Team 7: A Retelling
By: Tellemicus Sundance
#07: Jailbreak!
Unfinished bridge
It was almost time to call the work day over and Kakashi was glad for it. While he did find a certain comfort in the ability to just stand around all day reading his beloved book and keeping a discreet eye out for trouble, it was so boring! He was a man of action, he needed to have some kind of project to keep himself busy or he'd go stir-crazy. It was a minor but common personality quirk that many ninja developed in response to their chosen profession.
And though sitting back and watching his cute genin drudge through D-rank missions could be considered the same as what he was doing now, there was a significant between the two. With his team, they usually did those missions before or after a strenuous training session. With Tazuna-san and his workers, he couldn't even do that since he needed to protect the elder man at all times.
And that group of twenty rowdy thugs who had been meandering around the bridge for the past two hours were one of the reasons why he couldn't leave. Kakashi couldn't help but shake his head at those men in honest exasperation. They were waiting for him to abandon his post. He could tell because his sharp hearing was more than enough to pick up some small snippets of conversation that passed between them. Those clues, as well as the fact that there hadn't been as many of them yesterday stalking the bridge, quickly informed Kakashi that there was something afoot today.
He watched them from over the rim of his book cover as they seemed to grow increasingly restless, likely from his unmoving figure. What were they up to? Nothing good, obviously, but he knew he'd be getting his answers soon enough. Those types of men rarely had much patience and even less discipline. They'd make a move before he did.
Off in the distance, Kakashi suddenly heard a series of loud explosions, three in quick succession. As a ninja, he quickly recognized those explosions for what they were, explosive notes. Which means, more than likely, it was his genins' doing. But he didn't sense any killing intent or bloodlust from the direction that the explosions came from. What was going on out there? Well, he'd just have to wait for the moment.
"UGH! That's it! I can't take it anymore!" one of them shouted to his comrades in anger.
'Well, speak of the devil,' Kakashi thought to himself in slight amusement as he returned his attention to the book. He'd long ago anticipated this moment and had prepared for it accordingly. Seeing the thugs begin marching imperiously down the bridge with their hands on their many different weapons, Kakashi idly marked his page as he pushed himself off the railing.
"Tazuna-san," he called out, catching the man's attention quickly. "Don't go anywhere for the next five minutes. And don't forget the you-know-what."
From his position on one of the stone pillars that'd be a foundation for the bridge, the old man easily saw the approaching crowd and called out. "No worries, take your time, Kakashi-san!"
Placing his book into his equipment pouch, Kakashi started making halfhearted handseals. Seeing the ninja beginning to work his magic tricks, the crowd let loose an angry cry as they rushed forward in a futile attempt to stop him. Completing the seal sequence, Kakashi's jutsu instantly kicked into effect, paralyzing the charging men's bodies. Since they had been running, the jutsu caught most of them in awkward positions and their own momentum sent them tumbling into disorganized and uncontrolled heaps on the ground.
'I will never understand how some people can be so foolish or arrogant to attack a person who they should know they have zero chance of winning against,' Kakashi thought as he continued his leisure stroll over to the group. Now, that thought might have been hypocritical to many others, considering Kakashi had also been quite arrogant in himself when he was younger. But there was big difference. He had at least had the proper training to attempt fighting a superior opponent and he could clearly see that none of the men before him could claim the same excuse.
Walking up the first man he came across, Kakashi squatted down before him as he raised his hitai-ate. Focusing the power of Obito's Sharingan on the man's fearful face, Kakashi waited for a moment until he was sure he had the man fully under his next genjutsu before he said, "Tell me what's going on."
And the man explained what little he knew of the situation.
"I can't believe that actually worked!" Naruto gushed, sounding way too giddy and proud of himself.
"Everyone makes mistakes every so often, Naruto," Sasuke pointed out somewhat irritably. "Will you give it a rest already?"
"No way! I'm never gonna forget that beautiful sight for as long as I live!" his massive grin didn't wane in the least as he declared this.
"Which means I'll never forget it either," Sakura grumbled to herself, just as annoyed as Sasuke.
"Ano…" Inari asked, quite confused. "Why are you so angry? We got away, didn't we?"
"Yes, we did," Sasuke agreed. "And in the loudest and most obnoxious way possible! All that baka did was alert every ninja and mercenary in the vicinity where we are!"
