Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. A guy called Kishimoto does. I don't own Bleach either Some lucky chap called Tite owns that.
The Eighth Swordsman
Chapter 7
Hokage's Office, Evening after Team Assignments
The Hokage and the new jonin-sensei bar one were all gathered in his office waiting for Kakashi. As usual.
"Sorry everyone, I was on my way here when a little old lady asked me to help her with her shopping and what kind of man would I be if I didn't" Kakashi apologised with an eyesmile making his colleagues and commanding officer here with sweatdrop at the lie.
"Whatever Kakashi. Line up and everyone tell the status of your teams" Hiruzen aid. "Team One fail" Nameless Jonin Number One said.
"Team Two fail" Namelss Jonin Number Two said.
"Team Three fail" Hayate said.
"Team Four fail" Genma said.
"Team Five fail" Aoba said.
"Team Six fail" Anko said with a sadistic grin.
"Anko-chan, do I even want to know why your three genin were admitted to the hospital to be healed by severe exhaustion and bloodloss. And what in the hell did you do to them to make them start shaking and muttering "Not the rusty spoon. Anything but the rusty spoon". I had to call Inoichi from T and I to erase their memories and even he looked pretty shaken, hell he even erased in his own glimpse of the memory".
"Nope and it's a secret" Anko said happily munching on some Dango she had pulled from … somewhere.
"Team Seven pass" Kakashi said sadly with Asuma patting him on the back.
"How?" the Hokage asked incredulously.
"I gave them the bell test. Sasuke was the one to be tied to the stump by the end of it and Sakura fed him believing it would earn her a place in his heart like the fangirl she is. Plus I would have to pass them anyway because of the Elders and Civilian Council" Kakashi said simply, gaining nods of understanding from his fellow Jonin-sensei. He also received looks of sympathy from the Anbu guards in the room. Their poor sempai got a raw deal with that team.
"Team Eight pass" Kurenai said.
"Team Ten pass" Asuma said getting a nod from everyone else in the room. It was the new Ino-Shika-Cho trio after all.
"Team Eleven pass" Rangiku said, a little too casually.
"You forgot the bells didn't you?" Hiruzen stated.
"What makes you say that?" Rangiu asked him.
"They're on my desk" Hiruzen said dryly, pointing to the bells on top of his stack of paperwork.
"My bad" Rangiku said sheepishly with a carefree grin on her face as she put the bells in her pocket, making everyone in the room sweatdrop lightly.
Three weeks later
Team Eleven followeda very simple schedule over the past few weeks. They made a single shadow clone of themselves and had them do D-ranks while they trained. Speaking of which, their training had been going well over the last few weeks. Their chakra control was mid to high chunin level and both Naruto and Yoruichi had mastered the first stage of wind chakra manipulation thanks to shadow clones, though that was more exploited on Naruto's part thanks to his massive reserves. They were currently working on lightning chakra manipulation by converting their chakra to lightning nature chakra and channeling it into a lightbulb in order to light it. Rangiku also taught them five jutsu for each of the affinities they had. Two C-Rank, Two B-rank and one A-Rank in each. Their taijustu was also very good, high chunin at the very least with Yourichi being slightly faster and more skilled but Naruto being stronger and having more stamina so they were an even match with each other. Naruto was also sparring with Rangiku every second day in kenjutsu. Rangiku was a very skilled opponent, better that Yugao and Naruto was had to use every last bit of skill he had to beat her. Rangiku for her part was astounded with Naruto's skills in kenjutsu, she knew had to be good already being Zangetsu but he was on par with her with the both of them going all out against one another without using their blades special abilities. She had been training with Haineko for twelve years, ever since the blade chose her as its wielder when she was eight. From what Naruto told her, he also started training when in kenjutsu when he was eight but being that good already was scary. She was glad for his skill as well though, she was sure he'd need it in the future. If only she knew how right she was.
Currently Team Eleven was heading to Hokage Tower inform the Hokage of the completion of their latest D-Rank. Rangiku also decided to request a C-Rank. It was time for her team to be blooded.
Mission Assignment Room
Hiruzen looked at the team assembled before him from behind the desk he and Iruka shared. Rangiku was standing to the left of Naruto who was in the middle spinning his combat knife with his right index finger by the ring he placed on it on the edged side of the guard (Similer to Kensei Muruguma's Shikai). Yourichi was on Naruto's right with their mission objective purring and curled up into her arms. Yourichi always had that effect on cats. Rangiku was similar to Yoruichi in that regard and as for Naruto, well even cats know that there are some people you just don't fuck with. Tora had the same reaction with Kushina when she was a child.
