Hi no Ishi, Scroll One: Kannabi
Full Summary: As Orochimaru and his allies threaten to topple Konoha, Haruno Sakura, Uchiha Sasuke, and Uzumaki Naruto are becoming the leaders of their generation. The question is, will they survive the Daiyonji Ninkai Taisen or end up like the previous Sannin – broken? AU diverging at the Chuunin Exams. FemNaru because I can. Team 7-centric.
Disclaimer: I own nothing.
A/N: Once again, I'm looking for a beta.
Glossary
Hi no Ishi - Will of Fire
Kannabi - Where the Gods Do Not Help
Daiyonji Ninkai Taisen – The Fourth Great Shinobi World War
Nami no Kuni – The Land of Waves
Nukenin – Lit. "Runaway Ninja." Translated as Missing-Nin.
Hi no Kuni – The Land of Fire
Hitai-ate – Forehead Protector
Sharingan no Kakashi – Sharingan Kakashi or Kakashi of the Sharingan.
Kopi Ninja no Kakashi – Kakashi the Copy Ninja
Suiton – Water Release
Makibishi – Caltrops
Chigirigakure – Hidden in the Bloody Mist
Oinin – Hunter Ninja
Those that break the rules are scum. But those that abandon their comrades are lower then scum. If I'm going to be called scum either way, I'd rather break the rules! And if that's not being a proper shinobi, I'll destroy that idea!
- Uchiha Obito
Chapter Four: Frontline
Sakura handed the wretched cat back to the Daimyo's wife, and smirked inwardly as the woman squeezed it so hard it almost choked. Just behind her, she could hear Naruto muttering, "Squeeze it harder, squeeze it harder…"
"No wonder it ran away," mumbled Sasuke. "I'd run away too, if I were him."
"Good job, Team 7," the Sandaime said as he picked up a scroll labeled 'D-Rank'. "For your next mission, you can choose between babysitting Homura-san's granddaughter, weeding the Kirisawa's potato patch…"
"I think they're ready for a C-Rank," Kakashi interrupted.
Sakura perked up at that. 'Finally!' she thought. 'Maybe now we can do something besides stupid chores!'
The Hokage raised a single eyebrow. "Are you sure?"
"Absolutely."
"Alright…I have one that might suit your team. It's protection detail for a bridge builder from Nami no Kuni. Oyone, send him in!"
A brown-haired kunoichi standing by the door opened it to reveal an old, gray-haired man holding a bottle of sake. He was obviously drunk. "Are they my protection? They don't look like much, especially the midget with the weird face," he declared.
Sakura could sense the irritated spike in Naruto's chakra and winced. Kakashi chuckled sheepishly and smiled at the man. "Don't worry. I assure you we're up to the task. Besides, I'm a jounin."
The old man grumbled before saying, "I'm Tazuna, the master bridge builder. I'm leaving in an hour at the east gate."
Kakashi nodded before turning to his students. "You heard him. Be at the east gate in an hour.
Naruto waited until Kakashi had disappeared in a puff of smoke and said dryly, "I'm now taking bets for how late Sensei will be."
Sakura snickered and Sasuke smirked. Tazuna just threw the three genin a confused glance as they walked out the door and towards their separate houses.
0o0o0o0o0o0
"Pay up," Naruto smirked, holding out her hand when Kakashi arrived at the gates half an hour late.
Sasuke scowled at her before surrendering his five hundred ryo. (1) Sakura did the same, an irritable twitch visible in her fingers.
Tazuna gave Kakashi a short glare before turning and walking out the gate.
0o0o0o0o0o0
It was sudden – the attack came out of seemingly nowhere. One second, Sakura was enjoying the sunshine and the next a bladed chain had been wrapped around Kakashi by two cloaked Kiri-nin. They tugged, and the chain literally shred Kakashi in half, ripping him to pieces. Sakura couldn't help but let out a shriek of surprise and horror.
The Kiri-nin then rushed towards her, and she quickly unsheathed her swords to execute a hasty block, stopping one of the shinobi's clawed gauntlets.
