Now travelling with two of the Akatsuki, Zabuza and Haku keep moving towards the Hidden Mist.
Also featured in the chapter is some more Orochimaru and Team 7.
Itachi had spent the better part of an hour meditating in his cabin in order to consult leader-sama in regard to the appearance of the two surprisingly competent Kiri shinobi. While there was no doubts in his mind that they could remove them as factors, perhaps the bladesman and his apprentice could be of use to the Akatsuki. While there was no immediate need for more members, the demon's agenda apparently greatly intrigued the leader.
After being forced to wait a couple of minutes, Itachi was informed that he and Kisame are to support the efforts of the two rogue ninja. Knowing better than to fish for reasons, the rogue Uchiha nodded and disappeared, opening his eyes to the already familiar sight of his cabin. While he had little to gain or lose by travelling alongside the two, it was fairly safe to say that Kisame would be having the week of his dreams.
"...as such, the Akatsuki are an organization whose sole purpose is to find a way to work towards peace. Our leader believes that removing the fourth Mizukage would be a step in the right direction, and as such, we are to assist you in this endeavor so long as our paths overlap."
What he didn't reveal to neither them nor Kisame were their updated orders; they are to detour to the Land of Lightning and gather information until news reach them regarding the success of Zabuza's endeavor. Should the elite jonin and former swordsman manage to take out the fourth, they were to return to home base immediately, otherwise they are to proceed with the original mission.
After all, he'd feel bad having to burst Kisame's bubble so soon after the monster of the mist managed to find a sparring partner that is not only able to fight on his level for extended periods of time, but was also a master of kenjutsu. Ever since the ship set sail, the two swordsmen would only return in order to eat and sleep, spending the rest of their free time in very high-powered training sessions.
Haku couldn't help but giggle when he saw Zabuza surf on top of a water dragon in order to get a sneak attack in at his fellow ex-swordsman of the mist. Of course, it took a lot more than that to get the blue-skinned ninja, but even he had to admit that the move looked formidable. Too bad surfing on a shark looked even more badass.
"The training sessions with your friend have really improved Zabuza-sama's technique. I have not yet seen him fight someone this strong without the intent to kill." While Kakashi was fairly civil after their encounter on the bridge, the memories were still too fresh for the two to try sparring, despite how much it would help the swordsman. Haku had noticed that his teacher wasn't fighting as well as he did at the start of their exile, which could only mean that his direct combat skills had dulled somewhat.
Itachi didn't answer, which didn't surprise the boy in the least. The young man was very quiet most of the time, often drifting off while gazing out at the southern sea. On the inside, though, he was more alert than usual. Not only did he have to watch the two they ran into, but he also had to figure out what Madara's true goal was regarding the Mizukage. He had known about the man's influence over the jinchuriki kage, but a noticeable time has passed since the man shown any indication of using the young man to further his agenda. Just what was his play...
Removing the Mizukage would be getting rid of a loose end, but that meant that he was either willing to risk the three-tails rampaging and disappearing, or that he had somehow already isolated the beast, making sure that they could access it easily when the gathering of the tailed beasts finally began. They would also have a somewhat safe outpost in the Land of Water, but that wouldn't hold after the three or six tails became targets. The organization had nothing to gain from making this move...but then again, they had nothing to lose either, and Madara wasn't above using other people, no matter how insignificant in the greater picture, to further his purposes.
Meanwhile, some miles further, two extraordinarily dangerous individuals were busy training. To the casual observer, it looked more like a bloodthirsty fight to the death with no restrictions. And in all honesty, that's what it was. However, both men were good enough to avoid injury, and the open space that was the sea gave plenty of room to dodge and, in the case of actually getting hit, recover.
Zabuza cursed under his breath as yet another colossal water shark leapt at him from the water, intent on either crushing him, or tearing him to ribbons, whichever was more probable at the time. However, he gave as good as he got, and Kisame would end up getting way closer to a water dragon than was considered safe, even for a ninja.
While the men were nearly-equally skilled, there was a reason why Kisame was classed as more dangerous, and it wasn't just due to the Samehada. Simply put, the man had chakra for days and knew how to squeeze even more from anyone bad enough to get scratched by his ravenous blade. Not only that, but his most common jutsu were generally high-yield water style assaults, favoring the shark motif he had come to be known for over the years.
Still, while he wasn't quite there yet, Zabuza wasn't all that far behind. His jutsu didn't have as much kick to them, but they were versatile, and he had become bolder in choosing his angle of attack. Kisame had stopped finding it funny after the twentieth time that the executioner's blade almost claimed his leg. He had grown accustomed to the limb, and wouldn't want to replace it, no matter how good some ninja-grade prosthesis were.
