A/N: I make a decision about the story's direction here that I doubt will be particularly popular
--
Naruto was in an alright state, with some minor burns from the fog. That could not be said for anyone else in his Band.
Sakura and Kakashi had horrific injuries, and they looked like they were barely holding onto consciousness. Sasuke was only slightly better off. Still, there was good news, as the storm was dying down, and Zabuza seemed human-looking again and…possibly dead?
Then there was questionable news, as an individual in thick, feminine robes walked up to them, her(?) face obscured by a strange mask. White, with red swirls. It had a headband, with the pentagram surrounded by thorns…just like Zabuza's. The second symbol, an upside-down cross surrounded by a snake, was new, but this thing was clearly from the Village Hidden in Torments, and it was fresh.
He didn't care about the odds, he was going to fight it.
"You're an Inquisitor," Kakashi barely gasped out.
The stranger nodded. "I've been following this Rogue for some time. I'll be taking the body and Sword, as they are important to our Village, and we would rather not give foreigners the ability to study them."
Kakashi just nodded with what little energy he had, and the man(?) proceeded to gather up Zabuza's corpse and, with a lot of difficulty compared to its previous owner, retrieve that odd sword. Naruto, seeming to understand that this was not their enemy, started to realize that, with all the difficulty the four of them, including Kakashi-sensei, had with that Demon…this guy took him out effortlessly. Well, we weakened him, he thought, just as much to keep his Scion pride as anything.
"He was hired by a man named Gato," Kakashi said to the retreating Inquisitor. "Just so the Village Hidden in Torments knows in case that same man tries for any new Contracts."
"Understood," the masked thing responded as he/she vanished. Now that the threat was over, they could take stock. Not for long, as taking stock quickly showed them that they all needed a lot of rest and medical attention.
"Come on," Tazuna noted, "my house isn't far from here. I'm sure my daughter could help; it's the least we could do."
Walking turned out to be a tall order for the ones that faced the Visage's spines and teeth, and although he was even less inclined to admit it while the others were suffering from worse injuries, Sasuke's illness was still pretty bad. It was a hellish experience getting to a dock and renting a small boat. It was only slightly less miserable floating a short way to the Island country, past a half-finished bridge.
The misery only continued as they got up to walk through a small coastal town, a misery only enhanced by the surrounding townsfolk and their despondent faces, dilapidated houses, and empty market stalls. It was only once they got to the home of Tazuna's daughter that they felt some relief, finally getting some hot food and rest.
--
Asuma and his mortal father hadn't always had the best relationship. It wasn't the matter of his parentage, as although Hiruzen wasn't a child of the Clans and the inherent nature of a Scion's origins tended to put pressure on outborns' parents relationships, he was a man of the Village and used to the fact that the Gods had their ways with its women (and men), often regardless of marital status.
No, it was just the pressures of growing up under a man well esteemed even as a Demigod, one so beloved by the mortals and respected among the Scions enough to be made Great God-on-Earth twice, and one who couldn't really be the father that Vayu definitely never could.
Still, he was a professional, and the two had come to an understanding as time passed and Asuma's appreciation for the Village as a whole came to maturity, so there was no awkwardness when the Great God-on-Earth handed him a mission folder.
"A small fishing village is claiming that its regular tributes to their mortal ruler are being stolen by some form of aquatic Titanspawn. The ruler in question's own men have failed to find any evidence, and think the villagers are trying to pull a fast one. Both parties have agreed to come to us to settle the dispute. This is your Band's first mission outside the Village. Figure out what's really going on, and settle the matter appropriately. If you need to aid the ruler in dealing with his villagers, or if mortal bandits are using the confusion to fake a Titanspawn attack, then they should only be mortal opponents and your Band should be able to handle it. If there is a real Titanspawn, then, I leave it to your judgment whether your students are ready."
Asuma was uncomfortable dealing with such unknown danger parameters when it came to his current students, but he understood that they had to start somewhere.
Also, considering the work he had formerly done for the Land of Heroes' King, it stood to reason that his father assumed he would have some insight into what a mortal rulers' men would have looked into and what they would have missed. He doubted there was actually much that any other clever Demigod wouldn't have noticed, but he accepted the reasoning.
--
It was over barbecue, where Choji was once more eating him out of hearth and home, that he gave his students the news. Ino and Choji were worriedly excited. Shikamaru sighed.
