Ch. 25

It had been two months since team seven passed and since Moriko had started working on the sealing projects that the Hokage had wanted. They had managed to make all the seals needed, except for the human stasis seal, the mobile medical protection seal, and the Hiraishin teleportation seal. With three months till the invasion, Moriko and Jiraiya had eased up enough from their work to take breaks for personal recovery. For Moriko, it just meant she was now focused on another series of personal projects.

She had her clones oversee the refurbishing of the old Izayoi compound that had been given to her by the Hokage to use as the new Uzumaki clan compound.

She was currently having her clones work on making a cart that she could take to the marketplace where she could sell certain seals at. While the Hokage had been very generous, and her pay as a seal master was very good, Moriko still needed to supply the rest of the funds for refurbishing the compound. Jiraiya had been giving her a share of the profits that he had been making with his books and while the money was more than enough to finish the work needed on the compound, Moriko wanted to have more than one means of income for her new clan, especially if she wanted to start planning for children.

She knocked on the wood of a certain support beam before frowning and leaving a seal that made the beam glow a soft red so she would know that it needed replacing, before moving to the next. Overall, she had a lot of work to do and couldn't wait for the compound to be finished. It was a nice break from sealing.

Moriko paused when the scroll in her pocket buzzed. She opened it to find Kakashi's distinctive writing.

We have gotten our first C-rank mission to the land of Wave. Pack for 3 weeks.

She felt her scroll from Hiruzen buzz and she opened it to find his distinctive writing.

As a side mission, I want you to swing by Whirlpool if possible. If not we will need to find another time for you to go.

She frowned as she looked over the compound and her working clones who were going over everything with a fine-toothed comb to make sure the repairs to the plumbing had been done well. She sighed, already coming up with a plan to ensure everything went well.

Suddenly the scroll for the Hokage buzzed and she looked at it.

Your mission has been upgraded to A rank. Do you think Kakashi and you can handle it or should I reassign it?

Surised but undaunted Moriko wrote back.

He and the kids will do fine. I will bring extra seals and continue my work on the other projects.

Very well. I will update Kaksshi and the kids since they are still in the tower.

Sounds good. Tell them I will meet them at the village gates.

Will do.

With that, Moriko left to go grab her travel gear and Naisho's, making sure to stop by the Uchiha clan compound to have a word with Fugaku about Sasuke's mission and to give him a storage scroll to pack Sasuke's stuff in. She sent a clone with a storage scroll to give to Sakura's parents so Sakura could travel light as well.

…

When the team showed up at the village gates, Moriko was slightly amused at the appearance of the client.

The man was sweating profusely and shaky. She began hand-signing with Kakashi.

He looks like he's going to faint.

He and the Hokage had to enter into negotiations for paying the village after the bridge is built since he didn't have the money to pay for an A rank up front. We got a report from wave detailing the situation which is why he lied about the rank of the mission. Hokage-sama might have been a bit upset over him lying to us.

She nodded in understanding and the man seemed to realize from the way the kids were crowding Moriko that she was the missing member of the team. He blinked a few times before frowning.

"Is she really a ninja?" the man asked Kakashi skeptically. Kakashi's eye rose lazily from his book.

"Mah, Tazuna-san, Moriko-san is a Sealing Master, a frontline combat ninja, and medic. She is overqualified to join this mission which is the only reason the Hokage is letting a team of genin tag along, or else your mission would have been assigned to three Jonin and a chunin, doubling the price," Kakashi said with an eye smile Tazuna frowned clearly still skeptical.

Kakashi shook his head before gesturing for the man to follow. Tazuna did so with a chug of his sake. It was too late now. For now, he could only hope that he would make it out of this alive.

…

Tazuna watched with wide eyes when the red-headed woman made a horde of clones. Moriko handed out a few scrolls to one group while the rest were sent into a field.

"Still working on your seals?" Kakashi asked as Moriko nodded.

