Birth of an Assassin: Heir to the Namikaze

by G3rMan

As a new era approaches, the great clan of the Namikaze is gone. With only one remaining member to carry on the art of assassination and the Creed, will the clan be doomed to fail..or will it become stronger than it has ever been? NaruxSakuxRedHeadHarem

5. A Kunoichi's Weakness

Birth of an Assassin: Heir to the Namikaze

Chapter 5

A Kunoichi's Weakness

DISCLAIMER: I do not own Assassin's Creed or Naruto.

"Speaking"

'Thinking'

"Jutsu"

"Tailed Beast Speak"

Pairing: NaruxSaku

Assassin!Naruto

Now onto the show!

000

The Creed

Stay your blade from innocents

See but be unseen

Never compromise the Assassins

Nothing is true, everything is permitted.

000

Land of Grass

In the country of Kusa, the hidden village Kusagakure resided in the center of a large grassland reserve that found itself eventually surrounded by tall grass and forest. The village itself was not as impressive or large as a major nation's and as such did not have as much of a dominating presence over landscape. The walls were made of tough native bamboo held together by chakra roots used by the original Kusa shinobi who inhabited the grasslands.

The village had only a few hundred inhabitants at a given time, dozens often coming and going with either trade or missions. The shinobi corps was made up of a few dozen Chunin and Jonin while each generation led to a handful of genin going on to learn further. It was a sad note that village elders had recorded a steady decline of shinobi and academy students, such was their position that within a few decades only a small group of ninja would be left within the village.

This of course caused much grief with the elders and the village leadership, however, their funding was not getting any larger as Kusa was a small agriculturist nation with little income. In addition, it had strong allies with Konohagakure to the immediate east and Tanigakure to the south. While this meant little overall income for the shinobi of Kusa, it also guaranteed military intervention from allies should they be attacked and this was enough to keep the Daimyo content.

However, traditionalist shinobi factions did not see this in such a good light. While they knew their country would never be a major nation nor did they wish to try, seeing the destruction of their northern neighbors in their attempt, the still did not wish to lose what they still had. This led to tension following the Third Shinobi War over a decade ago that brought about the formation of a dissident faction.

These shinobi continue to pester the loyalist Kusagakure ninja and hamper what little progress the village makes. Their primary objective seems only to harass Kusa operations but in honest truth they had little info on the groups true plans if any. Without the manpower to deal with such a problem and not wanting to find further embarrassment by asking other nations for support, Kusa kept this a hidden secret.

It wasn't so difficult to do as the ninja rebels kept confined to Kusa. The only problem was when foreign shinobi would enter the land which could definitely lead to a confrontation. It was at this junction after the war that a formal alliance was made with Konohagakure for their help of freeing Kusa from Iwagakure and later Tanigakure for mutual support in case of another war.

The village leader knew that if the rebels could not be directly dealt with, the best they could do was personally lead and protect foreign shinobi while in the land of Kusa. In this was the irony that the rebels targeted Kusa ninja which only led to a higher chance of danger for the travelers. However, the Kusa ninja knew their own backyard well and were able to skillfully avoid the rebels.

Now in current time, Kusa continues to rely on its allies for both trading of goods and knowledge. It is their hope that either a prodigy will come about from their withering crop of students or that a terrible happening will come upon the rebel faction they still knew so little about. It was at this point though that most considered the rebels a fairy tale as none had been encountered for quite some time; something more to scare a child than a Jonin of Kusa.

But the village leader knew they were still out there, and that was why he knew what had to be done when news of a Konoha squad was coming to return sensitive documents. A squad was assembled of three Chunin and two genin to escort their visitors safely to Kusa. To the genin it was seen as a survival exercise and a chance to meet other ninja from a different nation; to the Chunin, it was an unfortunate B-rank babysitting job.

Nothing in a shinobi mission is set in stone though, an important lesson ninja must take to heart. Something that seemed to be lacking in Kusa's teachings that would come to hurt them.

000

Kusagakure

Administration Building

The administration building of Kusagakure was the equivalent of the Hokage Mansion in Konoha; it was where the ninja leadership was based out of and also where important functions such as mission assignment and archives were held. However, as the village was quite small the building was shared with the civilian arm of government for the city and no one actually lived there as the Hokage did in their mansion.

