Last week we skipped ahead two years. Team seven is preparing to leave on their first extended mission and Itachi leaves to attend to an Akatsuki mission.
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Disclaimer: Naruto is owned by Kishimoto
Manga: wow. The Raikage's a jerk. That's all I gotta say about that. Except… is he possibly the only person in the story with an immunity to Naruto's "talk no jutsu"?
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Chapter 25 – The Bridge Across the Waves
"Shit, Sasuke!" Naruto exclaimed as he jogged next to his friend. They had just escaped Mikoto's over-protective ministrations and were on their way to the village gate to meet up with their team. "Did you see those muscles on Fugaku? I hope I look like that when I grow up." Fugaku had been the one to reign in his wife, but, because he had been asleep when the commotion had started he was only wearing a pair of shorts.
"Yeah. He trains a lot." Sasuke replied, "Itachi's starting to get muscles now too. He said that kids don't fill out until their teenagers, no matter how much they train."
"I don't know… that one kid in the class below us was pretty built… but maybe that was a Kekkai Genkai or something."
"Him? Must have been, I guess. Hey, Sai's here!" Sasuke waved as they approached the gate. Sai was standing with his arms crossed next to Sakura who was wearing a big grin and waving back.
"Guess what?" The cheerful girl smiled brightly at her teammates. "Sai is going with us!"
Sasuke frowned, "When you say 'guess what' you're supposed to let us guess."
"Three guesses is normal, Sakura." Naruto said, following Sasuke's lead. However, he couldn't hold his frown for long and started laughing, "I told you it would be cool to have him on our team, but noooo… you had to go all 'only three people on a team' and hit me." Naruto mimicked Sakura's voice, causing everyone to look at him in surprise.
"That was a very good imitation of Sakura." Sai said seriously. "Are you sure you aren't a girl?" He his eyes lowered suspiciously, causing Naruto's eyes to open wide in shock.
"You little jerk! I'll beat you up for saying that!" Launching himself at Sai, arms stretched wide to grab his neck, Naruto mysteriously found himself suspended in midair. Surprised he looked around and saw Kakashi had grabbed the back of his orange jacket and was holding him up.
"Now, now, now. We haven't even started yet and you're already trying to kill each other. Where's the teamwork, Naruto? And Sai, it's not a good idea to tease guys about their manhood, you could end up seriously wounded doing that. No one likes to be embarrassed and some accusations are more embarrassing than others."
"Yes sensei." Naruto and Sai replied in unison.
"So the midget's already causing trouble. And these kids are going to get me to the Land of Waves safe? That remains to be seen." An middle-aged man wearing a sleeveless brown shirt with a towel draped around his neck stepped into view. He was a head shorter than Kakashi and his stocky build, muscular arms and beard stubble fit the profile of a bridge-builder to a "T".
Naruto stepped forward, still upset from Sai's teasing he was determined not to take any more shit from anyone, "Quit calling me a midget! And if you keep it up I'll kill you!"
Everyone rolled their eyes, except Tazuna who gave a short, bitter laugh, "As if."
The blond boy roared as he jumped forward, only to be stopped, once again, by Kakashi. "Naruto, calm down. You aren't supposed to kill the client, you know. You protect him. Got it?"
"Yeah, yeah." Naruto muttered and fell in behind the others as they started walking down the road.
"So dickless, who you going to threaten to kill next?" Sai gave Naruto a big grin as he whispered.
"You, Sai. Just you wait. Kakashi can't be watching you every minute of the day." Naruto replied with a husky whisper.
"You two just don't know when to stop, do you?" Sakura joined the whisperers, "Inoichi told you to be nicer to people, Sai."
"I am. Teasing is a form of bonding done between friends. So I'm…owww!" Sai grabbed his shoulder where Sakura had just slugged him.
"That may be true Sai, but…" The three kids jumped in shock when Kakashi bent down to join their conversation.
"Don't scare me like that!" Naruto gasped.
