Ha. You thought that one scene from a couple chapters ago was just a random segue didn't you?
Prepare to be wrong.
Naruto sighed as he pulled the rope tighter. Before him lie the Demon Brothers: two chuunin from the village of the Hidden Mist. Well, former chuunin, if their scratched headbands were any indicator. If Naruto's memory was right, which he was almost sure it wasn't, these two specific brothers were under the employment of one Momochi Zabuza. The very same Mist ninja would be his first major battle.
"You know the one eyed freak is going to be suspicious of this, right?" Kyuubi asked from within him. Naruto repressed the urge to roll his eyes. Thinking on it, the blonde found he had no real reason to repress such an action, then rolled his eyes anyway.
"It doesn't matter," Naruto responded. "The worst he can do is find out, and then we can finally have what we want: a confidante in this crazy, fucked up world." Kyuubi rolled his eyes. Naruto somehow felt that.
"You do realize that this, 'crazy, fucked up world' is, for all intents and purposes of the very gods themselves, an exact replica of your past?"
"Kyuubi. In my past a grown man with a cleaver, no eyebrows, and the bushiest, baggiest parachute pants this side of Fire Country is going to attempt to divorce my head from my body while I'm a child. In my present, that sentence made perfect sense. I'm pretty sure I'm officially allowed to announce this place for what it is. 'Fucked up'."
Kyuubi let out a barking laugh in Naruto's gut. The action, though somewhat unwilling, brought a smile to Naruto's face as well. This was the scene Kakashi bore witness to as he strolled out of the forest to the side of the path where Naruto stood with his catch. Book in hand, Kakashi raised an eyebrow at what he saw before him.
"Most Genin don't find enjoyment in their first ninja fight," the man stated. With a snap, the Jonin closed his book and made his way over to his student. With a single hand, Kakashi grasped the rope tying the Demon brothers together and lifted it into the air, before hurling it into a tree. The two brothers grunted; they hit the tree rather hard.
Naruto donned a smile. "Its not every day I get to show off how awesome I am!" he screamed. One hand reached to scratch the back of his neck, and with it, the look was complete. Naruto looked the same as he always acted back when he was a child, and sure enough, the act would fool most people.
Kakashi was not most people.
"Yes, quite. You're a bit more awesome than you should be though," the cyclops stated. Before Naruto could make heads of this however, the taller man had moved away, ready to interrogate the hostages. Naruto sighed. Guess they were in the clear a bit longer then. Turning, Naruto could see Sakura standing guard over the near comatose form of their last team member. The blonde smiled.
"That was a good punch, Sakura." Naruto stated as he walked over to the girl. Sakura smiled, but her eyes darted over to the two ninja currently wetting themselves before Kakashi.
"Is it over? Are we done?" she asked. Naruto nodded.
"Yeah. Kakashi-sensei is having a talk with them. Told ya' he wasn't dead."
Sakura relaxed a bit. With a sheepish expression, the girl sheathed her kunai. "Yeah. But its not every day you see a professional Substitution in action. Thank you, by the way. About the punch."
Naruto chuckled. "Well, its not every day you see a professional punch in action. I think it sent him halfway across the path."
Naruto wasn't joking either. The man was sent careening across the battlefield with the speed of a missile. He hit a tree and slid to the ground unconscious. He was out of the fight until Naruto was done cleaning up the other brother. The reason the punch was so strong? The man attempted to take out Sasuke.
Sakura smirked. With an ease of recent practice, she mirrored Naruto's chuckle. "Don't exaggerate, idiot." She then playfully punched Naruto in the shoulder. Naruto had to rub his arm afterwards.
Around here Kakashi had returned from his "talk." His face was grim as he approached his team.
"Listen, team. I have some bad news," the cyclops stated. His eye focused on their charge: a bridge builder they were tasked to escort back home. The man had immediately hid when the fighting broke out. This somehow worked. "Our little friend happens to be the target of some very dangerous and high profile people. Does 'Gato of Gato Industries' ring any bells, Mr. Tazuna?"
Tazuna had the decency to look guilty.
"It might," the man slurred out. He was slightly tipsy. Kakashi's eye narrowed.
