Author's Notes: I should have put this in the first chapter, but I forgot to and too lazy to change it =P. This story is set during the end of the three years Naruto was gone during his training trip with Jiraya.
First off, I'd like to thank anyone who reviews my story, and criticism is appreciated and welcome. Even flames! They keep me warm at night. I'll try to remember to thank every person who reviews my fic, I love reading them.
SasoLOVE111 – Thank you for your kind words and being my first review! You are awesome.
(*) When you see one of these, it'll be something I'll explain in greater detail at the end of the chapter.
As a final note, I want to mention I love the Shushin jutsu. Which if I'm not mistaken, is the technique that teleports one leaving a leaf and smoke behind. If I use it too much, throw things at me. I've been known to over abuse things. *looks at pet rock shaking in the corner*
Pet Rock: ". . ."
Yeah, it knows.
I yawned as I waited outside the Hokage's office. That's the nice thing about having a mask over your mouth, no need to cover it with your hand. I had a hard time sleeping last night, for some reason I can't comprehend, I couldn't get that pink-haired kunoichi out of my mind. Or why she was so sad.
My imagination stirred up plenty of reasons, of course.
Maybe she had some life threating disease she had just found out about? Or perhaps it was as simple as breaking up with her boyfriend. She might even be one of those ghosts you hear about in urban legends that lure men to secluded spots, then drag their souls to hell!
Either way it had to of been bad.
My thoughts were cut short as I noticed the Hokage's door open. A rather young – and beautiful – woman stepped out. She had black hair and eyes, I recognized her as the Hokage's assistant. Shizune, I think her name is.
"The Hokage will see you now." She said to me, her voice reflecting her polite nature.
I thanked her and walked by, entering the slightly darkened office. It was still early in the morning and the sun had yet to light it up.
"Saitou, come over here." I heard the Gondaime order. She had a neutral look on her face, I didn't know if that was a good thing or bad.
The Raikage had two faces, neutral-angry and I'm-going-to-rip-you-a-new-one. So I wasn't quite sure what to make of her.
I walked up to her desk and gave her a bow in respect.
She smiled and nodded. "I have good news, the jonin council has agreed to allow you citizenship, the village elders too have agreed."
I could barely contain my joy, as I felt my mouth involuntarily grow into a grin. All my worry had been for naught the few days before.
"But," she continued; that wiped the look off my face. "I have still yet to agree to it."
I quickly shut my mouth before I could put my foot into it, I had to compose a rational and respectful response to that. "Why is that Hokage-sama? Is there. . . something wrong with your assessment of me?" I hoped that sounded good.
The Hokage shook her head, which relieved me somewhat. "Not exactly, I just have a question about your background." She started, then grabbed the manila folder in front of her. "Are you the one Kumo refers to as the 'Dragon Shinobi'?"
Crap. I should of known my face was in the bingo book. I was wanted from Kirigakure to Iwagakure now. It had completely skipped my mind when I was choosing what village to defect to. As soon as I had left the village my status as a missing-nin would of been updated in the bingo book.
I stared at the Gondaime my breath caught in my throat. Was she planning on collecting on the bounty on my head?
She watched me intensely, awaiting my response. I could see she was getting impatient.
I sighed and nodded, "yes Hokage-sama, that's me." I closed my eyes, awaiting her response. I didn't see it being a good one.
"I see, well then I'm glad that's cleared up. You look a lot younger in this picture." She paused, "I'm also not turning your head in for the bounty if that's what's got you so worried."
I opened my eyes and let out a breath I hadn't realized I'd been holding.
She seemed amused by my reaction and continued. "The reason I wanted to know, was so that I'd be sure I was accepting a powerful ninja into Konoha."
I felt my face warm up, much to my chagrin. I was proud of my moniker, that's true; but having people compliment me on it was still embarrassing.
"Welcome." She simply said as she held out a Leaf forehead protector. Seeing the etched leaf symbol on the gleaming metal gave me a sense that I was finally going to get to start over.
Before I had time to gush or thank the Hokage again, I heard a light knock on the door.
"Enter." The Gondaime responded.
I turned my head, expecting to see a new face. Instead I was surprised to see the beautiful angel that had taken over my thoughts the night before. My mouth fell slightly agape as she neared me. She was even more amazing up close.
"Tsunade-sensei, you called for me?" the angel asked, her voice enough to make me shudder. Why did this woman have this effect on me?
"I did, I have a B-Rank mission for you Sakura. Do you think you can handle it?"
