Naruto

Naruto

Heart and Soul

The Orphan

The next day…

Things seemed to quiet down after the insistent that occurred late last night. Of course, things remained silent in the long run since the bloom of the full moon, before a full-scale investigation was eventually launched in response to several calls from surrounding villages in Fire Country, reporting in some strange activities witnessed and heard just outside of their borders. These messages were sent directly to the Hidden Village in the land, Konohagakure, calling for a team of ninjas to dive into the problem. Seeing this as a simple reconnaissance mission, Sarutobi Hiruzen dispatched a small team of ninja from Konoha to check out the disturbance.

Zipping through the trees at break neck speed from the small village reporting the issue, a group of figures could be seen making their way through to a clearing, several hundred meters out from the perimeter fence of the minor colony. Within seconds since the synchronization of their mission, the six sound warriors soon appeared in the center of the clearing. Two by two, they phased into sight, trailing wind and leaves with them upon their apparition. They each appeared in low, crouched landing states, before slowly pulling themselves up into correct standing positions. Immediately, the figures could be identified as ninja from the Village Hidden in the Leaves.

The first three ninja were identified as standard Konoha Jonin (or somewhere close to that level), three high level ninja reputedly stated as the cream and corn for this kind of mission. The key reason Jonin were dispatched onto this mission, was that the client calling for it was unsure whether to identify the cause as highly dangerous or mere vandalism even Genin could deal with. Therefore, three Jonin were sent in to treat the infection.

The first of the three shinobi was a man of muscular build, wearing a long sleeved top, standard gi trousers, a green vest with scroll pouches, a thin, raven beard, spiky hair of a similar color, and a cigarette slipped into the corner of his lips, though was not lit. He also wore the basic headband over his forehead, with the symbol of the Land of Fire imprinted on it. He looked quite tough, considering his size and appearance, and his solid face clearly defined from years of experience on the field, was no exception. The second was a woman, wearing a unique combination of red, white and black figure hugging robes, with a short skirt and fish-nets underneath the kimono like design. This meant for easier movement and flexibility. Furthermore, the woman had flawless, glowing skin, with red eyes of rosary beauty, and long black hair as shiny as the night sky. She also wore a headband, with her hair laced out of it and hanging over the actual material strapping the head protector. Though she was a green at this, it was great for her to gain more field experience from this. Finally, there was the middle-man, a ninja with white, spiky hair arranged in a very unique style, and a cloth mask over his mouth and nose. He wore a similar outfit to his other comrade, with the main differences being in his person, persona, build, being, and the fact he was the only one wearing a mask of the three. Peculiarly enough, he also had his headband slipped over his left eye, concealing it as if to hide some sort of secret weapon.

The other three ninja, however, were much more different from the first three, yet looked more alike then given. They were a: two men, one woman team as well; only they were dressed much different from the other ninja. The first was a man wearing dark green battle robes with yellow linings. Underneath the long sleeved robe, he wore dark green trousers to match with black, leather sandals that are shin height, although the robe concealed most of. Also, aside from the long sleeves that concealed black, leather gloves and secret shuriken launchers on his arms, he also had the Konoha symbol imprinted in yellow on his back, along with a Ying-Yang symbol on the chest, its outer linings gold. He also wore a Vietnamese straw hat with a small, golden spike tip protruding from the top. The hat was held down by regular bands, and the Konoha symbol was also imprinted on the front of the hat. The man also had a strong, firm face with a scar on his right cheek, brown eyes piercing from under the hat's shadow. The other male ninja wore a similar outfit, only he had white gauze wrapped around his forehead with a Ying-Yang symbol inscribed in red and white on the material. He also had black hair instead of brown, with red eyes like the woman from the other team. The woman on their team however, wore more loosely fitted robes similar to theirs, only for girls, with two more cuts added to the back of the shorter robe, a leather belt wrapped around her waist, and brown hair wrapped into a long ponytail. She also had piercing green eyes, and flawless skin. These three are members of the Kai-lo Shinobi, an organization in Konoha set up by the Forth Hokage as an elite team that placed their loyalty to the people, their village and their leader. Their ideology was to protect Konoha and their land, and to serve the Hokage to the best of their abilities. Since the Forth Hokage's death, they still remain loyal to the present Hokage in power, but maintain their respects to Minato.

Upon getting to their feet, the six began scanning the area around them, before returning their eyes to the center so that they could see everyone. The white or silver haired Jonin of the group nodded his head and placed his hands on his hips.

