Disclaimer – Kishimoto owns Naruto and the characters therein.
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Memories Of Others
Chapter 16
Peril Of A New Genin
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Gato looked up from his breakfast as one of the Iwa shinobi appeared in a cloud of smoke.
"Gato-san." The shinobi said in a voice that managed to give away nothing about the Shinobi behind the mask. "We are almost prepared to move out to neutralize the Konoha squad and destroy the bridge."
"Excellent." Gato almost purred. "I shall gather my men and start towards the village at noon to re-assert my control. Will you be finished by then?"
The masked shinobi nodded, then vanished in another cloud of quickly-dissipating smoke.
"Soon, all of Wave will be mine to command and no-one shall dare raise their hand against me." Gato gloated.
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"Shinjun Oyobi Ansatsu Teisatsu-ta are ready to move out, Kurotsuchi-san." The first masked man said and Kurotsuchi nodded in satisfaction.
"Excellent." She said, pulling out a map. "The house is here and the bridge here, so we'll head to this point. Squad one under Kakogan will then travel to the bridge and covertly place explosives to take it down. Once that is done, they shall move to reinforce Squad three. Squad two under Sekkaigan will go to the house and kill everyone there while group three under myself will engage and kill the Bridge Builder and any Konoha-nin at the bridge, except for our target, Uzumaki. He is to be kept alive. Note that I do not say anything about him retaining the use of his limbs."
A sense of predatorial hunger briefly infused the atmosphere of the room.
"Today, we finally get our revenge against the Yellow Flash of Konoha." Kurotsuchi growled as she rolled up the map and returned it to its storage scroll. "SOAT, move out!"
Three seconds later, the room was empty.
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Four flashes of light marked the appearance of Team 8 at the bridge. For a moment, they all remained motionless, then Hinata placed a hand on the necklace that she wore and Tazuna appeared beside her, surrounded by three Narutos.
"We're clear, Tazuna-san." Kurenai reported as a wave of bugs emerged from Shino's coat and flew outwards towards the woods. "Nothing dangerous in the range of Hinata's byakugan and my other two genin don't detect anything dangerous."
"Thanks." Tazuna sighed as he spotted the first few members of his workforce appearing. "Okay, time to keep building!"
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"What the fuck?" Kurotsuchi swore as she collapsed her telescope and clambered down from the top of the tree. As she landed, she looked at the five SOAT members waiting for her.
"The Uzumaki just transported himself, the civilian and a genin team via Hiraishin." She snarled. "I guess that proves beyond all doubt that he's the Yellow Flash's son, no-one else would know that technique. We need to change plans."
Several of the SOAT operatives shifted slightly.
"We need to disable him as quickly as possible so that he can't escape." Kurotsuchi explained. "There's a great deal of undergrowth to the right, so we'll use it and chakra-suppression to get as close as possible before we attack. Genbugan, you use your Iwa Bunshins to engage the genin while you and Choseki engage the Jonin-sensei. The rest of you will help me charge the Uzumaki and take him down hard. If you can kill the civilian during the attack, do so."
The shinobi nodded.
"Then let's move out."
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Hinata activated her Byakugan for another quick scan of the surrounding area and froze.
"Hinata?" Kurenai asked, catching the girl's reaction.
"Shinobi… five… no, six of them, coming in from the east through the undergrowth." Hinata whispered and Kurenai cursed under her breath.
"How strong are they?"
"I think… Jonin?" Hinata managed and Kurenai inhaled sharply.
"Shit. Go to Naruto, tell him to get the old man the hell out of here and see if he can get us some reinforcements." She snapped. Hinata nodded and scampered off to where Naruto and several clones were standing near Tazuna.
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"Okay… we're almost in position…" Kurotsuchi whispered, then a sudden flash of yellow light illuminated the edge of the bridge.
"Fuck!" She shouted. "Attack! Kill the fucking leaf-nin!"
