A/N: Time to wrap up my version of the Wave Arc. I hoped you've enjoyed the ride. If you didn't, that's okay also. There are still a few more reveals left in this chapter but I'm sure some of you have already guessed who "Mr. Bunny" is in the story. If you haven't, this chapter should make it painfully clear.
To the unknown Guest that asked about Ebisu and Danzo, yes, Danzo is a bastard but he's a bastard that recognizes loyalty to Konoha in other bastards. Despite Ebisu stepping way out on the ledge, he's willing to help that particular rat-bastard escape now in order to scoop him back into the fold later. When he's Hokage.
I feel like I rushed this chapter and I'm not sure if I'm happy with the end product. I may have to step away for a bit and get things back into perspective with my story line. Oh well...
As always, enjoy the story.
~Siva'a-tasi
~III~
Chapter 16: The Shinobi with No Name
~ On the Shores of Hi no Kuni
A very determined looking cyclops Jounin stood along the churning waters of the Hi no Kuni shoreline. One eye lay focused on the half-completed bridge an old man gave his life for and his normally lazy eye took on a very energetic gleam. He kept telling himself this time would be different.
The familiar footfalls of his long-time rival preceded the knowing palm that fell heavily upon his left shoulder. A receptive nod of the head was all the Beautiful Beast of Konoha got but it was enough. They both had unfinished business in the Land of Waves but this time they weren't alone.
Behind them stood ninety-eight other shinobi of the Leaf ranging from Jounin to Genin, including Teams Seven, Eight, and Nine. All of them had the same determined look in their eyes.
Nothing of Gato would remain.
~III~
~ Nami no Kuni ~
~ [29877] ~
Ino cleared the ground floor then headed back upstairs to make sure there weren't dead bodies or prisoners lurking in a bedroom.
"Oi! Whoever you are, you should just come out now and save us all a bit of trouble!" She froze having just rounded the corner at the top of the stairs. The voice reminded her of the pair she'd seen earlier and she could just hear the whiny one snickering down below.
"Nice plan! We catch us one of them Leaf shinobi and we've got it made! Gato might let us back into the fold for real with Zabuza gone." His teammate shushed him so he could listen.
"No sense running. I got your scent now and can track you anywhere on this island." Something about the way he said "scent" made her shiver as her grip tightened on the kunai handle in her right hand.
Something wasn't right. There was no way these two bumpkins could have detected her unless…
The skinnier one mentioned Zabuza being gone. It wasn't a far-fetched idea to think that two underling shinobi couldn't blend in with regular brigands hoping to get a free pass. If Zabuza really was gone, they would need to go somewhere. Why not stick with a guaranteed payday?
She padded sideways down the hallway trying to make as little noise as possible. Stealth really wasn't her thing, but they'd all had some type of training back in school. She almost made it to the far bedroom when the floorboards creaked making her freeze.
Down below, Kentaro smiled hearing the protesting wood planks on the second floor. "Go get whoever it is. I'll go outside in case they try to escape." The weasly one, Mimizu, nodded showing his rotted grin as he drew a kunai and stalked quietly up the stairs.
By the time Ino heard the metal rasping of his kunai, she'd resumed her silent padding to the bedroom closing the door until only a sliver of an opening remained. Setting herself into the furthest corner from the entrance, she set her fingers in the only jutsu she could pull off without words and waited.
Her heart beat was pounding in her ears and her whole body broke out into a cold sweat as fear and adrenaline both spiked. She wanted to run. She wanted to hide. Gritting her teeth, the kunoichi kept reciting in her mind what she remembered from the academy lessons on captured kunoichi and resolved that she'd be damned if these two losers took her in any way shape or fashion.
She heard the same board creak just outside the room and then the door began to slide open. As soon as she saw his greasy face, she let fly. '[Shintenshin no Jutsu!]'
Outside looking up at the windows on the second floor, Kentaro heard a thud and a strangled cry. A second later, Mimizu threw up the window then reached down and hefted up a masked shinobi by the scruff of their cloak. Grinning from ear to ear, he swept the front of it open to reveal the hard chest plating of a female shinobi.
Down below, the pock-marked face of Kentaro Minami smiled knowing he'd get to have a little fun before they turned their prize over to Gato as their entrance fee. Rubbing his hands together greedily, the masterless nukenin ran back into the house and up the stairs to the last bedroom on the front side of the house, his eyes fixating on the slender body now lying spread eagle in the middle of the floor.
"Good job, Mizu-kun! We're-." He froze wondering why his arms and legs wouldn't respond. There was a sharp pain in the back of his neck that he couldn't explain and he was having trouble with a bunch of liquid in his mouth making it hard to breath.
Just like that, Kentaro Minami passed from the world as he fell face down onto the floor, his face splattering on the tatami between a pair of Leaf shinobi sandals. A kunai, his partner's own in fact, was wedged deep into the space between his vertebrae and the bottom of his skull.
Without pausing, Mimizu took a running leap head first out the still open window before realizing he was now in control. Frantically he scrabbled in mid-air trying to force his body over to complete a somersault and land on his feet. He mostly made it only twisting his ankle as he landed off-kilter.
Ino bolted up right and drew a kunai from her thigh holster before hopping up to glance outside the window. She couldn't belief how filthy the nukenin was. 'Ugh! I'm going to soak for two days in the onsen when we get back.'
She went out of the window in a much more controlled manner than Mimizu landing softly as he rolled away in a panic struggling to get good footing with only one solid leg to stand on. Charging straight into him so as to keep him from regaining any equilibrium, Ino kept superimposing the image of a large bull-like creature with horns over the snarling face of the Kiri nin whose body she'd inhabited only a few short seconds ago.
"You bitch! You made me kill-." His tirade was cut short as he frantically blocked a kunai strike for his throat. As the hellcat struck again, Mimizu fell backwards onto his posterior lashing out with his good leg. He missed her stomach and received a slash across his calf for his efforts and cursed again.
Then she was on him after sending a foot into his exposed groin. The filthy pervert howled in pain and tried to grab onto her arms.
