Tsunade sat in the Hokage's office with Jiraiya and Kakashi, being briefed on everything they knew about the Konton no Kami. Alarmingly enough it wasn't a lot, there were four major Kami, an unknown number of lesser Kami, the Daemons acted as 'Tenshi' for the Kami, and they didn't even know anything about the fourth major Kami.
They'd managed to ascertain that the as of yet unknown major Kami had domain over despair, and that Aoki found it disgusting. The Ryuketsu no Kami that Sakura Haruno was marked by apparently hated that one the least, which was not exactly a glowing recommendation. The most was known about Slaanesh, mostly due to how proud to be marked by the Kajo no Kami Naruto apparently was.
Of the three major Kami they knew about, Kajo no Kami and Maho no Kami were the only ones with shrines in the village. Sasuke apparently having set one up for his new patron in the Uchiha district, surprisingly enough he'd also finally started cleaning the place up and changing it. More surprisingly Neji and Hinata had worked together to set up a shrine to Naruto's preferred deity, the rest of the Hyuga had been less than enthused about that one being on the edge of their property.
What surprised Tsunade most was that Jiraiya and Kakashi had come to a disagreement when the discussion shifted to Orochimaru and the Akatsuki, an organization that even Jiraiya the spymaster of Konoha knew alarmingly little about. So far all that was known was that this Akatsuki was an organization of mercenaries, likely nukenin since the only known members were Itachi Uchiha and Kisame Hoshigaki, with Orochimaru being a former member, and that they were after the Kyubi no Kitsune for unknown reasons.
The topic of the disagreement came up when Jiraiya suggested taking Naruto on a training trip to get him ready, "With all due respect, that idea is terrible." Kakashi spoke his mind bluntly, the jonin back in full uniform by now and covering up his face again, although word had spread that he was far more cavalier about revealing his handsome features now, "It's hard enough to get my genin to work together without having them separated for extended periods of time." he pointed out.
Jiraiya frowned in annoyance, "I need to figure out how much of the Kyubi's chakra is blending with his, it's alarming already how swiftly they've blended together!" he argued, "It's not safe to mess with the Fuin inside the village, and I need to confirm if the key still works on it." he pointed out.
Kakashi shrugged, "It's the Fuinjutsu of a Kami," he pointed out, "just let it be. Those three are getting stronger at an astronomical rate, and I need to work on their teamwork." he argued right back, "Besides, Sasuke-kun wants to be near Naruto-" he paused as he considered which honorific to use.
"Naruto-kun doesn't seem to care which honorific is used." Tsunade supplied with a shrug, defaulting to the masculine one since he was born a male at least.
Kakashi shrugged, "Either way, Sasuke-kun wants to be ready for Itachi, and Sakura-chan is apparently immune to genjutsu with that choker." he explained, although he hoped she never had to test that immunity against Itachi, strangely enough he was unbothered by how quickly he gave up on that hope, "If they stick together they could probably become a force to surpass you Sannin in your prime." he argued.
Tsunade raised an eyebrow at that, "Akatsuki is after Naruto-kun, keeping him on the move will halt some of that." Jiraiya argued right back.
"Orochimaru is after Sasuke-kun," Kakashi retorted calmly, "so just give my team lots of long distance missions, train him in between them." he insisted.
Tsunade could understand why Kakashi wanted to keep his students close, he was protective of them. The Godaime weighed her options for a moment, "There is a mission that would work..." she mused and Jiraiya frowned, "It's an A rank mission, but you four should be able to handle it easily." she began, not wanting to bring up that the three genin could probably handle an A rank mission without supervision on power alone.
Jiraiya sighed in defeat, knowing when he was outnumbered, "Alright, fine, but at some point I am going to need to look at that Fuin more in depth." he insisted, "The rate the Kyubi's chakra is merging with Naruto's it's almost as if it's already wide open." he added with obvious concern.
Kakashi met with his team, surprisingly not as late as usual, and looked over the three genin and two Imps. All together they were pretty much the biggest cell with a genin designation if Genkei and Maemi were included, even bigger if Aoki was included. Team seven made up of seven members, the jonin found that thought amusing for some reason, probably because it was a lucky number. He was pretty sure the Imps didn't actually count though.
Naruto was back in his orange kimono, white Kajo haori, swords in his purple sash, and navy blue uminori hakama. The blonde had apparently reintroduced the Uzushio spiral to his left sleeve, but smaller and inside the circular part of the symbol of Slaanesh. He'd gotten new forearm guards of similar design to Sakura's but in leather, and a new mesh undershirt to replace the damaged one. Maemi's hair had apparently changed to resemble Tsunade's, something that had both amused and irritated the Godaime when she discovered why.
Sasuke stuck with what he'd worn for the finals of the chunin exams, although he'd added a dark blue cloak that fastened at his right shoulder to cover his left arm. The coat itself only went down slightly past his waist. Kakashi had spotted the boy carried a second shuriken holster, tanto, and it seemed he'd bought more fuma shuriken recently from what the jonin heard.
Sakura had simply added more armor, strapping happuri to her hitai-ate and getting shin guards that were rather similar to what Anko Mitarashi commonly wore. The kunoichi had even taken to wearing a kikko manjunowa over her qipao, making her the heaviest armored genin in the village as she wore more armor than most chunin.
"Alright you little bakemono," Kakashi greeted dryly, "we've been given an A rank mission." he began and Naruto cheered, "Yeah I figured you'd be happy about that, we should go meet our client now." he said plainly, "I was going to have you go watch one of her movies, but decided I'd rather spend time with my adorable genin." he added sarcastically as he led his team towards the docks.
"Who are we protecting?" Naruto asked in an excited tone, surprising his sensei that the blonde had figured out it was an escort mission already, "A super cute hime? The disguised daughter of a Daimyo?" he pestered eagerly.
"Don't be ridiculous!" Sakura scolded in an agitated tone, Genkei took some solace that his master at least didn't like the champion of the Prince of Pleasure.
"Surprisingly not far off the mark." Kakashi spoke up to interrupt any arguing, "Yukie Fujikaze, an actress." he began, "We're escorting her to Yuki no Kuni for her next movie, technically her manager is the client. They wanted extra protection for the journey, on account of Yukigakure no Sato being in that area, they figured fire beats snow I guess." he explained, deciding not to mention his own history with the place.
Naruto frowned suddenly, "Oh, I should bring Kin-chan if it's a long journey then." he said, turning to leave before his sensei grabbed his shoulder.
"Absolutely not." Kakashi denied immediately, "I asked Iruka and Ibiki to keep an eye on her and make sure she doesn't do anything, but I'm sure Iruka-san will appreciate not having to look after your plants for you while you're gone." he explained, having already sorted that out. It was surprising how quickly the Oto kunoichi had become docile, but most suspected she was just biding her time. Ibiki seemed pretty sure she was just enjoying how easy going Naruto was, apparently the blonde barely had her do anything besides grocery shopping, cooking, and cleaning.
Nobody had missed Karin or Hinata giving the 'spoil of war' jealous looks, that had been amusing to Kakashi if no one else. How Naruto managed to pull off building a harem with the girls being jealous of each other without getting mad at him was an absolute mystery, one Jiraiya seemed intent on solving along with a few other male shinobi.
Soon enough they arrived in time to witness the actress in question starting to make an escape, Kakashi lazily reached up and plucked the woman off the horse, "Nice to meet you, Yukie-san," he said dryly, Maemi found it strange since from what she could feel the jonin already knew the woman, "team seven here to report as your shinobi escort." he introduced idly as the more civilian guards arrived.
The actress was dressed up as her character, Fuun-hime, she had long black hair and violet-blue eyes, "She's beautiful!" Naruto gushed happily, "I'm definitely going to protect her!" he insisted with an excited grin. Sakura just rolled her eyes at his antics as Sasuke ignored them.
A man with short grey hair, beard, mustache, wearing small glasses and a baby blue long-sleeve shirt with a navy blue blazer on top approached them, "Thank goodness you caught her, shinobi-san," he greeted gratefully, "I don't know what's gotten into her lately." he said and Maemi raised an eyebrow at the lie.
