Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto
Chapter 21: A Visit to Wave
Haku watched the slowly approaching blond boy like a hawk, ready to pepper him with senbon at the slightest indication of aggressive behavior. Considering how he managed to sneak up on her she was pretty sure he was a shinobi, even if she wasn't able to confirm that at the moment. His clothes wouldn't have been out of place for a huntsman, his movement pattern matched that role and he wasn't wearing a forehead protector. Still, in light of the last few days she doubted that she would be so lucky that he was what he pretended to be.
What should have been an easy, straight-forward assassination of a helpless old man had turned into something very different. Meizu and Gozu had been supposed to take care of that old bridge builder Gato wanted dead while Zabuza-sama and she took care of another job for a different client. Unfortunately their target had died of natural causes before they ever got to him and their client had refused to pay. When they had returned to the meeting point without having achieved anything they had discovered that the Demon Brothers were missing. That meant complications had arisen. Zabuza-sama had decided to lay an ambush at the location where the bridge builder would most likely arrive back in Wave. Due to the Konoha shinobi team the bridge builder had hired the ambush had gone south and Zabuza-sama was now recovering from the state of fake death she had been forced to put him in. Which was why she was traipsing around the woods to collect herbs that would speed up the recovery of her master. To make matters worse she couldn't shake the suspicion that their client planned to betray them, but unfortunately they needed the money and couldn't risk failing at another job. Such things got around and their reputation as professionals was at stake.
By now the blond boy called Naruto had fully entered the clearing and was obviously searching the ground, but he always kept an eye on her. Haku had to give it to him, he was good, but she couldn't really tell the extent of his skills. All the more reason to avoid a fight; Zabuza-sama needed her in prime condition. The next few minutes were spent in silence while both of them tried to pick herbs while keeping the other in their respective field of vision. It wasn't conducive to their professed goal and was getting ridiculous quickly.
"Can I help you… shinobi-san?" she finally asked.
Naruto fixed her with a stare. "No thank you… kunoichi-san." After a moment of silence she couldn't suppress a giggle and her counterpart let out a snort of laughter. The situation was really absurd despite the tension; two skilled shinobi pretending to be civilians dancing around the matter at hand. Before she could say anything Naruto continued to speak. "Okay, it obvious that we both are not what we pretend to be. I don't want to fight. I'm here with some associates in pursuit of a group of low-life mercenaries who attacked someone they shouldn't have. We get them and we get out of here without making a fuss. Does that in any way interfere with your interests?"
Haku had to think for a moment. If what Naruto said was true there was no conflict. The only mercenaries on the island belonged to Gato, but Zabuza-sama and she had been hired solely to take out the bridge builder, not to provide security. If they had been going directly after Gato their paycheck would have been in danger, but she couldn't care less about the scum the man employed. Neither would the Konoha ninja. For a moment she considered setting up a confrontation between them and this new group, but the outcome would be uncertain and her master had already enough enemies without adding another faction of shinobi to that group.
She shook her head. "No, it doesn't. I and some associates are here to solve a problem for our employer. The problem is a permanent resident of this island."
The blond boy seemed to relax slightly. "Very good. We don't have contact with anyone from Wave."
No further words were spoken and they both concentrated on collecting the different herbs they needed. Haku still kept her guard up and Naruto did the same, but it was no longer the high-strung tension from before. She was still wary of the boy and didn't make conversation. He didn't belong to the Konoha team and would have no useful information; she didn't want to accidentally give something important away.
Finally she had gathered enough herbs and made to leave the clearing when a mischievous thought occurred to her. It would be funny to screw a bit with Naruto's mind. "Let's meet again somewhere under better circumstances. Oh, and I'm a boy."
"Whatever you say, Haku-chan. It doesn't change your gender, though. Goodbye."
When she turned around to refute him she saw that Naruto had already left the clearing in the opposite direction. Only a few disturbed leaves remained behind.
'How did he know?' Haku asked herself before shaking off the thought. In all likelihood the boy had just taken a wild guess to unsettle her.
Another surprise awaited her when she returned to the hideout after a lengthy trip through the woods. She had doubled back several times to shake off a possible pursuit, just to be sure. When she entered Zabuza's room two familiar figures sat at the table. "Gozu? Meizu? You are back?"
Naruto was very worried. The usual time for him and Hinata to visit the world of his parents had come and gone, but neither of them had been drawn there as usual. That meant something extraordinary must have happened. Unfortunately he couldn't even speak with Hinata about it. With Choji and Anko in close proximity the danger of being overheard was just too great. That meant he had to use the one way of contacting his parents that was always open to him, even if he hadn't used it for a very long time. The necessary meditation wasn't quick and the contact did cause him considerable mental strain, which was why he normally shied away from using it. On the few opportunities when he might have wanted to speak with his parents immediately it had always seemed more prudent to wait the few days until his next regular visit.
For the first time in long years Naruto trudged through the sewers that formed the mental interface of the seal. When he finally entered the cage chamber everything seemed completely normal, but he didn't really expect anything else at this point. Swiftly moving to one of the walls he tapped several stones in a complicated rhythm. His hopes of speaking with his parents were dashed when instead of the expected window writing appeared on the wall.
We found a lead to something very important. Investigation and testing makes it too dangerous for you to visit and too important to delay until we could speak with you. See you as soon as possible. Love, mom and dad.
Naruto sighed. Well, that answered that question. It was certainly unusual, but his parents had mentioned that possibility before. He really would have liked to discuss his recent visit to Uzushio with them. Apparently that had to wait until they finished with whatever they were doing. Concentrating, Naruto prepared himself to return to the waking world.
Anko Mitarashi was not a happy kunoichi. She and her team had just recovered from a severe case of vomiting and diarrhea caused by food poisoning. She wasn't keen on mentioning that little fact in her mission report. Anko swore that if she ever got her hands on that street vendor she would force feed him his own stock until his stomach cracked.
'Note to self: When buying food always let Naruto check for signs of decay. At least I discovered the kid has some talent as backup-medic. That could prove useful if the main medic is incapacitated. '
Their illness had delayed them for several days, and now they had lost their targets. After following the tracks from the point of landfall they had found a clearing where their targets had met up with at least forty more men and then dispersed in small groups of two to three. There were simply too many trails for them to follow. Even worse, the group they had originally tracked had split up as well. The fact that the meeting had apparently taken place even before they themselves left the former Land of Whirlpools combined with the delay from their illness meant that the trail had gone cold.
"Naruto, can you detect the scent of our targets?" Anko asked.
"Sorry sensei, I can't. The meeting here was too long ago, and it rained in the meantime. I was lucky to be able to follow them this far. I'm not an Inuzaka." the blond boy answered.
"Don't worry, you performed admirably so far. Alright, search the place for clues."
'What to do now?'Anko pondered while chewing a new mint leaf. She had taken to chewing them during her illness to counteract the constant taste of vomit. It had been really thoughtful of Naruto to provide them. She had to thank him when they got back to Konoha. As habits went constantly chewing something in exchange for perpetual fresh breath wasn't so bad. At least she wouldn't ruin her teeth like Genma did with his senbon-chewing.
"Sensei, I found something." Hinata reported after a few minutes. She held a half-burnt, soggy piece of paper in her hands. Anko took it from her to examine it. Most of the writing was illegible, but it seemed to be a letter offering job opportunities for mercenaries. The name at the end caught her attention.
Anko grimaced. "Well, shit. It seems our targets hired out to Gato, the rich shipping magnate. That complicates our job; Gato is on the protected list of people we aren't allowed to touch because of the amount of money the Fire Daimyo and his officials get from him in taxes and bribes. "
"We aren't allowed to touch Gato personally, but does his protection extend to his underlings?" Choji asked in a thoughtful tone.
"To a degree; the matter touches politics at this point. Konoha in general isn't allowed to directly interfere in Gato's business by taking out, say, his whole staff. But they aren't explicitly protected like Gato himself. If the pay is high enough I believe the Hokage would authorize the assassination of a staff member. Otherwise it's more a matter of what we think we can get away with. Our five targets are basically nobodies; dumb hired muscle that isn't good for anything else. As long as Gato or anybody important isn't around we should still be able to get them. If not, we simply have to report our findings to our client and let him handle it. Political stuff exceeds our pay grade and mission parameters." she explained.
