FINALLY AN UPDATE! Sorry for the long wait, but week before Christmas I got ill and didn't get much writing done. I was alright on Christmas so I went to party... and got ill again. The irony. Anyway, I finally completed the chapter and thanks to my beta reader for spotting some mistakes and correcting them.
As for the reviews:
For those few who tried to guess what mission it will be. I forgot to mention it's not Wave ( ._.)
Gaaraxx33: although I like Tora mission as well, I think it would be a shame for team 7. lol. imagine their faces, when after 5 years of hard training all they need to do is catch a cat...
Gelasia-kitty: I'm glad my story makes someone happy :
Newbiegod35: nope, it's not wave, though it will come due time. Wave was one of my favorite arcs so I can't skip it. Unfortunately. And you can be sure team 7's first mission will be more epic than wave. Well, in my opinion at least.
Opnbf: I know what you mean! There are really a lot of stories where cool and good plot turns in some romantic shit. No offense. There was this one fic (PM if you want to know which one), where it was great and very interesting until ~20 chapters. Then, there was 2 lemons each chapter, with unrealistically many girls at once, a lot of dating and romance. After some chapters I forgot what the plot was actually about and stopped reading. You can be sure that it won't happen with mine. There will be a chapter or two dedicated for relationship development, but I'll try to make them actually interesting and connected to the main plot/arc.
xxOMGgalxx: well, you'll need to find out. i already have plans concerning them.
SilverIcy: although I like how you imagine it, it's not wave mission. Zabuza & Co will eventually meet team 7 and maybe I'll even use some of your lines.
XT3: I think it's a bit obvious that this story is going for Sasuke/Sakura relationship, but nope, it's not Naruto/Ino. I already have plans for the blonde.
This mission is completely original, so I would really like your feedback on it. Hope you like it.
Disclaimer: I do not own Narutoverse.
On with the chapter then.
Chapter 7
Feathers
"Wow! Kakashi is actually on time!" Naruto exclaimed as he and his two teammates approached the gates. Indeed Kakashi was already there, reading his porn book and waiting for his little genin. "Though I hoped he will be late."
"Yes. It would have been pretty funny." Sasuke chuckled and added "It would have been good blackmail material."
"Somehow I regret that we threatened him." Sakura said as she sighed "He could be late as usual and we could have had a moment of amusement." Naruto nodded, fully agreeing with Sasuke and Sakura.
Kakashi, seeing his team approaching, put his book away. Maybe one of them utterly hated perverts and their production, so he couldn't take any chances. Better to be safe than sorry.
"Yo." He greeted them in his usually lazy voice as they came closer. "Why are you late?"
"Actually we're on time, Kakashi-sensei." Sakura said "Why are YOU so early?"
Kakashi looked at the position of sun to measure the time. Seeing as Sakura was right, he totally ignored her question and carried on "Do you have everything needed for the mission? It is B-ranked thus we will be gone for a week or two."
Sakura sweatdropped but nevertheless they all nodded.
"Good, I'll trust you and won't check your equipment. Now lets go." Said Kakashi and without awaiting 'Hai, Kakashi-sensei', because he knew he won't receive one, he jumped on to the nearest branches. The three genin quickly followed him.
Some hours have passed in silence as four figures leapt from branch to branch, nearing their destination. Squad leader, Kakashi, saw a small river nearby and decided to make 10 minute break.
"We'll take a break for 10-15 minutes here." Kakashi said and jumped down from the tree. His 3 genin followed him without any objections. All of them sat in a small clearing near the river and took out a scroll from Sakura's backpack and unsealed it, revealing an assortment of food and drinks. Kakashi raised an eyebrow "Sealing scrolls?"
Sakura nodded, but Sasuke answered in her place "Naruto makes them. He is kind of sealing specialist."
Now that was a revelation that surprised Kakashi "Sealing specialist? That's quite an art and to become a specialist you need a guidance of a master, someone like Jiraya-sama."
Naruto smirked "Not when you have my dad's notes and nice text copying ability."
Kakashi widened his eye but then returned to normal, remembering the day when Naruto asked Hokage about his father. "I see. How many seals you know?" he asked as he thought "Looks like those two knows about his father as well, I wonder how close they are."
"A bunch actually. Once I copy a seal, it always stays in my mind so I just need to practice drawing it and learning its effect."
Kakashi nodded his head "What about the food? Did Sakura make everything?"
"Yeah, I made everything, but Naruto helped me a bit." Sakura answered.
"A bit? I did almost half the work!" Naruto pouted.
"Okay, he did almost half the work." Sakura said in sing-song voice.
"Naruto can cook?" Kakashi said, raising his eyebrow. This team was full of surprises.
"Yes. Though Sakura is a better cook, his cooking is not half bad either." Sasuke said.
"When you live alone you have to learn how to take care of yourself. And if I would eat only ramen I would be a midget!"
Kakashi nodded. Sakura then gave everyone a box of home made bento. Everyone ate in silence until Kakashi remembered something "You know, in your genin exam you called Naruto 'taichou'. Why?"
Sasuke raised his head from the bento box and answered "Well, obviously, because he is our team leader."
"Why? I thought you would like that position."
Sasuke narrowed his eyes "Just because I'm an Uchiha?"
"Well, partly yes. And partly because I just thought so, in my personal opinion. You look like the type to command." Kakashi elaborated.
Seeing that Kakashi was genuine in his comment, Sasuke relaxed. He really didn't like those who thought that, since he was an Uchiha, he should get everything, even the position of leader. "Some years ago I would've liked the position, but not anymore. I'm not really suited to lead, I'm more the person who obeys commands. That's why I want to be just high ranking ANBU, not captain."
"It sounds strange coming from you." Kakashi honestly said.
"I agree. I said the same when he told me that." Naruto replied.
"Anyway, how did you find that out?" Kakashi asked.
This time it was Sakura who answered "We were sparring against Naruto." Kakashi had confused look so she elaborated "Once every week, me, Sasuke and Naruto would team up against hundreds of Naruto Kage Bunshins. There was a period when Naruto decided to test our leadership so in each spar one of would become a leader and give out orders. The task was to beat the clones as fast as possible while receiving less injuries. I did okay, while Sasuke was the worst." At this Sasuke sighed. He didn't like to be the last or the worst one. "Yes, Sasuke gave orders, but they weren't well thought. Seeing as no one restrained him he tended to rush in a fight and take on as many clones at once as possible."
"I would expect Naruto to do something like that. And it sounds those spars are tough. Would need to try it once." Kakashi thought.
Sakura continued "In the end of that one sparring match, we had the most injuries. Naruto did the best. Just in mere seconds he formulated a good plan which resulted in a fast victory with the less injuries. That was also the day when Naruto suggested various formations. So we decided Naruto would be our leader, plus he is the strongest of us."
"Hmm, interesting, how many clones did you fought at once?"
This time it was Naruto who answered as he was the one who created the clones thus he knows the exact amount of clones made "We started with 100 clones and at the end of the year we could take on 175 clones. Now we can handle 340 clones."
Kakashi widened his eye "Impossible. How..." Kakashi then realized "No, it is possible. Kyuubi."
Naruto smirked "That's right, though Kyuubi is not the only factor. Thanks to my Rinnegan I've got special chakra which even further increases the density and amount of my chakra. Making 300 clones is like making one huge Gōkakyū for Sasuke."
"Still, only you three against so many clones must be epic. How long have you trained together?"
Sasuke smirked at Kakashi's comment "For 5 years now. And yes, it is epic. With each year clones get much stronger, but so do we."
"5 years!" Kakashi exclaimed. No wonder they were so strong.
"Anyway, does anyone know where this 'Glass Village' is?" Naruto asked referring to their mission. "I've never heard of it before."
Their missions was to help one Konoha investigator who now was some miles from Glass Village. Said investigator was actually a Konoha jounin who was on long term A, bordering S ranked mission. His mission was to find and investigate any Orochimaru abandoned bases and try to find about his whereabouts, hidden bases, or the man's plans. He now was on his way back to the village to report his results after years of absence, but then he found another base not far from Glass Village, though the base was already occupied with bandits. He could take care of them, but there was another interesting matter he had to attend to. So he requested help from his home village while he made a camp not far from Glass Village. He knew that there were not any ninjas in the village, because he visited it when he left Hi no Kuni some years ago so he didn't ask them for help nor he wanted to settle there, fearing to attract attention from bandits.
