A/N: Hey, people. I know how much y'all hate author's notes at the beginning, so I'll make this quick and dirty- this chapter has NOT, I repeat, NOT, been beta-read. I managed to convince one of my buddies to give it a quick once-over, but he didn't actually sit down and curry-comb it. As such, be prepared for spelling/grammatical mistakes- I tried to get my little sister to beta it, but she wouldn't return my emails, and I got sick of waiting, so here ya go. New chapter.
The Tale of Three Outcasts
Chapter VI: A New Team
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By: Del'Cera Osirin
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"New moons... that's tonight, Aisu-chan," Akira suddenly realized, practically gaping as he saw the graceful figure appear behind his sister. "Wha... What are you?"
The very darkness seemed to part around the person- no. It wasn't a person. The figure radiated a strange, inhuman beauty, and yet, at the same time, there was an aura of power that surrounded the figure as well. Akira felt conflicted on his deepest, most primal level- he wanted to run away; to never see this person again for as long as he lived, but, at the same time, he felt that he wanted to remain, and learn about this new arrival.
"Do not fear me, little one. I'm not going to harm you."
Akira started. This figure could read his thoughts!?
"Yes. Yes, I can. But you have nothing to fear from me. You befriended my, for lack of a better term, host. I am grateful- she has few friends in this world. I am glad that she could meet ones such as you. And now, I have a request."
"What is it?" Haku asked, before Akira could respond.
"Take care of her. Not for my sake- I have lived long enough. However, she has not, and what little life she has had was full of pain. I wish to see that end. You can help me do that. Will you?"
"Yes, we will." Haku agreed, again, before Akira could get a word in edgewise.
"Excellent; thank you. Now, go back to the campsite. It is late, and you need your sleep."
Haku grabbed Akira by the shirt collar and quite literally dragged him to the campsite, before he rounded on her. "What the hell was that! You didn't let me talk!"
"'Cause I know you! If I let you talk then, you'd screw it up so bad that she'd never help us again! And I get a feeling that we'll need her help sooner than we'd like."
"So what if I- ya know what? Nevermind. It's not important. I'm going to bed. But, I am curious. I haven't seen you for years and years. How did we slip back into our old routine?"
"Who knows? I sure don't. It's weird. But that's for another day. Goodnight, Akira-nii."
"Goodnight, Aisu-chan."
With that short exchange, they went to bed.
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Two days later, the unlikely group walked through the gates. Kakashi let Naruto, Sasuke and Sakua go off and do whatever they wanted, saying that they had the day off. Akira, however, had to stay because, as Kakashi put it, "He was part of the reason that they had two missing-nin to present to the Hokage." They approached the Hokage's tower, and walked inside. Kakashi steered them to the Hokage's secretary, who waved them in, saying that he wasn't busy at the moment. They walked inside to see the Hokage sitting at his desk, a pile of paperwork on either corner.
"Ahh, Kakashi! Come to give your report?" The Hokage said, looking up from the papers on his desk. "But, wait. Who are these two with you? Is that… Momochi Zabuza?!"
"Hai, Hokage-sama. But, before you attack him, let me explain."
"Make it quick Hatake." The aged Hokage said, his voice steel.
"Yes, sir. While we were in Wave, Gatou, of the Gatou shipping company, hired various missing-nin to kill our charge, Tazuna. First, we were attacked by the Demon Brothers- I believe some of our ANBU recently picked them up?"
"Yes, Kakashi. I fact, they did; just last week. Continue."
"Of course, sir. After we defeated the Demon Brothers, we elected to continue the mission, even though Naruto sustained a poisoned injury. He drained the poison from the wound, and we continued to Wave. We reached a large lake, where we met Zabuza, here. Zabuza and I fought, where he trapped me in a water prison. Naruto and Sauske then freed me by forcing him to drop the jutsu, while Sakura continued to guard Tazuna from any other attacks. Zabuza and I continued our fight, and, just when I was about to deal the finishing blow, Haku, dressed as a Kirigakure Hunter-Nin, put him into a near-death state. My team trained in chakra control, while Zabuza recovered from his ordeal. One week later, we met again on Tazuna's near-completed bridge, and we fought. My students took on Haku, while I fought with Zabuza again. As we fought, Gatou showed up. He said that he would no longer pay Zabuza for his services, and offered Zabuza's paycheck to any mercenaries who managed to kill him. Zabuza then turned on his former employer. As we faced down the mercenaries, we saw Akira, here, walk out of the mist that Zabuza created. He had obviously incapacitated Haku somehow and, as I later learned, left her under the guard of Sasuke and Naruto, after convincing Sakura to take Tazuna back home. Akira then proceeded to kill Gatou, but was wounded in the fight. His injuries, though not life-threatening, could very well have cost him his life in the battle. I assume he knew this, because he then retreated to the other side of the bridge, leaving the rest of the mercenaries to Zabuza and I. Apparently, Naruto also managed to convince the citizens of Wave to rise up against Gatou and, just when we were put into an awkward situation, the citizens showed up, armed to the teeth, scaring away the mercenaries. After waiting until Tazuna finished the bridge, we left the country with Zabuza and Haku, who say that they wish to join Konoha."