"Sandayu Asama," Kakashi greeted the client as he set the woman down, "I'm Kakashi Hatake," he introduced, "jonin commander of genin cell number seven, consisting of Naruto Uzumaki, Sasuke Uchiha, and Sakura Haruno." he continued, gesturing to each genin as he listed them.
Sandayu seemed confused, "Genin? They're dressed for war." he mused, concerned by how prepared they seemed to be.
Kakashi shrugged, "Technically we are at war with Otogakure no Sato." he mused, "Consider them elite genin," he added, the three of them looking quite pleased with that distinction, "a team of bakemono who will destroy absolutely anything that gets in the way of the mission." he concluded in a surprisingly pleasant tone for the words he chose. Sakura's eye twitched at being called some kind of monster, her pupils igniting in anger just made it seem more accurate. Sasuke and Naruto seemed proud of the introduction at least.
The stunt doubles who were acting as guards seemed concerned by those words, as did Yukie and Sandayu who both looked concerned considering the ages of the three genin. Of them all, Sasuke seemed the most normal looking, as his Sharingan wasn't active his eyes seemed the most normal and he wore the least armor too. By contrast Sakura was giving off an air of blood lust and had glowing red pupils, while Naruto just seemed like some kind of oxen hengeyokai who was trying to look human and not doing a good job.
Maemi and Genkei did little to make the term bakemono seem like a joke, the two Imps only solidifying the idea that the genin cell wasn't made up of humans. This just made the actors wonder what was so dangerous about Sasuke, a few wondering if he was just better at pretending to be a normal human child.
Kakashi elected to escort Yukie to her room with Sandayu as the genin and their Imps went to meet with the director, Makino, and some more actors while the rest of the workers continued stocking the boat with supplies and filming equipment. The director was an elderly man in a brown cap, blue glasses, dressed in an orange turtleneck and brown pants.
"I heard shinobi weren't really human, but I didn't expect such young oni." Makino mused dryly, "Especially the really short ones." he added with a look at Genkei and Maemi.
"I'm pretty sure we're still human." Sasuke retorted vaguely, seeming amused by being mistaken for a monster by civilians. He was starting to see why shinobi like Zabuza intentionally cultivated reputations for being monsters, it was another layer of deception to use to his advantage.
Naruto just scratched the skin around his right horn, "Fair mistake though, being blessed by our respective Kami has put us on a level above mere mortals." he said arrogantly, a confident smirk on his lips. Sakura just tested the sharpness of her axe with her thumb, careful not to cut the skin but wanting to make sure it was sharp if it was needed soon and trying to distract herself from how annoying Naruto's voice was to her lately.
Makino seemed disturbed but nodded, "I see, well I'm grateful for the help." he said carefully, "It's a good thing you caught Yukie-san as she made her escape." he continued with a sigh, "I don't know what's gotten into that girl, she's usually so professional but as soon as she found out we'd be filming in Yuki no Kuni it's like she lost her mind!" he ranted.
Sasuke frowned, "Why go all the way to Yuki no Kuni for a movie?" he asked, it seemed like a lot of effort when there were snowy regions slightly closer that didn't require a long boat trip.
"Sandayu-san recommended it," A crew member spoke up, "apparently they have this amazing natural wonder that turns seven different colors during the springtime." the man explained, sounding interested in the idea.
Maemi frowned, "Sandayu-san is Yukie Fujikaze's manager, right?" she asked, receiving nods and Naruto immediately realized with some concern that they were being lied to about mission parameters, again.
"I heard the nation is poor too." Another voice spoke up, causing Naruto to look at the man and admire his features, particularly the purple eyes and long brown hair, "Actually," the man continued, "the story is that their former Daimyo had a thing for gadgets, squandered the entire wealth of his clan on useless gizmos." he explained.
"I just hope they have heating, I can't deal with the cold." Another voice complained.
"Maybe you should make like Yukie-san and run for the hills too." A different crew member jibed and a few of the crew all had a chuckle at that.
The assistant director sighed, "Please don't joke about that, it's bad enough Yukie-san keeps running off." he complained, clearly exasperated.
Apparently they'd jinxed it, because the actress had run off again as soon as Kakashi and Sandayu weren't watching her. The jonin seemed mildly annoyed as the team of shinobi looked for her, he figured he probably shouldn't have let her out of his sight but he wasn't going to watch her go to the bathroom. He wasn't Jiraiya, although in hindsight he probably should have.
Naruto was the first to find her, apparently having become surprisingly good at tracking. His team chalked it up to spending time looking for Tsunade, but Kakashi caught the blonde sniffing the air a few times and wondered just how enhanced the senses of the young hermaphrodite really were.
"There you are, Fuun-hime!" Naruto greeted cheerfully, having found the woman in a bar. He actually found he liked the smell of alcohol and tobacco in the air, it was a cloying atmosphere he'd probably enjoy more of when he wasn't on a mission, "Can I get an autograph?" he asked with an eager and cheeky grin.
"No," Yukie said bluntly, "and I'm not actually an Ohime." she added, Maemi was startled to hear the lie in those words.
Naruto blinked at the information from his Familiar, "Wait, what?" he said, confused, "I didn't think you were, but why was that a lie?" he asked.
Yukie was startled, she was supposed to be an actress, "How did you-?" she wondered in alarm, wondering just how much she'd had to drink if the blonde could call her out so easily, "I'm an actress, lying is what I do." she insisted, trying to shift the topic.
Naruto narrowed his eyes, "What did you say you name was?" he asked suspiciously as his teammates finally caught up with him.
Yukie began to sweat, "Aren't I famous? You were just asking for an autograph." she deflected, trying to avoid the question.
Kakashi could tell what was happening and decided to interfere, using his Sharingan to put the actress under a genjutsu, "Alright, that's enough interrogating the mark. Our job is to protect her, not pry into her tragic backstory." he said dryly, picking the woman up to carry her back to the boat.
Naruto frowned, "Could I get a bottle of sake to go?" he asked the bartender curiously.
"No." The bartender answered in a flat tone, he knew shinobi were considered adults and some places counted a hitai-ate as a proof of adulthood, but he wasn't selling to kids even if they did look like yokai. Naruto pouted and moved to follow his team, Sakura shaking her head at the blonde for his antics.
The boat trip was pleasant enough for Kakashi, but he noticed Naruto and Sakura getting irritated with having nothing to do. The blonde had been interested in new sights and sounds for a bit, but had swiftly grown bored and had apparently taken to using his chakra to stick to surfaces as he walked around. The horned genin had even taken to checking out the spray of the sea up close, Kakashi had kept a close eye on him to make sure he didn't fall in.
Sakura meanwhile just seemed to be growing aggravated with nothing to let out her aggression on, he knew her temper had gotten worse but the kunoichi really wasn't handling not doing anything for extended periods. Even Sasuke seemed bored, although he'd at least taken to meditating. Kakashi wasn't sure what to make of that, he knew the young Uchiha was probably talking to Aoki.
Getting to watch a movie being filmed had been a novel experience, but Naruto was growing disillusioned with films because of Yukie. The woman even needed eyedrops to fake crying, besides that her acting skills were amazing. At the end of the day though she was right, acting was lying so being able to tell that made it harder for the blonde to enjoy it.
Finally something happened that was different, one morning a member of the ship's crew woke everyone up with the alarm that there was a massive ice flow ahead. The director was still in his pajamas, but insisted the 'gods of movies' had blessed them with the perfect stage for a scene and was demanding everyone get moving.
Kakashi idly wondered if any minor Konton no Kami held domain over film making, then he realized that as an art form it likely fell under sway of Naruto's deity. That aside the jonin was pretty sure the ice shouldn't be there, they weren't close enough to Yuki no Kuni for something like that yet.
Sakura seemed oddly fine with the cold, Sasuke was already wearing a coat, and Naruto just seemed to enjoy the new sensation of the snow. They at least kept out of the way of the filming, but Naruto suddenly cocked his head back and sniffed the air.
