Best Laid Plans
Arun
Chapter 6: Of Hail & Fire
Disclaimer:
Since this is the year of Sasuke, I guess I'm free to use Naruto as I wish…
Zabuza, the infamous Demon of the Mist, was dead. He'd died not in the heat of battle but of blood loss from an innocuous looking stab wound and an embolism far away from any battlefield. It had taken the feared assassin painful minutes to die, pain that the Demon had to endure because his tool had ultimately proven inadequate to fulfill its sole purpose in life.
In the end, Zabuza's death was simply one of the many ignoble fates inflicted so often on soldiers. But as the hunter-nin stared at his bloodstained hands, he felt sadness and loss most profound. This was by far the biggest tragedy in a life full of it and he was sick and tired of it.
The hunter-nin knelt beside the cooling corpse for the longest time in a rage-filled silence, staring at the remnants of the latest cruelty dealt him by fate. Without either family or master, and bereft of purpose and duty, he was now truly alone. Again.
It was all because of Konoha nin.
The hunter-nin stood up, his fists clenched by his side. He was as unmindful of the plague of flies come to feast on blood and flesh as he was of the stink of death. His name was Haku, and starting with Gato, the bridge builder and the Konoha team, the world was going to pay for making Zabuza, master, teacher, companion and his sole reason for living die.
And when the blood-price was paid, he would atone for failing his duty the only way he could. A tool without a master is not a tool at all, after all.
xxxxx
"The hunter-nin was suspicious," Kakashi explained as Team 7 neared Tazuna's residence.
It was evening twilight and normally, the jounin would have called a halt, but the bridge builder insisted his house was not more than an hour away. And after the events of the day, Kakashi and the genin were all for having a sleeping roof over their head when they went to sleep at night.
"He should have burnt Zabuza's body on the spot, but he did not. What else was off about the retrieval and the assassination?" the jounin asked his team.
"The hunter-nin used senbon," Sakura pointed out.
"Hunter-nin are given extensive training with all manner of weapons and assassination methods," Naruto pointed out. He had learned that from one of the scrolls that Kakashi gave Sakura and which she lent him in turn.
"Spoken like a true scholar," Sasuke leered at Naruto. He had read that same scroll and knew that his teammate was quoting ad verbatim. The Uzumaki had started putting on academic airs soon after Kakashi started lending them field manuals and other study material.
Naruto glared at the Uchiha. He wasn't going to stand for anyone trying to steal his thunder.
"Uke, you want to shut up or should I go seme on you like you've never been seme-d before?" he asked.
"Seme with a vengeance?" Sakura pondered, tapping her lips aloud with a giggle. "I like it. Can I watch?"
"Now, now, no need to get your panties in a bunch," Kakashi said in a placating voice when Sasuke looked like he was going to blow his top at the provocation. Since the face-off with Zabuza, a great deal of the tension between Team 7 and their teacher had vanished. They had started to eye the jounin as one among them, finally, unlike before, where he was always the enemy. "We were in a middle of a discussion. Let's not stray from it, shall we?"
Sasuke grunted gruffly, but turned his attention back to the task at hand.
"Senbon are lacking as weapons go. It's much harder to kill with them even when you know what you're doing than with other weapons."
"Precisely," Kakashi agreed.
"So…" Naruto dragged out the word. His very manner hinted at deficient thought processes working overtime to solve the simple puzzle. "What exactly are you implying, sensei?"
Sasuke chuckled and Sakura giggled. Hard as Naruto might try to put on fancy airs, truth was, outside of a brawl, he was a simpleton at heart. Things that were obvious to others had to be explained to him carefully and often in great detail.
"The hunter-nin may be an imposter. Zabuza may not be dead," Kakashi replied, ignoring the byplay. "We may face Zabuza again or if not, someone else that Gato will undoubtedly hire to kill Tazuna-san."
"What Kakashi-sensei said, genius," Sasuke said, taking a dig back at Naruto.
