Chapter 3: Building Bridges
Anko Mitarashi ran through the streets of Konoha, pulling a flustered Kurenai Yuhi behind her. She had just returned from a mission, and it was Kurenai's turn to pay for dango, as the poor woman would probably come to regret shortly. They struck quite the comical figure, many passing civilians and shinobi alike stopping to watch Kurenai get bodily dragged behind her slightly shorter counterpart. As they finally reached the dango stall and Anko released her vice-like hold, Kurenai was finally able to catch her breath.
"Why are you always in such a hurry?" She asked exasperatedly, straightening her white bandage dress.
"We were going to be late," said Anko simply, turning to place an extremely large order of dango, much to Kurenai's displeasure.
"Late?" Kurenai asked. "Late for what?" Anko grinned broadly.
"For dango!"
Kurenai winced slightly as she was given the bill.
They took their dango to the jounin lounge, which was the go-to hangout spot for almost everyone who had earned the rank. While not anything extravagant, the lounge offered a relatively quiet and comfortable space, boasting enough furniture to sit all the jounin at once, if required. Anko threw both doors wide open, holding the pose for a moment for added effect, grinning through the stick of dango that hung from her mouth. Her smile slowly faded into a frown, her eyes narrowing as she looked around the joining lounge. Something was off. She wasn't sure what it was yet, but she would find out. Quickly, she pulled a confused Kurenai to a nearby table, making sure to sit so that she could see the whole room.
"What's going on, Anko?" Kurenai asked, wondering silently if she really wanted to know the answer.
"I don't know," Anko admitted, "Something is different." Kurenai craned her neck over her shoulder, only for Anko to lunge across the table and grab her face to hold her still.
"Don't move," she hissed, the glint in her eyes alarming Kurenai slightly. "They might notice you." With a feral grin, Anko continued to scan the room. The disturbance wasn't a something but rather a someone. She was sure of it. When she found the new jounin… Kurenai looked positively horrified at Anko's evil smirk.
"There," she said quietly, subtly gesturing to the other side of the room. Kurenai followed the gesture, careful not to appear conspicuous, lest Anko grab her again. At one of the tables, a lone woman sat with her back turned away from them, most likely eating her lunch.
"Anko, she probably just wants to be left alone…" Even as the words escaped her lips, Kurenai knew it was pointless. Anko's smile widened.
"I know." Harassing the newbies was one of Anko's favorite pastimes. Watching them tremble in fear always made for a good laugh, and this time would be no different. A little bit of hazing never hurt anyone, she figured.
Casually, yet stealthily, she approached the lone woman's table. She couldn't help but admire the unknown kunoichi as she drew closer. Her choice of clothing, at least, was definitely Anko-approved. She wore tight black pants, made out of a stretchy material that left little to the imagination, as well as making Anko slightly jealous. Covering her torso was a red tank top and her jounin vest, which she had left unzipped. Anko reached the woman and trailed a hand over the woman's shoulder, making her whip around in surprise. Anko's smirk diminished slightly as the woman's deep blue eyes met her own, forcing herself to keep her cocky attitude. This chick was a fucking bombshell. Her previous less-than-kind intentions were instantly thrown out the window, only to be replaced with more debaucherous ones.
"It's so good to see new faces here," she said sweetly before extending a hand, which the woman reluctantly took. "I'm Anko Mitarashi."
"Naruko Uzumaki," the woman responded. Anko's grin widened as she slid into the seat across from her.
"I haven't seen you before. New jounin?" Naruko's face scrunched up slightly, and Anko had to hold back a squeal as she noticed the whisker-like marks on each of Naruko's cheeks.
"Special jounin, actually."
"Oh? Same as me, then. I'm sure we'll get along just fine," Anko purred, slightly brushing Naruko's leg with her foot.
"Y-yes," Naruko agreed, a hint of a blush tinging her cheeks, "I'm sure we will." Anko's grin turned predatory. She had Naruko right where she wanted her.
