A/N: Okay... I'm happy with the direction I chose, so you're getting a new chapter. I skipped over the initial scenes of the Zabuza fight because I didn't want to change anything there, and you all know that song and dance. Speaking of that fight... why the hell did the water clone just sit there while Sasuke threw the fuma shuriken. Why not go for the target? Ah well... if I liked cannon I wouldn't have bothered with this in the first place.
It was a bright, crisp morning in Wave, but the people of Shun didn't seem to notice. Gato's thugs watched carefully as they piled crates up near their docks in preparation for another shipment. What had once seemed a blessing was now a curse of sorts. The amazing blacksmith that had decided to take up residence with them a few years ago had managed to earn them an undue amount of attention from the criminal organization.
Takashi, the blacksmith, could produce a dozen good swords in a single day. No one knew about this capability until Gato showed up and began culling out anyone who had any fight in them. He might have done away with those unable to perform hard labor, but Takashi had made a bargain with him. He would make the trade mogul blades and armor in large quantities in exchange for the towns safety.
Gato had agreed after seeing the man perform his art first hand. The weapons and armor weren't of the highest quality, but they were still on par with other mass produced gear used for militaries worldwide, and made by just one man.
The people of Shun still suffered, though. They were forced to work hard. First, they had built a sturdier deep water dock for Gato's smuggling ship. Then, they were worked to the bone providing whatever labor was necessary to keep Takashi properly supplied. Still, they ate better than most of Wave.
Focused as everyone in the town was on their work, no one noticed the three shadows flitting from rooftop to rooftop. They were scattered across the small fishing village, stopping from time to time to make note of something.
More noticeable, but less remarkable, was the small wild cat that had slunk into town to scavenge. The golden lynx managed to make it all the way to the dock before it was chased off by a thug. Had the man paid more attention to the feline, he might have noticed her mismatched eyes had been rather intent not on food, but the crates the villagers were shifting about.
XxXxXxX
"Just had to open my mouth," Kakashi complained morosely from the confines of the bubble the nukunin had trapped him in, "'Crazed swordsman willing to decapitate anyone in his way'. I must be fucking clairvoyant."
"What are you on about?" his captor, Zabuza, Demon of the Mist, asked as he raised up another water clone to handle the rest of his mission.
"Just lamenting fate," Kakashi replied with a sigh. To his team he shouted, "Just run as far as you can! His water clone will lose cohesion if it gets too far from him."
"No way we're leaving you, Sensei!" Naruto had run to the water's edge, intent on helping Kakashi, but the water clone was now in his way. Lightning fast, it hammered him with a kick that sent him skidding back to the rest of the genin, his hitai-ate coming off near the clone.
Showing just how tough he was, Naruto stood up immediately with a grim expression, blood trickling from the corner of his mouth. He spit a bloody glob in the direction of the clone and glared at it with narrowed eyes as it stomped down on his Leaf plate.
Sakura would have loved to follow the orders her Sensei had given them. She had no love for Kakashi, resented him for the way he had taken control of her life to be honest, and Zabuza scared the piss out of her. She highly doubted the three of them could make a real stand against his water clone, much less him, anyway. Naruto had, however, highlighted a tactical error in running with his refusal to leave behind their leader. Running would only delay the inevitable, and Zabuza would just kill Kakashi while he had him helpless.
She looked to Naruto only to see an odd gleam in his eyes. She'd seen that before, at the academy. It always preceded something wild happening to one of the instructors or students. Naruto had proven to be dense and spastic, but all of his pranks had given him a lot of experience in outsmarting much more seasoned shinobi. He was, in short, creative and devious.
His eyes turned to meet her own and she saw a measure of worry there. Whatever he was about to pull, it would leave her vulnerable to direct attack. She fixed on her face a look of confidence she didn't really feel and gave him a small nod. The worry evaporated in an instant. Did he really trust her so much? That only galvanized her desire to do her part.
Naruto rushed the water clone. Despite speed that helped him evade numerous chunin, the clone landed a savage kick that sent him skipping back towards his team once more. The kick looked far more brutal than the first one, and Sakura nearly cried out until she saw a glimpse of him signing as he tumbled. He was using his tunneling technique to cause more dirt to fly up into the air. Sakura suddenly saw her part.
"Tazuna-san," she whispered fervently, "Run for that brush, now!"
To his credit, the fat architect didn't hesitate a moment. He was deep in the brush by the time the dust began to clear, and Sakura had replaced him with a disguised bunshin. It wouldn't hold up under close inspection, but Zabuza's clone was thirty meters away with the original almost double that. She might have done the same for herself, but she needed the clone to focus on her for as long as possible before it moved on to her faux client.
Naruto stood, dirty and bruised, from his tumble to reveal the 'true' purpose of his foolish attack. He tied his Leaf plate back into place.
"I worked too hard for this to leave it in the dirt!" he announced loudly.
He pulled his pack down off his back and pulled a collapsed fuma shuriken from it. She thought for a moment that he had taken it from Sasuke while the other boy slept since she was sure the blonde hadn't had it when they left, but a quick glance showed her the Uchiha still had his strapped the the bottom of his own pack for quick access. She saw that Sasuke noticed as well, and he smirked. The dark eyed boy reached out to catch the weapon when Naruto tossed it to him.
"You're a better shot," Naruto admitted grudgingly, "Don't miss."
Sasuke deployed the shuriken with a flick of his wrist. He smiled darkly at the prospect of actually sticking it to the nukenin that had so frightened him just minutes ago, "I won't."
The Uchiha leapt skyward as high as he could go. He spun his body around to cover up pulling out his own fuma shuriken to stack with the one Naruto had given him and to give his throw the power it would need.
As Sasuke went airborne, the clone charged for the remaining genin. Naruto moved to intercept, and was sliced in half for his efforts. Had the water clone been as smart as its creator, it might have wondered at the fact that the body disappeared into smoke instead of a spray of gore. Then again, maybe it just didn't care so long as the real Naruto didn't get in the way.