"Here's Tora Lady Tsubara" Yoruichi said as she handed to cat to the Daimyo's wife. The instant the cat left her arms it became a feral mass of fur and claws, hissing, spitting and swiping at anything unfortunate enough to be in range before being crushed by the hug it was being given by the large woman. "Tora-chan I missed you" she tearfully exclaimed as she clutched the poor feline against her chest with such force that it's eyes were bulging out of it's head and the breath was knocked from it's lungs before she left the room. "Poor little bastard" was the one sentence in everyone's mind as they watched her leave.
"Well done Team Eleven, you currently hold the record for catching Tora at twenty minutes. We'll have your mission pay wired into your accounts tomorrow" the Hokage said proud of his surrogate grandchildren and a little jealous. That damn mission had been around since the beginning of the village and the quickest his team had ever finished was two days, four hours. Stupid devil cat.
"Thanks" the team replied happily.
"Hokage-sama I would like to request a C-rank mission. I think it's time to blood my genin" Rangiku stated solemnly, all traces of her usually cheerful disposition absent from her tone.
"Are you sure they're ready Rangiku-chan?" Hiruzen asked her seriously.
"Very, and it has to be done at some point anyway".
"Very Well. This a C-Rank bandit camp elimination mission. The bandit camp is three days travel from here to the east. Further details are in the scroll" Hiruzen said, handing her the scroll.
Rangiku took the scroll and put it into one of the pouches on her waist. She then bid the Hokage goodbye and left the room with her genin in tow.
"Rangiku-sensei what did you mean by 'blooding' us?" Yoruichi asked her.
"'Blooding' is the term used to describe the mission a genin team is taken on by there Jonin-sensei so that they may have their first kill" Naruto answered her, saving Rangiku having to answer the awkward question, something she sent him a grateful look for.
"So on this mission we're going to take our first lives" Yoruichi said.
"No, you're going to be blooded Yourichi-chan. I've already killed" Naruto told her.
"When have you killed someone Naruto?" Rangiku asked him seriously.
"It was on a mission with Kakashi from the old man. We had to take out a bandit camp just like this one" Naruto told her.
"What's it like, killing someone" Yorichi asked them quietly.
"I'm not gonna lie to you Yoruichi-chan, you'll feel terrible about it and it's not something that gets any easier as you go on. That's one thing about it. But don't worry, you're strong and as long as you don't take any pleasure in it you'll be alright" Rangiku informed her.
"Just keep in mind that some people need to die for others to be safe ok" Naruto told her.
"Thanks" she told them gratefully.
"No problem. Now I'd like both of you to be at the village gates in an hour ok? Rangiku informed them before she left in an ash shunshin. Naruto and Yoruichi looked and nodded before they both disappeared via shunpo.
Naruto reappeared before his apartment door. He quickly unlocked the door and disabled his security seals and went inside. He walked into his bedroom before opening up his bedside cabinet and took out a scroll from it. It contained two weeks worth of essential supplies for a mission. Kunai, ramen, shuriken, a tent, ninja wire, extra ramen and a metric shit ton of explosive tags of his own design. He slipped the scroll into his kunai pouch before walking out his apartment, locking the door and reactivating the security seal. He then walked to Ichiraku's Ramen stand, intent on having some lunch before he left on the mission.
Naruto walked into the stand and was delighted to see a familiar mane of auburn hair. "Hey Mei-chan, how's life as Kiri's ambassador been treating you?" Naruto asked her as he sat on the stool beside her and ordered a quick bowl. Once Yagura had gotten wind of the events that happened to Mei's team he had been delighted to find out that Mei was still alive. Upon hearing that she had been treated in Konoha hospital he decided to make Mei an ambassador between the two villages. He knew she would need some time off after the incident and so decided it would be a good idea to make her an ambassador between the villages. No intensive work and she would be treated well as well. Konoha and Kiri were currently in a non-aggression pact with one another but Yagura hoped that having Mei there would them improve relations between the villages and build up the trust needed for a possible alliance between the two villages. It was win-win situation as far as he was concerned.
"It's been pretty good so far. How are the D-Rank going?" she asked him.
"That was mean Mei-chan" he said with a pout that soon disappeared once the bowl of ramen was put before him.
"Sorry, couldn't resist Naruto-kun" she told him with a smirk as he dug into his bowl with gutso. Naruto nodded his head, accepting the apology.
"So have you done any interesting missions yet?" Mei asked him.