"What's up, Naru-chan?" Kakashi asked, trusting the senses of his student. Sakura raised an eyebrow at what was effectively a pet name but made no comment, Sasuke didn't seem to care.
Naruto frowned, "I'm not sure, shinobi maybe? They're stealthy, three of them." he said calmly, looking around as his pupils dilated to take in more light. The sight of his pupils almost completely overtaking his purple irides was disturbing to the crew, almost more so than his words.
Kakashi sighed, "Figures, sorry Makino-san, but the crew may want to get back to the boat." he said as a shinobi that looked familiar to the Hatake appeared. The man wore strange armor and had a happuri style forehead protector with a symbol of Yukigakure on it, his light purple hair pulled back in a ponytail and his teal eyes had purple markings under them.
"Well well," The man said with a raised eyebrow, "an interesting group of genin. Fitting perceptive abilities for a student of Sharingan no Kakashi." he stated, alerting the genin that the man was revealing himself despite knowing who Kakashi was.
Another voice spoke up, "Greetings, Koyuki-hime. I do hope you're still carrying around that crystal." the woman said, in similar armor to the first man, her pink hair poking out of the top of her helmet like pig-tails, she'd appeared on a nearby pillar of ice and her gaze was clearly on Yukie Fujikaze.
A third, deeper voice spoke as a large figure popped out of the snow, "That girl is good to have noticed all three of us, but it won't be good enough." he said with confidence, the man was also armored and even had a strange gauntlet on his left arm, the man had a square jaw and short purple hair.
Kakashi considered how best to deal with this situation, he knew he probably shouldn't but, "I'll protect the crew and the mark," he announced, "you three go wild." he decided, figuring he could jump in if he needed to as he unveiled his Sharingan just in case.
The three Yukigakure shinobi seemed surprised that they were being set up against genin, "I call dibs on the strongest!" Naruto insisted with a grin as he pulled his tachi from his sash and unsheathed it to hand the scabbard to Maemi, looking straight at the first one to reveal himself.
Sasuke rolled his eyes, "Sakura, you take the kunoichi, I'll deal with the big guy." he ordered, not bothering to argue with Naruto or his assessment as he lifted his right hand and formed an Aka-en in the upturned palm.
Sakura readied her axe and glared at the kunoichi, "Can I have the bigger one? I want his skull." she requested, her Uchiha teammate sighed and shook his head. Genkei got ready to charge alongside his master.
The first shinobi to reveal himself raised an eyebrow, "Is this a joke? I thought Sharingan no Kakashi had a reputation for protecting his teammates." he said, "Setting mere genin again Fubuki," he gestured to the kunoichi, "or Mizore," he gestured to the square jawed man, "is one thing if they had a numerical advantage, but to set a genin cell in one to one fights against us? Have you lost your mind?" he asked.
Kakashi shrugged, "Honestly? Probably, yeah." he agreed, oddly unconcerned by the prospect, "These three should be able to deal with you though, and I'll be overseeing them from back here just in case." he explained calmly.
Naruto continued to grin, "Hey, what's your name?" he asked the as of yet unnamed enemy ninja, "I'm Naruto, Kajo no Ninso! You sound strong and I want to dance with you, your face is okay too I guess but your body has me most interested y'know." he rambled, making all three Yukinin wonder what was wrong with the genin.
"Nadare," The shinobi decided to introduce, "I'm not interested in little girls though, but if you want to dance I hope you like pain." he said with a smirk, trying to intimidate the horned genin.
Naruto just laughed, "I actually love it!" he confessed with a feral grin. Nadare frowned at that, wondering when Konoha had started producing such freaks.
Sakura got sick of the words and simply charged Fubuki, Genkei following close behind, "Hyoton: Tsubame Fubuki!" the woman announced the name of a jutsu with a name like herself, unleashing a hail of swallow shaped projectiles of ice from the snow around her after weaving hand signs. To the surprise of the Yuki shinobi the simply shattered against the armor of the young kunoichi, who was undeterred by the attack.
Mizore hopped on a snowboard and started towards the crew, clearly targeting the actress Yukie. Sasuke considered how best to deal with him as he activated his Sharingan and tossed his red fire bolt while leaping towards where the larger man was heading. The Uchiha frowned when the flame was dispersed against a barrier that his eyes could tell came from the strange armor the shinobi wore.
Naruto meanwhile simply leaped up at his opponent and swung his tachi, unconcerned by his opponent blocking the swipe to his neck with his left forearm and simply kicking out against the follow up right straight punch Nadare attempted. Naruto fell back from the force of the connecting blows and his opponent gave chase, the blonde swung his tachi again and frowned as he realized the weapon would not hold up against the strange armor of his opponents.
"Hyoro no Jutsu!" Fubuki declared, using her chakra to control the snow around Sakura to encase and freeze solid in hopes of stopping the girl with the alarming amount of killing intent. For a moment it seemed to work, then the ice cracked and shattered as it fell away from Sakura, steam rising from the form of the gasping and panting young kunoichi as her brass choker glowed, "Oh, fuck." the older pink haired kunoichi intoned, not even sure how that had happened.
Sasuke wanted to attempt some simple brute force to get through his opponents barrier, but he didn't have time to prepare a Chidori or use Kuchiyose no Jutsu. He was annoyed that he seemed to have the worst match up, so he simply activated the power of his Juin, the strange eye symbols of his patron swirling across the the right side of his face in iridescent colors. With the added power he intercepted his opponent and slammed his right fist into the man's face, startling the square jawed man with the sudden burst of speed and power.
Naruto pulled his tachi back to avoid it being damaged, it had been expensive so he didn't want to lose it already. Blocking a left hook with his left forearm revealed just how much power his opponent had, and Naruto was surprised at how much force the man could exert. Then they landed and he managed to dance around the attacks, avoiding further damage to himself or his weapon.
Fubuki was finding herself overwhelmed by Sakura and Genkei, barely keeping ahead of the two thanks to her armor but none of her ninjutsu seemed to actually work. She resorted to pulling out kunai to try fending off her opponent, but Sakura attacked furiously and relentlessly.
Sasuke quickly found that matching his opponent in taijutsu was not a good idea, "Interesting armor." he mused, curious about it. He managed to dodge another swing of Mizore's gauntlet thanks to his Sharingan and jumped back, flicking his left arm from under his cloak to toss a pair of shuriken that shattered against his opponents barrier, a bit of blood collecting at his bandaged left thumb from the action.
"Shibari no Ashikase!" Naruto announced, the purple chakra threads bursting from his left hand ripping apart against the barrier of the strange armor the Yukinin wore. Nadare smirked and used the opportunity to weave hand signs, so the horned genin listened closely to the Tatakainouta to be ready to dodge whatever was coming.
Fubuki cried out in alarm as she scored a glancing blow against the younger pink haired kunoichi, the blood glowing red hot and steaming in the snow. Some of the blood landed on her chakra armor, to the shock of the older kunoichi her barrier did nothing against the burning blood, "What the fuck are these kids!?" she shouted as she tried to back away, kicking out to knock Genkei back but not doing enough damage to dispel the Malice as wings burst from the back of her armor to carry her out of reach of her opponent.
Mizore launched the hand of his strange mechanical arm at Sasuke, scowling as the young Uchiha dodged while wiping his blood on an array of runes on his right arm and weaved hand signs, "Kuchiyose no Jutsu!" the male genin of team seven who was still actually male announced. From the smoke something strange and tube-like slithered, mouths and gnashing faces all across its gibbering form before it launched a wave of the fire at Mizore from arms that splayed out into the orifices that launched the flames.
"Hyoton: Haryu Moko!" Nadare declared, a tiger of ice and snow bursting from his feet towards Naruto. The horned genin moved to dodge, staying ahead of the jutsu but finding the large frozen tiger chased after him. Naruto frowned at that and halted to drop his tachi to stab into the ground next to him, lifting his right hand to his left shoulder swiftly before whipping it out towards the jutsu chasing him with a flare of his chakra.