"Ha, ha, ha! Sorry about that, couldn't resist." Kakashi walked back to the front of the procession, chuckling. Sasuke, who had been talking to Tazuna looked back for a minute, curious about what was going on before returning his attention to the bridge builder.
"Are we there yet?" Naruto mumbled to himself.
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"Come on kitty, you can have some of my chicken, un." Deidara was sitting on the ground under a nearly bare tree ripping a cold piece of chicken into shreds for his new friend. The large cat trotted over eagerly and ate the food so fast he looked more like a vacuum cleaner than an animal.
"That cat could probably stand to miss a few meals." Kisame stated plainly as he finished his own lunch. The four Akatsuki members had been travelling east through the forest of Fire country, bypassing the roads for a trail that was rarely used except by shinobi and hikers. The autumn wind had turned cold as the morning progressed and while it was still too warm to snow, it was a reminder of the season to come.
"Who do you suppose he belonged to, un? Someone in Konoha? He doesn't have a collar or anything."
Itachi pursed his lips before speaking, "Probably. A cat that overweight probably wouldn't wander far. Maybe his owner died? He looks too spoiled to be kicked out on a whim. Unless he got chased by a dog or something and he's lost."
"Well, he's mine now!" Deidara declared happily.
"Think again, brat!" Sasori responded.
"Ha!" He threw a clay bird in the air and performed a jutsu right before grabbing the cat and jumping onto the now five-foot long bird. "Gotta catch me first, master Sasori!"
Itachi was sure that inside of the large puppet, Sasori was rolling his eyes in exasperation. Kisame, of course, was laughing.
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It was a few hours after midnight when Itachi and his companions arrived at the small cabin they were planning to use as a base while they plotted to steal the accounting ledgers from a man believed to be working for Danzou. It was about five miles from their target and, as cabins go, nicely furnished and well maintained. The front door opened into a medium-sized room that had a couch, dining table and chairs and a small kitchen that contained a propane stove and a large cabinet that was used as a pantry. There was no refrigerator. One wall contained three doors, all leading to small bedrooms.
"The bathroom is outside." Kisame replied calmly as he set a couple rolls of toilet paper on a small table near the door. "Just the basics up here. Take the paper with you and bring it back inside when you're done or it'll get damp setting out."
"Is this your house?" Itachi asked, trying to hide his surprise.
"Yep. Great place to hide when you need a vacation. Great fishing up here too, although I doubt we'll have time for that."
"Hmmm." Deidara looked around cautiously; the cat was napping in his arms with his chin resting on the teen's shoulder.
"Go ahead and set him down. Nothing here will fall apart if he scratches it."
"Okay, un." He let out a big yawn as he pointed to the wall with the three doors.
Kisame gave a short laugh, "Take the room on the right. Itachi, the center and mine is the left, of course. Sasori doesn't need to sleep so it works out fine."
"Three bedrooms. Did you build it or…" Despite his polite demeanor, Itachi just couldn't see Kisame building a cabin with guest rooms.
"Found it and fixed it up."
"Oh… its…" Itachi started sneezing, letting out a big sigh when he finished. "I'm going to bed."
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"He's going to be okay, isn't he?" Sasuke asked worriedly.
A young woman with straight black hair and a sleight build was fussing over the white-haired Jounin who was lying unconscious on a futon in her house. "He's just sleeping now. I guess that fight you guys got into was quite draining for him."
"Thank-you, Tsunami, for looking after him." Tazuna replied gratefully.
"How could I refuse, father? He's here to help you after all. And he saved your life already."
Sasuke breathed a sigh of relief and leaned back against the wall. He stole a glance at his teammates who were also displaying varying expressions of worry and fear over their Sensei's condition. It had only been a few hours since they had met one of the most infamous of all the Swordsmen from the village hidden in the Mist. Zabuza Momochi was well over six feet tall with hard, prominent muscles and even harder eyes. He carried a sword that was almost seven feet long – or it looked like it was anyway – and appeared to be very heavy.