"Okay…" he said, breathing out, "this is the spot where the villagers first witnessed the disturbance, supposedly a fight between ninjas. Our mission is to confirm these disturbances, and report back to Konoha as soon as we've finished our sweep…"

"And if we happen to find any foreign ninja or bodies…" the robed man with the scar, obviously the leader, began to query.

"If any enemy ninja are encountered, dispatch with them posthaste. However, if there happen to be any homeland ninja in the area, detain them immediately for questioning," the silver haired man continued, looking between his teammates and those of the scarred shinobi. "If we are to come across any bodies, bring them back here!" he continued, drawing a shuriken knife from his pouch and throwing it in between their group, marking the spot with ease. "This will be our rendezvous point, and the task is simple: sweep the area in six directions starting from here! Make sure to double-check on any areas you may have overlooked. Report back here in half-an-hour for further orders!"

They all nodded in response. The silver haired Jonin then turned back to his teammates, pointing to both of them in turn. "Kurenai, Asuma…take my left and right flanks. Just because we're breaking up, doesn't mean we have to break team formation!" The ninja then turned to the other three ninja patiently waiting across from him. "Kai-lo Shinobi, you sweep the field opposite of us! Signal if you need any assistance." Although, in the back of his mind, he figured they wouldn't need it.

After receiving final nods of assurance from the ninja present, they quickly turned heel and shot off into the woods, leaving the clearing behind to perform their scouting mission. Nothing was heard from then on in; accept for the chorus of singing birds, the sounds of chatting squirrels, and the occasional rustle of trees from the ninja making their way through the woods. It didn't take them long to make it a hundred meters out, and five minutes to make it barely over half a kilometer. Whatever the case, they were making good timing on their mission.

With every meter they covered, the distance between them increased, giving them even greater areas they needed to scout. The team primarily used the tree tops, as it served as excellent vantage points for their search, even though they found nothing in the first few minutes. The ninja identified as Kakashi Hatake: the Sharingan Warrior, made use of his obtuse eyesight to bring about the widest and longest range with his pupils imaginable. The Sharingan he had underneath his headband slowed the world around him when he started using it, enabling him to capture accurate enough images of every turn he made. Looking from left to right in a constant rhythm enhanced his range, and he could do that while traveling at phenomenal speeds. The other ninja improvised with their sharp eye sights as well, even though they didn't have the same doejutsu as Kakashi did.

Eventually, the search took them to a kilometer out of the center, the exact positions and status of each ninja unknown as they combed their areas from top to bottom. The situation quickly grew into a hunt for a needle in a haystack, as they attempted to find any trace of evidence of a skirmish; anything that could settle this mystery once and for all. But try as they might, they could not minimize the field they were put into. So, they would go by the schedule they were given and the scrolls they were taught from.

Leaping from branch to branch, Kakashi continued his sweep, eyes shifting constantly with every jump. It was then after passing a brush of bushes, the silver haired Jonin suddenly spotted something out of the corner of his eye, and glanced to his left. Landing on the branch he had aimed for when he unexpectedly marked out the said target, he stopped and shifted, focusing both his eyes on the area a couple of trees away. He quickly made sense of the sight as a clue, and lowered his headband over his left eye again. Leaping from his position, he sprinted over to the area he had marked out, and stopped right beside what he immediately recognized as ash.

Looking down at the landmark from his height, the Jonin could see that the mark covered an area of roughly ten meters squared, which was mainly estimation since the mark was uneven. Judging from the stretch of the marks and the charred gradient, as well as the stench of burnt grass, Kakashi knew that this mark was made from an exploding weapon. N/A accuracy with a 50 to 50 chance of actually hitting a target, the device used was most likely a ninja bomb-bomb or a kunai charge. Those things were nasty, no matter what the level of explosion. However, the experience prone ninja had a feeling that this was no ordinary scorch mark in the ground.

Kneeling down, the ninja ran a finger over the earth, and looked at the traces he had picked up on his digit tip. Raising it up to his eyes, he was able to get a good look at the dark powder. It was definitely ash, but the actual make up of the ash was off from regular grass burns. From the looks of it, the ash he had scooped up and was looking at, at this very moment, were the remains of a ninja. It became all too obvious to Kakashi, as he carefully reached into the surface of black, and pulled up a charred, metal plate with a Sound Nin insignia etched into its gritty surface. He ran his thumb over it to make sure, and was soon settled that he was looking at a poor soul that was incinerated by an incredibly powerful weapon.