Ino started running down the same target list she used on the minotaur in the dungeons. She got in close and stabbed him in the side. As his body jerked in that direction, her right hand ripped the kunai free while flipping it into a reverse grip and bringing it down towards his chest. The pinned nukenin was frantic and sacrificed a forearm rather than get stabbed the heart. Before she could pull out the blade and continue, the Kiri shinobi grabbed her wrist locking her hand in place then lurched up to smash his forehead into her mask.
Ino stumbled from her perch and landed on her rear as the wounded Mimizu yanked the blade out of his arm. Spinning away and up to her feet, Ino pulled out a second weapon and began circling the limping shinobi.
It wasn't like a minotaur. He was intelligent enough to know fear of his impending death and he was smart enough to make a sacrifice or two in hopes of winning the fight. Ino grit her teeth then bobbed and weaved her way to close the distance even as her bleeding target started taking wild swipes with his stolen weapon to try and keep her at bay.
He lurched with the short blade and she swayed to the side slicing the backside of his arm with her own. The disgusting lech cursed again and tried to slash her face only for the annoyingly fast girl to duck underneath and stab him in the stomach before retreating to set her feet again. He was getting desperate and sped up the pace of his retreat switching arms to continue his terrified defense.
As Mimizu tried to swipe at her hands, he stumbled on that weakened ankle and Ino charged surging a ton of chakra to her legs as her foot lashed out and caught him across the temple. The dazed shinobi dropped like a rock, his temporary kunai flying from his grasp as his dark eyes rolled up into the back of his skull.
Ino landed her full weight onto his back and slipped an arm under his neck wrenching backwards until she heard his spine protest with a crack. Mimizu was just conscious enough to start begging, pleading for his life. He was promising to go straight. He was imploring the young kunoichi for just one more chance. He'd promise anything if she'd just show mercy.
Ino remembered the graphic images she'd seen in his brain during the short time she'd taken over. The number of times he'd raped some defenseless woman in Nami alone during this occupation and what he was planning to do with her body when he saw her seated on the floor.
Mimizu liked to choke his victims from behind.
She rammed the kunai into the back of his head with a vicious thrust, her breath coming heavy from behind her mask.
For several minutes she sat there on the dead man's back sucking in large amounts of oxygen before rising with shaky legs, grabbing a handful of his filthy clothing and dragging him off into the trees fifty or more yards from the house. Trudging back from the woods, she went upstairs and dragged Kentaro's body in the same direction leaving both at least fifty yards further into the deep woods. Rummaging through their pockets, she found a couple storage scrolls and nothing else. She'd ask Hebi what they could do about them but for now she needed to take care of something else.
Ino rose from the two corpses, trudged another ten paces over to the nearest tree, lifted the bottom of her mask just enough to clear her mouth and purged what little remained of her ration bars into the forest loam. Then she emptied whatever bile was left until it was just painful dry heaves left.
Rinsing her mouth out with water from her canteen, she re-secured her mask and staggered back to the now abandoned house, her head panning left to right as she scanned for any more threats.
~III~
Up in the trees just out of eyesight, a Hebi clone watched impassively as she trailed the rattled kunoichi. She was ever so slightly revising her personal opinion of the girl and nodded with approval at her first kill, correction, kills. Perhaps this one could be saved.
~ [29013] ~
One he would try by himself but there was no guarantee that two ronin would play by the rules. Zero-One-Three slowly backed away from the area before heading off into the night. Two streets over he came across the first ronin no longer hidden inside the small hut but standing proudly in the street with one hand on the hilt of his katana.
He cursed softly. The guy must have snuck out the back of the hut and circled around.
"Did you think we couldn't sense some shinobi rat like you skulking about?" Zero-One-Three slid quietly out of the tree and landed ten paces or so from the smirking sword wielder. Lifting one hand to casually draw the tanto slid sideways into this sash, the silent shinobi slid his feet apart and prepared to do battle.
The ronin's thumb slid the crossguard of his blade forward two inches easing the weapon in its sheath. It was going to be a good night after all.
"Do you have a name, rat?" The samurai's drawing hand casually reached over and withdrew the blade showing his confidence against a single ninja. Zero-One-Three took stock of his opponent's posture and grip as his shoulders relaxed a hair.
'He's young, not much older than me. Probably hasn't been using that katana long. Either he doesn't know Iaijutsu or he's so confident he thinks he won't need it.'
"You don't need to know my name where you're going." The masked fighter drew out his tanto taking up a beginner's stance sliding his left foot forward a meter. The baby-faced ronin smirked before sliding effortlessly into his first position.
The two there for several minutes as the wind blew across their impromptu dojo. The small intersection would have to do. Something suddenly struck the ronin as funny and he chuckled, irking his masked opponent. The swordsman could almost see the peaked nerve above the shinobi's hidden eyebrow.
"What is it?" came the inevitable question.
"Oh, I find it odd that the practice of tsujigiri* is about to be enacted legally in our duel. I shall have a great story to tell once I return home."
Zero-One-Three tsked loudly then charged only to be met halfway by his opponent. Katana rang out against tanto and the masked nin chuckled loud enough for the surprised ronin to hear. Their blades were evenly matched.
The ronin rolled his wrists to allow the smaller blade to slide along its length before heaving upwards with both arms. The tanto arced above his head and he saw the dark clothed arms of his opponent shoot upwards as a result. Grinning, he dropped to one knee and brought his sword across his body looking to disembowel his shorter target.
He felt the blade bite into flesh just as a puff of smoke clouded everything. Leaping backwards to avoid an opportunistic strike, he glanced down to see a log clutching onto the sharp edge of his weapon and grimaced.
'Ninja dogs and their trickery.' He kicked the inanimate object free then began searching for his prey. The soft padding of sandaled feet behind him forced his eyes wide as he tumbled forward into an elementary roll, his katana sweeping across his back to the satisfying clang of sword against sword as he maneuvered to gain some distance and bring his sneaky enemy back to the fore.
"You are nimble. Let's see if we can't slow you down a bit."
Zero-One-Three grunted as the ronin picked up the pace. High block, side sweep, reverse side sweep, duck, parry, riposte. He was rolling through every basic maneuver he knew trying to get inside the bigger guy's guard. Both were channeling chakra to increase their speed and strength but the ronin only seemed to do so in conjunction with each swing of his blade. Was it a way to conserve chakra?