Sakura had already determined her blonde teammate had swapped out with a clone, so her complete focus was on a technique she had not actually managed to perform yet. Trial by fire proved to enhance her performance, though, and her field of vision went from certain death to watching herself be sliced from shoulder to hip. With a thought she caused the Eseshourai illusion to release a spray of blood as she began to pelt her previous position with every throwing star she had.
The clone attempted to decapitate the disguised bunshin, only for its copied sword to pass uselessly through the image. It had no time to consider the issue before it had to leap skyward to keep from being pierced from numerous shuriken. It might have gone to either side, but it had thought the pink haired kunoichi dead and wasn't fully prepared for the barrage.
At the height of his jump, Sasuke came about to face Zabuza and released his flying windmills of death. His method was perfect, and the lower shuriken remained hidden from view in the shadow of the upper one.
"SASUKE!" Sakura's shout was all the warning he needed, but he had no real defense free falling as he was.
Instead of turning about to face the danger, he began to sign out his newest technique, keeping his hands hidden with his body. He turned his head just enough to track the incoming clone. It had its sword down and ready to slice up at him. Perfect. When it was just beginning to swing, he released his technique in a blast of fire in all directions. The clone, in the midst of an attack had no defense, and was rendered into so much vapor as Sasuke landed, breathing heavily from accidentally overcharging his technique, on the ground.
His shuriken flew right on target as they leveled off. The first one would have passed right through Zabuza's neck had he not reached out and caught it. The second earned a curse from the nukenin as he saw it coming right for his midsection. Sasuke let out a small curse of his own when the Demon of the Mist jumped over it without releasing the water prison.
The plan was still far from a failure, though. The second shuriken burst into chakra smoke to reveal Naruto with a kunai ready. He threw with amazing accuracy considering he was upside down and flying backwards. The small blade was headed right for Zabuza's face. With his arm still maintaining the water prison and still airborne from his dodge, the only thing he could do was pull his arm from the bubble with enough force to throw himself out of the way. A line of blood was still drawn on his cheek as it was, infuriating him.
"Damn your luck, brat!" Zabuza spat turning as Naruto splashed down, "I'll kill you for that."
He set the windmill spinning and prepared to throw, only for the blades to come to a halt with a clang. He looked to see the leaf jonin had stopped them with his plated glove, a bit of blood trickling out from where the plate had given way.
"That wasn't luck," Kakashi told him coldly, "You just got outmaneuvered and outsmarted by my genin."
Knowing full well how dangerous Kakashi was this close, Zabuza leapt away. He tossed the fuma shuriken aside and began a long string of signs. Ones that Kakashi began to mimic perfectly.
"Suiton: Suiryuudan no Jutsu!" both ninja cried out at the same time.
A pair of sinuous, water formed dragons rose up and crashed into one another. The techniques nullified, and Zabuza used the cover they provided to rush his foe... only to be met halfway and blade locked with a kunai of all things.
He tried to move laterally to Kakashi, and the leaf shinobi mirrored him. They remained face to face. Tired of the game, Zabuza prepared his biggest technique. He entered a stance to better mould his chakra. To his amazement, Kakashi mirrored it exactly, left arm straight up, and right hand just under his chin with the first two fingers pointed up.
He sees... Zabuza thought.
"Through them all!" Kakashi finished his thought for him. They went through a few seals.
Is he reading my mind!? The nukenin began to feel real fear for the first time in a long while, He's...
"Got a sickeningly evil look in his eye," Kakashi again finished his thought in an oddly menacing, flat tone. Another few seals.
"You're just a pale imitation!" the Demon yelled.
"I'm the real thing!" the shinobi said together, "No mere copycat stands a chance against me!"
They began to fly through signs so fast their hands blurred. Zabuza slowed, then stopped when he saw a spectre of himself behind Kakashi. The evil look in his mismatched eyes grew more intense, and the leaf jonin finished the technique before him.
"Suiton: Daibakufu no Jutsu," Kakashi announced almost lazily.
"What!?" Zabuza managed to yell before a huge mass of water was slamming into him.
The chakra enhanced current carried him straight into a tree. When the water receded, Kakashi was there with a kunai, ready to end his life.
"Can you see the future?" the nukenin asked.
"I foresee your death," Kakashi answered mildly, looking at him with that strange spinning eye.
At that moment a pair of thin metal needles hit Zabuza's neck with enough force to pierce all the way through. He fell limply to the ground, and an androgynous voice called out.
"Look at that," the source proved to be a masked figure, "Your prediction came true. Thanks for handling all the hard work."
Naruto, who'd managed to swim to shore during the fight looked from the corpse to the newcomer and back again.
"WHAT THE HELL!" he cried out, "We nearly die to this eyebrowless freak and this guy just prances in and takes him down with a pair of fricken NEEDLES!?"
Kakashi moved to check the body and found no pulse. He didn't trust this; it was too convenient. He didn't have the chakra to continue, though. If the supposed hunter nin wanted to play games, he would let him. He stood and covered his sharingan.
"Calm down, Naruto," the jonin advised, "Like the hunter-nin said. We did all the heavy lifting."
"Who did the what now?" the blonde asked confused, "What's a hunter-nin."
"A member of an elite shinobi hunting squad," Kakashi glanced back up at the mask to see four slanted, wavy lines, "This one is from Kirigakure. Likely here to hunt down their lost demon."
"That's right," the person behind the mask replied in a sing-song tone before shunshining to the body and hefting it, "Now I must go dispose of the body lest our enemies learn our secrets from it."
When the hunter had disappeared, Kakashi turned to his team.
"You three disobeyed a direct order and could all have easily died had Zabuza taken you more seriously," he told them in an angry tone, much to their surprise. His voice softened for his next words, however, "But you also didn't abandon your mission or me. You all did very well."
When he was done he promptly fell to the ground and passed out. Chakra exhaustion was a bitch.
XxXxXxX
Kakashi heard some scuffling sounds and immediately awoke. He kept his eye closed to see if he could determine what was going on around him.
"Shh, Naruto!" he heard his pink haired student whisper, "You'll wake him up."
As soon as he felt a hand near his face he opened his uncovered eye to get a hilarious view of Naruto and Sakura freaking out and scurrying across the room to avoid his wrath.