"Hey sensei, I see a small town a short distance to the south. Apart from that there are no traces of our targets. Should we go ask the townspeople if they saw anything?" Naruto shouted from the top of a tree he had climbed to get a better view of the area.
Anko thought for a moment before coming to a decision. "Alright, it seems our best bet. I hoped to stay hidden for a while longer, but I see no other way. Hide your forehead protectors and split up. We meet here again in two hours."
Two hours later they had a wealth of new information. Although nothing was really helpful for the pursuit of their targets it was interesting in other ways. Wave country consisted of a few dozen villages scattered across the large, flat island. There had been no central authority or government in any form for a long time. Before that there had been a string of rulers who reigned by force for a time before disappearing for one reason or another, mostly because some enterprising would-be lord had been successful in staging a coup. In the time between rulers the whole island was more or less in a state of benign anarchy. That lasted until Gato decided to make taking over the island his pet project. Apparently he had the entire island in a crushing economic chokehold and had an army of thugs further suppressing the local population. Why he didn't just declare himself Lord of Wave to formally take over the way the previous rulers had done eluded Anko. Perhaps he had some overcomplicated master plan. The last attempt at resistance from the population had been brutally quelled, with the leader being tied to a pole in the main village square with his limbs hacked off. After that nobody dared to offer any resistance anymore. Almost nobody, that was. A man named Tazuna was still trying to break Gato's monopoly on transportation to and from the island by building a bridge over the relative shallow channel separating Wave from the mainland. The original project had been started by the last ruler of Wave, a pirate lord who had disappeared on his last voyage together with his complete fleet. After that the building process had been on and off, depending on Tazuna's ability to procure funding.
He was now close to finishing the bridge, and Gato was obviously pulling in mercenaries for his end game before his plans could be thwarted. The truly interesting bit of information was that Tazuna had apparently hired some shinobi from Konoha for his and the bridge's protection. Anko briefly wondered why the Hokage was directly interfering in Gato's plans, but shrugged it off. In all likelihood there had been some backroom deals negotiated that made the risk worth it. Perhaps the Fire daimyo or one of the high-ranked officials planned to annex Wave as soon as the bridge was completed. Anyway, given that the shinobi would be up against Gato who was known to hire the occasional nuke-nin she expected the Hokage to have sent one to two teams of experienced chunin with some jonin thrown in for good measure, ideally supported by a third, hidden group if things got out of hand. Heck, if it was politically important enough the old man might even have sent some ANBU. That promised good things for their own mission, if it came to a battle they could just nab their targets. She had just explained her reasoning to the genin and was about to make plans when Hinata cut in; causing Anko's train of thought to come crashing down.
"Umm, Anko-sensei? I g-got some descriptions, and the Leaf ninja a-are obviously Team 7."
After a few moments of dumbly staring at the girl, Anko's brain reengaged.
'What the hell? There is no way the Hokage would send a green team into such a mess. Kakashi is good, but not good enough to do everything alone. Especially against the kind of manpower Gato can bring to the party when he has to take care of the genin,' she thought, 'It could be a ruse; plant Team 7 as distraction so the enemy underestimates them while the real force is in hiding and ready to engage at an opportune moment. Chancy though, and I see no real advantage that would make risking the last loyal Uchiha and the Nara clan heir worth it.'
Deep down she considered another possibility, namely that the client had lied about the mission and the expected opposition. But that didn't make sense either as Kakashi's team was still here. The lie would be blown as soon as they reached Wave and saw Gato's men all over the place. If she were put in that position she would immediately abandon the mission and return to Konoha at full speed. Aside from concerns about the safety of her genin and feasibility of the mission, it would set a very bad example if they continued the mission despite being deliberately fed false information by the client. That would only encourage others to do the same thing if word got out, which it inevitably would. Misranked missions due to outside influences and pure chance were bad enough, but if prospective clients thought they could get away with deceiving Konoha to save on the mission payments it would lead to a drastic increase in dead shinobi. Unfortunately she had the very bad feeling that exactly that had happened and Kakashi was going along with it for some reason.
"Did you find out Team 7's location?" Anko asked.
"I g-got a description, Anko-sensei. I t-think I will be able to f-find their clients house." Hinata answered.
"Good, we will head there next and meet with Team 7. Hopefully they have some information that can help us. Let's go!" Anko commanded.
Hopping from tree to tree they made good speed. The group made a short break in one of the villages on the way to grab something to eat at an okonomiyaki cart and to verify the way to Tazuna's house. The vendor was a young woman named Ukyo who was eager to help them, especially after Choji requested several second helpings. Not that the other members of Team 11 were small eaters. After several days of thin soup they had pent up a lot of appetite, and the okonomiyaki was truly delicious. The girl probably made more money of them than she had earned in the entire week before. In the end they had to almost haul Choji bodily away because he was about to make a marriage proposal to the girl. Said girl had obviously understood Choji's intentions because she was blushing a bright red and muttering something about her father, fiancées, a previous engagement and someone named Ranma Saotome. Soon enough they were on the way again. Thanks to Ukyo's directions they took a shortcut through the woods, thereby avoiding one of the larger villages.
Suddenly Naruto spoke up. "Sensei, I hear screaming from directly before us. A woman and a child from the sound of it."
"That could be the family of that bridge builder. Prepare yourselves for combat." Anko ordered.
They all increased their speed, but had to leave Choji somewhat lagging behind because a branch broke under him. There was no time for them to slow down so that he could catch up. They soon left the woods and stopped for a second to take stock of the situation.
One of the many bodies of water that littered Wave country stretched into the distance, with a house built on stilts obscuring their view. A path ran from the house into the woods, probably the way to the next village. A small child of perhaps seven or eight years was lying face down in a spreading pool of blood while two thuggish looking swordsmen were about to rape a woman. From the looks of it they had already beaten her quite a bit and her clothing hung in tatters. One man with white hair was holding her arms while the other one kneeled between her legs and had just undone his trousers. He had an eye patch and several large tattoos. Some fresh deep scratches marred his flesh and was obviously just finishing a rant. He had relieved himself of his sword that was now lying on the ground out of his reach. Thinking quickly, Anko silently ordered Naruto to take the unarmed thug and Hinata to see to the injured or dead boy while she herself would take the white-haired one.
"We tried to be nice, but you and your brat just had to make things difficult, didn't you? You will pay for all the trouble, bitch. Gato doesn't pay me enough to play nice. Zori, maintain a good grip while I show this little whore who's the boss." the man with the eye-patch shouted.
His partner in crime was just about to answer when he was hit by an enraged Anko. Obviously the thugs had counted on remaining undisturbed and neglected their surroundings. Her enemy hadn't even time to lay a finger on the sword on his belt as he was driven back by her brutal blows and kicks before she pinned him to the wall of the house with a kunai driven through each of his shoulders. Out of the corner of her eyes she could see that Hinata was using some medical jutsu on the child while the would-be rapist was on the ground, dying slowly and noisily. Naruto had apparently used his knives to sever the tendons in his enemy's arms and legs before removing the one body part that the man had so conveniently exposed. Obviously the boy didn't like rapists, an attitude of which Anko heartily approved. Choji had arrived by now and was seeing to the woman who looked like she was going into shock. She returned her attention to her whimpering victim and put on one of her scary grins.
"You have two choices. One, you tell me immediately all you know about your little raid here and your employer's operations in general, and if I'm content with your answers I may allow you to die quickly. Two, you try to resist, meaning I'll get to play with you for a bit before you spill all you know and die in exquisite agony. Please, choose option two. It's been quite some time since I've gotten around to torturing somebody." Anko whispered into the man's ear.
To her surprise the thug was either made of sterner stuff than she had initially assumed or suffered from reality loss: he spit her in the face.
"You don't know who you're messing with you ninja hussy. I won't tell you a thing." he blustered.
