Word Count: 2019
Here we go, at least I wasn't atrociously late with this update.
And a little fun thing, the first person can tell me what song my e-mail address (and consequently my username) is from (wrappedcold at yahoo dot com) will get a oneshot of your choice.
Update: Thank you very much to InARealPickle for point out some spelling errors. Thank you dear!
It's a universally well known fact that all jounin are batshit insane; mostly because they were. They had to be to deal with the suicide missions they were sent on, hell, you have to be insane to even pass the test.
And any chuunin would tell you that jounin were just plain weird. They wore their uniform everywhere they went (oh, how Kotetsu bitched when his hot jounin date came to The Bronze wearing her ninja blues), and they just didn't know how to relax. They can never sit with their backs to a door or a window and they always have weapons and poisons and other dangerous objects in the most inopportune places. They're eccentric, haughty and even a genin could write a better mission report than even some of the best jounin.
If you asked Iruka, he'd say he wasn't particularly fond of the whole jounin business -- much too messy for him. (At least none of them can discredit his job, someone has to teach those pre-pubescent hellions to become cold-blooded killers.) Either way, chuunin and jounin generally don't hang out together, because most of them don't have much in common (and it's safer that way, jounin have way too many enemies).
In fact, the only thing good about them (as Kotetsu can once again attest to) are the absolutely wicked parties they throw -- not that anyone outside of jounin can go, but as a desk nin you see and hear many, many things...
Right, so it's been established that jounin are freakin' crazy, but there's always so much more than what's visible on the surface. Jounin are some of the strongest (not only physically) and bravest (but not fearless) ninja alive.
Jounin fight. It's what they do and how they live, there is no relaxing for a jounin, there is no letting down their guard and being unprepared. Jounin are the front line of any village, they're the ones sent on suicide recon missions, they're the ones sent on impossible assassinations and assigned to "fuck and fight" the enemy.
They're the ones who can't afford to sleep, because somewhere, someone is after their head (and their family). Jounin are paranoid. They don't ever turn their backs on a vulnerability because they've been there, done that, and have had someone close to them die because of that.
Hell yeah, jounin have to be batshit insane, it's basically a requirement to even be accepted to take the examination. And jounin really don't connect with chuunin, because it's the jounin that are the fuckin' murderers (and they know it).
But, jounin really do throw kick ass parties (Genma and Anko the most notorious) -- too bad no one ever remembers them in the morning.
-
When Kakashi became a jounin at thirteen it was the biggest event to hit Konoha in years; as much of an event as it could be with the war going on. The council voiced their approval (the council never approved of anything), and now, when people heard the name Hatake... they were proud.
Kakashi was indifferent.
The day of his promotion, the Sandaime summoned Kakashi to his office, sitting him down in front of his desk and looking the part of the wise old grandfather that he tried to be for Kakashi. To be honest, Sarutobi never thought Kakashi was ready to be a jounin (and he wasn't, Kakashi was a child), but Kakashi was damn good and everybody knew it.
And when Sarutobi looked down at Kakashi (the child) sitting impassively in the too-big chair, back ramrod straight and eyes (too) cold, he let out a sigh that rumbled deep from within his chest; and inside, Sandaime mourned.
Kakashi was a hybrid, stuck between being a not-adult and too far away from being the child that he was, Kakashi killed with an efficiency born from experience that all jounin knew. It wouldn't be long before he would be recruited into ANBU, they had already asked after him but Sarutobi had intervened, not while he was Hokage. But Sandaime wasn't the Hokage anymore, and Kakashi couldn't be protected; because Kakashi didn't want to be.
Sarutobi sat there and told Kakashi about life, told him about Shodaime and Nidaime and the things that break a man. He explained into the wee hours of the morning the edicts of a shinobi and explained to him how girls worked (because Kakashi didn't know. Dammit, he was too young).
And then he taught Kakashi about jounin, about the missions, the killing, the lack of pride, the sacrifice, the shame, the responsibility and the murder. He asked Kakashi to be a child as long as he could (but it was fruitless, he knew), he asked him to humor Minato when he offered to take him out to eat ramen and to be nice to Rin because she really did like him like him, and it was a woman thing (but Kakashi wouldn't know.)
When Sandaime (he felt so old) ran out of words he placed his hands on Kakashi's shoulders and looked him deep in the eyes like man that Kakashi wasn't (but he was), and asked him if he was ready.
Kakashi paused for a minute, taking time to formulate an answer like always he did and when he finally did answer, Sandaime felt cold (and he thinks he might have felt fear for the very first time).
Kakashi looked up at him, blue-grey eyes flat with a spark of something primal and fuckin' smirked.
Sandaime couldn't sleep for days.
-
And they were going in.
After doing a quick scan of border it was found that the best place to infiltrate Iwa was to ambush the outpost situated between two large overhanging cliffs. Once through it was all a matter of getting in and getting out alive; because of the position of the outpost it wasn't a highly frequented area, so they had enough time to get the retrieve the information and then continue with their assigned mission.
Originally Kakashi's team only had to eliminate their target, but about ten minutes after the outpost was spotted, Asuma had reached into his flak jacket and pulled out the package that Kakashi had delivered to him the morning before their mission. Apparently Asuma had strict orders not to open the package until they reached the border. Inside the package had been a cipher and a new objective for them to complete. Not only were they to complete their assassination mission, but there were now rumors of Iwa taking the war to a new level; they had bartered weaponry from Yukigakure and had formed a tentative alliance with them -- they had to destroy that alliance at all costs.