"Fuck you," Naruto replied hotly.
Kakashi stepped in again, this time by physically restraining the blond.
"Now, Sasuke, Naruto," he said in a solemn voice. If the boys weren't going to listen, he might as well have some fun with them. "I know the two of you are as thick as uke and seme, and there's a whole world of booty waiting out there for you. And not just the manly kind. Why, if you'll only let me lend you Icha Icha – which you'll have to return or I'm disembowel you and hang you from the Hokage monument by your entrails so help me God – I will introduce you to the pleasures of the female flesh. Come, my students, can't you feel the one true way of the pervert call you?"
Team 7 stared at Kakashi and uniformly took three steps away. Sure, they'd been feeling more at ease around the sadistic psychopath after working by his side and really seeing the technician part of him on the field for the first time. They admired his skill and his know-how, but it remained that their mentor was one deranged pervert.
"Stay away, Kakashi-sensei," Sakura warned.
"Yeah, what she said," Naruto and Sasuke seconded.
Kakashi giggled. But not at them. Having had his fun at his students' expense, his attention was focused on his Icha Icha once again and he was oblivious to the looks Team 7 were giving him.
Beside them, Tazuna looked at the half-empty bottle of sake in his hands. He hadn't heard a word his escorts said since the jounin made that statement about more assassins out for his neck. Finally mastering the shakes triggered by Kakashi's words and by the memory of that half-naked assassin's killing desire, he took a big swig to steady his nerves some. It did not help him in the least.
Xxxxx
It was time.
Haku walked into Gato's headquarters in Wave after ensuring that the business magnate was present within its walls. The guards at the front gate waved Zabuza's accomplice through without a second look. They had seen the boy with the masked, sword-wielding murderer before while on Gato's personal security detail and considered him a harmless brat.
Since the late Demon of the Mist's appearance was so threatening, people they ran across classified his politely dressed sidekick as blameless. It was a mistake that most had no cause to regret. But not Gato's guards. Not today. Innocent and harmless looking though he was, Haku was a trained assassin and posed a considerable threat to those around him. The only difference between him and his infamous mentor was that he was not a natural born cold-blooded killer like his teacher. But today, having lost his master and sole purpose in life, Haku was crazed with anger and loss and was the embodiment of death and destruction.
The guards did not know it, but they would not be alive for much longer.
Haku started his killing spree with Gato. He waited nearly half an hour before he was permitted to see the business magnate, but that was all right. The late Zabuza had taught him the value of patience while on the hunt.
When it was finally time, Haku dutifully followed Gato's secretary into the latter's office. The young assassin's eyes scanned the room as soon as he entered the room. Two wannabes stood guard behind Gato, but otherwise the man was defenseless.
"What are you here for?" Gato asked disdainfully, reminding Haku that the man was a pig, his pretensions to culture to the contrary. "And where's your master? I know the bridge builder got home safe and sound. Hiring…"
Gato gurgled. A collapsed throat tends to cause difficulties to continued breathing, after all. The two wannabes started to react but by then, the secretary was dead and Haku was in their rear. A second later, they lay dead at his feet.
Afterwards, Haku went through the building as cold as efficient as any killer there ever was. Before long, every room was spotted crimson and silence reigned supreme. But not for long. A few minutes later, flames fed by oil and office stationeries reached out into the sky as the lone arsonist walked away into the night silent and unobserved.
Tomorrow, the bridge builder and Konoha nin would pay.
xxxxx
"Hey, Sasuke, a building's burning in the east."
"Wooden buildings have a tendency to burn bright when you set them on fire, Naruto," Sasuke replied, without turning towards the Uzumaki.
"I know, you dumb-ass. My night vision's gone. I can't see for shit."
"That is a concern. It leaves us vulnerable."
"Yep."
"Think we should wake up sensei?"
"Let him rest. We'll probably need him tomorrow."
"And what if someone attacks us tonight, genius? The enemy could have fired that building to degrade our vision for all we know."