"Wrong answer, fucker. Now I've get to have some fun." she said before ramming a senbon squarely into one of the man's pain centers.
Now, Anko Mitarashi had worked a long time in Konoha's Torture and Interrogation department alongside master craftsmen like Ibiki Morino or Inoichi Yamanaka and was considered one of the foremost professionals in the field while her newest toy was a common thug with delusions of grandeur. It didn't even take her two minutes to make the man beg her to be allowed to tell his secrets. Apparently Gato had sent them to get hold of the bridge builder's family while his hired army of thugs attacked the bridge directly. Normally she wouldn't conduct a torture session in front of a civilian or genin that were a few months out of the academy, but current circumstances necessitated a different stance. Gato was making his move if the family of a well-respected man that was known to have hired ninja protection was attacked in open daylight, meaning that any information might well be time-sensitive. And after what happened on their last fucked-up mission she was pretty sure her genin could cope with observing a little bit of torture. After learning all she needed to know from the thug she pierced his heart. Normally she would have made his death more drawn-out, but time was a wasting and she didn't want to take the chance of the man doing something unfortunate before he died.
Turning to her charges, she saw that the second thug had already drawn his last breath. Naruto was now helping Choji with the woman who seemed to slowly come out of her state of shock. Anko went over to Hinata who was still doing something to the boy. From the size of the puddle of blood Anko doubted that he would survive, but apparently Hinata thought differently. When she got close enough to get a good look she sharply sucked her breath in. The boy's torso was cut open diagonally from armpit to hip in a gaping wound, with quite some amount of internal damage if she was any judge. Her female pupil was pouring a literal torrent of medical chakra into the small body lying still on the ground.
"I can still save him. We need to get him inside." Hinata said without looking up.
Hinata concentrated fully on her patient lying on the improvised operating table while her sensei questioned the woman about the last events, thereby distracting her from the state of her son. From what her byakugan showed her Anko had used some sort of genjutsu on the woman, probably to keep her coherent. She told them about her father hiring Team 7 and the two ambushes on his way back home by the Demon Brothers and the Devil of the Mist.
'Several ribs are cracked, but the ribcage held. No major organs are damaged. Good, the blade didn't penetrate too deeply.'
Using one hand to keep the healing technique going that was all that prevented the boy from dying she forced another blood replenishing pill down his throat. It would convert chakra into blood, thereby keeping the boy's blood circulation going for a bit longer. Normally they were very dangerous for people with civilian chakra-levels, but a slight modification of her medical technique allowed her to supply the necessary chakra herself. It was a trick she had learned from Hana just a few days ago. It would give her more time to fix the damage.
"Hinata, we have to go. The others are probably under attack right now." Anko said urgently.
Hinata answered without looking up. "Go. If I leave now the boy dies. Take Choji and Naruto with you. I can do this. Oh, and please knock the mother out. I don't want her to panic."
Anko-sensei looked for a moment as if she wanted to argue, but obviously thought better of it. With a sigh she turned around and did something to the mother of the boy that had her slumping on one of the chairs. 'Her name is Tsunami.' A moment later she left the house along with Naruto and Choji. Hinata concentrated on saving her patient's young life.
Their speed was so great that the trees seemed to simply fly by, but suddenly the woods ended abruptly. Before them stretched a mist-covered body of water without any clearly discernible bounds. Anko cursed, they had evidently followed the wrong direction and missed the bridge. She ran a few meters on the water to get a better look at the coastline in both directions. The ever-present thin fog made it difficult to see things at any sort of real distance.
'Nope, no bridge in sight. If I were a bridge, where would I hide?' Anko thought.
"Anko-sensei, that bank of mist way over there looks funny." Choji interrupted her musings while pointing in one direction.
After a few seconds Anko saw what her pupil meant. Another drifting bank of fog had obscured it when she had looked in that direction, but now it was clear. In fact, it was really obvious if you knew what to look for. The cloud in the distance rose almost two dozen meters in height, thereby dwarfing the natural fog that surrounded it. Additionally it seemed far denser.
"Good job spotting it, Choji. That thing isn't natural but the product of a technique. It has been some time since I last saw it, but it looks like the hidden mist jutsu, a signature technique of Kiri. Now follow me, we must hurry." said Anko before taking off at full speed.
'Shit, the fighting has obviously already started. I hope the genin are still alive.'
As they reduced the distance, they could finally make out the bridge, or at least the part that wasn't shrouded by the technique. Suddenly the mist dispersed, and the view wasn't pretty. The three genin of Team 7 were lying on the ground looking like pincushions, either unconscious or dead. An injured Kakashi was restrained by two persons while a third figure bleeding from several wounds was administering a brutal beating. A fourth figure in the garb of a Kiri hunter nin was slowly walking in the direction of a fifth person who seemed to be quivering so strong that she could see it from afar. Judging from the positioning that was probably the client Team 7 had been hired to protect. A few other bodies were lying around that obviously belonged to the villagers. Anko immediately signaled a halt to Naruto and Choji who looked at her with questioning expressions.
'Damn, damn, damn; they already have been defeated. If we make one wrong move they all die. Fortunately they seem to concentrate on Kakashi and ignore their surroundings.'
Then she spotted movement on the seaward side of the bridge. A large force of mercenaries was marching in the direction of the battle. Naruto took a good whiff of the air and began signaling her that he had identified the targets they had been sent to find.
'Great, nothing can ever be easy, can it? Those are the guys the fucker at the client's house mentioned. They obviously want to finish whatever party survives the battle. The nuke-nin are probably already tired, wounded and low on chakra. That means they won't put up too much of a fight. The mercenaries can always swamp them with numbers. If we engage the nuke-nin the mercenaries will attack us from behind. If we attack the mercenaries the nuke-nin will finish off Team 7 before engaging us.'
Her mind was working furiously, there had to be something they could do. Absentmindedly she noticed that the mercenaries had several bows with them that they were preparing to use. She had a healthy respect for ranged weapons; they were one of the few things that could bring down even skilled shinobi with relative ease. Especially with so many threats acting as a distraction.
'If you have two problems sometimes they cancel each other out. We should let them fight each other. It's either already too late for the genin or they are unconscious and nobody will bother with them until after the battle. Could be hard on Kakashi, but he can take care of himself and I never liked the guy anyway. That leaves the surviving mercenaries for us to deal with. Let's see, the battlefield is a relative narrow bridge. Due to Kakashi's mission I'm not allowed to destroy the thing, which rules out almost all my area-effect jutsu. In these conditions I could easily hit one of our guys and in such a mass battle I can't take the time for techniques anyway or someone would target me while I'm distracted. There are too many opponents to fight simultaneously; at least some of them would get some lucky hits in on this cramped battlefield if I attack head on. Same goes for Naruto; that leaves the Akimichi… wait… Akimichi… narrow space with no room to dodge…That's it!'
Suddenly Anko's eyes widened and she began to grin maniacally. Quickly she used sign language to give her orders. Both genin nodded and Choji left running parallel to the bridge to get behind the mercenaries. There he would hide until he received the signal to attack. Naruto and she would stay hidden close to the brewing confrontation. As soon as the time was right they would off the most dangerous targets from a distance and let Choji handle the rest while they picked off the stragglers. Still, there was one bit of preparation she had to do beforehand. Hopefully her summons were in a good mood. Anko bit into her thumb and made some hand signs.
"Summoning Technique" she whispered.
With puffs of smoke that were almost invisible in the omnipresent fog five man-sized greenish-blue sea snakes appeared in the water. Anko showed each one of the scraps of cloth holding the scent of their targets which they had acquired all the way back in the port city.
"I want you to hide in the water under the bridge. The moment I give the signal I want you to jump onto the bridge, paralyze the humans matching these scents and carry them to the shore of the island. There one of you is to guard them until I come to collect them. The others are to return to the bridge and eliminate all humans that try to escape via swimming. Understood?" Anko told them in a barely audible whisper.
All serpents made a nodding motion before speedily swimming away. Anko let out a breath of relief. Unfortunately she couldn't take the cooperation of her snakes for granted, but this time they seemed willing to follow her orders. She motioned for Naruto to follow her before she made her way closer to the bridge.