"You're just jealous you didn't think of it, Sasuke-chan!" Naruto snipped.
The four of them were bouncing through the forest canopy as quickly as they could manage. The source of Sasuke and Sakura's annoyance was the simple fact that they had been forced to ditch the carriage about a kilometer ago. Sakura had accidentally taken a turn too wide and too quickly, sending it, the passengers, and the poor horses crashing into the murky swamp next to the road. While Sasuke and Sakura had been fast to get Inari and horses to safety, Naruto had hung back and left the pursuing mercenaries a little gift. This came in the form of soaking the sake into the cushions and stuffing a bundle of explosive notes into one of the emptied bottles. He had just barely managed to jump free of the carriage when the mercenaries had arrived and rushed to inspect the carriage, triggering Naruto's booby-trap. The kids didn't stick around to see the results of the explosion, but it was quite clear that there were likely not too many survivors among those who were closest to it.
Coming to a sliding halt on the ground as they finally cleared the trees, Team 7 found themselves staring at a welcome sight in the form of Tazuna-san's home. Breaking free of the crazy ninja, Inari rushed into the structure as quickly as he could. "Kaasan! Okaasan! I'm home! Kaasan!"
No answer.
"Kaasan?" Inari called out, growing worried. It wasn't like his mother to not be home when he got back from, even more so with the events that had taken place earlier. "Kaasan, where are you?"
"I don't think she's here, Inari-san," Sakura said, a cautious gleam in her eye as she and the boys spread out to begin searching the house.
"In here!" Sasuke called from the kitchen. Rushing forward, the kids found the room in slight shambles. Like a fight or a small scuffle had taken place in there.
"Kaasan!" Inari yelled as he tried to run into the room, but three pairs of hands stopped him. "What are you doing?"
"We'll take a look first," Sasuke spoke, looking down at the boy sternly. "You stay here."
Had he been told to do this yesterday or even this morning, he would've blatantly ignored them and rushed in anyways. But after that terrifying arrest, near-execution, and harrowing chase, he was feeling a bit more compliant to their demands. Still, he was restless and unable to stay in one place for long. So, Inari turned and wondered into the large living room and started pacing back and forth. After several minutes with low murmurings from the kids, they finally emerged from the kitchen with somber expressions, making Inari's hopes sink dramatically.
"Your mother's been taken captive, probably by Gato," Sasuke announced bluntly.
"How do you know? Where is she? Are you—Can you save her?" Inari demanded in an increasingly loud voice.
Before they could answer, several large objects crashed through the windows. Objects that stood up to reveal themselves as sneering thugs wielding all manner of sharp, pointy weapons. The genin were fast to take defensive positions around Inari as they watched more of them come pouring into the house.
"What's going on here?" Inari was yelling at the top of his lungs.
"It was a trap, baka!" Naruto shouted over the young boy. "I can't believe we didn't see this coming!"
"In our defense," Sasuke said as he glared at the thugs, there were close to forty of them now inside the room. "We were expecting an attack on Tazuna and the bridge, not here."
"I don't know how you kids escaped the execution grounds," one of the mercs said, trying (and failing) to look as menacing as possible. "But you're not going to be leaving here alive or in one piece!"
"Well then," Naruto declared as he reached up and tightened his hitai-ate's knot. "Let's get this party started!"
Not even three minutes later, there was a large heap of tied up, unconscious bodies lying in the center of the room. The three culprits of the pile up stood off to the side, idly dusting their hands as though just finishing a menial task. Inari, who'd taken to hiding behind the kitchen door during the fight, could only gawk at the sight. Those kids were so strong! Was this what it was like to be a ninja?
"I see you guys have things under control here," a voice from the side said, attracting the four kids' attentions instantly. Standing there and idly leaning on the broken window sill was Kakashi, surveying his genins' handiwork.
"Hai," Sasuke answered as he turned to face the man. "All that's left is to get Tsunami back from Gato. How's Tazuna?"
"He's fine," Kakashi answered, though it was clear his reply was directed more towards Inari than the ninja. "We should be back here in about three minutes. So, what happened?"
After explaining how Tsunami had come to them in the forest to request their aid at saving Inari from execution and the following escape, Team 7 looked towards their sensei's Kage Bunshin quite expectantly.
