Chapter Ten:
~Tsuki's POV
The morning after our mission, a team of Leaf Village ANBU arrived and spoke to us. My team told them what happened and what we knew, and the ANBU left shortly after to the hideout. We were to return to Konoha and report to Lord Hokage.
"How are you all feeling?" Nanako-sensei asked us. "Tsuki, can you walk again?"
I nodded and stood up to show her. I could walk, but I would be limping. The damage on my leg was harsh, but not permanent.
"We'll take it slow back to Konoha. If you need to rest, let us know."
I sat back down and gently rubbed over my injury. It was bandaged up with clean wraps now that the bleeding subsided. I also had a small bandage around my arm where I was grazed. And there was a bruise on my collarbone from when the rogue tried to choke me with my bow. I wasn't the only one who sustained injury though.
Yoshiko had some bruised ribs, and a small cut on her cheek. Ryoma got swiped in his abdomen. Yoshiko was currently checking his wound to make sure it wasn't infected. When she was satisfied, she stood up and Ryoma put his shirt back on.
"So we're done here?" he asked, standing.
"Yes," Nanako-sensei answered. "We'll make our way back to the village. However, I'd like to stop by the Land of Waves. Kakashi's team had a mission that way and I wanna see how it turned out."
"You just wanna brag about how we did on our mission, don't you?"
Nanako-sensei laughed and said, "Nothing gets past you, Ryoma!"
I grinned in amusement. Yoshiko came over and held out a hand, pulling me up.
"Let's go then."
The air was becoming heavy with fog as we got closer to the village Nanako-sensei told us about. Apparently Kakashi-sensei's team of genin was on a mission in the Land of Waves, and since it was on the way back to Konoha, she wanted to catch them there.
"Any idea what their mission here was, sensei?" Yoshiko asked.
"Some kind of escort mission, I think," Nanako-sensei answered. "Kakashi didn't tell me the specifics. Then again, they left almost as soon as they got the job. So he didn't have much time to tell me anything."
"If it was just an escort mission, why would they still be here?" Ryoma pointed out. "An escort this close to the Land of Fire wouldn't take more than a day or two. Our mission took at least three days."
"Normally, you'd be right. But when I asked my buddy on that ANBU team we left back there about it, he told me Kakashi's team still hadn't reported back."
"So you're worried about them more than wanting to brag."
Nanako-sensei kept walking, contemplating what Ryoma said. "We're just gonna check to make sure things are okay in this village." She turned to me. "While we're at it, we can let Tsuki rest that leg of hers. How you holding up?"
I gave her a thumbs up. My leg was sore, but I could keep going. I didn't want to hold them back more than I already was.
We soon reached the village and found it was completely quiet. The fog had lightened, but still covered the area. There wasn't anyone around.
"Where is everyone?" Yoshiko asked.
I suddenly heard a group of voices nearby and pointed in that direction. We went that way, and when we turned the corner, we found a decent group of villagers gathered with tools in their hands.
"Last resort weapons," Ryoma guessed.
The group was being led by a child who had a fierce look of determination in his eyes.
"It's time to take our village back!" he said to his fellow villagers.
Nanako-sensei smirked and stepped closer. "Mind if we help?"
The kid and the villagers turned to us. "Who are you guys?"
"Leaf shinobi. Looking for some friends of ours."
"You mean Naruto and the others?" the child asked.
"So they are still here," Nanako-sensei mused. "Alright, kid, know where we can find them?"
~3rd POV
Zabuza had just killed Gato, sending him into the river below the unfinished bridge. Naruto and Kakashi looked on as it happened, not finding any reason to stop the so called demon.
"Naruto! Over here!"
At the sound of Sakura's voice, Naruto and Kakashi turned around.
"Look, it's Sasuke! He's alright! He's alright!" She waved erratically at them as Sasuke got to his feet.
Sasuke held his arm up to show he was okay, and Naruto turned to look at the body of Haku, thinking back. Haku must have purposely spared Sasuke's life, and Naruto was thankful for that.
"Well, well, the wonders never cease," Kakashi commented. "Amazing."
"Hey!"
The Leaf ninja turned back to the large group of rogues. They had managed to momentarily forget they were there.
"Don't go gettin' too comfortable," one of them said.
A rogue behind him spoke up. "This party ain't over yet. Who's gonna pay us now that Gato's gone?"
"No way we're gonna leave here empty handed. So we'll just have to hit that village and see what they've got for us."
The rest of the rogues started cheering behind him. Kakashi and Naruto realized they were once again in a bind.
