"Human talking"
'Human thinking'
Jutsu will be underlined
{Non-verbal speech}
Coast of the Land of Waves, 1120Hrs:
As Kakashi paid the ferryman who had agreed to transport the shinobi, Naruto observed the ANBU attached to his team, wondering if the solidly-built woman was part of Root.
He was interrupted by Sasuke, who walked over and started speaking to him in a lowered voice. "Before we leave, mind cluing me in on that warning you gave me at the gate?"
"I think someone is going to come after me again," Naruto stated without a drop of fear in his voice, as if he were talking about the weather.
"How do you know?"
"Someone slipped a warning note under my door the morning we left Konoha," Naruto, not for the first time, lied to his friend.
"Are you going to tell Kakashi?"
"No, you and Ino are the only people I trust." Besides Root, Naruto thought to himself.
"Taking down an assassin at home is one thing, but you plan on confronting one during a mission—in an area we're unfamiliar with—and not give our Jonin sensei a heads up?" Sasuke asked incredulously.
"The assassin will probably strike when I'm away from the 'Legendary Copy Nin.' All I need to do is distance myself from him and the ANBU, and I'll get a chance to find out who wants my head," Naruto said with conviction.
"I'll back you up, but I still think we should tell someone. We may be skilled, for genin, but we don't have the experience or resources to handle this by ourselves."
Before Naruto could respond, Kakashi called everyone over to his position.
"All right, team, I'm not going to waste time reading the entire sitrep, but basically Team 8's client—a bridge builder named Tazuna—lied in his mission request, stating that there was a chance he may be attacked by bandits on his way home in Wave, due to the country's depression. The client failed to mention that Gato of Gato Shipping Company has erected a blockade around the country, keeping his competitors from doing business there and allowing Gato to raise the prices on his goods to make an enormous profit at Wave's expense. Tazuna is trying to build a bridge that, if completed, will revitalize the economy and free them from Gato's control.
"Apparently, Gato has hired Zabuza Momochi, a Jonin-level missing-nin from Kirigakure, who along with two Chunin level subordinates, attacked Team 8 in an attempt to kill Tazuna. Kurenai-san, the team's Jonin-sensei, was able to critically wound Zabuza, but sustained grave injuries herself.
"While she was fighting, her genin killed the two chunin, but Hinata Hyuga and Kiba Inuzuka, while still able to move, were injured as well. Only Shino Aburame, who wrote and relayed the sitrep via his insect familiars, is still battle-ready. He managed to get his team and client to the client's home, due to the intervention of a possible Kiri hunter-nin who disabled Zabuza and carried him away.
"In his sitrep, Shino suggested that the ninja was actually one of Zabuza's associates, which would mean that Zabuza, once recovered, will attempt to assassinate Tazuna again. Our mission is to guard Team 8 until Boar-san declares them able to be moved, at which time we will act as a med-evac team and transport them back to Konoha. Questions?" Kakashi finished.
"What about Tazuna?" Ino asked.
"In return for the lodging he is providing us, we will be guarding Tazuna and his family in addition to Team 8 until we are ready to leave," Kakashi answered.
"It's this Tazuna guy's fault that we're in this jam in the first place, why not just make him and his family let us stay at their home?" Sasuke asked, not liking the idea of protecting someone who had almost gotten fellow Leaf-nin killed.
"Because commandeering any civilian's property during peacetime is against protocol and could lead to a decline in mission requests for the village."
Tazuna's home, 1340Hrs:
As Team 7 and company leapt from the wood line, they witnessed Shino reforming himself from a swarm of insects in front of a medium-sized, two-story home, accompanied by Boar.
"Please remain still while my Kikaichu inspect you for genjutsu and henges," Shino requested.
At Kakashi's nod, Shino raised his arms and released a small cloud of insects that quickly flew over and around the Leaf-nin and then returned to his body, informing him that they couldn't sense anything out of the ordinary. "I've applied what first aid I can, but I believe that Kurenai-sensei's wounds have still become infected. Please hurry and attend to her." And with that, Boar shunshin-ed inside the house.
As Team 7 was walking toward the house, the door opened and a remorseful-looking Tazuna stepped out to address them. "I'm sorry that lied and got your comrades hurt. I knew that Gato might hire some ninja to come after me, but I never would have thought he'd go so far as to hire a monster like that Zabuza guy."