"I see…" the wizened old man said, taking a long drag on his pipe. After a few minutes of thought, he asked Zabuza, "Why do you want to join Konoha?"
"Well, Hokage-sama," Zabuza began, showing proper respect- the old man may have been well into his sixties, at least, but it was obvious that he was once an extremely powerful shinobi, and could easily handle himself in a fight. "I have always heard that Konoha has extremely powerful ninja, even after the Kyuubi's attack and the village's subsequent devastation. I would like to see what makes those ninja so powerful. Also, life as a missing-nin is hard, especially when taking care of another as well. It would be nice to not have to worry about Hunter-nin attacking us while we sleep."
"I see." The old Hokage said. Turning to Haku, he asked the same question.
"Well, sir, I have seen something here that I have not seen in other villages- true teamwork. In the other countries I have visited with Zabuza-san, there are three-man cells, yes, but they are merely groups of people, slapped together for a common goal. Here, the cells are different. They are much more cohesive than other countries' cells, and that leads to better survival rates. Also, my brother is a member of this village. We thought each other dead for years, and I would like the chance to reconnect with him."
"I see. Well, tell me about yourselves."
Zabuza and Haku, taking this as a good sign, told the Hokage their life stories. As Haku finished hers, the Hokage's face twisted into a pensive look, before speaking.
"I see. Very well, you two will have a constant ANBU watch for the first six months After that, for the next eighteen months, there will be random checks by ANBU watch. Zabuza, you will be registered as a provisional jounin. You will be a proctor in the upcoming exam- if you do your job well, you will be recommended for the next jounin exam, so you can gain full jounin status. Haku, as you were never actually a shinobi of Kirigakure, you will be registered as a full genin, and placed with a sensei. Your new sensei will choose whether or not you are to be recommended for the chuunin exam."
"Hai, Hokage-sama!" Both of the ex-missing-nin said.
"Very well. Anything else?" The Hokage asked.
"Yes, sir. If I may?" Akira spoke up, in a small voice.
"What is it, Akira?"
"Well, sir, it's just that, well, I'd really like it if I could be on a team with my sister. We have worked well together in the past and, as she said, I would like a chance to reconnect with her. Also, I would prefer it if I was on a different team." Seeing Kakashi's look, he quickly continued his statement. "It's nothing against your team, Kakashi-sensei, but five people on a team is too much. Yes, we can take on slightly more difficult missions and have a better success rate, but we sacrifice stealth. However, with three genin and yourself, you stand a much better chance of completing infiltration missions. As such, I respectfully request a team transfer."
The Hokage could not find fault with the boy's logic- he knew himself that four genin and a jounin were pushing it more than he felt comfortable with. He was much more comfortable with a two… genin… cell… HE HAD IT! He knew what to do with his new shinobi.
"Very well, Akira. I have an idea. You will be transferred from Kakashi's Cell Seven to the newly-created Cell Twenty-Five. Akira, you and Haku will be the members, with Zabuza as your sensei. You will have an ANBU watch for the first few months, with random checks after that for the next six months."
"Yes, sir. Thank you, sir."
"Anything else?" When no other comments came up, he said, "Very well. Dismissed."
With that, the collection of jounin and genin left the Hokage's office. Sighing, the old man took a drag on his pipe. It had been a long day, and there was going to be a LOT more paperwork before the day was through.
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"Well, kids," Zabuza said to his new subordinates, his gruff voice cutting through the silence that hung over the training ground, "We're a team now. As such, I need to know what you're good at, and what you need help with. So spar. Anything goes, but I'll stop you before you get any life-threatening injuries."
"Sir?"
"Are you questioning me, boy?" Zabuza said as Akira prepared to voice a question.
"No, sir. Just clarifying. Anything goes?"
"Anything," Zabuza reaffirmed.
Akira and Haku both donned nearly identical evil smirks. Zabuza wondered why he suddenly had a feeling of impending doom, but quickly shook it off. They were genin- what could they do?
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Five
minutes found Akira trapped within another dome of mirrors- Haku had
not held back at all, and went straight to her strongest technique.
Akira was wrapped safely in his paper cocoon again, but this time
held a major difference. Instead of holding back like the last time
they'd fought, Akira began to grow small spines from the outer edge
of the cocoon. As they grew larger, a small groove began to spiral up
toward the very point. When the spines were a good length- three
inches, Akira commanded his wrapping to shoot them off. The grooves
in the spines made them spiral through the air, and they plowed into
Haku's mirrors, drilling their way deep into the ice. Akira quickly
stood up and, sacrificing his armor's thickness for
maneuverability, ran to Haku's mirrors, forming a large club. He
smashed his way through the mirror, and found himself on the outside.