He couldn't match the surge. It took too long for him to even out the flow of his sheathing, so he kept it going through the whole fight. Perhaps it was a samurai technique? As he started dodging and sizing up the samurai's strikes to conserve energy, he made a mental note to develop something similar.
The ronin's eyes glazed over as he settled into a low stance. [Shisururōzu no Mai!] the fledgling samurai all but roared. Then he blurred.
Only the fact that Zero-One-Three had his sword up in front of his body saved him from an unfortunate decapitation. The barrage of strikes that followed rang off metal and ceramic-weave body armor equally. Zero-One-Three surged as much chakra to his entire body as he could and frantically attempted to keep pace.
A quick assessment would have given the ronin one successful strike for every four swings but not because the better-trained reflexes of the masked shinobi kept him ahead of his opponent. The moves were scripted, not custom tailored to the opponent so his shorter foe had an easier time in avoiding strikes he could not block. Additionally, shinobi were incredibly adept at avoidance and the sweating ninja was doing his best to backpedal and zig-zag in reverse attempting to flee his pursuer.
His luck failed, however, and his feet failed him depositing the now panicked Leaf nin on his backside just as the ronin's victorious roar coincided with a wicked overhead slash. Zero-One-Three could see his death clearly in that moment as everything seemed to slow to a crawl. Reflexively, the grounded nin reached up in desperation as his hands clapped against the sides of the now painfully slow-moving blade. As the sound of flesh slapping against metal echoed out in the grave-silent neighborhood, everything came to a sudden stop.
The ronin blinked in dumbfounded disbelief. Underneath his mask, the shocked shinobi reciprocated the sentiment. Then he vanished in another hasty Substitution replacing his body with a half-filled barrel of water.
Both warriors shrugged out their stiff shoulders, the ronin panting a bit more at the end of their latest exchange. Oddly enough, the junior samurai seemed less confident even as he charged into another clash.
The ronin's katana cut across in a straight cross-body blow attempting to separate the shinobi's head from his neck. Zero-One-Three leaned back just enough to hear the zing as it passed by at a single blade's width. The shinobi had to lift his lead leg and step backward as the ronin dropped to one knee and brought the weapon back across at thigh-level. Zero-One-Three was beginning to feel the burn, so to speak, but that wasn't the biggest problem.
People's heads were starting to pop up in windows and door cracks. Villagers were starting to take notice and the fight was beginning to drag on.
At any rate, he needed to end this now before it drew the wrong attention or worse, his ANBU babysitter. On the next clash, Six-One-Three stomped ruthlessly on the ronin's instep smiling when he heard the satisfying crunch of bone. The man reacted as expected and completely dropped his guard as a novice kenjutsu practitioner might do suffering such an honorless attack.
Zero-One-Three jumped back enough to gain room to fly through a series of handseals before hissing out, [Katon: Goukakyū no Jutsu!]. The street erupted into flames as the explosion of the fireball mushroomed into the air at least two stories in height.
The grinning Konoha nin ignored the gasps from frightened onlookers and focused on the dissipating ball of flame two body widths in diameter. When the maelstrom of flame and heat passed, what remained was a human-sized crater surrounding a badly burned human body. Most of the ronin's clothes had crisped away, his skin charred down to the bone in most areas. His arms were the only exception appearing undamaged and pristine, an oddity he couldn't explain.
It didn't matter anyway. The masked killer approached the sizzling pile of flesh and seized his katana and sheath, the latter of which was nearly burnt to a worthless husk.
He could have a replica made to replace it later. He had his first belt notch and that was all that mattered.
He was so proud of himself that he missed the narrowed pair of eyes watching his escapades from the shadows.
~ [29666] ~
Barely standing upright at the entrance of the cavern was a masked shinobi in a torn and bloody battle robe. Long and bedraggled hair framed a Kiri hunter-nin face mask. In one hand the figure shakily held a bloody and chipped kunai. In the other were three senbon knuckled in a very bloody and trembling fist.
Below their fist was a growing pool of red liquid.
Taking a deep breath, Naruto raised his hands with fingers spread wide and began slowly stepping forward to indicate himself as non-threatening. The injured shinobi wasn't buying it unfortunately and the bleeding hand clutching senbon weakly came up across their chest.
"You… shall not… take them," came the weak threat.
For the first time, Naruto cursed the "no speaking" rule and figured this was going to have to go the hard way. Four copies of Two-Nine-Six-Six-Six darted forward as the shinobi's bloody hand flicked out with as much strength as they had left.
It cost him a clone as the four of them rushed in. It would have been him getting skewered if he wasn't as smooth with wordless substitutions utilizing them. The masked nin had been aiming for him and, even nearly comatose as they were, their aim was remarkably good.
Even as the unnamed clone puffed away into an angry cloud of smoke, the two remaining clones grabbed the bleeding ninja by the arms only to stop in gaping disbelief as their new captive passed out from fatigue and blood loss.
"Leave him alone!" Naruto looked up at the sound of the child's voice, his eyes narrowing behind his mask.
'That must be Tazuna's grandson, Inari. That would make the scared looking woman behind him the daughter. No use trying to win them over.' He turned his back on them and focused on the half-dead shinobi bearing Kiri marks on his mask.
Four more puffs of smoke revealed more copies of himself. Sticking to the "silent is deadly" restrictions of the test, he began issuing orders.
[You two, food. You two, herbs, heal. Hurry.] Once they were gone, he created two more clones, one going off to stand watch by the entrance and the other wandered over to peer into the various piles of crap stored in the back of the cave with its terrified occupants. It wasn't very difficult to avoid the child's wild swings (someone had given him a kunai) so he peered around until he found a recently used tea pot resting over an old fire. Wetting his fingers, he touched the side to reveal that the liquid inside was still warm. Picking up one of the available cups, he poured a fresh round and brought it back over to the three working to undress the wounded shinobi.
The mask came off first and was set gently to the side. Naruto checked the face, neck and scalp for any bruises, cuts or scrapes before moving on casually noting how good looking the male ninja was. The two clones shared a nervous glance.
