The sounds of combat echo in a clearing. Three men are fighting on a lake and are doing the impossible for most people, they are standing on the water like its soil, these men are ninjas and are being watched by their sensei. Ibiki watches as his three students spar and he smirks in pride. The kids are getting better.
Jake spins and his hands glow green as he lashes out at william. The tall man drops to his knees and spins under the strike. A long arm slams into Jake and his hair forms a brown trail behind him as he is sent skidding backwards. William glows softly before raising his arm and holding up a fist so the limb is bent ninety degrees at the elbow.
"LARIAT!" William exclaims as he rockets forward and a brutal clothesline sends Jake flying back into a tree.
The smack of flesh on wood is heard through the clearing and William abruptly leaps over a fist before landing behind his opponent. Sam is holding up his hands in the standard stance for the academy style from konoha. The style is adaptable and easily added to basic fighting for non close up fighters.
"How do you keep doing that? I know you couldn't hear me!" Sam exclaims as he starts throwing punches.
"You chakra. You use chakra reinforcement like myself but you don't have the control to achieve this without flaring your chakra. Thus allowing someone that can sense such a thing, such as myself, ample time to dodge or counter." william repelis.
A blur of motion is seens by Sam as William glows softly before he slams a leg into Sam with bone shattering force. Sam barely catches the leg with his arm and the limb breaks with a loud crack. Sam screams in pain as he is launched to the side before hitting a tree. Ibiki shakes his head before jogging over to sam.
"William. What did you do wrong? Again?" ibiki grunts as his hands glow green. A soft green compared to the harsh forest green that Jake's hands glow during combat.
"Too much force in my hits." William replies.
"Again. Dude you hate me or something. I thought we were friends." Sam groans. The soothing medical chakra fixing his arm helps, but it still hurts quite a bit.
"I do not hate you. I am actually quite fond of you, Jake, ibiki, and yugao. I am still working on the calculations for less force in my fighting style. If I reduce the chakra too much then the effort is wasted and if I don't remove enough then I'm still hitting too hard. The desired effect is difficult to calculate." William explains to his friend as he walks over to his bag on the shore.
"If it helps. The repeated breaking of your bones is making them stronger as I heal you." ibiki supplies.
"If it helps. It fucking hurts! Why does the bug guy hit like a fucking hammer?!" Sam snaps.
Jake snickers as he limps over and William calmly hands Sam a yellow jar. Sam eats honey as ibiki paces in front of the group.
"Alright. William has definitely progressed well with his recreation of the raikage's fighting style. His only issue is toning down the force so he doesnt break bones on his allies during spars. Sam is progressing fine with his academy style modifications. The addition of lava to his body will vastly increase the lethality of his attacks. Jake's chakra scalpel addition to gentle fist fighting style techniques are fine for now. As he progresses in experience with the gentle fist he will become stronger with time. Overall you three are at an acceptable level with close combat. Now. shall we focus on your sword fighting with yugao tomorrow or would you guys prefer to learn some elemental ninjutsu. Mainly Jake and William, Sam you need to cut back on the lava lakes you seem to default to creating." ibiki says as he smiles at his team before glaring at sam.
"Nothing beats a lava lake! You cant fight in a fucking volcano unless your me! I resent the lake comment." Sam exclaims.
Ibiki shakes his head and chuckles as he tells them that they are heading to the mission office. This is interrupted by an anbu member appearing before handing the man a scroll. Ibiki reads the scroll and sighs.
"Change of plans. I have an important victim and need to get the info out of him. Your team is joining team seven. You are heading to the sand country. We have been hired to track down a rogue ninja. Team seven will be your muscle and you three will focus on tracking then eliminating the target." ibiki explains to the three boys.
"What level is the target, how long will the mission take, are we tracking the target in sand country only or do we follow them through another country if they have defected?" william questions.
"Jonin, around a week most likely but i'd say pack for a month just to be safe, if they have left the sand country then gather as much information as possible before speaking to the client for orders. The client is the kazekage so I expect your best behavior. Sam this means behave." is the response.
The trio nod and they each head home. William informs his father of his mission and gathers supplies. Jake tells the clan head and asks for someone to feed his pig. Sam tells his landlord and gives him some money to water his plant.
The three boys meet up outside the office of the hokage and head in as team seven is getting debriefed. Kakashi is reading a small orange book as he listens to the hokage. The hokage greets the new team as they enter and the teams nod at their orders. Kakashi closes his book after folding the corner of a page to mark his place.
"Alright kids. Team thirteen is going to take the lead here. I'm a good tracker but thirteen is built for this and so i'm gonna let them take the lead, i'll offer help if they need it. Naruto I want you in the back of the group to act as muscle and reinforcements. Sasuke you're with me and sakura right behind team thirteen. Keep that sharingan ready so we won't be in danger of an ambush. Sakura, you stay next to me. We are going to work on some strategies just in case the target fights us. Any questions?" Kakashi tells his team before asking.