Asuma sometimes wondered why that boy even accepted his Birthright, a pretty standard Gris-Gris, if he had no intention of engaging in any of the hard work that being a Hero required. Were the Loa Clan's demands really so insistent?
While not having the experience of being raised in one, he could understand the pressures of being connected to a great family, so he supposed it did sit well with him.
Ino had to close up at the Aesir Clan's pawn shop (selling jewelry crafted by real Dwarves! It was true, as the Aesir Clan deliberately kept a set of caverns a half-hour's walk from the village in ideal conditions for the squat human-like Titanspawn), but beyond that they were actually packed and ready to go within the hour. It seemed like they had all been looking forward to this day, even if Shikamaru would never admit it.
--
Kurenai's students had been complaining about how boring their assignments since becoming a Hero had been. Well, Kiba had been complaining. Shino took it as expected of him, even if he didn't particularly like it, and Hinata actually seemed to enjoy doing some simple work for the mortals.
Still, she backed up Kiba when Kiba whined, probably just to support a bandmate, and so Kurenai hoped that the Great God-on-Earth would finally let them stretch their legs. Or not.
She remembered how terrifying one's first real conflict, when the swords weren't blunted and a bad hit to the heart didn't result in a referee calling victory for your opponent to stop it, could be and she wasn't certain how she would actually react to her students being in that position.
So, it was both dread and disappointment that filled her when she learned of their first 'real' mission.
"A crow managed to break through the barrier in the rare insect sanctuary, and apparently laid an egg of stone that vanished into the wilderness. Normally, I'd be inclined to ignore this, but apparently whoever listened to whoever claims to have seen this thinks that it's the Lia Fail. Before you ask, a stone that can lead one to the rightful king of a country, not the current leader, but one who could claim the throne and rule it justly if he could only take it. Whether true or not, we need to make sure some idiot with delusions of grandeur doesn't think to look for it to see their own worth or use it to legitimize their rebellion. Hopefully, there won't be much as the insect sanctuary isn't well visited, which is why I think your fresh Heroes can handle it. Besides, on the off-chance that it actually is the Lia Fail, that rightfully belongs either in Tir na Nog or to the Tuatha da Danaan Clan's collection of relics, so Shino and Kiba might have an interest in it."
He took a drag from his pipe. "This should go without saying, and I trust you, but make sure none of those three get any stupid ideas about it."
--
Kurenai hadn't thought the Great God-on-Earth's last statement a real concern until she spoke with her team about it.
"Alright, the Stone of Destiny itself! Hey, Shino, maybe one of us will turn out to be kings!"
Shino frowned. "None of what you described matches with the admittedly little I know of the Lia Fail. Are you sure of this?"
"No," Kurenai responded. "In fact, we're somewhat certain that it's not the real Lia Fail, but we have to make sure no one tries to make any untoward political maneuvers with it." She frowned at Kiba, "including loyal servants of the Village."
Hinata said nothing, merely looking with a determined glint in her eye, though she also looked like she was considering something that had her conflicted. Hmmm. Kurenai would have to look out for that.
--
Maito "John Henry" Gai was frequently concerned about his students. Tenten "Houyi" always seemed embarrassed by her bandmates, and even her Guide, though he assumed that was just the paranoid ramblings of his inner imagination, for who could be embarrassed by someone like him?
Rock "Osiris" Lee had all the struggles of someone who had been Visited but received no Birthright, never able to master a Purview and being looked down on as the dead last because of it. It was no wonder he was assigned to the Master of Knacks, and Gai felt tears come to his eyes when he thought about how proud he was of the boy's dedication and improvement…though one couldn't see it when he lost another spar to Neji.
Ah, yes, Neji "Quirinus" Dodekatheon, the one student he truly worried about. The boy was, on one hand, everything his instructors praised about him. Talented, strong, skilled, precise. He studied the art of combat, art of persuasion, mastered and used his Knacks and Purviews to perfection. Most would find no fault whatsoever in teaching such a fine young Hero, but Gai had known him long enough to see the cruelty, both to the unfortunate like Lee but even worse to the fortunate, those who had what they had given to them.
Some might have thought of it as arrogance, but Gai sensed there was bitterness behind it, a trauma that he hadn't confronted. Knowing a little of what the Roman Scions born within the Dodekatheon had to go through, but not much, he could only speculate and hope that some of what he said got through to the boy.