Around him was what looked like a large common area ubiquitous in houses across the Elemental Countries. He lay on a comfortable futon with a warm blanket tucked around him. Tazuna was there, drinking to calm his nerves with a rather fetching dark haired woman giving him a firm dressing down.
"You hired kids!?" she wasn't yelling, but the shrill tone in her voice was worse in many ways, "KIDS! How dare you put children in danger like this!"
"We are full fledged shinobi," Sasuke responded to her in a bored tone, "We are deemed adults as soon as we become genin."
His words, and the flat tone in which he delivered them, took the wind out of her sails. She huffed and turned to Kakashi.
"I'm Tsunami, Kakashi-san," she greeted him warmly, "What happened to you? You didn't look too beat up."
"I used way too much chakra," he replied with a sigh, "I think I've grown complacent in recent years."
"Well, you still whooped that guy with the sword!" Tazuna clapped his hands happily, "And your team is a lot better than I first thought."
"I wouldn't go celebrating yet, Tazuna-san," Kakashi turned his cyclopian gaze to their employer, "Gato may well have other dangerous people in his employ, and I'll be no better than a normal civilian for the next week or so."
"Don't worry, old man," Naruto puffed out his chest, "Team Seven will protect you, anyway."
"You're all going to die," a new voice said grimly.
They all looked to see a small boy wearing a fishing cap. The look on his face mirrored his words and tone perfectly. Kakashi recognized that look. He'd seen it in the mirror enough times. It was one of both deep loss and complete hopelessness.
"What the hell?" Naruto turned to the boy with a look of mixed confusion and annoyance, "You don't even know us!"
"I know Gato kills anyone and everyone who stands against him," the boy replied flatly, "Especially stupid heroes like you."
"Hey, brat!" the blonde shinobi shot back, "I'm Konoha's number one most unpredictable ninja. No one's gonna kill me until I achieve my dream of being Hokage."
"You really are stupid," the little kid continued with his hopeless line. He turned for the stairs and began to walk up them, "I'm going to watch the ocean from my room."
It required Sakura to hold Naruto back from knocking the brat around.
"Please forgive him," Tsunami sighed sadly, "Gato took someone very dear to Inari, to all of us, away."
"Hmph," Naruto calmed and sat down, "It's not like he's the only one who's ever had it hard."
"Well then," Kakashi said in a too cheery voice, "Now that that's over... Sasuke, in my pack is a high powered hand-held radio. Bring it here."
The Uchiha raised a brow but complied without question.
"There's a possibility Zabuza could still be alive," the jonin dropped a bombshell on them, "I'm going to make sure we aren't bothered while we prepare for him."
"WHAT!?" Naruto and Sakura shouted together.
"B-but how, Sensei?" the kunoichi inquired, shakily, "You checked him yourself."
Kakashi worked himself into a sitting position and began to fiddle with the knobs on the handset. "I did, but it occurred to me that hunter-nin usually dispose of the body of their mark on site."
"That means," Sasuke pondered with a hint of eagerness, "That shinobi could have done something to make it look like Zabuza was dead."
"You can do that!?" Naruto asked in a slightly frightened tone, "That's freaky!"
"It's only a theory, but I believe in preparation," Kakashi said before bringing the radio up to his mouth, "Stripes, this is Dopple. Do you copy?"
XxXxXxX
"Seriously?" Hiroto let out a breath to keep himself calm, "You want me to take my team, which is made for infiltration, and draw all sorts of attention to ourselves?"
"Tazuna-san is a dead man if you don't," Kakashi's voice was broken by a bit of static as it left the radio, "You said yourself at the last progress report that you felt they were combat ready."
"Alright..." Hiroto sighed in defeat, "I'll see what I can do. Stripes out."
He sat back and thought about how his team was going to pull this off. Common thugs weren't a big deal for a genin team, and his boys weren't strangers to battle. He needed intel, though. The anonymous backer hadn't been able to give troop counts, just targets that would cause Gato problems.
In the end, Team Seven still had the worse situation. Hiroto agreed with his peer's assessment of the situation. He absently rubbed the scar on his belly through his shirt. The Demon of the Bloody Mist was a rough opponent.
"I know you could have taken him, Yancha," Osamu sighed in exasperation as he and the rest of Team Five returned from their scouting, "A cat your size killing a man would cause too much of an uproar, though."
The cat, indignant at having to flee from an inferior creature, mrowed unhappily.
"You'll get your chance, Yancha," Hiroto placated her with a pat. He turned his attention to his team, "News from Team Seven. They had a nasty run-in with a Class-A nukenin."
Hotaka's eyes opened wide, "Are they okay?"
"No major injuries," the jonin replied, just as relieved by that as his students were, "They need us to step up our timetable, though. Kakashi-san is out of commission for a while, and they need the heat off of them."
"You're still recovering from mild burnout, though," Masaru frowned as he sat down next to their currently empty fire pit, "Even if you weren't, we were planning to take this slow."
"No plan survives contact with the enemy," Osamu added sardonically, "I noted a few people the three of you could pass for with a bit of work. We can try a direct infiltration for information."
"I'd prefer no more than two of us for that kind of work," Hiroto sighed in frustration, "I'd rather not put any of you in that position to tell the truth, but they need us to cause a stir in the next couple of days."
Osamu shrugged helplessly, "Observation won't get us the intel we need fast enough. Even direct infil won't paint a full picture in time, but it'll be better than nothing."
"What do you have, then?" their Sensei asked as he joined Masaru around their pit, sitting opposite the large teen. Osamu and Hotaka followed suit, sitting opposite each other.
"One of Gato's men is your size and build," their infiltration specialist informed the jonin, "His face is a bit different, but I can fix that with some makeup."
"A plant amongst the thugs will be good," Hiroto mused, rubbing the stubble forming on his chin, "What about the townsfolk?"
"Why would we want someone with them?" Masaru asked curiously.
"Potential source of information," Osamu explained, "You never ignore those."
Masaru deferred to his friend with a shrug.