Zabuza and Kakashi had fought – two high level Jounin ready to die if it meant their opponent died as well. Sasuke cringed as he remembered the overwhelming force of their chakra. It had taken all his willpower, and some he didn't even know he had, to keep from being dragged under by the feeling of helplessness that had overwhelmed him.
In the end Zabuza was brought down by a Mist hunter-nin who appeared to be one or two years older than them. Naruto had thrown a tantrum, not understanding how a kid could kill one the most powerful men in the ninja world; a man Kakashi was having trouble fighting. Well, Sasuke had to admit he felt the same way. However, Itachi had also been a child prodigy and could probably take out Zabuza just as easily.
"Was he going all out, or holding back because we were there?" Sai finally asked.
Sakura sighed before answering, "I could believe he would hold back. He said he would die defending us and he kept telling us to leave, so maybe if we weren't there he would have fought differently."
"Good thing we stayed." Naruto nodded to affirm his statement.
"Hnnnn." Kakashi blinked his eyes and slowly focused on a dark brown wooden ceiling.
"Kakashi!" Sakura scooted over to his side, "How are you feeling?"
"A lot better. But it will be a couple days before I can move normally. Till then you four will have to guard Tazuna and the bridge. Got it?"
"Yes. Got it." All four kids repeated.
"At least that Zabuza guy is dead so that leaves just Goto for us to worry about." Naruto gave his sensei a big smile.
"I wonder…" Kakashi tried to sit up, but decided better of it when the room started spinning and laid back down on his back.
Sai spoke up, "Moving Zabuza like that was against ANBU Black Ops procedure… at least in Konoha."
"Exactly. It is in Mist as well. When it comes to disposing of Shinobi corpses all the villages tend to follow the same procedure." He went on to explain summarily, the process ANBU went through to dispose of shinobi killed in action. Sai and Sakura already knew the process, but Sasuke and Naruto had never even considered it before.
Tazuna, who had been leaning against the wall, straightened up and took a couple steps toward Kakashi, "What are you implying?"
"This is the truth. Zabuza Momochi is still alive."
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"Hey… what are you doing sleeping out here?"
Naruto was roused from a deep sleep by a soft voice and as consciousness returned he realized that he had fallen asleep in the woods a mile from Tazuna's home. Opening his eyes the first thing he saw was several yellow rays of sunlight poking through the weak mists swirling around the many pine trees. The chirping of birds and buzzing of insects came next and the boy, who was still a little disoriented, had the feeling that it was still summer.
"You'll get sick if you sleep out in the open like this."
The voice spoke again and some of the disorientation disappeared as Naruto realized that his clothes were damp, probably from the mists and dew, and he was a little chilled after all. Sitting up stiffly he yawned loudly as he stretched then rubbed his eyes.
"I'm fine." Naruto smiled at the voice, now a person, sitting next to him.
"That's good to hear. Why were you out here?"
"Oh, me and my teammates were training and I stayed to practice on my own and I guess I just got tired and was going to rest my eyes for minute and here it is, morning. What are you doing out here, sister?" For some reason Naruto felt like he had just made a new friend. There was a calmness, a "familiarity" that radiated from the girl and put the boy instantly at ease.
"You should be more careful."
"I agree. I will. So what are you doing out here?"
"Collecting medicinal herbs. I like the morning best, there's no one out and it's so peaceful. So… are you a ninja or is that" She pointed at Naruto's Konoha headband, "a fashion statement?"
Naruto suddenly had an image of a bunch of teenagers at a mall on TV advertising forehead protectors as the new "back-to-school" fashion item and shook his head and the horrifying image. Quickly regaining his composure he pointed his thumb at his head and exclaimed proudly, "I'm a ninja."
"Is that why you were training?"
"Yep!"
"So… do you… have someone precious to protect?" The girl stood up, revealing a simple brown kimono and wooden sandals. Her dark brown hair was tied up in a bun with two decorative chopsticks and she had large dark brown eyes and perfect skin.
"What…" The question seemed to be a complete change of direction from the conversation they were having that Naruto was briefly confused, "Of course I do. I've got my friends and my village. I want to protect them all so that's why I was training."
