Chapter 7

(In Konoha)

Hiruzen and Kurenai were sitting in the Hokage office chatting when the door was violently thrown open.

"Hokage-sama! Urgent message from Team 7!" A man carrying a wounded dog.

"Pakkun?" The Hokage took the scroll from the little dog. "Get him some treatment."

"Before that, you should know that guy is blocking all travel to and from Wave now. I was barely able to get past before he got everything locked down."

"Thank you Pakkun," the old man told him as he read the scroll. "Go ahead and get patched up."

The messenger carried the pug out to get him patched up leaving the two alone in the office again. Hiruzen finished reading the scroll and turned to stare out the window. He would love to send Kakashi everything he wanted and more, but with the most of his forces already deployed elsewhere he couldn't send them much without raising the suspicions of the council, or a certain warhawk. No doubt his response would be to roll through the nation crushing both Wave and this Gatō alike.

'Being unable to send a large force will leave most of the burden on Team 7, leaving them to fight a war by themselves.' Hiruzen frowned. They could very well find themselves in some bad situations, and with who was on the team...

'I know just who to send.' Hiruzen turned to find Kurenai still there giving him a curious look. "Ah, Kurenai, let's continue our chat about young Yakumo another time."

"Has something happened with Kakashi's team?"

"Apparently the client wasn't fully aware of the danger they faced. It seems Team 7 has found themselves in the middle of a brewing war." The old man pulled out a pipe, lit it, and calmly inhaled the smoke. "I won't be able to send the reinforcements they are requesting, but I can send some help, at least."

Kurenai jumped to her feet. "They're only genin! They should be recalled!"

"You heard what Pakkun said. It will be easier for skilled ninja to sneak in than it would for Team 7 to sneak out."

"Then send out a battalion!" She shouted.

Hiruzen stared at her then pulled his hat off his head and held it out to her. "Perhaps you would like to wear this hat then?"

Kurenai flushed with a look of horror on her face. "F-forgive me, Hokage-sama. I was speaking out of turn."

He replaced the hat on his head and turned back to the window. "You may not like it, Kurenai, but I am doing what I can for them without drawing any unwanted attention their way."

Kurenai frowned and bowed briefly to his back. "By your leave, Hokage-sama."

Hiruzen stared out at the bright sunny sky as he smoked. He was already getting a headache just thinking of the fit the council would throw if Team 7 came back missing either their precious 'weapon' or the last Uchiha. 'Bring them home safely, Kakashi.'

Kurenai was sitting at a table with an untouched bottle of saké in front of her at a local bar later that night.

"Nai-chan! Why the troubled face? If you're trying to find a man you should add more pout to it!" A voice called out to her as a body draped itself across her back. "Although the troubled look is cute too."

'Of course she would be the one to find me.' Kurenai thought, pushing the sake bottle over a spot so Anko would be redirected to it.

Anko quickly dropped into the chair and poured herself a drink which was quickly downed. She sighed happily. "If you had dango and a dick I'd marry you." Kurenai gave her a half-hearted glare in return. "So? Spill it."

Kurenai sighed and thought back over what she had heard in the Hokage office as well as learned when she had looked into the mission Team 7 had received. "It's just... Team 7 was assigned a mission that was horribly mis-ranked. They're basically fighting a war over in Wave. I can't help but wonder what would happen if it were my team."

"You don't think they would be able to handle it?"

"I don't know. I thought they were doing well, and I was going to nominate them for the upcoming chūnin exams, but..." She trailed off getting lost in thought.

"You know, if those brats survive they'll come back stronger than yours." Anko told her. "Besides, the exams are here this year, so you might as well nominate your brats. Even if they don't make it this time, they'll at least get experience for the next exam. It'll be safer for them to experience them first here than in some other village."

Kurenai nodded. "You're right. They need the experience and I have trained them pretty hard. I'm sure they'll do fine."

"Alright! I'll get more playthings for my exam!" Anko shouted with a fist raised in victory.

Kurenai gave her another glare. "You just want to torture my students."

"Hey, I won't hurt them... much," Anko replied.

Kurenai stood and dropped some money on the table to pay her tab. "Thanks Anko, I think I'm going to go work out a better training schedule for my team." With a wave she walked off.

Neither noticed a local gossip who had managed to catch most of their conversation sitting nearby. 'A team fighting a war in Wave? Ooooh, this is too good to pass up.' The woman quickly hurried out to tell her friends. It would only take a few days for the village to know there was a war happening in Wave and that it was being fought by a single team.

(In Wave)

It was evening, two days after Kakashi and Zabuza had confirmed the existence of Gatō's castle. Tazuna and the villagers had finished their bridge that morning. At first, the villagers had all been ecstatic, then they saw the blockade on the far end of the bridge. Their hope for saving their country had taken a severe blow that day.

Zabuza and Haku had joined Team 7 in Tazuna's kitchen to plan their next move.