It was here that the village leader, Akeru Take, was officially assigning the Konoha escort mission to a group of gathered shinobi. He was a middle-aged man who had been part of the Kusa resistance during the Third War and looked over his gathered shinobi with veiled disappointment. While all Chunin were clad in the beige flak jackets of Kusa and sage green clothing dispensed upon promotion, both they and the child genin looked quite unhappy to take on such an important mission.

It seemed most of the village still thought of the rebels as myths, even though the time since their creation hadn't even been two decades.

"Do you understand the mission outlines? Meet our Konoha allies at Tenchi bridge and escort them safely back here, to Kusagakure." The Chunin straightened out and saluted him, allowing the genin to follow by example.

"Yes sir!" The leader of the squad took the mission details from Akeru and placed them safely in his pocket before rejoining his team.

"Remember the importance of this mission, under no circumstances should our Konoha allies come into any danger by the rebel faction based out of the area. The ramifications could be dire if you fail." He warned them in an ominous tone, hoping to rouse them from their laziness.

It seemed to work as a bead of sweat appeared on the genin and lesser Chunin; the squad leader stayed confident and gave him a nod before leading his team out the exit. As soon as they left, Akeru sighed and brought a hand to his forehead in exasperation, even if the rebels were not directly fighting them their presence had plagued both him and the village of Kusagakure for far too long.

'If only our clan of assassins remained..I could have requisitioned their assistance. Their agile glider troupe would slice through those bandits and rogues with little trouble..'

The country of Kusa was once home to a small clan of assassins based out of northern Kusa where the forests were the thickest. They made their hideout in the highest of treetops and would freelance their skills to Kusa for a reasonable price, acting somewhat like a mercenary force. The only problem was that they refused to recruit outsiders, instead they were content to allow their customs and their clan to slowly die off with each passing generation.

Now this wouldn't have been a major problem until the Third Shinobi War happened. It was obvious this war had done as much damage to Kusa as it did to Ame or Tani.

The Iwa shinobi steamrolled right through their home territory on the way to Konoha's border. Seeing this as a direct threat to their livelihood, the assassins engaged the Iwa shinobi in hit-n-run attacks and guerrilla raids on their rearguard. For a while, they were able to succeed in hurting Iwa's morale and supplies as they knew the land well and the Iwa shinobi were unable to use their earth jutsu to full effect.

This lasted for a few months until a scouting party revealed the location of their hideout upon the return of a group of assassins from a successful mission. The Explosion Corps, along with a full platoon of Iwa shinobi, were called in to deal with the problem. Upon the operation completion, the giant tree that had housed the assassins was felled and the clan was wiped out. It was said that the infamous Gari of Iwa was killed in this battle and was a great loss to the Explosion Corps talent pool.

The only thing Kusagakure had left that was unique to it was their special flora ninjutsu, the ability to manipulate the local plant life with chakra. Even some of the most skilled users of this special Hiden jutsu were said to be able to create life, similar to Senju Hashirama's ability of Mokuton; alas, no such user currently lived.

So many opportunities lost, sometimes the leader wondered how Kusa still stood with its problems. But how did any nation stand when it should fall? Through lies of course, bluffs of power and dignity long lost. Kusagakure was holding on by a very thin thread, and it was only a matter of time before it snapped. Who would be the one to tie the thread back together?

The Kusa rebels? Over his dead body perhaps. Konoha or Tani? It wouldn't be as bad as some people would think but it was not his place as village leader to say such things.

It was his duty to ensure the rope did not snap, or if it did, hold it together long enough for someone to come along and tie it back together.

'Perhaps this time..I will ask Konoha for assistance in this matter. Or..perhaps my old pride from my days of resistance fighting will resurface and stop me from doing so.'

"Sir..another squad has arrived for its mission." Akeru quickly woke from his long stupor and noticed one of his Jonin had arrived with his genin squad, one of the brighter hopes in a dimming world.

"Ah yes, I apologize for the delay. It seems I got lost in thought." The secretary bowed and returned to her own desk while the Jonin apologized for the intrusion.

