So…we'll admit it, we are LAZY people. Very lazy. SINFULLY LAZY. And we are REALLY bad at setting up get together dates. Anywho, muchas gracias to Malix 2, snobunniex3, Rena, Ratt1993, Cathy, and a super special awesome thanks to Marjolein222 for her monster review of the past four chapters or so. And so, with sixteen thousand hits at the moment, we present to you- chapter fifteen baby! WHOOT!
The mission wasn't supposed to last any longer than four days. Two days to get to the land of earth, two days to get back. If they were lucky enough, they wouldn't have to worry about breaking any treaties and just skirt around the Earth border. There was no need to alert the Tsuchikage or Iwagakure of their plans. That would only cause for much more political problems and delays than needed. It didn't help that it would involve admitting the top-secret information that the Kazekage was nearly dead, and much more importantly, while Konoha and Iwa had reasonably cooled relationships with each other, there were multiple old wounds between Suna and Iwa.
The genin of Konoha were rather thankful that the location of Saunter grass was much farther north. It almost made the two day trip worthwhile just to get out of the dry heat.
They headed out almost immediately with Kankuro, Ryoga, Miyaki, and Keitaro. It quickly became clear the relationship Kankuro held with his genin. While he was much more warmer than Sakura-sensei, he watched over them with an iron fist.
Miyaki was quite perky amongst her male peers. She enjoyed grossing them out several times be recounting several possible ways of dying in horrific and violent ways. With new victims, she quickly made it her goal to make all the Konoha genin look sick at least once. She also had a very annoying verbal tic that quickly got on Haruna and Sarunte's nerves, and even Nara after a while.
Ryoga on the other hand, had all the morbidness of Miyaki, without the happiness. He would constantly shudder at random moments, as if he had just forseen another possibility at doom.
Keitaro however, was much like his sensei. Confident and tough, he seemed to have a smile hidden in anything he said.
And so, Nara and company quickly became acquainted with Kankuro's genin team.
Haruna stared in curiosity at Kankuro. He had a large scroll tied to his back. She looked around at the Suna ninjas. What possible types of jutsus did they specialize in? She knew that puppetry and wind release were there most famous signature jutsus (not to mention the most closely guarded), but it was clear that none of the genin employed such uses. What in the world did the one with brown hair- Keitaro- did with those odd metal clasps on his arms? Miyaki and Ryoga had nothing to them to give away what their fighting style might be.
None of them seemed to be muscularly built, and Miyaki practically resembled a rag doll. Ryoga seemed to be the thinnest out of all of them while Keitaro was the largest, but not by much. Even with these slight differences, it most likely meant that Keitaro would be the 'brawn' of any situation. Miyaki…there was something odd about her, her arms seemed to blow in the wind as if they weren't really attached to her. Haruna would have suspected she was paralyzed or cripple if it wasn't for the fact she could clearly use them whenever they stopped moving. There was also the fact she was blind. Darkly, she wondered if in reality she was hiding some kekkai genkai. There were stories of people who used to steal the byakugan from Hyuuga clan members and cover those eyes in order to preserve its power and to not draw attention to it. Haruna brushed the idea off though, Suna was their allies. No way they would go stealing kekkai genkai.
It bothered Haruna, not knowing what they were- what they could do. All her life she knew what her opponent would dish out. The last time this had happened was with Nara, but that had been three on one. If they ever had to fight against these genin, how in the world could she subdue Miyaki? With the headband blocking her eyes, her Zajigan was pretty darn useless against her.
Of course, if they ever did have to go three on three, it would be fairly easy to try and fight with one of the two boys and leave Miyaki to Sarunte or Nara.
Another thought occurred to Haruna. Were they analyzing her just as she was analyzing them? Were they gazing at her from the corner of their eyes, as they were with her other two teammates, trying to figure out what they did and their weaknesses? Did they recognize her heritage as a Cataki clan member, and recognize that she carried the Zajigan? Did they recognize Naras heritage, even from the hood and concealing clothing? Were they aware of the Uchiha and their fire abilities? They had been fools to reveal their last names. Fools!
Stop being so paranoid. Breathe. They were her allies for kami's sake! They weren't going to betray them when their Kazekage was on the line! In fact- Haruna Nara and Sarunte were much more likely to betray them!
"Something wrong Haruna?" Nara asked, snapping Haruna out of her mental prattling.
"I'm fine Nara."
"OooOOooh." Miyaki cooed. "Les YAY." She squealed, not explaining what she meant by that, and no one even bothered to ask. Well, Sarunte asked, but it wasn't like he received an answer.
