Chapter 12
The Water Demon Rises
Kakashi watched with a slightly widened eye as the figure hesitated before reaching up with almost delicate hands to remove the cowl and pull back the hood, revealing a young woman, teenager, with shoulder length sun kissed blonde hair, smooth cream coloured skin and light blue eyes. There were similarities with her and the woman standing beside her.
For all intents and purposes he was being ignored, as the young girl's gaze was focused on the other blonde. Yugito's face was a mask of barely hidden surprise and shock as she starred upon her younger sibling. "I can't believe that you would be so stupid! I did all of that to make sure that you'd be safe, that they wouldn't place the blame on you and you go and do this!"
Samui didn't even flinch under her sister's suddenly harsh glare, and added on one of her own, yet another trait that their family seemed to inherit. "What the hell did you think I was going to do! Just sit back and let all this happen? I would have followed you, helped you rescue Naruto if you gave me half the chance!"
Yugito didn't seem the least bit perturbed, instead she stalked forward so that they were face to face, "Do you even realise what that would have meant? You would have been marked as a traitor same as me. I did what I did to make sure that wouldn't happen!"
"Ahem, excuse me."
Both sisters' caste murderous glares at him, which he shrugged off. "You said that you came to warn her, warn her of what exactly?"
Samui closed her eyes and took a deep, cleansing breath before gazing at Kakashi, taking a sideways glance at her sister every so often as she spoke. "Sakamoto has gained the services of a small group of independent Shinobi to try and kidnap Neesan and Naruto."
The name was familiar to Kakashi, and after a moment it came to him. His one visible eye widened slightly, "Sakamoto, as in Norimasa Sakamoto?"
"The one and the same,"
Kakashi inwardly cursed. He had heard of Norimasa Sakamoto. The man was the Danzo of Kumogakure. A hardliner who made his name during the Second Great Shinobi World war as one of the Hidden Clouds most infamous field commanders, making a name in repelling Iwagakure forces from the borderlands time and time again. Now he was an influential member of the Lightning Council, and Chief Scientist of the villages ANBU Science and Research Bureau.
"You have made a few influential enemies." Kakashi muttered, barely loud enough for them to hear.
"Ain't that the truth?" Yugito growled in response, hands on her hips and a frown on her face.
"So do you know who he has sent?"
Samui looked to her sister, as if for confirmation, before turning back to Kakashi, "Nukenin from Kiri, four of them, three Chunin and one Jonin with a huge sword."
The Copynin reached into one of his vests pockets, retrieving a small book, except instead of the orange one he was usually seen with this one was worn with a gray cover. Yugito recognised it as a Bingo book, and watched as he began to skip through the pages. Finally he came to what he was looking for and handed the small book to Samui. "Have a look through that and tell me who we're dealing with."
The Kumonin nodded, taking the book and skipping through the pages. "This is the guy."
Kakashi took the book, his eyes widening slightly at who he saw. "You're sure?"
"Yeah,"
"Who is it?"
Kakashi didn't reply, instead he handed her the book and let her see for herself. Yugito's eyes widened at the picture, but read the statistics all the same. Zabuza Momoichi, Jonin, a member of the Kiri no Shinobigatana Nananin Shū, known as the Kirigakure no Kijin, a master of the silent kill, with specialties in Suitonjutsu, Kenjutsu and assassination. Shinobi is considered an A-rank opponent, approach with extreme caution.
She looked at Kakashi with fearful eyes. "We need to get Naruto."
The Copynin nodded. "The Academy should be finished by now. You two go get him. I'll alert the Hokage and assemble the ANBU black ops."
Yugito nodded before taking to the rooftops, Samui hesitating for a brief second before following. Kakashi looked around and, doing the appropriate hand signs disappeared in a swirl of leaves, using the Shunshin no Jutsu to increase his speed.
Yugito flew at almost breakneck speed, her sister barely able to keep pace, a maelstrom of thoughts going through her mind. She berated herself from letting Naruto out of her sight, letting her guard down like that. The Nibi host should have known that the bastard would try something like this.
"There's another reason why I'm here."
She turned her head slightly to assess her sister, who had finally managed to keep up with Yugito's furious pace. "I'm listening."
"An A-rank mission handed down to me by Raikage-sama. He wanted me to track anyone Sakamoto sends, and if possible gain intelligence specifying him as responsible for this." Yugito didn't get it. Why would the evidence be incriminating, she was a Nukenin.
"What good would that do?"
"Use your head Oneesan." Samui snapped sharply. "If I gain evidence that he is the Kiri Shinobi's employer then it would be in violation of the ceasefire agreement between Konoha and Kumo. He could plunge us into all out war with them just so he could get his weapon. With that knowledge Raikage-sama would take steps to keep the peace, mainly by taking Sakamoto's head."
She frowned at this. "Would that work?"