"I see," Kakashi said, thinking over what they'd told him. Most of the stuff they'd done was pretty basic, but given their opponents at the time, that was quite acceptable. Glancing back at them, he saw the still-burning fires of determination in their eyes. He knew immediately what they wanted to ask of him. "So, you want to go get Tsunami-san back now, right?"
"Hai!" three voices answered simultaneously.
Sighing in slight exasperation, Kakashi nodded his acceptance. "Just hurry back, okay? I don't feel like having to fight against a team of missing-nin alone, as the case may be."
Gato's Corporate Headquarters
It was late in the evening, the sun having already set and the last fringes of daylight slowing disappearing over the horizon as the darkness of night quickly settled in. Tsunami was sitting hunched over in a bamboo cage that was purposely too small for even her petite frame. After all, prisoners are rarely treated with kindness and the comforts of home, regardless of their connection with whatever or why there were imprisoned. Her clothes were slightly torn from when the five thugs broke into her home and captured her. The only saving grace of that time was, despite their obvious desire to, they hadn't done anything more than grope her when they grabbed and bound her.
She had been taken directly to see Gato. Apparently the arrogant criminal had been presumptuous in whatever schemes he'd concocted. She knew this because the thugs had been quite self-assured that when they told her that she was to be Gato's 'trophy' after his men killed her father and the bridge workers when the ninja (Kakashi-san, she assumed they meant) rushed to save Inari. But Tsunami had to restrain her slight smile when she heard the plan. After all, while she may not have known if they'd succeed, she had been able to figure out the part with Kakashi-san and her father quite easily on her own, which was why she'd begged the kids to go instead. A risk, to be sure, but she held faith that they could handle themselves against Gato's goons, especially after that little brawl in the market.
As it turned out, her faith had been well placed. The capital city of Nami had been in an uproar when they arrived in it. Apparently the kids had indeed managed to show up and caused quite a ruckus, though she couldn't exactly discern any details while eavesdropping. She didn't know what happened, she was reluctant to get her hopes up, but the lack of a depressing aura in the peoples' faces and demeanors did help to paint the situation in a slightly more positive light. Gato had been ranting and raving something foul when she was finally brought into his presence. He had taken one look at her and immediately ordered that she be thrown into one of his 'birdcages' while he decided what to do with her.
Tsunami was now left hanging out in the open air. She was still inside Gato's castle-like compound, her cage hung inside his jail tower. The tower itself was mostly hollow with only a wooden staircase and various levels circling the walls. Hanging from beams out in the center were numerous cages, some with other prisoners who'd clearly been in them for a long time. The bottom of the tower was flooded due to its construction near some swamps outside and there were numerous iron and wood stakes pointing upwards to dissuade the prisoners from trying to escape and jumping off into the water. Them and the horrid stink that was permeating from the water was also a strong repellent.
As she was sitting there, idly swinging from side to side in her cage, she watched with disinterested eyes as the fat jailor waddled into view not too far away from her. He was carrying a large bucket with him that she knew he'd be filling up soon.
That was when the meowing started. It started out quiet and calmly enough, but it still attracted her attention. There, nestled in the only stone floor of the tower, was a large grate. It was probably a sewer or something else of equal revulsion, but that was where the cat calls were coming from. Why were there some cats inside there? It sounded like…three of them, based on the different pitches of their voices.
Waddling up the grate with his now-full bucket, the jailor poured it down the hole, laughing maliciously at silencing the annoying cats. But as he was turning away, a particularly angry yowl that sounded vaguely like a cat echoed out of the depths. If they hadn't been interested before, all of the prisoners and jailor were now. Not a second later, the meowing started up again, much quicker and far angrier sounding than they had been previously. Curiously, the jailor set his shit-bucket aside and awkwardly dropped to his hands and knees to try and get a better look into the darkness under the grate.
Much to the surprise of the audience, the grate suddenly was lifted and thrown to the side, splashing down into the waters below. As this was happening, a slender hand shot out of the hole and grabbed the surprised jailor's collar, yanking him headfirst into the sewer hole with a familiar girl voice yelling "Meow, dude!"
"ITAI!" another familiar boy's voice yelped in pain. "His chins landed on my foot!"
"Sayonara, blubber-butt," Naruto's voice called out to the fading echoes of the jailor, sounding not the least bit apologetic.
Climbing easily out of the hole was an almost-unrecognizable figure to Tsunami, due to all the feces that was caked upon her clothes and in her hair. But the portions of her hair that weren't covered were an all-too-familiar pink.