"Hmm…maybe it wasn't a weapon at all. No ordinary kunai charge or bomb could incinerate a person! There would at least be bits and pieces of the victim lying around, and I would be able to see them," Kakashi thought, placing his chin in the groove between his thumb and finger. His mind continued to wander around this mystery. "It must have been a Fireball Jutsu of some kind…a powerful one at that. But it would have to have been a compressed one; otherwise this entire area would be showing the signs of fire damage. Yet there are none…" His eyes glanced around; taking note of the untouched trees and shiny grass that was left to lie alone by the fire. "This poor fellow was burnt on the spot…disintegrated by a single blast engulfing only him and a limited area. Such control suggests incredibly powerful experience level with fire and chakra…dangerous! I've never seen anything like it!"

It was then another thing caught his eye. Glancing up to his right, Kakashi spotted a chime of a spark, a shining light reflected off of the surface of something metallic. Encouraged by this sight, the ninja stood up and slowly strolled over to the spot he saw the light come from, and stopped in front of a large apple tree. Reaching over, he gripped the handle of a kunai knife embedded in the side of the tree, and yanked it out. He analyzed the surface smoothness of the weapon, craftsmanship and ownership of the weapon for a second, before glancing to his right again. As expected, he spotted several more knives embedded in separate trees along the perimeter of the small area, the black weapons sparkling in the sunlight.

"From the looks of it…the Sound ninja was trying to hit something…but what?" Kakashi thought, tossing the knife in his hand a couple of times before pocketing it. He went to check the other knives, but found no traces of blood or other materials that could identify what the person was attacking. On top of that, more scans of the area showed no signs of another enemy Nin. It was bewildering! If there had been a ninja-on-ninja attack, then there had to be at least some evidence of a second party member to prove that!

But there was nothing! Not even a shred of clothing…

"It looks as though we're dealing with an elite ninja…a rogue warrior with deadly skills…" Kakashi thought, glaring over at the large patch of ash several feet away. "This is becoming even more troublesome…"

Realizing time was short, Kakashi collected up whatever evidence he could scrounge from the field, before setting off back for the rendezvous point. Taking the same route he used to arrive at his end destination, he quickly made his way to the center clearing, looping round, over and under branches he had passed before. For several minutes, he stuck tooth and nail on his fallback, before eventually arriving at his destination a minute later then expected. When he arrived at the clearing, he found that Asuma and two of the Kai-lo Shinobi were already there, waiting for the others to return. Kakashi instantly realized that they hadn't been waiting for long.

All eyes turned to the silver haired Jonin as he landed on the edge of the clearing. Upon his appearance, the Kakashi immediately straightened up from his landing and began walking over to the group, at the same time watching Asuma slip his hands into his pockets and stare intently at his Jonin comrade. Once the masked ninja stopped several feet beside him, his friend spoke up.

"Well…did you find anything?" the man asked, pulling the cigarette out from between his lips. Kakashi lowered his head slightly in response, drawing his hand from his vest side pocket and tossing one of the kunai he had over to his teammate. The other Jonin caught the knife and looked over it, immediately spotting the Sound Nin identification mark on the base of its small blade. He raised his eyebrow at the sight as he looked it over with his eyes and fingertips.

"I found several of those hanging around a small clearing one and a half kilometers away from here. There wasn't anything else to find…save for that and this…" Kakashi continued, pulling up the charred head-guard he had found at the scene. Asuma blinked in surprise, as did the other two Konoha Nin standing on the sidelines. The silver haired Jonin scrutinized the plate again before throwing it over to one of the Kai-lo standing not too far from him, so that they could take a closer look. "I found it in a patch of ash in the same area I found the kunai. Whoever these items belonged too has, with no doubt, been incinerated…"

Asuma flinched. "Really?" he queried, earning a nod from the reporting Jonin. "Were there any traces that could give us a clue on who was responsible for this killing?" Kakashi shook his head.

"Nothing that I could see," the ninja replied.

"What about the subject's remains? Could you tell what killed him?" the female Kai-lo Shinobi asked, hanging the Sound Nin head-guard to her comrade.

"He was obviously burnt to death. It wasn't a kunai bomb. That's not powerful enough to completely turn flesh into ash. It was a Fireball Jutsu of some kind. But the diameter of the ash pile and burns, as well as the lack of surrounding damages, suggests that the attack was compressed to a minimum blast radius, yet powerful enough to deliver the necessary incineration capability," Kakashi stated. The woman Kai-lo Shinobi raised an eyebrow, her eyes still overshadowed.