"I spotted a few of the goons that Masaru could pass for, but no villagers," Osamu went on, "There was this boy that Hotaka could pass for, though. Not as muscular, but his clothing was baggy. Should cover that up."
"So how do we go about replacing them?" Hotaka asked seriously, "I could care less about Gato's men after what we saw, but I'd rather not inflict more suffering on those people."
"Kidnap them," Hiroto replied with a tired sigh, "Hopefully the kid will be compliant once he knows what we're about. We'll milk the thug for any info he has, then decide what to do with him after that."
XxXxXxX
"So Team Five is in Wave, too?" Sakura asked as they followed their hobbling teacher into the woods near Tazuna's house, "Why didn't you tell us?"
"That information was on a need to know basis," Kakashi answered without looking back at her, "And frankly, you didn't need to know."
Sakura shot her sarcastic leader a raspberry.
"That's ten more reps and another hundred meters of running for you guys," the jonin said.
Sakura gave a mixed horrified and amazed look at her two teammates. Naruto just gave her a helpless shrug and Sasuke shook his head.
"What are we gonna be doing out here, Sensei?" Naruto asked after a moment of silent walking.
Kakashi came to a stop next to a stream. The trees here were fairly spread out, and there was a thick layer of spongy detritus underfoot to absorb the shock of their impending falls.
"You're going to master tree climbing," the jonin answered turning back in time to see the sour look on Naruto's face, "Chakra control is the basis for all ninjutsu, Naruto. Want to be Hokage?"
The boy nodded resolutely, then looked over at Sakura, "What about Sakura-chan? She's already got this down."
"That's what the stream is for," Kakashi gave them his odd eye smile, "She's moving onto the next exercise in chakra walking. Walking on water."
"Are you sure I'm ready for that, Sensei?" the girl in question asked nervously as she looked at the stream that was likely cold as hell this time of year.
"I believe you can do it," Kakashi said simply, "Do you know the theory behind it?"
She nodded.
"Good," he began to walk back to the house. As he passed by the girl he whispered, "Help them out only if they ask for it."
She watched Naruto get three steps up his chosen tree before launching off into another tree. The tough blonde got right back up and tried again... to the same effect. Sasuke was doing only a little better. Instead of blasting off, he was making it up a few steps to leap away and somersault back to the ground. You'd think they hadn't already been practicing this for a month. An idea hit her as she watched and worked up the nerve to step over the icy stream.
"Hey guys," she caught their attention and tossed each a kunai, "See who can make the highest mark."
Kakashi could suck a lemon for all she cared. Besides, she wasn't really helping, per se. She grinned when they looked at one another and determination entered into their faces.
"No way you're gonna beat me, duckbutt," Naruto told him.
"Please..." Sasuke replied quietly, "I'll be watching you from the top like I always have, dobe."
XxXxXxX
The sun was riding low in the sky, and Arata had drawn the short straw for perimeter duty during the night. During the warmer months, he had usually just found a comfortable spot in the woods and slept, but the colder weather prevented him from getting any shut-eye. That, of course, didn't stop him from lazing about. They had the town properly cowed over a year ago. The odds of any of them making a break for it were practically nil. He really didn't have much to watch for.
Except for that group of chakra signatures out in the woods. They were pretty hefty, meaning that they were probably shinobi. The only other major sources nearby were the smith and Arata's boss. He might have gone to tell the fucker about it, but certain events involving the sensor's family stayed him. He would just sit tight and let the pieces fall where they may.
Of course he didn't expect the black bag that went over his head. He nearly pissed himself. The realization that one of the shinobi could mask his chakra signature entered his head just before a sharp blow sent him down towards unconsciousness.
XxXxXxX
Osamu watched as the boy hunkered down in an alleyway for the night, trying vainly to wrap his ragged brown clothes tighter for warmth. He'd seen homeless people before, during training with his sister. She'd told him it was important that he see and acknowledge all levels of society, no matter if he felt they should exist or not. He was less naive than back then, but he still didn't like that some people lived on the streets.
It was odd to him that most people felt the same way when taken individually, but as a society, no one seemed to care. It was like these lost souls were invisible. That was why this lanky boy was of such interest to him. Others often avoided eye-contact with homeless people and tried to ignore their existence altogether.
Getting a closer look, he noticed that this teen looked as if puberty refused to touch his face. Even Osamu, despite his small size, was beginning to develop some masculinity to his sharp and feral features, and he was sure this guy was older than him by at least a couple of years. He had seen plenty of instances of more androgynous men, though. This poor soul was perhaps part of that minority. He shrugged to himself, and motioned for Yancha to go in and distract the boy.
Despite the facial differences, he still believed he could easily make Hotaka appear the same. Some color contacts to change his teammates steal blue eyes to this boy's vermilion would make them look like brothers. Color Hotaka's dirty blonde hair black and add some makeup to soften his harder features and they would be very nearly twins. Hotaka was just slightly taller, and his hair was shorter than the ratty locks the urchin was sporting by a few centimeters. Those things would be readily dismissed, though. Hair could be cut, and teenage boys grew at alarming rates.
"Brroww," Yancha called at as she entered the alleyway.
"Huh?" The boy turned and looked with a hint of fear at his visitor. His voice was still high for his age, "Oh... H-hello, Neko-san."
Yancha's growth over the past years had left her about the size of a small or young lynx. Coupled with the natural coloring of that brand of cat, it was likely the boy thought her completely wild and not just a feral stray.
The feline approached after being greeted, keeping her body language friendly, which seemed to relax the boy a bit. Just as his sister had taught him, the homeless tended to understand the animals native to their area better than most. It was a necessary skill for survival on the streets.
"You're just a wild looking stray, aren't you?" the boy asked with less fear after seeing the cat react favorably to him, "Are you hungry, Neko-san?"
He pulled some tough looking jerky that he likely got for working on the docks that day from his pocket and held it out for her to sniff, "It's not all that tasty, but it'll keep you going."
Osamu sighed in resignation. He honestly didn't want to uproot this guy and make his life more difficult. Yancha was already gnawing on a bit of the meat and threatening to scratch him awake for the next moon cycle if he hurt the boy. Luckily, he had other options. Namely, the sedative coated senbon needle his always prepared friend, Masaru, had produced.