They gently laid him flat on the ground but held on to the arms; many a shinobi had played possum to gain the upper hand and this could be much of the same. It would be a tricky thing to administer first aid to an actively resisting enemy.
Naruto began carefully peeling off the green haori and heavy turtleneck sweater, being extra careful around the bloody cuts across the chest, right arm, and right hip. He was so focused on examining the ninja's wounds that he missed the obvious signs until the individual was almost completely bare.
'Odd, someone tried to administer first aid.' He began gently peeling back the cloth wrapped around the ninja's upper body to gain access to the heavy cut slashing from the upper right shoulder to the left lower rib cage. To the clone returning with the tea, he passed a blood pill along with his mortar and pestle from his med kit. While the copy prepared the concoction, he generated one more clone with the task of finding something to hold water in. Before too long he had most of what he needed for some decent first aid and he turned back to his patient and froze.
The blood wasn't the issue. The issue was when he realized that the wraps around the shinobi's chest weren't bandages but a kunoichi's chest wrappings and those round things weren't swollen sores but the petite breasts of a small chested female. He stared noticing the gentle swell of her flared hips. If he'd lowered the pinstriped skirt a bit more he could probably see-.
He stared some more. He probably would have kept staring had one of his clones not smacked him over the head prompting him to get to work. He also promptly ignored the chuckling woman in the back of the cave.
From there on it was all clinical. He cleaned the wounds as best he could with water heated from low-level chakra manipulation. By the time everything was clean, two of the clones sent out to forage had returned with herbs and roots. Grabbing the o-ren and Bo-fu root (for fever and pain), he separated a few leaves of each and sent the tea clone off to prepare a fresh batch.
Cleansing the girl's wounds with anti-septics, Naruto checked once more to make sure she was still asleep then began tending to the worse cuts on her left arm and hip. Wrapping up each wound as he went, he was halfway through stitching up the worst of her chest when the girl twitched and her eyes fluttered open. Trying to keep his calm, Naruto paused only for the briefest of moments as he resumed his craft work.
She took two minutes to assess the situation before her eyes locked onto the face mask of her unknown savior.
"If you weren't currently saving my life, I'd murder you where you stand." He was trying to ignore the jiggle of her small peaks and bobbed his head in acknowledgment.
"Nothing to say for your brazen behavior?" He could only shake his head and hope his face wasn't glowing like a beacon underneath his mask.
"You do pretty good work though," she croaked out as her dry throat caused her to cough and wince. His hands hovered over her torn ribs until her fit subsided. Not wanting to re-sanitize everything, he finished up the remaining sutures then traded out the bloody implements for the first cup of tea.
Lifting it to her lips, the girl's mouth pressed into a thin line and her eyebrows narrowed. Huffing out a dejected gush of air, Naruto carefully lifted the bottom of his balaclava until his mouth cleared enough to take a sip. He regretted it almost immediately and his whole body shuddered, his mouth gagging and convulsing at the flavor.
Trying to suppress a giggle, the kunoichi waited to make sure he didn't keel over dead before accepting the bitter drought. While he couldn't gag out loud, the unnamed Kiri nin made up for it. Once it was all gone, something requiring several attempts on her part, he passed the cup off for the next dose drawing her attention to the piles of herbs his clones gathered while she was out.
She nodded and called out the names of each herb correctly indicating she had deep knowledge of holistic remedies.
Naruto held up the ingredients in the now full cup, mimed grinding them up into the tea then held up two fingers before miming a drinking motion. She smiled weakly and nodded that she understood. Naruto leaned forward to check the pallor of her skin to make sure the blood pill was doing its job.
"Ahem." He moved back a hair to lock eyes with her. "I'm a bit cold. If you're not going to wrap me back up, could you at least cover me?" She could see his blank stare through the eyeholes of his mask. She could also see his amazingly blue eyes and felt herself falling into their shadowed depths. Given her compromising state of dress with the mysterious shinobi straddling her hips, the dangerous kunoichi blushed despite herself.
With his eyes closed and his hands clapped together asking forgiveness, forgiveness she granted with a giggle and a nod, he got back to work. Pulling out a fresh roll of bandages, Trip-Six motioned for the clones to lean her forward so he could begin wrapping up her chest and right shoulder.
It took a long time to get his blush under control. As he helped her redress, the clone at the entrance jerked upright then vanished meaning all of the Narutos repeated the same motion. The huge ball of fire in the poorer section of the village more than justified the reaction. Naruto, the original, almost swore aloud.
When his remaining clones darted inside depositing a half dozen fish and four freshly killed rabbits, Naruto gathered up his belongings, bowed once more to the still prone kunoichi clutching the fresh tea in her no-longer trembling hands, then rushed off to see if he could salvage their mission before Gato got wind of what was happening.
He missed the Kunoichi's whispered threat to make him take responsibility for his actions in the very near future.
~III~
It was close to midnight meaning he had roughly an hour and a half before he needed to start heading to the meetup. Flying through the trees with his eight clones, Trip-Six began working out the beginnings of a plan as he tore through the foliage like the Kyuubi was hot on his trail.
They were blown. They had to be. There was no way people close to Gato didn't see that mushrooming gout of flame shooting in the air. If it wasn't a problem at this moment, it would be once people sobered up and started talking about it. It was only a matter of time.
And once they started talking about it, their mission was out of time and out of luck. The smarmy bastard would reinforce himself and any shot at taking him out would vanish like cinnamon rolls in front of a certain pretty Hyuuga heiress.
~III~
Back on the Hi no Kuni shoreline, a certain bluenette sneezed delicately, her face blossoming into a beautiful shade of red as her favorite sweet and a certain blond hunk fluttered through her mind.
~III~
He needed to end this now.
It took less than ten minutes to get back to the right building. Scaling down the far side, he selected a window at the opposite end of the hall away from the room he saw Gato partying in earlier. Slipping a senbon into the seam of a window, he flicked the lock open and quick as ghosts the squad of doppelgangers slid inside.
It was a trophy room. Stacks upon stacks of valuables and mementos were piled up leaving narrow aisles and walkways to get around it all. Naruto's eyes twitched in anger. The little bastard was profiting from the suffering of an entire village and this was going to end tonight.