No sooner had they taken their positions behind some support beams they heard the typical TWANG of released bowstrings. None of the missing nin seemed to notice; they were too focused on Kakashi who had lost consciousness by now. The fourth enemy had almost reached the old man who was cowering on the ground and judging from the brownish-yellow puddle that formed under him had just lost control of his bowels.
The biggest enemy was obviously Zabuza Momoichi, and he was about to swing his giant sword to take off Kakashi's head. Before he could begin his swing the arrows hit. Around a dozen clattered uselessly on the bridge having missed their intended targets, but others had been more successful. Both of the enemies holding Kakashi were falling to the ground dead, each having been hit by several arrows. The one to the left had been hit through the heart if she was any judge, while the one to the right had one lodged directly in his skull. Zabuza had been somewhat luckier in avoiding instant death; he had one arrow sticking from his leg, two from his chest and one through his right shoulder. Miraculously Kakashi hadn't been hit. The fourth nuke-nin had gotten off the easiest due to his larger distance from the mercenaries; he had only a single arrow lodged in his side and another through his right arm. He was now rushing back to the side of Zabuza. Said ninja had turned towards the newcomers.
"Gato! What are you doing here you scumbag?" Zabuza roared.
"Hehehe isn't it obvious? The plan has changed. Well, actually I planned to do this from the beginning. Zabuza, I'm going to have you killed here. I never planned on paying you any money." the miniscule man replied with a wide grin from amidst his thugs.
"What! But why?"
Gato harrumphed. "Hiring normal ninja from a village is expensive and they may betray me. So I get you nuke-nin who are easy to take care of afterwards. I have the ninjas battle each other and once they're weakened I kill them off with numbers. It doesn't cost me anything. Good plan don't you think?"
Anko was far from happy. 'Why did that dwarf had to come here personally. He's on the forbidden to kill list. That makes the job a lot more complicated.'
Meanwhile Zabuza had broken off the shafts of the arrows sticking in his flesh to regain some mobility, acting as if he didn't have a care in the world. His partner in crime stood tall beside him, showing no sign of his injuries bothering him. Both presented an image of strength, but to Anko's trained eye it was hollow. Zabuza had already been wounded in his fight with Kakashi and his almost imperceptibly changed breathing indicated damage to his lungs while his right arm hung limply at his side. The countless rivulets of blood streaming from his wounds alone would cause him to lose consciousness soon if he didn't stop the flow. The fake hunter nin had a rigidity to his stance that spoke of a great deal of pain that was suppressed for the moment. None of the injuries seemed immediately life-threatening, but both would need medical attention very soon. It was unlikely that they would be able to escape in their state; their only hope was to kill or chase off the mercenaries.
Zabuza chose this moment to spit out some blood and chuckle darkly. "It seems you were right Haku, the little piggy really planned to betray us from the beginning. That means we get to feast on some PORK CHOPS!"
Both missing nin catapulted themselves towards Gato.
"That's enough, kill them!" came Gato's cry.
"Ice Release: Ice Spike"
Anko whistled soundlessly as a tall spike of ice erupted from the ground under the first row of the enemies, impaling one mercenary in the process and hurting several others. Zabuza used the spike as springboard to bridge the distance between himself and Gato. Unfortunately for him his injured leg slid away slightly as he made the jump, landing him in the middle of the mercenaries instead directly on top of Gato as he had planned. His accomplice had entered the broken ranks on ground level and tried to make his own way towards the shipping magnate. With a mighty left-handed swing of his sword Zabuza decapitated the five closest mercenaries before resuming his approach, battering away every enemy that dared to step between him and his chosen victim. For a moment it almost seemed as if he would reach his goal as only three men remained between him and Gato, but it was not to be.
Zabuza had just relieved one of the mercenaries approaching from the side of his leg via a back-handed swing of his sword. In contrast to the former victims this one kept his cool head. He rammed his spear into the ground to successfully change the direction of his fall. Instead of falling away from Zabuza, the man turned towards him and was now directly in his unprotected back. The nuke-nin had obviously already discounted the wounded mercenary as a threat, and why not? These untrained thugs were obviously no real danger to a trained shinobi of Zabuza's caliber. Every one of them he had wounded so far had broken down and clutched his injuries instead of continuing the fight. This arrogance proved to be his undoing. The spearman used the few precious moments that the former swordsman of the mist remained in his reach to draw a knife from his belt and ram it in a fluid motion directly into Zabuza's back.
In many ways it was a very lucky hit. Had the blade impacted only slightly differently it would have scraped over the bone, causing a painful but in the end not debilitating wound. Unfortunately for the Devil of the Mist the knife seemed to have damaged his spine. Zabuza screamed in pain and surprise as his legs gave out from under him. The mercenary before him used this chance to plant his own spiked mace in Zabuza's left shoulder, making him lose the grip on his giant sword. He had barely hit the ground before the rest of the mercenaries descended on him, their weapons rising and descending in a frenzy.
"ZABUZA-SAMA!"
The masked nin had abandoned his own fight and was now desperately trying to reach his fallen master. His mad dash was cut short by a thug clubbing him on his head from behind. He immediately fell to the ground unconscious.
The expression on Gato's face changed slowly from terrified to exultant as Zabuza's sudden death registered. He moved slowly to the cruelly mutilated corpse of the now deceased nuke-nin. The thugs respectfully gave way to their employer who bent down to get a better look at the body that was almost hacked to pieces.
"So, you punk wanted to carve me up like a pig? Looks to me like you shouldn't have played with sharp objects. The devil of the Mist? What a joke, if you ask me you were just a cute little baby devil, right men? Now patch the wounded up, we have to teach these uppity bastards of Wave a lesson. Oh, and all of you get a nice fat bonus for taking down this freak."
At that the mercenaries cheered for their boss. The danger was past, the ninja dead while they were alive and they would soon get to a bit of pillaging. Even better, they got paid for that. A shame about the dead and wounded, but what could one do? Life went on regardless.
The height-challenged man had meanwhile left the protective envelope of his mercenaries and was addressing the bridge builder. "Too bad old man, you were so close to your goal. Only a few days more and you would have completed your beloved bridge. I'm feeling merciful, so I won't separate you from it even in death. Every bridge needs a sign, don't you agree? Your decaying corpse will make a fine one." Gato's eyes fell on the unconscious nuke-nin. "Oh yeah, I owe that one for dislocating my arm. Men, before you kill this one you can have a little fun with him. After that, kill the leaf nin and make sure no trace of the bodies can be found."
'Okay, that does it! With the last command you took yourself from the protected list, little man. We can always lay your death at the nuke-nin's feet. Now's the time; Fire Release: Fire arrow' Anko thought.
The short shipping magnate was about to go back behind the wall of his mercenaries when a single arrow made of fire shot high into the air. Almost all the mercenaries were momentarily distracted by the fiery missile, creating a perfect opportunity for an attack. Anko and Naruto sprinted from on side of the bridge to the other, hurling weapons all the way. Gato and six of the mercenaries that still had their bows ready were killed by kunai or throwing knives to lethal spots. At the same time several large serpents sprang out of the water, coiled around their targets and jumped back. After finishing her attack run Anko took cover behind a support beam on the other side of the bridge and started making hand signs.
'Perfect timing, I only need to close the trap. Fire Release: Wall of Fire'
A stream of flames shot out of Anko's mouth and formed a barrier larger than a man, effectively cutting the mercenaries off from the injured Leaf shinobi. Not knowing what was happening and without their leader said mercenaries were thrown into chaos. Her part of the trap was set; now it was Choji's turn.
Choji climbed the bridge far behind the main mercenary force. He had just disabled the few guards left on the boats the mercenaries had used to get here. It had been pathetically easy. Most of them were completely untrained and didn't even pay attention to their surroundings. He wasn't an expert in sneaking around and inconspicuously killing people, but even a normal genin would have managed that without any problems. He took his time to carefully examine the bridge.
'Very solid and robust. Good. That means the thing won't collapse under my increased weight.'
When he saw the fire arrow he knew it was time.