"We are not ready for a war with both Konoha and Suna." Samui replied with a frown. "And Konoha know that. To the public it would appear that Raikage-sama had no other choice, plus he's wanted to remove Sakamoto from the council for years. He'll make a show about it to not make Kumo look weak then cave in."
"Just like the Hyuga incident."
"Except this time the shoe will be on Konoha's foot."
"Kill him!"
Naruto starred at the Chunin with fear, before mentally slapping himself and ducking the thrown kunai, watching with a fearful fascination as it imbedded itself in the tree behind him. He righted himself, imbued his feet with chakra and spinning around landed his foot on the tree, running up the thick trunk, trying to ignore the thumps of kunai and shuriken stabbing into the bark.
The Chunin watched with something akin to awe, before shaking themselves from their stupor and giving chase. Two following him up the tree while another continued throwing projectiles. Naruto ran across a sturdy branch, jumped and landed on another.
"Hey boss, what do you want to do with the girl?"
Yuki looked at Haku for a moment, not noticing a handful of senbon needles in the child's hands. "Kill her, no witnesses."
Haku frowned at the man, before smiling a little. By the way her would be murderer was approaching, casual and smirking, it was obvious that he thought the child was just a regular villager. Oh how wrong could he possibly be? According to Zabuza-sama he was easily Chunin level by now. That and his other gifts made him a Shinobi whom you shouldn't underestimate.
He threw the senbon with deadly accuracy, watching as the man's eye widened before his hand swiftly rose to deflect the steel needles. By the time he had diverted the last one Haku was already finishing off a small set of hand signs. Before he could attack a small kunai shot down close by the Chunin, a tag attached to the ring.
A paper-bomb, He thought with a frown, then watched as the small slip exploded, covering the Chunin in a mass of gray smoke; No, a smoke bomb.
"Run!"
He heard the boy's voice and looked up to see him jumping through the trees towards him, curled up in a ball with his arms protecting his face. Four shuriken exploded from the smoke, peppering the blondes form and sending him falling to the earth. He hit the ground hard, and Haku watched horrified as a blank stare of azure eyes met his, and blood dribbled from the boy's mouth. Then there was a puff of white smoke, and instead of looking at the body the former Kirinin was looking at a scrap of wood.
Haku starred at the lumber for a stupefied moment, before smiling softly and taking off at a run. The Kawarimi no Jutsu wasn't the most flashy or advanced technique in a Shinobi's arsenal. It was an E-rank replacement technique, quite simple for even a Genin to perform. But seeing a child of eight pull of the Jutsu was a little impressive, especially in a combat situation like this. The smoke bomb wasn't a bad touch either.
He saw a shadow beside him and cranked his head a little to see the blonde, running frantically away from the scene. "What did you do to make these guys want to kill you?"
"Beats me," Naruto replied with a frown. "The red-eyes have been after me since I got here!"
A kunai zipped past them, making the two kids increase their speed. They had just passed through the metal gates of the training ground, seeing the academy buildings a hundred feet ahead of them. They were going to make it. Those thoughts were dashed when they heard someone call out the name of a fire Jutsu.
"Katon; Kaenenjin no Jutsu"
The two boys skidded to a halt as a line of tall flames burned through the ground in front of them, curving around until they were completely encircled by the towering mass or oranges, yellows and reds. Naruto and Haku were immediately back to back, watching as the five Chunin walked through the flames, weapons held in their hands.
"You're obviously not a civilian." The man with the red eyes said with a glare. "Who are you?"
Haku didn't answer, just starred at the Uchiha with hardened eyes, a couple of senbon flying into his hand.
"Ah well. I suppose it doesn't matter." The Uchiha smirked maliciously, raising his kunai. "Kill them!"
A gravelly voice resounded through the tree line, startling the Chunin and bringing a small smile to Haku's face. "Oh I don't think so!"
"What?"
The Uchiha turned, just in time to see a towering man blur into existence behind one of his Chunin, both hands gripping a huge sword which was prepped for a full horizontal swing. "That's my pay check!"
The massive sword cleaved through flesh and bone. The Chunin Shinobi was just able to utter a startled cry before he was sliced nearly in half at the waist, his two sides hitting the ground with a duo of meaty thumps. The surviving four blurred into motion, one came at him in a full frontal attack while the other two came at him from behind.
Zabuza didn't even move as the three Chunin imbedded their kunai into his stomach and lower back. The Kiri swordsman didn't even make a sound. One moment he was a solid form, the next he lost cohesion and fell away into a puddle of water. The three men looked down at the pool in shock, before a gravelly voice broke the silence.
"Kirigakure no Jutsu"
A thick mist descended, dowsing the area in thick white fog. The would be assassins immediately fell upon their Shinobi training and were back to back, kunai drawn and eyes on full alert. Zabuza burst through the mist, landing solidly on a tree branch and looked down at the battlefield. A duo of blurs signalled the arrival of the Oni Kyōdai, once again fully clothed in their drab gray tunics, light armour and scratched Kiri hatai-ites.
