Chapter 3: The Mission
On a sunny afternoon in the Hidden Sand Village. Naruto was summoned to the Kazekage's office. When he arrived at the entrance of the building, he was approached by a sand ninja. "Lord Kazekage is expecting you at the rooftop." says the shinobi. "Oh, ok thanks". says Naruto. When Naruto made it to the rooftop, he saw that Gaara is with the rest of the Konoha 12, as well as Tsunade, Shizune, Guy and Kakashi. Guy and Kakashi was the two Jonin who assisted the Konoha 12 to escort Tsunade out to safety from Konoha two years ago, consequently both of them were banished by Danzo as well and currently are residing in the Hidden Sand. "Woah, Bushier Brow sensei, Kakashi sensei and Granny Tsunade. Everybody's here, what's going on?" says Naruto.
"Alright Naruto's here, then we shall start." says Tsunade. "Yesterday, I received a message from the Hidden Mist..." says Gaara.
*Flashback to two days ago, in the Land of Water...
Chojuro was leading a squad of Mist Ninjas moving in full speed back towards the Hidden Mist Village.They just came back from an infiltration mission in the Land of Sound, now they're being pursued by Hidden Leaf ninjas. On their way back to the Land of Water, Chojuro's 10 men squad, 4 men have been slain by the pursuing Konoha ninjas. As Chojuro and his men are making their way back to their village, he came across Ao and a group of Hidden Mist Anbu, who Chojuro was supposed to rendezvous with and be escorted back to the village. "Anyone following you all?" asked Ao. "Konoha pursuers! Hurry! We must move! They are close!" says Chojuro. "How many are there?" asked Ao. "I don't know! They just showed up out of nowhere and took us by surprise, 2 of my men were killed instantly, another 2 were killed along our way back, the situation was too chaotic!" says Chojuro. "We have to know the enemy's numbers, Byakugan!" says Ao as he activates his Byakugan. With the power of Byakugan, he's able to see within 5 miles, Hidden Leaf ninjas are moving in with rapid speed. Ao sees the Konoha pursuers have changed their attire/uniform compared to 2 years ago. Now instead of the old Konoha Shinobi uniform, they now wear a black skin suit with blood red linings and armour pads, and each wears a red Tengu masks. Ao counted there's at least 5 pursuers, but before he can confirm the exact number, his Byakugan vision was blocked by a supernaturally thick mist. "What is going on? My Byakugan was blocked!" says Ao. "It's Kirigakure no Jutsu(Hiding in the Mist technique), there's no mistaking it." says Chojuro. "But my Byakugan should be able to see through this technique! This doesn't make any sense!" says Ao.
"Because I did some upgrade to this jutsu, specifically for the likes of you...Ao". A voice came out from the thick fog. As the voice appears, several figures wielding blades starts to cut down the rest of Chojuro's men one by one. The Hidden Mist ninjas were like a group of prey being corralled to a cage, being slowly picked off one by one by a group of predators. "Stay together!" says Ao to Chojuro and his Anbu subordinates. Suddenly, a figure comes crashing down on them with a giant sword. The quick reflexes of Ao and Chojuro saved both of them, but one unfortunate Mist Anbu was crushed into a bloody gore by the impact, and the rest were knocked down by the shockwave. The figure then swings his sword against the rest of the Anbu and he killed them all in one swing, strangely enough, none of the Anbu were killed by the cutting of the sword, they were dead either by the blunt force impact of the sword or just being flayed to death. "Killed all of them in one swing, what monstrous strength. This must be the leader of the Konoha pursuers. He must also be the caster of this Hiding in the Mist jutsu. A sword that kills by shredding instead of cutti—, could it be...?" Ao thought to himself, the thought of who this man might be hit him like a stroke of thunder. "Show yourself!", says Ao.
The fog began to fade away, the environment gradually became clear once again. Once the fog completely faded away, it reveals that Ao and Chojuro are now being surrounded by Hidden Leaf ninjas, cladded in black and red armor, each wears the face of a Tengu. The leader of the Konoha ninjas however, only wore a simple black tank top, and he's someone they'd never expected.
The leader of the Konoha pursuers is previously known as the Monster of the Hidden Mist, the vanished Akatsuki member, Hoshigaki Kisame, who is still wielding the most terrifying sword of the Hidden Mist, Samehada.