"We deal with it. There's enough open space around the building that they shouldn't catch us by surprise. Still, it'd be best if you'd take my post and I yours. Your eyes are better all around and in this light, I'm mostly blind."
"Okay."
"It's not that far away. Maybe half a mile from here at most," Naruto commented as they switched places.
"So?"
"Why hasn't anyone rung the alarm? This house is in plain sight of the road leading in that general direction. We haven't seen anyone rushing to fight the fire, much less the small army you'd see in Konoha."
Sasuke thought about it.
"It is weird," he agreed.
"Yeah."
"We'll find out tomorrow morning. Probably pay the street urchins to scout it out," the raven-haired genin said, cracking his knuckles.
"Yeah. You noticed the kids, right?"
"I saw the hunger in their eyes, if that's what you mean."
"Yeah."
"Yeah. Guess we'll find out tomorrow."
xxxxx
Haku slept well that night. As someone who'd lived for years on the run from assassins and who'd also been trained in the art of war, he knew sleep was important. And so, he slept.
He woke up at six and had a hearty breakfast. After spending another hour in preparation and listening in on the whispered gossip about the fire at Gato's office, he set out for his target, the bridge builder's house at around nine.
From the intelligence provided by Gato at the start of the contract and from his own observations, Haku knew that Tazuna set out for work at precisely eight in the morning every day. From conversations he overheard on the street, he also knew that the news of the fire at Gato's headquarters had spread across Wave country like wildfire during the night. But the squat despot had managed to so completely terrorize the little island nation during his brief reign that the people were little more than cows.
As far as the late Zabuza's apprentice could tell, all the cowards who lived close to the fire had stayed within their homes, quite possibly praying to their Gods that Gato not accuse them of setting his property ablaze come sun-up. So, while the businessman was dead and burnt to a crisp, the whole of Wave ground to a petrified standstill as everyone waited for the tyrant and his gangs of thugs, rapists and murderous to descend on them like a pack of wolves on a herd of sheep. This was good news as a terrorized citizenship would make Haku's job easier.
Haku did not go directly to the bridge builder's house, however. Instead, he took a detour to the bridge to scout for information relating to enemy deployment. Sure enough, just as he had calculated, a couple of Konoha nin – his master's murderer was unfortunately one of them – stood guard over Tazuna as he oversaw the few stalwart hands who'd shone up for work that day.
That leaves the two boys, Haku thought to himself as he turned away from the bridge and headed towards his final destination.
Still, as his steps took him away from the partially complete edifice, a part of Haku that was still capable of emotion felt a little admiration for the bridge builder. He was a patriot and a courageous soul in his own way – perhaps the only one in his country – but the fake hunter-nin knew he would not regret killing him. He would not regret killing any of them today, innocent or not.
xxxxx
Naruto and Sasuke glared at Inari, the stupid, whiny grandson of the besotted bastard who was their client. For some reason, the brat had refused to leave their side this morning when yesterday night, he couldn't stand to be in the same room as them. Well, they'd finally asked him why and gotten their answer. It was not to their liking.
"Listen, you crybaby," Sasuke said, leaning down so that his eyes were level with the little twerp, "I don't care who you are or who you think you are. You repeat those words again in my presence, and I'll tie you up and leave you to rot on an ant nest."
"Inari, you come here," Tsunami, Inari's mom called.
Naruto looked at Sasuke and both turned to face her. Sasuke had spoken loud enough that there was doubt she had heard his words. Now, they'd probably have to hear an earful from her as well.
Meanwhile, Inari ran over to his mom as fast as his legs could carry him. After sending him into the house with a quiet word, she walked to the genin.
"You will not use that tone, those words or any similar ones with my son again," she told them.
"Your son says he's been following us around this morning so that he'll be around to see how we die when Gato comes to kill us," Sasuke replied, meeting her eye and refusing to budge an inch.
Tsunami looked distressed.