He'd never thrown anything like it, so he snuck in close from the other end of the alley. A quick prick to the neck and the boy was out like a light.
"Must've got this from Anko-neesan," Osamu mused as he collected the taller boy. Despite their relative size difference, he was rather light. Likely malnourished, "Let's go, Yancha."
XxXxXxX
"Man this guy is ugly..." Masaru commented as they waited for their prisoner to wake.
"Thanks," his Sensei replied sarcastically; though, he couldn't disagree.
It looked as if the guy had a perpetually broken nose. The thing was like a mass of putty stuck to his face. It didn't help that it looked like half of his greenish hair had been burned away in some accident, or that his teeth were a nasty shade of yellow.
His clothing was serviceable, though. Mostly a drab shade of blue with some white trim, his pants and long-sleeve shirt had stored close to twenty decently hidden daggers. Those had been removed, of course, and placed out of sight.
Nearby, where Osamu and Hotaka were waiting for the sedative to wear off of the homeless boy, chuckles could be heard.
"Osamu said you had his body type, not his face," the large teen defended.
"Yea, Sensei," Hotaka called over, "You're not that ugly."
Hiroto shot the now snickering Masaru a glare as their 'guest' began to stir. He was groggy and bewildered at first, but soon became coherent as he realized his arms were bound uncomfortably behind him.
"The fuck?" he cried out in a nasally voice that lent credence to the broken nose theory. He glanced around wildly and his watery brown eyes settled on Hiroto, or more importantly, the leaf plate on his bicep, "Ah fuck me!"
"I'm glad you recognize your... predicament," Hiroto smiled menacingly, "I want some info."
"Will this info keep my throat from bein' slit?" the thug asked seriously.
"Possibly," replied the jonin, crouching down to be more level with his prisoner, "Why is Gato so interested in this town he would leave thirty of you here permanently?"
"The blacksmith is a fucking miracle worker," the thug replied instantly, "Can pump out weapons and armor faster than ten smiths."
"Why keep the villagers around?" Masaru asked with much less menace than his Sensei, "They would be a security risk."
The goon shrugged helplessly, "Boss man said don't em hurt less we have to. He pays, I listen."
"What's your name?" Hiroto asked.
"Arata," the man answered warily.
"Tell you what, Arata-san," Hiroto shifted into a less intimidating mode of speech, "I'll let you leave this island with your skin intact on two conditions."
Arata nodded for him to continue.
"One, you never come back," Hiroto held up a finger on his hand. He raised another, "And two, you detail your entire group here."
Arata's broken face took on a pensive look. He finally nodded his agreement, "Alright, deal."
XxXxXxX
Nearby, but out of earshot for most civilians, Hotaka and Osamu watched and waited for their own guest to awaken. They had a fire going with a few hares roasting on a spit. Unlike Arata, they had not tied the homeless boy. It was their hope that a good meal and decent treatment would get what they needed from him.
"Kinda girly looking..." Hotaka commented as he studied the face under the messy hair, "Get his name?"
"Not before I sedated him," Osamu replied.
Yancha was laying next to the boy, and so felt him stir before the two shinobi noticed. She mrowwed in warning.
"You can open your eyes," Osamu said without a hint of menace in his voice, "We know you're awake."
The boys eyes opened and focused in on Osamu. His strange appearance obviously frightened him, "W-what do you want with me?"
"Some information," Hotaka replied as he checked the roasting hares, "Let's start with your name."
"K-kaede," he replied as he sat up. Despite his fear, the boy kept glancing to the roasting meat hungrily. Tough jerky and stale bread could keep you alive, but it was no substitute for fresh meat.
"I'm Hotaka," the lanky teen told him with a smile as he slid one of the hares onto a metal field plate, "This is Osamu. The cat is Yancha."
Kaede glanced down next to himself, "You're with them?"
Yancha's only answer was to purr.
"Can't even trust the animals anymore," the boy mumbled darkly.
"We aren't going to hurt you," Osamu told him seriously, "We're actually here to help."
He left out the part where they were being paid a large sum of money to do so, but there was no real reason to get into the specifics.
"You're here to stop Gato?" Kaede asked. His eyes kept drifting to the plate of roasted hair that Hotaka had yet to touch.
"Yes," Hotaka smiled at the attention his cooking was receiving, "Will you help us?"
Kaede seemed to catch on that more than the goodwill of some shinobi would be his reward, "Yes."
Hotaka handed the scrawny teen the plate of rabbit. Part of the reason he had held it back was to let it cool, as Osamu had warned him that the homeless kid would likely tear into it like a wild animal, which he did. Hotaka proceeded to plate the other hare and begin eating at a more sedate pace. Osamu had already consumed his earlier, so as to not scare Kaede.
"What do you want to know?" Kaede asked between large bites.
"How many men guard your town?" Osamu began the planned line of questioning. They already had a good count, but they wanted to see how truthful their guest would be.
"It's not my town," the boy replied with some vehemence, "Only Takashi-san is nice to me there."
"Explain?" the smallest of Team Five asked.
"I come from a village further inland," Kaede told them with a note of sadness, "We had decided to stand against Gato as one. He had a lot more thugs than we thought."
"You're the only survivor?" Hotaka asked with some sympathy.
The boy shook his head, squeezing his eyes shut to prevent tears from leaking out, "Some others got away and spread out over the island. Gato let us go so we could tell others what happened."
"I want to kill this guy more and more," the lanky teen growled.
"He knows what he's doing, Hotaka," Osamu replied, "We need to stretch his resources so Team Seven can protect Tazuna-san easier."
"He's alive!?" Kaede asked with a hint of hope in his eyes. When Osamu nodded he explained, "He disappeared about a month ago. We thought Gato finally got him."
"That must be why he hired shinobi," Osamu reasoned, "He figured Tazuna-san was going to hire his own, so he got himself some nukenin."