"Hoshigaki Kisame?!" says Chojuro with a shocked expression, he almost couldn't comprehend what he's just saw. "Just as I thought...but why is Kisame leading a Konoha shinobi task force? This doesn't make any sense!", says Ao also with a shocked expression.
"Unfortunate I'm not here to answer your questions", says Kisame. "Water Style: Water Shockwave!", says Ao. Ao decided to take the fight to Kisame. A huge torrent of water came out from thin air and rams towards Kisame. Kisame lifts his Samehada, did a vertical slash, and splits the torrent of water in half. Kisame then did a series of hand signs, "Water Style: Water Shark Bomb Jutsu", says Kisame. The body of water that Kisame split in half turned into shapes of multiple ravenous sharks and starts attacking Ao and Chojuro. Chojuro was able to avoid getting hit by dispersing the water sharks with his Hiramekarei. Ao, however, failed to defend himself from the speed of the water sharks and received a direct hit, the ferocious attack of the water sharks sends Ao flying 10 meters away. "Ao senpai!", yelled Chojuro. Ao was severely injured by the water sharks. "Ao senpai is in no condition to fight, or even stand, if we're to survive, I must hold my ground against him. He took down Ao senpai in one move, he is strong. I must focus!" Chojuro thought to himself. "You...", Kisame points his Samehada towards Chojuro. "That sword of yours, you must the current wielder of the Hiramekarei, Chojuro", says Kisame. "Hmm, I supposed now it would be a good time to test if you're worthy of that sword of yours, I challenge you to a duel, one swordsman to another, my Samehada against your Hiramekarei. If you can survive against me for five minutes or better yet...defeat me, I'll let you and your comrade go, if not, then I guess it's over for you. What say you, kid?" says Kisame. Chojuro stays silent and lifts his sword and readied his stance. "I'll take that as a YES. Listen up boys, not one of you are allowed to interfere, got it?" says Kisame to his Konoha subordinates.
Kisame swings his sword like a whirlwind, Chojuro attempted to block it with his own sword, but the impact of the attack forced Chojuro back off a few steps, his grip over his sword nearly fell off. "What monstrous strength! I cannot match him up front. I have to rethink my strategy", Chojuro thought to himself. Kisame swings his sword again, this time Chojuro evades the attack using his speed and agility to his advantage, after evading the attack, Chojuro immediately launched a counterattack towards Kisame with his dual blade, but the counterattack was easily blocked by Kisame's expert use of his sword. This situation persisted for a few minutes, Chojuro's superior speed and agility seemingly able to hold his own against Kisame's swordsmanship skills and strength. Neither of them was able to land a solid hit on one another. Once finding an opening, Chojuro combines both of his dual sword into one and charge it up with Chakra, he rammed his Hiramekarei towards Kisame and the sheer power forced Kisame to back off a few meters away. "Not bad kid, not bad at all, perhaps that sword isn't wasted on your hands after all. However you have two mistakes. One, Samehada feeds off of chakra, that attack just now is just giving me more power. Two ...", says Kisame as he swings his sword in the same pattern towards Chojuro. As usual, Chojuro dodges his attack, but suddenly Kisame changed his pattern of his sword swinging, the sudden change of the pattern caught Chojuro off guard, fortunately enough Chojuro was barely able to block it with his quick reflexes, but quick reflexes isn't enough, the sheer strength behind the attack broke Chojuro's defence, leaving him wide open. Kisame then rams Chojuro with the blunt end of Samehada, the sheer force sends Chojuro flying 7 meters away, breaking his ribs and causing internal bleeding. "...you are not that much adaptive to change", Kisame finishes his sentence.
