Coming from the Shadows: Entering Uzushiogakure
"So, how much further do we have to go, anyway?" Naruto asked, as their seventh day drew to a close.
"We'll likely arrive tomorrow," Itachi said slowly, thinking about the potential upcoming battle.
Smiling, Naruto made a mental cheer as the five traveling companions waited for their food to finish stewing.
"There are presumably a great deal of bandits in Uzushiogakure," Shino said. "The Kikaichu I planted on the bandits we passed on the trail all seem to be located within Uzushiogakure itself. We'll need to exercise a great deal of caution. It would be rather precarious for us to enter Uzushiogakure without any plans or escape routes. We may be shinobi, but even the mighty can fall to the weak under the right circumstances."
Nodding, Naruto agreed with his well-spoken teammate. "For battle-style plans we could stick to our protection set-up. But as for escape routes...hm..."
The three genin were silent for several minutes as they tried to think of possible methods to escape. Ino let out a sigh. "I've got almost nothing. We could fight our way out or rely on sensei, but I think he'd want us to try and develop a proper plan to escape ourselves."
Naruto and Shino nodded, as they had more or less come up with the same conclusions. "Sensei, going though what we know, we can't seem to create a possible escape route that doesn't put our client in danger or rely on you. So, I guess for this mission at least, we'll need to rely on you. And when we get back, we'll need to learn more diverse skills so this potential situation we have on our hands won't be out of our reach anymore."
Itachi nodded. "This mission was worthwhile then. Outside of the unexpected circumstances surrounding Uzu-san and Naruto, I had hoped that you'd be placed in this situation so you'd learn that a group of specialists isn't as powerful as a group of all-rounders." Looking over at Naruto, he added, "We'll be leaving this campsite as is for now, it'll be our base of operations as the expected size of the bandits is not something we can deal with in one night. During that time, I don't want you to have your weights or training seals on. You'll need every advantage you can get. I won't have you risk yourself during a low-risk enterprise just to gain some slight improvement."
"Alright, sensei." Naruto said, removing his seals and gently placing his weights on the ground.
"And with that, dinner is ready." Itachi said, and his four companions hurriedly got some food. He smiled at the scene in front of him. Before he got his team, he wouldn't expect to see a once-stoic Aburame engaging with laughter and joviality, nor would he expected a person like Ino to be at ease with an Aburame. It was nice to see how close they've grown. He could only hope his instincts were wrong, as they had recently began to scream danger - thus the real reason he had Naruto lose his training tools.
He sighed, and got himself some food. He'd need it for the upcoming excursion in Uzushiogakure.
One well-rested Shinobi - silent Shino, joined his teammates as they rose shortly before dawn. "As discussed, leave any unexpected elements to me and if necessary, I'll provide the escape route in case it's necessary." Itachi said to his genin. "We should enter Uzushiogakure within an hour, stay alert."
His three genin nodded before taking their positions. Shino at the forefront, Ino in the middle, and Naruto in the rear, with two clones flanking Senkai.
Silently, they made their way into the ruins of Uzushiogakure.
They didn't make much progress before they encountered resistance. A lone figure stood before them, with a cold smile on his face. His cold, icy-blue eyes pierced them as he evaluated the group. Letting out a low laugh, he said, "Wonderful. Fresh genin. It's been a while since I had a feast like this." Above his ice-cold eyes was a hitai-ate, denoting him as a missing-nin from Kumogakure.
At his words, bandits seemed to pop up from every nook and cranny.
Ino turned to Naruto and said, "And this is why you don't say things along the lines of 'What could go wrong?'"
Naruto just smiled at her with a sheepish expression. "Well, I guess this is another one of those lessons learned things."
Itachi left the group and went straight to the ninja. "I'll handle Saishu here, he's a B-Rank Ninja. Take care of the bandits and protect Uzu-san."
Saishu narrowed his eyes at Itachi. "'Handle me?' he says. I was going to be merciful and let one of the genin survive, but not anymore. Kill them."
From the rear, Naruto had the best view of the situation. Whipping out two kunai, he quickly threw them and dispatched two of the bandits. "Stay calm! Ino, Shino. Genin are allowed to take C-Rank missions, don't forget. Bandits are not an unexpected development on them, so we are trusted by our village to be able to handle bandits."
Nodding at his friend's words, Shino raised his arms up and a swarm of Kikaichu were released and set upon a great deal of the bandits. Not wanting to be outdone by her friends, Ino ran through a couple handseals, and sent a widespread genjutsu through the bandits - at the cost of a great deal of her chakra.
Screams filtered the air as bandits fell to three things, illusion, flesh eating parasites, and the occasional kunai and shuriken.
