Author's Note: I am currently looking for a beta for this story. If anyone is interested in the position, please contact me as soon as possible.
Disclaimer: I do not, nor have I ever, owned anything related to Masashi Kishimoto's Naruto franchise.
Legend:
"A human is talking."
'A human is thinking.'
"A Tailed Beast or a Summon is talking."
'A Tailed Beast or a Summon is thinking.'
"A type of jutsu is being performed."
Chapter Nine:
-Land of Fire: Hyogo Port-
It had been two days since the failed assassination attempt made by the Demon Brothers. Two days since Anko had reluctantly allowed her squad to continue the mission.
After she had learned of the true severity of this mission, Anko had implemented some changes into the group's daily routine. If they were going to continue with an A-rank mission, they had to take precautions.
The first of these changes was the speed in which the group travelled at. Before the Demon Brother's assassination attempt, they had been travelling at a leisurely, civilian's pace.
That was unacceptable.
After convincing Tazuna of the necessity of "speeding things up" by allowing Anko to carry him, the group had increased their speed by ditching the civilian roads. They took to jumping from tree-branch to tree-branch and, when there were no trees, running at a Chunin's pace across the landscape.
Whenever the group needed to rest, Anko would find an easily defendable location before she would erect some B-rank Barrier Ninjutsu. She would then allow them to rest for half an hour before she would bring down her barriers.
Then, once Anko gave the signal, they would begin to move once again.
The entire two-day trip to Hyogo Port, where one of Tazuna's contacts lived, was tense. The lack of new attacks or the sight of any new opponents at all, had left them wary.
If Gato was willing to do anything to kill Tazuna, shouldn't more ninja or mercenaries shown up to face them?
Currently, the group was in Hyogo Port waiting for Tazuna's contact to arrive. This contact would help them get to the Land of Waves while avoiding all of the ships that Gato had surrounding the country.
"Tazuna?" An unfamiliar, masculine voice called out.
Squad Eight turned around to see a tall, slightly muscular man walking up to them. He had short, spiky black-colored hair and warm mint-green eyes.
He was wearing a long-sleeved, black T-shirt and black, baggy pants. A conical straw-hat, much like Tazuna's own, hung around his neck while a bandage covered his nose. A thin belt, made of rope, wrapped around his forehead and a pair of black sandals completed the outfit.
"Kaji!" Tazuna exclaimed. "It's good to see you."
Kaji smiled at his old friend before pointing at a small canoe-like boat that was tied to the dock nearby. You could barely see it from this distance but Kaji seemed to have no problem with it.
"Shall we?" Kaji asked.
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-Kaji's boat-
Almost as soon as they had left the docks of Hyogo Port, a thick fog had rolled in. The group was very appreciative of this mist as it made it very easy to cut through the mass of Gato's ships without ever being detected.
"The bridge isn't far now." Kaji said. "Our destination is just ahead."
After a few more seconds, Squad Eight caught sight of the reason why Tazuna was called a Master Bridge Builder.
There, stretching from the coast of the Land of Waves was a massive, but incomplete, bridge. The Genin of Squad Eight looked at its massive size and length in awe. They had never seen something so huge in their lives.
Five minutes later, Kaji's boat ran aground on a short beach that led up a hill to Tazuna's bridge. Kaji gave them all a whispered "Good luck", waving off their thanks, before he pushed his boat back into the water.
"Okay. Take me to my home and I mean get me there in one piece." Tazuna ordered.
Anko's left eye twitched but didn't verbalize her irritation about a civilian, even if he was a client, ordering her, a ninja, around.
"Right." Anko said.
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-Land of Waves: Unnamed clearing-
The group had been walking for about five minutes before Anko seemed to detect something. Without warning, she launched a trio of kunai towards a bush to her left.
Soon after, a white rabbit raced away from the bush. It's fur had been stained red from three gashes on its body, inflicted by Anko's kunai. Tazuna looked like he was about to start berating Anko when the aforementioned woman raised her hand, signaling him to be quiet.
"That rabbit has been kept indoors, otherwise its fur would be brown, not white. The owner of it used it for the Body Replacement Technique." Anko said.
A faint whistle was heard as an object approached the group. Anko quickly grabbed Tazuna, taking him to the ground, while she shouted for her Genin to "Get down".
Wisely following their Jonin Instructor's orders, the Genin of Squad Eight dropped to the ground. Just a second later, a massive, seven-foot sword, fell over their heads and cut into the trunk of a massive tree.