"That's good to know. I've got to go now."
"Well, it was nice meeting you sister."
"Make sure you don't fall asleep like that again." She started walking across the grassy forest floor then stopped and looked back at Naruto, "And by the way, I'm a boy."
Naruto's eyes bugged out as he stared at the retreating figure in shock, "But he's prettier than Sakura!" Which of course was saying a lot, because Naruto actually considered Sakura to be the prettiest girl in Konoha and had a secret crush on her. A feeling he knew was not reciprocated. Sakura, of course, like all the other girls their age, were crushing on Sasuke and Sai.
"I forgot to as her… him… his name." Naruto stood up pensively. "Oh well. I guess I better get back!"
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"This village is in pretty bad shape." Sakura stated as she watched the small child running down the road, clutching a stolen loaf of bread to his chest. There were a lot of people sitting by the side of the road, either begging or setting up "house" because they had no place to live. They all wore expressions of hopelessness and defeat.
"Konoha was looking like this for a while." Sasuke responded, remember the months following the coup when money was scarce and many of the civilians or lower-level shinobi were suddenly out of work and without support.
He had seen his older brother empty his pockets for them on several occasions and their mother had stopped asking him to pick stuff up at the grocery store because he would return with empty bags – having given away all the food. Fugaku had not approved and, fearing that Sasuke would pick up his brother's bad habits had cut off his allowance. Of course, as Itachi consoled him later by informing him that since all the stores were closed there was nothing to spend the money on anyway. Now that he was officially a ninja he had a paycheck so he no longer needed to rely on his parents for spending money.
"Konoha's recovered pretty well now." Sai peeked through the door of a run-down wooden building with a sign in front indicating it was a grocery store, "This is it, guys."
"This is a grocery store?" Sakura muttered under her breath. It was tiny, only about forty square feet and most of the food bins were empty. She pulled out the list she had been given by Tsunami that morning before they left with Tazuna. "Well, we can only get two of things here."
"The other items are at the store at the end of the street." Tazuna, who had just entered with Naruto, looked over her shoulder.
"Oh. Okay." Sakura put the items down in front of the cash register as Tazuna pulled out some coins and laid them on the counter. As she stepped back she felt someone's hand rustle the fabric her red shirt and her eyes opened in shock as she realized how close that hand was to her rear-end. Swirling around she yelled "pervert" as she kicked a young man into the empty bins at the opposite end of the store. He landed with thud against the heavily-constructed wooden structure without even cracking it. However, as he stood up it was clear that he had taken some damage. Muttering angrily he limped out of the store and down the street.
"Hah! Thank-you very much young lady. That man has been robbing people blind for the last month and no one has had the guts to go up against him." The middle-aged, blue-haired woman ran around the counter and gave Sakura a friendly hug.
Caught off guard Sakura gazed up into the woman's eyes and gave a short laugh, "No problem. I was glad to be of service."
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"How's your new little friend doing, dickless?" Sai was getting way too used to that nickname as far as Naruto was concerned, but Kakashi had suggested that he might stop using it if he received no reaction so the blond buried his anger and responded to the question instead of the "insult".
The late evening was spent relaxing on the deck of Tazuna's house and all four of the young ninja were availing themselves of the opportunity for some "down-time" from the mission. The waves lapped against the piers supporting the deck in a steady rhythm that complemented the crickets perfectly. The only downside was the cool autumn breeze that blew threw their clothes.
"Inari is pretty bitter. His dad was killed by Goto after promising to always be with him to protect him. But I'm not going to give up. I'll show him that there are such things as heroes."
"Yeah right." Sai's response was just as bitter as Inari's, causing Naruto to furrow his brow in concern.
"What is that supposed to mean?"
"Whatever. Just do what you want to do. I'm not going to stop you." Sai stood up and walked away, sticking his hands in his pockets.
Looking over at Sakura he was about to ask her what was up when she looked him in the eye and shook her head, silently telling him to back off. He glanced at Sasuke and saw that his confusion was mirrored on his friend's face as well. The pink-haired girl went back to staring at the ocean as if nothing had happened.