'Massive Human Boulder Technique'
Choji could feel himself swell to massive size until he was large enough to fill almost the complete available width of the bridge. Tucking his limbs and head safely away he began expelling chakra to get going. It was much slower than the basic human boulder technique, but that was by design. The self-created variant he had just used traded speed and rotation for massively increased mass and greater resilience. It wouldn't be useful against enemies who could dodge, but on the narrow bridge there was simply no room for the mercenaries to evade him.
Practically all Akimichi jutsu dealt with the interrelated complex of mass, volume and density. He wasn't a jutsu creator like Naruto or Mizuki-sensei, but he could fiddle around with the techniques he knew. Especially because he could always ask one or both of them for help.
Finally reaching the speed he felt comfortable with he had nothing to do but maintain the technique and wait. It would be a slaughter when he reached the ranks of the mercenaries.
A malicious smile appeared on Anko's face when a grinding sound started behind the mercenaries. After a few moments a giant rolling ball came into view as it sped towards their enemies. It filled almost the entire width of the bridge, leaving them no room to dodge.
As the ball reached the mercenaries the sounds of its movement changed. Before it had been the grinding of stone, but now these sounds were replaced by the cries of pain, the breaking of bones and the squishy plopping of flesh submitted to a far too high pressure. Against the stone-hard surface of the bridge men were ground to paste while blood splattered in all directions. Terror gripped the mercenaries, and they tried to escape. Some jumped over the edge of the bridge, but their death cries only moments later signaled that this avenue of escape was closed. A few desperate ones braced the flame barrier and jumped through. Still smoldering or burning, they were immediately killed by Naruto while Anko concentrated on maintaining the barrier. The surrounding ocean was turning red from all the blood that flowed in streams from the bridge.
Despite its blazing flames the barrier was surprisingly transparent, making the carnage clearly visible to all who cared to watch. That number included a terrified Tazuna and several villagers who had come to investigate the ruckus. After a few seconds almost all of them hurried to the edge of the bridge to puke their guts out. Not all of them made it that far. The reek of vomit mixed with the stench of blood and human bowels as the seemingly unstoppable ball of doom cut its path through the mercenaries. Weapons simply bounced off or were crushed underneath together with their wielders. Begs for mercy were uttered and promptly ignored.
Finally, Choji made it to a stop a short distance from the barrier. The few mercenaries he didn't crush were killed by the precisely thrown weapons of Naruto. Gasping in relief Anko ended her jutsu. The summoning of the snakes beforehand combined with the strain of maintaining the extended barrier for so long in this wet climate had taken a lot out of her, especially because she still hadn't recovered completely from her illness. After inhaling a few deep breaths she made her way to Choji while Naruto made sure all mercenaries where safely dead.
The boy had returned to his normal size and was wiping the blood from his face, looking very pale as he surveyed the destruction caused by him. He was coated from head to toe in the red liquid and was beginning to tremble. As far as Anko could make out under the layer of blood he was sporting only a few minor cuts, so at least it wasn't related to serious injuries on his part.
'Oh shit he is going into shock. It's probably not directly because of the carnage; the Jashin worshippers on the last mission were worse in some respects and he was relatively fine. No, it's most likely because this time he himself slaughtered a mass of enemies in one go. At other times it was more personal, he could see the individual enemies. I keep forgetting they are still relatively fresh. I have to do something; I must keep him functional…That could work.'
She gripped Choji's shoulders and turned him towards her. "Look at me Choji. Everything is fine; you did what you had to."
"But… but… I killed so many."
"To kill our enemies is one of our duties as shinobi of the Leaf. Granted, it's seldom this bloody, but it still occurs more often than one would think." It was indeed true. As bad as the scene of the slaughter was, it didn't even make it into her personal top twenty, not counting the things she had seen in Orochimaru's laboratories.
"Some of them might not have deserved to die." Choji mumbled.
Anko enveloped him in a hug, not caring about the blood that stained her own clothing. "You know what sort of men our targets where, and you have seen what the other thugs of Gato did here in Wave. Do you really think someone who wasn't the worst sort of scum that exists would work for a man like Gato?"
"…No."
"You did what you did to protect your comrades and a client. Would you want one of your friends to die because you took the risk to let an obvious enemy live? Now pull yourself together, Team 7 still needs our help." Anko said while pulling back and looking him into the eyes.
Finally the trembling stopped and Choji took a deep breath. "You're right Anko-sensei. Thanks for your help. I think I'm okay now."
Anko maintained her grip for a few moments longer to ensure Choji had overcome the crisis for now. She would need to have a long talk with him later. It seemed he was the one person on her team who had some problems with killing. Well, it was probably too much to ask for all of her genin to be cold-blooded killers. After she released him she joined Naruto in checking the enemies for survivors and sent Choji to look after Team 7. It would not do to have a surviving enemy perform a surprise attack while they cared for their injured comrades. Most of the mercenaries were clearly dead, but she had to slit a few throats. Considering the injuries it was always an act of mercy.
After she finished looking for survivors she approached the still forms of Team 7. Naruto was still busy with a particularly large heap of bodies. Choji was in the process of cleaning the worst wounds of Kakashi. To her immense relief the pink-haired kunoichi as well as the last Uchiha were still alive if unconscious. Judging from the placements of the senbon needles that stuck in their bodies they would stay that way for quite a while, but weren't in any actual danger. Anko got a surprise as she examined the pineapple-haired Nara boy. She had expected him to be knocked out like his teammates, but despite looking like a pincushion he had his eyes wide open and roaming the scene.
She knelt down beside him. "Huh, you're still awake but can't move kiddo? That has to suck. I have to knock you out temporarily; the removal of the needles will be quite painful otherwise. If you understand me move your eyes up and down three times."
The boy seemed to understand her and moved his eyes as requested. She quickly used one of the senbon she carried herself to knock him out for a while. After that she began to carefully remove the needles from the three genin. It was slow work because she had to occasionally use her own needles to relax specific muscle groups of her patients lest she injure them further by removing the needles too forcefully. She looked up as she felt someone approach.
"W-w-who are you?" asked a visibly shaken Tazuna.
Anko rolled her eyes and tapped her headband. "As you can see we're from Konoha. We were in the area because of a different mission and more or less stumbled upon you due to chance. Now I suggest you leave me alone and let me work in peace before my patience runs out." She gave a lazy wave with her hand. Because she was still holding several bloody senbon she had extracted from the pink-haired one several drops of blood splattered across Tazuna's face. It didn't help her image that her front was coated in blood from hugging Choji. "Look after the bodies of your buddies or something."
Tazuna managed a faint nod before he scampered away as quickly as he could. The rest of the increasing number of villagers kept their distance as well. Apparently nobody wanted to possibly irritate the shinobi that had just slaughtered over a hundred of the thugs that had oppressed them for years.
Anko had seen no need to be especially polite as she was pretty sure the client had lied about the mission. There was simply no way the Hokage would have sent a fresh team of genin to protect the client against someone like Gato. That would have been a B- or possible A-rank mission from the outset, depending on the quality of the expected opposition. As Zabuza had been an A-rank nuke-nin and had worked with several accomplices she would have pegged it as solid A-rank, but it was possible that this fact had been unknown to the client at the beginning.
But there was another thing that bothered her. Zabuza and the demon brothers had obviously encountered Kakashi before on this mission. Why the hell did the man continue the mission instead of abandoning it because of breach of contract or at least sending for help? She knew he could summon dogs and would therefore be able to send a message to Konoha in a relatively short timeframe. Oh well, definite answers would have to wait until she could question one of the members of Team 7.
Anko was just finished with the Uchiha when she saw Naruto carrying the bound body of the fourth nuke-nin, the one wearing a mask that looked suspiciously like belonging to a Kiri hunter nin. He was still breathing despite the arrows stuck in his torso and arm. She looked at her blond genin questioningly.
"This guy here is still alive; Choji didn't reach his position. From what we saw earlier he was throwing ice jutsu around. I figured the guys at home would like to have a chat with him. If it's a bloodline he may even be allowed to join the village if he behaves reasonably. I already sealed the bodies of Zabuza, his sword and the other two guys." Naruto explained while tapping four scrolls on his belt after putting his load carefully on the ground.