After some days the man, whose name was Wahoki, went to the base again to see if the bandits left. And to his surprise there wasn't any bandits left. In their place some missing ninjas appeared. So he sent another letter, updating the information. The mission easily could be A ranked, but Wahoki stated that there is no need to send other jounin, because high ranking missing-nin usually don't hang around together. He requested some chuunin. He is in a big surprise when he sees who has arrived to help him.
There was also another fact which made three genins and a jounin interested: the forest, which was near the village, was 'filled with white feathers' as Wahoki says. They weren't there when he last went through the forest some years ago. Also, Wahoki had heard how some villagers referred to the forest as 'Forest of Angel', when in the past it was just that, a 'forest'. He also heard some interesting stories about appearance of angel or something.
"It's not actually a village." Sakura said as she was the only all knowing person in the team "It's more like a settlement or fort and it is located south from Taki's border. Hundreds of years ago it was an important village where the glass could be mined out from the mine." Seeing dumbfounded looks on everyone, Sakura sighed "Yes, mined out not made. It was strange natural phenomenon. And the glass was special, people used it to make weapons from it. I don't know why nothing is said about it in our history books, but the mine is long since gone and the weapons destroyed or lost. So now it's just an ordinary small village with ancient name."
"How do you know so much?" Sasuke asked.
"I just know." she answered.
"Right..." Naruto added as he stood up. "I think it's time to go, Kakashi."
"Yeah, we've rested long enough. Couple more hours and then we'll make a camp for the night. We should be at destination by tomorrow noon." Kakashi said and all four of them rushed towards their destination.
West from the Glass Village, closer to the Kusa border, two figures appeared. One had a mask and other had a pale skin.
"Orochimaru." addressed the masked man, "I hope you haven't lost the scroll."
"Ku ku ku." laughed the now revealed Orochimaru as he answered in hiss like voice "Don't worry, Tobi-san. I would never lose something so precious."
"Good." the man known as Tobi said. "Start the summoning after some days."
"Fine. But why this Glass Village?" asked the pale skinned man.
"Because almost no one knows about it and will bring less attention to us." Tobi said, "It's more like a settlement than a village and it doesn't have any ninjas in there."
"I see. Indeed we don't need much attention."
"Where will you hide for now? You can't go to village though - village's chief might recognize you." Tobi asked.
Orochimaru raised an eyebrow "Hmm? How so?"
"I've heard that he is a former ninja. If that's true then he might keep an eye to latest bingo book and if he recognizes you then he might as well send information to Konoha or any other ninja village. We can't take any chances." Tobi answered.
"Ku ku ku. Wise as ever, Tobi-san." Orochimaru then remembered something as he had quite happy voice. Well, as happy as Orochimaru's voice can get "If I remember correctly, then I have a hidden base further west from here. I haven't particularly used it so it's abandoned but it will be just fine for now."
"Good. Once you use the scroll, get out of there and report. We will come back after some days to check results."
Orochimaru nodded his head in understanding. Then Tobi vanished in some kind of swirl coming from his eye. When Tobi was gone, Orochimaru grinned as he said to himself "Well, now when pleasantries are done, it's time to find new material for experiments!" That said he was gone via shunshin.
No one saw them, but if one would, that person would say something about black cloaks with red clouds on it.
-Team awesomeness, aka Team 7-
It was now a nighttime and team 7 settled on a small clearing. They set up their tents pretty quickly and were now sleeping, though Kakashi had the first watch. Each of them would stay up for 2 hours and then change. Kakashi would do the watch twice - the first one and last one, resulting in 10 hours of rest. Now it was Naruto on watch. It was early in the morning, 5:47 am. 13 more minutes and Kakashi would end Naruto's turn, allowing him to rest.
Suddenly he heard some talking a mile away from his location. Being on watch, he sent chakra to his ears to enchance his hearing range. He was laying on a large tree's branch, just above the tents. This way he was hidden as well as he could see more. He pretended to be asleep, in case one of the persons who's approaching notices him. He concentrated on the spot where the the sound was coming from to overhear what intruders were talking about.
"Are you sure about this, Saiko?" someone whispered quite loudly.
"Shut up, Riko!" someone else answered, "We need to be quiet."
"Why? They're simple civilians anyway." someone else asked.
Naruto grunted. ''Simple civilian they say? We shall see.'' Naruto then realized"It's great opportunity for Sakura and Sasuke!"
The man who spoke second now said "On 'three' we kill them quickly and take everything they might have. Heh, poor people won't even know what hit 'em."
Before they could start the deed, bandits heard some strange, out of place bird's chirping. It really sounded strange but the bandits just ignored them, unsheathed their katanas and rushed in making a lot of noise.
Typical amateur bandits.
But team 7 already knew about intruders and were prepared. Sasuke was in his tent, holding a kunai in his hands and waiting in anticipation for the right moment; Sakura was in the same position, though she wasn't as excited as Sasuke was, she was worried for this was her first real battle. Kakashi was... well. He was armed with a blanked and loud snoring. Yes, he was sleeping. He has more experience than other three so his senses are always on alert and he felt bandits a while ago. Feeling that no threat is coming from them and that they are probably simple bandits, nothing his team couldn't take care of, he went back to sleep. So much of a sensei.
One of the bandits rushed towards Sakura's tent intending to stab through it and finish civilian as fast as possible. Sakura sensed bandit's movement and guessing what he was up to, she jumped out of the tent and without losing her momentum rushed towards the bandit. Said bandit was dumbstruck because he didn't expect such speed and reaction from a simple civilian. He also noticed something shiny in 'civilian' hands but it was too late because he was quickly approaching the ground. His throat has been sliced open. It was done quietly. Other bandits didn't even pay any attention on what's happening because they thought their companion killed a civilian. How wrong they were.
Sakura saw there are two more bandits who are approaching Naruto's tent, which was empty, and Kakashi's. Knowing and sensing that Naruto is not in his tent she ran towards the bandit who was approaching Kakashi's tent. The distance was't far so Sakura didn't have time to make a long series of handseals. Instead, she made three.
Both bandits reached their destination and raised their katana to slice the tents as Sakura finished her handseals. Kakashi still seemed to be oblivious. Before bandits could lower their weapons, the tents suddenly disappeared in a grey smoke.
The one who was at Kakashi's tent voiced the question of, now two, bandits "What the fuck?!"
Sasuke was waiting for his enemy to get closer to his tent, to make a surprise attack. When he heard strange noises coming from outside he decided to make the first move rather than waiting. When he quickly left the tent, he was shocked at what he saw. One bandit, which he was kind of disappointed to see, was laying on the ground near Sakura's tent, his throat bleeding. He quickly turned his head and saw Sakura slicing another man's throat, quickly ending his life.
He saw another bandit in the corner of his eye, standing there dumbstruck and staring into Naruto's tent as if it weren't there. Sasuke wanted to throw a kunai, which he still held in hand, to finish the bandit quickly but Sakura was already ahead of him.
Just as Sakura sliced the second bandit's throat, she spun on her heels and threw a bloodied kunai in the last bandit's neck, killing him. Everything happened in about 10 seconds.
Naruto was still sitting on the branch and observed everything. When it ended, he raised an eyebrow thinking "Interesting. Poor emo didn't get his first kill. Sakura got all of them, now lets see how she fares with it."
"Good morning!" all three genins heard from Kakashi's tent which was accompanied with a loud yawn. Kakashi walked out of his tent and observed the scene. Naruto joined the group by jumping off from the branch.
"Naruto!" Sasuke shouted "Where the hell were you?"
"Hmm? Oh, I was up there sitting on the branch." Naruto replied as he pointed at the three.
"What were you doing there when the bandits attacked us? Why didn't you help us?" Sasuke insisted.
Naruto rolled his eyes "Geez, Sasuke. Because I wanted you and Sakura to get your first kill. Better to do it now against weak enemies than later versus strong opponent who will kill you if you hesitate. Plus, I warned you and all you were up the moment you heard my warning." Seeing that Sasuke is slowly accepting his reasoning, he decided to add another fact which will calm down the boy "Besides. Kakashi sensed them as well and instead of warning us or helping, he just went back to sleep."
Sasuke raised his eyebrow and turned his head to face Kakashi who already had his eye smile.
"T-They a-are d-d-dead..." Sakura mumbled as she looked at her bloody hands.
Everyone now turned their attention to Sakura. She was shaking badly and staring at her hands. Thank Kami she wasn't crying, but still she needs to calm down. Kakashi decided to take that role.