"What's done is done, but be advised that whether your bridge is completed or not, Hokage-sama will demand fiscal compensation for the mission's expanded parameters," Kakashi replied sternly.
"I understand; now that you're here though, I would like to go into the village and notify my workers that we will recommence construction tomorrow morning," Tazuna said, wanting to get as much of the bridge done while the shinobi were guarding him.
"Ino, Sasuke, and Naruto, you three will accompany Tazuna while Shino briefs me on what has happened since his report," Kakashi ordered. The genin nodded, handed their packs to Shino and Kakashi, and left with Tazuna.
As they were walking, Naruto produced four shadow clones and sent them out into the wood line to form a 100-yard perimeter. He then ordered his teammates to form a reverse triangle formation around Tazuna, with Ino and himself up front and Sasuke covering their six. Tazuna was highly impressed with the way the blond boy took charge, and also with his two teammates for not arguing with him (like the boy with the dog had with Shino, during their battle against Zabuza's henchmen). While he was still a bit apprehensive about entering the village without their Jonin sensei, the young ninjas' professionalism eased some of his concerns.
"Ino, since sensei isn't here, you're our early warning system. Stay sharp," Naruto reminded.
"On it," Ino responded.
"Tazuna-san, how long until we reach the village?" Sasuke asked.
"Uh…maybe 35, 45 minutes."
"How much of the fight between Kurenai-sensei and this Zabuza did you see? Could you describe any of the techniques he used?" Sasuke asked, not really expecting much from the civilian, but wanting any info he could get.
Before Tazuna could say anything, Naruto started speaking. "Zabuza Momochi is a former Kiri ANBU, as well as one of the legendary Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist. He still has his sword Kubikiribōchō (Decapitating Carving Knife) which, despite its massive size and weight, he is still able to handle with incredible speed and skill. He is skilled in water release, but is said to be the most skilled, non-Kage level ninja Kiri ever produced in the silent killing technique, which he has been known to use in conjunction with the Hiding in the Mist jutsu."
"How do you know all that, Naruto?" Ino asked.
"I acquired a bingo book from a chunin back home," Naruto lied, thinking about how Danzo had made him study bingo books from each of the great five ninja villages. He may not have memorized every page of every bingo book, but Danzo had made sure that he knew the shinobi world's heavy-hitters.
"Why am I not surpr—," Ino started, but paused when two chakra sources entered within her sensory range. Bringing her hands up in the ram seal and channeling her chakra, she boosted the range and effectiveness of her ability, allowing her to get a 'better look' at the incoming individuals.
"Ino, what is it?" Naruto asked.
"Distance 200 yards, Direction 2:00, Description: Three males with civilian… no, Academy student-level chakra reserves. I could be wrong, but their chakra seems tainted, kinda like those two samurai after they took that drug," Ino informed him.
"Ino, take Tazuna into the wood line and hide; my shadow clones will still help you guard him. Sasuke, we're going to observe these three guys, and if they're some of Gato's henchmen, we'll interrogate them ourselves," Naruto instructed his teammates.
Naruto and Sasuke silently made their way through the tree tops until the three men in question came into view. Channeling chakra to their ears, they were able to make out their conversation. "…sure the Konoha ninja are as fucked up as Zabuza?" Thug number 1 asked.
"Relax, man. Zabuza's partner or assistant or whatever said that only that kid ninja is able to fight right now. All's we gotta do is find the bridge builder's place, drink some of this here go juice (pats his left breast pocket), and kill everybody inside. It'll be cake, dude," Thug number 2 assured.
"Look, we're dealing with shinobi here, so no fucking around. I'll take the kid while you two take care of the house's occupants. No enjoying yourselves and making them scream. No raping the women. We get in and out, that's it, understand?" Thug number 3 ordered, wishing Zabuza's brat was taking care of this his or her self (he still couldn't figure out if the teen was male or female).
{How do you want to do this?} Sasuke signed to Naruto.
{You kill the two subordinates while I knock out the leader. I want to do this fast so they don't get a chance to take the drug,} Naruto replied. He then went through the hand seals for the shunshin and disappeared in a burst of speed with Sasuke right behind him. Sasuke emerged from his shunshin first, a kunai in each hand and plunged the weapons into the base of his target's skulls, killing them with relatively little pain.