"I'm sure your new position is quite intimidating. I could always," She paused, trailing a finger over her bottom lip, "show you the ropes…"
"Anko, quit harassing our new coworker." Kurenai sat down next to them, prompting a frown from Anko. She totally had this woman in the bag, a few more smooth lines and they would have undoubtedly gone back to Anko's place for some hot, sweaty sex. At least, that was the plan. "I'm Kurenai Yuhi, I see you've already met Anko here," Kurenai continued kindly.
"Naruko Uzumaki, pleasure to meet you." Anko glowered, Kurenai was going to pay for this.
"Yo! Naruko!" The voice startled the trio, all three heads turning to see Kakashi waving their way. "The Hokage wants to see you." Naruko quickly stood from the table, excusing herself smoothly, before following Kakashi out the door. Anko turned slowly to Kurenai, whose smile slowly faded as she noticed the look Anko was leveling her way.
"What the fuck was that, Kurenai?" She growled, prompting a wince from her friend.
"W-what are you talking about?"
"I had that fine piece-of-ass in the bag, and you just had to go and ruin it for me?" She folded her arms, still wearing her meanest scowl. "It's official, you owe me sex."
"I owe you what?" Kurenai asked, flabbergasted. Anko's scowl slowly turned into a smirk.
"You ruined my chance for a good lay. It's only fair that you pay me back."
"I am not having sex with you Anko, for the last time."
Anko grinned triumphantly, despite Kurenai's response. In the end, she always got her way.
Naruko found herself once more in the Hokage's office as Sarutobi regarded her over his folded hands.
"If the mission is as you say, it is even more imperative that you go along." Naruko sighed, knowing he was right. She really didn't want to have to deal with fresh genin, especially the ones who were on her old team. Sure, they matured well enough, but Naruko knew better than anyone how much they struggled early in their shinobi careers.
What Sarutobi wanted from her was simple enough. To pose as a special jounin, she would actually have to act the part. That wasn't unexpected. What surprised her was when he asked her to accompany Kakashi's team on an escort mission to the Land of Waves. An unassuming mission she had undertaken twelve years ago. It was lucky, really, that Sarutobi had requested her to join the mission. It hadn't occurred to her that without her on the team, the mission outcome could have been drastically different. While sending any other jounin level shinobi would suffice, Sarutobi was correct in that she should play her part, if she was to be a special jounin. She was simply not looking forward to dealing with an angsty young Sasuke, and the fangirlish Sakura. Admittedly, she had not been much better when she was a fresh genin, and had been far too stupid to notice the obvious fact that Sakura was not, in fact, into girls. The amount of times she had gotten rejected...
"I'll do it. Who is it that replaced me on team seven anyway?" Sarutobi smiled kindly.
"That would be one Inuzuka Kiba."
"Kiba," she mused, "Kakashi has his hands full, I bet." Sarutobi laughed cordially.
"That he does. You leave tomorrow morning," he said, handing her the full mission details, "don't be late."
Naruko arrived at the front gates of Konoha exactly three hours and one minute after the time they agreed to meet. She saw, with no small amount of satisfaction, that Kakashi had arrived just before her. It was something on an achievement, really, to be later than the Copy Ninja himself.
"Why were you late?" Demanded Sakura, apparently having gone through a similar conversation with Kakashi.
"I had business with the Hokage," Naruko lied smoothly. "As a newly appointed special jounin, I had to sign a few documents before my first mission began." Sasuke grunted in annoyance, while Sakura glared at her suspiciously.
"At least she had an actual excuse," sighed Kiba. Akamaru yipped in agreement, perched on Kiba's shoulder. Naruko, for her part, was trying not to be thrown off by the bizarreness of the situation. Here were three of her close friends, not only alive again, but young genin. She had almost forgotten how long Sakura's hair used to be, and how brooding Sasuke had been. Tazuna, the bridge builder they were escorting, remained silent, though he didn't look the least bit pleased with his chosen guard.
"Let's head out, then" Kakashi chirped merrily, and they were off.