"You..." Murmured Zabuza, panting for quite some time now, "You really are a tough one to deal wi-" Before he could finish the sentence, he tumbled to the side, avoiding the slash that aimed to separate his head from his shoulders. Kisame only gave him the usual sharkish grin, pointing to the jutsu construct that was rapidly approaching from below.
"Fu-" was all Zabuza could get out before what seemed as the millionth shark came from below, dispelling into a shower of droplets upon missing its target. Thankfully, this wasn't one of those that would just split into smaller sharks when it missed. Zabuza really didn't like those.
"You know why I'm not going back to the Water alone, master Zabuza?" Queried the Akatsuki, beginning a coordinated assault with his animated sharks. He seemed to be completely at ease, even enjoying himself. Then again, most people were sure that he'd keep grinning like that even if something deeply upset him. There was simply no other way to imagine the man.
Zabuza dodged the jutsu, blocked the blade, and then tried to get an attack in before being forced back by another shark. "Do tell, I'm dying to know." He wasn't even bothering to hide the sarcasm after their second day on open waters. Truth be told, he couldn't really work on his battle banter with Kisame, due to the man focusing so much on trying to kill or at least seriously maim the senior swordsman.
"It's because I can't take Yagura down alone. And I don't see you being able to with what you're showing during these little sessions of ours." Despite the ungodly amount of menace projected with those words, it wasn't anything new to the demon of the mist. The fourth Mizukage was dreaded for his overwhelming offense, and his tailed beast's defense and sturdiness covered the hypothetical occasions when someone would manage to outgun him or survive long enough to try and counterattack.
Truth be told, aside from the first Mizukage, who was the only man who could've most likely gone toe to toe with Tobirama Senju in a water style battle and won, the fourth was probably the most well-known Kiri shinobi in the entirety of the ninja world. The single battle he took part in during the third war was very quickly decided in the Water's favor, and that was a year before the child genius volunteered to have the demon sealed inside of him. The infamous flower-staff and his mastery over coral-based ninjutsu were only some of the weapons the infamous kage possessed.
And Zabuza was struggling against Kisame, who so plainly stated that he wouldn't dare go after Yagura alone. Getting to the point where killing the Kage without mass bloodshed was a possibility was going to take some work, and he only had another three days' worth of training with the Akatsuki swordsman.
"One thing bothers me, though... If you do kill Yagura, and you get the title of Mizukage, I wonder how long it's going to take before you send people to get killed trying to retrieve the Samehada..." Kisame wondered aloud, sparking a similar question in the demon's mind.
What had him worried was the fact that killing the fourth was only the first step of what would most certainly be a very long process. While he did have the village's interests in his mind, Zabuza knew he wouldn't make much of a Kage. That meant that he'd have to find someone competent to take up the title as soon as he was done killing off the most of the yes-men that the Mizukage has surrounded himself over the years.
"When it comes to that, I'll come after you myself. For now, I think we should go back. The ship's getting closer..."
Kisame grinned, but said nothing else.
Early mornings in the Land of rice patties, known to the shinobi world as the Land of Sound, were an astoundingly beautiful sight. Even when you were one of the most powerful shinobi alive, you couldn't help but have respect for the sheer beauty of the world. It was simply beyond what a human hand, no matter how experienced or gifted, would ever be able to create.
Orochimaru, one of the legendary sannin, and current de facto ruler of the Land of Sound, stood at the balcony of one of the many facilities he had scattered in the mountains, admiring the way light fell into the valley below. It was simply...sublime. He couldn't contain himself, chuckles ringing out in the early morning air. This was one of the moments that made him devote his mortal life to understanding and unlocking the secrets of life. A lifetime's worth of mornings like this...
However, as he immersed himself in the beauty of the image before him, he noticed something out of the ordinary. It was a small paper construct, and it was gliding ever so steadily towards him. His first reaction was to shoot it down. If it was made by the woman from the Akatsuki, the little girl Jiraya decided to teach ninjutsu all those years ago in Ame, it could be packed with enough explosive seals to blow a hole in the mountain.
He licked his lips, getting a taste for the air around him. It was something snakes often did due to the peculiar way their sense of smell worked, and he managed to develop quite a simple technique that mimics the same effect, only feeling for chakra rather than scents. Realizing that the paper construct was empty, he extended an arm into the air beyond the balcony, taking the thing out of the sky. Smiling upon noticing the childish design of the paper airplane, he noticed the scribbling on the inside, and unfolded the whole thing.
His eyes widened the moment he recognized what it was."Oh my... To think that we were so close all this time..." With a knowing grin, Orochimaru tucked the small scrap of paper into one of his many pockets and returned to watching the valley. Only this time, he was thinking of something completely different.
A mysterious benefactor... It was both amusing and worrying. While the little note said had essentially managed to solve something that's been hindering him for quite some time, its origins and sender were unknown. More than likely, whoever sent the message was aware of his presence in the newly accepted hidden village...