Naruto landed behind his target as well, reaching up to grab the taller man's shirt collar and jerking him back, while simultaneously kicking the man's legs from under him. Naruto then punched the man in the face. The man hit the ground with a thud, unconscious.
When he woke up, he was tied to a tree with a blond boy holding smelling salt under his nose and a dark-haired boy with a bloody kunai in his hand. "Ugh, get that shit away from me!" he yelled.
"What's your name?" Naruto asked.
"My name? My name is fuck you, brat."
"Well, Fuck You, Brat. My friend and I are going to ask you some questions. If you answer truthfully, you'll be fine. But if you don't answer or we feel like you're lying, we'll start cutting things off, understand?" Naruto asked, but didn't receive a response.
Shaking his head, Naruto turned to Sasuke and nodded. The young Uchiha grabbed the man's left ear and pulled it painfully way from the man's head. He then very slowly started to cut it off, making sure to do it as painfully as possible. Sasuke hadn't heard screams like this since the night his treacherous older brother slaughtered his entire clan.
But he couldn't show discomfort in front of the man. Naruto had already told him that this would be unpleasant, but reminded him that it wouldn't be the last time they would have to do something like this. So the 12-year-old hardened his heart, and consoled himself with the idea that the man he was carving up had had it coming.
The man was tough though, and 7 fingers and one eyeball later, he still hadn't told them anything. "You stupid little brats, you don't even know how to torture somebody. I'll die of blood loss before I tell you anything," he taunted while finding it hard to stay conscious.
Naruto grabbed the man by the hair and pulled hard, forcing the thug to look and him. "Oh, you do seem to understand how much control we have over this situation. You won't die until we want you to." With that Naruto snapped his fingers and the man was instantly whole again.
"W-What is going o—" he started to ask, but was cut off by the blond.
"Aa, Sasuke, he made it through the first iteration. How many more do you think he has in him?"
"Two. Maybe three," Sasuke answered.
"No, no more, please," the thug yelled, not wanting to go through that again, much less two or three more times. Upon hearing this, Sasuke removed the gag that was actually in the man's mouth and released him from the only A-rank genjutsu he knew, Demonic Illusion: perpetual agonies, a technique invented by the Kurama Clan before Konoha was even founded—an attempt to try and mimic the Mangekyo Sharingan's Tsukuyomi. Unlike Tsukuyomi, the technique took time to cast, and could easily be dispelled unless all of its layers were in place, which was why it was mostly used for gathering info from initially-unconscious targets.
The man told them his name was Hiroyuki and that he had been working for Gato for almost 10 years, making him one of the mogul's most trusted henchmen. He also told them that Gato and Zabuza were in a compound about 2 miles east of the village, and that Zabuza wouldn't be able to fight other shinobi for another week, according to his masked companion. When Naruto asked about the masked shinobi, all Hiroyuki could tell him was that he or she was about 14 and seemed to worship the ground Zabuza walked on.
Naruto told Hiroyuki that he and Sasuke would be back, once they decided what to do with him and his friends. "But they're dead, right? I mean, I saw you kill them," Hiroyuki asked.
"That was just another illusion; they think you're dead too," Sasuke answered. Naruto and Sasuke went where Hiroyuki couldn't see them and then returned with his subordinates, who had their hands behind their backs.
"You're going to go back to Gato, and tell him that we don't care about the bridge builder and will kill him ourselves for 500,000 Ryo each. Tell him to bring our money to the construction site at 0930 tomorrow morning, and we will handle his problem for him once and for all," Sasuke instructed. After seeing Hiroyuki's nod, he was untied and sent on his way with his still hand-tied flunkies running behind him.
One hour later, Gato's Compound:
Hiroyuki reached the compound and barged into Gato's office, flanked on both sides by his still hand-tied men. "Hiroyuki, what have I told you about barging into my office?" Gato yelled, pushing the young girl who was servicing him away and zipping up his trousers.
But before he could answer, he was cut off by the man on his right who ran right up to Gato and fell to his knees. "Gato-sama, I have something to tell you!" the man yelled.
"Fine, what is it, you idiot?" Gato asked. The man then started to blur, and took the form of a stone -faced blond boy.
"Boom."
