Tazuna stared up at the Ninja staring at him, sweat starting to coat his forehead. The orange clad one scowled (albeit with an almost comical angle between his brows) as if he was going to jump at him any moment now. And would massively enjoy it to boot. His gaze quickly switched to the blue/black clad boy. His eyes, what the hell was the matter with those eyes? Deep red, with 2 Tomoe lazily spinning in them...looking at him like he was some sort of specimen to be dissected...his face totally impassive and cold... The old Drunkard quickly switched to look the adult into the eye. That one HAD to be more reasonable, even if he had said... The sole visible eye was cold and hard as glass as it stared down at him. No emotion whatsoever was visible, made worse by the fact that his face was mostly concealed. The man drew out a book and started flapping through it, as if searching something...what had he gotten himself into?
"Well," the white-haired man finally spoke, his left index finger on something on the page he was looking at. "It seems that the regulations are clear. If clients are found lying regarding mission parameters and the affected Team is not within easy communication range of Konohagakure it is ordered to either immediately …. dispose of the client in any not too cruel way it sees fit, or to bring said offender to Konoha to hand him over to torture and interrogation for further information gathering if it is under the impression that may be done without endangering the teammembers." He looked at the red-eyed teen. "Sasuke has already captured 2 Missing Nin which we need to bring home to collect the bounty on their heads, so it seems to me that we cannot be burdened with bringing him to Konoha." His gaze wandered to the other teen. "Naruto, can you keep your Shadow clones active long enough to carry our bound `client´ to Konoha without impairing your effectiveness?" The tone of the voice was casual, with just an edge of coldness as he asked these questions. The blonde frowned. "Huh, I have never tried to keep them active for longer than 2-3 hours, so I can't really say..." he almost drawled. His face looked positively menacing, his grin was far too pleased to fit with his fury-laden eyes.
"Too bad, it seems that we have no other choice than to dispose of him right here and now, as we lack the time to do a proper interrogation, and then return home..." Kakashi trailed off, putting the book away and drawing a Kunai. "Kids, this will be messy. I think it would be better if you went and looked after our prisoners. You too Sakura." The up to then still as a statue Kunoichi visibly straightened. "Yes, Kakashi-sensei!" And turned to leave together with Sasuke and Naruto. kakashi focused on Tazuna again "Any last words?" He asked, in a tone that wasn't really a question.
At that Tazuna could not keep silent any longer. Sinking to his knees he almost screamed "Please, don't do this! You don't have to, I will tell you everything. I really did not lie to you because I had any hidden agenda or something, I just could not afford to pay any more Ryu, please, oh please don't kill me!" The old mans voice was full of panic. Not only for his life but for his family and Wave as a whole. They all would suffer if he died here and now! He threw himself to the ground, half pleading, half out of fear. And groveled there, expecting his life to end any moment now. Any moment...he was still alive? And did he hear snickering? Tazuna slowly raised his eyes towards the threatening group of Ninja, still standing around him, but now displaying mirth (The blue clad and the adult one) respectively snickering with a wide grin (the orange clad boy).
"Ah, Tazuna-san, I do hope that this lesson will be enough." Kakashi spoke with only a very slight amount of killing intent loosened at the word lesson. "As next time there will be no jokes, no threats, just ….. consequences. Am I clear?"
"P- p-perfectly." Was all the old man could utter. He would not die! His relief was clearly visible on his face, and Naruto finally lost it. He fell over with loud, obnoxious belly-laughter. He rolled on the ground, laughing. Sasuke could only shake his head in exasperation. Yes, it had been funny as hell to taunt the old bastard, but why did the blonde have to ruin it by loosing all specks of dignity he possessed? Ah well, he smirked at Tazuna. At least from now on they would be treated with the respect they deserved, he was sure of that as the old man blanched again. AND they would get the whole story too, which would probably keep them all alive.
"Good. Now spill it." Kakashi ordered Tazuna. Then he proceeded to kick Naruto "softly". He didn't need to say anything, Naruto knew he should pull himself together. But this prank had been so much fun... Still, he wanted to know what was up, so he tried his best to limit his laughter. More or less successfully.
They sat down again, Sakura eying the three male members of her team with a slightly miffed look. As if to say "Why didn't you tell me". Typical, this girl could do nothing with any real ardour behind it, except clinging to him of course, Sasuke mused.
"OK then, to start at the beginning..." And Tazuna told his tale, about Gatou, his crimes, his vice-like grip on Wave, the prospect of his bridge breaking said grip, and the retaliation of the "businessman". His family, their own suffering, the general miserably poor life in Wave and how he intended to change that. Truly, the old drunkard had never seemed less despicable than right now. Had he only told the Hokage, he would have gotten a free Upgrade to B-rank, Sasuke assumed, as more stability in Wave would be GOOD for Konoha, especially if they would be able to claim the credit for achieving it.
The tale took almost half an hour to tell, and at the end Tazuna bowed deeply. "I know that I have forfeit your support by lying to you, but PLEASE help me. My bridge is the only hope Wave has to escape its poverty, an without you I will not survive long enough to build it."
Kakashi looked at their client without moving a muscle. Tazuna started to sweat again, and seemed to want to bow again, as the lackluster Jounin simply said: "OK." Tazuna almost fell over in gratitude.
Kakashi rose and looked around. "Get your gear into the forest, we will camp there. I will send for someone to pick up your "prey", Sasuke, and you will receive the bounty, minus the usual 25% for Konoha, once we have cleared it with Kirigakure. The highest one any Genin of Konoha has ever collected if I remember correctly." he added with a smile in his eye. He then turned to his Genin. "If you like you can resupply from their weapons, though I will take the gloves and seal them for now. We do not have time to start practicing with a new type of weapon. Also anything you find that you do not know what it is will be handed to me!" he said the last words with a tone of absolute authority, and looked at Naruto while doing so. The Prankster simply nodded. Foiled again. Ah well, at least he would get some free new weapons!