Kakashi walked a few paces behind Naruko watching her as he had been ever since they left Konoha, ignoring the bickering of the genin behind him. He had been surprised when Sarutobi had told him that he would have a special jounin accompanying him for his team's first C-rank mission, and even more so when he realized that it was Naruko, the woman he found unconscious in the forest. Apparently, the old man trusted her. That alone was usually enough for Kakashi, but there her had multiple reasons not to fully let his guard down around her. Foremost was that she didn't appear on any records until recently. Very recently. Exactly the date he had found her in the forest, just the week before. He had asked the other jounin, and aside from Anko and Kurenai, none of them knew who she was. Even then, it was revealed that the two friends had only met her in the past few days. It was more than enough reason to believe that she wasn't from the village at all.
And yet Sarutobi had personally assigned her to the mission, as well as giving her the rank of special jounin. The Hokage clearly knew something he didn't, which he could fully accept, but some things still didn't add up. Where Naruko some secret agent that only answered to the Hokage himself, which would be the most likely reason for her lack of record, she would have gone into Anbu after completing her mission. There, she would still be able to operate under relative secrecy, and it was a job to match the skillset of a long-term covert operative. Someone who was worth a complete record wipe would not be instated as a mere special jounin. What was more, the looks she kept giving him and his team when she thought he wasn't watching were strange to say the least. He detected no ill intent from them, but her eyes held a certain melancholy that surprised him. He was unsure why. She couldn't have known his students before a week ago, yet she way she looked at them...it seemed almost familiar.
Something suddenly caught his eye, rousing him from his thoughts. Something that should not have been there… The puddle looked innocent enough, at least to the untrained eye. He kept walking, giving no sign that he had noticed anything out of the ordinary. This would be an interesting test for his genin.
Naruko held back a snort. It was pathetic that she had missed such an obvious disguise when she had undergone this mission as a genin. A puddle? Really? She could crush those weak ninja in an instant, but it would be interesting to see how well team seven handled their first confrontation. Secretly she hoped it would be worse than when she was on the team, if only to boost her ego slightly.
In an instant, Kakashi was tangled in a long line of razor wire that stretched between gauntlets worn by the two ninja who had appeared just behind him. There was only enough time for his single visible eye to widen in astonishment before the wire was pulled tight, instantly cutting through his body. Or so it appeared. Naruko appreciated a perfect Kawarimi (substitution) when she saw it.
"One down," came the distorted voice of one of the ninja. Both were wearing gas masks on their faces, dressed in typical Kiri shinobi gear. They rushed for her next, their movement almost painfully slow. The most impressive part about the Demon Brothers was that somebody had bothered giving these pathetic shinobi a title in the first place.
"Two down," the other said as the razor wire began arching towards her neck. Suddenly, a shuriken caught the wire, a kunai following in short suit to momentarily pin it to a tree. Naruko smirked. Sasuke always was quite the showoff. The Demon Brothers quickly disconnected the wire from the gauntlets on their hands, but Sasuke was already upon them. He landed on their shoulders, grabbing their extended arms before delivering a powerful kick to each of their jaws. They recovered quickly, both dashing to Tazuna in an attempt to finish him off before they could react. Sakura and Kiba finally had enough sense to actually do their job, rushing in front of Tazuna with defensive stances. Their efforts were in vain, however, because neither ninja got remotely close to actually striking their charge.
One was grabbed by Kakashi, who appeared before Tazuna with a smooth shunshin, while the other was currently unconscious some ways away, after Naruko had kicked him in the chest, subsequently causing him to smash head first into a tree. Sakura and Kiba practically had stars in their eyes at the display, and even Sasuke looked mildly intrigued by the ease with which the Demon Brothers were defeated.
"Tazuna," Kakashi began with false indifference, "these shinobi were clearly after you. Our mission parameters stated to protect you from thieves or gangs, not that you would be targeted by shinobi. It is clear to me that this is at least a B-ranked mission, something that my team is not yet prepared for." Tazuna sighed, knowing he had been caught.