The village, same time:
Naruto smirked when his exploding clone's memories returned to him. While he didn't know whether or not Zabuza and his companion shinobi were killed in the blast, he was sure that they were at least injured.
"What the hell was that?" Ino asked.
"I don't know, you two take Tazuna home while I scout it out," Naruto answered.
When Naruto arrived at the complex, he saw that the half that hadn't been immediately destroyed in the blast was now on fire. He used the water from a nearby stream to cast one of the only 3 water jutsu he knew. "Tearing Torrent!" Naruto yelled, siphoning water from the stream, filling it with his chakra, and sending it crashing against the building, dousing most of the flames.
Damn, that took a decent amount of chakra, I need to learn Water manipulation soon, he thought to himself, before making 5 shadow clones. The clones already knew why they were created and looked for the two missing ninja's bodies amongst the rubble; after about twenty minutes of searching, one of his clones yelled that it had found something.
Naruto reached its location, right as it pulled the object from under the damaged beam it was under. Naruto couldn't help but grin when his clone handed him Zabuza's Kubikiribōchō. The sword's edge was damaged and its tip was just gone, but if the sword's ability was legit, that wouldn't be a problem for much longer.
Naruto cut into his hand, spreading his blood along the long blade and watched, amazed, as the sword absorbed the iron in his blood and repaired itself. Thanks to his Root-influenced training methods, Naruto was far stronger than the average genin, but the legendary sword was still too heavy for him. It would take a few months of specialized training before he would be able to wield it properly, unfortunately for him he wouldn't have that long.
"Earth Release: Rising Rock Jutsu!" he heard someone yell, before being slammed by a rock the size of an ox and going up in smoke. Naruto looked at his attacker from the position of the shadow clone he had replaced himself with. The man was large, 6'6, maybe 6'7, and about 250 pounds, he was dressed in all black with his face hidden behind a plain black porcelain mask.
"You look just like him," the ninja said angrily, his statement sounding more like an accusation.
"Letting a statement like that slip, it would appear that just like the rest of your countrymen, you assassins have rocks for brains. Isn't that right, sensei?" Naruto asked, right as Kakashi, who had snuck up behind the ninja, plunged a kunai in his spine, only for the masked man to crack and break in to rocks.
Kakashi moved over to Naruto's position and placed his back against his students. "Keep your eyes peeled and be ready to jump, he'll probably come at us from under the ground," Kakashi warned. Naruto put both hands on Kubikiribōchō's hilt and channeled chakra to his arms and legs so that he would be able to swing it with at least some speed.
"Earth Release: Opening Earth Rising Excavation!" The assassin's voice seemingly echoed from everywhere before an earthquake rattled the area, as a volcano roughly 30 meters high emerged from the ground, and 30 rock clones erupted from its crater and into the sky before falling towards the two Leaf-nin's position like meteors.
"HO…LY…SHIT!" Naruto exclaimed, his partial Root conditioning failing him for a moment.
"Naruto, get out of here now!" Kakashi barked out in a tone that left no room for argument. As Naruto turned and prepared to shunshin, a pair of rock-covered hands grabbed him around his ankles and pulled him underground. Kakashi put his hands together to begin the seal sequence that would allow him to give chase, but had to dodge as the first of the rock clones neared his position and exploded in a shower of rocky shrapnel.
Kakashi dodged the explosion and deflected most of the shrapnel with a kunai, but found himself surrounded by the other clones that had just landed. This is bad. This guy is A-class Jonin level easy. How can I save Naruto and fight him at the same time? Kakashi wondered to himself. His answer came in the form of none other than Naruto Uzumaki, who exploded from the earth, covered in his Human Chakra Cloak. "Naruto?" Kakashi asked, wondering how the blond was putting out so much chakra.
"Sensei, now that I'm using this jutsu, I can handle the rock clones while you flush out the real assassin," Naruto stated, his voice full of confidence. Looking at Naruto with his Sharingan eye, Kakashi decided that even if Naruto couldn't defeat all the clones, the freakishly strong genin should at least be able to stay alive until he could find and defeat the Jonin assassin. Extending his battle-honed senses outward, he managed to pick out a faint scent coming from his 4 o'clock and went to investigate.