Before the other could come around and attack, Naruto came to Sakura's rescue by rushing up and slamming her leg into his gut, sending him flying. The remaining shinobi quickly detached the chain from his gauntlet before renewing his attack on Sakura. This time, Sasuke attempted to slash the Kiri-nin's neck from behind, but he managed to dodge. As he turned around to deal with Sasuke, Naruto knocked him out by pinching a single nerve on his neck.
Sakura looked down, ashamed. 'What…what the hell? Is that really all I can do? I've been training for this past month but I'm still so weak! Sasuke-kun and Naruto had to save me. God damn it!'
Sakura's fists clenched, her fingernails digging into the soft flesh of her palm, leaving bloody crescents there.
"Yo!"
Sakura whirled around, her green eyes wide with shock at the familiar voice. "Kakashi-sensei?" she asked, confused.
Naruto tapped her shoulder and wordlessly pointed to the splintered log where Kakashi's dead body should have been. 'Kawarimi,' Sakura realized.
"Good job, you guys," Kakashi congratulated. "Tazuna-san…"
"What is it?" the bridge builder demanded, sounding flustered.
"These two are low chuunin-level Kirigakure nukenin," observed Kakashi. "I could have killed them in an instant if I had wanted to, but there was something I needed to figure out first – who were those two after? Were they just attacking a random group of Konoha shinobi in hopes of getting some bounty money, or were they after you?"
"Hey, wait a second here!" Tazuna snapped.
"They went straight for you," Kakashi interrupted. "We weren't told there were shinobi after you. Our mission was to protect you from roving bands of gangs and thieves until you completed the bridge. If shinobi are after you, this should have been marked as B-Rank mission. I'm sure you had your reasons, but hiding details like that from shinobi is not generally a good idea. Either way, we are now operating outside the range of our duties."
"Sensei, I think we should continue," Sakura stated resolutely.
Kakashi turned back to his student, looking slightly shocked. "Sakura, if we continue this mission, we run the risk of fighting jounin-level shinobi. You guys could die if we continue," he explained.
"That's what you're for, Sensei," Naruto pointed out, her voice unusually soft. "You're a very good shinobi, and we're not helpless. I agree with Sakura."
"I say we continue as well," Sasuke commented. "The true strength of a shinobi comes out during life-and-death battle, anyways."
Kakashi sighed. "Tazuna-san, please tell us why there are shinobi after you. Depending on your answer we may continue; it is my duty as the team leader to decide whether or not this is worth the risk of getting my team killed," he said harshly.
Tazuna grimaced and answered, "You're right; this mission is most likely outside of what you are required to do. There's a dangerous man after my life."
"Who?" Kakashi demanded.
"You've probably heard of him before," Tazuna murmured. "His name is Gatou."
"Wait, Gatou from the Gatou Company? I've heard he's one of the world's wealthiest people…" Kakashi said, his face serious.
"Yes. Officially he's a legitimate businessman, running a wealthy corporation. But underneath the surface, he sells drugs and other illegal items on the black market, using thugs and nukenin to take over towns and small countries. He's not exactly a nice man.
"About a year ago, he set his eyes on Nami no Kuni. Using violence and money, he quickly gained a chokehold on my country's shipping industry, our lifeline. Gatou now has almost complete control over all of the money in Nami no Kuni. The only thing he has to fear is the bridge I'm building to Hi no Kuni, which will allow people to freely trade with the mainland."
"So, since you're building the bridge you're in the way," observed Sakura. "These shinobi must have been hired by Gatou then."
"But why didn't you just tell Konoha that shinobi were after you when you hired us?" asked Kakashi.
"While Nami no Kuni used to be very prosperous, everybody has lost a lot of money since Gatou took over. Even the Daimyo is poor. Me and my neighbors had to combine most of our money just to pay for a C-Rank. There's no way we would have been able to pay for a more expensive B-Rank mission. If you guys quit now, I'll definitely die, but…don't worry about it! My grandson will just cry for a few days and my daughter will live a bitter life hating all Konoha shinobi! But it's not your fault! Not at all!"
Kakashi sighed. "Well…I can't in good conscience leave a country in that sort of state. I guess we don't really have a choice but to continue."
Sakura's jaw dropped slightly. 'I never knew Kakashi would be such a sucker for sob stories,' she thought.
"Come on," said Tazuna. "I know a sailor who will be willing to take us to Nami no Kuni."