"I wonder...how long until they come to collect on the debt they forced me in?" It was most certainly not Akatsuki, and Orochimaru generally had few friends. Actually, he had no one he actually counted as a friend. He left such trivial and insignificant things behind when he decided to devote his life to the pursuit of knowledge. "Surely this wasn't a simple act of charity... It would be very disappointing if somebody felt pity on me of all people, kukuku..." His soulless chuckle rang out through the air atop the valley once more before the snake sannin retreated into the facility.
His first intended stop was storage, followed by the laboratory. Afterwards, he'd have to go back to the southwestern facility... It would be a busy couple of days.
Itachi stared impassively at the truly colossal water dragon that had formed in the distance. The two bladesmen started every training session with a few miles of running as a warm-up. It not only helped them prepare for a day's worth of dodging and jumping, but kept civilians mostly ignorant of the fact that four passengers were shinobi of B rank and up. His Sharingan briefly flicking to life to check the amount of chakra, a barely noticeable twitch of his lips indicating what is for him a smile of amusement- the chakra was easily the amount of an upper chunin. The demon's reserves were indeed fearsome.
Yawning, he relaxed his eyes, turning his head to the faint outline of the shore on the horizon. While the boy had long since abandoned trying to drag him into conversation, he still stuck around, busying himself with either leisurely reading or physical exercises, depending on the time of day. Noticing a set of strange movements, Itachi concluded that the boy either carried a disease like he did, or was otherwise crippled. He felt sympathy, but did not express it.
Over the days that they traveled, he had brought Kisame up to speed in regards to the status of their mission. While a bit disappointed that he wouldn't get to cause a ruckus in his home village, Kisame quickly got over it when he realized that they would be instead going to Kumo, a place known for a large amount of bladesmen, as well as its two high-profile jinchuriki.
It was an unspoken agreement between the two that, if the mission demanded, or if Itachi somehow miraculously managed to make a mistake (happened only once), Kisame would have the green light to do what he prided himself to be among the best at doing - slaughter.
And in all honesty, it wasn't his fault that those girls confused Itachi with some local teen idol... Even if it was hilarious and resulted in the two of them having to pretty much torch the village afterwards.
"That must have been entertaining, Kisame-san." Said Haku politely. He saw no reason to be hostile to the members of the Akatsuki, and got along surprisingly well with Kisame. The monster of the mist had as many battle stories as Zabuza, and wasn't nearly so tight lipped. Apparently, the stories he enjoyed most were any that had his partner lose a fraction of his usual composure. According to him, Sasuke's elder brother was nigh-impossible to get a strong reaction from.
"You should have seen it, heh," laughed the swordsman, "Itachi Uchiha, going pale from a mob of schoolgirls, ha!" Needless to say, Itachi wasn't amused.
Snapping out of his brief recollection of the night before, Itachi turned his focus back to the faraway battle. It seemed like the large-scale jutsu were toned down a bit, and it was no surprise. Demon or not, when it came to raw amount of chakra, the only ones who beat Kisame were the very people he'd soon be hunting.
A few miles away, the two swordsmen were engaged in what would be their final sparring session before they parted ways at the port in the Land of Sea. It was no surprise that both men had pretty much decided to pull out all the stops, throwing down combination assaults and jutsu at each other with intent to kill. Of course, after that long, neither really had anything left up their sleeve, so it all boiled down to a contest of stamina. It was a contest Zabuza was steadily losing.
"I wanted to ask you something from day one of our little training..." mumbled the strange-looking man, bringing Samehada around to essentially devour a water dragon bullet. Zabuza couldn't wait to get his hands on explosive tags...preferably the moment they hit dry land once more. Hiding a tag in a dragon was something he was itching to try.
"Eh? Sure, ask away." Replied the older swordsman, swinging in a wide arc in order to get himself more room. "Hidden Mist Jutsu!" On command, the mist rose from the water, obscuring vision in a deceptively large area. Quickly and silently, Zabuza began gauging where his opponent was.
For Kisame, the technique was always a big pain in the ass. Samehada refused to just eat away at it, and he could do jack-shit when it came to wind techniques. Couple that with the fact that Zabuza enjoyed popping that jutsu whenever Kisame wanted to ask him something, and it was no surprise that it was one of the few moments when his eternal grin had faded into a straight line.
"You're being a bitch." He ducked, hearing the familiar and shrill scraping of the kubikiribocho against the sharkskin. This time was uncomfortably close. "I wanted to ask you why you're so stuck up about killing the purple-eyed bastard. With so many people wanting him dead, what makes you the one who's supposed to do it?"
Zabuza released his jutsu, staring down his fellow swordsman as the mist cleared. His body was unusually relaxed, words arranging themselves perfectly clearly in his mind. For the first time in a long while, the demon himself knew why he would fight.