Some of the clones moved to pursue the copy-nin and protect their nearly chakra-depleted creator, but were stopped by the yellow devil's spawn. "What? I'm not enough for you? You bastards are pissing me off!" Naruto yelled as he swung his new sword with the boost of speed and strength the cloak always provided, taking out two rock clones at once. A clone four yards to his right tried to sprint past him, but found itself impelled by a knife-handed chakra arm.
With Kakashi:
Kakashi easily dodged and deflected the kunai and shuriken of his fleeing opponent. That is, until a hollow one that had an explosive note inside went up two feet in front of his face, catching the Sharingan (and unfortunately not Byakugan) user by surprise. When Kakashi emerged from the cloud of smoke, arms full of tiny metal shrapnel and in an x block in front of his face, the assassin was no longer in sight.
Normally, that wouldn't have been enough to stop him, but the world started to spin and he fell to the ground. As he inspected the wounds in his arms, his saw a miniscule amount of dark purple liquid. "A sedative…" he managed to get out before losing consciousness.
Next day, 1437Hrs, Tazuna's Home:
Kakashi awoke to the sight of a boar mask mere inches from his face. "Ah, sempai, I wasn't expecting you to awaken for 3 or four more hours," the ANBU stated blandly.
"Naruto?" Kakashi asked, his voice strained.
"Uzumaki-san carried you here yesterday evening and then promptly went to sleep. He is now downstairs trying to convince the child, Inari, that Gato is dead."
"And the others?"
"Yamanaka-san, Uchiha -san, and Aburame-san are guarding Tazuna-san at the construction site. The rest of Team 8 are recovering nicely; we should be able to depart for Konoha in 3 to 4 days," Boar informed him.
Downstairs, a frustrated Naruto was trying to explain things to Inari. "Look, kid, I'm telling you I have it on good authority that Gato is dead. I mean, someone blew his complex skyhigh," Naruto informed him.
"Yeah, but that doesn't mean he was inside, you idiot," Inari retorted.
"Look, kid, can you keep a secret?" Naruto asked.
At the boy's nod, Naruto leaned down and whispered into Inari's ear. "I know Gato's dead because I'm the one who blew him up," Naruto said, and looked the child in the eyes, channeling a tiny amount of killing intent to get the point across, and then quickly stopped and smiled. "So now you're going to stop annoying me about leaving your grandpa to die in a few days, right?" Naruto asked, and received a vigorous nod from Inari before leaving the room. Had he looked inside the sink, he would have seen a Kiri Hunter-nin mask in the frozen water's reflection.
Two days later, 1900Hrs, Iwagakure:
The assassin pulled off his mask and barged into the Tsuchikage's office, hitting the two Chunin inside with the full brunt of his killing intent. "It would seem that my son has something to say to me; you two are dismissed," the Tsuchikage said, watching the two ninja flee his office like bats out of hell.
"It's true, father, his facial bone structure is slightly different and his skin tone may be a shade darker, but I'd know that blond hair and steely blue eyes anywhere. That brat is definitely Namikaze's son," the Tsuchikage's son told his father.
"What do you mean is, Rotsuchi?" Onoki asked, flaring his own killing intent.
"He is still alive father, I-I failed," the now-identified Rotsuchi answered, trying in vain to hide his discomfort under his father's anger.
"Tell me exactly what happened," Onoki ordered, and Rotsuchi did just that, going over everything that had happened in great detail. Onoki closed his eyes, digested the information, and asked a question.
"So it's confirmed; he is a Jinchuriki?"
"I don't know. The… shroud I told you of was made out of his own chakra," Rotsuchi answered.
"He's a genin and already this powerful?" Onoki said to himself in disbelief as wisps of fear made their way into his heart. "Go to the intel division HQ, and tell them to put Naruto Uzumaki in the next bingo book with a kill-on-sight order for all Iwa shinobi, Special-Jonin level or higher. And add an 85 million Ryo reward for him dead, and 100 million alive, so that I can kill him myself!"
A/N: First of all I'd like to credit to the amazing Kenchi618 for the hollow, explosive note filled kunai thing. I got the idea from reading one his stories. I'd like to thank Bottle Glass for cleaning my grammar and mechanics. I haven't decided if Zabuza survived the blast yet but a very pissed off Haku will be making appearances in later chapters.
Next Chapter by 8-19-12 Please review!
Ps. I'll never own Naruto or make any money from writing fanfiction so I don't see the point of writing anymore disclaimers.