This particular squad had someone very unique, a red head by the name of Karin. She had come along in a trader caravan and it was said they found her wandering the northern area near the ruins of the assassin guild there. The girl was found to have a great potential for a shinobi career and she quickly proved to be a capable genin, all happening within the span of a month or so.

It was now almost a year since the girl had come, now the age of 13. The man sensed a greater destiny in her and held high hopes she would go far in the village.

"Ah Gen-san, your mission today will be the usual 'Grass Egg Hunt'." A collective sigh came from the genin as the infamous D-rank mission struck again; the Jonin sweat dropped and graciously accepted the contract scroll.

The tall grass that surrounded the village's hilly location was infested with a certain invasive species of tree that came from the outlying forest. As Kusagakure sat in a relatively fortified spot on the hilly plain, the outlying grassland between the forest gave the village a certain safety zone between the large creatures and other..dangers that infested the forest; for the shinobi, it offered a better kill zone and view between the forest and the village for early warning should an attack come.

It was called an egg hunt as the tree species' seeds were quite large and resembled eggs of a bird somewhat. If they were allowed to come to fruition, the village would be surrounded by forest within a few decades and that was something they did not want. So, they employed their bored genin with the job of collecting the eggs from the tall grass every season when the seeds would be released.

Needless to say, it was not a fun task for the young ones to do every year. At the very least it inspired them to try hard to get promoted so they would not have to endure the job as much as it was usually delegated to any available genin before higher ranks were called.

"We will get to work right away sir..come on you three." Gen led his squad out and Akeru chuckled, swiveling his chair to view the small village and the bright morning sun rays.

'What a beautiful day..but is this a good or bad omen?'

000

Konoha/Kusa Border

Team 7

Kakashi led the squad forward through the thick brush of Konoha's forest floor. As they approached the border, he wanted them to stay off the main path as a precaution in case there were bandits waiting at the bridge. It was there they were supposed to expect an escort of Kusa shinobi and because the village wasn't far from the Tenchi, the Kusa shinobi could be expected right at the bridge when they arrived.

It was an odd tradition the village had set, forcing every squad moving through Kusa to be guided by their shinobi. Of course a foreign shinobi should be watched and even deterred from exploring but an allied nation should have a degree of trust. For them to force Konoha shinobi to have babysitters was somewhat embarrassing for the larger nation, but as the village was known for they allowed it for peace to reign between the two nations.

"Kakashi-sensei..is this really necessary? I mean I know a ninja should be able to hide and such but you said Kusa was our ally, why do we have to hide from them?" Sakura complained to their teacher as they walked through bushes and went around large rocks and trees.

"Well Sakura, you said you didn't want a fight. Staying off the main trail is one of the best ways to accomplish that, wouldn't you say?" Sakura pouted and brushed a branch out of her face as they pushed through a bush.

"Yeah but..this wasn't exactly what I had in mind." Sasuke just groaned in annoyance and she quieted down, albeit with stubborn reluctance.

'Looks like about time I call Naruto back from scouting duty, we are not too far from the bridge.'

Kakashi made a bird call that echoed through the forest, searching out the assassin that was further on ahead. Instead of a rustle of leaves signaling the boy's return, another whistle was sent back to the Jonin. It seemed the boy wanted them to come to him instead which was fair considering he had probably already reached the bridge.

"Alright, looks like Naruto has arrived at the bridge already. Let's pick up the pace a bit so we can wait for the Kusa squad together." Kakashi and his two charges broke into a silent run through the forest to reach the outlying crevice that signaled the Tenchi bridge's underlying river.

Naruto was crouched behind a rock as he spied the bridge with a keen eye, looking out for threats. While they were technically within Kusa's borders, the forest on their side was still teeming with Fire country flora and fauna, making it so a Kusa shinobi's hiden jutsu would have no effect as long as he remained on their side of the bridge.

"Naruto..seen anything suspicious." The blonde didn't even react to their presence, merely waving them over to the rock with a hand signal.

"Nothing, which is exactly the problem. The Kusa squad should have been here by now." The fact unsettled Kakashi a bit but he was sure there was a reasonable explanation, quite possibly laziness on their Kusa counterpart's end.

"Does..does that mean something happened to them?" Sakura asked out loud, shaking a little.

Kakashi patted her on the head and gave her a smile, much to her ire.