"Yeah, among other things. I need to gather wood and rock to rebuild the compound to save costs. When we get closer to the border, I won't have the opportunity to keep doing so, so I might as well get as much work done as I can," she said with a shrug as Kakashi nodded.

...

The trip was uneventful until their second day when they began nearing the border of fire country. One of Moriko's clones had alerted her to an ambush further up the road. It was a horde of low-level thugs. She signed to Kakashi, and he began to sign back. He wanted to give the kids a chance to fight so that they could get their first kills before things got really bad. He was expecting the kids to freeze up or have difficulties, so he wanted to do it in a controlled environment. Moriko was torn but eventually agreed that he was right, and they proceeded down the road to spring the ambush.

…

Tazuna was shaken after the day's events that night and so were the kids. The kids had been surprised by how weak the civilian thugs had been, but they had done their duty and fought like they had been trained. Now, the camp having been set up by clones, Moriko and Kakashi were consoling the kids and helping them talk through what they were experiencing emotionally in the aftermath of the battle.

Sasuke and Naisho were handling it better, but Sakura was struggling with the event, having taken her first life. Talking had seemed to help her find peace with the event, however. When they turned in for the night, Sakura had ended up nestled into Moriko's side, feeling too upset to really sleep. Moriko woke at some point in the night to Naisho and Sasuke sneaking into her tent to sleep with them. She allowed it and drifted off once more, knowing her seals and clones would guard the camp for the night.

…

The next day they passed the border of fire country and reached the ocean where a fisherman was able to sneak them into Wave. Moriko gave a low whistle of appreciation as she took in the bridge as did the children.

As they began the walk to Tazuna's house, Moriko released a few clones to go scout ahead, since the man had already told her where his house was. She frowned, as a couple of clones popped and went over the new memories. It seemed that the man that was trying to kill Tazuna had hired ninjas as well.

"Change of plans," she said as she unsealed a ninjato and strapped it to her back. She froze and then cursed as her clones sent her a few more memories.

"Status?" Kakashi asked as the kids tensed.

"Hostage situation," Moriko said grimly, going over the memory of an abused and bleeding young woman and her terrified child in the grips of ninjas outside the house. She deployed a few more clones with orders to turn invisible and set up a barrier around the house. She would retrieve the hostages herself.

Take the kids and Tazuna to the house. I will put a barrier around it and retrieve the hostages before you arrive, she signed Kakashi. He nodded as the kid shot her worried looks. She gave them a reassuring smile.

"Don't worry, I'll see you guys in a minute," she said before disappearing in a shunshin, letting herself turn invisible using Shadow's power. She activated her seals that hid her scent and dampened any noises she made and set off toward the home, unsealing her Katana as she went.

Soon she was at the home and could see four ninjas in front of it, talking quietly as the weeping young woman held her child. Moriko crept right up to them unseen and unheard to place a small barrier around the woman and child. She waited patiently for the right moment to strike the unaware group, wind chakra starting to sharpen and lengthen her blade.

One of the ninjas bumped into the invisible barrier around Tsunami and hopped back startled as the others went on high alert. Seeing them all lined up the way she wanted she struck. Three heads fell to the grass as the fourth leaped back, arm nearly severed. He tried to retreat but she was faster, and he fell in half on the dewy soil.

The young woman screamed as the severed ninja began thrashing, and Moriko cursed, knowing that there were other enemy ninjas close by. She deactivated the barrier around the young woman and tossed her and the child to one of her clones. The clone rushed towards the house and Moriko prepared herself as the barrier went up around the home behind her.

Four more ninjas rushed into the clearing where she waited still invisible. They crept towards where she waited, all of them on high alert as they scanned for threats. With no need to worry about civilians in the way, Moriko let loose with a wind blade to the closest ninja's back. She fell in pieces as Moriko went for the next closest one cleaving the man in half before racing for the remaining two. Soon they too fell, and Moriko frowned as she took in the headbands that signified that they were deserters of their villages.

