Chapter 4

NINJAS IN THE NIGHT NO JUTSU

It was a wonderful day. The sun was shining, the birds were singing, and Kakashi had been torn into bloody chunks.

Well, that last one wasn't so wonderful.

It had started rather innocuously. Naruko had been fed up with simple D-rank missions and demanded something higher. While Kakashi had apologized for the outburst, the rest of the team hadn't said anything, agreeing with her via their silence. Kaguya was likewise not interested in wasting her power picking up litter or catching the Daimyo's wife's runaway cat over and over. And the less said about the babysitting incident, the better.

To Kaguya's surprise, instead of simply denying them, the Hokage had actually given them a C-rank, bodyguarding some architect heading back to his homeland, the Land of Waves.

While she didn't like the bridge builder, she had to admit she was excited. Not only was she getting to leave the village for the first time, but also getting to go to a completely different country? While she found Naruko's outbursts obnoxious, she was going to let this slide for what it had gotten them.

Of course, barely an hour away from Konoha and they were suddenly ambushed by ninjas. Kakashi had been taken out almost instantly, and from there, they continued the attack.

Judging by their headbands, they were from Kirigakure no Sato or in the New Language, the Village Hidden in Mist. But that was a detail for later.

The remaining team (minus Naruko who had frozen) were already on the move. While Sakura moved to protect their client, Satsuki hurled a shuriken into the spiked chain linking the Kiri-nin, pinning it to a tree, a pin that was secured by a kunai hurled through the center of the shuriken. As the Kiri-nin were suddenly halted, Kaguya leaped in between them, Byakugan activated.

Before they could react, she spun. "Eight Trigrams Palms - Revolving Heaven!"

Expelling chakra from all her points as she spun, the two shinobi were blown back by the force of the spin. As their chain was still pinned to the tree, they were swung around the tree to painfully collide with each other.

"Release it!" Kaguya could hear one of them shout.

There was a click as the chain attaching them was broken off and the two of them moved towards the attack. One dashed towards her, while the other went around, clipping past the still frozen Naruko towards the bridge builder.

Kaguya ducked beneath the claw swipe, and formed a spike of bone in her hand, which she quickly stabbed into the Kiri-nin's side. He grunted in pain, before attempting to slash again, but it was too late. A palm strike both damaged his insides and sent him careening back into a tree where he slumped down, defeated.

Of course, at the same time, Kakashi had deigned to finally reappear, grabbing the other Kiri-nin around the throat.

"Kakashi-sensei!" Sakura said.

"B-but he was-" Naruko turned to where Kakashi's remains supposedly were, only to see the remains of a Kawarimi. Of course Kaguya had realized this the moment she had activated her Byakugan. Not that she had been fooled initially. Certainly not. Absolutely not.

Still, she breathed a sigh of relief (but not because she was worried about Kakashi). Kaguya could detect no other threats in range of her Byakugan so she deactivated it, letting her senses contract. Her heart was pounding as she sank to her knees, staring at the bloodstained spike emerging from her arm. There was some conversation, but Kaguya didn't register any of it, still staring.
It was only broken when she felt Kakashi's hand on her shoulder.

"K-Kakashi-sensei." Kaguya said.

"Your first fight with enemy ninja. You did good capitalizing on Satsuki's actions."

Kakashi offered her his hand, though she refused it, standing on her own. She dismissed the bone spike, it crumbling into dust leaving the blood to splatter on the ground where she pointedly ignored it. She clenched her fist. Her heartbeat slowed back down to normal. What the hell did she have to be anxious about? She was vastly stronger. This fight hadn't even been a challenge. Especially compared to Kakashi's "survival exercise".

Kakashi himself was currently explaining about the enemy ninja who he had tied to a tree with a rope.

"These are chunin from the Hidden Mist Village. Their specialty is 'relentless assault'. They'll keep attacking, no matter the sacrifice."

"How did you know about our ambush?" One of the Kiri-nin asked.

"A puddle? On a clear day? When it hasn't rained in weeks?"

Kaguya mentally kicked herself for not noticing that detail.

"In that case, why'd you leave it for the genin to do the fightin'?" The bridge builder asked.

"True, I could have taken them out quickly, but I had to know who their target was and what they were after."

"What are you gettin' at?"