"Not good," Kakashi said.
Naruto turned to his sensei. "Come on, Kakashi-sensei! You must have a jutsu that can take care of this bunch of losers!"
"Not right now. I used too much of my chakra."
"Get 'em, boys!" The group of rogue ninja started charging at them. They had a limited time to come up with a plan to stop them.
But they didn't have to.
A short harpoon landed in front of the rogues, stopping them in their tracks. The group of Leaf shinobi and Tazuna turned around, finding Inari and the rest of the villagers there. They were armed with a variety of tools, and they were ready to fight.
"There's one little thing you're forgetting about!" the man behind Inari shouted. "Before you set one foot in our village, you'll have to go through all of us!" The villagers behind him cheered, raising their makeshift weapons.
"Inari!" Naruto called happily.
The child laughed, brushing his nose. "Heroes usually show up at the last minute, ya know?"
Tazuna had tears in his eyes. "They've all come. The whole village."
"I couldn't have said it better myself, kid!"
Before anyone had a chance to react to the new voice, Nanako jumped down from the foundation pillar above the group of rogues and landed next to the closest one in the front. She was swift on her feet as she turned, elbowing him in the face with a massive force. He was sent flying to the edge of the bridge, nearly falling off.
A shadow sped around the villagers, past Kakashi and Naruto, and headed straight for the rogues. It paused in front of them, and Ryoma rose from the shadow. He sent an uppercut to the closest rogue's stomach, knocking him out instantly.
Yoshiko flipped onto the bridge from the side of it. She landed on her feet and rushed forward. Grabbing one of the rogue's by his arm, she gracefully flipped him over her shoulder and sent a harsh kick to the back of his head.
Nanako stood proudly with her students, staring down the rogues with confidence.
"Should I bother asking why you're here?" Kakashi asked his friend.
Nanako sent a grin back to him. "Come on, Kakashi! You can't honestly say you've got no more fight in you!"
Naruto smirked and made his hand sign. Four shadow clones appeared beside him. Nanako saw Kakashi lightly smirk behind his mask as he made the same hand sign.
"Shadow Clone Jutsu!" When the smoke cleared, dozens of shadow clones of Kakashi appeared. "Okay!" they all said. "Still want to fight?!"
The rogues ran back, stumbling over each other to fit into their boat. As they sailed away, the villagers cheer in triumph, knowing they have reclaimed their village.
Nanako turned around and saw Kakashi and Naruto recalled their shadow clones. She walked up to Kakashi and held out her hand. "Still walking?"
He sighed, taking her hand. "What would I do without you?" he asked sarcastically.
"That is a question, isn't it?" She looked at her two students. "Why don't you two check on Tsuki and see that she's doing alright?"
Ryoma and Yoshiko nodded and headed back.
"Where is Tsuki, anyway?" Naruto asked.
"She's tending to your friend's wounds," Nanako answered. "If you have any, you should see her. She's pretty decent at it. Fast learner, that girl."
Naruto looked to where he left his teammates, and sure enough, Tsuki was there tending to Sasuke.
~Tsuki's POV
When we got to the bridge, we saw a group of rogues about to fight Kakashi-sensei and Naruto. Sasuke and Sakura were behind them with an older man, and it was clear that Sasuke was hurt.
"Tsuki, tend to your friend," Nanako-sensei ordered. "We'll take care of the rest."
I nodded and quickly made my way to where they were. I tapped Sasuke's shoulder lightly as to not hurt him more, and he turned around sluggishly.
"Tsuki?" he asked.
I smiled and held up a small first aid kit. I motioned for him to sit down, and he did so without objecting. I could feel Sakura watching me, and I remembered that she was one of the girls that would get angry with me for spending time with Sasuke at the academy.
I knelt next to Sasuke and saw he had several needles protruding his body. I gave him a look and he nodded, bracing himself. I grabbed the first needle firmly and quickly pulled it out, causing Sasuke to his in pain. I did this for all of the needles on his right arm first. I grabbed a cloth, dipped it in a small tub of alcohol, and dabbed at the holes in his arms. As I cleaned his wounds, he started taking the needles out of his legs, occasionally taking sharp intakes of breath.
"Not much of a talker, is she?" the old man asked.
"For as long as we've known her, she's never spoken before," Sakura told him.
I began cleaning the injuries on Sasuke's legs and saw him glance at me from the corner of my eye.
"She has a personal reason," Sasuke told them. "Let's leave it that."
I silently thanked Sasuke for that and focused back on what I was doing. By the time I had finished tending to his injuries, the bleeding had mostly stopped. I wrapped the more serious wounds, but he would be fine after some rest.