0o0o0o0o0o0
Kakashi clenched his jaw slightly as he watched the boat float away after it deposited the five of them on the bank of Nami no Kuni. 'If we get attacked again, it will be by jounin, not chuunin. Could this get any worse?' he wondered irritably.
Only a few minutes later, something rustled in the bushes. Kakashi's head whipped towards the sound, but Naruto, who was less careful with her shuriken, immediately threw one towards the sound.
"Oi, brat, don't go around throwing things at random! It's dangerous!" Tazuna shouted.
The four shinobi ignored him and walked towards the area where the rustling had come from. Kakashi pulled aside the bushes to reveal a white rabbit, frozen with fear. Naruto's shuriken was buried into a tree trunk just above the rabbit's head.
"Naruto!" Sakura snapped. "You've killed it!"
"Sakura, what color is the rabbit's coat?" Kakashi asked, taking advantage of the situation by giving his students a lesson.
"White, of course, but what -? Wait, that's a snow rabbit and it's spring, so that means it's been kept as a pet," said Sakura. Suddenly, understanding dawned on her. "…Or to be used for Kawarimi!"
"Everybody down!" Kakashi ordered as he dropped to the ground. Sakura and Naruto immediately followed his instructions while Sasuke dragged Tazuna down with him.
A millisecond later, a giant sword swung over the group in a fashion reminiscent of a Frisbee. It dug itself into a tree before a man jumped on top of it.
Spiky black hair? Check.
Striped pants? Check.
Bandages covering his neck and lower face? Check.
Oddly-pattered arm warmers? Check.
Momochi Zabuza. Shit.
"Guys, stay back," Kakashi instructed. "This guy's on a whole other level. Still, this might be a little difficult if I don't use this…"
With that, Kakashi lifted up his tilted hitai-ate to reveal his Sharingan. He felt the slight flicker of shock in Sasuke's normally calm chakra and the slight confusion and curiosity in Sakura's. Naruto's, on the other hand, didn't even twitch. Her signature remained the same as it always did; calm and cold as ice, but as fierce and sharp as fire. There was no surprise or uncertainty there. Filing away that little tidbit of information for later, Kakashi returned his full attention to the fight on his hands.
"Ah, what an honor, to finally meet the famed Sharingan no Kakashi…But I'm only here for the old man. D'ya think you could just make it easier on us all and hand him over?" the Kirigakure nukenin asked calmly.
"That's a stupid question," Kakashi retorted coolly. "You three, assume the Manji Formation. Don't interfere with this; you really could be killed."
His students quickly did as ordered and surrounded Tazuna on all sides, each in their own battle stance.
"When I was a member of Kirigakure's ANBU, we had a Bingo Book entry on you," Zabuza commented idly. "You had supposedly copied over a thousand techniques, earning you the name Kopi Ninja no Kakashi. Now, let's skip the rest of the pleasantries and get to the fighting, eh? I have an old man to kill."
With that, Zabuza yanked his sword out of the tree and leaped away, landing in the lake across from Kakashi, his team, and Tazuna. Underneath his mask, the silver-haired jounin grimaced. 'Zabuza is famous for his Suiton ninjutsu, and we're right by a lake…this isn't good.'
Suddenly, Zabuza's chakra spiked and a thick mist began to form, blocking the Kiri nukenin from view.
"Ninpou," came Zabuza's ominous murmur, "Kirigakure no Jutsu."
"He's gone!" Tazuna exclaimed, obviously panicked at Zabuza's disappearance.
"He'll come after me first," Kakashi said, his voice sharp and emotionless. "Momochi Zabuza was known as an expert of silent killing. You wouldn't know you were dead until your throat was slit…and it's not like I can use the Sharingan perfectly, so be careful."
This time, even Naruto's chakra tensed in preparation for a fight.
A dark voice rang out through the mist. "Eight points…"
"What?" Sakura squeaked in surprise.
"Liver, lungs, spine, heart, clavicle vein, jugular vein, kidneys, heart…so many choices. Which one should I go after?"
At that moment, Zabuza's chakra spiked with killing intent, and Kakashi responded in kind.
The fear in his genins' chakra increased. Surprisingly, it was Sasuke's chakra that held the most. "Don't worry," Kakashi said to reassure his students. "The only way you guys are going to get hurt is over my dead body. I don't let my comrades die."