"Don't worry about it Sakura, it just means we get to rest a while until they get here." Naruto looked back as Kakashi sat down and got out his book to read under the shade of a tree.

Sasuke wandered off to a corner of their little area and just sat down on a rock, looking quite bored. Sakura herself just looked around and, not seeing anywhere she would feel comfortable, just plopped down in the grass and looked up at the sky.

Naruto shook his head at their laid back attitude as his instincts told him that it was more than tardiness that held the Kusa squad up. Without Kakashi's permission, he couldn't go off alone and investigate it. Generally this wouldn't be a problem, but even if there was the slightest chance a Kusa patrol caught him unattended that would lead to problems for Konoha. The last thing he needed was some sort of sanction or escort thanks to some silly C-rank mission.

So he chose to begrudgingly wait for when Kakashi realized that there was indeed something wrong and allowed them to go and investigate. He sat down in a meditative stance and began to focus his chakra and take in the chakra around him, allowing him to reach out and 'touch' the places around him and sense the living things there.

As he expanded this area of vision past Tenchi bridge, a battle was just coming to an end between Kusa shinobi and the rebels.

000

Kusa Forest

The genin could only watch in horror as their squad leader was cut down by a brute of man with a broadsword larger than their heads. The two other Chunin had already been captured by a flora jutsu they recognized as a hiden jutsu from the village, meaning that it wasn't only bandits in the group but actual rebels their elders had warned them of.

That meant they were not capable of standing against them and forced them into the only option; surrender.

"Ha, damn fool didn't stand a chance against my kenjutsu." The brute patted over the grass ninja looking for important documents while the two Chunin tried wriggle free from the vines.

A rogue Kusa ninja, obvious by their scratched headband, stood over them as they writhed in pain on the forest floor.

"You two should know better, the more you resist the tighter the vines grow. Both of you will be killed soon enough anyway though so it doesn't matter. Hehehe..." He chuckled darkly as the two muffled their protests under the vines covering their mouths, having little strength left.

A few bandits held the two genin down, a girl and a boy. The brute smiled as he found purchase, a mission scroll detailing that the squad was to meet up with a Konoha group with important documents to be returned to Kusa. Documents like those were inaccessible to the rebels as they usually remained locked up tight within the village, a place even they could not raid.

But with it out in the open, it was their chance to steal it. With the genin of Kusa and perhaps a Konoha shinobi as a bargaining chip, they would have a higher standing and would force Kusa to acknowledge them along with the rest of the nations.

"Hey boss, what do you want to do with these two?" The man looked at the two scared genin, their uncontrolled shaking only got worse when they saw the two Chunin cease struggling and the vines slowly withered away; their job done.

"Well we could use some hostages, hell maybe we could use 'em for labor." The bandits quickly tied them up and led them off to their encampment while the leader remained with the rogue ninja.

"Get Kyoko and go to Tenchi bridge, use these uniforms." He prodded one of the dead Chunin with his foot.

"Impersonate the loyalists and get the documents without killing anybody? That seems a little..humane to me." The man chuckled as he knew how twisted this particular ninja was, he enjoyed killing and was not one for underhanded tactics.

"See if you can grab one of the Konoha shinobi too..if we can take one hostage then we can really get somewhere. Thanks to that old bastard Akeru, all foreigners are able to avoid our patrols when they enter. This is the first chance we've had to ambush one. Don't mess it up." The ninja flinched under the brute's glare and nodded, not wanting to get on his bad side.

"Sure thing, I'll head out right away." He gathered up the dead shinobi's clothing and headed off to find his companion.

The leader himself figured it would be best if he went along too, just in case the bad feeling he had came true. He set off to reach the bridge for an early vantage point for the meeting between Konoha and 'Kusa'.

000

Naruto jolted a bit as he felt a large chakra presence approaching the bridge, along with two smaller ones. They were still a ways off, but at their speed it wouldn't be very long until they arrived.

Naruto woke from his trance and saw Kakashi get up and walk over to him as the other two were not paying attention. He knelt down to Naruto's level and handed him a scroll, the same one with the documents they were to hand over to Kusa shinobi. His eye locked with Naruto's and it spoke volumes, the man looked deathly serious compared to his laid back attitude shown to Sakura.