"Well, it certainly rings a bell to me. Gato, of his self named industry, happens to be one of the most wealthy men in the world. He has enough money to pay the Village to send their most trained ninja to shovel manure and not even have a dip in his resources. This is the man who has set his sights on you. From where these two cannon fodder have come," Kakashi then threw a thumb over his shoulder at the two ninja who were, in a word, traumatized, "there are definitely more. As the team leader, I cannot in good conscious allow my team to continue on a mission of such lethality, especially on their very first C-ranked mission. Especially what you've paid us." Tazuna adopted a look of absolute horror.
"But… but you can't just abandon me now!" the old man exclaimed, his voice clearer now that he was concerned. Kakashi didn't seem to care.
"I can and I definitely will. You may not notice, but I have my precious little Genin to worry about as well. I can't have my first team just die on me on their first actual mission. My credibility would be tarnished forever."
Tazuna's eyes widened. "Wha- What? Is your credibility worth more to you than the lives of countless men, women and children? All of which have been suffering half their lives under the rule of a tyrannical dictator?"
Kakashi, who had went back to reading his book, turned his eye back to Tazuna. "I was, no, I am a professional killer. These three children? They are training to become professional killers. I have singlehandedly taken the lives of more people in a small handful of missions than you have in your entire little town. I'm sorry Mr. Tazuna, but making the decision to forfeit lives is no new experience to me. So to answer your question, yes. My credibility is definitely more valuable to me." Kakashi turned his eye back to his book. "I value the importance of a human life as much as the next guy, but random lives in a random town mean vastly less to me than the lives of my three little cuties. You may not know this, but even these three are high priority in my Village. That doesn't matter much to me though. It also just so happens that among them, one of them I happen to like."
Around here, Naruto excitedly started raising his hand. "Is it me, sensei?"
Kakashi eyed him. "No where even close."
"S-so is it me, sensei?" Sakura tentatively asked. Kakashi shook his head.
"Nope, try again."
"There's only one option left, sensei." Naruto whined.
"Try again~" Kakashi sang.
"Is it me?"
"You already asked that, Naruto."
"Its worth a second shot."
"It's Sasuke." Sakura stated. She didn't want to start the two on another rant.
"Yes. Good girlie," Kakashi drawled. He complimented this with the turning of a page.
"What? Why?" Naruto asked.
"Because he's quiet. You'd be surprised how far that goes."
"Ugh," Naruto grunted. He shuffled off. Kakashi turned back to the bridge builder.
"Back to you. I'm terribly sorry. I really am," the Jonin started. His voice held absolutely no sorrow. "But I'm going to have to decli-"
"I guess that Icha Icha Storm debut is going to be put on hold again." Tazuna grumbled.
"… Excuse me?" Kakashi asked. His voice rose an octave or two.
"Icha Icha Storm. The next Icha Icha volume coming out? Yeah, it was meant to debut in Wave, the setting being based on my hometown. With the way Gato Corps has been draining the economy, it couldn't exactly make a proper debut. I had thought that with you guys helping us, we would free my country in no time, but it appears I was wrong… Oh well." Tazuna grumbled once more. With a flourish, the man shook his wine bottle to gauge the amount of liquid still in it. Sneakily, Tazuna threw an eye over to the Jonin as the man contemplated his words. Kakashi was still, almost silent even as he turned the words over in his head.
After a minute, Kakashi's mind was made. "Team, we're continuing the mission."
Sakura blanched. "What?"
"I said. We're continuing the miss-"
"No, I know what you said." Sakura clarified. "What I meant was why. What happened to protecting our fragile, innocent lives and caring for your favorite student?" Kakashi made a dismissive motion with his hand.
"I just said those things to get Tazuna off my back. I don't care too much either way about you guys. However..." Kakashi then turned a mean, one eyed glare to the back of Naruto, who was studying a nearby tree. "Because of one of you, I am now suspiciously low on my storage of novels with no actual way of replenishing them. I think saving the town would be a nice forward payment towards getting free issues for life."
Tazuna chuckled at the man. "Your bluntness sure is rough, boy." Kakashi smiled. This action wasn't evident anywhere on his body besides his eye.
"Please, sir. I'm twenty-six years old."
Sakura was getting fed up with their actions and decided to reinsert herself into the conversation. "Wait, hold on. What if the rest of those ninjas actually kill us? Don't we get a say in this?" Kakashi rolled his eye.
"No, you don't. But I'll humor you. Let's have a vote by show of hands. Majority wins."
"Sounds like a plan." Sakura voiced.