Kurotsuchi and her team almost exploded out of the undergrowth and leapt onto the bridge, kunai already leaving their hands as the civilian workers dived for cover.
"That one's a Hyuuga! An unsealed one!" Genbugan shouted and Kurotsuchi glanced at where he was pointed.
"Seize her!" She commanded. "At the very least, Iwa will gain one of the great Dojutsu!"
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"Wha…?" Inari yelped as three of Naruto's clones grabbed him and vanished an instant later. Another flash from inside the house marked Tsunami's forcible relocation as well.
"Troublesome." Shikamaru sighed as he rose from where he was playing Shogi against Asuma. "Naruto must have detected an enemy."
"Agreed." Asuma said as he pulled out his trench knives. "Everyone, be alert!"
Twang!
Ino smirked as a screaming figure briefly appeared above the treetops before arcing back down to the unforgiving ground.
"At least we know where one of them is." Asuma said after a long moment.
Twoing!
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"Seize her!" The leader of the rapidly approaching attackers commanded and Hinata gasped as long-repressed memories of being helpless in the arms of the kidnapper from Kumo surfaced. "At the very least, Iwa will gain one of the great Dojutsu!"
Hinata stepped back, raising her arms in a defensive posture, but the attackers were Jonin and deep in her heart, she knew that she didn't stand a chance.
"DYNAMIC ENTRY!"
Two of the attackers were blasted sideways by a pair of somehow familiar green blurs which were followed by a rain of Kunai, then a familiar figure stepped up to Hinata's side.
"Neji-nii-san!"
"Hinata-sama." Neji replied calmly. "Naruto-san came to us, offering an impromptu exercise and Gai-Sensei decided it would be good training."
"Yosh!"
Hinata blinked, then turned to look at where the duo of green blurs were engaging all six attackers in battle, the sounds of punches and kicks coming so rapidly that they sounded almost like a constant impact.
"Yaaaa!"
"Eight trigrams: Sixty four palms!" Hinata and Neji shouted in unison as their hands blurred. The unmasked kunoichi trying to attack them shuddered as the strikes closed down her chakra system.
"Yosh!" Lee shouted as his spinning kick shattered one of the ninja, reducing it to a pile of stone. "Gai-sensei! Our adversaries seem to be using some sort of unyouthful rock-based clone!"
"That is the Iwa Bunshin, my student!" Gai shouted back as he grabbed one of the remaining shinobi and used him like a club, slamming a second one into the air. "Strike them hard enough and they shatter like the log I had you practice the Lotus on!"
The last shinobi fell over, having been punched by both green-clad ninja at the same time and the two Leaf Nin looked at each other.
"That was an excellent workout, Gai-sensei!"
"Indeed it was, Lee-kun!"
"Gai-Sensei!"
"Lee-kun!"
Hinata found herself being pulled so she was facing away from the pair, then the world seemed to light up behind them.
"AAAAARGH! MY EYES!" Kiba screamed.
"This is… disconcerting." Shino stated.
Hinata gave Neji a quizzical look.
"Sunset Genjutsu."
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A battered, scorched and generally disheveled figure staggered out of the treeline and collapsed.
"Ino, can you bring him over here?" Asuma asked and Ino nodded before flashing through a sequence of hand-seals.
"Shintenshin no Jutsu."
Choji caught Ino as she collapsed, then the prone shinobi slowly pulled himself to his feet and staggered forwards.
"Damn, this guy was got good." He said as he shed his mask and cloak. "I'm better at traps than I thought."
"Hold still." Asuma commanded as his hands flickered over the shinobi's body, removing weapon pouches and concealed weapons before pulling out a scroll which he unrolled. A puff of chakra later, he held a set of restraints in his hands, which he placed on the shinobi.
"Okay, you can go back now." He said and the Iwa shinobi collapsed. A moment later, Ino opened her eyes and let Choji set her back on her feet.