"I wanted to know if they were after us, ninja attacking ninja, or if they were after you, the master bridge builder." Kakashi explained. The bridge builder flinched at this. "When you put in your request, you asked for standard protection, from robbers, bandits, monsters, and low-grade youma and demons. You didn't say anything about there being ninja after you. If we knew this, it would be a B-rank mission at the least. Our task was to simply get you to your destination and protect you while you finished the bridge. If we knew we'd be dealing with enemy ninja we would have staffed differently and charged for the cost of a B-rank. You may have your reasons, but lying to us is not acceptable. We are now beyond the scope of this mission."

"We're genin. This is too advanced for our level of training." Sakura added. "We should go back."

"Speak for yourself." Kaguya said. She wasn't about to go crawling back to the Hokage because the higher mission she wanted turned out to be 'too advanced'. Visions of her peers in the Hyuuga clan came to mind, though she quickly forced them out of her head.

Sakura flinched but continued. "We really need to treat Naruko's wound and get the poison out. We can take her to a doctor back in the village."

"Naruko's hand could become a problem." Kakashi agreed.

"ARRGH that's it!" Naruko growled. She then plunged her kunai into her hand.

"Naruko, what are you doing?" Sakura attempted to move towards her, but for once, Kaguya found herself holding out her arm, blocking Sakura.

"I will never back down again and let someone else rescue me! I will never run away and I will not lose to Satsuki or Kaguya. Upon this wound I make this pledge. Believe it!"

Kaguya pondered on Naruko's oath. Despite her initial misgivings, her opinion was starting to rise somewhat about this girl. She was interesting, despite her weakness. There was more to her than Kaguya had originally thought. About all of them.

It was a good while of travel ahead of them. At a civilians pace it would take about a week to travel from Konoha to the Land of Waves. Not that Kaguya minded much. Being able to see the outside world was amazing, though it was brought down slightly as she contemplated what the bridge builder had said.

Despite Naruko's insistence on continuing the mission, Kakashi had demanded that the bridge builder explain why ninja were after him.

And so he had told them about Gato. On the surface, the billionaire was a legitimate businessman, running a shipping company, though according to the old man, beneath the facade, most of his wealth came from illicit activities such as drugs, smuggling, and trafficking using bandits, gangs, and rogue ninja. He had set his sights on the poor country that was the Land of Wave, intending to take it over and make it a hub for his illegal goods, away from prying eyes. In an island nation, controlling the seas made you king.

The bridge was the one thing that stood in the way of his total control and what he was trying to stop once he had finally realized the threat. Unfortunately, C-rank protection was the best the country could afford.

He had then started trying to guilt trip them, causing Kaguya to roll her eyes. She was already insisting on completing the mission along with Naruko. Besides, everything she had heard about this Gato wasn't endearing him to her. Rather, the blatant exploitation and control was starting to anger her.

Her hands went to her headband, and the Caged Bird Seal beneath it. Father had hated the thing. Her brother Neji hated it. She hated it. But there didn't seem to be anything that could be done about it.

No. Kaguya pulled away from it. No point in getting distracted by inevitables. That had been what had led Neji to become so fatalistic when their father was murdered.

And thoughts of her brother soured her mood again.

This was supposed to be a high point. Leaving the village! Facing off against real enemies! Getting to show just how powerful she was!

And yet, she couldn't shake an odd feeling of foreboding. Kaguya sighed.

"Hey, are you tired?" Naruko had approached her, falling back from where she had been almost racing Satsuki to stay at the front of the group.

"No." Kaguya answered. They'd been walking ever since the encounter with the Kiri-nin, and now it was approaching sunset. Despite this, it hadn't bothered Kaguya in the slightest. She really didn't tire much. Nor did she actually require that much food or drink, as she had discovered some time ago. She could even hold her breath for long periods of time.

"But you were sighing and all that."

"I was just thinking."

"Oh? About what?" Naruko asked, drawing in closer.

"What do you care?" Kaguya reflexively snapped.

"Oh." Naruko frowned. "Well, it's just that were on the same team and..."

Kaguya felt a strange feeling well up in her. Regret. Dammit! Why did she feel bad about that? She never had before when she was putting idiots and weaklings in their place. But Naruko had had a strange sort of magnetism to her such that insulting her like that felt like kicking a kitten. Maybe it was because she was a fellow outcast, Kaguya wasn't sure. She was pretty terrible at this. Interaction and Seduction was her worst subject.