"Kit, vote against it. It'll be funny to see how the gods handle us going back to the village." Kyuubi stated from where he and Naruto were eavesdropping.
"Already on it," Naruto thought back.
"All those who want to continue the mission, raise your hand." Kakashi stated in a singsong vote. He then raised his hand, an action not mirrored by Naruto, Sakura or Sasuke. Nodding his head, Kakashi continued.
"Now, all of you who wish to go back, raise your hand." To this, Naruto and Sakura raised their hand, to which both Kakashi and Sasuke did nothing. Briefly, all four other people on the road stared at the comatose boy who responded to neither vote.
"I've been meaning to ask, but is that boy okay?" Tazuna asked. His question was dismissed immediately by all three of the other ninja.
"So the votes have been cast." Kakashi drawled. "And it seems that we are moving ahead with the mission." Both Naruto and Sakura did a double take.
"What? How the hell did you manage that?" Naruto asked incredulously. "It was our two to your one!"
"Yeah, what the hell, sensei?" Sakura added. Kakashi just nodded his head, a pensive look on his face.
"Yes, indeed. But as your group leader and teacher, my vote holds more than yours do. With my vote counting twice of yours, and you both voting against me, we come out at a clear tie." Naruto balked.
"So how the hell does that mean that we're going ahead?"
"Well," Kakashi started, "we can't very well just stay here in this road forever, which means we need a veritable tiebreaker. Do you have anyone in mind?"
Naruto and Sakura looked at each other, before looking around the clearing. First their eyes fell on Tazuna, who stood behind Kakashi with a gleaming smile on his face. Shaking their heads, they turned slowly to the last member of their team, who stood stock still behind them.
He was not moving.
"N-no. We don't, sensei." Naruto muttered.
"I see." Kakashi drawled. He turned another page in his book. "Well, it just so happens that I do. Mr. Tazuna?"
"Yes, Sir Ninja?"
"What do you think we should do?"
"I think we should move ahead, Sir Ninja." Tazuna responded.
"Very well, my good man." Kakashi answered. He looked to his two students who stood with stock expressions on their face.
"It looks like we're moving ahead."
XxX
Naruto lounged over the side of the boat as Team Seven, along with Tazuna, rowed their way towards port in the country of Wave. Idly, the boy played with the water as the man in charge of the boat kept them moving steadily forward. Unbeknownst to the rest of the people on the boat, Naruto was fiddling with a low level water technique Iruka, the future one, had him learn. The waves, as long as his hand dipped in the saltwater every so often, would veer slightly off to the side of the boat. Naruto sighed.
"I'm bored." Sakura rolled her eyes.
"We know, Naruto. You've said it thirteen times already."
"Well make this fourteen. I'm bored Sakura. Is there nothing else for us to do while we sit here?"
"You can sleep," Kakashi suggested from his point near the helm. His eye was buried in a book as he lounged near the front. Naruto shook his head.
"You'd probably leave me behind when we dock if I did that. Next try."
"You can shut up," Sakura suggested. Naruto rolled his eyes.
"If that was something I knew how to do I'd have done it by now. Next?"
"Did you try expanding that jutsu you're using?" Kakashi asked. Naruto's eyes flashed over to Kakashi. His single eye was still on the book in front of him. If asked though, Naruto could swear the cloth covering his other eye was just slightly out of place. The blonde raised an eyebrow.
"No. I believe its just right. We're almost there anyway." Naruto responded. In response, Kakashi managed a "hmm" before turning a page. Right after this interaction, the boat slowed before coming to a stop. The rower let out a sigh of relief upon docking.
"Phew," the rower exhaled, "that was a much easier ride than I thought. Usually the trip is much more turbulent."
Kakashi and Naruto's eyes met.
"Yeah. Ninjas tend to have more… fortunate bouts with nature." Kakashi drawled.
"Well, whatever the reason, we've reached the secret port earlier than expected."
Naruto looked around. The "secret port" amounted to some pieces of wood haphazardly nailed together near the river. The boat didn't actually touch it, but the very idea of the ninjas disembarking was enough to cause the contraption to wobble intensely. Naruto stared.
"Are you sure that's sa-"
"Entirely safe. Been used forever."
"How long is forever?" Sakura asked.
"Ever since Gato started oppressing us seriously."
"And how long has that been?" the boat rower scratched his chin.