Sakura. That was her name; it fit her.
". . . no, Tsunade-sama. I can handle it." Sakura replied, her voice seemed rigid but confident.
Tsunade nodded and reached over for a scroll handing it to Sakura.
She broke the seal on the scroll and began to read it, her mouth moving silently as she examined it. I couldn't help but watch her, trying not to get caught staring.
"Saitou," the Hokage started, making my attention snap to her. "I want you to accompany Sakura on her mission. Is there a problem with that?"
And there went my heart.
"N-no, not at all Hokage-sama." I mentally cursed at my stutter. I hoped Sakura wouldn't think anything weird about it.
The corner of her mouth twitched up, but quickly set back into a neutral look.
"Good, Sakura this is Saitou Kiryu. He's a new Jonin whom defected from Kumogakure. He'll be accompanying you on this mission. I hope you're alright with that."
Sakura looked at me, her eyes seeming to examine me for a short moment before looking back towards the Hokage. It put me off slightly, was she just sizing me up? It almost looked like she was comparing me to someone for a moment too.
"No, sensei." Her voice was still neutral, it disappointed me for some reason. "But Sensei, is there not going to be a third member?" she continued.
Tsunade shook her head, "Not this time I'm afraid. Most of our ninja are out on missions, we're still too low on manpower since the Oto/Suna invasion. It pains me to send you out like this, but I'm sure you can handle it." Then, she smirked and leaned back in her chair. "After all, you are my 's nothing you can't handle."
That seemed to really cheer her up, as she smiled at the Gondaime and bowed. "Thank you for saying that, Sensei."
She turned towards me, her gloved hand outstretched and holding the scroll. "Here, I already memorized it. I'll meet you at the northern gates at eight AM. Is that okay?"
She spoke to me! Dammit Kiryu, get a grip! I was no better than a swooning teenager at the moment. I was eighteen for goodness sake. I just nodded, not being able to find my vocal cords.
She gave me a half-smile and excused herself, leaving the room.
A half-smile looked much better on her than her normal frown. I'd have to see if I could get her to do that more often.
"Kiryu-san, this is for you." I heard Shizune say, making me snap back to earth. I looked towards her, where she held a dark green vest in her arms.
"Is this your village's Jonin vest?" I asked as I took it.
"Yes, our Chunin's wear a vest similar to that one, but it's lighter in color."
I considered putting it on, but I didn't even wear Kumo's vest. I do have to admit though, Konoha had better fashion taste. I preferred my red ninja attire and black armor.(*)
The Gondaime cleared her throat with a small cough, gaining my attention. "Feel free to explore the town as you'd like, you're no longer restricted to the areas you were before. Furthermore, feel free to use the temporary apartment until you get your own place."
"Thank you Hokage-sama. . . also, when will I get my gear back?"
"I was getting to that, so impatient." She sighed, smiling as she saw my panicked look. I was so used to the Raikage's freak outs, it would take some time for my heart to get used to a sarcastic Kage.
With a snap of her fingers, a lone ANBU materialized from the floor, already in a kneeling position with my katana held is his hand. How dare he touch my sword!
The ANBU stood after a small nod from Tsunade and walked over to me with my baby outstretched. I hastily – politely, took it from him and put it back to it's rightful position on my back. He also handed over my kunai holster and shuriken pouch. I already didn't like this guy for how he manhandled Izayoi: my katana. So I counted my projectiles to make sure they were all there.
If I could see the ANBU's eyes, he was most likely rolling them at the moment.
The next morning I had woken up too early, anticipation for the upcoming mission gripping me tight. After I had gotten home, I started to read the mission scroll, wondering if the missions Konoha went on were much different from our own. B-rank missions were always somewhat bland to me. Either they were low priority assassination targets, easy espionage assignments or clearing out a camp of bandits that had grown way too big for a C-rank. It wasn't until A-rank that I really enjoyed myself.
But this mission seemed to hold some real promise for an entertaining fight. A small village about three days from Konoha (walking distance, for a ninja it wouldn't take more than a day) was begging for assistance, they claimed to be getting constantly raided by – and I quote – "large demonic spiders that are being led by a solitary ninja from an unknown village".
They had me at demonic.
Once, I had encountered one of Sunagakure's legendary and mythical sand worms that were said to range from the size of a man to a large tower. I had been fleeing from Suna-nin's who caught me in the middle of an assassination mission of a merchant who swindled money from Kumo for Suna in a bad ore trade. The act alone had the Raikage shouting for war, but the village council had gotten him to calm down enough to settle for the merchant's head.