Sakura glared at her opponent, holding her axe in her left hand as she used her right to withdraw and throw some shuriken. The younger kunoichi scowled more when her thrown metal blades were deflected by a barrier, she struggled to think of a way to deal with her opponent as she didn't have much in the way of destructive power outside of melee range compared to her teammates.
Mizore was horrified, but his barrier from his armor protected him from whatever it was the young Uchiha had summoned. At least it protected him from the flames, but them it was on him with its gnashing mouths biting at him. The large man protected himself well enough thanks to his armor, but struggled to actually defeat the creature.
"Shifuku Kurushimi!" Naruto announced as his chakra extended as a whipping cable, it clashed briefly with the strange chakra barrier their opponents armor seemed to create and tore through it with some resistance. Nadare was stunned, he'd actually been cut by a ninjutsu while wearing chakra armor. He noticed Fubuki pulling back and leaped back from his opponent as well.
"Mizore! We're leaving for now!" Nadare called out, Fubuki assisted the large man with another hail of winged ice projectiles to deal with the strange creature Sasuke had summoned. Naruto frowned before he crouched down as Sakura charged and Sasuke prepared a Chidori.
Kakashi saw the hand signs Nadare was making and decided that was about the time to warn his students, "Pull back!" he ordered loudly, his shout alarming his students but Sakura kept going. Sasuke cursed under his breath, he already had the Chidori in his left hand ready to go. Maemi took the scabbard she'd been given and swiftly moved behind Kakashi, trusting the judgement of the jonin mostly because she could feel emotions.
Naruto pouted and grabbed his sword, "Sakura-chan! If you don't come back I'll steal Sasuke's first kiss!" he called out, running back to hide behind Kakashi as the pink haired girl turned on a dime to charge at the blonde with even more killing intent than she was giving their enemies. Genkei grumbled something about blonde bimbos and moved to follow.
Sasuke sighed, "That moron." he grumbled, letting go of his Chidori and rushing back to rejoin Kakashi. He also supposed he should save the blonde from Sakura's wrath, but he almost didn't want to after that comment.
Kakashi weaved the same hand signs as Nadare, finishing just as Naruto hid behind him and Sasuke tackled Sakura to stop her from ripping into the two, "Hyoton: Ikkaku Hakugei!" the Yuki ninja announced and two different whales made of snow with horns of ice burst from the ice flow, Kakashi's serving to divert the force of the attack away from his team.
The jonin decided not to mention he'd gotten some interesting jutsu as he lowered his hitai-ate back over his Sharingan, he was pretty sure they wouldn't work outside of snowy regions anyway, "I miss Haku-chan." Naruto said bluntly with a sad frown, accepting the scabbard from Maemi and sheathing his tachi.
"What was that you said about Sasuke-kun!?" Sakura snapped, even being held back by Sasuke and being covered with snow wasn't calming her down.
Naruto laughed, "I saved you by being annoying!" he pointed out, his mood flipping in an instant. Kakashi sighed, his students were really twisted, it probably wasn't a good thing he was getting used to that but he figured it was probably fine.
"Sakura if you calm down I'll-" Sasuke tried to think of something he was willing to do, there weren't actually a lot of options, "I'll hold your hand for five seconds." he offered and the girl immediately calmed down.
"Cut!" Makino shouted, revealing he'd actually been filming the entire fight. Sasuke really hoped what he'd said didn't make it into the movie.
Naruto seemed surprised, "Wait! You were filming!? But I wasn't in make up!" he whined, "Maemi-chan we definitely need to make sure I'm in make up if he's going to be filming my fights!" he insisted, the Muse just nodded seriously in complete agreement with her master.
Kakashi sighed, "First of all, what did you summon that time?" he asked the Uchiha genin, that Daemon had been new.
Sasuke consulted with Aoki for a bit, learning that they were called a Flamer to the Daemons as the Fearling struggled to think of a way to translate that into terms that were easier to understand, "Kaen Hosha-ki." he answered after a few moments though.
Kakashi nodded at the name, "Secondly why didn't you two use Kuchiyose?" he asked his other two genin.
Sakura blinked owlishly, "I didn't think to." she confessed contritely.
Naruto just pointed to his sword, "My hands were occupied, I couldn't really get a chance to do so." he explained, truthfully he preferred fighting strong opponents himself anyway, "I didn't even get a chance to take my leg weights off that time." he pointed out and some eyes widened that he'd been fighting with a handicap.
Kakashi rolled his visible eye, "Alright, well, I want a word with all of you alone after this." he began, they had fought off enemies were easily A rank solo but he had some issues, "Sakura-chan please try to learn to focus your rage better, Naru-chan stop playing with your enemies so much." he added in a slight scolding tone, the kunoichi scowling but clearly more angry with herself for once and the hermaphrodite simply pouting.
The rest of the crew continued back into the ship but Kakashi wasn't done with his team yet, he knew his own failings as a teacher by now. The jonin had barely realized it before but he'd been a prodigy, considered a genius as a child so his idea of teaching was to simply give the vaguest instruction and let his students figure it out from there. It was lucky Sasuke was a prodigy himself and Naruto had the Muse almost since becoming a genin, but Sakura had clearly suffered for his inabilities.
That stopped now, "Sakura-chan, you are without a doubt the worst member of this team." he began harshly and the kunoichi scowled at him, "That's exactly why, you can't control your rage. I get you're marked by the Ikari no Kami but you can't keep flying off the handle like that, because you charged heedlessly at your opponent trusting your choker to protect you those three will likely have figured out some of how it works." he explained before turning to Sasuke and Naruto, "You two have the opposite problem, you hold back too much, trying to show off your skills instead of beating your opponents." he lectured, "I get that you're all trying to impress your Kami in your own ways but you're all going about it completely wrong." he scolded.
"What is that supposed to mean?" Sakura grumbled, she was more angry with herself because she knew he was right.
"Sakura-chan I'm going to teach you meditation exercises, at the moment you're like a hammer when you need to be like an axe." Kakashi explained, "You have almost no ranged even though you have the skill to handle tying ninja wire to that ono of yours and throwing it, in fact I know you have the chakra control to handle chakra threads if you practice, either of which would give you a thrown weapon you can reuse."
Next Kakashi turned on Naruto, "Either Sakura-chan or Naru-chan could hand their weapons to their Imps while performing Kuchiyose, which with three of you having it could lead to easily outnumbering your enemies and allowing for actual teamwork." he began, "More importantly, I understand that going for the strongest opponent suits you because you're the strongest genin in the cell," he continued and to his surprise only Sakura's eyes widened at that news, "but if you want to act as leader you need to take advice from your team and actually coordinate instead of just rushing the strongest enemy you can hear with that Tatakainouta." he scolded, "Finally, if you're the Kajo no Ninso stop being so moderate with your abilities, crush your enemy with excessive force."
Finally Kakashi rounded on Sasuke, "And you!" he accused with a pointed finger, "You're smart, cool headed in danger, and skilled. Stop just hanging back and letting things play out! Speak your mind and give Naru-chan some ideas to use in combat. Also you completely misread who should fight who, Mizore was a completely bad match up for you and Fubuki was a similarly terrible match up for Sakura-chan." he lectured, "If you three had actually worked together to your full ability those three A rank shinobi would have been killed easily."
The three genin stared at their sensei with wide eyes, "A rank? Wait, we're still genin though!" Sakura spoke first, surprised by that. She'd thought the three enemies were C rank, or maybe B rank for Nadare.
Naruto scoffed, "Military rank and threat rank are different things." he pointed out, having learned that well enough while searching for Tsunade.
Kakashi nodded in agreement, "Correct, a chunin is a chunin because they can be trusted to lead squads, something none of you are even remotely ready for yet. Power factors into it, there are no D rank chunin, but there are plenty of C rank genin, you guys aren't even the only A ranked genin in the village." he confirmed, "Naru-chan could probably beat Iruka-san in a straight fight, but he still knows to respect the wisdom of his old sensei." he praised, "Sasuke-kun is a disrespectful brat who thinks power is everything by comparison," he continued and the Uchiha glowered as Sakura grit her teeth, "he reminds me a lot of myself when I was his age, but who I am hates who I was." he continued, returning the glare of his dark haired genin.