"For about as long as I can remember."
"And when was the last time it was fixed up?" Naruto asked.
"Do you really think we can afford fixing things around here?"
"I see." Naruto and Sakura deadpanned together. The rower rolled his eyes.
"Listen, don't complicate things. Just use the secret port unless you want to fight all of Gato Corps at once-"
"I mean, we probably can." Kyuubi yawned.
"Probably?" Naruto thought.
"Wait, we aren't using handicaps?"
"-you ninja can stand on water anyway, can't you?" the rower finished. At this, Kakashi spared a look at his three students. Overlooking the suspicious stare he sent Naruto's way, doubt clouded his eye in regards to the other two. Especially Sasuke.
Honestly, Kakashi was happy the boy could breath, let alone walk.
"We'll take a rain check on that. Team? Off the rickety death boat and onto the rickety death plank. Stat." Naruto and Sakura grumbled as they followed their leader's words.
Sasuke… breathed. It was becoming more and more fascinating by the day. The Genin debated on how he functioned without them.
"I think he acts on primal instincts." Naruto stated.
"You know what that is?" Kyuubi asked.
"Of course."
"Are you sure?"
"What? Yes, why?"
"You're excited to see a man who is even more excited to kill you."
"When was the last time someone wasn't excited to kill me?"
"And therein lies the problem."
"Nah, he just kind of bumbles around his house until I place food in front of him." Sakura commented, oblivious of the conversation happening in Naruto's head. "He'll eat when he's hungry, but he won't prepare anything. He'll literally just cram the first thing he can grab in his mouth." Naruto stared.
"I don't think I want to know how you came across that information." Sakura shrugged.
"I don't think you want to know what else I did."
With a shiver, Naruto agreed with his teammate. Deciding he needed to know nothing else, the boy continued on walking towards Tazuna's house. Yeah, he kinda just dropped the conversation like a stone. Good thing too, because as soon as he did there was rustling in the trees. Both Naruto and Kakashi turned to the noise.
In a bush, leaves on a lower branch bristled for a bit before a snow rabbit emerged, eyes darting back and forth in fear. Kakashi turned away, deeming the threat inconsequential, but Naruto stared at it a moment longer. After a minute, he too turned away.
"Kyuubi?"
"Yes, brat?"
"You're a fox right?"
The Kyuubi responded, but it was full of such sarcasm that it didn't translate into text well. Naruto rolled his eyes.
"I meant that since you're a fox, you hunt rabbits, right?"
The Kyuubi, who was considerably less excited that his sarcasm was unheeded, replied. "Yes. Granted I'm not a normal fox by any means, I have tried my hand at the craft."
"How did it go?" Naruto asked.
"About as well as you would expect."
"Which was?"
"I burned both it and the entire forest to the ground."
"Oh." Naruto deadpanned.
"Why?"
"Cause, I'm pretty sure that something is wrong with that bunny. I mean, I know that its Zabuza's attempt at a distraction, but still, it just seems wrong. Its really bad. Was he trying to tip us off?"
Kyuubi shrugged. One couldn't fathom how Naruto interpreted the action. "Maybe Mist ninja are just bad at stealth."
"What? Impossible. They are the original creators of the silent kill technique."
"So?" Kyuubi asked. "That doesn't mean anything. You usually know when a Kiri ninja is going to silently kill you, so it doesn't even matter. Just because the actual murder is silent is irrelevant. Its not exactly stealthy to drown an entire area in mist to silently kill someone. Pretty sure anyone that survives would know its you."
"Well maybe that's how they do it," Naruto started, "No one will know its you if there is no one to know."
"And that, my friend, is why I like the Mist." Naruto chuckled.
"Really? Are you sure? And here I thought it was because of their 'Bloody Mist' traditions."
"What the hell is that?" Kurama asked.
"They used to have the students kill other students in order to graduate as a ninja. Zabuza took it one step further and killed his whole class. I think he was the only one in that generation of Genin to actually become a shinobi."
At this realization Kyuubi was quiet for a bit.
Only a bit though.
"Naruto," the fox rumbled.
"Hmm?"
"I have to meet this man."
"Can do." Naruto responded as he ducked. As he did so, a giant mass of solid metal came spiraling out of the forest. Spinning with a "whirring" sound, the sword just barely missed cleaving off the head of the five travelers, with Kakashi having grabbed Tazuna and Sakura, and Naruto ducking himself.
