Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.
There was a cracking sound of a door opening and closing, followed by steady footsteps before silence settled in. Then came the sound of someone plumping down in a chair. That person sighed in content by the comfort of the soft cushion. Putting down his conic hat on the desk, the person then turned to look at stacks of paper to the right corner of the desk before he picked up a piece of paper from the top stack and started reading.
This moment of tranquility ended an hour later when five figures materialized from the shadow of a sofa in front of the desk. They knelt down on one knee before one of them addressed the current occupant of the room, "The mission is accomplished, Hokage-sama. The threat has been neutralized."
The said person turned his eyes from his paper and looked at the kneeling figures. They were garbing the standard armors of ANBU and adorning different masks. The Hokage himself was covered with what was called the official Hokage uniform befitting his position: a long white coat with a red, full-length kimono under, tied by a white sash. As his hat was off, his face was clear seen. His skin was light, his hair grey; his face was gaunter, and he had the wrinkles and liver spots of old age.
"Well done. You stay, Nezu. The rest are dismissed."
With departing nods, the team disappeared in a blink of an eye, leaving behind their captain. The rat mask remained in the same place, waiting for any new order.
"Tell me, Nezu. How long have you been leading your team?" asked the old man, pushing his paperwork aside for later.
"It's been almost a year, sir." Nezu replied curtly, a bit perplexed with the question.
"How has your team been performing so far?" asked the Sandaime.
"The team has been so successful because of their top-notch skills and professionalism." Answered Nezu, though still not getting where the Hokage was going with this.
"That is great to hear. I expect nothing less from one of my most trusted and talented shinobi to lead such a famous ANBU team. I would like to congratulate you on that." Said Hiruzen with a smile on his face, proud of his underlings. Konoha was in good hands, and Hiruzen knew it would stay that way for a long time.
Nezu gave a polite bow as it was quite a rare occasion to receive praise from the Hokage himself. Because the old man was known to be a warm-hearted leader and always cared about his shinobi's well-being, he was highly respected by both the shinobi and the civilian factions.
"Then, I'm thinking of giving you a break as a reward for all your hard work." The Hokage continued.
Nezu was surprised by the offer. "With all due respect, it won't be necessary, Hokage-sama. I can keep going-" The rat mask ANBU replied before he was cut off.
The Sandaime raised his hand up and brought the argument to an end. "It's an order, Nezu. It is for your own good. And I'm sure your team will appreciate the break as well." Sternly he said, not accepting any more excuses from his underling. Nezu had been going on loads of missions back-to-back, which would seem typical considering his occupation as an ANBU, a captain no less. However, it was not healthy to operate in that manner in a long run. Sooner or later, he would be burned out and could end up being a liability in future missions.
The captain sighed inwardly and bowed in acceptance. There was no use in arguing with the old man when he was already set on something.
"I would like one more mission request though, Hokage-sama, if you don't mind." Said Nezu.
"Oh. And may I ask why?" asked the Sandaime with a raised eye brow.
It was quite a shock to see the captain stumbled for words for a bit, which said a lot as he had always been so confident in both his shinobi skills and wits. After a few seconds contemplating, Nezu gave his answer, "So that I can break the previous captain's record, sir."
Hiruzen stay quiet briefly before softly chuckling, causing Nezu to break a small blush behind his mask. "I see. Very well. If you are so adamant about it, I shall grant you the chance to win your own personal battle." He said before handing a scroll on the left corner of his desk to Nezu.
"Team 7 led by Hatake Kakashi is on their mission right now. They are escorting a bridge builder to the Land of Wave." said Hiruzen in his serious tone. He continued while pulling out his personal smoking pipe, "The danger threat was C-rank; however, I suspected that the client didn't reveal the whole truth to me when he requested a team. My assumption is that the mission might elevate to a higher rank and become too difficult for Kakashi alone to handle. I, by no mean, underestimate the man's skill, but he has to lead a potentially dangerous mission and at the same time look after his genins who had just recently graduated." He paused to let the news soaked in.
"I want you to be the reinforcement, but do not show yourself unless the situation requires you to."
"Understood. Consider it done." Responded Nezu. He bowed one last time before disappeared as quickly as his team did.
The aged Hokage blew out a ring of smoke from his mouth and sat quietly on his chair. It didn't go exactly as he had planned, but he was content enough with the way it turned out to be. Nezu was one of the best talents Konoha had produced. Still, once in a while, the young captain needed a break to get away from the stress of his demanding job. All shinobi needed an away time in order to not go insane or developed their own hobby, but he preferred if the young lad chose the former.
Unfortunately, for the Hokage himself, today had just started. More work to be done, and Hiruzen had to keep going. This tired body of his was yearning for a stop, but the village had not found his suitable replacement yet. Though someone seemed to have made himself into the contenders list.
There were four pairs of foot prints on the wet soil. They then turned into smudges, signifying a sudden drop down on the floor probably caused by a surprise attack.