He pointed out two clones at random. [Inventory.] The clones nodded as he handed a sheaf of paper and a pen to the pair. The rest of them filed out of the room and down the hallway with a vengeance.
All of the stealth was pointless but he kept it up. He had felt eyes on his back the whole time but there were too many chakra signatures to get a good fix inside the district.
Naruto cracked open the double doors leading to the office converted into a bedroom. He found both bodyguards passed out drunk and the fat man in question asleep in the obnoxiously large canopy bed.
A flick of the fingers sent six clones off to the guards. Two picked one apiece and clamped their hands over noses and mouths. The other four grabbed onto suddenly flailing arms to hold them still. When they stopped flailing, the clones holding onto their breathing apparatus gave a nasty twist snapping their necks with a satisfying crunch.
[Find Treasure.] His henchmen fanned out hoping that the stingy bastard wouldn't be predictable. Their hopes were undeniably dashed against the rocks of reality finding that he'd taken over the Mayor's safe.
[Bring Him.]
Two clones descended on the bed, one burying a meaty fist into the stomach of the sleeping tyrant who awoke to a world of pain. Yanked out of bed by the second clone, the rapidly blinking eyes of the still hungover billionaire tried to focus on the odd people milling about his personal bedchamber.
His eyes swept over the unmoving bodies of his personal guard with their heads laying at unnatural angles and his bladder released. The two clones, one holding the back of his neck and the other holding on to his left arm, glanced down in disgust before manhandling the Gato over in front of the safe. When one rapped a metal covered knuckle on the safe door, the self-proclaimed overlord frantically nodded his head as he shuffled forward to tumble through the combination.
The real Naruto slid over to the window overlooking the courtyard. Most of the bandits below were still out in their drunken stupor but a few had begun to gather and gesture out where the fireball originated from. Glancing at his watch, he saw zero-one-fifteen. He needed to speed this up.
Catching the eye of a clone standing by the dead guards, he signed a single word: [Clothes]. As soon as the safe popped open, the clone in question slapped the pudgy man's dark brown suit against his chest without a word.
"B-B-B-But I never wear the same-." SMACK!
The clone's open palm silenced him and nearly spun him around three-sixty. With a meek bob of the head, Gato, the man who was king over all he surveyed just that morning, shed his piss-filled night clothes and, for the first time since he found his calling in life, wore a suit he'd worn the day previously. Grumbling to himself about how he was going to make these shinobi pay for the insult once he met up with those uppity ronin he'd paid good money for, he stood up tall and snugged his tie into place.
He would look good regardless. As he turned to face his persecutors, he felt the quick breeze across his throat and then the room tumbled uncontrollably. He wanted to comment on how odd that felt but no sound came out of his mouth. He blinked in confusion as he caught sight of his shoes noticing there was a scuff at the tip of one.
He'd have to beat his atten…
The last thought he'd ever have in his life was how to belittle and demean someone he paid far too little for their services.
Naruto ignored the crumpling body and found a blank sheet of paper. He then set about making two storage scrolls. In the first, he stored Gato's head plus the contents of the safe, which consisted of large sums of money and several thick-bound ledgers. In the second, he stored roughly ten percent of the thick money rolls in Gato's treasure trove.
Rights of Conquest and all that.
Gato's body they quietly hung from the roof of his appropriated home and tucked off to rendezvous with the rest of his team. It would be many more hours before a bandit sober enough to look up would notice the fat man's corpse hanging upside and headless.
By then, it would be too late.
~III~
Naruto walked into the appointed clearing to see both temporary teammates standing next to Hebi. While Zero-One-Three seemed full of his usual arrogance, Eight-Seven-Seven seemed more distracted than usual, edgy almost. Something happened but she was trying to hold it together to the very end.
"You were almost late, Trip. Glad you could join us." She sounded a little too pleased with herself.
"Alright roaches and rats, show and tell time. Gimp, what's the status of the house?" Ino's head snapped up after a jerky start, her fingers clumsily forming hand signals.
[House secured. Two hostiles neutralized.] She held up the bloody storage scrolls she'd taken from their corpses.
'Ah, that explained it. She'd killed her first human. It's not like killing the monsters in Istoria; humans don't vanish into dust so you can't see the consequences of your actions.' He knew exactly what she was going through as he'd fought with it years before in the slums.
"Good." Hebi then did something uncharacteristic of her normal snarky behavior. She walked over and gently placed a hand on the girl's shoulder whispering something only for Ino to hear. He could see the girl's head nodding up until Anko broke the intimate contact. Evil Anko was back a moment later as if nothing untoward happened.
"Bunny, sich report." The masked shinobi sucked on his teeth in irritation then began signaling his "situation report."
[POSS Seventy-Five hostiles. Located samurai. Terminated One.] He hefted the war trophy to emphasize the point and received a fist across the mask as a result.
"Yeah, I thought that was you. You probably jeopardized our mission with that stunt. If we don't kill Gato tonight, he'll beef up his security and we'll never get close. Good job, Shinobi! You failed utterly in the stealth-do-not-engage department." She growled down at the sulking figure sprawled on the ground and turned to Naruto.
"You'd better have good news for me including a fail-safe way to get to the bastard before he wakes up and hears about junior Firestarter's grand adventure."
Naruto blinked quietly for a few seconds then shrugged as he pulled out the one scroll that might save his hide. Unrolling it and praying that she didn't stab him, he pushed chakra into the scroll to reveal tons of money, several hardbound ledgers, and a head partially wrapped in a high-thread-count pillowcase. The orange hair sticking out of the top gave away the identity.
When he looked up to await his punishment next, he saw that she wasn't surprised. Anko was smiling under her mask. He could tell from the glint in her beady little eyes. As an afterthought, he handed her the inventory scroll his clones had compiled from the room they entered.
Hebi summoned a messenger snake and asked it to deliver the list to the Kakashi Hatake, chuckling greedily as the snake vanished in another puff of smoke.
Naruto found it oddly disconcerting how the serpent swallowed the scroll, the rolled paper clearly visible inside the bulging section of its body.