Sasuke hadn't moved at all. Apparently this was not in the man's calculations because the blade still missed him.
Naruto turned on Kakashi with a scandalized look on his face. "Sensei, what gives?"
Kakashi stared at the boy.
"Hmm?"
"You didn't even try to save me!"
"Oh," Kakashi answered, "my bad."
"'Your bad'? You almost let me and Sasuke die and all you have to say is 'your bad'?"
Kakashi scratched the back of his head. "Well, yeah. You're both fine."
"It could've killed us!" Naruto yelled.
"No," Kakashi responded, "it could've killed you. Sasuke was fine."
"Uh, ahem?" Zabuza grunted from his place on his sword. "Aren't you guys forgetting something?"
"In a minute," Naruto stated. He waved his hand at the man dismissively, his attention never leaving Kakashi. "Back to you. Yeah, it missed Sasuke, but I could have still been hit."
"A fact that I'm sure would be fatal had you not dodged." Kakashi drawled.
"Yeah, it would have been. What if I hadn't?"
"Well, its a good thing you did. Now that you mention it, even I barely noticed it in time, and yet you went down before even I did. Very curious."
"Kakashi, please don't tell me we're doing this right now." Naruto said. The statement was full of exasperation.
"Oh we are definitely doing this right now," Kakashi drawled. His voice and tone was still bored, but it carried with it a hint of probing, nauseating teasing. "Its 'sensei' by the way."
Naruto rolled his eyes.
"Are you seriously telling me you almost let me die because of some crazy suspicion you have about me?"
"It was a risk I was willing to take."
"Seriously?" Naruto screamed. His face then turned blank. "Oh my Sage. You're actually doing this right here, right now. With a deranged criminal staring down our necks, you're doing this."
Zabuza, who had by now been just standing on his cleaver for the couple or so minutes they were arguing, decided that maybe he should sit this one out. He discreetly signaled his accomplice to do the same. After hearing the comment about him being a "deranged criminal" he looked down at himself. Did he really come off that way at first glance?
Was it the parachute pants?
"Hey girlie." Zabuza called out. Sakura turned to him. She was slightly apprehensive, but seeing that he only wanted to talk worked to ease her nerves slightly about the man who had just tried to kill her.
"Yes?" Sakura replied. Zabuza looked at her in surprise.
"I was talked about the black haired one, but you'll do." Zabuza commented. Sakura had to hold in a laugh. "Tell me, what about me makes me seem like a deranged criminal?"
Sakura had to seriously wonder about the man's sanity.
"You mean besides the fact that you just tried to behead us all?" the Genin asked. Unfortunately Zabuza didn't learn about sarcasm in his youth. He was too busy killing all his friends.
"Yes," the man stated simply. Sakura didn't know what to think of that. Instead she looked the man over. Her eyes quickly focused on the lower half of the man's body, and her answer suddenly seemed clear.
"It's the parachute pants." Sakura commented without hesitation. The man slumped in defeat.
"I knew it," Zabuza sighed. With his left hand he picked at the material. "Well, I think they're cool."
Back with the sensei and student, things were starting to escalate.
"I don't care what you think, Kakashi! Don't just suddenly leave me to die because you have some hunch that I'm suddenly a lot more skilled than I seem! What do you even care for, anyway?"
"Well," Kakashi hummed, "what if you were a spy? My cute little Genin shouldn't give me a challenge in any way, and yet here you are. I have to be careful."
"Aargh!" Naruto screamed, his hands reaching to tug on his hair. "I already told you that I'm not!"
"That's exactly the kind of thing that a spy would say."
"AAARGH!"
Sakura, who couldn't bear much more of this, turned back to Zabuza.
"So what about you? Why are you here?" she asked. It was Zabuza's turn to look at her like she was stupid.
"I'm here to kill you." Zabuza stated simply. Sakura didn't even give it a second thought.
"Well, of course. But I mean, why are you doing it? I know you're not doing it for fun."
"Well of course not." Zabuza replied. "I'm doing it for the same reason every other ninja in the world does it. Money. I need money to achieve my goals. This was an easy way to do it."
"Well, surely its not the only way to do it. There has to be easier ways to earn money as a rogue ninja than by killing people."
"There are," Zabuza answered. "But you have to keep in mind that I enjoy killing as well."