"I'm sorry. My son hasn't been himself since…" she paused, pain written in her eyes. To the two genin, it was clear she wanted to avoid that topic. "But that does not give you the right to speak to my son in that manner."
"We'll ignore your son in the future, but tell him to watch his words," Sasuke replied. He wasn't going to back down an inch. The brat deserved whatever was coming to him.
Tsunami inclined her head in a slight nod, deciding that was all the concession she was going to get and walked away.
"Uke, you talked down on her," Naruto said in amazement after Tsunami disappeared into the house.
"It's not that hard. I've seen it done when I was young," Sasuke said, looking away.
Naruto nodded and let it be. Some wounds do not heal even with time and Sasuke's family would be one that'd remain fresh till the day he died.
"Damned mist," Sasuke muttered after a few seconds of silence.
"Yeah. And damn Kakashi-sensei for leaving us standing guard over the house," Naruto agreed.
The day before, Kakashi had allowed Tazuna to convince the need to guard the bridge builder's family as well as the construction workers once the news of the midnight fire reached them. Everyone expected an assassination attempt today, but even Tazuna himself acknowledged that he was the likely target. Still, having no intel on Gato's movements, they could not disregard the possibility of a kidnapping attempt on the bridge builder's family and Hatake had been forced to concede the fact. As a result, Naruto and Sasuke were stuck with the cushy, boring assignment they so did not want by virtue of having drawn the longer straws.
"Someone's watching us," Sasuke said all of a sudden.
Naruto's forehead burrowed for a few seconds.
"I sense them. Good job."
"What do we do?"
"Call them out?"
"And meet them? What if there are two attackers and this one's the bait to draw us out while the other one goes after the family?"
"We can't be strong everywhere, Sasuke," Naruto replied.
"Quite."
"So, call them out."
"I think I wil..." Sasuke jumped to the side as icicle shards shot towards him and his partner. Naruto jumped the other way and the two ran apart but towards the house, putting distance between them.
"Tsunami-san," Naruto shouted after coming to rest near the porch. "If you can hear me, get your son, but don't leave the house. We're under attack and don't know by how many attackers."
There was a patter of running feet inside the house followed by doors and windows slamming shut.
Sasuke and Naruto looked at each other and nodded. Sasuke's sharingan flared to life. Avoiding another hail of very sharp icicles, they advanced in its general direction running. Weaving and zigzagging to present as unpredictable a target as possible, they split until they were about fifty yards apart before accelerating towards the tree line their opponent was using as a cover in a scissor movement to cut off two possible axis of escape and maneuver.
Naruto made the seals for gokakyu no jutsu and torched his sector even as he angled towards Sasuke, closely trailing behind his teammate. This left their opponent no choice but to advance towards either of them or retreat. The hidden nin chose to advance.
The unidentified nin was fast, but Sasuke was equally fast and he had the benefit of the sharingan. As a result, the actual exchange was short and only a couple of blows had been exchanged before Sasuke got into the nin's guard and kicked him away. A fraction of a second after the kick connected and the two flew apart, Naruto's kunai shot through where the enemy's previous position. If it had hit the target, which was the unidentified assailant's head, the battle would have ended then, but Sasuke's kick saved the nin.
"Where's Zabuza?" Sasuke asked, looking their opponent up and down.
It was the fake hunter-nin from before and Sasuke had no doubt that Zabuza was nearby. He highly doubted that he and Naruto could hold off both the swordsman and his pet assassin, but hopefully, they'd buy enough time for Tazuna's daughter and her brat to escape.
The hunter-nin stood up and tore off his mask. His face was contorted with fury, loss, hatred and a cacophony of other emotions. All of which were negative.
"Don't you dare speak his name, feckless scum," the boy grated. "Zabuza-sama's dead because of you."
"That's the first wonderful news I've heard all day," Sasuke goaded, flashing his best smile.