With that lecture over and the genin suitably cowed with things to consider, Kakashi lead his students back into the boat. True to his word, the jonin taught Sakura some meditation exercises in the hope she'd learn to focus her rage better. He still wasn't sure how to help Sasuke or Naruto improve, but those two didn't need the help as much.
As the ship pulled into dock there was a meeting between Sandayu, Makino, Makino's assistant, and the shinobi cell seven. Maemi and Genkei were there as well, the two Imps occasionally glaring at each other. Sasuke was glad Aoki couldn't get involved, the Fearling was insisting the Uchiha egg the Muse and Malice on into attacking each other.
"I'm sorry," Sandayu began, "I knew it would be risky, which is why I paid for an A rank mission, but this was the only way I could think of to get Ohimesama to return to Yuki no Kuni." he explained with a regretful tone, keeping his head bowed in apology as he he did so.
"I knew it!" Naruto exclaimed with a grin, "Maemi-chan detected a lie when she said she wasn't actually an Ohime!" he declared proudly, Sakura closed her eyes and counted backwards from ten as Sasuke rolled his eyes at the excitable blonde's antics.
Sandayu nodded sadly, "Yes, Yukie Fujikaze is an alias." he confirmed, "Koyuki Kazahana-hime is the rightful heir of Yuki no Kuni, the daughter of the former Daimyo." he began, "I am also a native of this land, I served her father, Sosetsu Kazahana-sama. Our land was never particularly large or rich, but it was peaceful. Ten years ago however, using shinobi from Yukigakure no Sato, the brother of Sosetsu-sama, a man named Doto, took over the land with a revolt! It was a coup." he continued bitterly, "I thought Koyuki-hime died that day, but learned later that she escaped thanks to Kakashi Hatake." he said as he gave a grateful nod to the jonin in the room, "When I discovered our beloved Ohimesama was alive, I was beside myself with joy." he explained, getting teary eyed from his own story.
"I should have died that day." Koyuki interrupted from the door to the room, her voice cold and her face blank.
"You shouldn't say such things, Koyuki-hime!" Sandayu exclaimed desperately, "We never stopped praying for your life, we were frantic!" he added, trying to make the woman understand.
"I'm alive, but my heart is dead." Koyuki retorted bluntly, "Ever since that day, my tears are all dried up." she added without her tone or attitude changing at all.
"For such a pretty lady you got an ugly amount of despair." Naruto grumbled, drumming his fingers on the table. Surprisingly Sakura just nodded in agreement, Sasuke kept it to himself but silently he agreed too. Kakashi couldn't help but chuckle at his students for getting an emotional reaction from the seemingly heartless woman, even if it was a glare of annoyance.
Sandayu looked slightly offended on behalf of the daughter of the dead Daimyo, but he didn't disagree, "Well, that's how I became the manager of Yukie Fujikaze." he reiterated with a sigh as he wiped his eyes, "I bided by time until now, waiting for the time to come for me to guide our Ohimesama back to Yuki no Kuni." he finished with a slight sniffle.
The assistant director seemed concerned, "So you've just been using us then?" he asked, sounding offended by the idea.
"I apologize for deceiving you," Sandayu began as he stood up and went around the table towards Koyuki, "but it was for the sake of Yuki no Kuni and her people!" he continued passionately before kneeling before the royal actress, "Koyuki-hime, please confront Doto and become the rightful ruler of this land!" he begged desperately as he bowed his head to the ground, "I will sacrifice my life without hesitation in order to protect you, so please take up arms and lead your people!"
"I don't think so," Koyuki responded with a shake of her head, "you must be joking, I don't give a damn about this place or the people here. So just forget it and give up on getting rid of Doto." she insisted harshly.
"Your despair is really grating." Naruto spoke up with a glare, "I don't even think you should rule, but I've decided I'm going to kill Doto. I have a thing for killing tyrants anyway." he decided as he stood up, "So maybe I should crush this Yukigakure no Sato place, and make myself Daimyo if you're too chicken to do it." he mocked with a smirk.
"No conquering foreign nations," Kakashi disagreed, "it causes a conflict of interest and if we have a genin as a Daimyo the rest of the Shinobi Godaikoku will be up in arms." he explained, "In that scenario we'd be lucky if Suna and Taki side with us." he pointed out plainly.
"A revolution, huh?" Makino spoke up, "Freedom versus tyranny, a classic tale as old as time!" he continued passionately, "It's the perfect story for our new movie!" he insisted.
Naruto grinned at the director, "Yeah, you get it!" he praised, "This Doto guy is a jerk, so it's up to us champions to depose him!" he insisted, "I guess I can't take over," he grumbled, disappointed by that, "but someone who actually loves the land like Sandayu could become Daimyo." he pointed out with complete disregard for royal bloodlines.
Koyuki scoffed and rolled her eyes, "Do you actually think you guys can beat Doto? You stood up to some of his ninja, but-" she began to try putting them down.
"Until you're ready to lead your people I don't care what an actress like you thinks." Naruto interrupted, "I'm protecting you because that's my mission, Doto wants you out of the picture so he's an obstacle." he pointed out logically, "That aside, I want to kill this Doto guy. Your opinion on the matter is meaningless to me." he shot her down harshly, surprising the woman who wasn't used to be being spoken to like that.
Sasuke smirked, "I'd like a rematch against those three anyway," he spoke up, "it doesn't matter to me one way or the other. They're strong so they might be worth something." he said vaguely, he knew he was technically behind his teammates on blessings even if he had more skill than Sakura as an actual shinobi.
Sakura nodded in agreement, "I'm taking the skull of that big guy with the weird arm next time." she insisted, glancing between her teammates to see if either would disagree and neither did.
Sandayu was stunned by the three genin, "Well, uh, I wouldn't go as far as to try to make myself Daimyo, it should definitely be the rightful heir." he insisted, his loyalty to the Kazahana clan plain as day.
Kakashi shrugged, "Well, it seems my adorable genin have made their decision. I won't waste time trying to change their minds, it would be nice for Koyuki-hime to have a little hope though." he said plainly.
Sasuke smirked at the word hope, "So, a change of regime is in order either way, letting things stagnate under Doto doesn't sit well with me either." he added.
"You're all insane." Koyuki stated bluntly, shaking her head at everyone around her.
"Well you already paid for us, no take backs." Kakashi retorted with an amused tone to his voice, not even trying to deny it.
"This is ridiculous!" Koyuki spat, "Stop joking around! Movies aren't like real life, there are no happy endings in this world!" she insisted.
Naruto laughed at that, "I'm living proof you're wrong! I saved an entire country from tyranny once already! I also saved Takigakure, and on an even smaller scale I've saved plenty of individuals from falling entirely to despair and I only came really close to dying a few times!" he argued cheerfully, proud of his feats.
Sakura sighed, "I hate to admit it, but yeah, he really is a genuine hero." she grudgingly acknowledged, "All three of us are champions of the Konton no Kami," she continued, confusing the non-shinobi who didn't know of such things, "you've probably heard of Naruto's deity, Kajo no Kami, by now." she pointed out and some looks of realization came through, "We aren't average ninja, this Doto guy is going down." she finished as her pupils lit up with flames again.
Makino grinned widely, "This is amazing! Divine champions, real royalty, a happy ending possible for those willing to fight for it!" he exclaimed passionately, "This will be my greatest work!" he laughed, Naruto laughed with him as he enjoyed the excessive passion the man had for his art.
After everyone cleared out and the shinobi were alone again Sakura looked concerned, "Kakashi-sensei, is Naruto seriously the strongest?" she asked, having thought it was Sasuke so she was having difficulty coming to terms with that.
