Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to Naruto.
Ch. 2: Skirmish on the Road
Naruto rummaged through his apartment looking for anything he deemed necessary for his expedition to the Wave country. Unfortunately for his travel pack it meant a lot of excess weapons, tools and survival gear the young genin didn't even know he had. To say that his home was a mess was an understatement. In his search for supplies the young teenager had haphazardly tossed about various odds and ends. Dirty laundry littered his hallway. A pair of briefs even managed to somehow get caught on his ceiling light.
"I see you've been busy," Naruto heard his former academy sensei quip from the window. Umino Iruka leaned against the window-sill smiling at the teenager's mess. The blond genin gave a goofy smile. He rubbed the back of his head and surveyed the catastrophe that was his room.
"I guess I made a mess of the place," Naruto said with an embarrassed chuckle.
"Among other things," Iruka said with amusement. The teacher observed the room and found his attention pulled to Naruto's travel pack. The poor bag was full to bursting with various weapons and tools. It was a wonder it hadn't torn at the seams. "How about I help you with that."
After entering through the open window Naruto and Iruka began the arduous process of sorting through the bag and removing all the unnecessary things. Being adamant about making sure he had extra weapons for any possible scenario Naruto refused to remove any of his weapons. With a sigh Iruka produced a small storage scroll, wrote the necessary seal and sealed the weapons within the scroll.
"Whoa!" Naruto exclaimed. "How'd you do that?"
"Naruto, that's just a basic storage scroll. We had a lesson on that-" Iruka stopped himself mid-sentence. "Never mind, I forgot that you'd skipped that day. If I recall you completely tee-peed the Hokage's Tower. Do you even realize how much toilet paper you wasted?"
"Do you realize how hard I laughed when I saw jii-jii's face?" Naruto countered. The two shared a laugh before Iruka finished helping Naruto pack up. He showed the blonde the necessary seal for making the storage scroll and helped him figure out how much chakra was needed for the process. Flashing his old sensei a smile Naruto swung his pack on and adjusted his forehead protector.
"Thanks for helping me pack, Iruka-sensei."
"It's no problem," Iruka replied. "Just make sure you stay safe out there."
"I will," Naruto said before giving the academy teacher a hug. The older man returned the hug before returning to the school. After Iruka left Naruto created two kage bunshins and ordered them to clean up. The bunshins both gave a salute and went to their jobs after which he locked up his apartment quickly made his way to meeting place. Once he arrived at the gate he was assaulted with the memory of his bunshins finishing their cleaning before dispelling themselves.
"Huh, that's weird," he said to himself. He made a mental note to ask Kakashi if he knew if there was anything else concerning the kage bunshins he could use. "Now, time for some training!"
If there was one thing that Hyuuga Hinata prided herself in it was her punctuality. Whenever her team met for training she would always make sure to arrive early so as to get in some extra solo practice, away from the observation of others. The absence of spectators allowed her to focus and analyze herself without worrying about the judgement of others. To her surprise, however, this time she was not the first to arrive. Standing just outside the main gate was her like-time academy crush Uzumaki Naruto. Said blonde shinobi was in the process of going through some rudimentary taijutsu katas when he took notice of the dark haired girl.
"Ah, Hinata," he called out excitedly. Hinata, in response, tensed up. The shy girl quickly looked around for something to distract herself with, but it was too late. The blonde was quickly upon her and flashed his patented bright smile she loved so much. "I didn't think anyone else would show up this early. Were you planning on getting some last minute training in too?"
The girl nodded, not trusting her own voice. She fiddled with the hem of her jacket. The heat in her cheeks was becoming quite apparent and she prayed that her face wasn't too red.
"That's great," Naruto shouted excitedly. If it were possible his smile seemed to become even brighter. "In that case would you like to be my training partner until the others arrive?"
This was her chance, Hinata realized. This was the perfect opportunity for her to get closer to the blonde. It wasn't often that she'd get to spend any form of time alone together and training meant she could also get some work in to improve herself. With a vigorous nod she smiled as Naruto took her to a clearing just off to the side of the gate entrance.
They each took their respective stances, Hinata in her standard Jyuuken stance particular to the Hyuuga clan and Naruto in an improvised brawler's stance. Hinata was nowhere near being a taijutsu expert, yet even she noticed that Naruto had several openings present in his stance. They observed each other a moment longer before they charged at each other. Their exchanges were quick and in Naruto's case; wild.
Their engagements were simple. Naruto would swing with a heavy punch and Hinata would deflect it to the side. He'd follow through with a back-hand and she would evade. Sweep kick, side-step, roundhouse kick, dodge, left hook, right jab and over and over the two genin matched each other. Hinata noted that the blonde's style was sloppy. There was no finesse and every attack left large openings that any taijutsu specialist could exploit. Curious, Hinata attempted to press her advantage.
She threw out a series of basic jyuuken thrusts to test the waters, so to speak. Unsurprisingly, Naruto evaded every blow. She then started to increase the tempo. The blonde had excellent reflexes, she noted. Every one of her attacks were dodged or parried. The two lunged at each other one last time when they suddenly felt a hand chop fall onto each of their heads.