"You are right, this job is probably outside of your duties. A dangerous man is after my life. Gatou." Kakashi showed no visible reaction, while the genin simply looked confused. "Officially, he runs a large shipping company," Tazuna explained. "But in reality, he sells drugs and other illicit items, using ninja as his personal thugs to take over businesses and countries. He has a monopoly on all shipping in the Wave Country, which would be lessened by the completion of the bridge to the mainland. I would have liked to be open with you, but we simply couldn't afford a B-ranked mission."
"C'mon Kakashi-sensei," Kiba whined. "We gotta help them. I bet with two high ranking shinobi, we can kick anyone's ass!" Sakura didn't look as convinced. Akamaru barked excitedly. Sasuke simply shrugged.
"It's settled, then," Kakashi sighed. "We'll escort you the rest of the way."
The next few hours were uneventful enough as they took a small boat to Wave Country. They picked their way through the thick mangroves lining the coast until the trees opened up into a forest not unlike those around Konoha. The genin appeared much more wary than they had before. It was understandable, after experiencing their first shinobi battle. Kiba especially would jump at every disturbance, much to Tazuna's annoyance. Kakashi looked as bored as ever, though she could tell that even he was on the alert. Naruko, however, couldn't help a twinge of anticipation. She knew exactly what was to come.
She felt a presence behind them, followed an instant later by Kakashi's quick command.
"Get down!" All of them hit the ground, only avoiding the massive sword by inches as it spun over them. A man appeared next to the blade in a shunshin, which had lodged halfway into a tree trunk, quickly pulling it from its position. He had a mask over the lower half of his face, and was dressed only in grey pants, save the bandages wrapped around his forearms and lower legs.
"Well, well," Kakashi droned, "if it isn't Momochi Zabuza, traitor to the hidden mist." He reached a hand out, preventing Kiba from lunging forward. "Everybody get back. This man is on a whole other level." Kakashi slowly lifted the forehead protector covering his left eye to reveal a sharingan eye. The genin gasped collectively, even Sasuke displaying surprise at the revelation. Naruko, of course, had long since known of Kakashi's transplanted eye, and regarded the scenario with indifference.
"I already get to see the famous sharingan? I'm honored," Zabuza mocked. "To fight Kakashi of the sharingan, the man who was copied over a thousand jutsus. Truly an occasion to write about in my diary." He performed a shunshin, appearing a short distance away, standing on the glassy surface of a nearby lake.
"Kirigakure no jutsu (hidden mist jutsu)." A heavy fog quickly saturated the air, reducing their visibility to only a few feet in any direction.
"He'll come after me first," Kakashi said grimly.
"Eight choices," echoed Zabuza's eerie voice, "Liver, lungs, spine, subclavian vein, jugular, brain, kidneys, heart… Which one should I go after?" Zabuza's killing intent leaked into the air, causing the genin to shiver visibly. That combined with the chakra in the mist made the air feel heavy and strange, enough to easily unsettle most ninja.
"Don't worry guys," Kakashi said with a reassuring smile, "I won't let anything happen to you."
"We'll see about that." Zabuza appeared in the center of their defensive formation, his blade already arching towards Tazuna's neck. Naruko moved quickly, deflecting the massive blade with a kunai as Kakashi stabbed another through Zabuza's back. Zabuza looked shocked for one brief moment, before his body melted into a puddle of water, signifying that he had been nothing more than a clone. Before Kakashi could move, Zabuza appeared behind him, cleaving him in half with a sideways slash. Kakashi too melted away into water, appearing at Zabuza's side, a kunai racing towards his neck.
"It's over," Kakashi yelled, his sharingan spinning wildly.
"No, now it's over." Again, Zabuza appeared behind Kakashi, intending to end his life. Naruko almost laughed. It seemed Zabuza only knew one trick.