"Don't make promises you can't keep, Kakashi…"
Kakashi swore mentally as Zabuza appeared in the center of his genin students, sword held back and prepared to swing. In less than an instant, Kakashi had knocked Sakura and Naruto aside, shoved a kunai into Zabuza's stomach, and used chakra to attach his free hand to Zabuza's blade and prevent it from moving.
But instead of blood coming out, there was…water?
'Shit! Mizu Bunshin!' realized Kakashi as the clone collapsed into a puddle of water. He wasn't quite fast enough to dodge Zabuza's giant sword.
It was a good thing he had replaced his original body with a Mizu Bunshin. The clone that Zabuza sliced open collapsed into a puddle of water. The silver-haired jounin rose up behind Zabuza and placed a kunai at his neck. "It's over," he intoned quietly.
Then, Zabuza chuckled. "It's over? You can't beat me with your idiotic imitations."
"…I think it's me who should say 'It's over.'"
Kakashi's eyes widened and he twisted his head to see Zabuza standing behind him. 'Another clone?' Kakashi thought as he sliced through the neck of the Zabuza in front of him. As he had suspected, it collapsed into water.
Kakashi ducked the true Zabuza's sword, only to be caught in the solar plexus with a brutal kick that sent him flying towards the lake. Kakashi reached into his pouch and threw out a handful of makibishi to delay Zabuza's movement for at least a little while.
Kakashi landed in the lake as Zabuza disappeared, only to show up again behind him. 'Wait a second…this water is heavy. What -?'
His mental question was answered when Zabuza muttered, "Suiton: Suirou no Jutsu!"
'Shit!' was all that ran through Kakashi's mind when water raised up to surround him on all sides, forming an orb that he knew would be practically impenetrable. Zabuza pushed a single arm inside of the prison, keeping it in place
"You may have been trying to regroup in the water, but that was a big mistake," Zabuza said arrogantly. Kakashi could practically see the victorious smirk under the nukenin's bandages, and his eyes narrowed reflexively with anger.
"This is an inescapable prison, as I'm sure you know. It makes things a lot more difficult if you can move, you know? Now, to take care of the brats…" muttered Zabuza.
'He's stronger than I expected,' thought Kakashi. 'His Bingo Book entry is out of date.'
Zabuza formed a clone, which stepped on to the bank on which the genin element of Team 7 was standing. The clone took one look at the three genin and snickered, "Wearing hitai-ate and acting like real shinobi…but you know what? A real shinobi is one who has survived numerous brushes with death. Basically, once you're good enough to be listed in a Bingo Book, you're a shinobi. You guys aren't shinobi; you're just brats!"
The clone sped up and slammed his foot into Sasuke's face, knocking off the Uchiha's hitai-ate and sending him flying. 'This is bad,' Kakashi thought, fear for his students coursing through his system. 'This is really, really bad!' "Guys! Take Tazuna-san and get out of here! You have no chance of beating him! While he's holding me here, he can't move, and his clone can't move very far from his real body! Just run away now!"
The extreme panic in his normally apathetic voice was unfamiliar.
It was that moment that Sasuke's body language and fingers began twitching in the code that Naruto and Sakura had devised on one of their days off. Kakashi gritted his teeth 'God damn it! Listen to me, you idiots!' "What the hell do you think you're doing!" he shouted. "Get out of here!"
/Sakura. Clone. With me. Naruto. Original,/ Sasuke ordered, ignoring his sensei.
Zabuza snickered, "You know, by the time I was your age, my hands were already dyed with blood."
That successfully froze the three genin in place.
Kakashi's eyes narrowed slightly as he gazed at Zabuza out of his peripheral vision. "Kirigakure no Kijin," he muttered.
"Ah, so you've heard about it," commented Zabuza.
"Years ago, Kirigakure was nicknamed Chigirigakure for its brutality. The genin exam was a horrible practice – each Academy student was pitted against another in a fight to the death. And you must remember, these are people who shared their dreams together and eaten from the same bowl.
"Ten years ago, these exams had to be changed because of one boy. Without hesitation, he, who was not even qualified to be a shinobi, butchered over a hundred of the graduating students."