"Sakura," he started off "We're ninjas and killing is our job."
"Y-Yeah, b-but..."
"Sakura, why did you killed them?" Kakashi suddenly asked.
Sakura finally raised her head and looked into Kakashi's eye thinking why exactly did she killed them "I-I k-k-killed them for self d-defense and to p-protect you. One of t-them was going for you, Kakashi-sensei." She slowly was calming down.
"Good." Kakashi said "Remember, we're ninjas and killing is our job but we need to remember why we kill. We kill to complete the mission and bring fame and honor to our village, we kill to protect our precious people including the village. We take a life to save more lives. What if you didn't kill them? They could've killed me. Imagine what they did in the past - killing innocent and defenseless civilians, and who knows what would've happened in the future."
Sakura understood him. It was still hard to overcome the experience.
"Sakura, did you liked it? Did you like the feeling when you took the life of another person?" Kakashi asked another question.
"N-No, of course no." Sakura immediately replied.
"Good. Remember this thing as well, all three of you. As long as you feel bad about killing or don't feel anything at all and kill for the right reasons, it's okay. But if you start to feel some kind of excitement or joy when taking life, then you're not okay. Then you slowly become a killer who then will kill just for entertainment."
Kakashi's words had a different effect on his team.
Sasuke eye widened as Kakashi's words made him remember his childhood.
-Flashback-
"Itachi-nii, what is being a ninja like?" younger Sasuke asked.
Itachi did a sad smile and looked into Sasuke's eyes "It's hard." he stated.
"Why?"
"Because you have to take a life to save another. I hate killing, but it's my job to keep village safe and happy."
"Hm? I always thought it's fun."
Itachi narrowed his eyes "Fun? Fun to kill?"
"No. Fun to be a ninja. You can do so much flashy jutsu, run on the walls and do other amazing things!"
Itachi sighed "Kids." he thought and said "You'll understand when you'll get older."
Sasuke pouted "You always say that."
Itachi chuckled and poked his forehead "Foolish little brother."
-Flashback end-
"That's right!" Sasuke said inwardly "Itachi always loved his village and wanted to keep it safe, as well as he disliked killing but he also said in order to save one or more lives you need to take another. It's like some kind of price. Could it be that Itachi killed our clan in order to keep the village safe? It is just a possibility but when you think about it, it might as well be true. But if it is true, what could the Uchiha have planned that could have threatened Konoha?"
While Sasuke was inwardly debating with himself, Naruto had other thoughts "Take life to save another. Take life to protect. Take life to bring honor to your village. I... I don't like it. When taking life you also need to consider hatred and rage. You kill a person to save another, yet the person you killed may have a loved ones. Said loved ones will start to hate you and will want a revenge leading to more lives lost, leading to more hatred and rage, which in turn will lead to more lives lost. It's like some kind of circle. Circle of hatred. I think that's how the wars start."
"Exactly, kit." Kyuubi finally said in a long time "Dad tried to solve this problem, but he failed. I mean, he managed to save this land from destruction, introduced ninjutsu 'n' stuff, created peace. This peace didn't last for long though - once he disappeared wars broke out between various fractions, which you now may know as clans, wanting for more power. Villages then were made. You know the rest." (A/N: when Kyuubi said 'dad' he was referring to Rikudō Sennin (RS). RS created bijuu so they labeled him as a father instead of 'creator'. When Kyuubi will refer to RS, it will be either 'father' or 'dad' and rarely RS)
"And how did he achieved this brief peace?"
"I'm not sure, we bijuu were created after that."
"I see. Thanks for info though."
Both boys snapped out of their musings when they finally heard Sakura "Thanks, Kakashi-sensei. I really needed it."
"Are you alright now?" the man asked.
"Well, kind of. I still need to think about it a bit, but I'll be fine, thanks."
Kakashi nodded and looked at his other two partners and wondered why they were so quiet. Little did he know that his words made a great impact on them, changing their destiny forever. The same could be said about Sakura.
Boys finally paid attention to Sakura and started to ask various questions, both concerned about the girl. Naruto then started to retell everything and how cool it looked. Sasuke was getting a little jealous and not jealous because he didn't get anything to kill, but because Sakura would have an advantage when faced with stronger opponent. He also wondered how he will react to his first kill.
"Okay guys!" Kakashi called out "We've rested enough and seeing how we won't fall asleep anymore I suggest to get some breakfast and head on to our destination."
Agreeing with the man everyone collected their things and went further to the river to find a place where to eat. They didn't want to eat at such holy time when bloody bodies are laying around.
A hour has passed and team 7 already finished their breakfast and were on the road. Just some more hours and they will be at their destination.
Another few hours has passed and team 7 was jumping from branch to branch in fast pace. Suddenly, they saw a small village appearing on the hill over the horizon.
"Is that a Glass Village?" Sasuke asked.
"Yeah. We need to get on the road now and walk instead of jumping through trees." Kakashi answered.
Naruto asked "Why?"
"The client said that he is going to meet us on the way to Glass Village. He asked us to switch to road when we see the village." Sakura answered.
Sasuke raised his eyebrow "How do you know?"
Sakura rolled her eyes "You know, when reading mission details you need to read all the details. Even those which are written in very small font."
"Oh."
And so they did - got back on the road and walked slowly. After about a hour of walk Kakashi finally broke the silence "He is here. We finally arrived."
And it was true. They still were far away from the village, but the forest around them became thinner. Everyone sensed that someone stood behind a tree little further ahead. Team 7 stopped.
"You can come out now." Kakashi shouted out.
"Isn't it Kakashi of the Sharingan." the main said as he came into everyone's sight of view and everyone inspected him. The man was as tall as Kakashi with short, brown hair and grey eyes. He wore standard Konoha's navy blue uniform, but instead of flack jacket he had black, sleeveless coat with a hood.
As Wahoki came closer, he narrowed his eyes. "Kakashi-san who are these kids? This is a high B, bordering A ranked mission. Not exactly walk in the park."
"These are my partners, my new genin team and I can assure-" Kakashi was interrupted by Wahoki.
"Genin? Is Sandaime Hokage mad, sending some fresh out of academy genin on this mission? I bet these punks don't even know how to-" now the man was interrupted with a wave of unrealistically focused KI. He was already on his knees... no, he barely managed to stand on his knees. He was breathing heavily and sweat was pouring from him like mad. He was scared. This KI was unreal. Even Kakashi couldn't do something like that, he was sure. He found some strength to raise his head and look from whom this KI was coming. What he saw, shocked him.
He saw how the KI was leaking from the blond kid. Huge, black wings sprouted out from kid's back and a figure appeared behind him. Instead of body, the figure had a shroud of black smoke and its eyes were made from pure flame, burning into his soul and trying to devour it. A pair of skeleton hands came from the black smoke and in one of them there was a black scythe with amethyst blade.
Shinigami, it was Shinigami itself. The blond kid opened his mouth to speak, as did the Shinigami, but instead of mouth the figure had a blinding light coming from black smoke. They spoke like one - voice of a boy and a girl echoed throughout the forest.
"Never judge ninja by how he looks and what rank he has. Know the ninja, know the person, know his skills and only then make your judgement!"
As fast as it began, it ended. Naruto returned to normal and Shinigami disappeared. Wahoki was barely holding onto his consciousness; he even almost peed himself from fear. Though the KI was focused only at Wahoki, it was felt by everyone, although on lesser extent. Kakashi was holding his knees with his hands and panting, a little sweat beads coming from his forehead. The same for Sakura and Sasuke. Naruto was the only one alright.
"That was badass, kit! Oh god, their faces! I just feel how fear is coming from this Wahoki person." Kyuubi laughed in Naruto's mind.
Naruto himself chuckled inwardly "Yeah, gotta love this thing. Thanks for teaching it to me. Combining my original KI with my and your chakra and then add my imagination on top is genius. No, it's just overkill. Like I said, it's totally different level of killer intents than most ninjas know. Can't wait when I can show off in chuunin exams."
"I know, right? It's priceless. I'll have to teach you some new things once you return or else this might get boring over time." Kyuubi grinned "HA! It can't get boring with your imagination."
"Yeah. And it's not when I return; it's when WE return, please remember that." Naruto answered, but got no response.
While Naruto was talking with Kyuubi, his team and Wahoki had different thoughts.
"That was overkill./Naruto-baka gonna scare off the client." thought Sasuke and Sakura respectively.
