A/N Someone asked if Nawaki will run away and become a missing-nin with Sakura. Right now, he is completely happy in Konoha and Sakura is happy for him. The only reason he would leave is if Sasuke found out or if Sakura tells him to. So for the moment, no, he won't become a missing-nin.
I know I say this every time but thanks again for the reviews.
It took Hisa and Oki two hours to show up. Two very uncomfortable hours. Konahamaru whipped out the new Hatake version of Icha Icha, which left Sasuke and Nawaki with nothing to do. Sakura had told him that Sasuke was cold and slightly anti-social, but Nawaki realised that she had been under exaggerating. Sasuke did nothing but glare at him, as if he expected Nawaki to whip out a bomb and destroy Konoha at any second. Nawaki didn't really feel like making conversation, so he went over to a small clearing of trees to practise. At first, he tried doing some taijutsu but Sasuke kept staring at him. It made him nervous and he ended up making mistakes. In the end, he got so frustrated he made a Rasengan and destroyed the tree. When he looked back, Sasuke raised an eyebrow at him which made him feel even more embarrassed. He wanted to say something, but he didn't know what. What were you supposed to say to the man who was your father but didn't know it?
Luckily, Hisa and Oki showed up soon after. Once they had all gathered, Konahamaru explained the mission.
"It's pretty simple. There's a dangerous missing-nin wandering near Konoha. Our orders are to subdue and capture the shinobi, but not to kill. Only kill if the situation is extreme, got it?"
The three of them nodded. Nawaki was slightly worried.
"How dangerous is the missing-nin?" he asked. If Sasuke Uchiha was leading the mission, then Nawaki guessed that this ninja must be S-Rank.
Konahamaru's face went dark.
"This missing-nin is one of the most dangerous shinobi alive. Most people underestimate her because she's a woman, but she can kill you in ten different ways before you can blink. Normally, it would be a kill-on-sight kind of mission but she's from Konoha and Naruto wants to give her a chance. If we do find her, let Sasuke handle it. If things look bad I'll intervene. Only if both of us are in trouble do you three enter the fight. Understand?"
The three of them nodded again. They each grabbed their camping packs and set off. Sasuke led the way, talking to Konahamaru in a low voice. The other three fell slightly behind.
They had developed a system over the years. When they were on missions like this, Oki and Nawaki would chatter away about trivial things. Hisa would occasionally comment, but stayed silent for most of the journey.
Today however, Nawaki was preoccupied. He was too busy worrying about tonight. His mother was supposed to come and see him, but what would happen if Sasuke woke up? Should they risk it? Why was she so against Sasuke knowing? What had happened all those years ago? Nawaki sighed. He often wondered how his mother and father felt about each other. Usually, when his mother talked about Sasuke, she spoke in a detached tone. She never showed any emotion towards Sasuke other than slight nostalgia. It was getting harder not to demand answers, but part of Nawaki wasn't sure if he wanted to find out.
He loved going on missions outside Konoha, for more reasons than one. When you had the Sharingan, you learnt how to see. Summer was almost here, and the sun was shining brightly, casting long shadows across the trees. The sky was bright blue, not a cloud in sight. Not many birds were chirping, but Nawaki spotted a stray thrush hopping through the grass. The wildlife had long since gotten used to shinobi passing through their habitat. Nawaki idly wondered if Naruto would open the swimming pool again this year. Ever since the pool had been built, the amount of tourists flocking to Konoha had risen by at least 10%.
He decided he had done enough worrying. He'd try and come up with a plan tonight. For now, he'd just enjoy the mission.
He fell back to where Oki and Hisa were discussing the Rinnegan. Hisa had opened three paths so far: the Deva Path, the Animal Path and the Preta Path. She had mastered the Deva Path, although Naruto still wouldn't let her do a Planetary Devastation, and she was good at using the Animal Path. She had only opened the Preta Path a few months ago, and was still learning how to absorb chakra. Nawaki listened in on their conversation.
"I'm just saying, why not open the other paths? The Rinnegan is natural for you, I doubt you'll hurt anyone."
"It's not that, it's just… the other paths creep me out. I don't want the power over life and death, or to turn my body into mechanical armour and I definitely don't want to summon the King of Hell. I'm happy with just the three paths."
Oki shrugged.
"Hey, they're your eyes. Your right anyway, the King of Hell is creepy."