"Not really, but my team is headed out on C-Rank bandit extermination now" Naruto told her.
Mei eyes widened on hearing that. "Seriously, this early?" she asked incredulously.
"Yeah, Rangiku-sensei decided it was time for Yourichi-chan to get blooded" he told her, and she could hear the sense of worry creep into his tone.
Mei picked up on this and comforted him. "Don't worry about it, Yoruichi-chan is strong. I'm sure she'll be able to get through it. Besides she has you and Rangiku-chan to help her" she told him while smiling warmly at him. Mei had also met with his sensei and the two became good friends as well.
"Thanks Mei-chan" he said and stood up having finished his bowl and paid Teuchi. "I'll be back in a week or two ok". He turned to leave and felt something wet pressed against his cheek and two soft mounds pressed against his back. He turned back to Mei and returned the hug, her auburn hair was covering her face that was lit up a brilliant scarlet, something she was eternally grateful for. "Stay safe Naruto-kun" she told him quietly.
"Of course Mei-chan, I'll see you in a week" Naruto told her as he gave her a light kiss on the forehead and let her go, prompting her cheeks to darken to a shade of red remarkably similar in colouration to a tomato. He then departed the ramen stand leaving a busty, blushing bombshell and an amused old man behind.
By the time Naruto arrived at the village gates both Yoruichi and Rangiku were already there, waiting for him.
"Sorry if I kept you waiting, I just had to get a quick bowl of ramen from Ichiraku's and ran into Mei-chan " Naruto told them apologetically.
"It's alright Naruto-kun" Rangiku told him. "At least you're not as bad as Kakashi. Now let's go. The bandits have been raiding a local village, so we'll head there first and see if can get any information about our target. With a bit of luck we should get there by tomorrow evening" she stated and with that said Team Eleven set towards their destination.
Three days later, Hotel Room in Sakura Village
Naruto, Yoruichi and Rangiku were gathered in their hotel room and were currently planning their assault of the bandit camp. From what they had gathered from the locals during their afternoon investigations the bandit camp was about two miles out of the village. Rangiku also had Naruto scout the camp as he was the best at stealth and sensing while she and Yoruichi talked with the local people about the bandits. He reported that they were approximately numbered in the fifties. Nothing that they couldn't handle, some well placed explosive tags and kunai throws should do the job.
No, what could be difficult was the missing nin leading them that Naruto discovered while he was of sneaking into the camp. Luckily enough it appears the nin was paranoid due to fact that not a single one of his underlings appeared to be able to use chakra or jutsu based on what the townspeople told them and what Naruto sensed from them.
The plan was as follows. Yoruichi would sneak into the camp that night to free the women the bandits had kidnapped during their previous raids of the village and kill any bandits in the way. She would then guide them to a clearing near the camp they had marked as the rendezvous point while the bandits were distracted by Naruto's activation of the explosive tags that he had placed throughout the camp during his little excursion. The explosive tags were mainly clustered at the eastern edge of the camp to draw the attention of the bandits away from the western edge of the camp where the prisoner's tents were located. Once the prisoners were safely in the clearing with Rangiku, she would join Naruto in the fight. Rangiku would be on standby in the clearing in order to look after the prisoners and observe how they both handled the bandits and step in if one of them was in trouble.
"So, are we clear on everything?" Rangiku asked them seriously.
"Yeah, Rangiku-sensei" they answered her.
"Good, then let's head out and remember push your chakra in three short bursts into the alarm seal on your wrists if you're in trouble". The alarm seal was an invention of Naruto's that allowed those fitted with the seal to know the status of others.. One long pulse was an enquiry into your current status. One short burst meant everything was going well, two short bursts meant you were having difficulties and put everyone on standby to come to your aid and three short bursts meant you needed help fast.
"And Yoruichi-chan don't forget to signal Naruto to activate the explosive tags once the prisoners are secured" Rangiuk told her and got a nod in response.
Later that nigt in the bandit camp
Yoruichi kept close to the shadows as she crept through the bandit camp to the tent where Naruto told her the women were located. As she came to a gap between two rows of tents she heard the voices of two men growing louder as they came closer to her and quickly ducked into the entrance of a nearby tent and listened in on them.
"Hey, when do you reckon the boss will let us have a go at the prisoners".
"I dunno but I hope it's soon. He'll probably let us take our pick of them once he's had his own".
"Yeah".