"Why? Because his very existence perverts all that we were taught to hold as truth." His eyes flared with determination, the water underneath his feet rippling. "He is the shield of the village, yet he has ordered the death of hundreds; He is the Mizukage, yet his power is borrowed; He speaks of peace, yet his actions sparked wars!" Zabuza spat, unable to control his building anger. "He has forgotten what is the purpose of power..."
He closed his eyes, clutching the executioner's blade. He remembered the day he was invited to the man's office. After years of training, pushing himself to the very limit, Zabuza had finally earned his right to become one of the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist. He remembered the smile the Mizukage gave him as he handed him the great blade, he remembered the vow he made that day. The Seven Swords would serve the Mist. When it was attacked, they would defend it; when it attacked, their blades would cut the deepest. They would be the first and the last line of defense. They would be the legendary bladesmen.
Yet as time passed, the glory and the pride of being a swordsman was quickly drowned in the blood. For that was all the Mist kept returning to - bloodshed. Time and time again, against enemies from within more often than those from the outside. Their blades were steeped in the blood of the Water. They were ordered to go against the vow they had made.
"His title of Mizukage is nothing but a lie!"
Kisame grinned.
"Well, well...I don't believe it..." He lowered his blade, pressing its' tip against the ground and slowly lowering his head. To anyone outside of the lands of Iron and Water, the gesture was meaningless. To a swordsman, it was one of the few true signs of respect.
"To think that someone like you would find that kind of purpose... I might have misjudged you. Perhaps there is a shot of you actually pulling it off. Besides, lesser men have done more when properly motivated..."
He smirked, staring directly into the eyes of his fellow swordsman. It was small enough to miss, but something had definitely changed in the man's stance, his approach to battle. The Monster of the Mist had little doubt that, when time came, Zabuza Momochi could stand up to the fourth Mizukage.
"Realize your ambition then, Demon of the Mist." He spoke, his voice even and loud. "Show this world the truth that is power."
Slowly raising his sword, the Akatsuki began working through a series of hand signs. Working through the entire set, his eyes shone with excitement. "Water Style: Super Shark Bomb Jutsu!"
Then the waters began to rage.
"Alright! Home sweet home!" Shouted a blonde genin, amusing the two men at the gate. The duo of Izumo and Kotetsu were known to be the only two chunin who explicitly volunteered for gate duty. After a couple of months of non-stop shifts, the third simply found it easier to permanently assign the duo to the gate, sending them off on missions only when necessary. When push came to shove, the two were surprisingly adept at working together, able to take down even tokubetsu jonin or ANBU.
As for the blonde himself, he was glad that they were back at the village. While going off on C-turned-B missions was fun and all, he was beginning to miss things like his own bed and the occasional bowl of ramen. Besides, you can't be an awesome country-saving ninja all the time.
After a noticeably long stay at the office detailing their mission reports, team 7 met up outside to get an update from their sensei. After the expected twenty minute wait, the copy-nin casually walked past them, whistling a tune to himself. It wasn't long before he was yelled at by the two less composed genin on his squad.
"Ok, I'll tell you..." Sometimes, children were simply children. "Tomorrow we have a day off from missions."
"And?" was the immediate response by the two.
Kakashi scratched his head, closing his one eye. "Well, seeing that you work quickly, with the way you managed to get down the basics of water walking during our stay at the Land of Waves, I thought that we could try and refine that collaboration jutsu that Naruto and Sasuke came up with. It was a truly magnificent example of teamwork."
Sasuke gave a grunt. Their enemy was a jonin-level shinobi who had managed to entrap their teacher in a containment jutsu. The dobe's quick thinking, coupled with his own technical skill, was the sole reason they survived that particular encounter. Come to think of it, with his fireball, they could easily swap places; you don't need something as tricky as the shadow shuriken technique when the shuriken that you thought missed you suddenly shoots a fire style jutsu at you...
"In that case, I'll see you tomorrow. Later Sakura, Naruto."
As the young Uchiha left the group, joining one of the many streams of people that milled about the streets of Konoha, the two remaining genin gave each other a long look. However, before Naruto could say something stupid and get Sakura to hit him again, the Jonin intentionally passed between them, ruining the chance. With a shrug, the blonde decided to spend some of his newly earned ryo on half a dozen servings at the best ramen stand in the village.
"Teamwork, huh? Well we were pretty good teaming up against Haku... Oh, is that a discount on paper bombs? Here I come!" And so, the young jinchuriki allowed himself to be lost on the road of life.
I apologize if you're annoyed with the inconsistencies in regard to the way I capitalize the names of villages or titles of particular shinobi. It's a major pain to keep track of it all, so I do whatever feels more natural at the time.
Hope you enjoyed the chapter!