I had killed the merchant, but I hadn't counted on him having a Jonin three man entourage. After throwing a kunai with deadly efficiency into his neck from my spider hole hidden in the sand, I quickly fled not wanting to deal with three ninja who were higher rank than myself.
As I tried to lose my pursuers – not an easy task in the desert – with smoke and flash bombs, I felt a sudden earthquake that knocked all of us to the ground. Out from the ground, a gigantic monolith of yellow flesh appeared screaming a sharp wail. It cast a foreboding shadow over us as acidic saliva dripped and flew from it's gaping maw lined with razor-sharp teeth. I had to stop myself from yelling in pure surprise and horror, I had never seen such a thing. I was frozen in fear.
But, I felt an even bigger surge of adrenaline than I received from running from my would-be-captors. I couldn't tell at the time it was from fear or excitement.
The Jonin had all but forgotten about me and fled screaming, but not before the worm scrunched for a moment then propelled its massive frame forward and caught the lagging ninja in its mouth. I never even heard a scream from the unfortunate snack. I didn't give the worm a chance to notice me as I quickly turned tail and ran like hell. I never looked back until it's frightful scream faded into a bad memory.
Ever since then, I've had a fascination with monsters and trying to slay them. These spiders might just fall into that category. With any luck, they might even be twenty feet tall!
. . . or maybe ten feet tall. Twenty might be too big to start with. . .
Before I had any more time to reminisce about the past, I heard footfall from the south and looked up to see Sakura running towards the gate. I glanced at the nearby clock in the guard shack and saw it read eight-oh-five. As she neared, I pushed myself off the gate I was leaning on and waved.
She stopped, her breath barely labored as she bowed to me, "Sorry for making you wait."
I shook my head smiling under my mask. "That's alright Sakura-san, you didn't need to hurry. I'm no stickler on promptness. Are you ready to set out?" I asked, pointing with my thumb towards the gate. At least I finally got over my awkwardness talking to the pretty kunoichi.
She smiled at me and nodded. "Mhm, I'm ready, were you able to read the scroll last night?" She asked, walking next to me.
I nodded in response and started walking. "Demonic spiders, sounds like fun to me. I take it you're coming to treat me if I get poisoned? I doubt any villagers would still be alive from the venom now." I asked, tilting my head her way.
"Eh?!" she gasped, her eyes wide, "how did you know I was a medic?"
Oops, she never did tell me that did she? Must think I'm a stalker or something. . . I thought, chuckling. "Well, yesterday you called the Hokage sensei, meaning she would be your teacher. Further, Tsunade-sama is regarded as a genius, if not the head, of medical jutsu. So I simply connected the ends." I replied, as we walked under the looming wooden gates.
She laughed and looked forward again. "That makes sense, for a split second I thought you might have been stalking me or something."
I rubbed the back of my head as I laughed nervously, how did I know? But, at least I made her laugh.
The way we planned it, is to take the trip in two days. Deciding it was for the best as we didn't want to run all out and be exhausted when we arrived. The night before was rather . . . awkward. I tried to get to know her a little better, but for some reason she seemed tight lipped about her past. I suppose that's why she always seems so down. Something must be bothering her that ran deep. I decided it wouldn't do to pry, even though my curiosity is an angry little devil.
That next morning, it didn't take us long to get to the village. Before we had gotten within a mile of the town, we circled around to the east, to have the sun to our backs. If the town was occupied with hostiles, it would do us well to have any advantage we could. But something bothered me, as we made our eastern approach, I could smell the town before I saw it. The odor hit Sakura too, making her visibly cringe and gasp.
It was putrid flesh, a smell I'd rather not be acquainted with, but I am.
With a glance and a nod, we both agreed that the village was more than likely wiped out and that we should treat any further investigations as though we were in enemy territory. Once we were within a comfortable distance from the village, we dropped from the tree we landed on and crouched low behind a bush.
From my initial observation, I could see the village looked as bad as it smelled. The mass jumble of wooden huts were quiet and eerily empty. The early morning rays of sunlight shone through the town, illuminating the macabre sights of bodies strewn about. Dried blood lay splattered in a violent, artistic way, over buildings and foliage alike. The bodies of the dead villagers were horribly mangled and torn, their faces still etched in the horror of their deaths. Even from a good hundred feet, I could see it.