The bandit's voices faded as they move out of earshot and Yoruichi scowled at what she heard them say. That's not to say she wasn't relieved that the prisoners were untouched but she hated to hear women talked about that, like they were objects. She shook her head to dispel those thoughts and continued on towards her destination.
She soon arrived at her destination and cautiously poked her head inside. There was a large steel cage lying against the opposite wall of the tent. Inside said tent there was about thirty women ranging from age fourteen to age fourty and all of them were in ripped clothing with tear tracks clearly visible on their dirty faces. There was also a single guard sitting on a wooden chair and he wasn't even facing the only entrance into the tent. Instead he was facing the women in side the cage with a perverted leer on his face as his eyes roamed their bodies and had a bottle of sake clutched in his right hand. What sort of idiot was he? Oh well, it was merely a mistake that made it easier for her to ensure it would be his last.
As she emerged from the shadows of the entrance the eyes of the women in cages widened but they stayed silent once they saw Yoruichi press a finger to her lips and point towards the guard and they gave a small nod. This small gesture however was lost on the bandit who was either too drunk, too unobservant or just too damn stupid to notice.
Yoruichi reached into the pouch on her thigh and pulled out a kunai. She snuck up behind the bandit, took a deep a breath to steel herself and dragged the blade across his throat, opening up red line as his eyes widened and with her free hand covered his mouth to muffle his screams. Soon he was still and silent and when Yoruichi removed her hand from his mouth, he slumped to the floor, the bottle of sake in his hand rolling across it and hitting the bottom of the cage. Yoruichi felt a sense of horror and revulsion come across her as the full extent what she had just done hit her before her eyes hardened as she remembered the words of her team earlier as well as the words of the bandits whose conversation she had overheard. Naruto was right, for the majority to be safe, some people just needed to die.
She quickly searched the dead bandit's corpse for the keys and found them in his pocket. She then moved over to the cage and unlocked the doors before stepping aside as the women moved out of it. Once they were all gathered before her she told them to follow her to a clearing where they would be looked over by her sensei Rangiku. Seeing them nod she crouched down and went over to the entrance and sent Naruto the signal in the form of four short bursts of chakra channeled into the seal before sneaking out of the tent with the women following her. Not a single second after the signal was sent the sound of explosions echoed from across the camp and large plumbs of fire could easily seen climbing into the sky, mainly concentrated at the eastern edge of the camp, and Yoruichi saw the bandits unharmed by the explosions being drawn towards the apparent source of commotion like moths to a flame. Seeing the odd looks she had garnered from her followers she merely shrugged. "What can I say, my teammate loves explosions" she told them. The sure simplicity of this statement prompted a mass sweatdrop form the former captives before they all looked at one another and shrugged, then followed their savior as she led them out of the camp.
Naruto laughed as he danced through the strikes of the five bandits that he was facing, bathed in the light of the fires burning throughout the camp as well as the blood of those that stood before him and met their end. He may not relish killing people but that didn't mean he wouldn't enjoy any fight he was in. He would also take pleasure in the knowledge that a few more of these scum no longer walked the earth. Plus being a Jinchuuriki has a tendency to desensitize you to killing people.
One bandit let loose a battle cry as he brought down his Nodachi in an effort to bifurcate him. It turned out to be a wasted effort as Naruto nimbly stepped to the side, moved in behind him and plunged his blade through the bandit's back, piercing the spine, its black blade emerging coming from his stomach like the horn of some shadowy demon.
Another bandit took this as his moment to strike from behind seeing as Naruto's daito was otherwise engaged for the moment. Without batting an eyelid Naruto swiftly drew his combat knife, flipped it into a reverse grip and swung his left arm backwards and upwards, driving it up through the hollow of his opponents throat and into his brain, killing him instantly. The whole maneuver took less than a second.
Naruto quickly removed both his blades and sheathed the knife before pulling out a kunai and throwing it at another bandit nailing him right between the eyes.
The other two bandits, upon seeing their comrades fall so easily decided to run, not that it would do them any good. Naruto held out his gauntleted left hand and pointed his index and middle fingers at one of the fleeing bandits. "Raiton: Byakurai (Lightning Style: Pale Lightning)" he intoned and a blue bolt of lightning shot from his fingertips and pierced through the bandits chest. He turned to repeat the process but before he could saw the silhouette of someone appear before the bandit and heard a familiar voice shout out "Futon: Kaze No Yaiba (Wind Style: Wind Blade)" and he saw the shimmering blade of wind separate the bandit's head from his neck, showing the grinning face of Yoruichi Shihouin before she moved to be at his side via shunpo.
"Nice of you to join me" he told her with a grin.