Taking deep breaths to center herself, she looked at her teammates and smiled at them.
"Best to stay on guard," Shino said. "Sensei's fight isn't over yet, and we don't know Saishu's abilities.
Nodding, they tensed and kept watch on their surroundings.
Smiling at the screams, Itachi said, "Seems like your little bandits weren't able to amount to much, were they?"
Growling, the man charged Itachi with a tantō. "Die!" he said, as he slashed Itachi with a lightning-charged strike. He smiled. "And so the great Uchiha Itachi falls."
Itachi stood up holding his left arm as a stream of blood ran down his shoulder. "I don't need more than a single arm to deal with the likes of you, Saishu-chan." Itachi said, mocking the ninja.
Jumping back, Saishu ran through a few handseals before crying out "Lightning Release: Thunder Current." A wave of lightning flooded the area and Itachi found himself unable to dodge and took on the full burden of a hundred thousand volts. As the jutsu was released, Itachi fell to the ground.
Saishu began to laugh once more, a dark, cruel laughter befitting of his status.
Shakily, Itachi stood once more, refusing to back down. Breathing heavily, Itachi said, "I won't fall that easily."
Saishu just shook his head and ran through more hand seals. He smiled coldly at Itachi. "No matter what you do, you're going to die." he said, charging Itachi once more.
In his cold rage, he never noticed the confident expression on Itachi's face.
Having heard nor seen any sign of approaching bandits, the three genin relaxed their guards a little. "Let's leave Saishu to sensei and continue on with our mission." Naruto said, "Either there aren't as many bandits as Itachi suspected, they fled after the initial attack, or they're waiting. No matter the option, the best course of option seems to be continuing with our mission."
Getting two nods of agreement, Naruto said, "This way, Senkai." And with that the three genin and client slowly made their way through the ruins of Uzushiogakure.
Coming across a fallen buidling, their client spoke up. "Perhaps in here?" she said, subtly reminding them that she was searching for proof of her heritage.
"Right, then. Shino, if you would?" Naruto said, gesturing to the Aburame. Nodding, Shino sent a few Kikaichu into the building as preliminary surveillance.
A few tense moments later they returned and Shino said, "The building seems to be clear. No signs of humans were found."
"Alright, let's head inside. But carefully. Don't know if it may collapse so stick close."
Getting a couple affirmatives, the three genin carefully entered the building and were amazed at what they saw. Despite the presence of bandits and even a missing-nin, this building, at least, showed no signs of being looted. It appeared to have been a home to one of the Uzumaki shinobi, if the scrolls they found were any indication. Despite Naruto knowing more of the obscure art of fuinjutsu than most Konoha shinobi could profess, the scroll's purpose remained out of his grasp - a clear sign of an extremely skilled practitioner.
Taking the scrolls as he, as one of the few living Uzumaki, had fair right to claim, sealed them into one of his spare scrolls and said, "Let's continue. What we're searching for doesn't appear to be in this room."
Leading them, they searched the rest of the house, room by room, but nothing else of any import was found. Just personal possessions of those that had lived there.
They left the building and continued their search. They came across a few more buildings and they left them with more and more questions. None of the buildings showed signs of being looted or even searched. It's as if no one was able to enter the buildings.
Finally, they came across a much more regal building that the ones that had entered. "This is probably our best bet for what you're looking for, Senkai-san." Shino said, as he let loose a few of his Kikaichu. Despite the implications the other buildings rose, it never hurt to be prepared.
Receiving the all-clear, they entered the final building, and much like its predecessors, it remained intact with no signs of looting.
Naruto took in the sights, as there were basic sealing scrolls covering just about everything, he said, "This may take a while..."
Itachi just stared at Saishu, surprised that as a B-Rank shinobi he was still stuck in the genjutsu. "Well, I didn't really expect a shinobi of his caliber to die this easily," he muttered as he walked up to the immobile shinobi and pierced him with his tantō. Sealing the man within a scroll, Itachi headed through the village, to rendezvous up with his team.
He quickly found himself in the center of the village staring at, quite frankly, the largest dwelling he's seen. It dwarfed even those of the Uchiha and Hyuuga compounds. Composing himself, he made way to enter the building but found himself unable to.
He frowned. His team was inside, so why wasn't he able to enter...
Activating his sharingan, he quickly found the reason. A subtle seal placed upon the entryway barred entrance to all who were lacking an Uzumaki to guide them. "Fascinating," he muttered. 'Perhaps I could emulate a similar seal back home,' he mused.
Shaking his head, he said, "Well, I might as well wait here. Can't do anything about it."
He was in for a long wait.