Surprisingly it was Sasuke who answered, "Naruto is built different," he said vaguely, aware that he shouldn't speak about the Kyubi, "even back when I beat him in academy taijutsu spars it was because my skill beat his raw unskilled power. Now that he's actually training he's outpacing me despite the fact that I have more skill as a shinobi." he pointed out, "Even with this Juin and Aoki giving me a power boost, Naruto has more raw chakra than me." he added.
Kakashi was surprised Sasuke was willing and able to admit that, "It's true, Uzumaki were a once proud clan considered on the same level as the likes of the Senju, Hyuga, and Uchiha." he pointed out, "Although Naru-chan doesn't have much talent for ninjutsu, his stamina and recovery speed allow him to train harder and come out with better results." he explained.
Naruto pouted, "I'm just fine at ninjutsu," he grumbled, "only took me a few weeks to learn a jutsu it took the Yondaime three years to master." he bragged, annoyed with his difficulty learning ninjutsu being brought up.
"His mother wasn't all that good at ninjutsu either." Kakashi added, "She was still a respected shinobi." he pointed out, not wanting to say too much on the subject but wanting to give the young blonde a connection to Kushina.
Sakura frowned, still clearly having difficulty coming to terms with Naruto being stronger than Sasuke. She tried to figure out when exactly it had happened, but she realized even as far back as Nami no Kuni he'd started outpacing them both until they got their own patron deities.
Despite Koyuki not being interested, Sandayu agreed to take them all to a hideout where loyalists to the Kazahana house awaited the return of the rightful heir. Makino hired tracked vehicles and extra supplies to help them get there, Sasuke was surprised at how much the director was interested in helping and supposed the man was either a genuinely good person or just a sucker for a good story.
Kakashi had said they should get to the hideout and come up with a plan of attack after they had full stock of how many soldiers they had, adding that they should do some scouting to figure out how many enemies they'd have to deal with. This plan was ruined by Koyuki running for it again, nobody noticed until Makino tried to film another scene.
"I really should keep a better eye on her..." Kakashi said dryly, handing out small portable radios to his team, "Well she's probably fine, split up and find her. Codenames for this are Taicho for myself, Kajo for Naru-chan, Ikari for Sakura-chan, and Henka for Sasuke-kun." he told his genin, "Also if any of you engage an enemy without at least trying to let the rest of us know by radio I'm sticking you on D rank missions while I take the others on a C rank when we get home." he threatened lazily.
Unsurprisingly it was Naruto's heightened senses that found the woman collapsed in the snow, "You know you're lucky I have a mission to protect you, because I'm starting to think Yuki no Kuni would be better off without a Kazahana." he said coldly, starting to think of her as no better than Doto.
Koyuki actually flinched at those words, but didn't respond as Naruto lifted her up onto his back and started carrying her back. The woman couldn't help but notice how surprisingly hard his muscles were under the clothing, he seemed so slender that it was hard to believe how much power and tension was hidden in his young form.
Naruto almost forgot to but he activated his radio, "This is Kajo, I found the package, making my way back to the crew, over." he said into it in a bored tone, receiving confirmations from his team as he walked back.
"Why do you keep dragging me back?" Koyuki asked after a few moments, curious about the strange blonde.
"I'm a shinobi, some even consider me a ninso, Kajo no Ninso, the only ninso of Slaanesh-kaasama." Naruto responded, "For me completing the mission is a matter of pride, I will be Kanzen no Shinobi, and Kanpeki doesn't fail." he insisted, "You might as well give up on running away, I've got better senses than any regular person. I'll track you by scent, I'm too fast to outrun, and even with a massive lead I have too much stamina for you to get away." he added ominously.
Koyuki couldn't help but shiver at his vaguely threatening words, "Whatever," she tried to play it off, "I'm just going to act in front of a camera and that's it." she insisted.
"Like I care." Naruto scoffed in response, "My mission is to protect you, and I'm killing Doto regardless. What you do after that isn't my problem, but if you keep up this depressing despair shit I might just take over your country regardless of what my sensei thinks." he added rebeliously, "Better than letting you run this place into the ground because you don't care about it y'know." he finished derisively.
Koyuki couldn't even respond, she was stunned the blonde had the gall to speak to her like that. But she realized why he could, why he was so fearless, he could back it up with actual power. On the way to a cave Naruto stopped suddenly, head darting around as he wondered what he'd just heard.
"Hm, good instincts, brat." A large masked shinobi acknowledged as he stepped out from behind a tree, not one of the other three, dressed more traditionally with a black skintight suit that covered his lower face, but carrying a large battle axe, his hitai-ate indicating Yukigakure allegience covering the top of his head so only his dark eyes were visible.
Naruto dropped Koyuki, "Weights!" he ordered and Maemi leaped to take his leg weights off as he pulled out a shuriken, slicing his own right thumb open as he flicked his arm forward. The large man easily dodged and began to charge, but Naruto was already weaving hand signs.
"Doto-sama offered quite the price for your head, alive or dead!" The shinobi announced as Koyuki scrambled back from the fighting and Naruto performed a Kuchiyose no Jutsu, from the smoke a strange creature, almost similar to the serpents Naruto used but with forward curving horns and a pair of muscular clawed legs emerged with a Daemonette riding it.
The large Yukinin leaped aside to avoid the ride by attack of the mounted Daemonette, swinging his axe but missing by a hairs width. Naruto turned on his radio again, "Kajo here, got a new assassin, sounds like Doto is mad at me in particular." he informed quickly with a smirk, pulling out his sheathed tachi from his sash, "Koyuki, get on that steed with the Daemonette, they'll take you back to the others!" he ordered quickly, although the Daemonette pouted that she wouldn't be fighting.
Koyuki was stunned for a moment and didn't even move as the mounted Daemonette moved on its steed to let the woman up, Maemi sticking close behind Naruto to cover him and hold onto his scabbard once he unsheathed his tachi. The assassin charged at Naruto who leaped to meet him, parrying the horizontal swing from his enemy up with the lacquered wood of his scabbard in a display of kenjutsu skill before smacking the man in the face as he brought it back to toss the scabbard off his sword behind himself.
The horned blonde grinned as he followed up with a swing of his tachi to the right, his opponent pulling back to avoid it and spinning his axe over his head before using his superior reach to swing at the young genin again. Naruto brought his blade back in front of himself to block but couldn't get a good grip on the snow with his chakra and was knocked sliding back, his sandals leaving grooves in the snow as Koyuki finally got up behind the Daemonette to be ferried to safety at high speed.
The axe wielding shinobi moved to give chase but Naruto was on him, swinging his tachi and dodging counter attacks with a feral grin as he chased his opponent back into the woods. To his alarm the horned genin saw a train go into the cave after Koyuki, but a mental note from Maemi informed him the steed could outrun it.
A new sound in the Tatakainouta alerted Naruto to a second assassin and he narrowly evaded a pair of senbon that he smelled something sickly sweet on, he assumed poison but couldn't turn his back on the man with the axe to find the second opponent, "Kajo again, another enemy showed up, I sent the mark ahead with a Daemon, I can take these two so make sure no one else gets her." he said into his radio as he dodged, he heard Sakura's voice scolding him for not saying 'over' but he had other concerns.
"You really think you can take us?" The axe wielding shinobi asked, clearly offended by his cavalier attitude towards being outnumbered.
"Shibari no Ashikase!" Naruto responded, tying the large man up and moving to finish him with a one handed swing of his tachi, but to his surprise his blade was tangled in ninja wires as he approached so he leaped back to pull it free before it could be entirely wrapped up. Maemi suddenly leaped from behind him, between his legs, and he turned to face the second assassin, narrowly catching a poisoned tanto against the blade of his tachi and following through to push the assassin back.
This one was dressed just like the other one, very basic, they both even had tabi under their black sandals, but a more normal hitai-ate with a grey topknot, the poisoned tanto his his left hand and a clawed gauntlet on his right hand. This shinobi wasn't much taller than Naruto and slimmer, but his eyes revealed he was about the same age as the large shinobi with the axe.