The three fell back into a comfortable silence until Tsunami came out to remind them of the time and suggest they go to bed. Sai was already asleep when Naruto and Sasuke entered the room and Kakashi was laying down, relaxing. Sakura was staying in Tsunami's room.
Kakashi looked up curiously at Naruto then glanced at Sai, as if asking what had happened.
Sasuke sighed, "We don't know. He just… he gets like that sometimes. Sakura seems to know something, but she's not telling."
"That's what I thought." Kakashi responded quietly. "Well, we'd better get to sleep."
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Itachi and Deidara stood at the top of a hill overlooking a secured compound of about five houses nestled deep in a forested valley. It was late afternoon and the sun had already gone behind the hill, making the forest very dark. Orange and yellow leaves swirled around them as the wind blew them off the trees.
"I haven't seen any reinforcements. I flew a ten mile perimeter search. And you didn't see anything from the ground. I wonder of Kakuzu's information was correct, un."
Itachi nodded, "It does sound off, doesn't it? If such an important set of ledgers were here, they should be heavily guarded. It might be a trap."
"I vote we pass on this mission and call Leader, un." Deidara reached up and adjusted his top-knot.
"You might be right about that." Kisame pushed his way through the brush and picked a couple twigs out of his hair. "Sasori said none of his puppet traps were triggered – meaning no person, shinobi or otherwise, has been near this place for the last five days since we got here."
"I didn't see anyone when I entered the compound. I entered two of the buildings but they were completely empty. The kitchen looked like it had never been used and there was no food, at all, anywhere." Itachi leaned back against a tree and sneezed a couple times. "You know, this is only a few miles from your cabin, Kisame. What if they knew you owned it and set this up?"
Kisame sneered, "I'll find them and kick their asses! However, I'm sure this is nothing more than a coincidence. There are places like this all over. Various Lords or regular citizens who just want seclusion. Within twenty miles there are fifteen compounds. Most are only used as summer houses."
"It is fall, un." Deidara resisted the urge to kick at the ground out of boredom. It would leave a mark and they were supposed to be here in secret.
"Well, let's go down and search for the ledger anyway." Itachi pushed himself off the tree and stood at the edge of the hill. "I think we're all bored and a little fight might liven things up."
"That doesn't sound like you, Itachi. We have no idea yet what's down there." Despite his words, Kisame definitely was looking forward to a fight.
"Hn." Itachi smiled, "If there is anyone down there, none of us were able to detect their chakra, meaning they are probably using some amazing jutsu to hide it or perhaps they are hiding underground. Although Deidara sent his sculptures into the dirt and didn't see anything, so I would assume that included tunnels. So, that means it may be protected by some kind of jutsu."
"That's no fun, un." Deidara had been excited for a couple minutes, but the thought of a jutsu-protected scroll vice a ninja-protected scroll was definitely far from exciting. "Shall we do this now, then?"
"Yeah." Itachi responded. "Deidara, take out anyone that tries to leave the compound. Kisame, you and Sasori watch the building I go into. I'm going to start in the center and work around in a clockwise spiral." He was the most experienced at jutsus so he knew his decision to search on his own was the best solution.
"Okay." Deidara agreed to do his part but was still feeling a little disgruntled, "But those two will probably kill anyone before I get a chance to fight, un."
"Blame Leader, not me." Itachi said quietly, not really caring if he was hurting Deidara's feelings or not, "He's the one who insisted on combining the two teams. We're overstaffed." Deidara took off on his clay bird without responding.
"Well, let's go! Adventure awaits!" Kisame jumped forward and in only two leaps landed at the base of the hill.
Itachi stared after his companion for a minute, slightly shocked at the man's declaration. "Adventure, huh? Are you really that bored?"
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Next week: Team Seven and Zabuza face off, and the Akatsuki enter the compound to look for the ledgers.
This is a bit short this week, but I want to do the fights all in one chapter and if I started them here it would either be too long, or I would have to leave a cliffhanger.
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