"Yes, those were the days…" murmured Zabuza, an insane glint in his eye.
Sakura tensed, but began to weave hand seals. Naruto disappeared in a burst of speed, only stopping once she was on top of the lake.
The clone turned and was about to attack her, but stopped when Sakura muttered, "Katon: Kasai no Ame no Jutsu!"
The Haruno fired a single fireball into the air, which then separated into fifteen different parts and flew towards the cloned, surrounding it with balls of flame. The clone snorted before preforming a few hand seals and creating a wall of water that quickly extinguished the fireballs.
By this time, Naruto had thrown a handful of shuriken and kunai towards the original, who managed to weave between the deadly projectiles without taking his arm out of the prison he had created around Kakashi. Naruto danced out of range of Zabuza's deadly sword before executing a series of hand seals for her own technique.
Sasuke and Sakura attacked the clone in tandem, Sakura preforming a quick Housenka no Jutsu while Sasuke sent out a barrage of shuriken. Sasuke rushed forward, careful to avoid the clone's sword, and aimed a punch at the clone's midsection. The clone dodged with a smirk that morphed into shock when he was caught in the back with Sakura's Katon: Kakyuu.
Naruto created a mass of lightning senbon and sent them flying towards Zabuza. The blonde quickly created a Kaminari Bunshin while he was distracted, and instructed it to throw a fuuma shuriken at the former Kiri-nin's back. Zabuza sensed the coming danger too late, and had to rip his arm out of his prison to dodge the shuriken. Once free, Zabuza snatched the shuriken out of the air and whirled around to face Naruto, his face apocalyptic with rage. "You damn brat!" he roared as he swung the fuuma shuriken forward, ready to fling it at Naruto at a moment's notice.
Kakashi took advantage of his freedom, and stopped the shuriken's movement with the metal plating of his glove. Zabuza flinched visibly at the Sharingan wielder's fierce glare.
"Good job," said Kakashi. "You guys have really grown. A for you, Zabuza…the same technique won't work on me twice."
The Momochi sneered before leaping backwards and flowing through a long series of seals. Almost immediately, Kakashi recognized the sequence and began to copy it.
"Suiton: Suiryuudan no Jutsu!" they called out in unison.
Two massive oriental dragons formed of water burst out of the lake and collided. To Kakashi's left, Naruto rushed back to shore before she could be caught up in the giant waves created by the collision.
At that moment, both Kakashi and Zabuza ran forward. Zabuza swung his sword down vertically and Kakashi managed to block with a single chakra-enforced kunai. Kakashi took advantage of their eye contact and casted a simple genjutsu on Zabuza that would subconsciously suggest his movements, giving the Kiri-nin the illusion that Kakashi was seeing the future, while in reality Kakashi was simply inserting suggestions into his brain via genjutsu.
As Zabuza backed off and formed a half-tiger seal, Kakashi copied his movements perfectly. 'And right about now, I should say…' "…he's completely reading them."
Zabuza's eyes widened before narrowing in frustration.
"…freaky eye is pissing me off! Right?" smirked Kakashi.
"All you're doing is copying me!" snarled Zabuza.
"You can't beat me, you monkey bastard!" Kakashi finished.
"I'll make sure you can't ever open your mouth again!"
Kakashi's muscles tensed in preparation as a look of confusion passed over the unwrapped part of Zabuza's face. 'Damn, he must have seen part of the genjutsu,' the silver-haired jounin realized. The Hatake quickly finished his string of hand seals and muttered, "Suiton: Daibakufu no Jutsu!"
Water burst out of the lake before spiraling around Kakashi's body and bursting forward, growing larger with each second until it was over twenty feet in length and ten feet tall. The swirling projectile slammed into Zabuza full-force, sending him crashing through several trees and breaking at least a couple of ribs. The technique had used up most of the water in the lake and redistributed it so that the surrounding forestland for a good distance was completely saturated with water.
Kakashi sent four kunai hurtling towards Zabuza, one for each limb. He landed atop the lowest branch of the tree the Kiri nukenin was propped up against.
"How...?" Zabuza croaked out. "Can you see the future?"
"Yeah. You're gonna die," was Kakashi's morbid response as he held up a kunai.