Yukigakure was a generally quiet village and because of the rumors of their advanced technology, no other country had dared infringe on their privacy. Even with Konoha being one of the five major countries, with the Yukigakure ninja being virtually impervious to ninjutsu and genjutsu and with joined forces with Iwagakure; Konoha's chances of surviving a war would be slim to none.
"Raido," Kakashi started, "are the two-ways configured?"
"Way ahead of you there," Raido replied, crouching down low to the ground as he twisted and turned knobs on all four two-ways, "I've set the frequencies to a rare one used usually for the civilian hikers around this area, I've also attached a scrambler so they'll have a hell of a time hearing anything."
"Good work. We'll need to be in and out of there in an hour," Kakashi turned to face the two nin leaned up against a boulder, Genma holding his senbon tight in his teeth, and Asuma grinding his cigarette against the stone,"Report every ten minutes and take no unnecessary risks; I'm leaving no one behind."
"Got you, coach." Genma replied, grim face at odds with his joking tone.
The three men not occupied did a last minute weapons check, Genma adjusting his poisons, Asuma taking experimental swipes in the air with his trench knives, and Kakashi adjusting the hitai-ate over his Sharingan. They left their packs a couple miles off so that they'd only have to stop briefly to pick them off, then continue in the same direction to finish their mission. The team had packed lightly, taking nothing with them but their weapons and emergency stimulants and antidotes.
Raido finally stood up and handed out the two-ways, they all put them on and adjusted them with an ease born from experience and eyed each other.
"It's show time," Asuma grumbled in his baritone voice, arms flexing and fists tightening.
"We'll flank them," Kakashi stated, "Genma, you take the right, Asuma take the left. Raido, you're coming with me and we'll take point. Genma. Asuma. Once you get into position give us a signal and we'll move out."
Genma and Asuma were gone in a flash.
Moving forward so that they could see over the jutting rocks that hid them, Raido and Kakashi fell silent; at ease with the fact that they could no longer sense Genma and Asuma -- if they couldn't the enemy sure as hell couldn't either.
Hours flew by in the space of seconds and Kakashi's hands began to shake almost imperceptibly; Raido saw, but said nothing. (Kakashi was beyond grateful.)
And then they saw the signal, in scout code Genma motioned,
Seven hostiles centralized. One Civilian. Move out.
Raido went out first, vaulting over the stone, nearly invisible with his black attire and black sword that glinted in the crescent moonlight and had the Iwa nin moving to attack.
The first nin went down without even knowing what hit him, Asuma's kunai piercing his skull with a wet thump. The second nin fared no better, having turned around at the sound of his companion falling only to come face-to-face with a barrage of poisoned senbon; he was dead in five seconds.
By that point Raido had encountered his first victim; using the speed ANBU was known for, he had his sword protruding through the thick stomach of a burly guard, using a quick burst of chakra to force it up and outward, Raido sliced through his lungs and ripped through bone with disturbing ease.
Three down. Four to go.
As Raido rushed forward to the next nin who was forming some set of seals with a blinding speed, he noticed Kakashi out of the corner of his eye, his hand thrust clean through a sentry's chest. The the next thing he knew, Raido was dodging an avalanche of rocks, but he wasn't fast enough, a rather large boulder clipping his shoulder and throwing him to the left. He was back up before the enemy could blink and the threw a minor fire jutsu at the woman, just enough to distract her as he smoothly transitioned into a B-rank genjutsu, subtly changing the landscape and shifting everything a few inches to the right. Raido flew at her with a blinding speed, throwing a kick at her head that was blocked then spinning his body to connect his other leg with her torso.
As she fell, Raido hurled three kunai at her and she smirked as she dodged; barely moving her head so that the kunai missed her, "Is that all you have, Konoha-trash?", a look of surprise on her face as the last kunai struck her in the chest. She gurgled as she fell to the ground.
Seven down.
And then it was over, as quick as it begun, silence blanketing the solemn area as the bodies were dumped in a heap and dissolved with one of Genma's poisons; the one civilian found was bound and gagged, hidden by a genjutsu against the side of the cliff.
"Kakashi, you're just going to leave him there?" Asuma questioned, it was an unspoken rule that civilian casualties were to be avoided at all costs.
"Yeah, the genjutsu will wear off in ninety minutes; he won't remember a thing."
Genma stood up from his task and smiled wildly at his team, "Let's do this."
Kiki's Excuse Corner-
- Firstly I'd like to give big thank you to RhyssaFireheart for drawing the most awesome fanart of Genma in a kimono from chapter five. She's an amazing artist and you all should really check out her drawing, the link is in my profile. You'll LOVE it, trust me I was floored. It was the exact Genma I had pictured in my mind... freaky.
- Yukigakure is a village introduced in the first Naruto movie and is located in the Land of Snow. They have advanced technology, more so than any other country, and their ninja wear armour that makes ninjutsu and genjutsu basically useless on them.
- This is my first time ever writing a combat scene so please tell me how you liked it. Most of the terms Kakashi and his team use are military terms that I've used at my own discretion that may or may not be entirely correct (I did do some research though).