"Sorry about that, I kind of got sidetracked by a few bandits. And more importantly, you still haven't shown me how to do that yet" she said him with an adorable pout on her face, talking about Byakuri, a jutsu he invented about a week ago. She thought it was brilliant and was desperate to learn it.
"I know, I will when we get back ok".
"Ok".
"How are you holding up" he asked her, concerned.
She sighed and turned to him. "I'll be alright but I need a few days to sort my head out after this ok. What you told me earlier helped though".
"Good".
"Are the many left?" she asked him tiredly.
"Just the leader, there were fifty in total. The tags took out twenty, I took out nineteen and I presume you took out ten" he told her and saw he nod at her own kill count.
" So you two are the ones who took out my camp, guess I'll just have to take your lives as reparations" a voice called out behind them.
They turned saw and saw the bandit leader. He was a rather unremarkable man with low chakra reserves, white hair, Konoha chunin attire and a scratched out Konoha headband.
"Mizuki-teme, that you? I heard you went missing-nin but I didn't believe you were that thick " Naruto remarked in obvious delight upon recognizing his former teacher at academy.
"Kyuubi-gaki?" Mizuki asked him incredulously, then started laughing maniacally thinking he could finally kill Naruto after all these years. (Stupid bastard. Pricks like him never beat the main character, only badasses like Itachi can do that. And even then the hero usually comes back stronger than ever and proceed to have an epic battle with him before finally beating him).
"Can I handle him Yoruichi-chan" Naruto asked her eagerly.
"Yeah go ahead, I'm gonna meet up with Rangiku-sensei" she told him before vanishing via shunpo.
"See you in hell demon" Mizuki screamed as he charged Naruto, having transformed into some tiger-like abomination after downing some weird purple liquid from a test tube, obviously forgetting what happened last time he tried something like that.
Naruto didn't though, and grinned as he charging his chakra into Zangetsu, cloaking the blade in ebony, rimmed crimson chakra, obviously looking forward to a repeat performance. This was going to be so fun.
"Getsuga Tensho" Naruto roared as he swung his blade, firing the devestating arc of chakra at him at him.
Mizuki didn't stand a chance.
His body was obliterated in ensuing explosion, leaving only a charred but still recognizable head behind. Wouldn't want lose out on the bounty after all, however low it may be.
He quickly sealed the head in a scroll and vanished in a shunpo, reappearing in the clearing, startling the women there excluding his team. The woman started to gain a slight look of lust in their eyes as they stared at him despite their former situation. Hey, hot was hot. That look was soon silenced the small but deadly amount of killing intent radiating from both Yoruichi and Rangiku. The message behind the killing intent was very simple. "Back off, he's mine". And back off they did.
"Yoruichi-chan here told me you ran into Mizuki" Rangiku said to him as he reappeared.
"Yep" he answered grinning madly at her.
"You killed him didn't you" Rangiku asked and sighed as she saw him nod happily.
"Did you at least bring back the body".
"What's left of it anyway".
"Do I even want to know?" she asked him and got a quick shake of the head in response.
"Let's got then" she said as she led her genin and the women towards their homes.
Once the women were returned to husband, sons, uncles, brothers, fathers, boyfriends and friends, the team was profusely thanked by the villagers. The food they ate during their stay, as well as the costs of the hotel was covered by the villagers as their way of thanking them as well, despite the team's protests.
Three days later
"And that's what happened Hokage-sama" Rangiku told him, finishing her mission report as she and her team stood before him.
"Ok, Rangiku-chan. Naruto-kun could you please hand me the scroll containing Mizuki's remains. Once we have it verified that it truly is him the bounty will be wired into your account, as well as the mission pay for each of you" Hiruzen said and accepted the scroll Naruto handed to him.
"You'll all have a week to yourselves before you have to come here again for your next mission" the Hokage told them by way of dismissal and the team left the room before each of them separated to head to their own homes. They were tired from the mission and needed the rest, each of them intending to hit the sack once they got into their homes.
AN: Well, this chapter was originally meant to be the start of the Wave Arc but as you can see, it didn't really work out like that. Oh well. Anyway I hope you all enjoyed the chapter, especially the fight scenes. And for those of you who want lemons, I'll try my hand at them during the Wave Arc but bare with me if they're terrible, as it'll be my first time writing them. Oh and I'd like to thank you all regarding your suggestions for titles for Naruto, I'm currently liking the sound of 'Konoha's Ebony Swordsman' but keep sending me suggestions.
Edited: 14 June 2013