This is my first story. Don't hate for no reason. Will take fair criticism though.
I do not own Naruto or anything related. That goes to Masashi Kishimoto
CHAPTER 13
When Team 8 finally arrived in the town they were easily welcomed. The people were excited to see ninja from Konoha. But passing by townspeople the team walked straight to the Lord's house. When they walked out to the large house they knocked on the gate. A servant opened the door and bowed to the ninja, "Welcome, Lord Fukawa has been expecting you. I will guide you to his office."
Walking through the garden they eventually came upon a room. The servant knocked on the door, "The Konoha shinobi are here."
They heard a shout, "Let them in!"
The servant opened the door to the side and the 4 shinobi walked in, the genin following behind Kurenai.
Behind a desk was Lord Fukawa. He was a middle aged man with dark blue hair and brown eyes, wearing a green kimono. "Thank you so much for your assistance."
"We are here to help. Tell us what you know." Kurenai responded.
"Of course! Around 3 nights ago my daughter was kidnapped from the mansion in the middle of the night. I had heard a scream come from her room, so I went to see what was wrong, but when I opened the door there was a man in all black. He quickly dashed out the window but he was holding a sack that had my daughter inside."
"What does your daughter look like?" Kurenai asked.
Lord Fukawa handed a picture frame from his desk over to Kurenai, "She's only 8 years old. Her name is Katsuko."
The girl in the picture had a large smile, light blue hair, And hazel eyes. "Have you moved anything in her room?"
"No. I thought that if I left it as it was, it might make it easier for you to find her."
"It will. Can you take us to her room?"
"Follow me!"
Standing up he quickly guided the shinobi through the building and to her room, sliding the door open. Inside the room everything looked clean except for the bed which was a mess and the window, which was busted open. Looking around, Kurenai asked, "Okay team found anything?"
Shino pointed out the window, "There are some tracks outside the window. Most likely left behind by the kidnapper."
Hinata with her Byakugan activated comments, "And there is nothing in this room that gives any clues."
Kurenai nods, "Okay let's follow those tracks." Kurenai turns to Lord Fukawa, "Where will we be staying."
"The Silver Swan. It's our most luxurious hotel. They know you are coming."
"Okay team let's go. We'll follow the tracks in a single file, Hinata. I want you to scan the area every 5 minutes for one minute and report to me any changes."
For the next two hours Team 8 followed the footprints left behind by the kidnapper. Every 15-20 minutes there was a random change in direction, most likely to throw off any pursuers, but every time Hinata was able to detect the change in direction. They were ready to return to the town when they heard a conversation off in the distance. Quickly and quietly the four shinobi spied on three men, seemingly bandits because of the swords on their hips, drinking sake, "Hey did you hear? Yuto pulled it off."
"Pulled what off?" One responds.
The third interrupts, "Yuto actually managed to kidnap that little girl."
"The Lord's daughter?"
"Yeah! The boss is gonna send a ransom, and Yuto's gonna get a big cut."
"No way! Maybe we should kidnap someone. Get some money too."
"We could buy more sake!"
Letting the conversation go on, Kurenai signs to her genin "We are going to capture them for interrogation."
She receives three signals back, "Got it."
"Naruto, use Rai Tenohira on the one in front of you. Don't kill him."
"Got it." Naruto nodded.
"Shino, take out another by draining just enough of their chakra."
"Understood." Shino shifted his glasses.
"Hinata take out the last with a jyuken strike."
"Okay." Hinata gave a thumbs up.
"I will use a genjutsu to stun them, go…"
Kurenai made a few hand signs, "Now."
All three genin jumped out of their hiding spots, quickly knocking all three men unconscious.
Kurenai clapped, "Well done genin. Naruto, apply a paralysis seal. Hinata what does their chakra system look like?"
As Naruto places the seal on the three men Hinata says, "Locked and not developed."
Kurenai smiled, "Good. Then genjutsu will be perfect as an interrogation method. You guys can stay here until they wake up but when they do I need you to walk away."
The three genin just converse lightly, talking about their hobbies and new abilities. After about 30 minutes the three men begin to wake up so Kurenai directs them away. The genin were just out of earshot, so they weren't able to see or hear what Kurenai was doing. But after about 20 minutes Kurenai called them back.
Kurenai was standing facing her genin with a dark look, but behind her were the three men, lined up kneeling with their heads down. "Did you get the information," Shino asked.
"I did"
"T-then why s-such a dark l-look?" Hinata was getting nervous.
Kurenai stepped to the side, "Each of you will kill one of these men. Not with a jutsu, but with a Kunai or your bare hands."
"What!?!" Naruto shouts.
"Part of the mission is to destroy the bandit camp, and that includes killing the bandits. I can't have you flinching in the middle of a fight so I need to get you through your first kill trauma now."
"B-b-bu-bu-but…"Hinata could only stutter.
Kurenai shakes her head, "But nothing. This needs to happen. The earlier the better."
While the other two were frozen in shock Shino silently and slowly grabbed a kunai from his pouch, walked over to the man on the left and plunged it into his Carotid, blood flowing down Shino's arm. Shino left the kunai in the man's neck and returned to his position as the man dropped to the ground lifeless. Shino still kept his stoic look but it was obvious that he was bothered by the way he stared at his bloodied hands, and how his bugs were strangely quieter than normal.
Naruto was next to snap out of his shock. Following Shino's example he silently walked over to the man in the middle, grabbed his head, and swiftly snapped the man's neck. Quietly Naruto walked over to Shino and hugged him, completely disregarding blood stains as Shino hugs him back. Letting go, Naruto just watched Hinata.