Ino sighed in relief hoping that this meant they could go home. Meanwhile, their mystery partner was choking on his own spit in disbelief.
[Saw flames. Assumed cover blown. Assumed our last chance.] Pushing chakra back into the hastily-made scroll, he re-sealed the contents and handed the scroll to the snake queen.
"Normally you know what happens when you assume but this time it worked in our favor. I'd call that good news." Anko reached into her coat and pulled out a long tube with a pull cord. Holding it high above her head, she yanked hard on the cord with the other and flare shot up into the night sky.
"C'mon you lot. It's time to see what all your hard work had bought you." She started walking off through the trees back in the direction of town, a very confused trio following in her wake.
~III~
Kakashi was surprised to see the green flare so early in the mission. Weren't they using Genin initiates for this?
Shrugging it off, he whistled for the other platoon leads and gave the signal. Hordes of shinobi bearing the symbol of the Leaf flooded the beach. Those that could water walk, did so. Those that could not, rode in boats being pulled along by those that could.
The wave of forest green death shot across the strait between Nami and Hi no Kuni and up the beach into the village proper. Like an angry horde of locusts, they converged on every hut, shack, house, or building. Like the angry hand of Kami, they struck down the evil and malignant taint of Gato's stench everywhere they encountered it.
Wherever a brigand, bandit or lackey of Gato hid, cowered, or dared to fight, they died screaming. The sole ronin defending his master fell to a horde of kunai, senbon, tanto strikes and jutsu. It was not a glorious final stand. He never stood a chance and his master almost immediately followed along in his death throes.
Those in the business quarter still sober enough to fight were routed. Those still passed out from alcohol never saw nor felt their deaths. This was a cleansing, an infestation purge in its purest form.
By the time the sun rose on the shores of Nami, the village had been liberated and civilians awoke to the confusing sound of freedom.
Upon the hillside watching a team of Konoha nins retrieve Gato's headless body to seal away, ANBU Team Hebi observed it all as if it were a sidewalk puppet show.
"Remember that no matter whether you join us or return to normal shinobi duties, this is why we do what we do. You will never be famous unless your mission completion and skill instill fear into the enemy. No one will ever know what you do for Konoha or what you do for poor bastards like those down below. If you're doing this to make a name for yourself, you're in it for the wrong reasons and you should quit now before I end your miserable existence later." She turned to face the three youths staring up at her.
"Hubris is the fastest way to end up hanging by your feet from some village's roof without your head attached to your body." Without another word, she turned from the ridge and began walking back to the shoreline.
They had a long run ahead back to Konoha after all and she wanted a hot bath and fresh dango by next nightfall.
~III~
Kakashi was pleased with the wrap-up effort. Liberating the beleaguered village had been a rudimentary exercise in bandit clearing and was the only reason the Hokage allowed inclusion of the Genin from the rookie teams.
Allowing his eye to rove over to Team Gai, he almost smiled at the determined look on the face of Tenten Higurashi. She more than anyone else needed this release. He hoped their initial debacle wouldn't cause her to lose focus and fall from the ranks. She was a good kunoichi in his eyes.
Speaking of lost Genin, the Silver Cyclops raked his dark eye over the hillside wondering how his missing soldier was holding up. He should be back among them before too long.
A puff of smoke at his feet drew him from his own wandering thoughts and down to the dark green snake trying to hack up a slimy roll of paper. Reaching down to pick the soaked outer casing with a dainty grip of two fingers, he eye-smiled in appreciation and sighed as the tiny serpent vanished having completed its mission.
Anko really needed to find a less disgusting way to deliver these missives.
~III~
They were back standing at the Nami shore looking out across the strait between nations, Hebi taking one last look at her three charges. Despite being publicly labeled as "that sadistic Snake Whore," she was beginning to worry about the mental state of the younger kunoichi.
"We'll cross back over to gain some distance from the relief effort and rest until noon. Get ready for a hard push home. I want to wrap up our final report and be done with you brats by supper time."
Eight-Seven-Seven started to protest in hand sign saying she had the strength to continue but the snake lead shot down her protests.
"Don't be reckless. You're running off of fading adrenaline and, at some point, that is going to fail you utterly. I don't want that to happen during a high-speed transit where you pass out from fatigue or lose it enough to smash into a tree. No arguments. Now mount up!"
Six-Six-Six assumed the position and the mentally and physically wiped Kunoichi nearly fell onto his back.
Naruto looked over his shoulder into the blank face mask of his rider as he rose gently to his feet, his hands hooking under her thighs with little reaction or protest from Ino. He knew something was off at that point when she simply turned her face to look away from him and gripped his cloak front in a clutch that would make Lee beam with praises of youth.
He kept his sprint across the wide band of water as smooth as possible enjoying his teammates flailing repeat of their initial journey over. A guy needed to get his entertainment when he could, didn't he?
This time he carried her all the way into the cave and gently set the girl down in her original corner, one hand gently cupping the side of her mask surprising the girl as her face flickered up to meet his. Her ice blue eyes seemed confused until she focused enough to look back into his eyes through the mask slots.
His incredibly deep blue eyes. He'd been with her the whole time.
Naruto could see understanding dawn on her as he saw moisture pooling underneath her mask. Quietly raising a finger to his mask where his lips would be, he waited until she nodded then turned to face their team lead near the middle of the cavern.
"She gonna be okay?" Hebi whispered in a surprisingly concerned tone of voice. They ignored Zero-One-Three's condescending snort.
[Unknown. Propose removing from watchbill.] Zero-One-Three Immediately began to protest but was cut off by a palm to the mask. Trying to back away, he found that his mask was annoyingly stuck to the palm of her gloved hand.
Naruto raised an eyebrow under his mask as it gave him a great idea for making his homegrown martial arts even more dangerous. Her next question snapped his attention away from the grunting and flailing Zero-One-Three.
"That's fair but how do you plan to fill the watchbill afterward?" Two clones popped into existence without seals or words and the snake lead nodded once. One padded out to the cave entrance and the other squatted down near where the two Genin were to be curled up in adjacent corners of their little cubby. The clones would allow the entire team to rest and provide redundancy. As the boy turned to head over to the girl's corner, his identity slapped Hebi like a large fish to the face.