"Take care of them." The Kiri Swordsman ordered coldly, and watched as the two brothers jumped from their perch and vanished in the mist, kunai chain of their connected gauntlets glinting off the sunlight.
It wasn't long before the screaming began.
Uchiha Itachi was considered a prodigy, a genius only seen once a generation. He graduated the academy, becoming a Genin at the age of seven, activated his Sharingan eye at the age of eight, at ten he passed the Chunin exams, and now, thirteen years old he was a member of the ANBU black ops, the elite guards of the Hokage.
Even among the Uchiha, who were renowned as warriors, he was considered one of the best, and him activating his Sharingan at eight seemed to solidify this statement. Even the most skilled of the Uchiha weren't able to activate the infamous Doujutsu until they reached their teenage years. Even his best friend, Shisui, hadn't been able to activate his Sharingan until he was fourteen.
Said Uchiha was walking a little ahead of him, posture completely at ease and relaxed. Even though Shisui was five years Itachi's senior he was still considered his best friend, almost like an older brother. It was this very reason that his friend needed to die. Itachi had been given an important mission, and that mission was to wipe out the Uchiha clan before they could make their move against the village.
It was not something Itachi would enjoy doing; in fact the young prodigy was conflicted between carrying out his orders and abandoning his duty. But he knew which side he would choose. The decision was made for him ever since his participation in the Third Shinobi World War. Itachi had seen many of his peers fall to the blade, and had blood on his hands himself. Being in that god awful war traumatised Itachi, and he did not want to see such carnage on Konoha's streets.
It was either his family, or the entire village.
It was with this thought that he pushed his conflicting emotions down to the deepest recesses of his soul, and steeled himself for what he had to do. He felt the cold steel of a kunai, attached to his wrist mounted holster, and began to slowly quicken his step towards his best friend.
He didn't want to do it, by the gods he didn't. But if he was to have a chance at defeating his entire clan he needed an edge, and that edge was the Mangekyo Sharingan, and the abilities that came with it. The ultimate form of his clans Kekkei Genkei could only be attained by a great emotional stress, namely the loss of someone precious. If he was able to kill Shisui, he was able to kill anyone.
"Itachi, hold on." The boy stopped at his best friend's words, and his raised hand. The older man was looking at something to his left, face set in a frown. "That's strange. Mist this late in the afternoon, and at this time of the year?"
Itachi blinked, before turning his head in the same direction. In the distance he noticed thin wisps of mist floating up to the atmosphere and as the two paid the area more attention their ears heard other, less pleasing sounds, cutting of flesh, the piercing cries and the dull thuds. It was the sounds he had heard so many times in the field of battle
Shisui turned to Itachi. "Come on, let's go check it out."
The elder jumped to the trees before Itachi could reply, and with a silent sigh the prodigy followed suit, knowing that the longer he put it off the harder it would be. The two moved across the trees at great speed, noticing the bodies of two ANBU lying dead in a small clearing, blood pooling from their wounds. The two looked at each other, before quickening their step. Something was seriously wrong.
They landed on a sturdy branch, overlooking the mist covered expanse. The screams had stopped by now, and all that left was an eerie silence. Both looked at each other, before Shisui slammed his hands together in the hand sign of the dog and took a deep breath, infusing his chakra with the air in his lungs before unleashing a gust from his mouth. It was a low level wind based technique, called Futon; Kaze no Hitufuki. Not suited for combat, but designed to blow away poison smoke or thick mist.
The mist cleared, and both Uchiha's eyes widened at what they saw. The ground beneath them was littered with corpses, at least five of them all wearing the vests and uniforms of Konoha Chunin, blood spattered on the ground, weapons imbedded in the soil. It was carnage, and standing in the middle was the cause of the carnage.
Two men stood in the middle of the massacre, back to back, garbed in drab gray tunics and cloaks. Their lower faces covered by breather masks, which made them Shinobi either from Kiri or Ame. Both looked related, same hair style, same skin colour and the same manic look in their eyes.
Itachi caught movement at the edge of the forest, and turned to see two children hiding in the foliage. One seemed to be a young woman with long straight black hair, while the other was a blonde boy, roughly about eight or nine he'd say. It made sense that they were academy students. This area was made up of training fields for the use of the Shinobi academy.
"Well what do we have here?"
Both Uchiha looked up, and barely had time to evade as a huge blade spun through the air and imbedded itself in the bark of the tree they once balanced on. If they stayed there then they would have most likely been decapitated. They were definitely from the Hidden Mist. The Hidden Rain didn't utilize many Kenjutsu users, and certainly none carrying such ridiculously oversized swords.
Itachi landed on another tree branch, crouched and ready to move at a moment's notice. Absently he noticed Shisui corkscrew in midair and land on the ground, a good twenty meters away from him. The Kirinin landed on the long hilt of his sword, perfectly balanced and stared intently, first at Itachi, then at Shisui. "This is starting to get a little difficult."