Looking over, I saw Sakura look pale – maybe even green. I suppose even being a medical ninja didn't prepare her to see things like this. Then again, this wasn't exactly something normal. The scary part of this to me, was that it didn't phase me. Maybe I should see a psychiatrist. . .
"Saitou-san. . . what should we do?" Sakura asked me, her head slightly turned towards me, but her eyes were still glued to the village.
I wondered what the middle of the village looked like, if this was just the outskirts.
"We have to see if anyone is still alive. If not, we can decide then whether or not to proceed. We were hired to protect the village, but it would be pointless if everyone's dead," I started, looking her way, "But. . . having said that, I wouldn't want to leave the monsters that did this alive. Who knows when they'll attack again." I was somewhat torn then, my ninja training told me that fighting whatever did this would be foolish if the clients were dead – we may not even get paid if that's the case – but, I knew it would be the right thing to do. Not only to help the spirits of these villagers gain peace, but to stop any further bloodshed.
She nodded in agreement, as she reached down to her worn kunai holster and pulled out a razor sharp kunai. Her face relayed to me she was ready for anything.
I couldn't help but wonder though, if we could stand a chance against man eating spiders?
I shook my head; That wasn't something a ninja of Kumo – Konoha – should think about.
"Alright Sakura-san, let's go in nice and quiet." I whispered, as we both used a quick shushin to teleport across the clearing in between the tree line and buildings.
Regaining my sight, I saw I had safely transported to my intended location. As did Sakura across the way. I scrunched my nose, and tried to imagine more pleasant aromas, as a source of the collective stench laid under me. I tried not to look, but couldn't suppress the urge.
It was even worse up close.
In addition to my earlier observations, I could see now the corpse resembled a female mummy. Her skin was extremely dull, almost a bleak grey color. She wore a commoner's yukata, she may have been a farmer at one time. I frowned, feeling horrible for this woman, as I saw her shriveled arms frozen in a defensive stance, trying to stop whatever killed her. Just under her neck and above her breasts, were four fist sized puncture marks that looked cylindrical and penetrated almost three inches into the woman. What even bit her had big, nasty, sharp-ass, teeth. If she was alive after getting stabbed, she would have been in excruciating pain as her blood was drained. Or I would assume that's what happened knowing that, for her corpse to be in the condition that it's in, she would of either had to been dead for years, or been drained.
Other corpses that were nearby looked the same, so I had to guess the spiders were using this village as a feeding spot of sorts. Or it could have been a random attack.
"Saitou-san, are you alright?"
I snapped my head up towards Sakura. I'd gotten lost in my thoughts. I just nodded in response and reached behind me to grasp Izayoi's handle. Using a hand sign, I pointed down what looked to be a main street of some sort laid between the buildings we were using as cover.
She nodded back and we both carefully creeped out from around our respectful corners.
The street was way worse than I had imagined it might be. My mind involuntarily played out re-enactments of what these villagers last moments must have been like. Men and women of all ages, even children, were massacred in their homes and businesses. Entryways into buildings had been collapsed in, being knocked in by the monstrous attackers. Many of the villagers hadn't been drained of their blood, rather they were cleaved in two or brutally ripped to shreds. I had to turn my gaze more than once, as I had been used to seeing dead and torn adults, but never kids. One, still held in his mother's headless corpse, had a visage of utter pain as his sternum had been ripped open; his entrails drying out in the sun.
I noticed Sakura stop finally, her eyes locked in horror. I knew what must be going through her head. Probably the same thing that was going through mine.
"What. . . what in Kami-sama's name happened here?" she muttered out, as I watched her iris's shrink in fear and disbelief.
I exhaled sharply through my nose as I turned towards her and fell into a relaxed position. "Kami left this place long ago. Now only demons tread this tainted earth."
She looked at me and just nodded in agreement, leaving her chin touching her chest.
"Sakura-san," I started, wondering if I should say what I was about to, "You can wait in the forest until I've done a sweep of the village. There's no need for you to subject yourself to this." At the end, I knew I said the right thing. This wasn't something anyone should see, let alone a beautiful, innocent, woman.
She shook her head a few times, before meeting my gaze. I was almost take aback by the heated gaze in her bright eyes. Whatever I said, or she thought, seemed to light a fire in her soul. It was beautiful to see, she looked intense when she steeled herself like that.
Gripping her kunai tighter, she marched up next to me, never taking her eyes off mine. "Never." She said, seeming to say it to herself more than me. "I won't ever abandon a teammate. No matter what the circumstances are!" She was almost yelling at the end, but something told me her angry outburst wasn't directed at me. Perhaps this was one of the many mysteries that lay hidden in her past.