"Why not hire legit ninja?" asked Hotaka, slightly confused, "I mean... Konoha wouldn't take the contract cause our Daimyo is seriously against slavery, and that's basically what's going on here. Why not Suna or Kiri, though."
"Kiri isn't taking most contracts as far as I know," Osamu answered, drawing on his knowledge of the current political climate, "Wind isn't as strict on slavery as Fire, but the Kazekage probably wouldn't want to cause a scene by taking a contract just off our border that the Fire Daimyo would freak over."
"Not to mention no village means you gotta enforce your own contract," Hotaka added, earning a nod of approval from his more politically minded friend.
"So, ummm..." Kaede cut in, "Did Tazuna-san hire you to come take care of Gato?"
Hotaka and Osamu shared a look. It was the cat-eyed boy who spoke up, "Not exactly... we were contracted by an anonymous backer."
"We're getting off topic here," his friend cut off further questions that might get them into the classified territory, "Tell us about Shun and the thugs guarding it."
Kaede nodded, finishing off the hare, "I came in after they were set up, but I do know they use the natural bay to ship out weapons and armor on this old boat."
"How old?" Osamu asked. details were important here.
"It still uses sails and stuff," the homeless boy replied, "Looks like something out of an old pirate story."
"Are they employed by Gato, too?" Hotaka asked him.
"They're his men," Kaede confirmed, "Real assholes, too. They always come in, drink, and cause trouble. Even the guards around town don't like em much."
How many are on the ship?" Osamu asked.
"About twenty, I think," Kaede responded.
"You think?" the two shinobi asked incredulously at the same time.
"I wasn't expecting to be quizzed on this..." the boy defended, fear creeping back into his voice.
"What about the thugs in town?" Osamu continued the questioning.
"There's about thirty of them," Kaede confirmed their earlier count.
"That's enough for now," Osamu stated after that, "Hotaka here is going to take your place in town. So I'll have to ask you to stay close to this camp."
Kaede seemed a little alarmed by that, "You're not letting me go?"
"We just need to make sure you don't blow Hotaka's cover," the small teen explained, "You'll be free to go once we've dealt with operations in Shun."
Kaede seemed to calm down a bit after that, but there was still some fear in his eyes. He'd heard horror stories of people being replaced by shinobi dopplegangers, and the originals were never seen again.
XxXxXxX
"The fuck are you doin anyway?" Arata almost whined, making his already nasally voice extremely annoying, "Thought you said you'd let me leave."
"I'm disguising him to look like you," Osamu explained with barely veiled irritation as he continued to apply sculpting putty to his Sensei's face, "Now sit still so I have a good model."
Arata complied, mostly because the look on the large teen watching him promised a great deal of pain if he didn't.
Osamu cursed when he looked back at the thug, "Does your nose move on its own?"
"Ain't sat still since that bar brawl in Wind about four years back," Arata proclaimed with a hint of pride.
"Just do your best, Osamu," Hiroto told him, "I'll make it work."
The boy sighed and began to paint over the ugly mass he'd placed over his Sensei's nose to make it look like real skin, "Don't get hit there. Whoever does it will know instantly."
"Get hit?" the jonin chuckled, "By these idiots?"
"We were surprised by the pirates," Masaru pointed out.
Hiroto shrugged as Osamu continued his work, making the boy curse again.
"Sit. Still," the boy ordered menacingly, "I still need to color Hotaka's hair and find a set of color contacts, and you aren't making this go any faster."
While amused by his students attempt to intimidate him, Hiroto nonetheless complied.
Soon enough, the makeup was done, and Osamu gave a nod of approval after looking from the real Arata to his double.
"That's pretty uncanny," Masaru proclaimed, "go check it out, Sensei."
Hiroto moved towards the large wardrobe Masaru had produced on Osamu's request. He'd nearly fallen down in surprise when the piece of furniture appeared after the small shinobi had asked for his 'disguise kit'. He took in his appearance in the full body mirror, and had to admit, he looked just like the thug he was replacing, save for his hazel eyes. He had some experience with disguises, but Osamu was apparently excellent at more than just chakra based illusions.
"Alright, Arata-san," Hiroto turned back to face the man, "I'm gonna need your clothes."
"What for?" the ugly criminal asked.
"I look like you, but I'm still wearing my shinobi uniform, dolt," the jonin answered with a long suffering sigh.
"Oh..." the thug replied. Masaru untied him so he could strip down.
With some cheap replacements from the wardrobe. Arata was soon out of his normal wear, and Hiroto was into it.
"Uh, Sensei..." Masaru grabbed his attention and tapped his forearms, "You forgetting something?"
Hiroto looked to his own arms, to the tiger tattoos on them specifically, and groaned in frustration. He would have to leave his shields with Osamu and Masaru. He could have left well enough alone since he would be wearing long sleeves, but he didn't want to risk someone seeing and asking hard to answer questions.
Summoning them forth, he began a process that he'd never actually performed. He began to unstrap his weapons.
"Arata-san," he got the thugs attention, "There is a small motorboat due East of here hidden in a copse of trees. Take it and leave this island. Don't come back."
"Can do," Arata scampered into the night without a backward glance.
Hiroto handed his shields over to Masaru who eyed them hungrily, "Do not do anything to them."
"But... Science!" Masaru whined.
"No!" the jonin replied forcefully, sounding like he was scolding a dog.
Grumbling, the seal-happy shinobi stored them in a scroll and secreted that away on his person.
XxXxXxX
"You're just going to let that guy go?" Kaede asked Hotaka seriously as they watched the thug leave.
"Sensei keeps his word," the lanky shinobi shrugged, "He told the guy he could go."
The older boy didn't seem to like that, but couldn't really do much about it.
"Alright, Hotaka," Osamu came walking up with a bottle of dark liquid, "Let's cover up those bright locks of yours."
The boy in question sighed, "Yea, yea."
He removed his vest and shirt to keep them from getting stained, revealing a compact core that was beginning to show the signs of muscular definition. He didn't quite catch the slight blush from the homeless boy, but Osamu did. He considered asking about it, but decided to leave it be.
"So how long will this stuff last," Hotaka asked as he sat on a the ground and leaned well backward so Osamu could work.