"What is the meaning of this?" Shisui snarled, waving his hand along the scattered dead. "Why have you attacked our Shinobi, on our home ground at that?"
The Kiri swordsman chuckled darkly, before setting a pair of deep, dead orbs upon Shisui, the eyes of a soldier, the eyes of a killer. "These five were trying to kill my pay check. I hate it when people mess with my money."
"What are you talking about?" Itachi asked with a raised brow.
He didn't get an answer, for the swordsman was already on the move, and it was obvious that Shisui was his target. The elder Uchiha noticed this, and snatched a kunai from his pouch just in time to block the huge meat cleaver, blades scrapped, teeth gritted together as the veteran Jonin was just able to hold his ground against his larger and stronger opponent.
"Momoichi Zabuza." The big man introduced.
"The Demon of the Mist huh," Shisui replied, before introducing himself in return, it was only good manners. "Uchiha Shisui."
"Ah, the infamous Body-flicker Shisui," Zabuza chuckled, "You know you have a hefty price on your head, almost fifty million Ryo."
"Is that all?" The Uchiha smirked. "If I remember correctly you're worth twice as much."
A hail of shuriken sliced through the air, forcing the Kiri swordsmen to disengage and jump back with a chakra propelled leap. Itachi landed by Shisui's side, both young men's faces slightly obscured. "Thanks Itachi."
"Don't mention it, Senpai." When they looked up the eyes of both had turned from their normal onyx to a deep red, black tomoe spinning around the sclera as their Sharingan activated.
"You two will be the second and third Uchiha we've faced today." Zabuza smirked, bringing his sword up to lean against his shoulder. "Try and be a better challenge than that failure over there."
Shisui glared menacingly at the swordsman, while Itachi's expression remained cold and emotionless. "Itachi, get the boy and get out of here. I'll hold them off till reinforcements arrive."
"Can you hold him?" the prodigy asked.
"I've wanted to fight this guy for a long time." Shisui replied with a smirk. "Hurry up kid, get moving."
Zabuza scoffed, before pointing his executioner's blade at the blonde child. The prodigy noticed the two Chunin tense up and spinning around took off in the children's direction, knowing that the two Kirinin would be on his tail. He took full advantage, allowed the two to catch up to him, and made his move.
He jumped in a chakra propelled leap, watched as the dual bladed gauntlets stabbed through the air where he once was, grabbed each by the wrist and used the momentum to lash out with his legs, catching both square in the jaws and sending them sprawling to the ground in a heap. Itachi landed in a crouch, and broke out into a run again, watching as the blonde tensed upon his approach.
"You need to leave." Itachi said, glancing around at the downed Chunin. Shisui was already fully engaging Zabuza, trying to gain some distance to use his Ninjutsu. "Head to the academy and get help."
The child seemed surprised, as if he were expecting Itachi to do something else. "You're not going to attack me?"
Itachi frowned at the comment. "Why would I do that?"
"The other one…he had eyes the same as you." The boy explained a little meekly, weary. "He led those guys there, and tried to kill us."
Itachi's frown grew. Why would Uchiha clansmen assemble a hit squad to go after an eight year old? It made absolutely no sense.
Then he noticed the girl standing beside the blonde, and immediately his eyes narrowed in suspicion. She didn't carry herself like a civilian, or a student. Her body was poised, ready to move at a moment's notice. Almost like she was about too…
Her movements were professional and left no room for error. She was behind the kid in an instant, holding him in a light strangle hold, a senbon shooting into her free hand to be held against the boys neck. "I'm sorry," She said, and Itachi didn't doubt that she meant every word, "But Zabuza-sama wants' you alive. You, stay back!"
Itachi complied, taking a step back. His expressionless visage hiding his intrigue, first an assassination team led by an Uchiha, then these Kiri swordsmen, and now this ten year old girl. Who was this boy, and why did he have so much unwanted attention?
The blonde was surprised, but was not struggling against his captor. "Hey, what are you doing!"
"Forgive me, Naruto-kun." She said apologetically. "But I have been sent to retrieve both you and your protector."
The name didn't stick out in Itachi's mind for a few moments, and then everything flew rapidly into place, Naruto, as in Uzumaki Naruto. Itachi was too young to remember the Kyubi no Yoko, being only five at the time, and so didn't know about the sealing until after he became a Jonin. When a Shinobi became a member of the ANBU black ops they were made privy to a lot of sensitive information. Now it all made sense, but why was he here? Didn't he disappear four years ago during the Hyuga incident? Itachi mussed over these thoughts, before storing them for a later time.
To his credit the blonde wasn't panicking, even though the senbon needle was held so close to his throat. "It's a shame, Haku. In another life you and I would have probably been friends."
Haku smiled apologetically. "I'm sorry, Naruto-kun."