Nawaki was about to ask how she knew what the King of Hell looked like but Konahamaru interrupted them.
"The King of Hell? I fought him when I was twelve! I have to say, he was a tough opponent but no match for me! It was summoned by Pain's Naraka Path, but I took him down with a Rasengan…"
Nawaki sighed. It was going to be a long trip.
!
They stopped walking sometime in the afternoon. They gathered round Sasuke as he explained the plan.
"This missing-nin has been spotted lurking in this area. Everybody spread out and search, I'll give you all earpieces so that you can stay in contact. If you see anything suspicious, contact myself or Konahamaru immediately. Do not attempt to contact or communicate with the enemy until we arrive. We'll meet back here when the sky starts turning red. Understood?"
They nodded. Hisa put up her hand.
"How will we know if she's the missing-nin. What does she look like?"
Sasuke opened his mouth to reply, then his eyes locked with Nawaki. Something changed in Sasuke's eyes, something Nawaki didn't understand.
"You'll know who she is when you see her. Besides, I said report anything suspicious. Every missing-nin captured saves innocent lives."
Hisa nodded. The three of them grabbed their earpieces and moved out.
Once he was a safe distance away from the rest of his team, Nawaki activated his sharingan. The only time he felt safe using it was when he was alone and out of Konoha. He quickly found a small circle of trees. Some of the branches had been cut off, leaving plenty of stumps that would make good targets. He grabbed a brace of shuriken from his pouch, before jumping into the air and spinning upside down. His sharingan spun, keeping track of where the targets were. He threw the shuriken, satisfied when he heard them stick into the wood. He landed on the ground and stood there for a few seconds, breathing heavily. When he had caught his breath, he looked up and surveyed his work. Most of the shuriken had hit the exact centre of the logs, but there were a few that were slightly off. He sighed, he'd have to work on that another time. He grabbed his shuriken and set off to search for the missing-nin.
The rest of the afternoon was spent patrolling the area. When the sky started getting red, he made his way back to the meeting point. Sasuke and Hisa were already there, setting up the tents. Soon everyone had arrived back and none of them had anything to report. Sasuke looked annoyed at that.
"We'll set up camp here. Tomorrow morning we'll start searching again. For now, train or get some sleep. Don't go too far."
He turned away and climbed into one of the tents. Konahamaru immediately wandered off to read his book. Hisa was about to go into a tent before Nawaki tapped her on the shoulder.
"Aren't you forgetting something?"
She sighed.
"Why do you still insist on sparring with me every day? You know you're going to lose."
He grinned cheerfully. This was an old routine they had. Nawaki would demand a match, Hisa would try to discourage him, but in the end they always fought anyway.
"I'm not going to stop until I beat you at least once."
She rolled her eyes.
"The only way you could beat me is if you got a doujutsu. But last time I checked you weren't a Hyuga and eyes like the Sharingan and Rinnegan are pretty rare these days."
He grinned. If only she knew.
"One fight. Then I won't bother you for the rest of the night."
She sighed again, and he knew he'd won.
"Fine, one fight. Oki can referee."
They moved away from the tents, to a small clearing at the side of the road. Oki sat down in the grass, not even pretending to look interested. She had been refereeing these matches for three years now. There wasn't really a point, seeing as there were no rules. But it was important that someone watched them, otherwise there was a good chance they would kill each other. Sometimes they took their sparring far too seriously.
Nawaki and Hisa faced off on opposite sides of the clearing. Nawaki looked determined, Hisa just looked bored.
"Begin." Oki said.
Nawaki wasted no time in making hand-seals.
"Katon: Gokakyu no Jutsu!"
He knew that the jutsu wouldn't work. No one ever got injured by a fireball. He generally used the jutsu at the start of the match to see what mood Hisa was in. If she wanted the match over quickly, she would jump out of the way. If she felt like humouring him, she would use other methods.
Today, she flung a special kunai and teleported. Nawaki grinned, it was going to be a tough match. Hisa slammed her hand on the ground.
"Summoning Jutsu!"
A snake-tailed chameleon appeared, it's eyes identical to Hisa. It was about the size of a whale and according to Hisa it was still a child. Nawaki knew what this creature could do, but he still didn't know how to stop it. Its tounge darted out, picking Hisa up and putting her into its mouth. Nawaki could only watch as it vanished.