Two senbon flew out of seemingly nowhere and skewered Zabuza's neck. He crashed to the floor, dead. Kakashi's head snapped towards the direction the needles had come from to see a young boy wearing a Kiri Oinin mask. The boy was dressed in a forest green striped turtleneck and hakama of the same color underneath a short blue kimono with white edges tied together with a brown scarf.
"You're right, he did die," the Oinin chirped.
"You're a Kirigakure Oinin," Kakashi observed.
"You're right, of course. Thank you very much for your help; I have been hunting Zabuza for a long time."
Kakashi nodded idly and jumped off of the tree to land beside Zabuza's corpse. He hissed silently at the dizziness the movement caused. 'Chakra exhaustion,' he diagnosed grimly. 'But Zabuza really is dead,' he observed as he pressed a finger to Zabuza's neck and felt no pulse.
"An Oinin?" muttered Sakura, her voice tinged with curiosity.
"Yes. My duty is to hunt down and kill nukenin from Kirigakure," the Oinin answered.
'From the timbre of his voice and his height, he can't be much older then any of my students. Maybe fifteen at the oldest. Yet, he's a fully-fledged Oinin…he's no ordinary kid.'
"Your battle is over," announced the Oinin as he jumped off of the tree and hefted Zabuza's arm over his shoulder. "I must dispose of this body, as it is one with many secrets."
With that, he disappeared.
"Now we have to get Tazuna-san back to his house. Let's go!" Kakashi said cheerfully as he covered his Sharingan again.
Tazuna's face broke out into a grin. "Thank you guys so much! You can rest at my home when we get there!"
Kakashi nodded and took a step forward, but regretted it when his legs buckled underneath him. 'Shit. I must've used the Sharingan too much…' he thought.
0o0o0o0o0o0
Kakashi awoke to the slightly relaxing feel of fresh chakra flowing into his body. "Ngh?" he groaned, opening his normal eye halfway.
"Kakashi-sensei!" Sakura chirped, turning around. She was sitting at the bottom of his futon, playing a game of cards with Sasuke.
A chakra he quickly identified as Naruto's flared violently, and blue energy entered the upper part of his vision. "Naruto..?" he muttered.
Now that his senses had completely returned, he could feel the slight pressure of Naruto's hand lying across his hitai-ate and forehead. He pulled her wrist away to see that her hand was glowing brightly with chakra, confirming his suspicion that she had been the source of his replenishing chakra.
"You probably shouldn't be moving yet," Naruto admonished gently. "Your Sharingan uses up a lot of chakra."
Kakashi hn'd. "I'll be fine if I rest for a week or so."
Naruto rolled her eyes. "Yeah, and a week will cut it when three genin and a jounin are on an A-Rank mission," she said sarcastically. "We don't know when we're going to be attacked again, so we need you in top shape."
"At the expense of yourself? I can sense your lowered chakra, Naruto. I'll be fine," Kakashi insisted.
Naruto rolled her eyes, but the chakra faded from her palm.
"The Sharingan is an incredible ability, but if it takes so much out of you, you must be careful when you use it," Sakura said. "By the way, who was that masked kid? You said something about an Oinin, but…"
"That's the mask worn by Kirigakure's Oinin, a branch of their ANBU. Their duty is to dispose of nukenin. The bodies of shinobi hold many secrets – the types of chakra it used, the herbs it ingested, and even poisons – and these secrets may reveal dangerous things about the shinobi's village of origin. For example, if I died and my body was taken by an enemy shinobi, the secrets of the Sharingan could be revealed. If you're not careful, there's a possibility that an enemy can steal your techniques. Basically, a shinobi's body can reveal many things, so it is an Oinin's job to find nukenin of their village and dispose of their bodies so that an enemy doesn't steal their village's secrets. No sound, no smell, no trace…that is how nukenin leave our world."
"So Zabuza is now being chopped up and destroyed? That's kind of…creepy," Sakura muttered.
Kakashi couldn't shake the feeling that he was missing something vital.
"Sensei, what's wrong?" Sakura asked.
'Ah,' he realized, 'that's what it was.' "Well, it's procedure for Oinin to destroy the bodies of the shinobi they kill on the spot."
"So...?" Sakura asked, one eyebrow raised.