"Don't be," the blonde replied, before offering her a sad smile, "You haven't caught me yet."
Itachi and Haku looked on in surprise as the boy seemed to explode in a mass of white smoke, being replaced by a lump of wood. Unconsciously Itachi's eyes widened. Wondering when the boy was able to substitute himself with the tattered timber. Obviously the girl wasn't expecting an eight year old to be able to pull it off, and it was too the prodigy's advantage as he blurred through a set of seals and placed his thumb and index fingers against his mouth, shaped like a circle.
"Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu"
A stream of flame exploded from his mouth, morphing into a large ball of crimson flames. The last he saw of the young Shinobi was her surprised gaze as the fireball consumed her. For a moment Itachi considered if he had just won their little exchange. He was wrong.
"Hyōton: Kokyuu Gyouaisu"
Itachi became aware of an extreme drop in temperature, and then watched in mild interest as the fireball was encompassed by a shell of ice, nullifying his fire and sending the now harmless ball to the ground, smashing like a pane of glass. An ice release Jutsu, now there's something you don't see every day.
"Tell me." Itachi asked. He had heard of a clan of ice wielding Shinobi in Kirigakure, and that they were mostly wiped out by the bloodline purges. "Are you a member of the Setsuko clan?"
The girl wasn't listening, and Itachi was forced to draw a kunai in time to deflect a trio of needles sent in his direction. The girl was well trained, each of those senbon were aimed for a certain point on his body, namely his neck.
The academy was empty as the two sisters made their appearance, somersaulting over the wall and landing in crouches. Yugito scanned the empty playground, looking for any sign of life. She wasn't surprised to find the place deserted, school had ended for the day. She looked over at her sister and exchanged a nod before taking off in a chakra propelled dash towards the building.
They traversed the playground within seconds and turned a corner, only for Yugito to nearly collide with an instructor. She skidded to a halt, barely a few feet from him. It was the young man she met earlier, Iruka if she remembered. Her sudden appearance startled the man, who had been engrossed in a purple covered book, but he recovered quickly, taking in her dishevelled form.
"Yugito-san?" He asked in slight surprise, before looking between her and Samui, eyes widening slightly when he saw the Kumo headband on her left forearm.
"Iruka-san," Yugito began, taking a moment to catch her breath. "Where is Naruto? Have you seen him?"
Iruka frowned, "Uh, let's see…he said he was going to look around the training fields before he went home. What's wrong…and who's this?"
"No time," Yugito replied, "Naruto's in danger."
The man's suspicion melted into a serious façade, "Come on, I know the training fields well enough."
The man snapped his book shut, and spun around, taking off at a run towards the training fields. Yugito and Samui hesitated for only a second before following. She noticed Iruka caste a glance at her sister once or twice. "Iruka-san, this is Samui, my sister. Samui, this is Iruka, one of Naruto's lecturers."
"Nice to meet you," Samui acknowledged half heartedly as they continued to run, passing through a set of gates.
"Likewise," Iruka replied, once again focusing on the road. "So what owes us the pleasure of a Kumonin within the village?"
"To save my little brother," Was all Samui replied, before shooting ahead of her sister and the Chunin, eyes straight ahead and unyielding. Iruka was just barely able to notice those cold eyes widen in recognition, before she skidded to a halt. The lecturer copied the motion, as did Yugito.
Naruto arrived out from the trees, looking completely disoriented. He saw them, recognised the elder blonde immediately and ran up to her, babbling almost incoherently. "Mom, big trouble…Chunin, led by a guy with Sharingan, attacked me, Kirinin came, killed them, two more with Sharingan eyes!"
Yugito knelt down, gripping the panicking child with enough force to get his attention, his azure eyes bored into hers, scared, terrified. "Naruto, sweetie, calm down and start over. What's wrong, what happened?"
Naruto closed his eyes, taking several deep, cleansing breaths before he opened them again to look at his mother figure. He began to recite his story to her one more time, this time more serious and reserved as he tried to tell them the whole story. He told her of his meeting with Haku, the attempt on his life by a small group of Chunin, Kirinin interfering, the short battle that followed, the arrival of two more Uchiha and their different approach to him.
By the end of his story he noticed hardness in his mother's eyes, and it was around this time he realised Samui and Iruka were with her as well. She looked into his eyes, voice soft yet carrying with it steel which could not be denied, "Which way?"
He pointed a finger further down the pathway, and sure enough she saw the vanishing wisps of mist, the small plumes of black smoke, and through her hypersensitive ears she caught the clan of steel. Eye narrowing she didn't even turn when she spoke to the instructor. "Iruka-san, Samui, take Naruto back to the academy. Kakashi-san should arrive with a unit of ANBU any time now."
Iruka nodded in agreement, Samui frowned but also nodded her head. Together the two turned around and took off back towards the academy buildings. Naruto followed a second later. Sure he was worried, but he knew just how deadly she could be when she put her mind to it. With a brave smile to placate him she spun around and took off into the heart of the battlefield.