The creature was perfect if you needed to hide. Once it was camouflaged, the only way to detect it was with a barrier jutsu. Nawaki didn't know any barrier jutsu, so he settled for flinging shuriken and kunai at the seemingly empty area. Most of them thudded onto the grass, but there were a few that mysteriously vanished. Nawaki focused on the area that was bare, flinging a hail of senbon needles at it. Nawaki knew was aiming at the right place when a new summon appeared. This time, it was a giant panda. The panda's skin hardened when the senbon hit it, creating a defensive barricade. The minute Nawaki stopped throwing senbon, it disappeared.
Nawaki was getting frustrated. He never liked fighting Hisa when she went invisible. He knew that if he could use his sharingan, he could find her in a heartbeat. But as it was, he was blind. He threw some more kunai at the spot where Hisa had been, but when they hit the ground he knew she had moved. He spun around in a circle, searching for any traces of her.
Suddenly, he heard a noise from behind him. He turned around but he was too late. Hisa punched him straight in the face, knocking him over. He felt a trickle of blood seep out of his mouth, but he ignored the pain in his jaw and struggled back onto his feet.
"That's enough for today Nawaki." Hisa said.
He shook his head stubbornly.
"No. You promised me one fight. I'm not ready to admit defeat. Are you?"
He knew she would keep fighting. As much as fighting him irritated her, she would never choose to quit.
"Suit yourself." she said, before she flung out her hand.
"Almighty Push!" she yelled.
Nawaki had been flung through the air by this jutsu more times than he could count. As he was pushed into a tree, he spun around and landed in a crouch.
"You'll have to do better than that." he smirked, trying to rile her. "Don't tell me you've lost your touch."
She frowned and pulled out a kunai, before charging at him. Nawaki grabbed one of his own kunai and ran to meet her in the middle. The clang of metal on metal echoed through the clearing. Both of them struggled to push their kunai forward.
"A kunai?" Nawaki asked "Why not use your Rinnegan? Or have you used up too much chakra already?"
Her frown deepened.
"I don't need my Rinnegan to defeat you. I don't even need ninjutsu."
She jumped backwards and flung her kunai at him. Nawaki brought his kunai down quickly to block it. While he was distracted, she ran forward and knocked his feet from under him. As he fell, he grabbed her hand and flipped her over his head. Both of them landed in a crouch. Nawaki got up quickly, creating three shadow clones and sending them after Hisa. She punched the first one, kicked the second and jumped over the third, slamming it to the ground. The clones distracted her so that Nawaki could get close. He aimed a punch at her. Just as his fist was about to meet her face, she disappeared. Nawaki felt the cold metal of a kunai press into his neck.
"Game over." Hisa said from behind him.
He grinned.
"What was that you said about not needing ninjutsu? Because that looked like a teleportation jutsu to me."
She didn't answer him, but the kunai stopped pressing into his flesh. He turned around, expecting her to have stormed away. To his surprise, he noticed Sasuke watching them. Once it was clear the match was over, Sasuke walked over to them.
"Nawaki," he said "Would you mind if I had a spar with Hisa?"
Nawaki felt the familiar pang in his heart, and had to remind himself that Sasuke didn't know he was his son. He still couldn't quite ignore the voices whispering in his head, telling him that her was worthless to Sasuke.
He nodded once and left quickly. He didn't want to stay and watch, to hear his father praise Hisa or give her advice. It wasn't that he was jealous, he just didn't like seeing Sasuke act remotely like a father to anyone. It was silly and irrational, he knew that. But he still couldn't help it.
His thoughts wandered to his own match with Hisa, and he grinned. He may not have won, but the fact that she had needed to use ninjutsu to defeat him made him happy. He would pester her about that later.
By the time Sasuke and Hisa finished their spar, the sky was completely dark. Everyone was tired from a long day of patrol, and quickly went into their tents. Sasuke looked slightly suspicious when Nawaki explained his excuse about sleeping outside, but he didn't comment on it.
Nawaki lay awake, staring up at the stars and listening to the snores and sounds of deep breathing coming from the tents. Would his mother show tonight? He wasn't certain, and perhaps it was better if she didn't. It was very risky to visit him when Sasuke was a few meters away.
He closed his eyes. If she came, she would wake him up. If she didn't, then he would get a full night's sleep.
He leant back against the tree and let sleep wash over him.