"Moeru ken (burning fist)" Zabuza had just enough time to look surprised before her fist, surrounded in fiery chakra, connected with the side of his head. He was sent airborne, flying all the way to the lake where he landed with a loud splash. The genin gasped with wonder, and even Kakashi dropped his calm facade, if only for a moment.
"Ryuka no jutsu (dragon flame jutsu)" Flames poured from her mouth, connecting with a massive surge of water that suddenly erupted from the lake. Steam exploded outwards from the collision in a massive hiss, both justus fading away as the user halted the flow of chakra. Zabuza appeared once more, standing on the surface of the lake. The right side of his face was blackened, where the flesh had clearly been burnt away.
"Are you ready to die, Momochi Zabuza?" She asked calmly, unsealing her katana before spinning it smoothly in her hands.
Two senbon needles whistled through the air, lodging firmly in Zabuza's neck. Before his limp body could even sink below the waves, he was picked up by a kimono clad hunter nin, a white mask covering their face.
"It appears," the hunter nin said in a distinctly feminine voice, "that he was." Naruko smirked. This was what she had been waiting for. She subtly made a shadow clone out of sight, then switched places with it seamlessly. Through the trees, she could see team seven converse with the supposed hunter nin, before the masked ninja grabbed Zabuza's body and disappeared in a shunshin. Naruko quickly followed with her own, and it took only seconds to catch them. As her presence was felt, the hunter nin, who Naruko knew to be Haku, turned around.
"What are you doing here, Konoha-san?" Haku asked politely, though he placed Zabuza slightly behind himself in a subtle defensive gesture.
"I would talk with you," Naruko said simply. Haku inclined his head, perhaps realizing he could not escape her.
"I do not care what it is Gatou promised you," Naruko continued icily, "if you come back to finish the job, I will kill both of you." She unleashed her full killing intent on Haku, forcing the boy the his knees under the sheer pressure. "It would be easy. I have killed far more powerful shinobi than a pair of foolish upstarts." With that, she disappeared, quickly switching places with her clone before dispelling it. She smiled slightly as they made their way to Tazuna's house. What good was reliving her life a second time if she didn't save some lives along the way?
Kakashi found himself once more trying to solve the enigma that was Naruko Uzumaki. He sat with the rest of team seven and Naruko at the circular dining table in Tazuna's home, as his daughter Tsunami served them dinner. Now, more than ever, Naruko intrigued him. She was clearly a very high level kunoichi, but to what degree he could only guess. The genin were ecstatic at her ninjutsu display earlier, Sakura especially was head over heels that a kunoichi could be so powerful. However, they failed to realise just how strong she was. Kakashi had no doubt that she had been holding back on her abilities during the initial encounter with the Demon Brothers. She waited to move until the very last moment, but when she did, even he couldn't follow her movements. Zabuza had been similarly blindsided, which could have been written off as him simply underestimating the kunoichi. Kakashi, however, wasn't so sure. She had very clearly avoided conflict until there was immediate mortal danger to either Tazuna or team seven. Were she a kunoichi of typical special jounin strength, she would have acted immediately, even if she wasn't capable of fighting someone like Zabuza. She was trying to appear weaker than she was, and doing a very poor job of it. His suspicions had been confirmed when she had performed a massive fire jutsu to preemptively counter a water jutsu of all things, using one-handed hand seals. He knew of very few people who were able to do that. She probably didn't even realize she was doing it, but either way her disguise was incomplete. This in and of itself raised further questions. If she wasn't trained in holding a false persona, why would she have been on a secret long term mission, as he originally suspected she had been.
"I would like a word with you, Naruko," he said suddenly, causing the genin to look up sharply from their food, "alone. Is there anywhere we can talk?" He asked Tsunami, who nodded despite the confusion evident in her expression. She led them upstairs to an empty bedroom. Kakashi smiled kindly at Tsunami as she left, following her retreat back to the main level. As soon as she was out of sight, Kakashi spun on Naruko, pinning her to the wall before she could move. At least, he tried to. The kunai hovering near his neck made that slightly more difficult. He met her blue eyes with his, noticing how she held his gaze easily, despite their situation.