Zabuza growled in annoyance as he swung his blade, watching as his opponent vanished in a swirl of leaves and reappeared just out of his swords reach. The rumours about this man were well founded. Shisui Uchiha had perfected the Body Flicker to the point where he didn't even need hand seals to use it.
His opponent reappeared in a back leap, hands already throwing a couple of kunai. The Kiri swordsman's moves were fluent, simply placing his blade over him to take the knives, which clanged harmlessly off his Executioners blade. Zabuza then stepped forward, swinging his sword in a steep arc to slice the Uchiha in midair. Shisui brought all of his weight back, flipping over the slicing sword and corkscrewing, landing in a crouch, the seals for a midlevel fire Jutsu just completed.
"Katon: Karyūdan!"
A stream of fire flew from the Uchiha's mouth, the flames splitting into six smaller comets in midflight. The bullets struck their target, only for the swordsman's form to explode and fall to the ground as steam and water.
Shisui cursed at not realising it was a Mizu Bunshin, before a slight whoosh caught his attention. The elder Uchiha jumped high, performing a backward somersault. He felt the blade just graze his jacket before he completed the flip and landed on the soil. The follow up heel kick caught him off guard, sending the Body Flicker flying back and landing hard on the ground, skidding to a halt.
Itachi, now fighting a battle against three different opponents looked over at his best friend fearfully, but could not help. He turned, back stepping another lash from one of the brother's armed gauntlets and sidestepped a spike of ice as it lanced over him. He could take any of them one on one, even two on one, but three on one was a little difficult.
Their attack strategy was effective. The two Demon Brothers attacked him continuously too keep him on the back foot while the girl, Haku, lashed out at him with mid and long range ice projectiles. It was only with his Sharingan activated that he was able to divine the brother's movements, as well as keep track of the ices trajectory, and dodge.
Itachi sidestepped and corkscrewed, skidding to a halt in a small puddle of water. He cursed as Haku whispered an incantation and slammed her hands on the ground. The water at his feet became a shell of ice, immobilizing him. He looked up, eyes wide as the two Kirinin reached out for him with their clawed gauntlets.
A blur of motion caught his attention, and he watched as a woman jumped high between him and his assailants. A roundhouse kick took out the one on his left, and then she straightened her body and spun, bringing her foot into the side of the one on the right. Both fell back from the force of the blow, landing in two heaps.
He got a good look at her as she landed in a crouch, back turned to him. Her form was curvaceous yet sleek, with long pale blonde hair done up in a long ponytail. She wore black Shinobi attire with dark purple trim, and from what he could see her skin was fair. The woman turned to face him, her features accented by full lips, and almond eyes, slightly slanted. He guessed she was five or six years his senior.
Her voice, silky yet with a sense of annoyance caught his attention. "What are you doing boy, free yourself!"
Itachi frowned, before concentrating chakra into his feet and breaking the ice. By now the two Chunin were getting back to their feet, and the ice Shinobi was preparing a large bombardment of ice spears from the surrounding water.
He felt a mass of gazes looking down upon him from the trees, punctuated by the unmistakable voice of Hatake Kakashi. "Alright, I think we're about done here."
Itachi looked up to see Hatake standing tall and imposing, arms folded across his chest. Alongside him on surrounding branches were no less than twenty members of the white masked ANBU Black Ops, fully garbed and ready for battle. Against such an amassed force the Kirinin had no chance of victory.
The gravelly voice of Momoichi broke the suddenly tense silence. "Hmm, it seems we're outmatched, time to go."
Before anyone could stop him his form became transparent and fell away, followed by his three subordinates. The entire entourage of Konohanin could only look on in annoyance as the Mizu Bunshin lost cohesion.
"They must have swapped themselves with those clones when they called up that mist." Shisui growled, "This whole fight has been a diversion."
Yugito had a sinking feeling in her gut, and almost instinctively spun around.
Naruto was embraced in a warm hug before he knew what hit him, the weight almost sending him careening to the ground. He looked up, eyes widening slightly in recognition when he recognised his Nee-chan. Samui had fallen to her knees, hugging him tightly. Her voice filtered through, a little shaky.
"Hi otōto, missed you."
Naruto's eyes softened and he returned her embrace, burying his face into her chest and closing his eyes. It was his big sister, his big sister was here. "I missed you too Oneechan."
He felt her entire form shake, and looked up to see that she was crying. She choked back a sob, "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry. I should have been there. I should have gone with her."
He let her hold him and breathed in the scent of Sakura blossoms. It was her, it was really her. He felt her body convulse as a great sob escaped her. "Ne, ne come on Oneechan. Don't cry."
Iruka sat across from them, smiling softly at the touching reunion. She was that older sister Naruto told him about. Suddenly he heard approaching footsteps, and darted his head to the side to see who was coming. His eyes widened, there, standing but a few meters away from them was a huge mammoth of a man, dressed in the dark blue colours of a Kiri Shinobi, a huge sword strapped to his back and a mass of bandages covering the lower half of his face.