"That's it!" Sakura declared hatefully as she futilely tried to clean herself. "That's the last time I'm ever crawling through a sewer! And why didn't you guys get hit too?"
"You shielded us," Sasuke pointed out bluntly as he and Naruto quickly popped out of the hole. "But I think I agree: no more sewers, Naruto!"
"Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura?" Tsunami couldn't help but call out in surprise, quickly gaining each of their attentions. "What are you doing here?"
"Well, that was easy," Sasuke commented as he and Naruto approached her cage. "I'd have thought it'd have taken longer to find you."
"Told you that coming in from the sewer was a good idea!" Naruto chirped cheekily, earning a shit-ball to the back of his head, courtesy of Sakura. "Sakura-chan! What was that for?"
Ignoring his bickering teammates, Sasuke quickly and easily pulled Tsunami's cage out of the air and snapped the lock. Helping her out of the cage, he said, "You didn't think we'd leave you to the mercies of Gato, did you?"
Truly touched, Tsunami smiled softly to the young Uchiha boy, earning a slight blush from him before he turned away. "Arigato-gozimasu, Sasuke-kun."
"Let's get out of here before something happens," Sasuke spoke loudly enough to gain Sakura and Naruto's attentions. They both nodded in agreement, Sakura especially desiring to clean herself.
"HEY!" a voice called out. "What about us?" "Yeah, take us with you!" "I want out! I didn't do anything to deserve this!"
As the various voices of almost twenty people started shouting in agreement, the three ninja kids just cringed. The volume of the din was quickly rising and echoing in the hollow tower. Naruto only needed a glance from his friends to prompt him into producing numerous Kage Bunshin. The clones quickly rushed off to free and silence the other prisoners.
"How are we gonna get out?" Tsunami asked loudly enough to be heard over the din. She couldn't help but wearily eye the sewer drain that the kids had come out of. How they'd managed to brave the foul smelling tunnel was beyond her!
"Through the front door, of course," Naruto declared, crossing his arms and grinning confidently.
"You got a plan?" Sasuke asked, he and Sakura eyeing him cautiously.
"I always got a plan, Sasuke!" Naruto said before hurrying over to the jail door.
"You notice he didn't say that they were always good plans, right?" Sakura asked somewhat darkly as she tried to wipe some more of the crap out her hair and only succeeded in smearing it in some more. Sasuke just grunted in agreement as Tsunami tried to pretend she didn't notice just how strongly the girl stunk.
Peeking out of through the cracks of the door frame, Naruto quickly took a survey of the area. There were two guards standing watch outside the door, surprisingly not all that disturbed by the ruckus the prisoners had been making. Maybe them shouting out like that was more common than he assumed? Whatever, it wasn't important.
Beyond the two guards was a large, open courtyard. He could vaguely see a fancy-looking building that was quite likely Gato's office or household off to the right. To the left, he could see a pair of gates in the large stone wall that surrounded and protected the compound from floodwaters and the populace alike. Climbing the walls would've been quite easy, even more so now that they could use their chakra to walk up them. But doing so could be potentially dangerous on several levels, mostly because they'd be completely exposed and the freed prisoners would slow them down greatly. That and there was the possibility of that Zabuza guy being nearby and sensing their use of chakra. The Kage Bunshins he'd made earlier were a frantic measure meant to silence the prisoners; a calculated risk of trading silence for discovery, assuming that Zabuza had sensory training among his other skills. Regardless, that just left their only exit through the front gates.
Grinning as he looked at the jail door itself, it opened inwards, perfect! Silently calling one of his earlier clones forward, Naruto opened the door and said, "Hey, boys," gaining the guards' attentions. They were surprised for two critical seconds, more than long enough for him and his clone to knock them out before they could react. Catching them before they could collapse, he and his clone dragged them inside the tower as he cockily continued, "Take the rest of the night off!"
Sending his clone and another clone to throw the two guards into some cages themselves, he turned to the approaching escapees with a grin.
"What now, genius?" Sasuke asked derisively.
Naruto's grin widened as he said, "Who wants to start a riot?"