Not in the last perturbed by his attitude Anko nodded. "Good thinking. It always pays to get on the good side of the research guys. They like it to get new study objects every so often. If it is a bloodline or if they learn how the guy's jutsu work you can expect a hefty bonus."
Naruto nodded back and went to help Choji treat Kakashi. She was really proud of him and her other students. They showed the proper professional attitude while retaining their sanity and acting their age from time to time, but always in secure environments. Anko had a very low opinion of some of the other jonin-sensei that coddled their students in an attempt to 'preserve their childhood' or some such rubbish. She had even heard that some of them had sent their genin into chunin exams without a single kill to their name. The only thing they achieved was that their genin weren't ready when they had to face one of the harsher realities of the shinobi lifestyle. Personally she held to the belief that it was better to face the ugly truth as quickly and completely as possible. Sure, it was painful, but once one had the silly illusions stripped away one was far stronger and better prepared to deal with the unavoidable problems. That was the reason she had actually sought out some bandits on their first C-rank mission. Better to get the first kills and all the assorted problems out of the way at the beginning in a controlled fashion instead of making it a drawn out affair or relying on chance. If one genin was unable to kill it was better to learn that fact sooner rather than later when the lives of others might depend on it.
Anko shook her head to clear her mind. Choji had recruited some of the villagers to build improvised stretchers and was already putting the wounded on them. Others were now beginning to check the mercenaries' remains; probably to part the dead from their valuables. She and her team were just leaving with the unconscious bodies of Team 7 when some of the more hardened villagers found the body of Gato. She heard some of the conversation before she was out of earshot.
"Hey, is that Gato? He looks far smaller than I thought." "Everyone looks small when half their body is crushed you dimwit.""No way that is Gato, the man is far too rich to be so easily defeated." "Idiot, having a heap of money doesn't make you harder to kill." "Yeah, these Konoha shinobi were really badass even if some of them were only children." "The woman especially was hot; scary as hell but hot." "Don't let your wife hear that or you will be sleeping on the couch for months." "Enough of that banter, what do we do with the corpse of the greedy bugger here?" "I have an idea, let's…"
As they were leaving the battlefield behind Anko relished the clean air. She wondered how Naruto and his enhanced sense of smell dealt with the stench. Or how the Inuzaka did it for that matter. Speaking of Naruto, the boy seemed to be increasingly nervous while looking at the body of the fake hunter nin. Perhaps a case of after-battle jitters? It was probably the wisest move to investigate immediately. She fell back until she was walking right beside him.
"Hey Naruto, what's the matter? Having any problems with the battle you care to share?" she asked in a low voice.
Naruto looked at her and sighed. "No, it's not that. You remember the kunoichi in disguise I met while gathering herbs that I told you about? Well, this one", he pointed at the fake hunter nin," has the same scent she did. I only noticed now when my nose finally stopped being overpowered by the smell of blood and guts. Before the battle I really only paid attention to the scent of our primary targets."
Anko patted his shoulder. "Don't worry; it wasn't important in the end. There are always more things in a battle that you should have paid attention to than the amount of concentration you can actually spare. The trick is to instinctively prioritize, and you're doing fine in that area."
Having nothing more to say they continued to Tazuna's house. Anko entered the house alone to prepare the space for the wounded. There she found an exhausted Hinata drinking tea while an overjoyed Tsunami was tidying up the room.
"Judging from your mood you were able to save the life of the kid?" Anko asked.
"It was very difficult and touch and go for a while, b-but the child will live. He will have an i-impressive scar though. I'm simply not g-good enough yet to prevent the scarring of such a large wound. I even had to sew the w-wound shut, my medical chakra wasn't enough. He is sleeping now." Hinata replied tiredly.
Tsunami said sternly "Hyuuga-sama, don't sell yourself short. I know nobody who could have done what you did. Even at the time when we still had a doctor, he would never have been able to save my son." Tears started appearing in the woman's eyes."I know without you my son would have surely died. We will be eternally in your debt." The implications of the presence of the female jonin finally registered with Tsunami and her eyes widened. "You're back. What happened at the bridge? Is my father okay? What of the enemy ninja? Was Gato really there? Oh god, is that blood on you?"
Anko chuckled. "In reverse order: Yes that is blood but not mine, Gato is dead together with the army of thugs he brought with him, the enemy shinobi are either dead or captured, your father is fine and is in fact waiting outside. I didn't tell him about the danger you and your son were in by the way. We arrived at the bridge in the nick of time and were able to turn the battle into our favor." She turned to Hinata. "All member of Team 7 were wounded and are currently unconscious. We also have a captive with us who has an arrow wound with the arrow still not removed. I know you are tired, but would you look them over? You are already a better medic than I ever was."
Hinata nodded while Tsunami left the house to speak to her father. In the doorway she almost collided with Naruto who entered the house in that moment, followed by the stretchers with the wounded. Hinata sighed and got to work. She first checked the three genin of Team 7 but quickly moved on to Kakashi.
"Good work with the b-bandages. Kakashi has mainly flesh wounds and b-bruising. Some of his ribs have cracks b-but are not in danger of breaking. His injuries l-look worse than they are, but his chakra levels are very l-low. I think he experienced severe chakra exhaustion a s-short time ago and fought again before he was completely ready. Additionally there are t-traces of a paralyic poison in his bloodstream. He will h-hurt for a few d-days but should m-make a complete recovery." Hinata commented while examining Kakashi.
Then she moved on to their prisoner.
"This one h-has no immediate life threatening injuries, but the a-arrows did some internal d-damage. Aside from that the p-patient has a severe concussion." She looked up from the injured towards Anko. "I c-can't do anything for these four at the moment, we should let them awaken naturally. Tomorrow I w-will heal their wounds further, but I need to conserve my chakra for now. The prisoner I need to operate, the s-sooner the better."
After Anko gave her assent, the boys put the enemy kunoichi on the freshly cleaned table. After making sure they weren't needed anymore the villagers left the house to talk with Tazuna and spread the word of Gato's defeat. After taking care of the arm wound Hinata assisted by Naruto and Choji had to cut away the enemy kunoichi's clothing to properly treat the arrow wound in her torso. As she removed some tight chest wrappings of their prisoner two perfectly formed medium-sized breasts came into view. Choji's eyes widened in surprise for a moment and both he and Naruto blushed and tried to ignore the kunoichi's assets.
'Right, Choji didn't know the fake hunter nin is a girl. Well, no hiding that fact now. It's even a good learning experience, can't have my genin easily distracted by some exposed flesh.' Anko thought.
Hinata removed the feathered rear end of the arrow and had the boys turn the body on the side. Then she proceeded to carefully push the arrow through the remaining flesh out of the other side. With arrow wounds it was always a judgment call if it was better to cut the wound open directly and remove the arrowhead or push it through in case it was a barbed arrow that might do more damage if you tried to pull it out. Hinata's byakugan offered a priceless advantage, as she could see directly into the body and adjust accordingly. It really was a shame the Hyuuga were so exclusively hung up on their fighting style that none of them became medic nins. After Hinata finished removing the arrow she cleaned the wound with some alcohol probably raided from the client's sake supply.
"Good, the w-wound is relatively clean; n-nothing important was hit that I can't fix. S-Some light internal damage, but I can handle it. It probably won't even leave a scar. " Hinata commented while she used her medical techniques to stop the bleeding.
While she observed the young Hyuuga bandage the prisoner Anko was already busy planning their next actions. Out loud she said "After you finish here, go and clean up. That goes double for you, boys. We'll meet again in half an hour; I have some prisoners to secure." After her genin gave their acceptance she left to a certain beach to relieve her summoned snakes.
Sometime later the wounded were placed in the rooms upstairs, the wounded kunoichi was secured in an extra room and the still paralyzed prisoners that Anko had retrieved were bound and locked up in a shed nearby. Tsunami was tending to her son and Tazuna was out somewhere in the village attending the spontaneous festival upon Gato's death. The last Naruto had heard, the villagers had nailed Gato's corpse to a pole and paraded him around the village. He idly wondered if they intended to keep him for a while or burn him in a bonfire.