His never-ending stream of energy.
How he could burn chakra like no tomorrow and still have enough to keep feeding the weakest member of his team.
His unending ability to spam Shadow Clones like rainbow-flavored candy, her personal favorite by the way.
The sudden realization also came with a pang of guilt. If it really was him, he knew who she was this entire time and gave no indication that he knew until that moment. Furthermore, she was slipping something awful as she should have guessed it when he used an entire squad of clones to invade Gato's hideout the night before. Her thoughts had been more distracted by that fool's use of a Katon jutsu than she first believed.
She cursed silently even as she noticed the annoying Genin attached to the end of her arm tapping the back of her hand as a reminder of their predicament. With a pained sigh, she released him then sought her own corner to piss and moan in.
Her biggest fear was coming to life and she wasn't in any position to make the changes she needed to in order to correct it.
'Damn you, Kushina.'
Naruto, for his part, headed straight to Ino and got her to slide just a bit out of her little corner. At first confused, it made perfect sense as he slid down the wall with his back, his hands reaching out to pull her into his chest. Pushing her masked head down onto his shoulder, he wrapped both arms around her shoulders and rocked her gently, his hands rubbing her arms and shoulders.
Before too long, the fatigue, the continued mission stress, and the trauma of her first two kills began to rock her shoulders as silent sobs broke down her resistance. He had to give her credit. He could tell she was trying to muffle her sounds, her whimpers and hiccupping coming out through gritted teeth and sighing gasps. Not knowing what else to do for her, he began radiating his chakra at the smallest levels he could, his body continuing to rock from side to side.
The effect of his chakra washing over her had an immediate impact and she sighed blissfully.
Eventually, it worked and her whimpers died down altogether. Ultimately, even the periodic spasming of her shoulders stopped as sleep took her.
From across the small cave, an older woman watched in green-eyed jealousy hidden beneath the safety of her mask.
~III~
Final pack up and departure started off slow as one of the Naruto clones was talking, or trying to talk through hand signals, with Hebi.
"You can't keep protecting her. Eventually, she is going to have to learn to cut it on her own." The clone, hence the original Naruto, didn't necessarily disagree with that premise. He did disagree with using very stupid and limiting gestures as the sole means to communicate so he switched to writing in the dry dirt of the cave floor.
[That is correct, but she isn't cut out for this life. We all can see that.]
"That's her call, not yours. She earned her shot." The clones growl didn't exactly indicate disagreement.
[I know she didn't ask for this. There is no way you can convince me of that.] The Snake Princess nodded.
"And your point would be?"
[I'll take care of her on the way back. If she wants to push on with this dumb idea someone put in her head, that's her call. She's been through enough this week.]
"Again, not your call Romeo." The clone merely stalked away in disgust.
While that was going on, the real Naruto could see that Ino was still exhausted and found very little trouble in convincing her to climb on to his back again. The second clone secured her to him with the sword belt for his tanto, which he then secured in the front of the Boss's obi. Thus situated, he started walking purposefully from the cave.
"You sure about this, brat? I'm not slowing down because you're playing bleeding heart."
[Ready] was his only answer and without further discussion leaped up into the branches working his way back to their normal traveling height.
For Naruto, it became an exercise in chakra and body management. In order to avoid jarring the nearly comatose kunoichi, he had to shorten his jumps and flatten out his trajectory turning them more into hops and skips than anything else. This effectively doubled his output, which wasn't a problem for the psychotic ultimate-cross-training-marathon workout nut. By steadily streaming chakra to his legs, back, and shoulders, he didn't start to feel the burn until the walls of Konoha could be seen in the distance.
Ino, being securely strapped to his back and enveloped in his addicting chakra as it flowed across her legs, pelvis, and the entire front half of her upper body, was lulled into warm sleep of white energy, clear dreamy skies, and warmth. She slept the entire five-hour trip home not waking up until the sublime feeling of warmth left her and she found her feet firmly on solid ground just outside the secret entrance to the ANBU underground passages.
Physically she felt fresh as a daisy from her chakra-induced nap. Mentally, she was dreading going to sleep that night without her chakra blanket. She was going to have to talk to her father soon. Ino knew enough about mental health to know that hers was in a very shaky place at the moment.
The friendly squeeze on her hand let her know that she wasn't alone, and her eyes snapped up to see Naruto looking back at her with concern. She knew without a doubt who he was now, and she saw his concern even as she returned the hand squeeze before stepping away to stand on her own.
He cared for her. He cared enough for her to carry her on his muscled back for five hours through the Konoha forest and bring her safely home. It made her warm inside and a bit ashamed at her momentary weakness.
Shinobi killed. Despite her growing despair and the faces of those two bastards flashing repeatedly behind her eyes, it was a necessary evil. Asking for help did not mean that she was weak. Asking for help did not mean that she was weak.
She kept repeating that mantra all the way through the upcoming debriefing and up until she reached her father running straight into his arms.
It would be a long night for Ino Yamanaka as she recounted her tale to a startled and sobbing mother as her father made tea for them all several times over. Her mask lay untouched in the middle of the table.
~III~
[Glossary*]
Tsujigiri – Also known as a "Crossroad Killing;" a Japanese term for a practice when a samurai, after receiving a new katana or developing a new fighting style or weapon, tests its effectiveness by attacking a human opponent, usually a random defenseless passer-by, in many cases during nighttime. The practitioners themselves are also referred to as tsujigiri.
[Jutsu Used in This Chapter]
[C-Rank] Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu (Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique): Goukakyuu no Jutsu is a Ninjutsu technique utilizing the Fire Element. The ninja does the necessary hand seals, draws chakra from their mouth into their chest and them immediately exhales it. They then blow a stream of fire which erupts into a large sphere of flames. To better manage the flames the ninja will bring their hand to their mouth to control it.
Katon jutsu such as this are seen as a rite of passage into adulthood for Uchiha clan members. Once the member can manipulate fire, they are finally recognized as no longer being a child.