Zabuza stood in Gato's office with Haku behind him. Outside the door, standing like sentries were the Demon Brothers, silently awaiting their master's call. For his own part, Zabuza was somewhat curious why Gato had summoned him to his office. The businessman had made it quite clear, in a somewhat indirect manner, that he wanted Zabuza as far away from his 'safe zone' as he could be. The man was a coward who used his money to fight, as most rich criminals were. So this summoning was quite out of character, as was the clear rage that was burning in the eyes of the small fat man. Though Zabuza knew the likely reasons for the rage, what with the hilarious show at the execution grounds and following chase the Konoha genin put on earlier that day, he was still curious.
"Tell me, Zabuza," Gato said slowly, in a mildly impressive effort to control his anger. "When we you planning on killing those ninja? Today? Tomorrow? Next week? Next year?"
"I've told you before," Zabuza growled, his glare sending a clear warning. "I'll kill them when I'm ready."
"And I've paid you good money to kill them a week ago!" Gato snapped, ignoring his survival instincts in his anger. "That you couldn't even use my little trap today to your advantage is quite disappointing. I guess all those tales of how great, terrible, and bloodthirsty the mighty Kirigakure no Kijin was are all baseless lies." If Zabuza's glare had been threatening before, it was promising outright death now. "I hired you for a job and you failed to deliver. You're fired!"
He knew that this would likely come, he honestly did. Thus, Zabuza was somewhat prepared to control his anger and impulsive need to behead the slime ball with his Kubikiribocho. No one ever accused Zabuza of not finishing a job and lived! In fact, he had been quite grateful to Gato for hosting that entertainment earlier that afternoon for it was surprisingly telling in each of the genins' skill sets and attitudes.
He'd seen it all from the background, a silent and unnoticed observer who'd followed them all the way back to Tazuna's home. He had been intending on launching his attack on the team in the wee hours of the coming morning in fact, when the kids were heading out to train and Kakashi was heading to bridge with Tazuna. The fact that Gato had lost patience and terminated his employment before he could finish his job was quite angering to the Kijin.
He didn't notice that his hand had drifted and was gripping the Kubikiribocho's large hilt until he felt something surprising that caused him to reflexively tighten his fists. A chakra spike! And it was from somewhere quite nearby, maybe within thirty meters of his present location.
Dropping his hands to his sides and swaying them ever so slightly, Zabuza straightened his automatic crouched posture from when he'd been ready to pounce on Gato himself. Glancing to his side, he saw that Haku had caught his signal and other telling signs and was readying himself for the potential of combat, earning a slight smile underneath his facial bandages.
Gato, however, hadn't understood the subtle byplay that was taking place between the ninja before him. All he'd seen was Zabuza reaching for his sword as he crouched down in an all-too-obvious stance to attack him, only to suddenly freeze before standing up straight again. It was a good thing too, Gato silently gloated to himself as he moved his hand slightly away from the button that would've summoned his bodyguards and twenty other henchmen to execute the two ninja in his office. Good, at least the Kijin knew when to back off against a power he had no chance of winning against!
"Now get out of my lands before I call Kirigakure!" Gato snapped, regaining the man's focus.
Much to his surprise, Zabuza didn't glare at him again. Instead, a shit-eating grin spread underneath those bandages as a slight, unnerving chuckle echoed out of the man's strong chest. "You'll regret this, and sooner than you think."
Before Gato could formulate any type of response, an alarm cut through the silence of his compound. The alarm was soon accompanied by a fiery explosion. As Gato was spinning around in his chair to rush to the windows to see what the disturbance was, the ninja inside and outside his office disappeared in small poofs of smoke.
Standing upon the roof of Gato's office, the former rogue Kiri-nin watched the confusion below with trained eyes. There was a small army of fifty Kage Bunshin that were rampaging through the compound's courtyard, attacking and incapacitating all of the thugs who dared show themselves and attack. Stumbling out of the tall tower to the side was a line of prisoners, also being escorted or carried by yet more clones of that blonde brat. A pink-haired girl who looked like she stumbled and fell into a pile of mud or shit was acting as the rear guard. And a dark-haired boy was at the front, the one obviously responsible for blowing apart the front gate with a Katon.
"Heh, these kids are more interesting than I first thought they were," Zabuza commented, smirking. Beside him, he could see that Haku's gaze was locked upon the girl, unsurprisingly. And the brothers were glaring hatefully at the two boys who'd humiliated them a few days earlier.
"Are we going to take them, Zabuza-sama?" Meizu asked, sounding extremely enthusiastic at the idea.