The larger assassin managed to break free of the chakra bindings thanks to the distraction provided by his ally and began a furious assault, swinging his axe at the young genin almost recklessly. He was careful to pull back and provide openings for the smaller one, who launched poison senbon from his gauntlet and mostly focused on harrassing the blonde.
Maemi focused on dodging as the two shinobi focused on surrounding and overwhelming Naruto, not giving him much chance to weave hand signs, and the smaller enemy proved proficient enough in ninjutsu to make use of kawarimi in an attempt to throw the horned blonde off guard but thanks to his Tatakainouta the genin had no trouble keeping up with the assassins. Although he did have difficulty actually finishing them off or doing damage, having teamwork used so effectively against him was giving him a new appreciation for what Kakashi was always talking about.
Soon enough the smaller shinobi got a glancing blow on Naruto's back with the claws of his gauntlet, the blonde frowning as his mesh undershirt protected him from actually being cut by the poisoned claws. The genin was forced to block instead of dodge against another axe swing and his back hit a tree, he barely threw his head to the side in time to avoid a fatal blow but the claws of the smaller assassin dug into his right shoulder.
Naruto struggled to focus himself, he didn't have time for ninjutsu or taking out combat drugs so he feigned weakness and slumped his head. Using his Uzumaki stamina to his advantage when the two moved to finish him, he swiftly unsheathed his wakizashi and thrust it under his right arm behind him and stabbed out with his tachi in his right hand.
The smaller assassin cried out in pain and surprise as the larger one gurgled, Naruto's tachi in his throat and his wakizashi through the palm of the smaller one. The horned blonde let go of the wakizashi and turned as the smaller assassin leaped to escape, "Shibari no Ashikase." the genin intoned, capturing the assassin in mid air and yanking him back to be impaled through the heart by a thrust of his tachi.
Naruto cleaned up his weapons and sheathed them, taking out a combat stimulant and popping the pill in his mouth. His mouth was dry from whatever poison he'd been hit with so he fell to his knees and quickly shoved a handful of snow in his mouth to melt so he had some liquid to help him swallow the methamphetamine pill, rubbing the rest of it on his face as he stood back up and dabbed his right hand in the fresh blood on his shoulder.
"Kuchiyose no Jutsu!" Naruto declared to himself, Maemi hopping up in front of him on the saddle of his serpentine mount as it slithered swiftly after the steed he'd sent ahead. Unnoticed by the genin his skin paled and the whisker marks on his cheeks disappeared, along with any other minor blemishes that were there.
By the time Naruto returned it was the sight of a massacre, to his relief he could spot that Koyuki was alive, as were Sasuke and Sakura. He didn't actually recognize any of the bodies, but it seemed the Daemonette he'd summoned and the steed were both gone. Kakashi and Makino's crew were helping to gather up the bodies and it seemed Sandayu had been mortally wounded.
"This is the price of not giving up." Koyuki said bitterly as Naruto's serpentine mount slithered up besides her, "If they hadn't stood up to Doto this wouldn't have happened." she added callously. Although the sight of the blonde seemed uncanny to those who knew him Kakashi had to admit the genin was somehow getting prettier. The jonin really wasn't sure what to make of the blessings Naruto kept getting, the blonde actually looked like nobility now.
"Yeah," Naruto agreed with the noble woman, surprisingly enough to his team, "they should have waited for me to return." he added confidently.
Kakashi sighed, "We only just made it back in time for Sasuke-kun to stop Sandayu-san from being killed outright, but his injuries are fatal." he explained, saddened by the needless death, "Is that injury okay?" he asked.
"Poisoned, but I'm fine, took some combat stimulants." Naruto answered quickly, head darting around, "Which way did the enemy go?" he asked, noticing the destroyed bridge, "Nevermind, they're coming back." he warned, his mount turning as he unsheathed his tachi his tossed the scabbard to the snow behind him.
Sakura readied her axe, Kakashi lifted his hitai-ate, and Sasuke activated his own Sharingan as he pulled on the power of his Juin. Then, true to Naruto's prediction, a large air ship emerged from the horizon, "I knew you guys had good technology compared to the other lands, but seriously?" Sakura asked, eye twitching at the slow and unsubtle transportation method.
"Our enemies got some back up after you kids spooked them," Kakashi pointed out, "so no more toying with your opponents." he scolded, ready to fight properly this time himself if needed.
"I already told you, this is pointless!" Koyuki snapped, "There is no spring in this land!" she argued.
"Shut up!" Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke all retorted in unison, sick of the despair the woman kept trying to preach at them. Suddenly Mizore's mechanical hand launched from the air ship at Koyuki, Naruto knocked it aside with his tachi as Sasuke sliced open his left thumb and wiped it on the rune array on his right arm to begin hand signs.
Sakura cut her own hand with her axe before handing the weapon to Genkei, weaving the same hand signs, "Kuchiyose!" the Uchiha announced first since he finished first and a quartet of strange glimmering creatures with fins and tentacles that floated on the air as if swimming through water, festooned with spurs, horns, and fangs. Aoki told Sasuke these were Himeiwoageru, the Uchiha wondered if the Fearling was getting lazy with names as the creatures screamed as they flew towards the air ship.
"Kuchiyose!" Sakura declared, her own creatures also capable of flight, and while she summoned the same amount they were a bit smaller, red scaled things with dark brown leathery wings, black fur sticking out seemingly at random, lizard-like faces with maws full of fangs and spindly clawed limbs.
"Furies." Genkei stated their name simply, not bothering trying to translate their names as the only word for them was Ikari in the native tongue of the world they were in. The creatures flew up, but much to the annoyance of Sakura were too cowardly to approach the air ship. However when Fubuki flew out to fend out the Himeiwoageru, the Furies suddenly flew into action, hissing as they charged what they viewed as lone easy prey, "Lesser Daemons, cowardly even when made of Khorne-sama's will." the Malice grumbled, clearly regarding the flying Daemons poorly.
The air ship had defenders and defenses, various Yukigakure shinobi moved to protect their vessel by throwing kunai and shuriken at the airborne flyers as Fubuki pulled up to lure the Furies higher above, but the Himeiwoageru were undetered as they slipped through the air towards the armored blimp. By the time the screaming Daemons of Tzeentch were dispelled they'd sliced up the balloon and sent nine Yukinin careening to their deaths in halves.
Koyuki watched the battle with a shocked expression, "They're actually retreating..." she vocalized what she could barely believe, Doto's shinobi completely outnumbered this small team of genin, but even with their jonin only supervising the three were completely outmatching the enemy. It seemed the Furies were unable to deal with Fubuki and the enemy kunoichi left to catch up with her retreating allies, the Daemons summoned by Sakura having been only a minor nuisance.
"Should we give chase?" Sasuke asked, he really wanted to but the talking to he'd been given earlier was still fresh in his mind.
"No," Kakashi answered as he lowered his hitai-ate, "we should make sure Naru-chan isn't too badly poisoned and try to regroup. They're after Koyuki-hime after all." he pointed out, gesturing for Naruto to get closer so he could have a look. The jonin was no iryonin but the poison didn't seem to be affecting Naruto too badly, "How does it feel?" he asked.
"Kind of numb, actually." Naruto answered, "I think we should have chased them." he added with a pout.
Kakashi shook his head, "Best we didn't, this is a paralytic from what I can tell, your right arm is going to get harder to move until the poison has run its course." he explained, "Unfortunately, all of the remaining loyal samurai were just taken out by the weaponry on that train earlier, but if we follow the tracks we can probably find a supply depot and take that out." he mused out loud.
"If it has food that'll only hurt the people." Naruto said with a frown, "I want to chase down that flying thing and fight Doto." he added with a grumble.
Sakura sighed, "I hate to agree with Naruto, but I want to go after them too." she spoke up.
"I concur, I detest the idea of relying on those two," Genkei spat with a dismissive gesture at the other two genin, "but they can summon enough Daemons that we outnumber the enemy and crush them." he pointed out.
"I'm all for it." Sasuke agreed, his Juin flaring to life across his visible skin.