The boy only responded by politely giving his deference and then promptly counting down the days until he had some freedom from his Guide. As a Yankee Scion, being born into the Clans wasn't even a possibility, so he guessed it was beyond his ken, though the day they grew in rank was well within his power.
Gai was, in fact, considering them for the Rank Exams, but he felt the missions they had gone on, as well as they had done with taking down those mortal criminals and negotiating with that Titanspawn trying to drown a Village because they had gotten the yearly grain sacrifice wrong, hadn't really shown what they were made of. He needed to see them somewhere where they were truly pushed in a way that they hadn't been thus far. When the Great God-on-Earth summoned them for a new mission assignment, he didn't know whether to pray for danger or safety for them, but he did pray for challenge. Challenge improved you.
--
"We have reports that a nearby set of mines has been taken over by bandits, who are working the miners to death for their own gain. Apparently, the leader of the bandits has even been forcing 'funeral services' on the workers by stuffing them into coffins and burying them alive to feed some psychotic complex of his. This information was brought to us by a man that barely escaped one of those coffins." He sighed, as if he were about to say something he really didn't want to say. "You are to gather intelligence on this group. Your mission, at this point, is not to stop them."
Rock was horrified by this concept. "How could we not stop this horrific travesty?!"
"Quiet," Tenten shushed him.
"Rumors indicate that the leader of the bandits may be an Enhanced Human or a Rogue. The people saying this are mortals who don't know enough to identify him, unfortunately, and, well," their leader was clearly steeling himself to admit to something uncomfortable, "we have to ensure that the payment the miners will be able to procure is enough for the threat level."
Rock Lee was ballistic. So ballistic that no one was sure what he was saying, just that he was saying it very loudly, very quickly, and very angrily.
Gai understood, both how the Village worked, and why the Great God-on-Earth had chosen him for this mission. Many of the others would have followed orders to the letter, even if they felt the same way that Rock Lee did, but Gai knew there were times when fudging a report wasn't the worst crime, and the Great God-on-Earth knew full well that Gai was the type to do that. Of course, he would have to calm Lee down before explaining that away from the ears of any Council members.
--
Whatever excitement Ino had held about finally leaving the Village, it was largely quelled by seeing the drab fishing town they were investigating. The place was bereft of luxury, of beauty, of even an odd charm that she might have appreciated.
On the way there, she had actually noted her discomfort with the possibility that they might be helping a local ruler further tax his peasants, but when they actually got there she seemed to look down in disgust without meaning to on those same downtrodden folks and get impressed by the relatively well-dressed soldiers already looking into the matter. Asuma suspected their faces were as important as their clothing in this respect, for several of them were surprisingly handsome, but he let her gather what intel she could from them.
She seemed to enjoy it. Plus, for all of her flirting, he noticed that she got them to give all the intel they had willingly and even easily, when he had been suspecting stonewalls and arguments over who was supposed to be doing what here. Never underestimate a pretty face.
In short, they could confirm that ships had gone out, that they had never reached the destination in question, and, in spite of the ruler's fears, they had found no evidence of the ships secretly coming back. If the peasants were actually cheating their lord, then they were either really good or were actually sinking the ships and leaving the money at the bottom of the sea, that latter of which would have no benefit to them whatsoever. Bandits or an actual Titanspawn were looking more and more likely.
Sighing internally, he sent Choji to check out the food stalls and shops with a decent spending stipend (it might seem like a mistake at first, but the boy could multi-task, would be thinking of them anyway, and would find merchants much more loose-lipped with a customer who had spent so much) and asked Shikamaru to accompany him to the coast.
--
Asuma was walking ahead of him, keeping his eyes out but not seeming to notice the rapidly fading footprints on the beach they passed. Not expecting to find anything useful, Shikamaru went off on his own for a ways and then saw a pretty girl covered in bandages staring forlornly at the water.
At first thinking little of it, clearly a peasant from the nearby town, he was about to go on his way when she jumped in. Why do so fully clothed? It wasn't because he wanted to see otherwise, or at least he told himself that, but because she genuinely did not seem to have been wearing swimwear and it was an odd choice to him.