Nezu also found a sword mark on a tree, dug into a quarter of its trunk. A broadsword most likely. The only well-known broadsword is Kubikiribouchou of Kirigakure… He faintly snorted, never thought the demon of the Mist would work for a merchant, a corrupted one even. With the mark still fresh from a rough pulling of the sword, he predicted a battle probably might have broken only an hour ago tops.
And true to his guess, he arrived at the battle scene, not too far from the first confrontation area, witnessing Hatake Kakashi in such a predicament which was almost laughable. You were not supposed to try to escape in water when fighting a really strong water user. The silver haired Jounin ended up being held in a water prison. Right when he was about to rescue Kakashi, the masked shinobi suddenly sensed another figure in the trees. An accomplice? Well, let's find out.
Nezu then entered the forest and found the target a couple minutes later. The person was crouching on a tree branch, meters from Nezu and seemingly waiting for something to happen. The ANBU had to pause his advance though as he saw the garment that the person was wearing. The mask was noticeable everywhere, at least to an experienced shinobi. Kiri Hunter-nin?
Nezu had to tread carefully after the revelation because he didn't want to cause an international incident, intentionally or not. A shinobi was not encouraged to interfere with a mission of another ninja of another village unless ordered to. However, the mysterious figure wasn't interfering with the fight either. Nezu was slightly confused by the action, or lack thereof.
The ANBU spared a quick glance back at the fight. The situation had somehow been turned around by a smart move from both Kakashi's male genins. The boy with brown hair was quite adequate in his shuriken jutsu, and the last Uchiha was smart enough to coordinate his plan with his teammate. Zabuza was forced to pull his right hand out of his prison, losing control of the water square. The Konoha's silver haired Jounin was free and looking to exact his revenge. Zabuza jumped back to the middle of the river and quickly started forming handseals. The real surprise was that Kakashi was copying Zabuza's movement to a tee and forming the same handseals, in the same sequence.
And back to the person in hiding, Naruto noticed the tightening of the person's hands on her needles. With hair that long, it could only be a female, or at least that was what Nezu thought. Then a powerful roar brought the ANBU's attention back to the fight.
Two water dragons were battling and successfully canceling out each other. After that, the two elite ninja decided to take the fight in a different direction; Kenjutsu. Though, that was a questionable decision by Kakashi as the advantage was obviously in Zabuza's hand.
Nezu wanted to help his colleague, but he had to solve his current situation first. "Aren't you supposed to be the one to take down Zabuza?" he asked with his voice distorted by his mask. His presence was finally made known to the 'Hunter-nin'.
The person reared back in surprise of the question, or more like of the new presence. What?! I did not sense him!
A few seconds went by, and no answer was given. Nezu slightly narrowed his eyes behind his mask. He was more and more suspicious of this person.
Then, the person threw her senbons at Nezu in hope of catching him off-guard, only to have the said ANBU reacted by throwing his kunai back, deflecting the projectiles. The person understood that she had to retreat back and was about to escape, but was forced to form an ice shield to protect herself from being incinerated by a giant fireball.
Ice release?! This was enough of an evidence to cement the idea that the person was not a hunter-nin, but an accomplice of Zabuza. He wasn't given a chance to pursue the target though as a cubic ice dome was erected and locked him inside of it. His short stupor resulted in his temporary confinement.
The person took the time she managed to buy to escape and regroup with her master. However, she didn't notice the red hue which was starting to become brighter and brighter from inside the dome.
Both Zabuza and Kakashi leapt back from each other to take a breather and were preparing for a ninjutsu shootout but were interrupted by the sudden arrival of the hunter-nin masked figure.
"Why are you here, Haku?!" Zabuza blurted out. That was not in the plan.
"There is another Konoha shinobi, Zabuza-sama. I believe we should retreat." replied the revealed Haku in a hurry.
"What do you mean?!-" the Kiri demon was cut off though by multiple bright orange orbs flying straight at their direction. Haku erected an ice wall just in time to cover both of them, but with repercussion this time as the collision between the two contrasting elements was so close to the two mercenaries. Plus, that jutsu was definitely not a fireball. The shield began melting from the intense heat of the still in-form orbs. Haku was sweating in concentration to keep the shield intact while Zabuza was quickly trying to figure out how to get them both out of this predicament.
Naturally, fire was weak against water, so any jutsu of fire release would have been put out with ease by a water wall, let alone an ice wall. These flaming orbs were, however, still grinding into the wall as it was maintained by the creator's constant chakra reinforcement, slowly evaporating water molecules.
"I can't keep this up much longer, Zabuza-sama." Haku grunted with deep focus on her jutsu to try to hold out just a bit longer.