"I was thinking about my family." Kaguya finally answered.

"Oh, must be nice." Naruko sulked.

"Do not get ahead of yourself." Kaguya said. "All family does is bring trouble. It's a burden."

"Like what?"

"None of your business." Kaguya said. Likeable or not, she did not want to talk about it.

"Oh. Okay." Naruko said, then without missing a beat she asked: "So, then, what's with your horns?"

Kaguya almost stumbled. "W-what?"

"Like, your eyes are all weird and your all pale and horny."

Kaguya's face greyed in a blush. She had not expected that turn of phrase. "T-that's not how you use that word."

Naruko merely shrugged. "Well, I've been wondering why you're like that."

"My eyes are the Byakugan. It's the Kekkei Genkai of the Hyuuga clan."

"Kekkei whatsit?"

"A Bloodline Limit in the New Language. Didn't you pay any attention when they went over this in class?"

"Well all that language and clan stuff was boring. How is that supposed to help me become a super-awesome ninja?"

Kaguya gave an exasperated sigh. Talk about missing the forest for the trees.

"Well, whatever. So that means that you have that same thing as that weird Hinata girl?"

"Yes, and weird?"

"Yeah, she's always stuttering and fainting all the time y'know? It's weird. You know her, don't you?"

Kaguya wondered how Lady Hinata would react to her crush only thinking of her as "weird". Not well, most likely. "She's my cousin."

"Oh. Anyways, whats with your horns? And your all pale and stuff. Hinata's not like that, y'know."

"Well, what's with your whiskers? Are you supposed to be a cat or something?"

"No I'm a-" Naruko paused. "No I was born like this! Believe it!"

Kaguya shrugged. "Well, there you go."

"What- oh!"

"Yes." Kaguya confirmed.

There was bit of silence after that, before Kaguya decided to indulge her curiosity.

"Naruko, how did you pass the exam?"

"Oh yeah. I learned a really awesome jutsu! The Multi Shadow Clone Jutsu!"

"You couldn't even do a basic Bunshin Jutsu. How did you learn an advanced technique like that?"

"Oh! I learned it from that forbidden jutsu scroll the Hokage has."

"He just let you read the Scroll of Seals?"

"Well no, I stole it."

Kaguya almost stumbled again, her mind coming to a crash as she considered the implications of what Naruko had somehow accomplished in what had to be a single night. Stealing a top secret scroll from under the Sandaime's nose and learning an advanced forbidden jutsu in a single night. "So you mean to tell me you somehow snuck into the Hokage's residence and stole his scroll."

"Well, yeah. You see..." Naruko then began to explain. How Mizuki was actually a traitor who had tricked her into stealing the scroll to use her as a scapegoat. Naruko had learned a Kinjutsu, the Tajuu Kage Bunshin no Jutsu while waiting for Mizuki. "and then he said… never mind. Anyways, he tried to kill Iruka-sensei so I kicked his ass with my new jutsu and so Iruka-sensei passed me."

Kaguya didn't fail to notice that Naruko had pointedly left out a detail. Not that it mattered much. Mizuki was a traitor, whatever he had said was probably some sort of restricted information and Naruko had been likely sworn to secrecy. Still, the fact that Naruko could pick up an advanced Kinjutsu so quickly made her wonder just how she had wound up as dead last. Also why the Hokage would leave the forbidden Scroll of Seals just laying around his house.

Kaguya was roused from her thoughts when Kakashi spoke for the first time in a good while. "We should be coming up on a small town right about now. Just over that hill. It'll be a good place to spend the night."

"Alright!" Naruko cheered. "I hope they have ramen!"

She took off, running up the hill. Kaguya shrugged, continuing at the same pace. However, she noticed as Naruko stopped at the top, her arms flopping to the side as she stared.

"What's wrong? Naruko? Naruko? What's going-" Sakura asked as she noticed the normally hyperactive girls odd behavior. She rushed ahead after her, with the others following close behind, only to pause as well. "Gods..."

As Kaguya crested the hill, she saw what had the others so shocked. There, the town they were headed towards had been reduced to a smoking ruin.

I'm back! Sorry this took longer than usual. Also, what comes next is going to be a rather different detour from canon, as you can no doubt tell.

~Dragonexx