"Well, I had some fun after all. That was some nice swordplay, you're pretty good. I'll make it quick". Chojuro lays on the ground severely injured. Just when Kisame was preparing to deliver the killing blow, a ball of lava stopped Kisame in his tracks. Mei the Mizukage has arrived with a team of Mist Anbu as reinforcements. "Lady... Mizukage...", says Chojuro before he passed out due to his injuries. Chojuro and Ao was then escorted to safety by the Hidden Mist Medic ninjas. "You got some nerves coming here, Kisame", says Mei. Kisame said nothing and only responded with his signature sinister smile. "What are you, a member of the Akatsuki, a missing-nin of the Hidden Mist, doing with Konoha ninjas?", asked Mei. Kisame still said nothing. "(Sigh) Nevermind, I break your arms and legs and bring you and your men back to the Mist, then I'll squeeze every single information out of you", says Mei with a threatening sinister look on her face. "Hmmph! I'll take this dance!", says Kisame with an excited look on his face, as he powers up his Samehada, razor sharp scales starts emerging from the bandage of the sword. As he stepped up to face Mei. A near invisible figure stopped Kisame in his tracks.The figure slowly revealed himself by deactivating his camouflage effect. The fading camouflage revealed a man dressed in maroon coloured warrior monk garment, carbon black metal vambraces and a spaulder on his left shoulder. Wears bamboo hat and a white Oni mask, and wields a brass staff with elaborate carvings and a dragon maw on both ends. "Genku(源空; literally means "Empty Source)? What are you doing here?" says Kisame. "Stand down, Shichisatsu(七杀; Literally means "Seven Murders"). You are not allowed to engage with the Mizukage, Hokage's orders". says the masked warrior monk. "Shichisatsu? Why they call Kisame with that name? Is it what they call him in Konoha? And who is this Genku? He looks serious", Mei thought to herself. "Is that why you are here? To stop me?", says Kisame. "The Hokage predicted that you will encounter the Mizukage in this mission. He sent me to get you home. Let's go, now is not the time to get into a fight with a Kage", says Genku. "Since the boss has given the orders, let's go boys", says Kisame. "You think you all can come and go as you please in the Land of Water? Water Style: Water Dragon Jutsu!", says Mei. Other Mist Anbu also joined in the attack by casting another huge water dragon. "I think we are going to do just that", says Genku. He draws a horizontal line on the ground with his staff in one swing, a nigh invisible wall of energy burst forth from the ground and stops the fury of the water dragons. Genku then plants his staff on the ground, "Earth Style: Earth Collapsing Divine Needle(土遁:崩土神針)", says Genku. A huge earthquake emerges, the earth starts cracking and bursting, it plunges the entire area into chaos, when the earthquake finally stopped. Kisame, Genku and the rest of the Konoha ninjas vanished without a trace.
*Flashback ends, the scene turns back to present day.
"So is Chojuro and Ao alright?", asked Sakura. "They are still in the hospital, but they are no longer in critical conditions", says Gaara. "Why the Mist would get into conflict with the Hidden Leaf anyway?" asked Shikamaru. "Actually Chojuro's mission is to survey the area between the borders of the Land of Sound and the Land of Fire, these two nations has long been at odds since Orochimaru took over, but in recent times, the two nations has gotten unusually close to each other, or should I say the Land of Sound has became more like under the leadership of the Land of Fire, so the Hidden Mist decided to infiltrate these two nations to uncover the mystery behind it. During a survey mission in the mountain range between the Land of Sound and the Land of Fire, Chojuro and his men discovered something terrible in possession of the Hidden Leaf. The Gedo Statue", says Gaara. "The Gedo Statue?! The same statue that the Akatsuki used to capture the nine tailed beasts?!", says Shikamaru with a shocked expression on his face. "Yes, after their discovery, Chojuro and his men were quickly ambushed by Konoha Ninjas", says Gaara. "After this encounter with Kisame, and the discovery of the Gedo Statue, it is obvious that too many things is not sitting right with this Tokugawa Isshin", says Tsunade. "Granny Tsunade, are you implying that our home have been taken over and controlled by the Akatsuki?", asked Naruto with a visible anger on his face. "We can't confirm anything, but it is possible. Whatever secrets he hides, the potential danger he brings to the entire world is something we cannot overlook", says Tsunade.
"This is also why we called you all here", says Kakashi. "You're all here to receive a new mission, some of you may play different role from others, but all of you are working on the same goal", says Gaara.
"Infiltrate the Hidden Leaf and investigate Tokugawa Isshin."
Additional notes
Objectives:
1.Infiltrate Konoha
2. Investigate the true identity of Tokugawa Isshin.
3. Uncovers the mystery behind the inner workings of the Hidden Leaf government.
4. Identify the lieutenants of the Tokugawa Isshin
5. Uncovers the mystery of the ties between the Akatsuki and Tokugawa Isshin.