He nodded his thanks and Sakura helped him stand up. I gathered my supplies and stood up as well. I looked at Sakura and started scanning her body for any injuries.
"Um, why are you looking at me like that?" she asked warily.
I looked up in surprise, not realizing I was actually making her nervous. I saw Ryoma and Yoshiko walking up behind her and started signing to them. This only caused Sakura more confusion.
"Um, what?" she asked.
Ryoma shoved his hands in his pockets. "She's asking if you have any injuries for her to look at."
Sakura turned and realized they were there. Then she looked back at me and said, "Oh! No, I'm fine. Thank you." She gave a small smile, which I returned fully.
I put my kit back into my pack and went to stand next to my team.
"So you guys must be Tsuki's teammates," Sasuke guessed.
"We graduated the academy a year earlier than you guys, so we never met before," Yoshiko said. "I'm Yoshiko, and this is Ryoma." She leaned on Ryoma's shoulder playfully, causing him to groan in annoyance. "You guys must be Sasuke and Sakura."
"How did you know?" Sakura asked.
"Tsuki told us about you guys while you were all in the academy still," Ryoma answered.
"And our sensei is best friends with your sensei, so she gets all the fun details," Yoshiko added.
"You're a real odd bunch, ya know?" the old man told us.
Yoshiko giggled, but stopped. We looked up as snow began to steadily fall from the sky.
My team stood behind Team 7 as Sakura knelt in front of the graves they made for Zabuza and Haku.
"Is that really it, Kakashi-sensei?" she asked.
"Hmm?"
"Is that the ninja way?" She turned to look at him. "To use and be used by people like tools?"
Sakura's question struck curiosity in the rest of us. I shared a glance with my teammates, and we all turned our gazes to Nanako-sensei. She stood next to Kakashi-sensei with her arms folded.
"We are all merely tools in the hands of destiny," Kakashi-sensei answered. "No point in wondering whether it's right or wrong. It just is. It's the same in the Village Hidden in the Leaves."
"Well if you ask me, if that's what being a ninja's all about then something's out of whack," Naruto said. "Is that why we go through all this training? Just to end up like them?"
"What is the reason for that?" Sasuke added.
Kakashi-sensei sighed. "Well, it's a question without an answer. And that's something we ninja have to deal with every day of our lives. Like Zabuza and the kid."
"And we're meant to walk that same path?" Ryoma piped in.
Nanako-sensei hummed to herself. "Well, that's for you to decide. We may be at the mercy of fate, but we get to decide how we reach that point."
I hung on to Nanako-sensei's words. 'The mercy of fate, huh?'
"Okay!" We all looked at Naruto as he straightened up. "I've just come to a decision. From now on, I'm finding my own ninja way. A way that's straight, and true, and without any regrets. From now on, I'm following the way of Naruto!"
Kakashi-sensei and Nanako-sensei seemed surprised for a moment, but both of them chuckled regardless. I shared a look with my teammates, and we all made a silent agreement. We'll find our own path together.
Nanako-sensei joined Team 7 in saying goodbye to the villagers of the Land of Waves. Ryoma and Yoshiko stood with me at the village entrance, preparing to leave with our friends.
"Are you sure you can walk on your own back to Konoha?" Yoshiko asked me.
I nodded and moved my injured leg around a bit. It was still sore, but most of the pain had gone and I could walk fine.
"Just let us know if we need to slow down," Ryoma told me. "Don't push yourself."
I gave him a playful look and signed, "And what of your injury?"
Yoshiko sent a sharp look to him. "Yeah, that's right. You're injured too, mister. You'd better not push yourself either!"
Ryoma huffed and looked away, and I caught the faint blush on his cheeks. I couldn't help but silently laugh.
"Alright, you three, let's get a move on." Nanako-sensei walked up to us. We began walking and Team 7 steadily caught up to us until they walked side by side with us.
"Haha! As soon as we get back, I'm gonna let Iruka-sensei fix me up a whole mess of ramen to celebrate a mission accomplished!" Naruto boasted. "Oh! And just wait until I tell Konohamaru about all of my adventures! That kid's gonna worship me!"
"Hey," Sakura voiced.
"Yeah?"
"Not you, Naruto." She looked past him at Sasuke. "Sasuke, when we get back, you wanna go out and do something together?"
"I don't think so, thanks," Sasuke said.
Sakura stopped walking. "Oh, okay."
Naruto stopped beside her. "Sakura, I'll do something with you if you want."