And so, under Sasukes guidance, the three piled through the Weapons and gear of the brothers. Naruto went for 4 Kunai, all of excellent quality, while Sakura took a small but spacious sash with many pockets. Always pragmatic, Sasuke thought. Sasuke clambered through their stuff and collected all Shuriken he could find (only 8! They really were strange ninja) only to turn towards Naruto with an appraising look in his eyes. "Naruto, why don't you try this on?" he asked, throwing him a slightly armored vest one of the brothers, the smaller one, had been wearing. Narutos style was relatively direct, and additional armor could increase the survivability of his clones by a narrow margin. Plus it was not orange. He smirked at the thought.
Naruto slipped into the greyish shoulder guards and vest and put the left arm guard on. They were a good, though not perfect, fit. "Hey, thanks Sasuke, this isn`t bad at all. Only wished it was orange..." he made some very crude Taijutsu moves with it. "Pretty light too." He turned to Sasuke and said with a smile and rather wide blue eyes. "Thank you for sharing your loot with me!" But the short bout of seriousness did not last, as he immediately went to make 20 Shadow clones and test the effect the armor would have on his fighting style. Not that Sasuke would complain, after all he seemed to have come through to the boy. Yes, it had been a great day...
After erecting their camp (and dosing their prisoners with something Sasuke assumed would keep them asleep) Kakashi went into the forest. Now he would probably use his mysterious contact method, Sasuke mused. Should he try to steal a glance? Ah why not, everything had worked out perfectly today, so he decided to push his luck, made a Shadow clone and sent him after his sensei (with active Sharingan of course), though not too close, as he was pretty sure Kakashi would be alert.
"He" quietly followed Kakashi deeper into the small array of threes, hiding behind them, until his sensei stopped. With active Sharingan he tried to steal a peek or two, and was pleasently surprised to be able to fully see the handsigns Kakashi made after biting his thumb. What he wasn't prepared for was the appearance of a small, somewhat pudgy, dog who promptly spoke (!) in a rather deep voice. "Yo boss, whats it this time?" He had to work hard not to fall from the tree. Speaking dogs? In Ninja clothing? He had to check if Naruto had spiked his food...
"Well Pakku, my little pupil caught us some Missing Nin today, but our mission prevents us from delivering them. So go to Konoha and carry this," at that he fastened a small tube at the Dogs neck "To Ibiki. And no, you are not supposed to …. leave a message in his locker again." The last part was added with an almost audible smile. Pakku did not move. Kakashi exasperatedly added "It IS somewhat urgent..." "Ah ok. But I fully expect to be introduced next time. This time only one of your pupils came, and he was impolite enough not to shake paws..." And the small dog took off. Sasukes clone however was shocked. He had been sure to have kept hidden well enough...damn. He dispelled. Which led to the "real" Sasuke having interesting info dumped in his memory, together with the fact that his sensei knew he had spied. Gulp. He decidedly hoped that Kakashi was in a good...
With a swirl of leaves the central element of his train of thought appeared directly in front of the stunned Uchiha. "Sasuke, if you want to see a technique, ask me if I will show it to you. If you again try to sneak a glance (translation: steal it Sasuke added mentally) behind my back I will not teach you anything in the future. Are we clear?" The otherwise lackluster Kakashi sounded rather pissed, so Sasuke simply nodded. And meant it, an angry Kakashi was nothing he wanted to risk...
"Good. Now you will take first watch. And think about what I said, will you?" With that he went towards the fire where Sakura was cooking … something. Phew, catastrophe avoided, for now...
Just as Sasuke thought that, Sakura came towards him, a steaming bowl in her hands and slightly blushing. The bowl was held right in front of her chest...
Somewhere else, a few hours later, Zabuza Momochi was pissed. The Demon Brothers were late. While they had a few appalling habits, none of them involved being late, as they knew that Zabuza hated that. That left only 2 viable options. Either they had run (which he doubted, they were far too similar to a less competent younger Zabuza to find solace somewhere else) or they had been defeated. He knew that this Gateau guy and his "simple mission" would be trouble. Men like that were always too arrogant and never told their "hired help" everything the needed to know about the mission. Bastards, all of them.
Thinking about the devil made the small man appear. Damn, what did the ass want this time? His face would have scared anyone with 5 Ryo worth of brain, but alas he doubted the ass had half that much.
The "businessman" spoke in a mocking tone. "Zabuza, Zabuza, lying around while your target is still breathing. I suggest you get going. Now. Or we might have a..." Whatever he had wanted to say, it was cut short quite literally as Zabuza finally snapped and decided to ... remove the idiot. His men be damned, not a minute longer would he be taunted by the cretin. And so a whirling Kobikiri Honcho removed the head of the already short man from his shoulders and embedded itself in the wooden wall behind his corpse, its tip resurfacing outside and shocking Gateaus entourage. "Haku, remove the rest of them." Zabuza calmly ordered before the head had stopped rolling. He didn't wait for a reply, Haku was reliable. He had enough of being pushed around. He would go and kill whoever had beaten the Demon brothers, or who simply made the mistake of crossing his path, and then finally it might be the time to aim higher again. With Gateau gone this country was ripe for the taking. Maybe he would finally found his own village? A wide grin split his face, and the "Demon of the Mist" set out to once again show the world why he was rightly feared...
AN:
And here we go. A more ... evil chapter than usual, and all is set up for the first major confrontation. Big things are about to happen. Aren't you eager to get there?
I know I am.
On a sidenote: Thanks for the reassuring reviews, it is nice to have ones work appreciated. I enjoyed the praise. More reviews, please! :)