Luckily, the orbs retracted back to their creator. Both the master and apprentice sighed in relief, but it was short-lived when there appeared to be multiple more orbs being brought into existence. A few seconds later, those floating menaces began conjoining together, forming into an enormous ball of extreme heat ten times the size of its original technique. It was right above the two missing-nin. Zabuza widened his eyes at the sight. There was only one known user of such technique, and she was supposed to be dead a long time ago. He was sure of that as his former village was the perpetrator of her death. So imagine how the demon of the mist felt when he saw the jutsu that he had only heard of.
Meanwhile, Kakashi immediately ordered his team to retreat, "Back away!"
"What?!" asked the Uchiha genin, dumbfounded by the sudden call.
"Follow me. We need to get out of here now!" yelled back the jounin. He wanted to be nowhere near that giant menace of a technique, knowing exactly what it could do. One time, he did not react fast enough and got his leg lightly scorched by it during a mission long time ago. Deciding it was far enough to be outside of the ANBU's jutsu range of damage, Kakashi then erected an earth wall to shield them all just in case.
Shaking off his thoughts, Zabuza swiftly formed a set of handseals with familiarity honed by practice. He had to be quick; otherwise, it would be over for him and Haku, being on a water source or not.
"Suiton: Daibakufu no Jutsu!" the swordsman yelled after finishing his own jutsu, just as the massive orb exploded.
The effect was mind-boggling when the two powerful high ranking jutsu, of contrasting natures even, clashed against each other. A giant swirling mass of water rose up to meet the massive flame, then everything turned white for a moment, followed by the thundering explosion. Water surged in all directions, and the strong explosive force from the blast shoved everything away from the vicinity. Waves rocking, trees uprooted being hurled away by the pressure as well. The aftermath was no less of a natural disaster.
It was a long while before everything seemed to settle down a little bit. It was a great idea to summon his earth wall as it took the full blunt force of colliding waves, saving the five people behind it. The silver haired jounin squinted his Sharingan to try to see what was happening inside the misty area. He could only make out a silhouette who was standing next to two unresponsive bodies floating on water. With a puff, two more silhouettes appeared before picking up the two unconscious shinobi.
After securing his capture, Nezu released a quick burst of his chakra to clear away the mist.
Then, the Hatake shunshined next to him, though the man seemed to be holding his left arm on which a trail of blood was flowing down. Kakashi definitely did not come out of that fight unharmed. "The help is deeply appreciated, Nezu." Thanked Kakashi, exchanging nods with his reinforcement.
"I'm just doing my job." Replied Nezu. He was never a man of flattery.
"But I wonder why you're here?" Kakashi asked, curious at Nezu's sudden appearance as the jounin did not recall requesting the HQ for help, though he wouldn't complain about it.
Nezu chose not to give an answer out loud when he sensed four more presences approaching, and instead, opted for hand signs that only ANBU agents would understand. A secret mission. Assassination on an influential target. Will discuss more tonight.
Kakashi nodded in understanding. Nezu took that as a cue to leave and deal with his new prisoners. An interrogation was in order for those two.
The Hatake had suspected as much that Gatou would hire high-ranking missing-nins to kill his opposers. He thought that he might have to deal with the corrupted merchant by himself at some point. With him here, things will be much easier. Kakashi was shook out of his thought when his genin arrived with their client.
Always the hyperactive one when seeing incredible feat by shinobi, the brown hair boy was the first to speak his mind. "Wow… that guy took those two down with one move!" You could hear the awe tone of his voice. Hell, there were stars shining in his eyes.
The girl with pink hair nodded in agreement. The white cloaked man had to be some powerful shinobi to be able to defeat enemies that her sensei had been struggling with.
All the while, the last teammate was having a thought of his own as well. I need that kind of power. How did he manage to do it? Is it because he's an ANBU?
Kakashi subtly chuckled at his young charges' reaction. The fight could open up their eyes to the real world of shinobi combat and get a glimpse of how the outside world was like. They had to be on pins and needles if they wanted to make it in this world.
The pink haired girl added, "He doesn't look that old either." From what she could see of him from afar, he was obviously taller than her and her teammates, but definitely shorter than Kakashi, though his covering by his cloak didn't provide a clear view for observation.
"He's one of the top talents in Konoha's ANBU rank. Reaching the captain position at such a young age is a testament to how powerful he actually is." Said Kakashi, briefly revealing some details about Nezu; however, he made sure not to say too much to compromise Nezu's identity. The jounin continued in his fake upbeat tone while showing off his signature eyes smile, "I suppose he is even stronger than me." Though fate had not done any good for him. That last part was kept in his mind, however.
"Well, let's get going, team. We've got a mission to continue!" cheered Kakashi, looking energized out of a sudden. He intended it to sooth his team's nerve. They must have been shocked and scared when Zabuza showed up. On the contrary, the four people around him only turned deadpanned at his random change of mood as from the start of their mission, the man had been walking a slouch manner while reading his orange book.
The old bridge builder shook his head in disappointment. This just cemented his belief that shinobi, albeit powerful, were weird.