Nara mentally groaned. This was becoming mentally exhausting. Practically everyone she was travelling with at the moment had given her a reason to knock some sense into them. Sarunte kept spouting off random questions and being his hyper self, Miyaki kept giggling about some secret or another, or pausing to tell them about how awesome it would be if they got attacked by mutated scorpions whose poison caused them to go mad and try to eat each other, Ryoga kept looking around nervously, causing Nara to be painfully paranoid, and Keitaro just kept rolling his eyes as if he were above it all. Now Haruna was staring at the ground idly to the point Nara was almost surprised she could see where she was going, and even worse, she was pretty sure Kankuro-sensei had tuned them out a very long time ago, as evidenced by the fact she couldn't seem to get his attention.
Give her Itachi any day. At least, that, she knew how to handle. She could handle hiding and running away. Dealing with people…just wasn't her forte.
She was right about Kankuro, he had long ago mastered the art of selective hearing. It was better if he tuned them out anyway. Kankuro hated kids. He hated anyone who hadn't turned fifteen really. Of course, he did love his students, but that didn't mean he couldn't be pissed off by their incessant whimpering. More importantly, he had informed them day one that he despised little kids and anyone who acted like a brat. So it wasn't like he tried to hide it or anything. For the most part, his team had turned out pretty good too.
Keitaro had learned to embrace his clan heritage fully and now was the tank of the group. He had also gotten much better about grudge holding, although he still had a bit of a hit list. Ryoga learned to keep his crippling pessimism outside of battle, and to not let it physically affect him. He also had proven to be quite the quickster with his expert chakra control. Then there was Miyaki.
Miyaki.
Oi.
Ve.
She had been the least changed during their time together. She knew how to fight, and she did it well. However, while this was her advantage in battle, it also was her disadvantage socially. Miyaki was not a native to Sunagakure. She had been adopted at age eight, as a refugee from the last remains of the Sound village. She had proven she was a loyal little buggerhead time and time again, and more importantly, with the Sound Village defunct and completely extinct, it wasn't like Miyaki had a village to betray Sunagakure to. Perhaps the real issue had been she had been one of the few surviving members of Otogakure, and more importantly, the only one who wasn't crippled to the point of uselessness. There were other members of the Sound village who had taken up residence in Sunagakure after they had eliminated the last village four years or so ago (After Orochimaru had been gotten rid of, the sound village was ruled by a series of increasingly insane and inhuman ninjas, all trying to do the same thing, only phrasing it differently), but the majority of them could barely walk. Miyaki was blind due to the experiments, and luckily for her, that had been the worst of it. In fact, it had proven to be an advantage.
Yep. His team was a real winner. The pessimist, the grudge holder, and the psychopath. Awesome.
Sakura's team seemed slightly better off, but not by much. He knew enough from his sister to know that the Uchihas were just one paranoia shit storm waiting to happen. The Cataki looked way too young and frail to be a ninja, most likely promoted due to some kekkai genkai, the Uchiha reminded him a bit of a certain blond haired Konoha ninja, while the last one in the hood seemed to be more aloof. Kankuro had almost thought she had been male until he had heard her talk. Not nearly enough testosterone to make her sound male. She also seemed to be the most experienced of the three, although that was a gut reaction alone.
The first day came and went. Kankuro was only slightly less harsh than Sakura. But only slightly. However, it was justifiable, it was his brother that was dying after all.
"Alright, we'll rest here for the night jaan." Kankuro said finally as he saw that most of the genin looked like they were going to collapse. Kankuro didn't feel tired at all, but that was just the adrenaline talking. He needed sleep just like they did, he just sometimes forgot that.
The genin were more than happy to comply with the orders. Sarunte collapsed on the ground and promptly started to snore lightly. Nara followed suit, albeit much more gracefully. Keitaro Ryoga and Haruna soon fell asleep as well, with Miyaki being the last to finally fall asleep. Kankuro groaned for a moment, draping the area with chakra strings to warn him of intruders and positioning himself in a place perfect to attack and defend, even if they came across a siege from all sides and with one last lingering thought on his brother, he finally silenced his mind and slept.
xXx
"Sweet DAMN. I know HIM. Tha's them…Thadd'll be the Kazekages brother or something."
"Nuh-uhhhhhhhhh. The Kazekages brother is the one with the fan."
"Thad'll be his sister dibshit."
"Oi, mongrels, who cares? The point is, they're crossin' wind territory. Sides, you guys ain't looking at the big picture."