"That'll be enough of that," Kurenai said sternly. She and the rest of the teams had taken a spot near the edge of the clearing. She eyed the two genin with a disapproving yet still encouraging glace. "While I admire your fervor I need to have you both at one hundred percent for this mission. What would happen if we were attacked while on the road and you two were too tired to defend yourselves?"
"Aw c'mon," Naruto declared crossing his arms indignantly. "We were almost finished and it's not like we won't have any time to recover."
"What do you mean?"
"Well, Kakashi-sensei usually shows up late. Like, really late."
"It's true," Sakura added from her spot with the rest of the group. "Sensei is usually at least thirty minutes late for every mission."
"Well I'm sure Kakashi will understand the gravity of this mission," Kurenai said optimistically. She ushered Naruto and Hinata back to the rest of the group. They each set about their own tasks. Kiba talked animatedly with Shino about the potential dangers of their mission with Akamaru barking in agreement every so often. Shino, for his part, listened intently to his male teammate. Sakura had taken to discussing medical ointments with Hinata who was applying her own hand made salve to a few bruises she acquired during her spar with Naruto.
Said blonde had opted to take a page from Sasuke's book and sat away from the group and started practicing the basic storage scroll Iruka had shown him earlier. In true Sasuke fashion, the avenger had found a nearby tree to lean against to commence his brooding session. Kurenai, being the responsible Jonin that she was, took out a map and plotted the route they would take to Wave Country while marking down potential rest areas and camp sites.
One hour later.
'I'm going to kill him,' Kurenai thought darkly. She gripped the handle of a kunai tightly as she attempted to contain her rage. If it weren't for the fact that Kakashi had taken the responsibility of escorting Tazuna around the village they would have left the lazy man behind already. "Is your sensei always like this?"
"More or less," Naruto said unamused. He'd taken to juggling kunai to keep himself from going mad with boredom. Sasuke, still brooding against the tree, gave a grunt of affirmation with Naruto.
"He should be showing up any second now," Sakura added, playing with a strand of her hair.
"Who should be showing up when?" Kakashi asked as he joined the group with an exasperated Tazuna following behind him. The others simply stared at the masked Jonin for a brief moment before exploding into shouts of righteous indignation.
"Now that everyone is here," Kurenai started, shooting Kakashi a piercing gaze. "We're going to travel in a standard diamond formation. Kakashi will take point followed by Sakura, Kiba and Akamaru. Kiba, if you hear or smell anything out of the ordinary let us know."
Sakura, Kiba and Akamaru gave a solid affirmative.
"Shino, you and Sasuke will follow behind them flanking Tazuna. His safety is your priority. Hinata and Naruto will be covering you from behind. Hinata make sure you do regular sweeps with your Byakugan to make sure we aren't caught off guard. I'll be bringing up the rear, are there any questions?"
Kakashi raised his hand tentatively.
"No Kakashi, you can't have rear guard duty," the female jonin answered dully. "If I can't trust you to show up on time then how can I trust you to keep pace?"
With the positions given and roles assigned Teams Seven and Eight set off on their Mission to the Wave Country.
"Are we there yet," Naruto asked tiredly. They'd been marching for nearly three days. Three days and still they'd yet to leave the borders of the Land of Fire.
"No, idiot, we aren't there yet," Sasuke replied irritably. "You've been asking that same question for the past hour, figure out something else to do."
Naruto scoffed at his teammates comment and went back to being bored out of his mind. Around him several others were occupying themselves with conversation. Tazuna had taken to telling Sakura about the Wave country. Kakashi was reading his favorite copy of Icha Icha Paradise. Kiba and Akamaru were having what seemed to be a one way conversation, at least that's how it looked to Naruto. With a sigh, the blonde looked over their surroundings. Trees, bushes, rocks and more of the same. An idea suddenly hit him.
"I spy with my eye-" he started.
"No!" Sasuke interrupted. "We are absolutely NOT playing I Spy."
"I-I wouldn't mind playing," Hinata interjected. Naruto turned and flashed her a big smile before returning his attention to the front.
"A traveling game would be a welcome change of pace," Shino added. Kiba and even Sakura, despite disagreeing with her crush, decided to take part in the game. Sasuke scoffed at everyone's juvenile behavior.
"As I was saying," Naruto began. "I spy something… green."
"Kakashi sensei's vest?" Sakura answered. The blonde genin flashed the pink haired girl an affirmative thumbs up, complimenting her quick thinking. "So I guess that means I'm next, then. I spy something... red."
It was Kiba's facial markings Shino pointed out, who in turn spied something orange. Hinata immediately answered with Naruto's jumpsuit. Said orange wearing genin made a vocal observation that the sunglasses wearing genin wasn't very good at the game. Hinata surveyed their area before stating the color white. After a minute of pondering Naruto settled on the lower half of the Uchiha symbol on Sasuke's shirt. Once again getting the right answer the blonde took a moment to think of something crafty to spy.
'A puddle?' he thought to himself. 'But it hasn't rained for a few days... that's perfect! If that's the case no one will think to look for a puddle.'
"I spy something blue," he declared smugly only to have his clever ruse ruined.