She whistled softly as she found a couple that were listed as fairly high bounties in the bingo books.

She froze hearing another couple of ninjas enter the clearing. The tall shirtless man and the child with him seemed to take in the carnage before a thick mist filled the clearing. Moriko retreated to close by the water, fearing that the mist would allow the ninja to sense her location.

She nearly gasped when the man appeared beside her, already finishing his last seal and trapping her in a prison of water. Her mouth seal activated, and she breathed in fresh air as the ninja seemed to regard the water prison with interest trying to see his invisible opponent. The man swiftly retreated to atop the water when Moriko's sword went through his hand. Moriko glared as she let her invisibility fall, knowing that the way the water clung to her form would give her away regardless.

He gave a low whistle as he watched the barrier around her face disappear, his eyes darting to her drenched hair. She stared at him as she used water manipulation to remove the moisture from her hair and clothing. The man watched with growing unease, seeing as she didn't use any motions or hand signs to remove the liquid, meaning she had been moving the chakra inside her body to get those results, a sign of precise chakra manipulation.

"Damn, an Uzumaki that actually knows sealing and swords. You might actually be worth the time to kill," he said as the young woman smirked.

"Oh? Finally! Someone who can appreciate me!" she said as he chuckled, taking a fighting stance while she remained relaxed.

"What? Was someone stupid enough not to?" he asked as she gave a deep suffering sigh.

"Yeah, my client. I heard him asking people if I was really a ninja," she said dryly as the ninja chuckled.

"That's dumb civilians for you."

"So what's your dumb civilian's deal?" she asked as she rested her hands over the hilt of her sword that she had resting on the ground like a cane. He snorted.

"He's a shipping tycoon that's going to give me lots of money for killing the old bridge builder. I don't really like his style but money is money," he said. Moriko frowned as a memory niggled at the back of her mind.

"What's his name?"

"Gato." After a moment, Moriko's face went deadly cold, something dangerous lighting up her eyes, and Zabuza felt a shiver run down his spine. Oh that's not good, he thought as she suddenly disappeared, not a whisper of her presence making itself known to him. Despite this, and despite him standing on his element, he only felt his internal alarms start blaring in warning. He leapt back despite not sensing anything, using his sword as a shield on instinct. There was a godawful screech as wind chakra cleaved off part of it and Zabuza decided he was out of his league with this one.

"Wait wait wait wait! Hold on! You know him?" he demanded as he swiftly hid in the mist, mind flashing back to his grandfather and some nuggets of wisdom the old man had imparted to his grandson at one point or another. Never piss off an Uzumaki kid. It will be the last thing you ever do.

"Know him? That asshole's son tried to get handsy with me a few years back! When I broke the ugly little creep's nose, his father had me kidnapped and doped up for sex trafficking! Those fuckers drugged me and were going to do unspeakable things to me but my teacher showed up and got me out of there. I'm going to kill that little rat bastard and I'm going to enjoy it," She hissed from within the mist as Zabuza used his sense of her location in the mist to avoid her while she hunted for him. He could try to attack but considering how many ninja she had already killed with her air blades and invisibility combo he wasn't so sure he would win a fight against her right now. He gripped his deeply damaged blade tightly, knowing he wasnt going to win this.

"I thought he was just a big shipping tycoon," he called out as he thought through the situation. This wasn't good, and he was starting to burn through his chakra by having to keep the mist up.

"He ships drugs, women, and children. He kidnaps anyone he can get his hands on and he's a cheap son of a bitch. He only hires nukenin, then cashes in their bounties later," she said coldly from somewhere alarmingly close to his left causing him to silently slink away. She was already adapting to leaving his mist undisturbed he realized with alarm, meaning his only means of advantage against her was quickly dwindling. And it sounded like she had major beef with this guy and from the details Zabuza wasn't sure he wanted to step into that. That and that last bit had sounded very relevant to his and Haku's continued good health.