"I'm giving this to you Naruto as I have some business to take care of nearby. I want you to accept the Kusa escort and reach the village as fast as you can then hand this directly to their village leader, no one else. Sasuke and Sakura will be in your care until we meet again in the village, are we clear?" Naruto accepted the scroll reluctantly, suspicious of the man's behavior.

"What business could you have that would jeopardize the mission?" Kakashi looked at the bridge with a far off look in his eye and shrugged.

"Consider it long-range scouting, I'm going to investigate the area and make sure the path is clear for you and your escorts. Kusa isn't necessarily the most well patrolled country in the world and there might be a bandit camp or something nearby." Naruto accepted this as fact as he had a similar suspicion, still though the man was going against Kusa's rule for foreigners.

As if reading his mind, Kakashi patted his shoulder in comfort.

"Don't worry. I may not be an assassin, but I know how to get around without being seen. Now good luck." He waved before disappearing in a puff of smoke; his departure brought the others back into focus as they looked at where their sensei had been.

"Where did Kakashi-sensei go?" Sakura said in a slight panic as she watched Naruto get up, pat his robe of dirt, and stow a scroll away beneath his vest.

Sasuke just got up and joined Naruto near his boulder, sensing they would be moving out soon. Sakura soon joined the bandwagon as it seemed Naruto wasn't going to answer her question. As soon as they both were behind him against the boulder, Naruto turned to address them with the news.

"Kakashi said that we would go along with the Kusa patrol back to their village and complete the delivery while we wait for him there. He said he had some scouting to do, to make sure the path to the village would be safe for us. Until he gets back..I'm in charge of the mission." Naruto and Sasuke shared a momentary glare before the Uchiha backed down, a silent battle of wills had led to Naruto's unanimous promotion to squad leader.

"Oh ok..well I'm ready when you two are." Sakura accepted his explanation and was ready to get the mission over with, curious as to what the other village would be like.

"Let's get moving, all this waiting is boring me." Sasuke drawled as Naruto waited a moment then shrugged, it seemed as though they would meet them on their side of the Tenchi.

"Come on, I sensed their approach a while ago." The three made their way across the long bridge and kept to the middle so they wouldn't have to look down at the raging river below.

On the other side, the two rebels in disguise waited somewhat impatiently only to be rewarded with the sight of three kids. While Naruto's clothing was a bit of a stir, they were too young to recognize what an assassin's uniform looked like nor were they well informed on Konoha's military strength.

They began to whisper to each other as they sized them up.

"The one with the weird clothes is heavily armed and looks to be the leader. The other two are keeping behind him with a level of respect given unconsciously..he could be a problem."

"The black haired one, I recognize him as an Uchiha. They are tough warriors and have a kekkei genkai..we should try and capture him."

"I dunno, the girl is obviously the easiest. She looks pretty uneasy and out of place, an easy grab."

"Then we will go for her in case we can't grab the Uchiha, but the documents come first."

"Right."

They ended their conversation just as soon as the squad walked up. Little did they realize Naruto picked up on their conversation with his advanced hearing and realized just what kind of harm they meant to him and his squad. However, as far as he could tell they were loyal Kusagakure ninja so that would imply the entire village would be hostile.

'Looks like this mission got a lot more complicated..' Naruto silently cursed in his mind as they stopped a few feet away from their Kusa counterparts.

"Welcome to Kusa..honorable guests from Konoha." The woman of the two ninja did a not-so-graceful bow, as if she was putting on a very disliked act.

"You are our escorts I presume? Just you two seems a bit light from what I had figured.." The male frowned but quickly put on a smile as he gestured with his arms to the forest and presumably Kusagakure.

"Well as I'm sure you know Kusagakure isn't a major village like Konoha, we can't afford extensive border patrol units as you can. And because we've been having to escort guests such as yourself for over the past decade, our leader has gotten a bit lax in assigning the job when the manpower can be used elsewhere." Naruto had to admit, the two put on a good show; he had expected them to attack by now.

"Very well, we accept your escort. As our guides here, our fate is in your hands." Naruto's bait worked as the man smirked at the word fate.