"A puddle," Kurenai stated clearly. The other members of the group caught note of the subtle warning. Hinata activated her Byakugan, Shino readied his beetles and Kiba and Akamaru each smirked.
"That's no fair," Naruto declared, oblivious to the warning. "You never said you'd be playing Kurenai-sensei!"
Just then two figures, each equipped with a metal gauntlet connected to each other by a long spiked chain, quickly emerged from the puddle followed by two smoke bombs going off obscuring vision from both ends of the group. The two enemy shinobi quickly made their way towards Shino, their closest target, encircling him with the chains. Just as the bladed links made contact with the Aburame the young man exploded into a cloud of beetles. The two fled from the cloud and attempted to engage Tazuna when Sasuke threw a kunai and pinned the chain to the ground, halting their advance.
"Damn it!" one of the assailants muttered. The two disengaged their chain from their gauntlets when from the smoke clouds came Kiba and Hinata ready to attack. The two should have been able to avoid both attacks, however they both felt a sudden sense of fatigue. That was when they felt the beetles crawling along their skin, eating away at their chakra. All the demon brothers could do was block the attacks as best they could.
"TSUUGA!" Kiba shouted as he began spinning rapidly towards one of the attackers. Hinata assaulted her own target with a quick jyuuken strike to the chest which was blocked by a gauntleted arm rendering the appendage useless. Each of the demon brothers were sent recoiling towards the tree-line. Quickly exchanging a look the two would-be assassins conceded defeat and fled into the forest, one last smoke bomb exploding to hide their escape.
"Not so fast!" Naruto shouted dashing into the forest in pursuit.
"Wait, Naruto. It's too dangerous," Kurenai shouted, but it was too late as the blonde genin vanished into the thicket.
"Wait for what, Kurenai-sensei?" the whiskered genin asked in response. Kurenai stared blankly at the boy for a second before realization dawned on her.
"Right, kage bunshins," she muttered to herself. The orange wearing shinobi grinned like an idiot only to recoil as if he took a blow to the face.
"Is something wrong?" Hinata asked tentatively.
"I'm fine," Naruto said with a reassuring grin. "But I can't say the same for my kage bunshin."
"What did your bunshin see," Kakashi asked in a serious tone. He eyed the trees carefully watching for any potential follow up attacks.
"Well, he managed to catch up to them," he started. "But before I could follow them any further he was attacked. It was weird though. It wasn't a kunai or anything like that. Before my bunshin dispelled it felt something like a needle hit him."
Kakashi gave Kurenai a wordless order then went back to his spot at the head of the formation. The genin present exchanged curious glances before following Kakashi's lead and retaking their positions.
"Alright everyone," Kakashi started. "We don't know how many more enemies may be waiting for us or just how dangerous this mission really is. But what I do know is that we can either keep going and risk serious injury, maybe even death or we can return to the village. For what it's worth, from what I saw of you all I think you guys will handle yourselves pretty well."
"As if there was ever a choice," Naruto proclaimed his chest swelling with pride. The others around him also gave eager responses. Nobody willing to back down from such an important mission.
"Alright then," the masked jonin replied with mirth. "Kurenai?"
"There should be an abandoned outpost not too far from here," she explained. "If we hurry we can reach it before nightfall with enough time to fortify."
"Sounds like a plan. Naruto, send a couple of bunshins to scout ahead," the leader of team seven ordered. "If anything is out of the ordinary I want to know."
Naruto saluted and followed command. After taking stock of supplies everyone steeled themselves and proceeded to the outpost as quickly as they could. The rest of the journey was surprisingly uneventful. True to Kurenai's prediction they arrived just as the sun began to set. The outpost itself was dilapidated from years of being unused and left to the elements. There were only a handful of buildings left in various states of decomposition. Sections along the perimeter wall had fallen, vines grew along the cracked walls and various small animals could be seen scurrying about the small compound.
The two teams set up camp in a large enough building to facilitate them. It was also one of the only buildings still structurally secure enough to double as a defensible location. Kakashi and Kurenai went about deciding who would take what shift as the genin went about setting up their bed rolls.
"Okay everyone," Kurenai announced to the genin. "We'll be taking turns keeping watch with two hour intervals. Kakashi and Sakura will be taking first watch. Shino and Sasuke will be after them followed by myself and Kiba. Naruto, you and Hinata will have final watch. Understood?"
Once everyone gave an affirmative Kakashi and Sakura left the room to keep watch. As Naruto laid in his bedroll he couldn't help the feeling that something was off. Shoving the thought to the back of his mind the blonde turned onto his side and closed his eyes. Tomorrow was going to be a big day.
A/N: And there we have it. Took a little longer than what I liked, but school and work tend to delay what I want to do. Now that the semester is over though I can hopefully make some headway with this story. The first story arc is honestly going to be the most difficult for me since I have to set up a lot of later events, but once I truck through that it should be easy sailing. Right now there are only a handful of changes, but some drastic alterations are going to take place soon. As for Naruto being dense, I do feel he should start out pretty dumb, but he'll gradually get better. Anyway, that should be enough for now. Hopefully the next update won't take as long. Later!