"Well isn't this touching?" Zabuza said, his voice carrying just a hint of mirth. "I'm sorry to break it up, but the boy is coming with me."
Iruka jumped to his feet and slammed his hands together in the seal of the dog. His chakra lashed out, activating the explosive tags he had placed hidden in the soil. The bombs went off with a series of explosions and a mass of black smoke, obscuring the Kirinin from view. Iruka turned to Samui, wiping her tears, already rising to her feet and shouted out a single word. "Go!"
But there was nowhere to go to, they were completely surrounded. Two darkened silhouettes were positioned on the roof of the academy above them, and as the smoke cleared they saw that the Kirinin was unharmed by the trap, a younger Shinobi, dressed in a faded blue yukata with a porcelain mask stood beside him. The leader chuckled darkly, before reaching up with his hand to grip the hilt of his huge butcher's knife of a sword. "Not bad, but not good enough."
The smaller Ninja's head suddenly darted to the left, looking back to the huge steel gates which led to the training grounds. "Zabuza-sama,"
"I know, I felt it too," The swordsman replied, eyes not leaving the three in front of him. "Means nothing, we just get this kid and kill these two."
Samui's hands were already blurring through a set of seals, but she was forced to abort when the two brothers fell from the rooftop, jumping to the side to miss a bladed gauntlet which hit the ground with a thunderous crash. The Kumonin fished into her pouch, throwing a trio of kunai right at the two, who raised their gauntlets in time to block the knives.
Iruka rushed, grabbing Naruto in midstride and making a break for open ground. The swordsman was faster though, and came in swinging his huge sword with relative ease. The blade cut straight through the Chunin, seemingly cutting him in half at the chest. But he was just able to substitute both himself and Naruto for a park bench barely three meters away and the Executioners blade cut through heavy oak instead of flesh and bone.
The lecturer grabbed one of his kunai, just in time to deflect a senbon needle aimed for his jugular, but was too slow to block the one aimed for his right shoulder. The needle imbedded itself into flesh, hitting a cluster point and turning his whole limb numb. He gritted his teeth, and almost dropped the eight year old.
"Sensei," He ignored Naruto's worried voice and grabbed a kunai from his satchel, holding it in a backward grip as he watched the swordsman roar towards him, sword held at the ready for a diagonal swing. There was no way to dodge it, and Samui was too far away to be of any help. Naruto began to struggle and broke free from his teacher's weak grasp. He landed on his feet, stretched out his hands and stood his ground as the Nukenin approached.
Zabuza skidded to a halt, sword stopping just a millimetre from the child's form. Iruka fell to his knees, hacking and coughing, there was poison on the tips of the senbon. Samui had been slammed into a wall. The claws of a gauntlet stuck into her midsection and a kunai knife held against her throat. The blades of the gauntlet were coated in the same poison, and blood was staining her gray shirt.
"If I go with you," Naruto said, his eyes not leaving the dark orbs of the infamous Demon of the Mist, "Will you let them go?"
By now Iruka had completely collapsed, barely conscious enough to hear the words of an eight year old child pleading for their lives. How could an eight year old be so unafraid against someone like this man? Zabuza looked down at him for a moment, curious, and then he threw his head back and laughed. "For a kid you have some balls! Haku, give them the antidote and leave them where they lie."
The masked Shinobi nodded, before producing a duo of vials of clear liquid from his yukata. He knelt beside a barely conscious Samui first and made her drink, before approaching Iruka and kneeling beside him. The Ninja pushed him onto his back, and pulled the cork from the vial. Iruka glared at him, but relented and let him pour the antidote into his mouth. "When you recover it might be best to take this girl to the hospital, even without the poison she has still been badly injured."
Haku stepped back, flanking Naruto who looked at Iruka and smiled weakly, "Look after Oneechan, Sensei."
Zabuza grabbed him and in a blur they all vanished in a mass of swirling water, Kirigakure's version of the Shunshin no Jutsu. Iruka watched the spot where they once stood. He saw Naruto's eyes. They weren't the eyes of a defiant prisoner. They were the eyes of a terrified child. He must have been scared out of his mind.
It took only thirty seconds for reinforcements to arrive, but in those thirty seconds an experienced Shinobi could get through Konoha, over the walls and fifty meters into the surrounding woodland. Yugito was the first to arrive. She saw Iruka, kneeling over Samui's prone form, and one look into his eyes told her everything she needed to know.
Naruto was gone.
Don't you have People for this? Pt I
"Hey Jiji, can I ask you something?"
Sarutobi looked up from his small bundle of paperwork, and smiled at the little blonde sitting in the chair across from him. Naruto was reading, or trying to read a couple of the recently signed forms he was working through, a frown on his eight year old features. "Of course Naruto, what's the matter?"