"But all Fireball Jutsus gain their power from the amount of chakra drawn from the user, and poured into the attack in the form of more fire with a much higher ferocity level. The standard Fireball Jutsu gets its strength from the amount there is. The more fire there is; the more effective it can be. Only then is it capable of leaving a ninja incinerated," the woman stated, lowering her head and rubbing her chin in thought. "But from what you're saying, it was no ordinary Jutsu…"

"My guess is that it was a controlled attack," Kakashi said, crossing his arms and glancing away. "Unless the person's control over it was perfect, which is extremely difficult to master, I don't see how it was possible…"

At that exact moment, the last Kai-lo warrior appeared from the woods. Quick as ever, he arrived at the center of the clearing, and in the middle of the group, dumped three corpses right at their feet. Asuma and Kakashi staggered back in surprise, the scarred man who had brought the bodies in looking up with a serious expression, while still kneeling over the pile of bodies.

"It's just what I expected, Kakashi," the elite stated, getting to his feet and placing his fists together, his robes hiding his hands in a ceremonial way. "Sound Ninja…or what's left of them. I found these three lying around my area…and other large burn patterns as well…"

Kakashi blinked. "What?"

"More ninja? What could have done this to them?" Asuma asked as he approached the pile of bodies, pulling the one from the top pile and rolling him over on the ground. When he glanced at his face, he could see that the man was wearing a gas mask of some kind with only one eye exposed. He wore a light grey and dull purple combination outfit, the standard Sound Nin outfit. The only unique difference was the mask and the weapons he had sheathed in his belt: drumstick shaped numb-chucks.

"Not sure…there was nothing that could tell exactly what could have killed them. But the wounds and injuries they received certainly gives away the identity of a particular culprit," the head Kai-lo ninja stated, bringing his hands behind his back, fists together as he backed off a bit, allowing the others to get a better look at the three victims. "Claw marks and slice marks: close combat weapons, most likely from the same or two different types of weapons. I'm assuming the slash marks were made by a kunai or shuriken, whereas the claw marks were made by nails. The jagged edges of each entrance wound suggest sharpened nails, and not your particular claw-cuff style weapons. Whoever did this to them knew where to hit to kill…"

"Otherwise they would have bled to death," Asuma said, looking over at Kakashi. "I'm not surprised they're not dead. This one suffered fatal strikes to the neck, chest and stomach."

"All of them pointing to an incredibly skilled assassin and fighter, using Tiger Style martial arts," the scarred man stated.

"Hence the claw marks…" Kakashi whispered, nodding his head in understanding. "It can be deadly and hard to overcome against one who has mastered the art…"

"Not to mention the high level of skill the individual has in using Fireball Jutsus," the other male Kai-lo Shinobi said, lowering his head as he reaffirmed another fact already shared. "From the looks of it, more then one Sound Ninja has been incinerated…"

"That's a lot of chakra," Asuma stated, standing up and leaving the body of the ninja to lie peacefully for the moment.

While the Jonin in the area were pondering over what or who could have killed this group of Sound Nin Chunin, they suddenly sensed Kurenai return to the scene. In a split second, she popped out of thin air several meters away from their group in a puff of white smoke. Upon her appearance, she made her way over to the group with, what the ninjas could see, another body cradled in her arms. When she made her way closer, the group could see that the body she was carrying wasn't another corpse to add to the pile. Kakashi, Asuma and the Kai-lo took up looks of surprise when they saw their comrade bring the body of what looked like a young boy up to them.

"What the?" the scarred Kai-lo Shinobi mouthed.

"Who's that, Kurenai?" Kakashi asked.

"Who did you find?" Asuma also questioned, approaching the raven haired Chunin with a look of concern on his face.

She knelt down low and laid the body down on the grass at her feet, looking down at him with a serious expression in play. Around this time, all the Jonin in the area became curious and approached her, making sure they kept their distance so to leave breathing space for them. "I don't know. But I found him about fifty meters out from some ash patches that had some charred kunai and head-guards lying in the piles…"

"Let me guess, they belonged to Sound Nin," Kakashi shot in the dark. Kurenai looked up and nodded, her eyes firm and truth filled.