"This KI was was strong, even if it wasn't directed at me. Seeing how Wahoki, another jounin, fared it must be insane. Just what Wahoki saw to make so much fear?" Kakashi then looked into the eyes of Naruto and saw... a bit of sadness in them "What is he sad about? Is it because Wahoki called him useless? Or is it because he scared an ally? Or maybe something else? Anyway, it's Wahoki's own fault. I wanted to leak some KI as well, but Naruto was faster."
"Oh K-Kami..." Wahoki thought as he tried to get up "I really thought I gonna die some seconds ago. That KI was just monstrous, never in my life I've felt something like that. I underestimated them and I should be careful around that blonde kid." He finally got up, though he still had hands on his knees, and inspected Naruto closely. When he saw Naruto's features, Wahoki's widened his eyes "Y-Yondaime!" He then noticed those whisker marks and Wahoki narrowed his eyes "No, it's the Kyuubi kid, though his resemblance with Yondaime is incredible."
"Y-Y-You a-are-" Wahoki still had troubles speaking, but fortunately Naruto interrupted him.
"Naruto Uzumaki-Namikaze." he said. Naruto recognized those yes - eyes of hatred, so he added "And I'm not a Kyuubi or its reincarnation. My dad was a master of fuuinjutsu and locked Kyuubi inside of me. I am his jailor. Or you will be as majority of Konoha's foolish civilians and doubt Yondaime's skills?"
Wahoki didn't know what to say. Yes, he hated Kyuubi because he killed his parents on the fateful day, and he wanted to hate Naruto as well but his ninja mind didn't let him. He knew how skilled Yondaime was at fuuinjutsu, so what Naruto said was true. He finally calmed down and relaxed "I don't want to hate you because I know it's not right, but it's hard. And yes you resemble Yondaime very well, but why do you think you're his child? As far as I remember he didn't have wife and you should be just an orphan."
Naruto rolled his eyes "Geez. Does name Kushina Uzumaki ring any bells? She was the only one Uzumaki in Konoha. Yondaime and Kushina were dating in secret for obvious reasons, seeing as it was a wartime. Besides, if you know Yondaime so well, do you really think he would take another child? Do you really think he could ask someone else to sacrifice their child if he couldn't do it himself? No. And besides, by sealing Kyuubi in me, Yondaime's son, he tried to make me loyal to village although most civilians always wanted to free the demon, instead of keeping it at bay."
He had a point. Naruto looked like Yondaime, and he heard rumors about Kushina and Minato dating. It was still unbelievable that Kyuubi Jinchuuriki was son of Konoha's finest shinobi. No wonder he was so strong now if that KI just seconds ago was any proof. Though something piqued his interest.
"Civilians wanted to free the demon? Why would they want that?" Wahoki asked. Sasuke, Sakura and Kakashi was interested as well on why Naruto thinks so.
Naruto chuckled "I'm village's pariah. All my life most villagers abused me. Wouldn't it be logical if I would become angry and become the demon they call me and kill everyone who abused me and was unfair to me? All the actions they did would've led me to hatred and I would become a mindless killer."
Wahoki and Kakashi raised an eyebrow. Indeed it was logical.
"But what stopped you?" Kakashi asked.
Naruto sighed and looked up to the sky. "I dunno. I've actually never felt hatred. I was angry, confused but I didn't hate. I always loved the village and wanted to become a ninja to protect it. Actually my dream is to become Hokage..." Naruto closed his eyes for some seconds. He then opened them and looked at Wahoki with renewed strength "Anyway, we came here for mission not to discuss my past. And sorry about that KI."
"Right. That KI was insane though. So what are your names?" Wahoki asked the rest.
"Uchiha Sasuke."
"Haruno Sakura."
"Hmm an Uchiha, Haruno and Namikaze. Should be fun." Wahoki said.
"You know my clan, Wahoki-san?" Sakura asked.
"Well, I don't know about your clan but I remember there was a man with Haruno surname. Heard some stories about him and his Blood Release on my travels."
"Really?!" Sakura asked with joy and hope. "Can you tell me those stories please? I've inherited my grandfather's Blood Release and I would like to hear some stories to know me grandfather better. And to make new jutsu!"
"You've got Chishioton? I would like to see it. But the stories can wait." he then looked to an Uchiha. "The last loyal Uchiha. Heard rumors you're genius."
"Yes." everyone looked at him with that 'really?' look "But I'm genius of hard work. Sakura and Naruto are genius of hard work as well, although I think Naruto is the only true genius here."
"Right. We'll see about that later. We wasted too much time here. Lets go to the village and rent some rooms where I can tell you more." Wahoki said.
Kakashi decided to ask as they headed to village's direction "Village? But you stated in the mission brief that you don't want to live in the village."
"Well, yeah. But I'm low on supplies already and it's very uncomfortable to live a week in the wilds when there's a village nearby. Plus, it's a bit dangerous to be in these forests now."
"Why?" Sakura asked.
"Lately a lot of nuke-nin appeared around this area, but they are not as much trouble as he is."
"Who?" Sasuke curiously asked.
"Orochimaru." Wahoki bitterly answered and everyone's eyes widened. No one expected that in their first mission they will face Snake Sannin in person.
"Orochimaru?!" Kakashi couldn't believe they will have to face with Orochimaru problem. After receiving a nod from Wahoki he didn't know what to think "It's no longer B ranked mission then. It is easily A ranked and IF we face Orochimaru then it can as well be S ranked."
"Do you think we're ready for that?" Sakura asked a bit worried.
Naruto answered her question "We're not ready to face Orochimaru one on one, but we can easily stall him for some time together before Kakashi or Wahoki-san comes to help. We also need to consider why Orochimaru is here in the first place. Maybe we won't even need to encounter him."
"Nope, at one point we will have to encounter him." Wahoki intervened "At one point we will have."
"Why?" Sasuke asked.
"Originally your missions would be to exterminate all nuke nin while I search the base. Now, when Orochimaru has returned to his base, the information there would be fresh so we will need to act fast. If we will start a large fight near the base, where the most ninjas are sheltered, it will attract Orochimaru's attention which we don't need, because either Orochimaru will hide all the documents or he will kill us before we know it. Or both of it."
"So basically all of us will need to head in the base in order to reduce time spent in the base and increase the likelihood of obtaining the information." Naruto said.
Wahoki replied "Yeah. To increase our chances and decrease time spent there even more, we would need a-"
"Map." Sasuke intervened. "Naruto can take care of it."
Wahoki raised an eyebrow.
"Yeah, I'll take care of the map then. I will also obtain information on Orochimaru's movements in the base as well as information on missing ninjas around the base. Sakura, once we're in the village I want you to ask villagers for newest rumors and if they haven't noticed something strange lately. Wahoki-san, is there a leader or chief in the village?" Wahoki nodded. "Good. Sasuke, you'll go to the chief and ask about their military power. Do not ask for details, just if they have any and will they be able to defend themselves in case if Orochimaru attacks. From what I know, Orochimaru is a man who always does something for a reason and I'm sure he wouldn't stay in his abandoned base if he merely walked by. If the chief still doesn't want to speak, find another way to get information like asking around. Kakashi..." Kakashi looked at Naruto expecting to get a task as well. Both Kakashi himself and Wahoki couldn't believe they will listen to a genin. "...well you're a jounin so I guess you'll think of something useful to do."
Kakashi almost face faulted, but years of experience and steel nerves prevented him from doing so. Nevertheless both Wahoki and Kakashi were surprised at Naruto's leadership and how he distributed tasks.
"It's too dangerous, Naruto." Kakashi said.
"Yeah, how are you going to make a map without heading into the base, Naruto-san? It's too dangerous." Wahoki added.
Naruto raised an eyebrow at -san suffix because he never received one, but he let it slide "I have my ways. Or did you already forgot Kakashi?"
"Hm?"
Sasuke sighed "Naruto has the information on all Konoha's jounin and no one knew about it until now. In fact, Naruto himself revealed it."
Kakashi did 'Ohh' sound. And now Wahoki was curious on how a genin could get information and no one knew about it. "How did he managed to get it?"
"I dunno." Kakashi replied. "Back then he also said 'I have my ways'."
"Yeah, that explains a lot." Wahoki sarcastically replied.
"Nevertheless, I'll trust Naruto. Sasuke, Sakura and Naruto will do what Naruto said they will do while we will make plans for the missing ninja problem. Then, we will act according to the information my team gathered."