"Sounds like a plan, the village isn't too far off anyway so it'll be a short trip. We will take the documents for safe keeping and hand it to the village elder upon arrival so you don't waste your time." Naruto remembered Kakashi's words and something didn't add up to him, the ninja seemed intent on taking the package now before they reached the village while if they waited the entire ninja populace could ambush them in the village.

What did that mean?

'It means that these aren't Kusa ninja..they are bandits..or worse, rogue ninja.'

Naruto's thinking had led to a slight pause and the man coughed a bit to get him to focus. Naruto nodded and reached into his vest, making his way over to the man.

A rustle in the bushes alerted all five of them to the new presence and Naruto remembered the larger chakra, he had thought it an animal of some kind.

It was no animal though, just a very large man.

The sword he wielded was massive and it was coming down straight on Naruto's head. Sakura screamed as the impact broke the ground beneath into crumbling pieces and sent dust flying over the battlefield. The two rebels had jumped away, surprised by their leader's sudden appearance. Perhaps they hoped it was part of his plan to jump in and have the two groups work together to defeat him, further extending their little farce.

The serious look on the man's face though alerted them that he had only joined in because of immediate danger.

"Dammit Uroko, that kid almost killed you!" The ninja were shocked when he said that and the man sputtered a response as Sakura tried to defend their team-mate.

"Naruto would never hurt an ally ninja! Whoever you are, you're lying!" Sasuke looked the man over and knew the tell tale sign of a bandit; he got into a dangerous stance in preparation for combat.

"Sakura, get ready. This guy isn't a pushover." The pink haired girl took her attention away from the new arrival back at Sasuke and nodded, taking out a kunai for defense.

The brute looked at her and smirked, obviously she didn't know her team-mate well. The kid was practically leaking with killer intent as he was surely anticipating the kill, it was the only thing that tipped him off. He pulled his broadsword out of the ground as the dust settled and his eyes widened when the kid was nowhere to be seen.

"Damn, I missed!" Uroko and Kyoko began to look around for trouble as they knew that the one in the robe saw through their lie.

"Kyoko..cover me. I'm gonna use that jutsu again." She nodded and took out a kunai as the tense standoff came to a quiet stalemate for a moment while the missing member of Team 7 stayed out of sight.

Without a single sound, a figure jumped from a nearby tree and landed on Kyoko's back, forcing her down to the ground and completely covered her from view by a white robe. Naruto retracted his blade from her neck and made to charge the one going for a jutsu when the larger man moved at a speed belying his size to intercept.

Sakura watched in horror as Naruto was smashed into a tree by the larger man and Sasuke was confused why he killed that woman. Sure he wasn't a fan of Kusa either but to kill her..he had to have had a good reason.

"Guh.." Naruto coughed and stabbed into the man's shoulder that had him pinned, smirking as the paralyzing poison made its way through his bloodstream.

It was to his shock when the man didn't even break a sweat and he realized that his size wasn't just strength; somehow he was able to resist the poison. Sasuke charged forward toward the bandit leader, tired of waiting for an opening to attack. Sakura watched him ago and remained in place, unsure of what to do until Naruto got freed.

'Come on Naruto..you can get him!'

As the man increased his pressure on the boy in an attempt to make him black out, he disappeared in a puff of smoke. The bandit was only disappointed for a second when Sasuke came out of the corner of his eye and he blocked a solid kick with his sword's flat end. Sasuke took out a kunai and began to slash at him, getting in a few cuts but most did nothing but make the man chuckle further infuriating the Uchiha.

As they engaged one another in a short battle of weapons, Uroko just finished gathering his chakra for the jutsu. Vines swept from the ground and charged toward Sasuke who was unaware of them as his whole attention was on the leader.

Sakura noticed them immediately and went to shout for Sasuke to look out only to be pulled down to the ground by her own set of vines. Before she could even raise her weapon to cut through them, her arms were entangled and her mouth and eyes were covered up as she could no longer see or speak. The tangled up girl collapsed to the ground as the vines solidified their grip around her fragile body.

'One hostage down, another to g-'

"Oh no you don't!" Naruto charged out of the brush and threw a few kunai from his pack at the man only for vines to form a shield in front of him.