"Who are you?" He asked, slowly releasing his hold on her.
"You mistake me, Kakashi. I am not pretending to be anyone," Naruko said with annoying calmness.
"That's bullshit and you know it," he retorted hotly. "I know you're hiding something. If you threaten the completion of this mission…" He let the threat hang in the air, and Naruko sighed tiredly.
"You've done your research on me, have you?"
"I tried," Kakashi admitted, "it's strange for someone with your skillset and records to be shadowing a genin team on what seemed to be a simple C-rank mission."
"Very well, Hatake. I am on this mission to give the appearance that I am indeed a special jounin. As you know, my record is blank until recently. That will be fixed soon enough, but for know I have to play my part now that I'm back in the village." Kakashi's eyes narrowed.
"I would believe that if you weren't so unused to playing a persona. You clearly have no idea how to downplay your abilities properly."
"I don't need personas in my line of work. As I said, I'm merely playing my part until I go back out into the field." Kakashi still didn't believe her entirely, but decided to back down. If she wanted to sabotage their mission, she had already had plenty of chances. It was still possible she had an alternative motive for accompanying them to the Land of Waves, but as long as it didn't jeopardize the mission he didn't really care.
"Very well," he conceded, "though I will still have to bring this to the Hokage's attention. Naruko inclined her head politely.
"Of course."
Kakashi turned and walked out the door, his ears barely catching the single word Naruko muttered after him. He stopped for a brief moment, before shaking himself and descending the stairs to the ground level. It must have been his imagination, for there was no reason for this mysterious, powerful kunoichi to call him "sensei".
Naruko awoke early the next morning feeling surprisingly refreshed. She shared a room with Sakura and Tsunami, while the boys split the two remaining bedrooms. The two women were still sleeping peacefully, despite the rays of sun that began to slowly brighten the room. Silently, Naruko crept past their sleeping forms, slipping silently out the door.
She found Kakashi in the kitchen. He gave her a welcoming smile, despite their encounter the night before.
"I was hoping you would help me with something today," he said, casually flipping the page of his Icha Icha book.
"And what's that?" Naruko asked, though she already suspected the answer.
"Training the genin," he said simply, confirming her suspicions. She almost smiled. It was just like it was when she was a genin.
"Why bother?" Came a sullen voice at the staircase. Naruko turned to find Inari, Tsunami's son, glaring at them from the landing. "You're all just going to die anyway. Nobody can beat Gatou." Were his story not so sad, Naruko would have laughed at him. Still, she had no patience for those with so little spirit.
"You would be a fool to think so," she said coldly, ignoring Inari's glare.
"You won't be saying that when he sends his thugs after you," the young boy shouted angrily.
"Oh? And why would I care? I've fought..." She caught herself, purposefully avoiding Kakashi's eyes, "...much more than mere thugs."
It was simple enough, really. Gatou was a man, and all men could be burned.
"Tree climbing? How is that going to train us?" Kiba asked incredulously. Akamaru yipped from his shoulder.
"By channeling your chakra in the bottoms of your feet, you will be able to stick to surfaces, enabling you to walk up walls, trees, or even upside down," Naruko explained patiently. "This exercise teaches you primarily chakra control. Too much chakra, and you will crack the wood. Too little, and you will fall." She smirked. "Begin."
As she expected, Sakura was able to master the exercise almost immediately. Naruko sent her immediately to practice water walking, which proved much more difficult for the young girl, especially with her low chakra reserves. Kiba and Sasuke were having lesser degrees of success with tree climbing, though Kiba was getting most of the way up the tree simply because of his high agility. The sight brought a hint of nostalgia to Naruko. It felt like so long ago that she was climbing, or trying to climb these very same trees.
"Sensei?" Kiba asked from his position on the ground, where he lay sprawled on his back after falling from the tree.
"Yes, Kiba?"