"Do you know some of the people he's hired?" he finally asked. She stopped moving through the mist as if pausing to think. He was halfway tempted to attack her at this moment but reminded himself that it was a very bad idea.

"Uh, the Demon brothers... the Ame Three... hmm, the Black Scorpion I think," she said uncertainly, the coldness leaking from her tone to be replaced with puzzlement. Zabuza held back a curse before thinking over the situation quickly. He had heard that those bounties had been claimed recently, and the demon brothers were the ones who suggested this guy as an employer. He wasn't sure the how, who, or why, but this lined up with the bits he knew about his employer and what she had told him. Going against her would only get him killed for an employer who was most likely going to double-cross him once he had been weakened in battle. He cursed silently in his head. This had been a waste of time and energy. While Gato kept the hunter-nin and major villages off his back, what Zabuza really wanted was the money needed to finance the civil war in the Mist. Seeing only one path forward he spoke up.

"Tell you what hot stuff, why don't we kill that rat bastard and split his loot? I know the nukenin you were talking about and I know that they've worked with him before they were killed. That rat bastard was never going to pay us, so how about it?" he proposed as his opponent paused. Suddenly wind gusted the mist away causing Zabuza to curse and take a defensive stance when his mist disappeared. Damn it, that had taken a good chunk of chakra to make!

"Wait what? What's happening?" the redhead demanded as she became visible, expression a bit bewildered as Zabuza couldn't help but chuckle, relieve hitting him when he saw her relaxed stance and bewildered face, not the deadly cold anger from earlier. After a moment she blinked out of her shock and sent him an uncertain look as she straightened on the water.

"How about this; to sweeten the deal, I'll stick around and help you get rid of the rest of the cannon fodder then we go our separate ways," he negotiated as Moriko thought it over. He knew his help wasn't needed but he wanted to study her fighting style from a less dangerous position. Plus anything to get her to rethink killing him would be nice.

"Let me confer with the rest of the team first," she finally said, spotting movement nearing the house. The man nodded.

"Also, I want a spar from you," he said as Moriko sent him a smirk. The look altered her features greatly and he was surprised how attractive her face was now.

"That will cost you ten percent," she teased. The ninja chuckled as he hefted his large damaged sword on his shoulder, the banter relaxing him greatly.

"Done." He jerked his chin and a child in the mask appeared by his side before they disappeared. Moriko took off back towards the house as the mist near the house began to clear. She landed in the clearing in front of the house to see her team and Tazuna paused at the edge of the carnage, having clearly just arrived.

"Oh my god!" Tazuna bent over vomiting as the rest of her team took in the carnage in shock.

"Yo!" she called cheerfully as she ran over to greet them, Kakashi's lone eye wide as he stared at where the other two ninjas had disappeared on the lake.

"Was that Zabuza Momochi, Demon of the Mist?" he asked as the young woman shrugged.

"I guess? Turns out he doesn't like people that plan to double-cross him for his bounty. He wants to team up to get rid of Gato and the cannon fodder, then split the loot," she said as Kakashi sighed crossing his arms as he thought it over.

"Assassination isn't in our missions' parameters," he pointed out as Moriko pulled out the scroll she used to communicate with the Hokage.

"True. This will probably be classified as another A rank separate from this mission," she said scribbling on the scroll. After a minute it buzzed, and she read over the message before grinning.

"The Hokage approved it. It will officially be a mission assigned to me while you and the kids guard Tazuna," she said as Kakashi nodded, no longer objecting.

"Sounds good. Let's get the client in the house, I don't think he appreciates his lawn decorations," Kakashi said dryly as Moriko nodded throwing a few body scrolls to her clones so she could collect the bounties.

AN: Mwahaha, it's happening! We're starting cannon, finally! But as you can see I added time between the Wave mission and the Chunin exams, just to give our characters enough time to get shit done.