"We should strike again while we have the advantage." Sasuke said. "We still have the momentum from the last battle. If we strike now we can deal a harsh blow to Gatō while it's unexpected."

"And then what?" Argued Haku. "Let the village get wiped out in retaliation?"

"Gatō won't wipe out the village," Kakashi said. "All along he's been trying to crush their spirit. With him blocking all access to the outside world even with the bridge complete, he's done just that. The villagers all look like the walking dead."

"With Gatō being forced to block the bridge and his first base destroyed he has very few men left in the village. If we strike another base and force him to withdraw completely the villagers can start farming again. They could become self-sufficient, to a degree, without Gatō stepping on them all the time." Menma looked at the map. "It's a shame we can't just burn one to the ground."

Sasuke who had also been examining the map spoke up. "Who says we can't?"

Tazuna, who had been sitting in a corner nursing a bottle spoke up. "And how do you plan to do that, brat? The mist will make it hard, you likely saw that when you attacked his other base."

"Oil," Sasuke said. "We gather oil from the villagers, set a bomb here-" He stabbed a finger at Gatō's mansion. "and burn the place down."

"Nobody is gonna give you their oil, boy," Tazuna sneered.

"Even if we tell them we're going to burn down Gatō's mansion? They know we destroyed his base and freed everyone that was captive there, that has to count for something, right?."

Tazuna grunted. "I s'pose some of them might believe in you enough to give you some."

Kakashi, who had been listening to Sasuke planning quietly turned to Zabuza. "How is this place set up?"

"Well," Zabuza started, "His mansion is in the center. It's a good-sized building. Around that you have various other buildings, armory, housing for his men, that sort of thing. Around the outside there's a wooden wall. It's set up like a miniature ninja village."

"So if we set the bomb on top of his mansion it would spread oil over a good portion of the place?" Sasuke asked.

"Yeah, it would, the place isn't anywhere near the size of a real village," Zabuza replied. "Your problem will be getting it in there. There are four entrances each guarded by two men. These guys won't be stupid enough to fall asleep on the job or wander off for a drink like at the first base."

"Professionals then," Kakashi said. "They would investigate a disturbance though?"

"Of course," Zabuza replied.

"I can handle a disturbance. So once we get a gate clear, how do we get the bomb in there?"

"We just carry it in," Sasuke said. "Or rather, clones will. I doubt anyone wants to be covered in flaming oil."

"I'll do it," Menma volunteered.

"No, you're injured. I want you taking it easy," Kakashi told him. "I'll do it."

"Kakashi-sensei, I'm already fully healed."

"Just the same, I want you taking it easy," he said. "No one normally heals that fast."

Menma gave him a knowing stare before sighing and relenting.

"When do we attack? If we're going to do it before Gatō is ready it will have to be soon." Haku said.

"We'll spend tomorrow gathering what oil we can from the villagers and attack the following morning," Kakashi said. "At, say, four in the morning."

"Why four?" Sakura asked.

"Uh... because Gatō has four bases?" Kakashi said.

"You just picked a random number, didn't you?" Sakura asked him with a flat stare.

Kakashi waved his hand. "Anyways, we'll collect the oil tomorrow. Zabuza, you and Haku spy on the mansion, see if you can figure anything out to help us."

Menma waited outside the west gate of Gatō's mansion. He was joined by Haku and, temporarily, Kakashi and several clones of his with a large barrel between them. The villagers had given far more oil than the group had thought they would. It seemed many of them had given up and didn't care what the ninja took.

Menma looked on with a frown. He wasn't very pleased with his role in this battle. He was stuck with a relatively minor support role as Kakashi was worried over his supposed injury. With Gatō's remaining base to the north and his castle to the northeast they didn't expect many men to be leaving the west or south gates. Sasuke and Sakura were taking the south, while Kakashi had the east. Zabuza, demanding some 'fun' had taken the north gate and likely the lion's share of fleeing enemies.

The two boys watched as Kakashi pulled out a scroll, nicked his thumb, and smeared blood along the length of it. A group of dogs appeared out of the smoke. "Alright, you guys stay here and make a racket until I summon you to the next spot." With those words, Kakashi blurred off towards the south gate.

The two guards at the west gate immediately looked off into the woods towards the sound of several dogs howling. It continued for several minutes before one growled. "Damn, if those things are pissing me off. I'll go check it out, you stay here."

As the man stalked off into the woods the group of Kakashi clones rushed the gate with the barrel between them. Haku, who had followed them, had hit the remaining guard with several senbon, temporarily knocking him out. Once the Kakashi clones had made it through he pulled out the senbon and moved back into the forest.

As the guard was nearing the location of the howling dogs they suddenly went quiet. "The hell? Did they hear me coming?" Moments later he heard the howling again, this time from off to the south. The guard looked around for several more seconds before shaking his head and returning to his gate. The other guard had recovered before he came out of the forest and sat there rubbing his head.