All team members had cleaned themselves up and were sitting in Tazuna's living room. Naruto and Hinata shared a couch with Hinata on the verge of dozing off, her head secure on Naruto's shoulder. He was quite happy with this arrangement and was busy checking his knifes and assorted weapons for damage. Choji sat in an armchair munching on the contents of one of his ever-present bag of chips. Anko had commandeered a chair with a high backrest and was sitting the wrong way around, with her arms supported on the backrest.
"I only have only a few words to say before we turn in for a well-deserved rest. Good work from all of you. The mission was unexpectedly difficult, but your conduct was exemplary. Unfortunately, there are still a few things we have to do tomorrow." She paused for a moment. "Naruto, you are the freshest of us as well as the one with the least need for sleep and have first watch. Wake me around midnight so you can grab a few hours of shut-eye. I will wake you all at four o'clock. Hinata will check the wounded before she, Naruto and I pay a little visit to Gato's mansion on the island. I got the location from one of the villagers, and it is distant enough that nobody should have gotten around to plundering it yet. We should be back before noon if we use our full speed. Choji, you have guard duty at the house until we return. Now off to bed with you!"
Choji watched the first signs of dawn slowly creep over the sky. Guard duty was rather boring, but he appreciated the free time. It gave him the opportunity to come to terms with what he had done yesterday.
He didn't think he had any problems with killing per se, but yesterday had been a massacre. It was different from before. His first kill had been over before he had really time to process it. On the last mission he had been far too busy with staying alive to think much about it. This time he had slaughtered men who were effectively defenseless against him. Oh, they hadn't been innocents, but it was still difficult for him.
'I suppose I'm just too kind-hearted, but it won't keep me from doing what must be done.'
The Akimichi heir sighed. The feeling of him rolling over the bodies of the mercenaries, their bones breaking under his weight and their pained cries were still etched into his memory. Shaking these thought off he completed another round and decided to check up on the other inhabitants of the house.
Tazuna was sleeping off the alcohol he had imbibed during yesterday's festivities; Tsunami had finally fallen asleep after spending the night at the side of her unconscious son; Kakashi, Sakura and Sasuke would be out until sometime tomorrow according to Hinata. The only one who might wake earlier was Shikamaru, but his old friend was still sleeping soundly when Choji checked his status. Perhaps they would get some answers out of him how Team 7 came to be in this mess. Anko's five prisoners would remain paralyzed until someone applied an antidote and the kunoichi named Haku wasn't waking anytime soon either. Hinata had made sure of that before she left.
Two hours later Tsunami had woken and made herself busy in the kitchen. Choji used the opportunity to unobtrusively question her a bit. Yesterday's questioning had been rather hectic, but now there wasn't much else to do. Soon enough he knew her entire story of her life. There were a few interesting facts about Team 7 and her father's plans among the information Choji gleaned, but mostly it was an exercise in information gathering.
Tsunami was already preparing lunch when Choji noticed people approaching the house. To his relief it was the rest of the team. "Did you find something interesting?" he asked.
Naruto shrugged. "A whole lot of documents about Gato's businesses, his diary and some cash. There wasn't that much there; apparently Gato didn't spend much time at his mansion. We managed to find Zabuza's hideout on the way back. It was mostly empty, but Hinata found some scrolls with water and ice techniques. How are things here?"
"Nothing to report; Tsunami is up but all the others are still out. She seems to be dealing okay, all things considered." Choji answered.
"Good, that will give us time to go over this stuff. Hinata, I would like you to check everyone again. Choji, you can help Naruto and me with the documents." Anko commanded.
Most documents were of a rather complicated financial nature, but Gato's diary helped him understand everything. Apparently the whole Wave situation was part of a complicated plot of the diminutive shipping magnate. He never truly wanted to control Wave; it was only the bait in a trap. When he began isolating Wave from the outside world it served to drain the land of funds. Interestingly the creation of his monopoly did cost him more than he could ever hope to regain from the populace. No, the real purpose was that the natives could no longer fund the building of the bridge even if they wanted to.
Through careful control of information he made the bridge project appear as a worthwhile investment, causing several of his business rivals to spend a lot of money to complete it. Through a series of complex financial maneuvers that made Choji's head hurt Gato had achieved a position that allowed him to take control of his rivals' companies if they didn't manage to get the bridge up and running at a certain date. In the past he had used different nuke-nin to sabotage the project and gobble up the involved companies several times after they failed their deadlines. After that he had always disposed of those shinobi, both because of simple greed and to silence them. Zabuza had only been the last in a long line of victims of that policy.
One thing became clear: Gato didn't really want the bridge destroyed. That would have been easily possible for a long time. After all, there had been no shinobi around to defend the bridge until Tazuna hired Team 7. He was pretty clear in his diary that once he had milked this project for all it was worth he was perfectly content in completing the bridge and loosening his economic chokehold. Tazuna's assassination had only been ordered because he had the necessary knowledge to unveil all the sordid details about his dealings with different financiers if someone started digging. Well, that and he was no longer necessary to complete the project. The bridge builder had been a mostly unwitting pawn in Gato's plans. That wasn't to say that the man was innocent. Far from it, he had been playing one financier against another to get the money. If they still had been in business the bridge would have belonged to seven different owners – each convinced that he was the sole owner. Without Gato's interference the bridge would never have been built in the first place. Tazuna's web of lies and false promises would have come crashing down long before that.
Sitting up, Choji shook his head. "I can't say I'm not impressed. Gato's plan wasn't bad, but he overdid it with the oppression and atrocities. If he had been less greedy and needlessly cruel he would have gotten away with everything without anyone important noticing."
"Umm, what are you talking about? I can't make heads or tails out of these numbers." Naruto said.
A look at Anko-sensei and Naruto showed him that they really didn't understand. Choji blinked. Apparently helping his father deal with the clan's finances and economic enterprises had given him more insight into these things than he had thought. A lengthy explanation later Anko and Naruto did understand the general plan, even if the financial details eluded them.
"We have to trust your word. I don't really understand enough economics and finance to make sense out of these documents. It sounds logical though. Anything else we should know about?" Anko asked.
Choji leafed through the remaining documents. "Well, there are a lot of illegal deals. Drug dealing, smuggling, things like that. Oh, and a whole lot of tax evasion. I don't think we will be in trouble for killing Gato if the proper authorities learn of this. It seems Gato paid less than half the taxes he should have, even accounting for bribes."
Anko nodded thoughtfully. "Good. I have access to the proper channels to do that. Anything we can take without rousing suspicion?"
Rubbing his chin, Choji took a moment to think about it. "Perhaps. Most of the funds and companies are on file elsewhere, meaning we can't take them over. They will be either given to Gato's heirs or confiscated by the Fire daimyo's government. There are a few black funds we can access with the documents I have here. Oh, and we will get the tolls of the bridge traffic. That is obscured by so many layers that nobody will know. Everything is already set up for the establishment of a toll station at the mainland side. The money will be funneled into one of the black accounts we have access to. We don't even have to do anything. Access is a slight problem, but I believe we can solve that. There isn't enough information about Gato's other illegal activities her to make use of them."
"Good. I know it isn't exactly by the book, but I want you to keep these things to yourself. We might need these funds in the future. Is that a problem for you?" Anko asked.
Choji shared a look with Naruto. "I don't think so, sensei."
In the early afternoon Shikamaru finally woke up. Choji was just checking up on his childhood friend when he opened his eyes and blinked at his surroundings. "Ugh. What happened? Did I dream everything?"
Choji smiled. "Welcome back in the land of the living, Shika. You had me worried when we saw you at the bridge. How are you feeling?"
"I'm hurting all over. How troublesome."
"Well, you gave a pretty good impression of a pin cushion. Are you up for an interview? Anko-sensei really wants to know what happened. Your teammates are all unconscious." Choji said.
Shikamaru sighed. "I guess it can't be avoided. Bring her in."