By now Naruto's screams were starting to become deafening. He had taken to staring down his teacher, but it seemed to not be working, as the man kept the ever nonchalant expression he was known for strong.
"Then why don't you just explain it to me?" Kakashi asked, his eyes half lidded.
"I already told you why I can't do that!" Naruto yelled. "No matter how much I try to tell you, it wouldn't matter in the long run! You wouldn't remember it after I told it to you!" Kakashi tilted his head.
"I highly doubt that. My mind is a lot stronger than it seems. I remember things from my childhood fairly well."
"That's not an accomplishment." Naruto responded. "Your childhood was terrible." Kakashi narrowed an eye at him.
"That's a rather peculiar thing that you shouldn't know." Naruto rolled his eyes.
"No, its not. Everyone from your generation had shitty lives. That's not a unique thing." Kakashi was forced to nod his head to that.
"Still, I would rather like to hear it."
"Well that's tough shit."
"I see. Well then, don't expect me to save you."
Naruto muffled his screams by burying his head in his jacket. Kakashi turned back to Zabuza.
"And what in the Six Paths of the Sage do you want?" the Jounin asked. Zabuza, who was now in a deep conversation with the pink haired Genin, turned his attention to the scarecrow.
"Are you done?" Zabuza asked. He had his head propped on his knee as he sat on his blade, which was imbedded into a tree.
"I think we're more or less ready." Kakashi then stopped to look over his team.
Naruto was still screaming into his jacket. Nodding, Kakashi turned his head to Sakura. She had started to exchange information with Zabuza before he interrupted. With two members down, Kakashi started to look for the third, before immediately stopping himself.
He already knew where Sasuke was. Retrieving a pebble from the road, Kakashi blindly threw it behind him. It went thump off of something before falling back to the ground. Kakashi sighed. Of course. Sasuke was exactly where Kakashi knew he was.
In the exact same place he left them.
"Yeah, we're ready." Kakashi drawled. Immediately he pulled out a kunai, to which Zabuza responded by pulling his sword from the tree with one hand. Shortly after, Naruto and Sakura made their way behind Kakashi and next to Sasuke.
The two higher level ninja stared each other down, before a massive amount of killing intent washed over the grounds from both ends. Zabuza stared forlornly at the overall indifference the Genin were handling the situation with. He stared back at Kakashi.
"It seems your little brats are more worth than they seem. To not crumble under my killing intent means that they're at least half of a ninja." At this, Kakashi fished a look over his shoulder at the children. Sure enough, none of them were phased.
"Eh, I've had worse." Naruto stated. He had his hands folded behind his head, looking a perfect picture of nonplussed.
"I just had a rather interesting conversation with you," Sakura commented. She had a slip of paper in her hand with Zabuza's information on it. "Its hard to be afraid of someone after that."
Sasuke said nothing.
"Is that kid alright?" Zabuza asked. "I mean, I thought at first he just had the skill necessary to dodge my attack, but at this point I'm starting to think he's just dead."
He was promptly ignored.
"Let's do this, Demon of the Hidden Mist." Kakashi grunted, and just like that the battle was on. The first thing Zabuza did was flip through one handed seals. Ending on a dime, the Ninja of the Seven Swordsman chuckled darkly.
"Its time I show you my secret technique." the man muttered. Glee was apparent in his eyes. Hidden Mist's most famous ability! With this, Kakashi of the Sharingan, your time here is u-"
Was all the man was able to say before a kunai of pure, unbridled energy literally exploded from the tree lines. It shone in a myriad of colors as it quite literally pierced through the air on an unimpeded flight. The kunai, as if noticing Zabuza, impossibly changed its flight path and arced in a ninety degree angle. Settling on blue, the kunai crackled with limitless electric energy and chakra before piercing to through the man's leg. Zabuza fell to the ground in pain, shortly before crying out once more as the latent electricity of the blow coursed through him, rendering him unconscious immediately.
The kunai never once stopped to observe any of this though. Its work here done, it once again shone in a myriad of color before blasting through the treeline once more.
Its bloodlust would not be sated here today.
Back with the group, all the gathered ninja could do was gape. Naruto was the first to recover.
"Oh, so that's where that kunai went!" he chirped. Kyuubi was less enthusiastic.
"How the hell did it even get out here?" he asked. "We threw it in the complete opposite direction!"
