Me: I don't own Naruto!
Naruto: Of course you don't!
Me: That's not exactly what I meant...
Naruto: Huh? *scratches head*
Me: *hangs head in gloom* Nevermind...
Naruto: Hmph. Check out Author-chan's blog, now!
Osen-san: Thank you! Hope you enjoy!
lifethroughanotherseyes: Who knows...XD
Bella-swan11: Lolz, greetings! Kasumi is a strange, mysterious girl...
MylaUchiha: Okay! So happy you like!
Thoroughly Misguided: Thank you! I do my best! As for Sasuke...well, he's an Uchiha and they're a little oblivious when it comes to love.
Randomness-sama: I know the feeling! Hope you like!
Alaina Kuski: Thank you!
Tora
"What's the distance from the target?"
"Five meters. I'm ready anytime." Sasuke said coolly.
"So am I." Kasumi sighed.
"Me, too." Naruto whispered.
"...Go!"
"Gotcha!" Naruto grabbed the cat with both hands, which let out a loud, startled meow.
"Ribbon on the left ear; are you sure this is the target, Tora?" Kakashi asked lazily.
"Oww!" Naruto wrestled on the ground with the cat, getting scratch marks all over himself. Just because the blonde's taijutsu was improving at an exceptional rate didn't mean he was getting better at handling cats. Kasumi watched with an indulgent grin while Sasuke reported back with an almost fond eye-roll.
"Yeah. We're sure."
"Good; Lost Pet 'Tora' Search Mission complete!" Their sensei declared.
C-Rank
Kasumi watched in sickening fascination as the Fire Country Lord's Wife Madam Shijimi got her cat back. And proceeded to squeeze it as hard as she could. "Ohh, my cute little Tora-chan. I was so worried."
She wasn't sure whether to feel vengeful joy or exasperated pity for the crying cat. She decided on the joy. The thing was a menace even if it did have sufficient reason to try and escape as soon as possible.
Naruto had no such hesitations. "Gyahaha! In your face, you stupid cat!"
Sasuke watched stoically, the smallest tinges of amusement in his obsidian eyes.
"Now... Kakashi's Team #7, your next duty is... Hmmm... babysitting an elder's grandson, shopping in the neighborhood village, and help with the potato digging." The Hokage read blandly off the list.
"NO! NO! NO! No, thank you!" Naruto resolutely crossed his arms in an X. "I want to do, you know, a more incredible mission! Find us a better one!"
'I agree...' Sasuke admitted reluctantly to himself.
'It is getting rather tedious...' Kasumi mused. She was aware that D-ranks were necessary and meant to build up a team's teamwork, but God, if it wasn't boring.
'I figured it was about time for this.' Kakashi sighed.
"You idiot! You are just a rookie!" In his agitation, Iruka bolted up from his seat to slam his hands against the desk. "Everyone starts off with the simple duties and works their way up!"
"But! But! We keep getting the crappiest duties!" Naruto protested.
Kakashi gave him a firm bop on the head. "Be quiet you!"
"Naruto! It seems I have to explain to you what these duties are all about!" The Hokage said in exasperation. "All ninjas..."
"... What are you guys going to eat tonight?" Naruto asked, plopping down on the floor and blatantly ignoring the Hokage's explanation.
"Probably some fried rice with peas and eggs." Kasumi went along with it. She had paid attention in the Academy. There was no need for her to listen to this.
"I think I'm going to go out. Barbecue maybe?" Kakashi contributed, bored with the Hokage's rant. It wasn't like he didn't know the stuff.
"Hn. Tomatoes and onigiri." Sasuke added monotonously.
"Last night, I had pork ramen so miso sounds good for..." Naruto started, only to be cut off by the Sandaime who had finally noticed no one was paying attention.
"Hey! Listen!" A mark of irritation appeared on his forehead.
"I-I apologize." Kakashi said sheepishly.
Naruto wasn't anywhere near placated. "Geez! All you do is give lectures like that! But you know what?! I'm not the troublemaking brat you still think I am."
And to prove his point, he sat with his back turned towards them and his arms crossed and pouted.
Kakashi sighed. 'I'm going to get yelled at later for this...'
Shaking her head good-naturedly, Kasumi gently nudged Naruto with her foot. He gave her a pleading look. Sasuke gave him a 'you're-being-an-idiot' look that was pretty well-practiced by now. Naruto stuck his tongue out, but stopped pouting.