"Right." Wahoki replied and they increased their speed.
After some hours they finally arrived. It was already evening and sun was slowly hiding behind the horizon, coloring the sky red and orange. They crossed the only bridge and wanted to walk past the gates into the village, but two guards stopped them.
"Halt!" Said one of the guards. He had shoulder length gray hair and he wore grey samurai-like armor.
"State your business here, ninjas!" Exclaimed the other one. He had shoulder length light teal hair and the guard wore blue samurai-like armor. Both of them had katanas strapped on their waist and a halberd in their hands.
Naruto wanted to speak up but he knew what reaction he will get. So he let jounin handle the situation.
"My name is Wahoki. They are Kakashi Hatake, Naruto Uzumaki-Namikaze, Sakura Haruno and Sasuke Uchiha, all from Konohagakure. We have mission in this area and would like to rent some rooms in the inn."
The guard with gray hair looked at them skeptically and said "We have a nuke-nin problem here, and though your hitai-ate doesn't have a slash how can we know you're not in disguise?"
Wahoki smiled "Well, if you tried really hard maybe you could remember me? Some years ago you asked me the same question, though instead of ninjas you had bandit problem. I also had this large scroll on my back."
After some moments of silence the second guard exclaimed "Yes! I remember you now. You also had this very sick look."
"Oh right! You also helped the chief on something. I remember now. Well, you can go in. I guess you know where the inn is, right?" the first guard asked, after receiving a nod he added "By the way, you're quite lucky because we were about to shut the gates for the night. Welcome to the Glass Village. I will inform Gaiko-sama about your arrival once we close the gate."
"Thanks."
As they were walking through the village, three genin were inspecting their surroundings. And they couldn't be more marveled at the feeling of peace in this village. It felt like you could just forget about anything and live happily here. All villagers were smiling and laughing as if they didn't even know about the threat outside.
Seeing the looks of genins, Wahoki explained "You feel it, right? The piece here." Getting the nods he continued "Do you know the history of this village?"
"Yes, a little from what Sakura told us. A long, long time ago some kind of mythical glass could be mined out. The village was built near the mine so miners could live closer to the mine and get to work faster. The glass mined out then could be used to make weapons and unlike steel, it was sharper and more durable. Something happened to the mine, either it collapsed or the glass ended AND collapsed. Those weapons, as well as glass, is long since lost or destroyed over the ages." Sasuke said.
"Yes, that's very close. The mine had another property though. The miners actually wanted to work there." Wahoki said.
"Wanted to work in the mine? It's first time in my life when I hear someone wanted to work in a mine. It was more a work for slaves or poor people, from what I've read." Sakura asked.
"Yes. The mine had a unique property, an aura if you like. It felt like what you feel now, but much more stronger. The time itself didn't go normally in the mine. It felt so peaceful there, so calm that 10 hours of work felt like 2 hours for the workers. Miners could work there for actual 30 hours without any food or water, because their body and mind would feel that only 6 hours has passed. The speed at which the glass was mined was unreal. It was like blessing for miners. But it was also a curse."
"A curse? Why?" Sakura asked.
Naruto answered in Wahoki's place "Because after the mine was mined out or it collapsed, the miners wanted to go in there, to work in there just because of this feeling at peace. They didn't want to leave that place and return to their horrible lives."
"Yes, very precise Naruto-san. They were addicted to the place. Over the ages this aura steadily lessened until it became on what you feel now. The time flows normally here, the feeling is not addictive, yet it is pleasant."
"How do you know all that?" Kakashi asked.
"The last time I was here I was like you - I marveled at the feeling so I asked around on what it is. I heard many stories and after putting them altogether I came to this story. Maybe some things are not true, but it's the best explanation I have."
"So this is how it feels to be at peace, even though it's not real." Naruto thought. "Is it how it felt, Kyuubi?"
"Close, quite close, but still not the same. I don't quite remember the feeling because it happened a lot of ages ago, but I clearly remember it was a bit different. I'm going to sleep now, so don't wake me up." Kyuubi said as he yawned and cut the link.
"I see."
"We're finally here." Wahoki said. Everyone looked at building in front of them. It was easily the largest building in the whole village. It had emerald color roof in shattered glass pattern and the whole building was made from dark green bricks. In front of the white door there were two large bushes with red flowers in them as well as green carpet where visitors could clean their feet.
"Wow. This place surely stands out." Sakura commented.
And so they entered and rented two rooms - one for Sakura, Sasuke and Naruto and the other for Kakashi and Wahoki. Thanks to Wahoki, they managed to get big, VIP rooms with numerous rooms for cheap price. Two jounin got a room with two large bedrooms, while genin got a room with three, but a smaller bedrooms. They immediately said good night to each other and went to sleep, because tomorrow would be long day.
-Next day
With Sasuke-
Three genin woke up early today, even earlier than jounin, washed their mouths, had a breakfast and got to work. It was a warm morning and many villagers were already opening their stores. Sasuke decided to test his luck and asked a nearby fruit vendor for information.
Remembering yesterdays' guards he asked "Excuse me, but can you tell me where I can find Gaiko's office?"
The vendor looked at the Sasuke and narrowed his eyes "Who are you, how did you got in and how do you know our chief's name?"
Sasuke sighed. The man clearly recognized him as a ninja so asking how he got in was just stupid. "My name is Sasuke Uchiha from Konohagakure. Yesterday me and my team arrived at the village and guards let us in. The guard then mentioned that he will inform their chief, Gaiko, about our arrival. So I'm searching for his office to discuss something. Even so, I'm a ninja and if I would like to do something to your chief, I would have found his office without your help to reduce the suspicion. I mean no harm to the chief or the village."
After moment of thinking vendor nodded his head "You speak the truth. Fine. The office is that way," he pointed in random direction "the building is on a small hill and you will immediately recognize it because it's built in the same design as the inn, where I suppose you're staying in."
Sasuke nodded "Thank you."
And so he walked in the direction the man showed. After 10 minutes of walking he finally was next to the Gaiko's office. It wasn't as big as the inn, but it indeed was built in the same design. So he walked in.
Right in front of the entrance there was a large desk. A women in her 20ies sat behind the desk and was working on some papers. Behind her there was a large archway leading to staircase.
"Reception." Sasuke thought "Just like in Konoha in Hokage's office."
As Sasuke came closer to the desk, the woman spoke in pleasant tone "Welcome to Gaiko's office. Can I help you with something?" she then raised her head and seeing the hitai-ate narrowed her eyes and asked in dangerous tone "What is a ninja doing in our village?"
Sasuke raised an eyebrow and repeated "I'm Sasuke Uchiha from Konohagakure and I'm on mission in this area. The guard yesterday let us through and informed Gaiko about our arrival. I would like an audience with him." He was already sick of repeating it.
The woman relaxed a bit, got back to her paper work and quickly said "Gaiko-sama is busy now, come back later."
Sasuke was fed up already "You lied."
"What?" the woman hissed.
"I'm a ninja and I know how to detect lies. When you said you're busy, your heart skipped a beat, you broke the eye contact and said that he is busy faster than you were speaking before, in order to get it over with."
"How-" the woman continued, but was interrupted.
"Enough! Kaira, he is telling the truth. And next time before labeling me as busy, come and check if it's really true. For your punishment, you'll work on this weekend as well." came a voice from the stairs as Gaiko came down.
"Hai, Gaiko-sama." Kaira the secretary guilty said and returned to her work.
"I'm sorry for that, Sasuke-san. Come with me to my office please."
Sasuke nodded and came with the man to the office.
As they entered the office, Gaiko sat behind his desk and offered Sasuke to take the seat in front of him as well, which he gladly accepted.
"As you may already know my name is Gaiko and I'm this village's chief. I actually was going down to get some coffee when I heard Kaira arguing with someone. So I intervened. As I heard, you're on a mission here, right?"
"Yes."
"I see. Can I ask what this mission is about?"
"Unfortunately no. I'm not the leader of squad so I'm not allowed to speak about the mission to other people without his permission. Though I have some questions concerning the success of our mission and safety of your village. Can I ask them?"
Gaiko raised an eyebrow "Sure."
"What is your military strength?" Sasuke bluntly asked.
Gaiko didn't even know how to answer that question "Boy, do you know that you can't ask this question to village leader and to expect an answer?"
"I know. And I don't ask for specific numbers or ranks. What I mean is - in a case if village is attacked, can you defend yourselves?"