"Haha! If you would have kept your mouth shut you might have gotten me! Or maybe not..hahaha!" Naruto cursed himself as the man was right, he saw Sakura get captured and it made his blood boil.

He charged forward and saw a few vines come out of the ground to attack him. He realized then that this was the infamous Kusagakure jutsu that allowed one to manipulate plants to their own bidding. This rogue ninja was once a member of the Kusagakure ninja corps as he guessed the other one as well.

There was no time to analyze further as the vines approached him. Naruto took out his two curved tantos from his back, gripping them strongly; he sent a surge of electrical chakra through his body and formed it around the weapons.

"I will cut right through you!" Naruto charged forward and sliced through the vines, noticing that the longer they remained in use by the ninja, the bigger they grew.

He sliced through whatever attack came at him but felt like he was making no progress. Sasuke was luckily able to avoid the attack sent for him because of Naruto's outburst when Sakura was attacked. Now he was fending off the wild vines as the leader made his way over to the defenseless girl and, using his broadsword, cut the vines that kept her rooted to the ground. The rest remained on her as restraints as he hauled her over his shoulder and began to make his way over to the tree line as she uselessly struggled.

"Now now little girl, you ain't goin' nowhere." He patted her behind for good measure and received a very loud yet muffled shout from the poor girl.

Naruto howled in rage and made a last ditch charge for the plant puppeteer, finally breaking through the vine wall that he had erected around himself.

"Shit!" Uroko knew he was screwed when the kid had eyes that screamed murder; he had thought he wouldn't fear death with how nonchalant he was about killing but he felt like he was about to piss his pants in terror!

"Boss help!" The man in question looked over his shoulder and sighed, putting the girl down for a moment before charging right at Naruto's flank.

Naruto this time sensed him coming in time to put up his twin swords in defense against his large broadsword; the test of strength as they pushed against one another was a short one unfortunately. The man leaned back and then pushed forward with all his strength, breaking Naruto's guard. He kicked him right in the gut and shattered the boy's rib cage and sent him flying over the abyss of Tenchi river into the rapids.

"You owe me big time ya little asshole." Uroko scratched the back of his head and shrugged in apology as they looked back to find Sasuke gone and Sakura still wriggling for freedom.

"Well we lost the Uchiha brat..but we still got this one." He picked her up as if she was light as a stick with one hand as the other sheathed his sword on his back.

"What do we do boss? The one with the robe had the documents, now that he's gone.." This made Sakura erupt into a frenzy of shaking and screaming, only stopping when the large man put some pressure on her neck with his free hand.

"Well, I guess we can deal with a hostage for now. Who knows, maybe he'll wash up on shore somewhere and we can scavenge what's left." The big guy sighed and walked off back into the forest to their hideout, noticing the sun was going down.

"Once we get back, I want you to gather a patrol and try and find that Uchiha kid. That one with the robe can wait but he's still alive and out here..somewhere." Uroko smirked, glad to get back into the action.

"My pleasure.." The two continued their trek back, losing a shinobi and gaining quite an important bargaining chip to one very wounded shinobi.

000

Kusa

Tenchi River

Night

Naruto awoke to a stinging sensation in his chest and attempted to move, only succeeding in making the sting change to unbridled pain. He tried to scream but no sound came out, only air escaping from his lungs along with a good bit of water.

"Dammit boy, I'm trying to heal you. Now just sit still and don't try to speak and you sure as hell don't start asking me questions, I'm not in the mood."

'Kyuubi?..damn you. I thought I kept you from interfering with my body.' Naruto found himself disappointed in his mental barriers and realized Kyuubi's influence ran deeper than he had expected.

"You underestimate me boy, those pitiful walls you tried to put up did nothing to my chakra already flowing through your body. Its thanks to me you are still alive, so feel appreciative."

'The bridge..we were ambushed..Sakura!' Naruto again tried to get up but felt a jolt of pain again and fell back with a thud.

"I said stop moving! Damn, are you so thick-headed? The vixen was captured but alive, if you want to rescue her useless carcass from that bandit I suggest you take a hint!"

Naruto merely let Kyuubi run his course, the pain was considerable but he could feel himself slowly be pieced back together from the bandit's kick. It felt..odd as someone played doctor on your insides while they were still inside you.