The fake hunter-nin threw his mask at Sasuke, screaming in fury. As Naruto and Sasuke watched, huge shards of ice formed spontaneously between them and Zabuza's pet without their enemy resorting to any seals and the temperature in the clearing dropped to near freezing. The shards shot forward as soon as they formed but were intercepted by another of Naruto's fireballs. Sasuke jumped high over the flames, using the fire and steam to screen his movement and came down on his opponent. He unleashed a bunch of shuriken at the nin, who jumped to avoid them and by doing so, inadvertently walked straight into Naruto's fist.
The savage punch sent the nin flying a dozen or so yards, but somehow, he managed to land on his feet. He spit a couple of teeth, glaring at his tormentors. His eyes glazed over and the temperature dropped even further.
"I have a bad feeling about this," Naruto muttered.
Sasuke had to agree. It was clear that their opponent had a bloodline that had to do with ice and temperature, and they had no intel on him, just as he had none about them. And while they had numerical superiority on their side, Sasuke's sharingan was not fully awakened and Naruto had no idea how to use his demon, whereas their opponent seemed to have complete control of his bloodline. Quite frankly, they were in over their heads, their initial success notwithstanding and it looked like they were going to get the shit beaten out of them.
The ground began to freeze over from the moisture in the air just then, making footing precarious and little shards of ice began to form in the air all over the place. Both Sasuke and Naruto knew that their opponent did not have the reserves to keep expending such high amounts of chakra for more than a minute or two before he died of chakra exhaustion. This was the good news. The bad news was that it was very much an open question whether they could survive the next two minutes.
The shards reached some critical density and exploded faster than the eye could track, sending the two genin scampering apart in radically different directions. Their reasoning was simple: the more they divided their opponent's focus, the better all around for them. The ideal course of action would have been to retreat with all due haste from the suicidal maniac trying very hard to kill them, but since that would expose Tsunami and her son to the tender mercies of the ice-wielder, they couldn't do that. The only acceptable choice was to stand their ground and defeat the enemy or die trying.
Naruto used his monstrous chakra capacity to full effect, using it to move faster than ever before. He was so fast that as he weaved in and out, advancing slowly but inevitably towards their opponent, Sasuke could not track him even with his sharingan. Naruto's raven-haired partner, on the other hand, did not have the luxury of chakra reserves that was the envy of Gods. But Sasuke had speed, which he'd gained from training with Naruto as well as the daily team exercises, and he had his sharingan. Granted, his sharingan wasn't fully developed, but with three months of high speed combat behind him, he was able to evade the innumerable ice shards shooting all around, while blocking the ones he couldn't dodge with his kunai.
Still, for all their prowess, neither of the genin could advance to arms length of their opponent. They did not even come close, in fact. Sasuke was stopped at ten yards and Naruto at roughly five. Beyond that, the slippery nature of the ground and the density of the ice shards made it deadly to advance even at the speeds they moved.
And then suddenly, after what seemed like an eternity, the rain of ice stopped as their enemy's chakra reserves finally gave and he collapsed, gasping. The boy's knees did not quite hit the ground before Naruto's kunai took him just behind his ears and the spread of shuriken Sasuke threw took him in his shoulders, chest, abdomen and nose. He died without so much as a word and his body twitched as it lay on the ground, bleeding out. The stink of shit was all-prevailing as the corpse voided its bowels.
Sasuke fell on his knees laughing like a maniac, celebrating their unexpected victory, as did Naruto. They'd cheated death and escaped by a hair's breadth, once again. They were still laughing when Tsunami and Inari dared to finally walk out of the house minutes later.
As mother and son waited nervously on the porch, Naruto rose to his feet and walked towards Sasuke. Their eyes met and their faces stretched into the biggest smiles ever. But for completely different reasons.
"Hey, Uke, guess what?"
"What, O' great genius?"
"You got three tomoe on both your eyes. Congrats."
xxxxx
Sarutobi looked at the report before him and tried to maintain a calm face for the benefit of ANBU officers standing before him. Truth was, he was angrier now than he had ever been in his life.