[C-Rank] Ninpou: Shintenshin no Jutsu (Art of the Valentine): Shintenshin a.k.a. Art of the Valentine allows the user to enter a target's mind, taking control of their body and senses. Normally a spying Jutsu, it can also be used in battle although with many drawbacks. The spiritual energy travels very slowly making it easy to dodge; If this happens, the user's body will be left as an empty vessel for a few minutes, leaving it wide open to attack- and even if the Jutsu does work, any damage that is caused to the target will also be inflicted upon the user's original body.
Art of the Valentine, which is used along with Shintenshin no Jutsu in the Viz English manga, is not a literal translation of Shintenshin no Jutsu.
[Unranked, most likely B-Rank Equivalent] Shisururōzu no Mai (Dance of the Thistle Rose): The Dance of the Thistle Rose is a finishing move of the Azami Clan from Tetsu no Kuni. It is comprised of a sequential flow combining ten powerful strikes with high-energy charges to close the distance to an opponent giving them little time to react and counter. Novices to the art tend to have a difficult time adjusting the strikes to an opponent, an ability that normally evolves through years of dedication and practice to both the art form and samurai chakra sheathing to enhance physical performance.
Like the shinobi, samurai have their own variations of kenjutsu distinguished further through clan specializations, each clan teaching a specific style or forming a specific school of the art. The Order of the Thistle Rose was created by a minor clan in Tetsu no Kuni on the verge of extinction but known for its honorable fighting style of formalized swordplay. Modeled after Tenshin Shoden Katori Shinto Ryu, it teaches strict form and control through powerful strikes minimizing combat to reduce potential damage to the blade.
~III~
Seven Easy Steps to Ninja Stardom
By Minato Namikaze
Chapter 5: Jutsu Every Good Shinobi Should Know (Well)
It is said that, "The shinobi who trains himself has a fool for a teacher."
I can wholeheartedly agree with this. Oh, don't misunderstand. It's well and good to discover long lost jutsu and techniques and to work towards mastering them. It is the height of utter foolishness to believe that you can take someone else's prized technique and perfect it without the critical eye of an observer or teacher familiar enough to provide helpful feedback in the family of technique you wish to add to your repertoire.
To reach that peak of tactical acumen, I say to you set aside your foolish pride and train with someone. Make sure it's someone you trust but find someone to help you perfect your skills. An unbiased eye is capable of discerning errors in your transformation or execution of elemental jutsus. A practiced sparring partner can help you push yourself beyond your limits. Never discount the benefits of training with someone you trust not to steal your hard-won secrets.
CAUTIONARY NOTE: Never share clan secrets with anyone outside your clan. That's just a... no!
Now that the unpleasant administrative business is out of the way, you're probably wondering which spectacular jutsus I would recommend you focus your initial efforts on? Well, wait no longer intrepid shinobi!
Let's start with the Travelling Ten.
"..."
What? Give me a break you say? Not impressed you say? Bite your tongue, ragamuffin!
The basics are the basics for a reason. They further develop chakra control and help you to build your initial chakra stores through constant practice and use. Furthermore, when performed properly, the act as introductory exercises that can build budding elemental chakra affinities. I never understood why hot shots run off to learn the big flashy techniques then spend hours lamenting why they're unable to do a simple Katon or Suiton jutsu.
The blueprints have already been laid out for you in these simple jutsus used to make long-distance patrols or missions in foreign nations more comfortable.
That said, it doesn't matter which ones you learn. Just pick one from each element. The one used for burying animal remains or human waste in the earth, you guessed it, helps build an earth element affinity. The one for condensing water from moisture in the air, uh huh. You're starting to catch on.
Pick at least one from each and master it. I mean truly master it to where you can do it with single-handed seals then again without any at all. And stop yelling out your techniques so that your enemy can react to what you're doing. You should work to master every jutsu you know without words or seals before moving on to the next (I'll include tutorials in the back of this book to help you with those two casting options).
Once you are past the "Traveling Ten," I recommend mastering the Basic Academy Three. Yes, you read correctly. Master the Transformation, the Substitution, and the Clone techniques until you can cast them with no hand seals, no verbal components, and very little to no smoke to give away your actions.
They're the basic minimums to graduate for a reason. Transformation is an excellent way to disguise yourself from enemy detection and, if you can perform it fast enough without tipping your hand, can be an excellent evasion tool against less skilled pursuers. Substitution can literally save your life and, when mastered fully, can provide you with critical seconds in a life and death battle to fine-tune your plan to either win or flee from a challenging foe. Finally, the Clone Technique. While not a powerful offensive technique, it is the gateway jutsu to more powerful clone techniques that are and can prolong the life of your clones in combat (or your own if you need a distraction for just a moment).
Master them and incorporate the Basic Three into your fighting style. You'll be thankful that you did one day.
Go farther and master the Leaf Floating, Tree Climbing and Water Walking techniques as soon as possible. The boost to your chakra control is nothing to sneeze at but these three exercises segue nicely into the following skill of Chakra Sheathing, the quintessential shinobi technique for using chakra to enhance your body making you less likely to be severely injured in a fist fight and help you perform fantastic feats of strength. Don't doubt the leaf!
Oh, if you have not found the Body Flicker technique in the Genin section of the library, yes, I said the Genin section of the library, go grab a copy this very minute. Aside from being the coolest way to travel (it's highly customizable by the way), when mastered fully it can become an effective tool in close quarters combat. Need to get directly behind your opponent? Flicker! Need to gain distance to open up a window to cast a devastating jutsu? Flicker! Need to close the distance to make a heroic rescue at the last second and look magnificent in the eyes of a beautiful damsel? FLICKER!
Need I say more? Then why haven't you left for the library yet? Just kidding, sit back down! We're almost done.
The last two I'll recommend are both E ranks also found in the library (if your Jounin instructor is an absolute lazy ass). Find copies of the Shadowing Stealth Technique and the Escaping Skill technique. You will definitely need to practice these against someone to be sure you have them down but the benefits will pay for themselves.
These are all fairly basic skill sets and used to be taught in the Academy, which is why they're available in the Genin section of the shinobi library. The Body Flicker used to be taught as part of the final year and it hurt to hear that it was going away. At any rate, you have some homework ahead of you, don't you?
Good reading to you and good luck!
~III~