"Whaddya mean Soko?"
"Look at the genin."
"Merph. Whaddabout em Soko?"
"Stop calling me that damn it! My name is not Soko! It's Akano. Akano! How do you get those two mixed up?"
"Sorry…Soko…"
"Jackass. As I was SAYING, look at the genin."
"Holy frogheads! Hyuuga!"
"Yes. And an Uchiha, a Cataki, and see that girl with the pigtails? I'm pretty sure she was one of the Sound refugees."
"Hot damn, we could get some major yen for her!"
"Nyuh, look at that guy, the one with the metal armsss. Ain't that a trait of those cotton candy people things?"
"Cotton candy? That's what you call it?!?!"
"Yep."
"Look, forget it. Whatever they are, whatever they aren't, Sunagakure and Konohagakure will be paying major moola to get them back, unless they want all their clan secrets to be the talk of the black market."
"Brilliant Soko!"
"Yes brilliant indeed Soko!"
"You guys are lucky you're useful you know that right?"
xXx
A couple of hours later, the cobbled together team of genin and one jonin woke up oddly well rested for only three hours worth of sleep or so. Some soldier pills later had them up and ready to go.
"Kankuro-sensei are you sure no one if following us? Cause I'm pretty sure those branches were much leafier yesterday." Ryoga said cautiously.
Kankuro sighed. He wanted to say "No, now stop being a moron." But he couldn't. They were being followed after all. Normally he would have called them out and have a nice curb stomp battle. But that wasn't important. They needed that Saunter grass. Worse came to worst, the genin would have to return to Suna on their own while Kankuro enjoyed a blood bath. Get the Saunter grass first, kick lousy second rate ninja ass second.
"Ryoga, shut up before I castrate you." Kankuro muttered irritably. Much too harsh of words to use on him, but it got Ryoga to shut up for the rest of the morning. Unfortunately, Sarunte did not seemed to be intimidated with such threats. In fact, threatening him caused him to talk more as he questioned how would one follow out such methods, wanting to know the in depth procedure.
He would be one hell of an interrogator when he got older. Missing nins all over would spill immediately just to get the baka to stop talking.
It wasn't long until they had reached the border of the Land of the Earth. Kankuro craned his head to Nara. "Nara."
Nara looked up. "Yes?"
"Sakura told me all about what you could do. I need constant surveillance alright?"
"Got it."
A couple of hand signs later, and the Byakugan was activated.
"If anyone comes near us, let me know, but for the most part, we just want to get in and out, nothing messy. Got that juveniles? No brawls jaan." Kankuro said firmly.
His genin nodded reluctantly. Keitaro and Miyaki had been hoping for some epic battle of sorts. Of course, that was only because they hadn't actually been in a battle yet. Softies.
Kankuro took out a crumpled piece of paper. "THIS, is the fricking weed we're looking for."
The Saunter grass seemed to be a dark green reed with odd tufts of dark purple fuzzies on top.
"Hey, can we take some for a souvenir?" Sarunte asked cheerfully.
Kankuro looked at Sarunte, resisting the urge to actually gutting this kid. "This is a mission guano boy. A mission. You want to ask a stupid question like that again?"
"Yeah. See, I have this friend named Gyaro Mitsu, he's kinda a perv, but he's also is really good wit' plants and since it's an antidote an' all, I thought it'd be good to have some back home you know?"
Kankuro gave Sarunte a deranged look. "Wonderful. I'm outsmarted by a brat genin with a big mouth. Wonderful. If you don't mind, I'm going to go see if the rest of the world is still sane. Freaking wonderful jaan."
"Uhm, Kankuro-sensei?" Nara asked hesitantly "Uhm, there are some ninja heading this way."
"Three of em?"
"Yup."
"Yeah, they've been following us since mid day yesterday. Pay no attention to them unless they actually attack us jaan. Our first job is to get the weed."
Ryoga paled. "Wait. Wait. Wait. WHAT. WHAT. We're being followed? We're going to die aren't we? They must want to kill us so we don't cure the Kazekage oh no oh no oh no I can't handle torture I'd cry! Nonononononononoooooo, not good not good NOTGOOD!" He started to hyperventilate.
Kankuro slapped his hand to his forehead and eyed Nara with loathing. "Next time, just tell me in private."
"Sorry." Nara said rubbing her head.
Kankuro takes a deep breath. "Alright maggots, it should be by a pond. Nara jaan, if you would be so kind?"
Nara nodded. She began to scour the surrounding lands. After a couple of minutes, she smiled in triumph. "Found it. Twenty meters north from here. Loaded with Saunter grass."