"Ok." The Hokage said to everyone's shock. "If you want it that much, I'll give you a C-rank mission. It's a protection mission of a certain individual."
Kasumi blinked. Just like that?
Naturally, Naruto didn't bother to question it. "Yay!"
"Who?! Who?! A feudal lord? A princess?" He shouted randomly.
Kasumi smiled in amusement. Heavens no. With how advanced her team was right now, they'd probably get Konoha in a war before sundown.
"Calm down. I'm about to introduce him." The Hokage, the kunoichi noticed uneasily, had a... twinkle in his eye. She was instantly suspicious. A nagging, itchy feeling settled in the back of her mind.
"Hey, will you come in here?" He ordered.
The door opened and a strong smell of alcohol wafted in. "What's this?"
An old man with a bottle of sake stepped into the room and Kasumi frowned as the uncomfortable feeling grew. She recognized it and knew it meant nothing good. Nevermind that she hadn't felt it in years.
And why had the client been standing outside the door anyways? She blinked as realization hit her. The Hokage had meant to give them the mission all along! Making sure to keep a neutral expression, she observed the Sandaime through new eyes. Tricky old ninja.
Their client took a lazy swig of alcohol and said, "They're all a bunch of super brats. Especially the shortest one with the super stupid-looking face. Are you really a ninja? Hey!"
"Haha! Who's the shortest one with the stupid-looking face..." Naruto glanced around nervously.
Sasuke and Kasumi exchanged a look and, in unanimous agreement, smoothly slid in to both sides of Naruto for a quick height comparison.
First was Sasuke, unsurprisingly, and then there was Kasumi, and last was...
"I'll kill you!" Naruto lunged, but before he could get far, Kakashi grabbed his jumpsuit and held him back easily.
"What's the purpose of killing the person you're supposed to protect? Idiot!" He lectured sternly.
"But, Kakashi-sensei!" He protested, squirming in the older man's grip.
"Naruto-san." Kasumi warned simply and Naruto subsided, albeit with great reluctance. He aimed a blue-eyed glare at the drunken old man who scowled at them. Sasuke smirked.
"I am the super expert bridge builder, Tazuna." The old man said bluntly. "I expect you to provide me super protection until I get back to my country and complete the bridge."
Kasumi sighed and placed a hand on her waist. The nagging feeling in the back of her mind was getting stronger and something was definitely wrong. How the hell had she managed to get in this much trouble in only the first few days of her genin career?
Departure
"Let's go!" Naruto shouted, throwing his hands in the air.
"Why are you so excited, Naruto-san?" Kasumi asked curiously, her mind on the empty house that had greeted her when she had went home to gather supplies.
Her older brother had been out on a mission again, A-rank this time and it was hard not to be worried - and so she had pinned a note to the table. It was habit by now. She had written that she had a C-rank mission to the Land of Waves and would, probably, not be back soon.
She had also added that she had a bad feeling about the mission and, doubtless, he would know what that meant. In their 'family', bad feelings were more like prophecies. Prophecies with bad endings.
Naruto grinned at her. "Cuz... I've never left the village before." He turned his head from side to side, taking in his surroundings.
"... Hey! Am I really going to be safe with this brat?" Tazuna demanded, pointing a finger at Naruto.
"Haha... well, I am a Jounin, so don't worry." Kakashi eye-smiled, his book not present for once.
"You really shouldn't worry." Kasumi added nonchalantly. "This is only a C-rank after all. I assure you we can handle bandits, no matter how strong they are." She twirled her finger around a stray strand of hair and kept her gaze squarely on his face.
She knew there was a reason she was feeling so uneasy and she was 99% certain it had to do with the shady bridge builder and his mission. Kasumi had never liked flying blind and that wasn't going to change now.
Both Naruto and Sasuke snapped their eyes to her, catching the edge to their usually even-tempered teammate's voice. They followed her gaze to frown at Tazuna.
The old man swallowed hard and took a swig of alcohol. A bead of sweat ran down his face and Kasumi's eyes narrowed.
Kakashi held up his hands. "Maa, maa, let's just get going for now."
"Hai, sensei." Kasumi replied compliantly.