Thinking that Asuma would have better luck finding anything worthwhile anyways, he decided to wait for a bit and ask her, but she didn't come up. As it increasingly became dangerous how long she was staying underwater, Shikamaru, against his better judgment ran up to the edge of the beach to see if she needed to be saved, but there was no one there. It was as if she had vanished. Thinking over this mystery, he came to no conclusion before Asuma called out to him.
"Hey, Shikamaru, why'd you go off on your own?"
"I saw something that I wanted to check out. Monsieur Asuma, how long can a mortal stay underwater?" Shikamaru decided to answer his own question with a precise mathematical range when Asuma took a while to think it over, and then noted, "I saw a girl jump into the ocean. She has not come back out."
While at first it looked like his Guide might be considering a serious lecture about girls, his 'awkward age,' and avians and insects, instead he thankfully chose to take this seriously. "Did you get a description? There might be more to learn back in town."
--
Choji had gotten along with the villagers about as well as Ino had gotten along with the soldiers, and thus had all sorts of stories to tell them about a nearby island where people went missing long ago and a girl who betrayed them all to save herself, though like many local legends it was lost to hearsay and rumor and became a mess of contradictions.
There was no consistent physical descriptor Choji could give that matched with any girl Shikamaru could describe, but apparently the bandages were part of it. They were meant to 'hide her shame.'
Regardless, a ship containing a newly gathered tribute, at much cost to the locals, was put together, and in a strange shift of circumstances was going to be launched at night. Maybe avoiding the normal schedule would save them, who knows? Anyway, the Band wasn't getting any sleep as they watched over it that night.
--
Shikamaru looked over the ocean, as black as the night sky above it, with a little trepidation. All the Clans, due to some odd agreement long ago, kept information on one of the known Titan Lords, and the Loa kept the stories of the Drowned Road, that great being who was the essence of the ocean itself, or at least everything that was dangerous about it. He had, like most Loa children, been inadvertently made terrified of deep water from a young age; there was a reason no one in their Clan used the Water Purview.
Still, he had learned to swim, he had learned to think rationally, and he overcame his brief childhood nightmares to say "Moon Purview: Smoking Mirror" and let his eyes look down from the sky above, seeing all from above.
He wasn't actually looking from the moon, as he rationally knew, but from what the moon would seemingly be able to see from his own visual take on it. The Moon Purview in general worked like that; it dealt with humanity's metaphorical ideas of what the moon was and did rather than with the moon itself.
What he saw from up there was, well, a ship carrying wealth, that looked much smaller against the backdrop of wide, surrounding ocean than it had while standing on it. It was almost enough to bring his old fears back…almost. Anyway, for the most part things went well.
He saw no threats coming from any direction, and even with his new perception he was just as shocked as everyone else when the ship started sinking. He pulled back his vision to normal just in time to see the crew, already jittery after what had happened to the other ships, panicking.
Everything was going to go worse because of said panic, and the rest of the Band knew it. Ino had the presence of mind to start leading men to the lifeboats, using her Appearance Knacks to get their attention. Choji grabbed the captain of the ship, called out "War Purview: Blessing of Bravery," and then sent the man to do the leading he was supposed to.
When the ship started tilting, and the weighted down wealth started sliding in that direction and making the ship sink even faster, Choji also used his Strength Knacks to grab it and hold it in place, keeping the ship balanced and giving them some time.
Not immediately certain what he could do to help, Shikamaru took on the role of mundane assistant to Ino, though he didn't feel he was actually doing much. Then, his Night Eyes caught something that the others, relying on the on-ship lights, wouldn't, as a small shape surfaced from the water and submerged itself again.
Was that…the girl from earlier? Trying to get a closer look, he was too close to the edge of the ship when a panicking mortal sent him tumbling over the side. Wow, this might not be the most embarrassing death a Scion has faced, but it's got to be up there. What a drag, were the thoughts that he used to stave off panic as he slammed into the water below and quickly lost consciousness.
--
It was morning when he woke up, that was a more-or-less universal concept that Shikamaru understood and could easily recognize. What he couldn't recognize was the inside of the house he found himself in, or maybe 'hovel' would be a better word. He certainly couldn't account for how he'd gotten there.
Looking around for clues, he found very little. It was clearly inhabited, as there were the leftover remains of food, mostly fish, disposed of in various corners that seemed to be acting as waste receptacles, but other than that he was completely lost.