"How did the Oinin dispose of the body?" Kakashi asked patiently.
"How would I know? He took the body with him," Sakura pointed out, shrugging.
"Exactly. But if he wanted proof of the kill, all he would have needed to take was the head. And then there's the question of the weapon used…"
"Senbon!" Sasuke gasped, his eyes widening slightly in surprise and shock. "No way…"
Apparently, Naruto understood too. "Senbon were originally developed for medicinal purposes, and the mortality rate is surprisingly low unless you hit specific spots on the body…"
"Yes, exactly," Kakashi nodded grimly.
"Wait, what are you guys talking about?" Tazuna asked.
"It is most likely that Zabuza is still alive," the jounin replied.
"What? But you said yourself he was dead!"
"Yeah, but there are certain nerves that can be activated to put the victim in a near-death state. All ANBU must know the human physiology by heart, so it would be relatively easy for one to put somebody in such a state. First of all, he went through the trouble of lugging away Zabuza's heavy body, and second, he used senbon. These two points indicate that the Oinin's motive was to save Zabuza, not kill him."
"Aren't you overthinking this?"
"Preparing oneself before it is too late is one of the shinobi rules. Plus, whether or not Zabuza is alive, there's no guarantee that Gatou hasn't hired another shinobi."
"Sensei," Sakura said tentatively, "Even with Naruto's help, you can barely move. How on earth are we supposed to prepare for someone that could put you in that sort of state?"
"Well, you'll be training of course."
"Training? What will a little bit of training do? You struggled against Zabuza even with your Sharingan! How are we supposed to beat somebody like that? Are you trying to get us killed?"
"And who was it that saved me when I was trapped? You guys are all improving rapidly. It's only been a month and a half since you exited the Academy. However, this is just training until I get better. You guys simply won't be capable of dealing with a jounin-level opponent, no matter what kind of training I put you through. People put into a near-death state take at least two weeks to recover completely, so we have a bit of time. And with Naruto's help, I'll be battle-ready in half that time. So, I have two weeks to get you three to the level where you can at least survive an encounter with a jounin. Sounds like fun, ne?"
Sakura smirked. "Bring it on, Sensei."
0o0o0o0o0o0
(1) Ten ryo is equivalent to about one American dollar.
Jutsu List
Ninpou: Kirigakure no Jutsu
English: Ninja Art: Hidden in the Mist Technique
Rank: C
Classifications: Ninjutsu, Supplementary, Long-Range
Description: The user creates a dense mist that is almost impossible to see through.
Mizu Bunshin no Jutsu
English: Water Clone Technique
Rank: C
Classifications: Ninjutsu, Supplementary
Description: This creates a clone made out of water. It only has as much chakra as the user gives it and can use taijutsu, genjutsu, and non-elemental ninjutsu and ninjutsu of its own element. It will dispel in a puddle of water with one hit.
Suiton: Suirou no Jutsu
English: Water Release: Water Prison Technique
Rank: C
Classifications: Ninjutsu, Short-Range, Supplementary/Defensive
Description: After the necessary hand seals are preformed, an orb of heavy water will form around the target. This prison is nearly impossible to escape, but the user's hand must stay in the prison at all times for it to remain effective.
Katon: Kasai no Ame no Jutsu
English: Fire Release: Rain of Fire Technique
Classifications: Ninjutsu, Offensive, Long-Range
Rank: C
Description: The user preforms a few seals and concentrates chakra into their hands before firing off a ball of fire into the air. At the apex of its flight, the fireball will split into fifteen different flames, which will then fly towards the target, guided by the user's chakra.
Suiton: Suiryuudan no Jutsu
English: Water Relase: Water Dragon Bullet Technique
Classifications: Ninjutsu, Offensive, Mid-Range
Rank: B
Description: After the hand seals are finished, a giant oriental dragon formed of water will rush towards the opponent. If it connects, it will deal a large amount of blunt force trauma.
Suiton: Daibakufu no Jutsu
English: Water Relase: Great Waterfall Explosion Technique
Rank: A
Classifications: Ninjutsu, Offensive, Long-Range
Description: After the necessary hand seals are completed, water will form a circle around the user before expanding and exploding outwards into a twisting column of pure water.
The title of this chapter is Frontline by Pillar.