The man that appeared on that sword was tall and noticeably muscular with pale skin, short spiky black hair, brown eyes, and small eyebrows. He was wearing bandages like a mask over the bottom half of his face and his forehead protector sideways on his head.
He was shirtless, with his chest only covered by a belt to which he attached his sword to, wearing baggy pants with stripped pattern typical of the Hidden Mist Village. He also wore mimetic wrist-warmers extending up to his elbows, matching leg-warmers, and bandages loosely tied around his neck like a scarf.
"Zabuza Momochi, the "Demon of the Hidden Mist Village". You're here, working for Gato." Anko taunted. "Tsk, tsk, tsk. What a waste of talent."
Zabuza frowned underneath his bandages.
"We'll see about that "Snake Mistress"." Zabuza responded, grasping the handle of Kubikiribocho.
Anko smirked, going into a relaxed Taijutsu stance, as her Genin took on an incomplete Manji Formation behind her. Kunai slid into her waiting palms, before she brought one to her mouth, licking it.
"Bring it!" Anko said.
"With pleasure!" Zabuza said.
Zabuza vanished, taking Kubikiribocho with him, before he reappeared on the top of the nearby pond. He went through a short series of hand-seals before pointing his hand to the sky.
"Ninja Art: Hidden Mist Technique!" Zabuza announced.
In an instant, the light fog around the clearing intensified. Zabuza become cloaked within this fog even as snakes erupted from Anko's sleeves, heading towards Zabuza's location.
The battle between the "Demon of the Hidden Mist Village" and the "Snake Mistress" had begun.
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-Land of Waves: Forested area-
As soon as he had felt that secondary chakra-source nearby, suppressing her chakra, Naruto knew that Zabuza Momochi was not alone. He had an accomplice that could pick Squad Eight out one by one, unnoticed until it was too late.
That was unacceptable.
So Naruto had just a combination of the Water Clone and Body Replacement Techniques to go after this secondary threat. He had Samehada suppress his own chakra-source before taking to the trees after Zabuza's accomplice.
When he found the person, who was watching Anko's fight with Zabuza, he swung down at her back with Samehada. The accomplice, surprisingly, parried the blow with a couple of senbon needles held between his/her fingers.
"Why are you attacking me Leaf Ninja? Can't you see your opponent is over there?" He/she asked.
"Just because you dress like a Hunter Ninja means little to me. Hunter Ninja usually travel in groups of five and have three times the amount of chakra that you possess." Naruto countered.
The fake Hunter-Nin jumped backwards, dodging a thrust from Samehada, before he/she began to go through a series of one-handed hand-seals.
"I guess my cover is blown… Too bad you won't get to tell your teammates." The fake Hunter-Nin said. "A Thousand Needles of Death!"
In an instant, over a thousand senbon needles, made from hardened water, formed around Naruto. The blonde had barely any time to react before the fake Hunter-Nin made another hand-seal.
'Shit!' Naruto swore.
The senbon needles descended, directed by the hand-seal made by the fake Hunter-Nin.
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-Land of Waves: Unnamed clearing-
Anko and Zabuza stood in the middle of the clearing, Anko's kunai parrying a blow from Zabuza's Kubikiribocho. Sweat aligned both of their faces as each tried to overpower one another.
"You're good "Snake Mistress". You're much better than a lot of Jonin that I've faced." Zabuza said.
"I'll take that… as a compliment." Anko replied, panting.
Zabuza then jumped backwards as felt Anko gather her chakra. A second passed before a myriad of snakes erupted from her sleeves, their fangs bared as they rushed towards the "Demon of the Hidden Mist Village".
"Stop using the same damn tricks!" Zabuza said, effortlessly slicing through her snakes.
Anko smirked, her hands in the "Tiger" hand-seal.
"How about this then Zabuza? Fire Release: Fire Dragon Bullet!"
Jutsu:
1. Ninja Art: Hidden Mist Technique; A technique that uses a nearby watersource to create a heavy mist. However, users such as Zabuza Momochi have been known to draw water from the air to form the mist, an amazing display of skill.
2. A Thousand Needles of Death; A technique that gathers water from the air and the surrounding enviornment into a thousand long needles. The user can then direct them to a specific target with a one-handed hand-seal.
3. Fire Release: Fire Dragon Bullet; A technique that creates a dragon made out of fire.
Author's Note:
Haku walks in to see her master, Zabuza, standing over the bound and gagged form of the Author. Standing beside Zabuza was an extremely wounded Naruto and a panting Anko.
Haku: ...?
Zabuza, Naruto, and Anko: Don't ask!
Haku turned on his heel and walked out of the room. It was better that he didn't know anyway.