Now this made Gaiko interested "And why would you think my village could be attacked?"
Sasuke sighed. "Do you know of Orochimaru?"
Gaiko nodded "Yes. Even though I'm not a ninja, I still keep track of latest criminals from bingo books. He is S class nuke nin from Konoha. Quite dangerous."
"He never comes to a place without a reason. Orochimaru is here. He has a base in nearby forest and he settled there for unknown time. People tend to disappear where he is. Also, from what I know, large amounts of nuke ninjas started to gather around the base."
"Those are troubling news indeed. I presume your mission has something to do with him or his base, am I right?"
"Yes."
"I see. I'll tell you then about this village's military power. It has none."
"What?"
"It is a peaceful, small civilian village and we don't have any military power except for some trained warriors or retired samurai who works on guard duty or protects the village in a case of small bandit raid. And to be honest, for last 4 months a wandering girl, around your age, settled here and helped the village. The girl is quite skilled in ninja arts though she doesn't belong to any ninja village. For last 4 months she protected the village but soon she will move on for her next destination."
"Where is this girl now?"
"I gave her assignment to scout for the missing nin camp and get any information she could get. I would then act on the received information."
"When will she return? And could you share some information she will get?"
"I don't know, maybe today, maybe tomorrow. And yes, I will share. It's not some kind of secret and I believe it will help both you and my village."
"I see. Thanks for sharing some information."
"I'll do anything for this village. That reminds me, can I request something?"
"What is it?" Sasuke asked.
"I know you will be busy with your mission, but can you please help to protect this village and do something about this nuke-nin problem? The girl I talked about, is skilled but she is not that good to take a lot of missing nin at once."
Sasuke thought about it. He wasn't a squad leader so he can't make decisions, but he also wanted to agree. "Sorry but I can't promise anything because I'm not a squad leader, though I will give my squad leader your request. Besides that, in order to complete our mission we will have to do something about these ninjas anyway." Sasuke then chuckled "And once my other teammate hears about this, my squad leader will have no other choice but to agree. I shall take my leave then."
Gaiko smiled "Thank you."
Sasuke stood up, but then remembered "Just another question." Gaiko nodded "Why everyone is so aggressive towards me?"
"It's not exactly towards you, but rather to ninjas altogether. They are civilians and it's quite expected that they are a bit afraid. Seeing a ninja in the village they are troubled, because they don't know either you are a honest, good ninja or disguised missing ninja."
"I see. I shall take my leave then." Sasuke said as he bowed and left the room. He got back to the entrance and Kaira asked "What did you wanted from him?"
"Firstly, it's not your business, secretary. Secondly, return to your work instead of reading magazines or else you might get another weekend of work." Sasuke replied and before Kaira could say something back, he was already gone.
-With Naruto-
"I have a specific task in nearby forest, so I need to go out of the village. I will be back in few hours time." Naruto said to the guards who asked why is he leaving village without his teammates.
"Okay. Be warned though, kid, these forests are filled with missing ninjas."
Naruto sighed "Stop calling me a kid."
"But, you're like 13 or 14..."
"Whatever." Naruto said. He didn't have time to argue about it. "Just let me through please."
And so the guards did. Naruto started a little jog towards the location of the base. Yesterday, before going to sleep, Wahoki gave him a map with nearby area and there was a big red cross over the area where the base should be.
After about 10 minutes of jogging, he was finally at forest's edge. After about 20 minutes of jogging he should be near the hidden base.
"So this is The Forest of Angel?" he muttered. "Hm? Who's that?" he asked himself as he saw a white figure approaching him in fast pace. Naruto decided to wait a bit to see who it is.
It was actually a girl about his age. The girl had beautiful feather dress and she was holding a long bow which looked just like her dress - made of white feathers. The girl also had long, snow white hair. She was in a hurry and was running for long time, if her panting was any indication.
The girl was already close and for a second, they locked eyes. Deep brown stared into ocean blue and time slowed down for them.
"Is that..." Alicia thought.
"...a girl..."
"... from my..."
"...dreams?" Naruto finished their similar thoughts.
Still staring at each other, Alicia ran past Naruto towards the village as the time returned to normal pace.
"Later. More important things to do." Both of them thought.
After about 10 minutes fast walking, Naruto was in the middle of forest and he finally noticed why it was called 'Forest of Angel'. White feather were scattered around the place. Actually, they were everywhere. The boy took of the feathers and realized that it's not entirely real.
"It's made from chakra. I wonder what effect it has." Naruto muttered.
"Kit, I feel medical chakra in it."
"Medical chakra?"
"Yes. Cut you finger or palm or whatever and place that thing over the cut. See what will happen."
Naruto did as he was told: he took a kunai and cut his palm open, then placed the feather on the cut. For some seconds nothing happened. Naruto was ready to throw the feather away, when suddenly the feather transformed into green chakra and sunk into his palm but to be more precise into his cut, instantly healing it. Briefly, he felt familiar chakra signature behind him and he turned around and stared into the forest, into the direction of that chakra.
-Alicia-
She was almost near the guards when she suddenly stopped and turned into direction of forest.
"That chakra. So calm, so peaceful, so... pleasant and happy. So familiar. Was it that boy? If yes, is he really a boy from my dreams?" she wondered and continued to run towards the village. They didn't know it, but once again they stared at each other for a mere second.
-Naruto-
Shaking his head, he collected some feathers and placed them in his pocket. "Wahoki will be interested."
After about 15 more minutes of jogging he felt a lot of chakra signatures. "Looks like it's missing-nin camp. If Wahoki's data is correct, then Orochimaru's base should be somewhere there."
He decided to slow down and using all his stealth knowledge, got as close to the camp as he could. What he saw surprised him. There were about 30 missing-nin from different villages. A lot, lot more than he expected. He also saw some dead bodies with arrows in their hearts. Naruto raised an eyebrow "Arrows? Must be that girl with the bow."
Some kind of bustling was going on in the camp. Decided to see what happens next, he waited.
He didn't have to wait long, only 8 or so minutes, when a tall man in a black cloak with red clouds walkout out from nearby rock. Yes rock, he literally walked out from a big boulder.
"So that's the entrance into the base. Genjutsu, although weak."
Sensing his vile chakra and smelling snakes, he recognized the man immediately.
"Orochimaru." he hissed in his mind. "Let's see what is he up to. And what's with the cloak?"
"Orochimaru-sama." a random missing nin from Iwa addressed the man. "Someone was spying on us."
"For how long?" Orochimaru asked, clearly displeased.
"We don't know. We discovered her recently. It was a girl with a bow and we guess she's from the Glass Village. We tried to chase her down, but she did a powerful genjutsu and shot some of our men down. When we dispelled the illusion, she was already gone."
Orochimaru frowned. "Useless." he hissed and killed the man by stabbing him in the heart with a sword which appeared from his long sleeve. Naruto thought it's his legendary Kusanagi, but inspecting the sword closer, it wasn't.
"Figures. He wouldn't kill weaklings with his most prized treasure."
"Bring the dead man in, including this one." he said as he kicked just now killed Iwa ninja. The missing nin obeyed in fear and some ninjas carried the dead man in the base walking through the boulder. "Listen up weaklings. Plans have changed. We will attack the village in 2 days time. Failure is not an option." That said, Orochimaru left the scene and went back to his base.
"Attack? This is bad news." Naruto thought and silently walked away from the scene so he could use his chakra without being discovered.
He bit his thumb, did some handseals and whispered "Kuchiyose no jutsu!"
In a small cloud of smoke, six foxes appeared. Among them there were Yara and Yoru, his favorite scouting foxes. The other were two, red normal looking foxes and two black foxes with white tail tip.
"Naruto-sama." all of them saluted at the same time.
Naruto, already used to the suffix, said in serious tone "I'm on my first mission, so listen carefully. Yara, Yoru. Your task is to infiltrate Orochimaru's base and draw a map of the entire base. You're good for this task, because of your ability to multiply. Kiri, Muru." He addressed the black ones "You will go with Yara and Yoru into the base, but instead of scouting for area, your task is to spy on Orochimaru. What is he doing, when and where is he going. When Yara and Yoru has completed the map, work with them to coordinate man's routes around the base and mark important places on the map. It would be great if you could find man's quarters, where he sleeps or holds his documents or records. Varu, Baru." he addressed the red foxes. He was amazed how foxes in one team had similar, if not rhyming names. "Your task is to spy on missing-nin camp just outside the base. Orochimaru mentioned some kind off attack, so I want you to eavesdrop conversations, maybe steal some plans or something that might be useful and what will tell us more about his attack. Both of you are sensor type scouts, so it would be cool if you could estimate the power of those ninjas. Any questions?"