Naruto and Sasuke's eyes flickered between Tazuna and her suspiciously. She caught the wariness and caution in Sasuke's eyes while Naruto looked confused and a little worried. Kasumi considered it an improvement that the, normally oblivious, blonde had even caught on to the interaction. Maybe their lessons in observation were actually getting through.
Sasuke raised an eyebrow at her discreetly and she subtly shook her head. He frowned, but let it drop. Naruto squinted, but let it go as well.
"Okay! Let's start this mission!" Naruto shouted enthusiastically and started taking steps forward with a purpose.
"... Dobe, it's the other way." Sasuke told him bluntly.
Without pausing, Naruto turned right around and kept on going.
Kasumi smiled in amusement even as the nagging feeling in the back of her mind intensified. This was going to be bad.
Attack
Naruto walked down the road with a large smile, thoroughly enjoying the good day. The sky was blue, the sun was bright, and he was out of Konoha!
The trip so far had been pretty quiet. Kakashi was surprisingly not reading his book and the old geezer hadn't said a word. The teme had been quiet, but that wasn't anything new.
What was surprising was that Kasumi had been really quiet, too. Naruto frowned a bit, but dismissed his worries. He was sure it wasn't anything important. Maybe she was just enjoying the open air too!
Lost in thought, he didn't notice when they passed a small puddle on the road. What he did notice was the sudden tensing of his female teammate beside him. He glanced at her curiously.
Kasumi's face was blank and as Naruto watched, she lightly nudged Sasuke who's eyes flickered to her questioningly. She didn't answer his question, but gently took Naruto's hand and turned to him.
Naruto's brow furrowed. What was going on? Deep brown eyes that he was used to being filled with patience and serenity were bright with warning. She squeezed his hand lightly and put it on his shuriken holster. He paled. Was someone going to attack them? What the hell was going on?!
Without another word or action, Kasumi smoothly slid out between them and walked over to Tazuna. Sasuke and Kakashi-sensei dropped behind.
"Tazuna-san? What's this bridge that you're building?" Her voice was light, casual. But Naruto had been spending a lot of time with Kasumi-chan and he heard the lethal undertone in her question and this made him really, really, suspicious. And weird. He wasn't used to this side of Kasumi-chan.
"It's going to be used for importing food. The Gatou Shipping company is controlling the waters around my town and they're charging high taxes, leading to food shortage. It's why my task is so important." The drunken old geezer said and Naruto frowned. Something was going on here. He just didn't know what.
"I see-"
A rustle behind Naruto drew his attention and he spun around to see Kakashi-sensei being torn to pieces by two creepy looking dudes and their spiked chain.
"Kakashi-sensei!"
Counter-Attack
Naruto froze up.
Kasumi scowled and barked out, "Naruto-san! Clones, now!"
Already, Sasuke had thrown a barrage of shuriken at the chain, pinning it to some nearby trees.
Naruto, pale and shaken, automatically did the hand-seal and created several dozen clones. After training with each other for so long, he obeyed her orders without question. Kasumi considered it very useful in situations such as these.
"Long range. I don't want you anywhere near those claws." She told him firmly. Her mind was spinning, busy analzying the enemies. Had she seen them before? He nodded and sent the clones to assist Sasuke who had whipped out a kunai and firmly trapped the chain on the tree.
"Demon Brothers. Chunin. Kirigakure missing-nin. Known for poisonous attacks." Kasumi said mechanically to her teammates and quickly went through several hand-seals.
"Balance Disruption." She whispered under her breath, discreetly focusing her chakra on the two attackers.
Sasuke vaulted through the air and braced himself on the arm gauntlets to kick the missing nin in their faces. They quickly disengaged their chain and split up, only to meet up with a whole bunch of Naruto clones.
"Take this!" They shouted, throwing kicks and punches randomly. Not batting an eyelash, the two easily dispelled the most of the clones.
Kasumi made a mental note to work on Naruto's taijutsu a bit more. From the look on Sasuke's face, he agreed.
But... she could see her genjutsu was starting to take effect. The missing nin were starting to wobble, their blows losing valuable precision. More importantly, they were distracted and held in place by the Naruto clones which gave them time. And time was very important.
One glanced up at her and his eyes widened. "You-"
"Sasuke-san, now!" She ordered, images of mist and blood and destruction flashing through her mind. Her teammates didn't need to know.
"Got it!" Sasuke shouted back, blurring into motion.