"No," Zabuza barked. "We've been fired. We no longer have any need to fight them now." The brothers let out audible growls of disapproval and disappointment, but made no further complaints. Haku just smiled somewhat. "Besides, I think I'll quite enjoy this entertainment. Who wants to bet that the kids'll end up destroying this place?"
The brothers turned matching looks of surprise at Zabuza's strangely cheerful demeanor. But their eyes soon glinted in amused agreement as they started placing bets with their superior to the outcome of this situation. To a degree, this could be considered spiteful vengeance on their part against Gato.
"Hahahaha!" Naruto laughed as he knocked out two more mercenaries. "I love this job!"
Behind him, Sasuke and Sakura had just finished herding the prisoners out of the gate's ruins and across the moat and were running back to help him. They'd just accomplished the first half of their plan, now it was time to start the second and much more desired half!
"What's going on here?" a loud, angry voice called from the open window of an office several stories up. "Who the hell are you kids?"
"Uzumaki Naruto!" all of the Narutos called out simultaneously while striking various poses. "Future Hokage of Konohagakure! Who the fuck are you, fatso!"
"That's Gato-sama, you brain-dead blonde!" one of the thugs answered. "Show some respect!"
"Wait, you mean that's Gato?" Naruto asked, honestly surprised as he returned his gaze to the short, fat man. "But I thought this guy was some kind of badass crime lord! He's nothing but a slime-infested rice ball!"
Yelling out in anger as his face turned red, the man in the expensive looking suit pointed towards the genin angrily. "Kill him! KILL THEM ALL! NOW!"
"What's his problem?" Naruto asked, annoyed at the fact that the little man had managed to goad the confused mercenaries into a new killing frenzy. Not that it helped them, but it was still annoying.
A large fireball crashing into the midst of the charging mercenaries sent them flying, more than a few of them blackened and likely dead. "Phase Two, Naruto!" Sasuke called out as he was busying forming yet more handseals.
"Alright!" Flashing through three handseals, Naruto jabbed an arm forward as he released the chakra into the air, "Fuuton: Tatsumaki no Jutsu!" His target of choice was the wall that was acting as a support for the prison tower. The powerful and violent winds easily blasted through the simple stone structure and weakened the side of the tower closest to it.
Hearing a cry as a mercenary tried to charge his back, Naruto spun around on his heel, ducking under the diagonal slash. Bringing his fist up, he landed a strong uppercut to the hand's diaphragm. The punch itself was simple enough that it'd have just knocked the thug back while kicking the air out of his chest. What he didn't expect was that, due his recent use of the Tatsumaki, he still had some of the Fuuton chakra swirling around his fist. Therefore Naruto was justifiably surprised when the Fuuton chakra acted like a rocket, launching the man flying into the air well over the far wall and vanishing from sight, likely to crash headfirst into the sea beyond.
"Whoa," he mumbled, quite dumbfounded as he gazed at his fist in honest surprise. "Didn't expect that!"
Sasuke meanwhile caught a descending sword blade between his hands, halting its attack as he kicked the wielder in the stomach. Snatching the sword free of the slackened grasp and taking its hilt, he spun around, knocking aside three more attacking blades and he sent another kick into the first thug, sending him flying through the gate and falling into the moat below. Jumping over the three new attackers, Sasuke tossed the sword lightly into the air so he could flash through some handseals.
"Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu!" a fireball twice as large as the previous one was shot into the opposite stone wall, near the office structure. The wall crumbled easily in the thunderous explosion. The debris also was perfect knocking into, distracting, and incapacitating the mercenaries from a different angle. Sasuke couldn't help but to smirk at his handiwork.
Catching the sword as he landed, Sasuke once again swung his blade and deflected the thugs' weapons away from him. With his Sharingan enhancing his vision, he easily saw the openings in their recoiling postures and struck mercilessly, his flung kunai slicing into their unprotected sides and flesh. The distraction of the wounds was far more than enough for him to kick one in the head and send him tumbling into the other two, knocking all three out.
As Naruto, his clones, and Sasuke were busy distracting the mercenaries, Sakura had run out to the sea. Of course, she'd also taken the opportunity to dive under the surf. The water was still somewhat warm from the heat of the day, much to her relief. And she positively relished in the act of hurriedly scrubbing the shit out of her hair and clothes. She couldn't get all of it, of course; it'd sunk in and heavily stained her shirt and pants. But at least it was just an unpleasant odor when compared to the highly-offensive and strong stink it had been.