Hinata slowly trudges up to the final man and looks down. But for a few minutes Hinata couldn't even move.
"I've accepted my fate, girl. It's time you do too," The man grunts out.
Tears slowly form in the corners of her eyes as she activates her byakugan. And the tears begin to fall as she strikes his chakra core, killing him instantly. When the man drops to the ground, Hinata follows, turning her into a bawling mess. Naruto quickly runs over to Hinata and hugs her too. She immediately latches onto his shirt and cries into his shirt. Naruto just strokes her hair laying his head onto hers.
Gathering her genin, Kurenai sits in front of them, "I understand the pain of the first kill. It feels like you have done the world's greatest crime. And it feels extremely personal."
"We murdered them!" Hinata wails. Naruto and Shino's gaze drop to the floor at this but Kurenai quickly jumps in, "No! You did not murder them, you killed them."
"What's the difference?" Shino asks.
"Murder can only be for personal gain. People murder for money, or enjoyment. But killing can be for good. These men were rapists, murderers and thieves. Killing them most likely prevents other people's deaths. Remember that. Now let's go back to town. We have a job to do tomorrow."
Quietly Kurenai leads the genin back to the town, leaving behind a clone to hide the bodies. When they arrive at the Hotel. When Kurenai walks up to the attendant, the attendant recognizes them immediately and asks, "How many rooms do you need? No charge."
Kurenai smiles, "Four single rooms please."
Hinata mumbles quietly, "Three."
"What?" Kurenai asks.
Hinata speaks so only Kurenai and Naruto hear, "Only three. Please don't make Naruto leave me."
Kurenai nods, "Okay."
Turning back to the attendant she makes a correction, "Actually please change it to two singles, and a double. All close to each other."
"Right away!" The attendant scuffles around looking for the keys they need.
Finding four keys she hands them over, "Here you go. All on the second floor. The double is across from the two singles."
Kurenai takes the keys, thanks the attendant, and hands them over to her genin.
When Kurenai entered her room, she put her bag down, and flopped onto her bed, staring up at the ceiling. She thought, 'I really hoped I handled this well.'
In his room Shino silently processed what he had done, but kept remembering his sensei's words, 'Me killing that bandit might have prevented other people's deaths.'
Holding Hinata in his arms, Naruto managed to unlock the door and lock it behind them. Walking over to the bed closest to the door he managed to take her bag off and remove the scroll from his back.Naruto tried to let Hinata down onto the bed but she clung to him tightly. When he tried to pull away he heard her murmur, "You're warm, please don't leave me."
Naruto smiled softly and tiredly, so he relented and layed next to her in the bed. Pulling the blanket over them he hugged her close and she snuggled into his chest. The two slept peacefully in each other's arms.
-next morning-
Kurenai woke up staring at the ceiling. Looking over to the clock it only said 6:17 so she doubted that any of her genin were awake, especially because she figured that all of them took a while. Walking over to her bag she pulls out the maps of the bandit camp to begin planning. She would wake up the genin in a few hours. For the first hour she debated whether or not to rescue the girl first then attack the camp or to attack the camp first then rescue the girl in the process. Though she finally decided to rescue the girl first, Kurenai ran into another dilemma.
How would they rescue the girl? Should the entire team sneak in? But that would make them easier to track. But if the whole team didn't go, who would go? She was still trying to figure it out when she heard a knock on the door. Quietly she walked to the door and looked through the peephole. Seeing who it was, she unlocked the door to let in Hinata and Naruto.
"Good Morning Sensei!"
"Good Morning you two. I thought you would still be asleep."
The two blushed and looked away from each other, "No, we s-slept really well so we w-woke up around 7."
Kurenai smirks "Oh?" 'The way Hinata clung to Naruto, they probably slept in the same bed.'
Seeing the maps behind her Hinata asks, "What are you doing Kurenai-sensei?"
Getting a little more serious, Kurenai says, "I'm planning for tonight. But I can't find a safe plan."
"Maybe I can help."
"Okay, well so far my plan is to send in one or two people to rescue Katsuko but I don't know who should go among us four."
"Easy, me and Hinata."
Hinata looked at Naruto petrified and Kurenai just raised an eyebrow, "And why is that?"
"Hinata because she will be able to find the girl the easiest and me because once we find the girl, I can simultaneously get her out of there, and cause a ton of havoc."
"Why not give your seals to someone else? Why not me and Hinata?"
"Because I know the inner intricacies of my seals. And I can make more in seconds. If I just gave you seals you would have a limited amount. But I also have a plan that requires me to be in the center of the base."
"Explain."
"The day before we left you watched me get full control of the Suiton: Suishoha."
"Right."
"I would use the river next to the bandit camp to completely fill up one of my seals. Then once we find and free the girl, presumably in the center in the camp. I would use that water for my Suiton: Suishoha to cause disarray, and create a wave to deliver the girl straight to the edge of the camp were I would station some clones to protect her."
Kurenai nods along, "Good plan. And when we see the wave me and Shino would jump into action to kill any bandit we see."
"Right."
"But what about the river? What if they try to escape by swimming across it?
"I would station a clone there to drown any bandit that tries to cross."
"Also by Suiton: Suishoha?"
"Right."
Staring at the map in front of her, Kurenai smiles, "That is a good plan."
The two finalized a bunch of little details but when the clock hit nine Hinata cut in, "How about we w-wake up Shino and inform him of our p-plan over breakfast?"
Naruto's stomach grumbled loudly, "That sounds great." Naruto scratches his head sheepishly as the two girls try to hold back their giggles.
To be Continued…
I had way too much time on break last week so I posted two chapters again.
I will post every one to two weeks. Thank you for reading.