"Iwa nin normally deploy in trios." Asuma said thoughtfully, looking at the line of booby-trapped trees. "There's probably two more of them still out there. Stay on guard, just in case."
"Hai, sensei!" His Genin responded.
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"I think we're safe now." Kurenai said as she watched Lee and Gai finish tying up the Iwa shinobi while still declaiming their attachment to how youthful things were. "Hinata, can you bring Naruto back now?"
Hinata touched her necklace and an instant later, three Narutos flashed into existence beside her.
"Inari and Tsunami are safe as well." Naruto reported. "So… who were these guys?"
"Iwa shinobi." A new voice called and everyone turned to see Asuma approaching. He drew up to them and pulled out three prisoner scrolls.
"So, we got… nine of them? Wow. If you seal these ones up, Naruto can take them back to Konoha so that we can get our portions of the bounties on them."
"Nine enemy shinobi." Kiba smirked. "That's a lot of dosh!"
"Which will be divided into twenty-two portions with Kurenai-sensei, Asuma-san and Gai-san receiving four portions each." Shino calculated. "Assuming that each of the nine was worth ten thousand Ryo each, each genin's portion of the total would be approximately four hundred and nine ryo while each Jonin would receive sixteen thousand, three hundred and sixty three ryo."
"Dammit." Kiba cursed. "We got more from our share of the Demon Brothers!"
"Actually, I think that you'll be getting a bit more than that." Asuma said slowly as he leafed through a Bingo Book that he had pulled out of his pocket. "That's Kurotsuchi, the grand-daughter of the Tsuchikage. I think we'll get a reclamation bounty of at least half a million Ryo for her from Iwa even if Iwa's the only one paying out."
Kiba's pout turned into a wide grin and he turned to look at Shino.
"Twenty-six thousand, three hundred for each genin and a hundred and five thousand for each Jonin."
"I'll get a new den with that and what I already have!" Kiba exulted. "Ya hear that, Akamaru? We're gonna get our own den!"
"Actually, you aren't." A new voice said and everyone turned to see Gato advancing towards them from the end of the bridge, a large crowd of mercenaries behind him. "Now, if you turn over the Iwa nin to me, as well as Tazuna, then I might let you live. Otherwise, you're going to die and I'll claim the rewards on you."
"Well, my head is worth thirty-five million." Asuma mused with a smirk. "But there's no way I'm going to let you claim it."
"And we're not letting you kill the old man." Kiba snarled.
"Oh, really." Gato sneered as the first two ranks of mercenaries behind him lifted crossbows into firing positions.
"Futon: Daitoppa!" Naruto shouted and a massive wind blast slammed into the mercenaries, toppling the first few ranks like skittles while Gato was sent somersaulting into the air. Several of the crossbows triggered and the quarrels rose high into the air before succumbing to gravity and dropping back down, hitting several of the would-be attackers.
"Kill them!" Gato squealed as he grabbed the bolt sticking out of his shoulder. "They hurt me! I want them dead! I want the men torn to shreds and fed to the pigs! I want the women raped to death! Kill them a-glrk!"
Gato froze, then he fell backwards, the arrow that had smashed into his forehead sticking out like a truncated flagpole.
"Good shot, Inari!" Naruto's voice came from behind the assembled ninja and everyone turned to see another Naruto standing beside a crossbow-armed Inari, both at the head of a large mob of villagers.
"What?" the clone shrugged. "Boss brought them all into town at Inari's request, he pointed out that you might need reinforcements."
"Yosh, that is a most youthful decision!" Gai proclaimed as he flexed his fingers, causing his knuckles to crack. "Now, what shall we do about these most unyouthful brigands who still remain?"
The sentence was enough to break the spell of paralysis that had settled over the mercenaries and almost as one, they turned and fled, running down the bridge in an attempt to reach the ships that they had used to arrive on.
"Oh, we're good." Kiba gloated.