Her part in the Phase Two was the key to it all, helped along by where the compound was located. For reasons she didn't know, Gato had seen it fit to build his headquarters out on a slight peninsula, only a short walking distance away from the capital itself. Obviously, he'd built the walls around his 'office' help keep the floodwaters out as much as the people of the country. That was why the boys had attacked and destroyed the walls, to weaken the overall structure.
Deeming she was far enough away and making sure that the capital itself was behind her this time, Sakura began her handseals. Pumping a large amount of her chakra into the water below her, she grinned evilly as she prepared to watch the true and full effects of her currently most powerful ninjutsu.
"Tsunami no Jutsu!"
The people of Nami could only stare in surprise, awe, and even slight envy. They didn't understand entirely what was going on at the castle, but they did know the basics. A trio of kids had infiltrated the castle of Gato, freed his prisoners, and was now in the midst of battling his legion of mercenaries. That may have sounded farfetched to them to begin with, but the sudden tornado and a large fireball that had ripped apart the walls of the compound had unintentionally answered one question for how a trio of kids could do all that. The answer was now abundantly clear: they were ninja!
And now they watched in confusion and surprise as one of the ninja they hadn't noticed was standing out on the sea and launched an ever-growing tidal wave towards the castle. The massive wave crashed into the wall that had been blown apart by the fireball. Though they couldn't see exactly what was happening, they could hear the sounds of it. The walls crumbled and collapsed. The water rushed in and swept away all in its path, completely unsympathetic.
With a resonating crash, tidal wave smashed into the broken opposing wall, tearing the hole in the wall even larger. The sudden loss of support caused the feared and hated jail tower to crumble and collapse on its side, tumbling into the surf. And Gato's office itself, a fancy but mostly simple wooden building was torn to shreds from the debris and unrelenting wave.
Needless to say, there were many causalities and deaths that happened within only a few moments of this wanton destruction. Even Gato himself would be counted as being among them.
"Incredible," Tsunami couldn't help but gasp in surprised awe. She knew that these kids were strong and talented. They'd have to be to be allowed to become genin and full-fledged ninja. But this…this was beyond what she thought they could do! If they, mere children who'd only recently graduated from the Academy, could do this, what could a Jounin or a Kage-level ninja do? It was a rather humbling and terrifying thought.
"Well, I'd say that's a job well done!" Naruto chirped from where he and Sasuke were standing in front of her and the other freed prisoners, his arms crossed lazily behind his head with a large grin on his face.
"It's too bad we didn't get a real challenge though," Sasuke remarked, looking disappointed for reasons that Tsunami couldn't understand. "I was rather hoping that that Zabuza guy would show up and give us a real fight."
"Just be happy that we probably won't have to deal with anymore of those useless goons, Sasuke-kun," Sakura said, looking very much more exhausted than either of the boys. But, given that she'd been the one to create that massive tidal wave, maybe it wasn't all that surprising. "Those guys were starting to get annoying anyway."
Nodding, the boys turned away from the destruction and faced Tsunami. "Right, let's get you home, Tsunami-san."
"Th-That was amazing," Tsunami couldn't help but utter, her eyes still glued to the ruins of Gato's castle. "But…But I think you may have overdid it!"
"Eh?" the three kids quipped, simultaneously cocking their heads slightly to the side in confusion. "Really?"
Despite herself and the situation they were in, Tsunami found herself giggling uncontrollably at the identical expressions of honest confusion and disbelief that the three of them were showing.
And she was still softly giggling to herself even well after they'd brought her home and the day finally ended.
(Author's Note) I have to admit that I'm surprised. I didn't expect so many of you to guess that I'd been inspired by the 1993 'Three Musketeers' movie for the execution and chase scenes. But I guess I'm also not that surprised that most of you seemed to have missed 'The Mask of Zorro' scene with Sasuke, it was relatively minor in comparison after all.
I hope you all enjoy this little chapter and that some of the stuff that happened in it caught you by surprise. So, let's play the trivia again! What were the two movies and scenes that inspired this chapter? Like the last chapter, I expect some of you to catch them. How many though?
So, what's to happen next chapter given the unexpected death of a certain someone after firing a someone else in this chapter? Honestly, how many of you saw that coming?