"Nothin' out there when I got there," the first guard said. The second just nodded dumbly, trying to figure out why he suddenly had a splitting headache.

The process repeated at the south gate, without the clones or the remaining guard getting knocked out. Just as the one investigating the sound was about to find the dogs, the howling stopped, only to start moments later outside the east gate.

BOOM

An ear-splitting explosion rocked the night. The villagers were startled awake with many looking out their windows to find a huge fire spewing black smoke into the sky in the distance.

Back at the mansion the guards were running around in a hysterical frenzy. They were being haunted by ghost hounds that would vanish before they could be found, the sky was raining fire, there was a heavy mist blocking the northeast forest, and the air around the mansion was filled with smoke, choking the men. The ground to the north had been turned into a bloody swamp that trapped the men so they could be cut down by demons. The west gate had been frozen solid. The ice didn't melt even to the seemingly hell-fueled fires that surrounded them. Those fleeing to the south met tooth and fang. The snarling and snapping had the guards convinced the ghost hounds lie that way. The gate to the east had the sound of thousands of chirping birds and flashes of lightning. They were trapped in hell and they were all going to die.

It took only half an hour to rout the forces stationed in the mansion. Unfortunately Gatō had left the mansion that day for the castle, taking along a group of men and the fortune he had amassed and stolen from the villagers. Even so, they had struck a second decisive blow to Gatō and hadn't suffered any casualties.

Kakashi could only hope their luck would hold out.

Two days later Gatō stood outside the west gate of the smoldering ruins with a small army of thugs. He glared at the remains of the gate. There, in a shadow that remained all day long, he saw a small chunk of ice.

'Betray me, will you? I'll make you, and that little brat, suffer. You'll beg for death before I kill you.'

Gatō stomped away from his former mansion. He had plans to make and heads to collect.

The following morning, just as the sun was starting to rise a man wearing a cat mask with green and red markings on it was leaping through the trees towards Wave. As he landed in a tree he looked down to find a boy staggering through the woods supporting a heavily wounded man dragging a massive sword.

"Hang on, Zabuza-sama. Once we get to Tazuna's house I'll have you patched up in no time," the boy gasped out.

'Tazuna? Team 7's client?' The masked man dropped down in front of the pair, startling the boy. "You are friends of Tazuna?"

The boy eyed him warily. "Not... exactly. You don't work for Gatō, do you?"

"I do not."

"We're friends of the ninja he hired," the boy told him.

Thinking back on the information he had the masked man decided to test the young man. "Sakura?"

The boy blinked at the random name before figuring it out. "Are you... the support Kakashi said was coming? Where are the rest?" He looked around trying to spot more people.

"Can you lead me to where Team 7 is staying?"

The boy nodded. "If you can help me carry Zabuza-sama we'll get there much quicker."

Menma was the one to answer the door when they arrived several hours later.

"Haku? Whoa, what happened?" He asked, looking at Zabuza and stepping aside to let them enter. "And who is that?"

"Tenzō." Kakashi said in surprise as saw the group enter.

"Ah, Kakashi-senpai. I look forward to working with you again," the masked man replied.

Menma led Haku to a room to lay Zabuza in before fetching Sakura. He let the two of them work on Zabuza as he went back to where Kakashi and the masked man were.

"-nt two of us, but during our crossing we were ambushed. My teammate was struck and killed by an arrow. I'm sorry, but there won't be anyone else coming to help." Menma heard the man finish as he walked back into the room.

Kakashi sighed. "Well it's better than getting no help at all." He then briefed Tenzō on the situation. Explaining how they had destroyed Gatō's mansion and one base so far, leaving another base and the castle left.

"With Zabuza wounded and Gatō on alert we should probably lay low for a bit. Luckily it seems that seeing Gatō's mansion turn into a firebomb breathed some life back into the villagers. We've had men showing up at the door armed and ready to fight all morning," Kakashi said.

The two men sat in silence thinking things over.

"Hey, Kakashi-sensei, you never told us you were a summoner," Menma said. Sasuke perked up at hearing mention of summoning.

"It's not a true summoning. It only applies for my personal group of dogs," Kakashi told him.

"Still, it could be incredibly useful. Mind if I take a look at the scroll?" Menma asked.

"As long as all you're doing is looking," Kakashi told him.

"Don't worry. I just want to see the seals used in the process."

Kakashi nodded and tossed him the scroll.

"Thanks. I'll return it in a bit." With that, Menma found a secluded place to copy the scroll down. He noted which parts linked the scroll to Kakashi's dogs and left them blank. He remembered hearing in the academy that if the technique was performed without signing a contract first, and you qualified for one, it would teleport the user to the creatures you had an affinity for.

Bracing himself he went through the hand signs. "Kuchiyose no Jutsu!" His world temporarily went black.

Drip. Drip.

'God damn it.'

End Chapter 7

A/N:

One or two chapters left for Wave at this point. Menma will get something flashy before the end of the arc, if you can't figure out what it is I'll smack you.