"Um, why do you do this crap?"He asked.
Sarutobi sighed, waving a hand across the bundle of papers on his desk, and the meter high piles on either side he still had to go through before the day was out. "I don't like it anymore than you do Naruto, but as Hokage it is my duty to make decisions for the betterment of the vil-"
"No no Jiji, you misunderstand me." Naruto cut in lightly with a childish flailing of hands, almost throwing the couple of papers he had been examining to the floor. "I didn't ask why you were doing this crap. I asked why you were doing this crap."
It took the tired Kage a moment for the question to filter into his oxygen deprived brain, but when it did he looked at the little Uzumaki, and recently adopted Nii closely. "Come again?"
Naruto took a couple of random papers from the pile, "Why should the Hokage care that Jett's Teahouse wants a permit to redecorate their interior? Why should the Hokage be informed if the transportation guild lost a crate of Nami Sushi on their way to Konoha? Why should the Hokage care that Ichimaru Shrimp wants to sell a new type of, well, shrimp? My point Jiji is this. Don't you have people to do these things for you?"
Hiruzen had an explanation on the tip of his tongue, but stopped. For the first time in years the Sandaime actually read the details of five forms, and found that none of them were important enough. After a few more minutes of reading he found that of the next fifty forms he was about to mindlessly agree to there was only one or two that should be deemed worthy of his attention. If he remembered correctly there was supposed to be a couple of people who were supposed to sort through these files.
Naruto watched curiously as the old man reached into his desk, extracted a pipe and matches, lit the pipe and took a long puff. A moment of silence passed, the only movement in the small office being the rings of smoke floating from the old man's pipe. Slowly Sarutobi extracted his pipe from his mouth, took a deep breath and roared, "Nemu!"
The woman almost tripped through the front door, caught herself and stood to attention, a grimace on her face, "Yes, Hokage-sama."
The Hokage wrote a quick note, gave it to her and told her to move all of the paperwork down to the lower levels. The woman starred down at him, before looking at Naruto, then back at him. Then the young Yamanaka grinned, getting over her initial shock that the dozen people hanging around the lower levels of the tower sleeping and molesting women had a purpose. She nodded and with a short bow flew out of the office as fast as she could to get a trolley.
A half hour passed, and the Hokage looked around his office in awe. Where once there were small mountains of paperwork touching the ceiling there were now wide open spaces. Was his office always this big? He looked down at the small collection of paperwork on his desk; about as thick as a small novel, back at Naruto, then back at the paperwork again. The elderly Hokage felt something building in his gut, and he felt compelled to release it.
"Heh heh heh,"
"Jiji?"
"Ha ha ha,"
"Hey old man, you feeling alright?"
"HAHAHA!"
"Um, okay old man, now you're scaring me."
"MWHA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!"
Naruto starred at his Grandfather figure with a mixture of fascination and fear as the old man broke out into a series of uncontrollable, almost downright evil laughter. The blonde did what he felt was best, and edged his way out of the office.
Glossary
Shinobi – Ninja
Chunin – Middle Ninja
Jonin – High Ninja
Kirinin – Mist Ninja
Konohanin – Leaf ninja
Kumonin – Cloud Ninja
Nukenin – Missing Ninja
Kiri no Shinobigatana Nananin Shū – Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist
Kirigakure no Kijin – Demon of the Hidden Mist
Oni Kyōdai – Demon Brothers
Doujutsu – Eye Techniques
Kenjutsu – Sword Techniques
Suitonjutsu – Water Techniques
Sharingan – Pinwheel Eyes
Futon; Kaze no Hitufuki – Wind Release: Gust of Wind
Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu – Fire Release: Grand Fireball Technique
Katon; Kaenenjin no Jutsu – Fire Release: Ring of Fire Technique
Katon: Karyūdan – Fire Release: Fire Dragon Missile
Kawarimi no Jutsu – Substitution Technique
Kirigakure no Jutsu – Hidden Mist Technique
Mizu Bunshin no Jutsu – Water Clone Technique
Hyōton: Kokyuu Gyouaisu – Ice Release: Freezing Ice Breath
Shunshin no Jutsu – Body Flicker Technique
Okay folks another day another update, sorry it took so long but I had a few important details to sort out. First was the completion and handing in of my coursework to the University, which included a model, 3,000 word essay, a review from my employer, and a million work forms which I should have filled out months ago.
Anyway I would like to thank everyone for reviewing and offering me their support and reviews. It really does mean a lot to me. As for the pairings, well, I'm not giving even the tiniest bit away. It would ruin the story for you if I just randomly gave small plot details like these.
As for the Omake, it was an idea I got from reading yet another Naruto fanfic, called Perfection: Naruto the Chimera by Thanathos. It is a really good fic, and anyone who hasn't read it yet really should. It should be pointed out that his version of the scene is a hundred times better than mine, in my opinion, but then again it is a two part Omake