Kakashi sighed, he could see he was outnumbered, "Makino-san, I'm sorry, but I'll be leaving the corpses to you." he began, "I'll guard Koyuki-hime, Sasuke-kun you fly ahead, Naru-chan will back you up, and I'll stick with Sakura-chan to provide the hammer once you two have an anvil in place." he ordered swiftly.
The three Konton no Shinobi grinned in unison, Sasuke going ahead on a Disc with a pair of Himeiwoageru flanking him and Naruto going down the sheer cliff to catch up on his serpentine mount. Kakashi picked up Koyuki and followed Sakura as she and Genkei moved to try following the blonde although the two were quickly left behind.
Sasuke found the crash site of the blimp and was swiftly intercepted by Fubuki, who attempted her icicle ninjutsu against him, "Harainokeru!" the Uchiha announced, flaring his chakra to melt the attacks before they could land as his two Himeiwoageru swooped at the kunoichi. The pink haired woman narrowly evaded the creatures, her armor stopping one from ripping completely into her but she seemed surprised that it managed to damage one of her wings.
The young Uchiha saw a group of Yukigakure shinobi down below and smirked, "Aoi-en!" Sasuke declared as he waved his hands, nine of the enemy shinobi screaming in pain as coruscating blue flames spontaneously ignited their bodies, another three of the first twelve he struck seeming confused as they were unharmed by the flames.
Sasuke could tell those three would need to dealt with and pulled out a fuma shuriken, directing his Disc to swoop down as he tossed the weapon to take one out as his mount tore into a second before he leaped to draw his tanto and ram it into the neck of the third. Then the Uchiha hopped from the corpse back onto his Disc and ascended into the air again to avoid being surrounded by the remaining Yukinin, but Mizore managed to get a grapple on his mount with the hand launched from that mechanical arm of his and started dragging him back down.
With his Himeiwoageru busy trying to kill Fubuki the Uchiha got ready for a fight until Naruto charged in with a small group of cavalry, five Daemonettes on five of the strange steeds, poisonous darting tongues and mantis claws ripping into the scattered shinobi as the tachi of the hermaphrodite blonde cut the cord connecting Mizore's gauntlet to his mechanical hand gripping Sasuke's Disc.
"What the hell are these monsters!?" Fubuki screamed as she frantically evaded the glimmering sky-sharks that screamed through the air after her. Naruto grinned as his cavalry followed him, drawing the attention of the enemy shinobi away from where he'd come as he charged the downed air ship.
Sasuke directed his Disc at the kunoichi, hitting a girl didn't exactly sit well with him but he reminded himself he was shinobi as he readied a Chidori. Down below a repitilian hound with unnatural sinew and muscle, an iron collar driven into its neck by rivets, bound from the forest and pounced on a distracted shinobi, Genkei following behind to shoulder check another with the axe blade in his left pauldron in order to give an opening for Sakura to leap at Mizore and swing her axe at his neck.
The large armored shinobi turned in time to be decapitated by the young kunoichi, "Shannaro!" Sakura shouted as her war cry, charging after Naruto towards the blimp. Kakashi watched his genin dismantle an entire regiment of enemy shinobi with a sense of pride, he realized it was bizarre for them to already be capable of this much but he was finding that he increasingly simply didn't care about normal. The jonin also was the only one to notice Sakura grew a tail after that kill, probably not the most useful boon, but he could see how it would help the girl balance and turn on a dime at high speeds at least.
Nadare scowled and weaved hand signs as Naruto charged him, "Hyoton: Roga Nadare no Jutsu!" he announced, the jutsu named for himself turned the snow at his feet into an avalanche of a wolf pack made of packed snow and ice. Naruto responded by grabbing Maemi under his left arm and leaping from the serpentine mount he rode, the ninjutsu dispelling his small cavalcade of Daemons.
Sasuke's Disc swooped at Fubuki and when she dodged it he leaped, ramming his Chidori into the barrier made by her armor. He noticed a crystal in the armor crack as his jutsu fizzled out and thrust his right hand out, "Aka-en!" he announced, fingernails shifting to black talons as he poured chakra into the attack, his Juin glowing iridescent as a bright red flame smashed into the armored kunoichi and propelled her to the ground.
Naruto threw his tachi, stabbing a Yukinin moving to intercept him in the leg to pin the man before flicking his right arm at Nadare, "Shifuku Kurushimi!" he announced and the purple cable of chakra tore through barrier and armor alike, "Get my sword." he ordered Maemi as he landed, setting the Muse down before charging at his opponent and using his left hand to stabilize a Rasengan in his right hand.
The drugs in the blonde's system allowed him to focus his chakra to condense the Rasengan without Maemi's help, and he rammed the swirling sphere of chakra into his opponent, tearing through the armor and sending his opponent flying to crash into the side of the air ship and splatter blood across the blimp.
"Hyoton:" A new voice began, coming from a tall man in a black version of the same armor the elite Yuki shinobi wore, with dark hair and only a passing resemblance to Koyuki if that, "Kokuryu Bofusetsu!" the man announced and a dragon of black ice burst from the snow at the command of his chakra to bear down on the horned genin.
Then Sakura was there, planting her feet and taking the attack against her crossed arms. Naruto saw her sliding back and ignored the pink tail to plant his hands to her back to help her hold her ground, the brass choker around her neck glowing before the attack halted and steam rose from her form, "Gimme your skull!" she shrieked, tossing her axe at him.
The man scowled and battered the axe aside as Naruto ran past his teammate to begin forming another Rasengan, wires tightened around Sakura's mesh kote as she tugged her weapon as she spun to slam it into the skull of another enemy ninja trying to sneak up on her, the Daemon hound she'd summoned pouncing on and mauling another as Genkei returned to her side.
Naruto slammed his second Rasengan against the barrier of the man in the black armor, pushing it towards the crystal in the center of the breastplate with a wide and feral grin. Sasuke found his opponent with a broken neck from the fall and shifted his attention to the final fight, noticing an itch under his hitai-ate he lifted it to free a crest of dark blue feathers which Aoki assured him was a blessing from Tzeentch.
Finally the barrier of the black armor cracked and the man wearing it was sent flying back into the corpse of Nadare, blood dripped from his mouth but he still lived, "What the fuck are you damned brats?" he asked with a cough.
Kakashi had walked Koyuki through the bloodied battlefield, the royal woman stunned and baffled by the massacre a group of young genin could cause, "They're my genin," he decided to answer for them, "Konton no Shinobi." he added, noticing the minor cosmetic boons his students had grown, "Koyuki-hime, how would you like us to deal with your uncle?" he asked, revealing what even Naruto had already suspected, that the man was Doto.
Koyuki still seemed stunned and taken aback, "I..." she stalled for a moment before her features hardened, "I would have him executed, but not here, publically in front of the masses for his crimes." she said firmly, seeming finally ready to rule.
Naruto sighed in between panting, "Damn, I wanted to kill him." he grumbled, cracking his neck to the side and making a very cat-like purring sound as he did. Maemi realized that he'd had an internal cosmetic mutation, the same bone that allowed cats to make such a sound was inside his chest.
Koyuki Kazahana was reinstated as the Daimyo of Yuki no Kuni, and she called Naruto in particular a hero who saved her land but promised shrines to the three of the four Konton no Kami for she knew nothing of the fourth. With their job done, Makino worked on finishing his film, a movie that would make the Konton no Kami seem like forces of freedom against tyranny, something the people of Nami no Kuni already knew well enough.
To the surprise of his team, Naruto in particular was given an additional reward from the new Daimyo, a kiss on the cheek. The blonde seemed pleased with that, Maemi wished he'd have tried for more but didn't bother to press for it. Kakashi was quite proud of his team of monsters, promising them he had something special in mind when they arrived home but refusing to elabrorate on what.
Translation: Kaen Hosha-ki - Flame Radiator
Himeiwoageru - Which Screams, best I could come up with for translating the term for a Screamer into one word
Words that end in 'er' such as Flamer and Screamer do not translate well into Japanese, but I did my best.