Nothing seemed to indicate to him what his current situation could possibly be until the only door opened and a girl covered in bandages walked in.
"I found you half-drowned. I don't think you would've made it out there," she said simply and matter-of-factly.
"I don't think I would've, I'd just fallen from the side of a ship," Shikamaru responded. "How could you possibly have found me out there?"
"I'm a strong swimmer," she responded as if that explained anything. "And you floated quite a distance, apparently."
Well, actually it did, even if she didn't intend it to, as the idea of a mortal swimming out to those waters and finding him as she apparently had was unfathomable, which of course meant she wasn't entirely mortal.
"Enhanced, Supernatural man, well, woman, or Titanspawn?" He asked. He knew there were probably more subtle ways to go about it, but the direct approach was often under appreciated.
Eyes downcast, she merely responded, "Enhanced, if you must put a category on it. I don't want to talk about it."
The universal phrasing for letting one know that the blunt approach would not work here. Okay. He knew she was inhumanly good in the water, and he knew that she identified herself as an Enhanced Human, the second most arbitrary of the categories. Born human, something happened to give her some abilities or be affected in some way, but not enough so that she was no longer seen as human. There were a lot of ways for it to happen, and more were constantly being discovered, so it really didn't tell him much. He also knew she was covered in bandages that did not hamper her movement in any way, which suggested that they were probably cosmetic. Some horrific deformity? Not improbable.
Not knowing where to go from here, he simply continued, "do you know what happened to the rest of my Band?"
"I think there was a group from Legends that made it back on a life-boat from the ship that sank last night," she offered. "I can show you the way to town."
Agreeing, the two walked a ways in uncomfortable silence. When they finally came within sight of the fishing town in question, she informed him that she was going back now.
"I never go there anymore, I don't speak to anyone, and I don't hear from anyone," she said without further explanation and walked back the way she came.
"Wait," Shikamaru wondered, "what's your name?"
That caused her to stop. "Isaribi," and then she continued on. It was once he was back in town asking about his Band and she was a distance away that the question finally hit him, though he'd had unvoiced suspicions for a while before; if she never interacted with the town, how did she know about the ship sinking, and who survived it?
--
Tazuna lived with his daughter and her son. No father to the boy to be seen; Naruto briefly wondered if the boy was a Scion, especially when he learned that the kid was named Inari, which he was pretty sure was one of the older Minor Gods. While the woman of the household looked uncomfortable at the idea of being asked such blunt questions, both Tazuna and Kakashi, even in the latter's horrific state, laughed and told him he spent too much time stuck thinking like someone from the Village Hidden in Legends.
Scions were rare outside the Land of Heroes, and even when they were born they were always directed to the Village upon their Visitation (or occasionally subjected to the horrific and often short life of a Rogue without power or experience).
Sakura and Sasuke had both actually wondered the same thing, but had kept their thoughts to themselves and were thus able to mock Naruto for his ignorance with everyone else being none the wiser.
After a moderately pleasant dinner, when all of the Scions were given beds to recover their wounds, something that had been nagging at Kakashi for quite a while finally came into focus.
"Sakura, Sasuke, Naruto, I have something to say to you," he called out. When they came to where he was resting, he continued, "there were no burns."
All three of them were about to object, as there were plenty of burns all over all of their bodies, when he continued, "the weapons that struck Zabuza were shaped like traditional Christian crosses, and before you ask it was an old religion from the World-That-Was that claimed there was only one God, or at least only one worth worshipping. Both Demons and Angels claim an association with said God's servants, but that's a cosmological tangent. Anyway, the only reason I can think of for using such an impractical weapon would be that the faith people place in objects, symbols, and places can be harmful to Demons, even long after the person who provided that faith is long gone provided it was strong enough. I actually saw it a lot when I had missions intervening in the last Demon-Angel War, as the latter would often force fights on old churches and temples for that very reason. Smoke issues from them when they suffer from it, but none appeared when that Inquisitor struck him."
They could see why he found this odd, but none of them really understood what he was getting at. "When a Demon dies, the Fallen within them briefly exists as a disembodied spirit, invisible to the natural eye and generally vanishing within seconds. It probably wouldn't have been relevant to us, but Inquisitors are specifically trained to make sure those spirits can't be consequential and have methods for taking them down, which this one didn't even try to do. What I'm saying is that their behavior was inconsistent with someone trying to kill a Demon, and the signs were inconsistent with a Demon's death. It was subtle, but I think we were tricked. Zabuza got out of that ordeal alive."