"Is there any trick to this 'tree climbing' thing?" Naruko smiled slightly at that.
"When I was your age, my sensei made my team train with this very exercise. I was horrible at it, easily worse than both of you." Her grin widened at Kiba's expression of wonder, and she noticed that even Sasuke was listening intently. "And yet I mastered the exercise, just as you will, because of one thing. Practice." Kiba deflated slightly at her revelation, but she continued kindly, "There are no shortcuts in the shinobi world. You can choose to hone your abilities, or," she shrugged, "you can waste your potential. There is a reason Konoha is the strongest of the shinobi villages."
"And what's that?" Asked Kiba.
"The will of fire," Naruko answered with a grin. Kiba hauled himself upright from his position on the ground with a determined expression, before once more sprinting up the tree.
"It almost seems like you've done this before," Kakashi commented, appearing suddenly behind her. Naruko smiled wistfully.
"You might say that I had a good teacher."
The next week passed in similar fashion, Naruko and Kakashi took turns guarding the bridge builders, while the other would train the genin. Team seven made surprising progress, especially for the short time period. Sasuke and Kiba had definite improvements to their chakra control, and were now both able to complete the tree climbing exercise with little to no difficulty. Sakura had almost mastered water walking, but perhaps more importantly, she had increased her abysmal stamina. Naruko had been especially interesting in Kiba's progress, because she had never known exactly what abilities he had as a new genin. The boy was definitely fast, and was already beginning to learn his clan's jutsus, though he could not perform any other ninjutsu. It was also apparent that he didn't have much in the way of an analytical mind, which Naruko hoped Kakashi would help remedy. She had always been the type to brute force her way through things, which tended to work as one of the most powerful shinobi in the world. Kiba could not boast such a claim, and would need to learn at least basic combat tactics before he got himself killed.
"Yo!" Kakashi saluted easily, joining Naruko as she watched the bridge builders work. "The genin are all here too. I think Gatou will make his move today. If Zabuza returns-"
"It would be foolish of him to do so," Naruko cut in. They had already discussed the likely possibility that Zabuza hadn't been killed by the hunter nin, who hadn't used standard procedure by not immediately destroying the body. Of course, Naruko knew the truth to the situation, but she had no reason to tell Kakashi. She was confident they would heed her warning, and if so it didn't matter what Kakashi knew.
"The genin look up to you, you know," Kakashi said suddenly. "What you did in the fight with Zabuza…" Naruko snorted.
"Child's play." Kakashi gave her a sidelong glance.
"That kick, I've never seen anything like it before."
"Of course you have," replied Naruko easily. "My taijutsu style involves using fire nature chakra to both enhance movement and deliver a little extra...oomph. It's based on the Hyuga's style, just with a lot less finesse and a lot more fire." She grinned.
"You would need a very large chakra pool to keep that up for extend fights," Kakashi pointed out.
"Yes," Naruko agreed, "you would." Kakashi perked up suddenly, his head swivelling to the other side of the bridge.
"Evacuate the builders. I'll keep them occupied until everyone is gone." He paused, looking at her out of the corner of his eye. "And try to leave at least a little challenge for my genin this time." Naruko smirked.
Evacuating the builders was easy, Naruko's shadow clones quickly escorting them to safety, before most dispelled. She left two in case of any further trouble, but she doubted they would be needed.
She arrived at Kakashi's side along with the three genin. True to his word, Kakashi had done a fine job of "keeping them occupied" even though all he had done was trade insults with Gatou. The man was short, with matted grey hair, and wore an expensive business suit that looked out of place due to his ratty complexion. The most impressive thing about the man was that somehow he had managed to get a hundred or so ninja to fight for him. The dumbest ninja on the planet, most likely. She unsealed her crimson blade, twirling it experimentally in her hands. Behind her, Kiba got down on all fours, Akamaru growling at his side.
"Let's go wild!"
Naruko grinned.