He reached down to his belt, and withdrew two of the small
book-shaped objects hanging there. He opened them to reveal more
paper. Lots and lots of paper. He threw them up into the air, and
they quickly exploded, raining paper down on Haku's mirrors. It
quickly formed a massive igloo shape, and began to compress. He would
have simply trapped Haku in a dome, but he wanted to leave her a way
out- she was his sister, after all. However, he didn't need to
leave an exit. As the paper began to crush her mirrors, Haku leaped
out and slashed open a hole with two small ice blades. She charged
him, and Akira quickly encased his forearms with paper, making it
incredibly dense, let alone thick. He leaped back, and created his
preferred weapon, a small staff, roughly eighteen inches long. He
extended the staff with a thought, and blocked her blades. Shrinking
it back down, he leaped into the air, and made his staff roughly as
wide as an average-sized tree. Haku rolled to the side, and threw a
volley of senbon at him. Akira brought his staff to the side, turning
it into a decently-large shield, and deflected the needles. He
quickly reformed his small staff, and came down in front of Haku. He
threw a punch to her head, and connected. The force from his landing
was channeled through his arm, and dazed her for a second, which was
all he needed. Akira quickly let loose a series of rapid-fire
punches, all aimed at her stomach, and actually lifted her in the air
roughly two inches, before knocking her away. Haku recovered in
midair, and rolled to reduce the shock of landing. Then, focusing
chakra into her limbs, Haku sprinted for Akira, clotheslining him as
she ran. He was entirely unprepared for the assault, still trying to
catch his breath from the large expenditure of chakra his technique
took, and Haku caught him. He was flipped over, and Haku turned
around, kicking him in the spine. He flew upwards, and then fell,
before being kicked into the air again. Haku continued to juggle him
for roughly a minute, before she couldn't keep up with him any
longer and let him hit the ground, hard. Akira tried to cushion his
landing with paper, and succeeded somewhat, but he still felt the
impact more than he wanted to. He slowly got up, and almost
immediately rolled away, seeing Haku come at him. He threw his hand
out, wrapping her ankles in paper. He ran toward her, intending to
finish the fight quickly. He jumped in the air, intent on kicking her
in the face. He succeeded, but watched in horror, as his momentum
carried him through the puddle that was once her face, and saw her
body dissolve into water. The real Haku then walked up to him, laying
against a tree, and brought an ice blade to his neck.
"I win."
She said.
"Look again, Haku." The gruff voice of Zabuza said, startling them both- they were entirely too focused on their spar; they had completely forgotten about their sensei- a VERY bad move on the battlefield. Haku then looked down, and saw Akira's hand carefully placed on her stomach- he had a blade of paper on the underside of his arm, and it was set up so that, if he wanted, he could extend it and pierce her stomach and spine in one blow.
"I guess we tied." Akira finally said.
Zabuza could only chuckle- this was going to be FUN.
Akira and Haku, for the first time in years, let out a groan, in complete unison- this was NOT going to be fun AT ALL.
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Two months and at least sixty D-ranked missions later
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Kakahi looked up, and saw a bird circling in the sky; he knew it was a signal to come to the Hokage's office- the Chuunin Exams were set to begin.
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Kurenai looked up in the sky, and saw a bird circling in the sky. She told her team to take the rest of the day off, and made her way to the office.
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Asuma looked up, seeing a bird circling overhead. He told his team to do whatever they wanted for the rest of the day, and he took off.
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Zabuza heard the bird cawing, and smirked evilly under his bandages. That was a call to come to the Hokage's office, to nominate teams for the Chuunin Exams. He drove his sword vertically into the ground between his two students, ending their spar prematurely.
"I've got a meeting." Zabuza said, "So I'm ending training today. Go do whatever for the rest of the day. I'll see you here tomorrow."
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After the Genin teams under Kurenai, Kakashi, Asuma, and Zabuza were nominated for the exam, Sarutobi officially announced the date of the Chuunin exams.
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In an underground room, lit only by candles, a tall figure chuckled. His pale skin stretched over his face, curling into a disturbing smile. His spy had just delivered excellent news.
"Ku ku ku," He laughed, "Things are going along just as I planned! Soon, the boy will be mine!"
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A/N: Okay people, I'm sorry this took so long. But, as I've told my friends, my sister kinda wrote me into a literary corner with the last paragraph or so of the previous chapter. You can tell what she did- she writes WAY different from me. I tried to blend it in, but I'm not sure that I did the greatest job ever… let me know how I did, okay? Thanks!