"I trust this is trustworthy?"
ANBU Intelligence head, Blackface nodded. As did ANBU Torture and Interrogation head, Morino Ibiki.
"We have confirmation from multiple sources," Blackface said.
"The control we kidnapped from Rice does not know the exact details, but the traffic through his station had increased dramatically in the last few months. We can't be certain about everything he said but most of it is validated by Intelligence section's reports," Ibiki concurred.
"Sleepers have started becoming active throughout Fire country. We've traced fifteen so far. We're certain to have missed more. Frankly speaking, we had no idea Suna had managed to plant even this many," Blackface added.
Sarutobi took a deep puff from his pipe and contemplated the intel they had in hand. But he did not tarry long. The facts spoke for themselves.
"To think that it had come to this," he muttered. "Is anyone else in on this conspiracy?"
"We're certain they're not directly involved. There've been no changes in their readiness status in months," Blackface replied.
"But we missed Suna, didn't we?" the third asked.
"Oto's the instigator, Hokage-sama. All indicators point towards that possibility. Suna is simply being opportunistic."
"This," Sarutobi pointed to the document in disgust, "is not opportunism. This is foolhardiness. Orochimaru is not to be trusted. I would think history's lessons had taught everyone that."
"Suna's position is untenable thanks to the Daimyo's intransigence, as you well know," Ibiki quipped, playing the devil's advocate.
Sarutobi nodded, but he knew who to blame for Suna's current problems.
"Damn all fool daimyos," the oldster cursed.
"What shall we do, Hokage-sama?" Blackface asked.
"They want to raid us during the chuunin exams?"
Both Heads nodded.
"We'll see about that," the Hokage said with narrowed eyes. "The Fire Daimyo needs to be informed of this development. Ibiki, I trust one of your subordinates will be able to handle this."
"The responsibility lies with Intelligence. My people aren't exactly diplomatic, Hokage-sama."
"You'll go," Sarutobi said, overriding the head interrogator's objection. "Immediately."
Ibiki nodded. If those were his orders, he would execute them to the best of his ability, whatever his reservations he harbored about his qualifications for he task.
"What should I convey to the Daimyo?"
"Konoha's going snake hunting."
"Suna?"
"Them, too. Give him a copy of this document and ensure that it's destroyed before your eyes once he's read it."
Ibiki nodded.
"Setup a meeting of the department heads. As of now, this information is SSS classified. The council is not to know."
"Yes, Hokage-sama."
"Dismissed."
After the two officers left, Sarutobi secured the document in his locker and moved to the window. He contemplated the Hokage monument and the way of life they'd preached and imbibed into Konoha's soul. He remembered the numerous heroes of the past and present who'd sacrificed their lives for the village. He followed with his eyes the people on the streets below as they tackled everyday problems and carried on with their lives. Then, he considered all that he'd learnt from the report and ever so slowly, prepared his aged heart once again for war.
He had known for a long while that he'd made a horrible mistake all those years ago by permitting Orochimaru to live. The chance was at hand at last to atone for the sins of that day and he would take it. He would teach the elemental nations that Konoha caught unawares was one thing, but Konoha prepared was a completely different proposition as the shinobi wars of an earlier era had proved. He would bring down that stupid, overreaching snake and pissant, and his upstart village with him. There would no mistakes or lapses in judgment this time around and Orochimaru was going to fry.
xxxxx
Author's notes:
I wanted Naruto and Sakura to fight Zabuza and Sasuke to fight Haku on the bridge while Kakashi read porn in background, but Nugar of People Lie fame had a better idea. With it, I could tie up loose ends such as Gato as well as develop the plot in a more logical manner. Thanks, Nugar.
So, now, Sasuke's got a mature sharingan, Orochimaru's plot is exposed – this was Mizuki's role as a plot device for those who missed it – and Naruto's become a killer. I think I've accomplished a lot in one chapter, don't you? LOL
Anyways, thus ends the Wave arc. Please leave reviews.