The foxes shook their heads.
"Good. The base is north from here. You have to do everything I asked until tomorrow's noon. Sorry, I can't give you more time because some kind of attack is going to happen in 2 days time. Do you have enough ink and paper sealed in your fur?" receiving a nod he continued "Okay, be safe. Go!" Naruto said, and foxes ran in base's direction.
"Success of our mission now depends on the information I can get." the blonde muttered.
"Foxes. Information which foxes can get."
"Yeah but Kakashi and Wahoki doesn't need to know that. To them, I got the information, although I really appreciate foxes' help."
-Sakura-
Sakura was walking around town, enjoying the day. She already asked some people for information or rumors, but didn't get anything interesting. So she decided to actually look for some shops or places where she could get something useful.
After some time, she noticed a weapon shop. It looked just like all the other building in tows, except there was a large sign board which said "Fuki's weapons!"
Sakura got interested and entered and looked around. The shop was rather small, but it had a wide selection of different weapons: katana, swords, maces, staffs, even spears and bows, which Sakura rarely saw in her village. She didn't notice any kunai or shuriken though.
"Welcome. How can I help you today?" she heard from a counter.
Turning around, Sakura saw a women in her, maybe, mid 30ies. She had brown hair kept in a ponytail and wore simple, brown, short-sleeved blouse and a skirt.
"Yes, actually. I'm a ninja from Konoha and I have a mission around here. Just wanted to ask some questions."
"Oh a ninja." the women joyfully exclaimed "I'll assist as best as I can."
"Thanks. Firstly, what is weapon shop doing in a civilian village?" Sakura asked, quite interested.
"Well, we have guards here and some retired samurai. They need weapons, right? Sometimes a wanderer or weapon collector comes to our village and buys something. It's not a flourishing business though, but quite enough to feed family."
"Why don't you sell kunai or shuriken then? I think there are some ninja wanderers who come here to restock supplies."
"Well, they are expensive on their own and these ninjas are quite rare. Our village is not listed in new maps for some reasons, so we don't get enough customers."
"I see. Well, now with serious matters." Sakura said "I heard that some months ago you had serious problems with bandits. What happened?"
"Oh, that's a famous story. The bandit raid just begun and managed to get into the city. Guards had trouble defending the main square and some villagers had already died and a lot were injured. Then, an angel descended from the sky... it was beautiful. Like heavens themselves passed judgement on the sinful: light shot from her bow, burning the bandits and feathers rained from the sky, transforming in some kind of green energy or whatever as they fell, healing the injured. From that day forth, survived bandits ran in fear and she became our guardian. She says that soon she will leave, but the village will always remember her as 'the Angel'."
"Angel?" Sakura doubtfully asked. Yes the story sounded amazing, but... doubtful.
"I know that's it's hard to believe, but I saw it with my own eyes. I was one of the injured. She had long dress made from feathers, bow made from feathers and one, large wing. Unfortunately, after the raid ended, she fell into the coma for 3 days. No one knows the reasons."
"Okay. That's interesting." Sakura thought. "What about Forest of Angel? Is it named after this angel?"
"Alicia. Angel's name is Alicia Tsukiko."
"Tsukiko? I heard it somewhere before."
"Alicia goes to train there. After some period of time, villagers, who goes to that forest to hunt or collect some herbs and berries, noticed white feathers scattered around. Since that day, we named it Forest of Angel."
"Interesting." Sakura said, meanwhile thinking "In other words, I guess this Alicia has some sort of bloodline and she trains in the forest. Maybe those feathers or angelic features is the result of her bloodline? And that coma... to heal so much people at once while at the same time fighting... it must be severe chakra exhaustion." she then asked"You said she still lives here?"
"Yes. I don't know where exactly, but she's still in the village. She helps the villagers by healing some injuries and by warding off bandits. But lately, another problem raised."
"What problem?"
"Nuke-nin." the women answered "Actually a lot of them. They have settled in the Forest of Angel, most likely planning something nasty. Some days ago Alicia went to investigate. She should be back today or tomorrow. Although Alicia is very strong, she said she can't take on so many missing ninjas at once. She said that once she will return, they will need to ask for reinforcement. Luckily you're here and something can be arranged."
"So this Alicia person is not as powerful as she sounds at the beginning." Sakura thought "Thanks for the information. If there really will be a serious problem, village's chief will contact us. My other teammate went to investigate that area as well, so maybe we could share and compare our information tomorrow and act accordingly. Is there any fresh rumors?"
"Hmm. Actually there is. Two rumors actually. Recently, many started to talk about a possible attack on the village. They say that missing ninjas don't usually gang together in such groups without reason and that a powerful man stands behind it. Others talk that Gaiko-sama, our leader, has found a large remnant of glass ore."
Sakura widened her eyes "Glass ore?"
"Seeing your reaction, you must know some history of this village, right?"
"Yeah. It should be very valuable."
"It should. But it is just that - a rumor. Though I don't even know how it started to spread. These are the most fresh rumors and information you can find in this village."
"Thank you then a lot. It will save me from going to others shops." Sakura said.
"You're welcome! Maybe you want to buy something?" woman asked.
"I would love to buy some shuriken or kunai, but unfortunately you don't have any. And I'm not quite interested in weapons. Though bows are quite interesting. I've never seen ninjas using them."
"Yeah, samurai mostly use them. You have your kunai and shuriken so you don't need a bow and arrows."
"Makes sense. Bye then!"
"Bye! Come back later with your teammates. Maybe they will be interested." the women said as Sakura left the shop.
"Well then. My task is done. It is going to be evening soon, so it's time to return. I hope guys are back as well."
After some minutes of walking, she heard some voices up ahead.
"...what's the hurry? Is everything alright?" someone loudly asked.
Sakura then noticed a beautiful girl running in her direction. "Sorry, I need to report these news to Gaiko!"
"Wait." Sakura thought as the girl was getting closer "Feather dress, check. Feather bow, check. Is it Alicia? She is no older than me!"
Alicia ran past Sakura, but still noticed the hitai-ate "Another ninja? I'll ask Gaiko."
"She had troubled face. Looks like we will receive a message from Gaiko tonight." Sakura thought and continued her way to the inn.
-Later that evening-
Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura, Wahoki and Kakashi were in jounin room, because it was a bit bigger. Sasuke was first to arrive back, then Sakura and then Naruto. And they were shocked because apparently, both jounin did nothing. Well, when Sasuke arrived, Kakashi was reading his smut and Wahoki was sleeping. When asked why didn't they do anything, Kakashi shrugged and answered "Well, I thought you have everything under control."
Besides that, they were now discussing what they learnt, though Kakashi was bit confused about Naruto.
"So fast already? I thought you'll need a day or two."
"Don't worry Kakashi, tomorrow by noon I will receive the info."
"Receive?" Kakashi was even more confused.
"Just let it go, Kakashi-sensei. He has his ways. Lets discuss what others have found out." Sakura said. "Sasuke, want to start?"
Sasuke nodded "Basically, village doesn't have any military power. Some retired samurai and warriors decent to work as guards and protect the village from small bandit raids. About 4 months ago a wandering kunoichi from unknown village settled here and helps the villagers. Right now, she is on scouting assignment outside the village in missing ninja camp. She will return today or tomorrow and Gaiko agreed to share information so help us and this village."
Naruto raised an eyebrow "A girl?"
"Yes. The chief didn't give any specifics though. He only said she doesn't belong to any ninja village and is around our age. What do you have, Naruto?"
"I will have more data about the base tomorrow. But there are other interesting things I discovered. Firstly, when I was at the forest's edge I met a girl. Well not exactly met. She was in a hurry but... I have the feeling like I know her. It's even possible that she is the girl from my dreams."
"From you dreams?" Wahoki re-asked.
"Long story." Sasuke said. "Continue."
"She had a feather dress and feather-like bow, long snow white hair and deep brown eyes. Quite beautiful." Sakura rolled her eyes. "The most strangest part is that she recognized me as well. Mysterious, but lets continue. After I went deeper into the forest, I saw the feather scattered around. The ones Wahoki was talking about." Naruto reached his pouch and gave everyone collected feathers. "They, as you may noticed already, are made from medical chakra. Cut you palm and place feather on the cut."