"What?! Hey, that was a private conversation! Beat it!"
I turned back and saw Sakura practically throw Naruto away. I watched warily, not sure if I should help him or not. I heard Yoshiko laughing behind me and Ryoma sighed.
"You definitely seem to have your hands full with these kids, Kakashi," Nanako-sensei said.
"You don't know the half of it," he replied. "By the way, I never got to ask about your mission, Nanako. How'd it go?"
Nanako-sensei glanced down at me and saw I was listening. She looked at the others. Ryoma and Sasuke were walking together, apparently locked in a conversation. I realized the two were very similar and could very well end up being friends. A little ways behind us, Yoshiko was talking animatedly with Sakura about something while Naruto sulked next to them.
Nanako-sensei lowered her voice as she spoke to Kakashi-sensei. "We learned new information about Orochimaru. We found one of his hideouts."
Kakashi-sensei's eyes widened. "Orochimaru?" he repeated in a hushed voice. He looked at me. "How are you holding up, Tsuki?"
I was confused by how Kakashi-sensei knew about my connection with Orochimaru. Nanako-sensei saw my confusion and told me, "Kakashi and a few select jonin in our village are aware of your situation, Tsuki. We're assigned to deal with matters should anything come up regarding it. It's for your protection."
I nodded in understanding, realizing it made sense.
Nanako-sensei turned back to her friend. "She had an episode, but otherwise fine. She managed to get through the toughest part of the mission without fail." She sent a proud gaze towards me, and I felt a heavy blush warm my face.
Kakashi-sensei chuckled. "You're making progress. That's good news."
I sent him a thankful smile.
"Hey, Tsuki!" I turned at the call of my name and Naruto ran up to walk next to me. "We should go train together when we get back to the village."
"Sorry, Naruto, but Tsuki here is gonna be on bedrest for a few days," Nanako-sensei told him.
"Huh? How come?"
"You loser," Sasuke scoffed. "Can't you see she's hurt?"
I pointed at my leg. He looked down and saw the bandaged wrapped around my thigh, then looked back at me.
"Whoa, you guys must have had a pretty tough mission like us!"
Yoshiko came up behind me and wrapped her arms around me shoulders, grinning widely. "Sure did! But we got it done and came out a-okay!"
"Cool! Tell me all about it!"
Yoshiko and Ryoma looked at Nanako-sensei. "Leave out delicate information." She signed this to them and they responded with a nod. Naruto didn't seem to notice. However, I saw Sasuke and Sakura give us confused stares. Nonetheless, they didn't ask about it, and they listened closely as Yoshiko and Ryoma told them what we endured.
"The less they know about him, the better," Nanako-sensei muttered.
"At least for now," Kakashi-sensei agreed.
And I too found myself agreeing.
We finally made it back to Konoha. The sun was setting, so it took us nearly the entire day to travel back from the Land of Waves.
"We have to go report to Lord Hokage," Kakashi-sensei told us.
"Why don't you all head home and rest?" Nanako-sensei suggested. "You all did well on your missions."
The two jonin walked away toward the main Hokage office.
"I'm gonna go find Iruka-sensei! See ya!"
Before anyone could respond, Naruto ran off.
"He must really want that ramen," Yoshiko said. She grinned at me. "Tsuki, Ryoma and I will walk you home, okay?"
I nodded and waved goodbye to Sasuke and Sakura. My teammates walked beside me as we headed toward the Hyuga Compound. The streets were starting to empty. The villagers were turning in for the night to be with their families. It was peaceful.
"Remember, Nanako-sensei wants us to keep what we found under wraps," Ryoma reminded us.
"She probably told Kakashi-sensei already," Yoshiko guessed, and I nodded to confirm it. "So after they tell Lord Hokage, the other higher ups will probably know soon too."
"Still, we have to watch what we say and to who," Ryoma pointed out.
Yoshiko and I agreed with a nod each.
My friends walked me all the way back to the compound and I bid them goodbye. I turned around after they walked away and almost jumped. Neji was standing behind me. I calmed down and gave him a soft smile.
He switched his gaze from my eyes to my neck. Then he glanced to my arm and down to my leg. "You're hurt," he said.
I reached up and rubbed the bruise on my collar gently. The bandages on my arm and leg were still white, so I wasn't bleeding. I looked back up at him and waved it off, telling him I was fine.
"It's good that you're safe," he said, about to turn around. "You need to rest."
I walked next to him as we went inside. I could feel myself blushing lightly, realizing he was worried about me. But being as he is, he probably wouldn't openly show it.