"It was advertised to not wash out except for this special solvent I got with it," the other boy answered as he began to run the slightly acrid smelling fluid through his friends hair, "We should be able to wash it out whenever you want."
"Good to know," Hotaka breathed a sigh of relief.
"Something wrong with black hair?" Osamu asked with false indignance for his own dark fuzz.
"I just don't like the feeling of covering up who I am," the other boy replied, contrasting his friends joking manner with a serious answer.
"There's nothing wrong with hiding who you are to protect yourself," Kaede surprised them with his sombre tone.
"See..." Osamu smirked down at his friend, "Even he gets it. You're all done."
Hotaka sat up and looked over to the boy he was replacing, "What do you think?"
This time he did notice the blush, "I like the blonde better, but this suits you, too."
The civilian boy walked away suddenly, Yancha following after to make sure he didn't go too far.
"What was that about?" Hotaka asked in bewilderment.
"Maybe he finds you attractive," Osamu snarked to his friend.
"You mean like..." the taller teen trailed off as he put two and two together, "You think he's... you know?"
"There was certainly a spark of excitement when you took your shirt off," Osamu laughed at his friends obvious discomfort.
"Oh shut up," Hotaka stormed off to get a look at himself in the mirror.
After he was gone, Kaede peeked around the tree he was behind, "That was mean."
"We do things like that to each other all the time." Osamu replied with a laugh. He turned to call over to his lanky teammate, "Bring some spare clothes back with you."
He turned back to Kaede expectantly.
"What?" the boy asked, uncomfortable under the gaze of those wild amber orbs.
"We need your clothes," the shinobi explained as if it should have been obvious, "Hotaka's bringing you a change. Go ahead and strip down."
"I... I don't feel comfortable with you watching," Kaede replied nervously.
Osamu saw a current of fear far deeper than just some shyness, "It's okay... not like I haven't seen anything you've got before."
Kaede shook his head and stepped back behind a tree, "Please just turn around."
Osamu sighed in exasperation and did as asked, willing Yancha to keep an eye on Kaede in case he made a break for it.
"Can you tell your cat to stop staring at me, too?" Kaede asked nervously.
"Someone has to watch you," the small boy threw his hands up in the air in exasperation.
Curiosity began to overwhelm Osamu's sense of propriety and he snuck a peak behind himself. Kaede had stepped into the shadows cast by their fire, but they were no cover for the shinobi's sensitive eyes. When Osamu saw Kaede's shirt come up, he couldn't help a gasp at what he saw.
"You said you wouldn't look!" Kaede nearly screamed, noticing the glance of the cat-like eyes.
Osamu's head jerked back around, "S-sorry!"
"The hell is with all the yelling?" Hotaka asked as he walked up with a change of clothes for their guest. Noticing a deep blush on his friends face he asked, "What's up with you?"
"He is a she," Osamu answered immediately, his blush deepening.
"What?" was the eloquent reply.
"Can I have another shirt, please," came the embarrassed sounding voice of Kaede from behind a tree.
Hotaka, not believing his friend simply walked around with the clothes in hand.
"HOTAKA!" the girl did scream this time. Her high pitched yell was followed by a smack. It was a good thing their camp was three kilometers away from any civilization.
The lanky teen came scurrying back around the tree blushing furiously, with an angry red hand print darkening the color on his left cheek. Luckily for Kaede, he'd dropped the clothes in his rush to get away from the angry female.
"The hell is all the yelling for?" Masaru came trudging up, "We are technically in enemy territory you know... why are you two blushing?"
"Kaede isn't a boy," Hotaka explained with wide eyes, "We saw... things."
"Oh," Masaru replied with less surprise than they thought he would, "I suppose it would be smart to make the goons think she was a boy."
"What for?" Hotaka asked as he waited shirtless for her clothes.
"Rape for one," Osamu supplied soberly, "Nee-san says it's a pretty big issue in situations like this."
"Mrooww!" a startled Yancha came bounding up to them.
"She's running for it!" Osamu told his friends, "Masaru, help me coral her. Don't hurt her."
XxXxXxX
Kaede ran for all she was worth. She didn't think for a moment that she could get away from real shinobi, but she would be damned if she would let them do to her what had happened to her mother.
The memories of hiding, trying so hard to stay quiet, while in the next room her mother was assaulted again and again until they got tired of her ran through her mind. It was almost a relief when they slit her throat. She would make them kill her before they used her like that.
The plain gray slacks and shirt she wore were a better fit than her old filthy rags, and she was better able to move in them. Coupled with the fear of rape and the good meal she'd had earlier that evening and she was able to run faster than she ever thought possible.
It wasn't fast enough, though. She caught glimpses of Osamu darting through the trees to her right and pulling ahead. She became more frightened when she saw the way he moved. At that moment she could have sworn he looked more like a beast than a person. He sometimes dropped to all fours and ran much like the feline next to him.
She veered away from him, forgetting in her fear that there were likely other shinobi pursuing her. Turning her eyes back forward, she came face to chest with Masaru. He quickly wrapped her in a bear hug. She promptly began to claw and bite at him, but his thick black shirt prevented any real damage.
"Please calm down, Kaede-san," he spoke as soothingly as he could with a desperate prisoner doing everything she could to get away, "We aren't going to hurt you."
"Then let me go!" she cried out and redoubled her struggling.
"Osamu. Do something before she hurts herself!" Masaru pleaded with his teammate.
Kaede found the strength twist around in time to see the smaller boy finish a set of hand seals. Her fear spiked at what was about to happen to her, but then began to melt away. Her struggling petered off as she seemed to lose all fear of the shinobi.
"There we go," Masaru steadied her. He kept one of his large hands on her arm just in case.
"What did you do to me?" Kaede could feel a pressure of sorts in her mind. Like something was locked away that needed desperately to get out.
"I dulled your fear," Osamu explained, "It isn't permanent."
"It feels weird," she giggled slightly, as if drunk, "I know you can hurt me, but I don't care."
"What the hell, Osamu?" Masaru sent a glare to his friend.