He leaped onto one of the missing nin and before the distracted man could react, crashed the back of kunai straight on his head. He was out like a light. At that same instant, the other one broke free of the crowd of clones and headed straight at Kasumi and Tazuna.
She narrowed her eyes and waited. Dodging under the initial strike and forcing Tazuna backwards, she viciously struck a blow directly to the solar plexus. The enemy bent over, gasping for breath. She didn't hesitate in swiping her kunai over his neck.
He was dead before he hit the ground.
There was a heartbeat of silence that was broken by Tazuna running over to the bushes and throwing up.
Reaction
Sasuke eyed the mess critically and turned back to his teammates to gauge their response. It wasn't his first time seeing a dead body after all, but they might be different.
He completely missed how he wouldn't have bothered or even cared several weeks ago.
Naruto was obvious. The blonde was pale, his eyes wide, and he was trembling slightly. It was probably the first time the dobe had seen someone dead; much less take a part in the murder.
Kasumi was... more difficult to assess. Her face was blank, her eyes clouded as she stared at the man she had killed. He wondered whether she was just better at handling the situation than Naruto or if this wasn't the first time she had seen someone dead. Or even if this wasn't the first time she had killed someone.
"My, I must say that was quite impressive." An obnoxiously cheerful voice spoke up from behind Sasuke and he turned around to give Kakashi his best Uchiha Glare of Death. Now that man chose to show up.
His sensei, utterly unscathed, beamed back at him. "Great job, Kasumi. You, too, Naruto and Sasuke."
The glare Kasumi gave him was the most poisonous expression Sasuke had ever seen on her. She turned away from the dead body and walked over to Naruto to enfold him in a hug. She patted his back and Sasuke found himself walking over to stand next to them as Kakashi talked to Tazuna, who still seemed to be in shock.
"Kasumi-chan..." Naruto said slowly, his eyes glued to the dead body and filled with horror.
"It was us or them, Naruto-san." Kasumi said. Her voice was calm and steely. As steely as her unflinching eyes. "It was us or them."
Naruto set his jaw and nodded. Silently, she let go of him and turned back to Kakashi.
"What now, sensei?" She asked.
Secrets
"Kasumi." Sasuke muttered later, dropping back to talk to the lagging girl.
She glanced at him, her eyes clearly distracted. "Yeah?"
"What was that jutsu you used on those missing nins?" He asked curiously.
"Oh." Kasumi blinked. "A low-rank genjutsu called Balance Disruption. As you can probably guess, it affects the victim's balance, causing them to stumble and skewer their attacks. Useful but normally not fatal. Takes time to take effect and becomes increasingly stronger as time goes on."
He frowned. "You've never used it on me or the dobe before."
"No." She confirmed. "It requires too much concentration for me to use in a one on one fight without some kind of elaborate distraction. Too risky. Plus it doesn't take effect immediately."
Sasuke furrowed his brow, but accepted her explanation. It didn't stop him from speculating over how many other things she might be keeping secret though.
Boat
"What a thick mist! I can't see ahead." Naruto commented, peering into the distance.
Kasumi said nothing, curled up into a ball behind him. Her knees were bent and she had her arms wrapped around them, her bangs shadowing her eyes. She knew Sasuke and Kakashi-sensei had taken note of her position, could feel their questioning eyes on her, but she couldn't help it.
This place reminded her too much of her homeland. She hadn't seen such a thick fog since that day.
"Run!"
"Go, my darlings! We'll be right behind you."
"You won't get away from us!"
She tensed and closed her eyes. No, no, no. No. Not now!
Unconsciously, her nails dug into her palms, inflicting deep grooves. A light touch to her side bought her back to reality and she opened her eyes to meet Sasuke's observant ones. Kasumi could see a hint of concern in those obsidian orbs and he tilted his head to the side by five degrees. A question.
She shook her head just as casually.
He frowned but let it go. Kasumi wondered how long he would be content with that.
If nothing else, training with the Uchiha had taught her that what Sasuke wanted, he went after with near fanaticism.
Next time:
Something large and sharp ripped through the air and crashed into a tree, biting deeply into the wood, barely missing their heads. And suddenly, there was a tall, lanky man standing on top of the monstrosity of a clever. One that she, unfortunately, recognized; he was quite famous, at least to her. The Demon of the Mist.
Review~
Thanks to my beta ChaosEmperorNex!
Question: What's the best OC Naruto story you've ever read?