The three instinctively drew their weapons and faced the nearest entrance. "No, my students, his death was fake, but the injuries I inflicted on him beforehand were real. We haven't seen the last of him, but it will be a little time before he recovers." Kakashi coughed, and his voice showed strain from talking this much. Not wanting to press their Guide further, but also having questions, they decided to start with one of the most pressing.
"Won't Gato just decide to hire someone else?"
"Not unless he's confident he can kill Zabuza first; cutting a contract with a Rogue halfway through is typically a bad idea, and then there's the sunk cost fallacy. He's presumably already invested in this matter, and probably stubborn about changing."
"How long do we have?"
"Half a week is the safest bet."
With that, they left Kakashi to his rest, partially because his rasping was getting worse and partially because that Inari boy had been listening in and chose this time to run away very noisily.
"What was that about?" Naruto asked to his bandmates. Sakura, who was in little better shape than Kakashi, merely responded by wandering to her own bed.
"We went through all this," Sasuke responded, emphasizing all of their injuries, "and still didn't take him down. I can see why our clients would be skeptical about what we could do in Round Two." It was clearly killing the boy to say it, a true moment of humility from the Class Prodigy. Naruto refused to buy it.
"Yeah, we went through all this, but did you see the other guy? We just have to use this time to get stronger!" Sasuke considered Naruto's words, then seemed to surprise himself by agreeing.
Not everyone did. "It won't matter," Inari shouted at them. "No one can defeat Gato. You'll all just end up dead, like everyone who stands up to him."
Naruto did not come this far and face this much danger just to have even more people tell him how worthless he was, especially when it was one of the people he was risking his life to save. "Listen, you little brat! I'm going to kick that Demon's ass the next time he shows his face around here! Believe it!"
"You're a moron!" The kid screamed before running away crying.
"What's his deal?" Naruto wondered out loud.
--
"Haku, you're a real bastard, you know that?" Zabuza thought as the phantom pain of those crucifix-knives still lingered.
"I went for the neck because it's where muscles are the weakest, and I went for these things because mortals can put faith into them, which makes it the ideal weapon for Inquisitors to use." Haku smiled as he responded. "Angels can find faith pretty easily. You should be grateful I didn't go for the whole show."
Zabuza snorted. "The fact that you didn't means Kakashi will figure out I'm still alive earlier than hoped. I don't want to waste time assuming the Silver Trickster will be fooled forever until we can conveniently take him down." He rubbed his neck. "But then wounds from faith don't heal so easily."
He had already been taking turns let Haku treat him as the boy could and using up what faith energy he had healing up the burns that would have been permanent for a mortal, which in turn meant he had to harvest from his few remaining Thralls more than he would have liked, especially if he wanted to be fully prepared for his next encounter with the Demigod.
"While we're on the subject of how prepared you are for the next conflict, I have noticed how often you deliberately called on the Tormented Form of your Evocations…"
"Haku, not now, please…"
"You know full well that you don't have much purity to spare,"
"Save the lecture, tool! I'm doing what I have to for now. When I'm Tyrant, then things can change. Until then, I use what I have at my disposal. Don't presume to chide me about the risks; when the Tyrant gathered children and had them kill one another so more would have 'low points' for Fallen possession, I went above and beyond and massacred the whole bunch. When my rank rose above the rest, I took up one of the Earthbound Swords and worked with the Demons most responsible for doing the Tyrant's dirty work. I saw it, full corruption, or Complete Torment, or whatever you want to call that state, over and over and over again. I saw Kisame start releasing the Earthbound in his sword to avoid it, and I saw Raiga turn to the one thing that brought him emotional release in order to avoid it so much that whether he was actually avoiding insanity or just choosing a different kind became an open question. I know the risks; I also know when the Pure Forms aren't going to save me."
Calming down quickly, he added, "if we didn't have to make awful decisions to survive and achieve my goal, then why are we working with Gato?"
'Speaking of the Devil' was an inherently amusing phrase when one both worked with and disliked the House of Devils, but it was shockingly appropriate on multiple levels when Gato himself chose to barge into their safehouse at that very moment.
"What the hell was that? I'm not paying you to lie around, I'm paying you to kill that bridge-builder, yet with all that money set aside I still see you lying down and a bridge still being built."
