throw up, Tazuna looked scared out of his mind and Sasuke looked cautious. Azuna, however, was too busy staring at the men with the chains. They were two of her old Sensei's. The Demon Brothers, they taught her to never give up and to keep fighting. No matter what the cost you kept fighting until you died.
"KAKASHI SENSEI!" Naruto cried reaching out to him.
As the Demon Brothers appeared behind Naruto laughing he began to sweat. Azuna ran towards Naruto. She didn't care that these ninja were her old Sensei's and followers of her father. She would save Naruto at all costs.
"NARUTO!" Azuna screamed as she lurched toward him, hoping that she could save him before it was too late.