I smiled at her, the best I could through my mask and nodded. "Good, I'm glad. Now let's keep going, if there are any survivors left they would of built some sort of defensive structure in the center of the village. Or that's what my gut says."
She nodded, not arguing with my logic and we set off again.
The village was larger than I had expected, not nearly the size of Konoha of course, but maybe one of it's districts. I had also noted the town had very little in the way of a layout. There was no distinction between residential and commercial districts, the streets certainly weren't mapped out as they warped and wound around buildings.
As we neared the general vicinity of the town center I noticed that the body count substantially dropped, but I had yet to see any sort of spider corpse. Before long, I stopped Sakura as I noticed a large complex to the northwest, complete with living, breathing guards. It looked like some type of miniature mansion, but not nearly as nice. If I had to guess, it was the magistrate's house.
"Sakura, look, I think we found our clients." I said, pointing in the direction of complex.
She narrowed her eyes and replied, "or our targets . . ."
"Maybe, let's try to approach them normally anyways, they don't seem like they want guard duty." I suggested. The two men standing at the main gate did seem rather unhappy at their current predicament.
"If you think that's wise, I'll go with it."
I nodded in response, "I'll go by myself, you watch from the shadows and back me up if need be. I'll signal you if it's clear."
"Got it."
With that, I jumped off the roof and began walking down the alley I landed in to the road that would put me in clear view of the guards. Making sure my leaf headband was visible, I walked around the corner, hands raised. It didn't take long for the guards to notice me and I saw them visibly pale and start to shake. Once I was within thirty feet of them, one of them shouted.
"I-Identify yourself-f!" he pointed his, rickety at best, spear at me; the tip visibly shaking from the man's nervousness. The other guard followed suite, pointing a spear in no better shape.
I stopped when he shouted and replied, "I am Saitou Kiryu of Konohagakure. I was given a mission to assist this village in fighting off the demonic spiders that are plaguing your town."
The guards clearly looked relived, almost elated as they raised their spears. "I don't believe it! For a while we thought no one would accept the mission!" One guard shouted back.
I took that as my cue to advance and walked closer to the men, "I have a partner as well, she's nearby." Before they could inquire, I raised my hand, and made a 'come-here' motion. Sakura emerged from the alley nearest to me, sheathing her kunai as she walked.
"The ninja from Konoha are here!" The guard yelled in joy, it seemed they'd been riding on our arrival to ensure their survival. Not that I can blame them, what they're up against, no civilian could fight.
Well, that's the end of chapter 2. Sorry for taking a while to update, I've been rather busy lately. If the chapter seems a bit short, it's cause this felt like a good spot to stop.
Then again, judging by my reviews, I've only got one person waiting. . . *HINT HINT* so I apolgize to only SasoLOVE111!
(*) The reason I didn't explain Saitou's outfit was because I felt it would take to long. But I'll do it here!
For quick reference, if any of you have ever played Tenchu Z, you can pretty much imagine the Armored outfit. Not exactly the same, but still.
For those who haven't, he's wearing a dark red yukata and hakama with a dark mesh shirt underneath. His outfit is tied tight around his waist, and at his knees down. The sleeves of the yukata are shoved into his metal gauntlets that cover his fists and up to his elbow. They're not full gauntlets, only covering the forearm.
He has something similar on his feet and shins, metal greaves that only cover the front. Underneath the metal covering his feet, he wears the shinobi sandals, but they're black and have no openings.
On his chest, he's wearing a metal chest plate, similar to what samurai wore. Around his neck he's wearing a black scarf that reaches down past his waist. He also has a face mask like Kakashi's.
I would like to state now that I am not trying to copy the copy-nin, I've always had that face mask on all the ninja's I've created even before Naruto came out.
There, now no one can call me out on it! HA!
Sorry if that was long winded, but it's a detailed outfit. *snaps fingers* That reminds me, he wears his katana, Izayoi, on his back. His kunai/shuriken pouch is on the normal spot(s).
One last fun fact before I shut up. My characters name, Saitou, isn't really spelled right. In translation, it would be Saitô. But I didn't know that when I started using this name for my OC's WAAAAY back when. So, I did what any other twelve year old boy would do, (I'm twenty one now) spell it like I heard it.
I refuse to change it, because I like the way I spelled it and cause having to open the special character menu every time is a pain in the ass.
Thanks for reading! Please review, criticism and even flames welcome!