"I didn't have time to be subtle," Osamu defended, "She'll be fine in an hour or so."
XxXxXxX
"So you saw her naked?" Hiroto asked with a tired sigh.
"Not completely," Hotaka admitted with another blush, "She had her breasts bound down with some cloth and her pants were still on, but from the looks of it, she was feeling... chilly."
Hiroto snorted in amusement. Teenagers were so weird when it came to sexuality.
He looked up when he heard footsteps to see his other two students guiding a giggling Kaede back into camp.
"What's up with her?" he asked with a quirked eyebrow.
"Hit her with Torihazushi," Osamu explained, "Completely suppressed her fear. It seems that her mind is replacing it with other emotions. She was pretty angry a minute ago."
"They wouldn't say if I was pretty or not," Kaede stopped her giggling to proclaim this vehemently, "And they still haven't."
She began to swat at Masaru, who was still holding her by the arm looking rather miserable.
"You are very pretty, Kaede-san," Hiroto told her to calm her down, "Hotaka was just saying he couldn't think of a better person to impersonate."
"But he's a boy!" the addled girl began her giggling again. This stopped a moment later and the girl began to pout, "Do I really look like him?"
"Your body types are very close," Osamu placated the girl, "I still have to do some makeup to make your faces match."
"You have to wear makeup!" she somehow slipped from Masaru's grasp and was now poking Hotaka in the side while laughing. She gasped in delight and ran up to Osamu, "Will you do me, too? I've never worn makeup, and I've been playing at being a boy for so long..."
"If you calm down, Osamu will gladly do your makeup," Hiroto informed her with a grin at a sputtering Osamu, "He can even do your hair."
The girl squealed in glee and sat down next to the fire quietly to await her turn.
Grumbling, Osamu retrieved his makeup kit and began work on a laughing Hotaka.
XxXxXxX
It wasn't difficult to insert into their roles. All Hiroto and Hotaka had to do was place themselves where they had abducted the two they were replacing. Both were currently at the spot Hiroto had found Arata.
"What do I do if I get spotted?" Hotaka asked nervously.
"That really depends on who figures you out," Hiroto replied as he scratched around the putty on his face. His nose had been itching for close to an hour now, "You'll just have to use your better judgment."
The boy groaned, "I thought I was the combat backup..."
"You were supposed to be," his Sensei chuckled at the irony, "You can do this, Hotaka. Just try to think about what Osamu would do in your place. He mentioned you and Masaru got some instruction alongside him from Ren-san."
Hotaka sighed in resignation, "Didn't think I would need it."
"At least you don't have to worry about making it to the infiltrator in time to save their ass," Hiroto joked, trying to improve his students mood, "You just whoop whoever tries to mess with you."
Hotaka gave a helpless chuckle and moved away from his Sensei. The night was still fairly young, but it was best if he was in place before anyone missed him.
XxXxXxX
"You seriously brought a tub with you?" Osamu asked incredulously after talking Kaede into cleansing herself before her promised makeover. It was mostly a stall tactic, "And enough hot water to fill it..."
"I was planning to use it myself when the travel grime got unbearable," the large boy replied with a shrug, "She seemed happy to see it, though."
"She's been homeless for over a year now," Osamu noted sadly, "I would guess a warm bath would make her very happy."
"Well..." Masaru clapped his smaller friend on the back, "I'm off to do overwatch. No more peeking at our guest, pervert."
He laughed as he leapt away before Osamu could register the insult and hurt him.
"Will someone bring me something warmer than these clothes?" Kaede called from behind a screen of brush, "I can't handle the cold like you shinobi."
Osamu sighed as he accepted his lot for the foreseeable future. He got into his wardrobe and pulled out a woman's winter kimono done in dark red with a black obi that he figured would fit her well.
He carried it around while averting his gaze and held it out.
"Thank you," came the rather subdued reply.
He went back towards the fire and threw some logs on it to keep it stoked. The chill of the night was starting to seep into him as well. Other shinobi might have been able to ward off the cold with their chakra, but he wasn't so lucky.
Kaede joined him after dressing.
"I see my technique has worn off," the boy commented idly, "Are you going to run again?"
"No," she replied. She didn't sound as fearful as before, "You don't have to do anything for me."
Osamu gave her a sidelong look and smirked, "Nonsense. You deserve some reward for putting up with us."
Kaede shifted nervously.
"You're very afraid of me," he noted casually, "More than anyone else on the team."
He didn't blame her. She had been kidnapped by strangers, one of which looked like something out of a horror story. That didn't add in what she had been through at the hands of Gato's men. She hadn't been disguised as a boy for no reason.
"You just look so feral," Kaede blurted. She fell silent for a full minute before saying, "Sorry..."
Osamu just started laughing, "You won't be the first to think that. I'm not exactly normal, you know."
She turned to face him directly, "It's a lot better when you don't have that blank look on your face."
"Sorry about that," he settled into one of his closed mouth smiles, "I have a habit of keeping a neutral expression around those I don't know."
"So can you really do hair?" Kaede couldn't help but let a bit of hope creep into her voice.
"Please," Osamu scoffed in a haughty tone, "I am a master of disguise. I can do styles from all over the continent."
His overdone theatrics had the desired effect. Her fear was lessening. He might have been scary looking to the girl, but he also knew how to manipulate people, even without his chakra. Soon he had her laughing and knew she wouldn't try to run off again.
Kaede
Rank: Civilian
Gender: Female
Birth Date: February 18
Hair: Black
Eyes: Vermilion
Height: 5' 3" (160.0 cm)
Weight: 95 lbs (43.1 kg)
Kaede is a survivor of Gato's initial take over in Wave. Her parents were killed, along with most of the rest of her town for taking a stand against the crooked businessman. She has lived homeless for over a year, disguising herself as a boy to avoid attention.
Torihazushi (Detaching)
Type: Reiton (Calming)
Rank: C
Effect: Osamu uses his chakra to deaden or completely cut off an emotion in his target. Being rushed causes the maximum effect to occur, and the target's mind can become confused by the lack of appropriate emotional response to certain stimuli. This causes a state where the target's emotions can swing wildly about.