Sasuke and Sakura hesitated, but Kakashi did as told. He was amazed. "Wow..."
"Yeah, I thought the same."
"How did you found that out?" Wahoki asked "I mean, it's easy to recognize the chakra, but how did you know how it works?"
"Lets say I was quite lucky." Naruto sheepishly said "Anyway. Then I found the base. Around the base there were 30 or so missing ninjas from various villages."
"So many?" Wahoki widened his eyes. "Did you found out their ranks or any familiar faces?"
"I'm working on that." Naruto replied.
"Kage Bunshin?" Kakashi wondered.
"Anyway, some ninjas were killed by arrow in their hearts. Must be that girl. Then, Orochimaru arrived on scene. He had strange cloak."
"What do you mean?" Sakura curiously asked.
"Black cloak with red clouds. Strange but I don't think it has any importance. So, the girl you talked about, Sasuke, was the girl I met. Those ninjas discovered this girl and she fled, by using some kind genjutsu and shooting some ninjas down. Orochimaru then mentioned that plans has been changed and attack will happen sooner. Two days from now. Unfortunately, he didn't mention any details."
"Attack? Do you have more info on it?" Wahoki asked.
"No. But I will have tomorrow, trust me. And that's all for me. What do you have, Sakura?"
"I saw the girl too. Feather dress and feather like bow. Apparently her name is Alicia Tsukiko, if I'm not mistaken. Have you heard the story about an angel?"
They shook their heads.
"I'll try to keep it brief: some months ago there was a large bandit raid on the village and bandits were already inside, advancing into the main square. Guards had trouble keeping them at bay. Some villagers were already killed and many were injured. Then, as the person I asked says, 'one winged angel descended from heavens and shot the sinful while healing the villagers'. After that, she fell in coma for 3 days. When she awoke, she became this village's guardian. The forest is called as it is, because this Alicia trains there. From what I suspect, her wings should be some kind of bloodline and that coma was actually severe chakra exhaustion. In forest, she trains her techniques, resulting in scattered feathers."
"Wow." Naruto said "Sounds more like legend than recent events. And according to that information, it should be the same girl what Sasuke was talking about, seeing how both of them appeared some months ago."
"Yeah. I thought she made it up, but seeing Alicia in person changed my views. Anyway, I also got some rumors. One of the rumors, which is now confirmed, is that nuke-nin plans to attack and someone powerful is standing behind it. Another rumor, which started to spread only recently, is that Gaiko has found the a large glass ore."
"Glass ore?" Kakashi asked.
"Remember what we told you about the village's history?" Sakura asked. Then Kakashi realized it and widened his eyes. "It's only a rumor though."
"So what are we going to do now?" Sasuke asked.
"We-" Kakashi started but was interrupted by a knock in the door.
Wahoki stood up and opened the doors. A man from reception was there "I have a message from Gaiko. He requested your audience at his office."
Everyone looked at each other and left the inn.
"I wonder what he wants." Sasuke thought out loud.
-Gaiko's office-
"Ahh, good, you're here." Gaiko started. "Can you introduce yourselves please?"
"Sasuke Uchiha."
"Sakura Haruno."
"Naruto Uzumaki-Namikaze."
"Kakashi Hatake."
"Wahoki. Just Wahoki."
"Badass." Sasuke thought.
"I see. Nice to meet you. I'm Gaiko, chief and leader of this small village. Did Sasuke-san told you about my scout in the forest?"
"Yes." Sakura said "Is this scout actually Alicia Tsukiko? So called 'angel who descended from heaven'?"
Gaiko widened his eyes a bit. "How do you know?"
Kakashi answered that question "Well, Sasuke here wasn't the only one with the task to get information. This Alicia person is quite interesting."
Gaiko sighed "Yes, the scout was actually her. But where this 'descended from heaven' came from?"
"One of the shop owners told me the story of bandit raid some months ago." Sakura said.
"I see. There are many versions of this story, one where she descended from the heavens, other where she appeared from no where in rain of righteous light, and the other where she tore the skies apart with her righteous anger. And so on, so on." Gaiko said, "But lets get back to business. Alicia has gathered an information that bandits plan to attack this village in one weeks time-"
"Sorry to interrupt you, Gaiko-sama, but actually in two days time." Naruto declared.
"What?" Gaiko shouted. "But Alicia said after one week!"
"Yes, that was before she got discovered. The man behind it all, Orochimaru, changed the plans. I think he didn't want any reinforcements to arrive so he decided to do his plans faster." Wahoki said.
Gaiko started to walk around the room, deep in thoughts "Troubling news. Troubling new indeed." He then stopped and looked at the group with defeated eyes "Please. Please help us! We don't have anymore time to send for reinforcements. Please help us protect the peace of this village!"
A silence came over the room and Gaiko became more and more depressed.
"We will." Naruto declared "We will protect the peace of this village." his team and Wahoki looked at him wide eyed. It was Orochimaru AND 30 or so ninjas. They could take care of simple ninjas, but not Orochimaru. And knowing that man, he will have some tricky thing in his mind. "Tomorrow by noon I will get more information on attack and Orochimaru's plans. We will act according on them."
Seeing how determined Naruto was, Sasuke smirked. "Well, I will explore the village surroundings to determine if we can strengthen defenses."
"Boys..." Sakura sighed "I will then warn the villagers and think of some kind of shelter to shield villagers from battle. With your permission of course Gaiko-sama."
Kakashi sighed "Well actually it was my decision, but seeing how determined my team is, I'll agree as well. Protecting innocent people is ninja's duty after all. I'll think of something useful to do."
Gaiko didn't know what to say. "I... Thank you! Thank you so much! I will never forget it. Oh, there's another thing I forgot to mention."
"What is it?" Kakashi asked.
"Alicia said that some bandits talked about some kind of secret weapon Orochimaru is going to use. Not sure what that meant."
"Thanks for mentioning it." Kakashi said. "We shall take our leave then. You know, prepare for tomorrow."
"Of course. Tomorrow I will help Sakura-san to warn the people."
They left the building and went back to inn in silence, until Wahoki couldn't take it anymore.
"Sorry, Kakashi-san, but that wasn't my mission." he said with guilt in his eyes "It's too dangerous so I'm not helping."
Kakashi nodded understanding him "What about the base?"
"Just... forget it. I will leave tomorrow."
"No." Naruto said.
"What?"
"You will no leave, because we will complete your mission. Tomorrow." Naruto looked at Wahoki "I will get needed information tomorrow by noon and tomorrow night we will infiltrate the base. Believe me, the information is very vital if we want to succeed at getting documents or journals."
"But-"
"Just believe in him. It will be easier than arguing." Sasuke said.
After some thinking, Wahoki replied "Very well. I will stay here for one more day to complete our original mission. But I'm not staying here for this village's protection." And he walked off.
"What's wrong with him?" Sakura asked.
"I don't know, but it's indeed is not his business. Maybe he just wants to get back home without witnessing bloodshed. I'm not sure we made the right decision either." Kakashi said.
"It is the right decision. If we would leave them, all of them would die. All innocent children, women and men slaughtered like some pigs, tortured or even turned into slaves. No. If we leave them, I could never forget it. If we leave them, I could never FORGIVE myself." Naruto said with determination and... sadness in his eyes. Why's there always sadness in his eyes, Kakashi wondered.
"I'm kind of in the same thoughts." Sasuke said as he looked into the sky, stared at the stars "I don't want to see another family, or village, or.. clan slaughtered. No... I don't want to know that I could have helped them, but instead run. I never could forgive myself."
And so they walked in silence for some minutes until they finally reached the inn.
"Maybe we could ask for reinforcement?" Kakashi suggested.
Sakura shook her head. "No. There's no point: it will take about a day to message arrive to the village and Hokage processing the information. Another couple of days to arrange team and send them here. Though we can send a message and inform Hokage-sama about the situation."
"Yeah. So, what do we do now?" Naruto asked.
Kakashi sighed.
"We wait."
END!
I really hope you liked the chapter and the mission. Tried to make something original.
IMPORTANT! I can't remember if I mentioned it before, but in my story Kumo didn't try to steal Hinata (Byakugan), which will leave a great impact on later chapters. I have another twist planned to explain why Neji has Fate complex and stick up in his ass.
Thanks for reading! And if you wonder what Alicia's bow looks like, visit my profile and find the link in my profile info. Shouldn't be hard to find.
'Till the next time then.