'My weapons..I can't feel them in my hands.' Naruto's next concern were the two master-crafted tantos gifted to him by the Shimizu, it would be a bad omen to lose them already.

"I sense they washed up to shore with you, aren't you lucky you don't have to go look." Kyuubi responded with his sarcastic drawl.

"Now rest..its not your time to die yet boy."

000

Kusa

Sasuke sat around a small campfire, eyes darting back and forth. He had just barely been able to escape when Naruto made the rogue ninja lose concentration over his jutsu. When he saw Naruto get kicked over the edge, he knew he had to retreat to survive; even he had to admit their leader was too strong. The thought had crossed his mind only after escaping to grab Sakura and by then it was too late.

No matter, they wouldn't kill her or else they wouldn't have bothered to restrain her. Naruto might be a bit angered and Kakashi would be annoyed, but Sasuke didn't plan to sit idle for long. As soon as he warmed up a bit, he planned to track down the bandits and destroy their camp, in the process freeing Sakura. It would kill two birds with one stone and get the other two on his team off his back.

'Just about that time..'

000

Kusa

Bandit Camp

The leader sat in on the huge bonfire they had in celebration for their minor yet meaningful victory. The two Kusa genin were being put to work as servers of the meat his bandits had collected while the Konoha girl was being trussed up by Uroko. Whatever the man had in mind for her he did not know, as long as he didn't kill her though it didn't matter to him.

Meeting those rogue ninja in the forest a few years back had at first been pretty troublesome for his gang, but now that he had defeated their old leader and taken over, it seemed things were finally looking up. Soon they could ransom back the kids to their villages for whatever they wanted and if luck would bless them again the documents would remain intact wherever the robed one ended up.

'That kid..there was something odd about the way he fought..' The bandit thought as he ungracefully chomped a bite of venison.

'Can't put my finger on it, but my guess is that the kid had more than just ninja training. The other two fought nothing like he did and if the circumstances were different..I dunno if I could have beaten him.'

Noticing Uroko's return, the man waved him over.

"..." He swallowed the food in his mouth before addressing the ninja, smiling at his look of disgust. "What did you do with that girl?" Uroko smirked and pointed up, making him raise an eyebrow before obliging and looking into the tree line.

The pink haired girl was strung out by vines in a crucified bind, her arms were being held out to her sides while the rest of her body was covered in the strong plant rope. Her eyes were still covered along with her mouth, surely saving the bandits any trouble they might have had with her trying to damage their ears.

"I figured she looked better up there as a trophy, whaddya think?" The brute just nodded in agreement, knowing better than to question the ninja's odd tastes in decoration.

"Its fine, now just take a bite to eat before you go looking for that kid. The fire's warm and the food is cooked perfect." Uroko took a seat on a nearby rock, forcefully grabbing a piece of meat from one of the Kusa genin shuffling by.

"Don't mind if I do.." He smirked gleefully as he bit into the first meat he had all night.

000

Sakura could hear the shouts and hollers of madmen down below, the fire both heated her feet as it wafted up and filled her covered vision with edges of yellowish-orange when she tried to look. It didn't matter though of course, nothing mattered anymore. She was captured, to be used as nothing but a bargaining chip to either Kakashi or the entire village of Konoha.

She was a failure as a kunoichi..a tear fell from her eye. Then she remembered what they said about Naruto, how he was dead..she couldn't believe them. Naruto was too strong, too..cool to die to some disgusting brute like that man, and yet..they sounded so confident they'd..they had...

Sakura's muffled sobs ran through the night as more tears fell, disappearing into the fire below. She let out her tears as her crush and all she had trusted in vanished, she was no longer a sheltered girl living a happy life in Konoha.

It was because of her the mission had failed, and it was because of her that Naruto had fallen.

'Naruto...oh Naruto! Please come back! I'm so..lonely and scared..please don't be dead..please don't be dead.'

It wasn't long after that the jolly laughter below her erupted into screams as the night became a bloody one, a very bloody one.

000

Dun dun dun..wow, its one in the morning and I have school tomorrow. I just couldn't stop writing while I had the inspiration flowing through me, and I'm glad I could get this done. I hope you all enjoy and leave me nice long reviews about what you thought of the chapter and what you hope will happen next!

Peace!

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