Naruko spun, killing yet another ninja with a clean swing of her blade. The genin were having a bit more difficulty, but as long as they stayed far enough back they wouldn't get overwhelmed by the difference in numbers. These ninja were chunin level at best, and some of them were even weaker than that. She sighed, dispatching another ninja with a quick spin kick. Fighting such weak opponents was so boring.
"Naruko!" Her head whipped around to where Kakashi was fighting, catching his desperate gesture behind them. She spun, her eyes widening as she saw several ninja closing in on an injured Sasuke. Behind him, Kiba was on his back, and Sakura looked to be at a total loss for what to do. It was likely that Kiba had gotten impatient and rushed headlong into the fray, forcing Sasuke to come to his rescue. 'Shit!' She thought, as multiple blades raced down towards Sasuke's unprotected body. There was only one way she would be able to save him. The kunai was already racing towards her target, and in her panic she failed to notice Sasuke's eyes begin to spin.
"Hiraishin! (flying thunder god)" She appeared in front of Sasuke, cutting down three ninja before anyone had a chance to react. Sasuke too, in a burst of speed that shouldn't have been possible for a genin, dispatched two ninja with his own kunai. His eyes widened as he saw her, only for her to grab him by the arm and disappear once more.
All three of the genin appeared slightly dazed as she set them down next to the bridge builders, before vanishing in a flash. She quickly ran to Kakashi's side, even he was beginning to get overwhelmed by the sheer numbers disadvantage. They fought back-to-back, easily cutting down the mercenaries before them. She could have killed them all with one jutsu, but Tazuna would probably be angry if he had to rebuild his bridge again.
"After we're done here," he said with unnerving calmness, killing a ninja with a kunai to the throat, "we are going to have a bit of a chat." Naruko sighed. She wasn't looking forward to that.
"Lord Hokage," Kakashi said, getting the man's attention. Sarutobi looked up from his paperwork, accepting the mission details Kakashi handed him. The bridge had been completed with no further incident, and Gatou had been handed off to the people of the Land of Waves, who had most likely executed him. The genin were still slightly shaken from the encounter, but had all gained the resolve they needed to improve their skills. Sasuke especially, with his newly acquired sharingan, had grown in leaps and bounds.
"What is it, Kakashi?" He asked kindly, though Kakashi suspected that the Hokage already knew why he was here.
"It's about Naruko." Sarutobi sighed, gesturing to the chair across from him.
"Sit down, then." Kakashi did so, trying to decide where to begin.
"Why did you assign her to accompany my team?"
"What has she told you?" Sarutobi countered.
"That she is merely masquerading as a special jounin. She has no records prior to the day I found her in the forest."
"You will find," Sarutobi said agreeably, "that she now does. She graduated high in her class at the academy, accepting her promotion to chunin at the age of fourteen. While she certainly has her merits, it was not enough to earn a full promotion to jounin."
"She can use the Hiraishin," Kakashi said, trying to keep his annoyance from showing.
"Indeed," Sarutobi said pleasantly. "As you say, she is merely masquerading as a special jounin. Sometimes, it is useful for an agent to have no record, allowing them to operate in total secrecy." Kakashi inclined his head, this he already knew. "However," Sarutobi continued, "A shinobi without a record arouses suspicion when they come back into the light, as you have already demonstrated. Thus, the need for her to have one. I'm afraid I won't speak further on the subject."
Kakashi stood, bowing once before exiting the Hokage's office. His questions hadn't really been answered, but at least he knew that Naruko meant to harm to the village. Still, she was an interesting variable. Her use of the Hiraishin almost guaranteed that she had known his sensei, Minato Namikaze. She was probably only a few years younger than himself, so it stood to reason she had known who Minato was. If she was able to use his signature technique, she must have operated directly under him during his time as Hokage. That had been a startling revelation, to say the least. The second he saw her use the Hiraishin, he knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that she was the most dangerous person he had ever met. She knew the jutsu that made a man into a legend, without anyone even knowing her name.
"Naruko Uzumaki," he mused, "I wonder what else you have up your sleeve..."
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