"Yup…but it was hard to tell from their fried forehead protectors…" she said, before returning her attention to the boy lying at her feet, placing her hand on his chest and checking to make sure he was still alive. When the group gathered, they could now see what the boy looked like.

He was very young, around six or seven years old, and had blonde, spiky hair with a nice highlight to it. His skin was a bit bruised and dirty, but that came as to no concern, but the whiskers on his face did. The three, light lines on his cheeks looked like whispers, and from touch seemed like it, only they were plastered to his face permanently, like they were his own. He also looked quite healthy; accept for his present state, which was asleep. His breathing was normal, as was his facial expression, which bore that constant youthful illumination. He basically wore a light brown, tattered shirt, and faded blue shorts with lots of rips in them. Aside from brown, regular sandals, the boy also had a makeshift belt around him, which tied a sheathed duel dao sword on his back. Finally, aside from tacky, fingerless wooly gloves, he also wore a perfect condition scarf around his neck. It was a black scarf, with orange flames on the ends and flickering every now and again along its length, outlined or sometimes highlighted in yellow. It looked pretty cool, and it suited him well.

Kakashi, thinking to himself, while at the same time marveling at the boys features, knelt down beside Kurenai and began examining the boy a little closer. Without any objection from his female teammate, he gently picked up one of the boy's arms and brought his hand into his palms, as he checked the fingernails and gloves for any sign of blood stains. He checked both arms, and found none. The only traces of damage were minor bruises, but they were old ones still in healing process. There was nothing on the boy that showed that he was the cause for the recent genocide that occurred here. He released the boy's arms, checking his forehead for his temperature.

"He seems to be alright…" Kakashi whispered to himself, completely setting aside the investigation and his suspicions of the child. "Does he have any form of identification or something?"

Kurenai shook her head. "None. I checked him already. The only possessions he has are the clothes on his back and this sword," she said, reaching to grab the weapon's handle, only to have the boy move around uncomfortably so that her grip missed. She chuckled in sort amusement. She looked up at the other Jonin, who were staring down at him with curious expressions. "As you can see…he doesn't want anybody touching it, even when he's asleep…"

Kakashi chuckled. "Well…isn't that something…"

"He's very self-aware…an excellent trait for a ninja," the scarred Kai-lo warrior stated with a small smile.

Asuma smirked, biting down on his cigarette. "And you have to admit, he's a cute little fella."

"If he wasn't carrying that sword around with him, then he would be a descent cute little fella," the Kai-lo with the headband said, grinning.

"I wonder where he got it from?" the Kai-lo woman teammate queried.

"We won't know for sure unless he wakes up," Kakashi said, folding his arms over his chest. "We'll take him back to Konoha, and check him into the hospital to have his condition double-checked for any internal injuries and such. We'll also have to destroy these bodies. Wouldn't want anyone walking through here and finding a group of enemy ninja corpses, would we? Word might get out to the Sound Village that they'd lost more men in our region, and will blame our village more for their problems."

"Heh…good point," Asuma exclaimed.

"Kurenai, you, Asuma and the others head back to the village. Kama and I will stay behind to get rid of these bodies," the silver haired Jonin stated. The designated ninja nodded their heads once, and left with the sleeping boy and the evidence they had collected on hand. The two that stayed behind were Kakashi and the Kai-lo Shinobi with the scar across his face. Once their comrades had left, the two took their places around the three rotting corpses, their eyes plastered on them with serious expressions on their faces.

For a moment, the two stood in silence. Their heads were swimming with the thoughts of suspected culprits or predators that could have attacked these Sound Ninja. They used the one minute they had to attempt to unravel the mystery on hand, but came up with nothing. Letting go of the silence for now, Kama glanced up at Kakashi with narrowed eyes and began to speak.

"So who do you think killed these Sound Ninja?" he asked. Kakashi shrugged, his eyes never leaving the bodies.

"Don't know," the Jonin replied, letting out a breath of air. "If it was some of our own ninja responsible for this attack, then the Hokage wouldn't have sent us out here if he already knew about it…" Kama nodded, and glanced back down at the bodies. From here, he quickly slapped his gloves hands together and began forming hand signs, identifying the following technique as a Fireball Jutsu.

"Right…" Kama answered; ending his series of hand signs and bringing his right finger and thumb up to his lips. Taking in a deep intake of air, he let it all out at once in one breath. Orange flames shot out of his lips, engulfing the bodies in a fiery ball that would sure reduce their corpses to nothingness in half an hour or so…

TO BE CONTINUED…