"Why do we need them? Can your dogs track the target before we take him down?" sasuke demands.
"Normally yes, my dogs would be able to track the target. However the sand where we are going hurts their paws and gets in their noses. It would take us much longer to track anything. Team thirteen has an aburame that can track the target and a hyuuga that can look under the sand in case the target is hiding down there. Also my dogs don't like the heat." Kakashi replies.
Sasuke grumbles about worthless animals as the two teams exit the office. Both teams reach the gate and William addresses the group.
"Our client is the we shall speak to him and gather information on the target's last known location.. I shall use my insects to acquire the scent before having kakashi's dogs do the same, just in case my insects can't track the target or if there are multiple trails." william states.
Everyone nods, except sasuke who snarls that an uchiha shouldnt take orders from a bug user, before they depart. The trees propel the teams and while team thirteen stays silent, team seven is full of chatter as sasuke argues with kakashi about learning stronger techniques. Apparently sasuke desires the strength of kakshi's raikiri but kakashi tells the boy he is not ready. This results in the boy growling and demanding the technique. Kakashi is arguing with the insolent boy as team thirteen all trade a look.
"If we acted like this then ibiki would beat us over the head before yugao threw books at us" jake remarks quietly. His teammates nod in agreement with the statement.
The journey is quickly finished despite Kakashi having to sling sakura over his shoulder after she starts to complain of fatigue. Team thirteen trades another look before they shake their heads. The group reaches sand country and are soon running across the sand. William releases a cloud of insects and Jake looks around with his byakugan. Both boys nod before they speed up. Sam groans at the sand getting in his pants as he follows his team. The group quickly reach the village hidden in the sand and are stopped by the guards.
"Teams thirteen and seven from konoha, i am the jonin leader of this group." Kakashi tells the guards.
"Kakashi hatake. We were not expecting a legend like yourself to be taking the mission." the guard remarks as his companion heads into the booth to grab a clipboard.
"I wasn't requested for the mission. Team thirteen are the ones that the client wanted. We are here as backup in case the target is stronger than expected." Kakashi explains.
The guard nods and his companion hands Kakashi the clipboard. The group sign in and are handed passes that they clip to their clothes. The rules are explained and they are told they cannot go to certain areas before handing the group a note with an address on it. The kazekage will talk to them tomorrow and they are given the rest of the day to rest up from the journey.
The group heads to their hotel and checks in, team thirteen is given a room and team seven gets their own as kakashi has a room to himself. Sasuke complains about this and Kakashi remarks that being a jonin has its perks. The boy snarls to himself as they all head to their rooms. The rooms have two beds and a bathroom with a door that leads to a shared kitchen area between the rooms. Team seven is soon arguing about who gets a bed and who gets the couch in the corner. Team thirteen all stand in a circle.
"Normal rules?" William drones.
"Normal rules." Jake responds as Sam smirks.
The three boys extend their fists before they each make a shape with their hands. William has extended his fingers to make a flat palm. Jake has made a fist with two fingers extended as Sam does the same. Two boys smirk and sit on the beds as William calmly walks over to the couch. A buzzing fills the room as a cloud of insects investigate the room. The insects return to their master and deposit three small objects in his palm.
"Only three? I feel insulted." William remarks.
"Three listeners?" Sam asks.
William nods and heads to the room with team seven before he enters without knocking. Sasuke and Naruto are wrestling on the floor as Sakura yells for Naruto to stop hurting sasuke. William calmly sends out his insects to collect the listening devices. The bugs go unnoticed as the boys on the floor are too busy brawling. William exits the room and heads to Kakashi's room before knocking. He enters at the muffled response.
"Three listening devices were in each room. Would you like me to collect the ones in your room?" William reports and asks.
"It's fine. I already took care of them. Sounds like my team is still arguing over the sleeping arrangements. How did your team decide to figure it out?" Kakshi responds from his position lying on the bed as he reads his book.
"Rock paper scissors. I'm lost so I am on the couch." William responds.
The older man nods and William exits the room before tossing the listening devices into a trashcan in the hall. As the tall boy returns to his room he sees that his teammates have gotten comfy. Sam is sitting on the floor and following a manual to assemble a small plastic statue, the statue looks like the four tailed monkey. Jake is reading a medical textbook and taking notes. William heads to the couch and unseals a small table before he begins to tinker with his puppets. A muffled thud is heard and the three boys look over at the wall that separates them from team seven before they trade a grin. Well. Sam and Jake grin, and William gives the aburame equivalent, a small smirk that is only seen by the creasing of his cheek over the collar of his coat.
The boys settle in to pass some time as two of them occasionally snicker at the sounds of brawling from next door.