A few minutes later Choji, Hinata and Naruto sat nearby while Anko questioned the young Nara and uncovered an unbelievable string of idiocy. Tazuna had lied about the mission as they had suspected. Team 7 had discovered that fact two days out of Konoha when the Demon Brothers had attacked them. After the revelation of the real background of the mission Kakashi had decided to continue their mission while leaving the Demon brothers tied up behind.
Anko had visibly problems with controlling her temper before calming down. "That irresponsible idiot. You simply don't leave enemy shinobi behind without guard. Judging from the fact that the two were on the bridge they managed to free themselves. Why in the world did you continue the mission?"
Shikamaru seemed very uncomfortable. "Kakashi-sensei gave us the choice. Sasuke wanted to continue and Sakura always supports him. It would have been too troublesome to argue."
It continued in that vein. They had been ambushed by Zabuza upon entering Wave and only quick thinking on Shikamaru's part and a lot of luck saved Kakashi from dying inside Zabuza's water prison. Then they had been deceived by Zabuza's accomplice who had posed as a Kiri hunter nin and disappeared with Zabuza's body. The genin hadn't been injured, but Kakashi had come down with chakra exhaustion. When he had woken up he had made no effort of getting his team to safety or calling for help. The only thing he did do was showing his team tree walking.
"Tree walking? You are telling me he just taught you tree walking? What good was that supposed to do you against someone like Zabuza? More importantly, what the hell did he teach you in the three months he had you?" Anko asked flabbergasted.
Shikamaru seemed to shrink onto himself when he mumbled something like "teamwork exercises".
Anko was now becoming visibly angry. "That's it. I'm going to the Hokage as soon as we get back. This behavior is criminal. Kakashi should be sacked immediately. Was he trying to get you killed?"
After their sensei had calmed down a bit she continued asking Shikamaru about the details of the fight on the bridge. He had seen hardly anything of Kakashi's fight with Zabuza; the ice-user had taken them out on her own with ease. Apparently Sasuke had awakened his sharingan, but that didn't help him when the girl created a dome of ice mirrors. Shikamaru and Sakura had been on the outside, but nothing they could do had been able to damage the mirrors. After wiping the floor with Sasuke Haku had disabled both of them. Shikamaru didn't know why he had stayed conscious, but he had been able to observe how Kakashi had whipped out a scroll. Just as he had been opening the thing the Demon brothers had attacked, surprising the jonin. With his hands full and already wounded he hadn't been quick enough to dodge. Then he had just slumped over and Team 11 had arrived.
"Their w-weapons were coated in a paralytic poison. I found some traces in Kakashi's body. It wasn't difficult to neutralize." Hinata interjected.
"Good work, Hinata. Now Shikamaru, I want you to tell me exactly what Kakashi did with your team since you graduated."
Naruto kept his eyes on their five prisoners as they were roughly shoved into their place in the hold of the ship. It had been two days since the battle on the bridge and it was time for them to leave Wave. It wasn't their mission to guard the bridge and the danger had passed anyway. The genin of Team 7 were combat-capable again, even if Kakashi was still confined to bed. He and Anko had had an ugly confrontation after he woke up. Oh, there had been no screaming, but the tone was icy and formal. There was no love lost between the two jonin. Even with his enhanced hearing Naruto had been unable to hear everything, but he overheard enough to know that their relationship was well and truly ruined.
He sighed. Team 7 was really a problem case. Sasuke didn't seem to really appreciate Team 11 saving them, even if he uttered some half-hearted words of gratitude. Somehow he seemed to take the entire thing as a personal insult. Sakura had thanked them profusely, but a few hours after she woke up she was already back to fawning over Sasuke. Shikamaru was the only one of them who was truly grateful.
'Well, he was the only one who saw us fight. Choji spent an awful lot of time talking with him. Perhaps he is finally coming around. I don't think he realized before how bad Kakashi truly is as a sensei.'
It was one thing to glean that information from a vision of the future; seeing it play out in real life was quite another. Hinata had occasionally spied on Team 7 from afar like she did with practically all things that caught her interest, but even she hadn't suspected how bad things truly were.
'More than three months and he taught them practically nothing. To think I would have ended up on his team without Mizuki's help…' Naruto shivered.
"What is the m-matter, Naruto-kun?" sounded the voice of Hinata from behind him.
"Just thinking about Kakashi and Team 7. It would have been nice if our assessment of Kakashi had been wrong. How's Haku?" he asked her while she took up a position at his side.
Hinata sighed. "Still unconscious. She took a p-pretty heavy blow to the head. There doesn't seem to be any o-obvious internal damage. If she doesn't wake up in the n-next three days I will have to take some additional measures."
Despite their prisoner's injuries Anko-sensei had decided to take her with them, probably because she didn't trust the genin of Team 7 to keep her secured. They watched in silence as the loading was finished, the lines were cast off and the ship slowly left the harbor. Some people were waving from the shore, Tazuna among them. He had spread the word of their part in Gato's defeat. The man probably hoped that all his shady dealings would be forgotten in the festivities. They had refrained from confronting him. Since the danger was over it would be the Hokage's decision on how to proceed in the matter of his deception. Tsunami's son Inari had wanted to come too, but he was still not able to leave his bed. Hinata had really worked a miracle on the boy. Naruto had hardly talked with the kid, but apparently he had taken him and Choji as his personal heroes for killing Gato.
In fact, the entire population treated them as heroes. From what Naruto had heard they even wanted to name the bridge 'The great Konoha Bridge.' Now that Gato was dead the isolation of Wave was already crumbling. Their current ride was an example of that. The ship belonged to an independent merchant who had visited the port in hopes of making a good bargain. Normally he would have been driven off by Gato's thugs, but with almost all of them dead that was a thing of the past. Wave still produced some trade goods, but there wasn't enough to fill the ship's hold. It had been a good opportunity for Team 11 to book passage along with their 'guests'.
Two and a half days later the merchant dropped them off at a beach near their destination. The man didn't want to enter the harbor - he had loaded nothing to trade there and the harbor fees were steep – but he had been amendable to interrupt the voyage to bring them ashore just out of sight of the town. Choji was carrying the still unconscious Haku while the other three kept an eye on their prisoners. They had taken no chances and chained the five together. It made traveling rather slow.
None of them had told the mercenaries what fate awaited them. In fact, the five didn't even know where they were headed. From overheard discussions they even thought themselves lucky to survive the slaughter at the bridge and expected to be thrown into jail for theft or something. Anko thought it funny to leave them in the dark. It would make guarding them much more difficult if they knew who exactly wanted them and what he would do to them.
The sun was already below the horizon when the town finally came into sight. Since the gates would be closed their sensei decided to spend the night in the woods. The next morning dawned brisk and clear.
"Okay, delivering our prisoners shouldn't take long and we are already over our planned time for this mission. I don't want to take Haku inside the city. Does one of you volunteer for guard duty?" Anko asked.
"I don't mind to do it, sensei. Choji and Hinata had to stay behind the last times; now it's my turn." Naruto said.
With no objections forthcoming Naruto was soon left alone with their unconscious prisoner. Naruto carefully checked the ropes binding the girl. It might have seemed unnecessary to tie up an unconscious prisoner, but none of them wanted to take any chances. They had even completely replaced her clothing. After making sure that all was well he busied himself with tidying up the camp.
Suddenly Naruto's ears twitched. Something was wrong. The faint noise that had gotten his attention was completely unfamiliar, but somehow it reminded him of water freezing followed by the parting of cloth. Naruto's eyes widened.
'Ice… Shit, Haku.'
Before he could turn around he felt an icy cold blade touch his throat.
"What did you do to Zabuza-sama?" a female voice hissed into his ear.
Author's notes: And that concludes Team 11's visit to Wave. It was rather quick, but I didn't want to rehash too much of the Wave Arc. That gets done often enough. Zabuza's end was unglamorous, but considering that Gato had apparently pulled the same trick before it shouldn't be outside the realm of possibility. Additionally I wanted to show that even top shinobi can be killed by normal forces under the right circumstances.
So long.