Everyone grinned relieved, and Kankuro smirked in triumph. "Alright, here is the deal; we get the Saunter grass first and foremost jaan. Then we head back home. If the ninjas attack, I will fight them. You six, will try and make it back to Sunagakure at all costs. If I somehow suffer a lapse of stupidity and fail miserably jaan, I want my team to be the one to stay behind and hold them off. I don't want to strain Konoha relationships by killing off their genin."
Ryoga bit his lip but nodded, while Miyaki and Keitaro were all too happy to agree.
"But I wanna fiiight." Sarunte whined.
"Cool it Uchiha," Kankuro said irritably, "the day three nobodies make it past me, will be a very dark day indeed, and it ain't gonna be today."
"Uhm, they are getting closer" Nara said lightly.
"We should get the Saunter grass now." Haruna said worriedly.
Kankuro nodded. "Let's go."
It was incredibly difficult to make it to the pond, to try and make it seem leisurely yet hurry at the same time. Ryoga had shown that despite his worries, he had learned to not show it. You would have never known he was having a mental breakdown just by looking at him.
They reached the pond. It was rather murky. Nara could see no Iwa ninjas, which Kankuro wasn't too surprised about. You didn't really hit anything valuable or even civilization unless you travelled a bit farther. He wouldn't be too surprised if they had sensed their chakra and were currently tracking them down, but hopefully if Iwa ninjas did show up, they would be far away by that point. Hell, they could even use the three stalker ninjas as an excuse as to why they were in Land of the Earth borders.
Sarunte happily started grabbing the grass and stuffing it into his pack, and Kankuro instructed all of them to take at least a little bit, so that they didn't have to worry if one of them lost the grass.
"Nara, where are exactly are the ninjas jaan?" Kankuro asked. He knew they were close, but he preferred a specific distance.
"Not too far. If we turned around and walked for a couple of meters we would be right in front of them. They can see us clearly from where they are." Nara said quietly. "More importantly, they currently have us surrounded."
"Damn." Kankuro said, along with some more colorful curses. He wasn't much of a strategizer that was Temari's niche. He would rather just fight one against one and a puppet. Of course, he hadn't become a jonin for nothing. He was brilliant enough to formulate a strategy.
"Alright, we'll head out, just as normal. I want to get as far as possible until they attack. Give no indication of knowing they are there. Got that jaan?"
There were slight noddings, and reluctantly, they turned south.
They took maybe as many as five steps.
When suddenly the entire air was filled with smoke.
Kunai came flying and within seconds Kankuro summoned Salamander to create a shield.
The fog started to clear and the three ninjas made their appearance.
There was a male and a female, each with dark blue hair and oriental skin. They featured headbands with crossed out arrows- missing nin from Takigakure, or the Village Hidden in a Waterfall. They each had a gigantic flask of some unknown material on their backs. The other was a male with dark skin and red hair. On his neck rested a crossed out symbol of Kumogakure, or the Village Hidden in the Clouds.
"Surrender now or prepare to die losers!" The female cackled.
"God DAMN you guys are stupid, we've been following you for a day now!" Said the blue haired male.
"Shutit mongrels." The Kumogakure missing nin snarled.
The two missing nin with the blue hair started to make hand symbols. "Dragon torpedo jutsu! Water Style!" They cried in unison. From the flasks, water came out, and took the form of dual dragons, which attacked Kankuro.
They sliced through Kankuro quite easily. Kankuro collapsed.
"KANKURO-SENSEI!" Haruna shrieked in horror, along with Ryoga.
"Too freaking easy" The female said cheerfully. "What are they making the jonin of these days?"
"We need to get going now!" Sarunte hollered.
Miyaki nodded. "Let's go." She said as she made it evident she planned to head to Suna with the rest of them.
"You guys need to stay here!!" Haruna cried out.
Miyaki smirked. "Not quite"
The two ninjas with the blue hair proceeded to repeat the jutsu, this time aiming at Ryoga.
However, in mid air the dragons halted and collapsed.
"Nao! Tanuko! What gives?" The male not controlling the water dragons cried out.
"I would like to introduce you to my old friend." Came a voice from behind, revealing a very condescending Kankuro. "Crow."
The Kankuro from the ground bounded up, revealing an odd humanlike hooded puppet.
"Now, you brats. Leave. I'll take care of these bakas."
Not taking any more chances, the six genin took off.
Kankuro proceeded to summon his four other puppets. "You bastards caught me on a REALLY bad day."
To Be Continued