Why don't you just buy up the land the bridge is being built on? Sure, the guy building it isn't going to work for you, but it can't be harder than buying up the rest of the country.
He wasn't going to say that out loud. Instead, he simply said, "the Demigod with them got the upper hand. Still, I left him in a terrible state, one that will take longer to heal than mine. It'll be handled before the week is up."
"It better be," Gato spat back. The miserable little creature glared at Haku. "And why don't you make use of that weirdo while you're at it, and those crazies who are still left."
As he finally got up and left, Zabuza was both relieved that the Contract was still intact and disappointed that that meant he couldn't kill the man yet. The disappointment grew with the fact that Zabuza had to admit that he was right; taking them on alone was too risky. Haku would have to take care of the Heroes while he faced the Demigod without distractions, at least until an opportunity to finish off the bridge-builder came up. His last few Thralls might have to stay in the area in case things went south as well. This is going to be a pain, he internally groaned.
--
Isaribi swam up to the island that she had really come to hate. Thanks to a mirage caused by some weird, and possibly supernatural, interaction with the surrounding mist it wasn't always visible from a distance, which made the townsfolk think it appeared and disappeared, which led to all sorts of legends and rumors. The fact that unexplained noises and the occasional vanishing ship held proximity didn't help matters.
Of course, it was evil, but not due to some ancient curse. Just a man, or Supernatural man (he never identified himself to her) with odd ideas about scientific manipulation of supernatural energies and plans to enact those ideas that would have made him a criminal in any organized, civilized country.
Like when he forcibly mutated her cells to give her scales, and gills, and fins. She was no Deviant, her soul was left alone, but she had these features.
He would call them useful. She would call them painful. She would call them shameful. She would call them the source of her ostracism. She would call them something she wanted to get rid of at all costs, but he wouldn't do that until she did his bidding. And thus, as always, she came to the island, ready to report to him.
He had already collected the gold. Thus there was nothing to do but wait for further instructions, and hope that he finally decided that she had done enough. Knocking on the rusted door, being let into the sterile, featureless hallways that made up his laboratory, he sneered at her. It was that same face, with the proportions all wrong, that she had seen and been utterly disgusted by so many times before.
"Any complications worth noting?" Even his neutral tone while asking about important matters sounded condescending.
"They've hired Scions to look into the matter of the vanishing ships."
That caused him to frown. "Oh? This could be bad."
His expression turned into a smile, a smile of genuine glee. Somehow, it was worse than the sneer. "Or this could be very good. Since my last investor lost interest in my vision, the short-sighted fool, I've been running low on Ichor. Plus, I want to see how their bodies react to some of my ideas. Yes, this might be very good. Lure one here, or all of them if you can. Be careful about it, I don't know enough about them to guess whether I could take them all or not," dismissing her to carry out his will as always, he did stop at a last-second thought. "Oh, and if that last sentence gave you any delusional ideas about betraying me, remember that I'm the only one who knows how to cure you." With that, he genuinely dismissed her.
--
Kakashi had no interest in letting the days before Zabuza attacked again go to waste, so while Tazuna worked on his bridge, the Guide taught his students the basics of Dexterity Knacks.
Even if they weren't associated with their parent, dexterity was one of the most valuable skills in combat, and its knacks would save your life more than any other, or at least that was Kakashi's experience. It wasn't actually associated with any of their parents, but that wasn't overtly important with Knacks.
So, even in his horrific (albeit slowly improving) state, he still had them going through the proper metaphysical motions, then put a challenge to them; either run twice as fast as they could through mundane means, climb a tree at the same speed they could run down a straight path normally, or dodge every attack he sent their way without consciously trying to.
The boys were excited to, until it kept proving beyond them. The first day consisted of falling from trees when they hesitated to find the next hold and thus 'failed,' tripping over themselves trying to run without stopping, and getting smacked over and over by a crippled man with a twisted sense of humor.
Sakura, even though she started later then the other two as a result of her condition, proved herself able to pick it up rather quickly. Kakashi gave her a passing grade on the second day. This only infuriated the boys more. At least, that was the visible result until Naruto, after having fallen from a tree again, asked Sakura what she did that he didn't.
--
One day, while Naruto was trying (and failing) to perfect the techniques that Kakashi had shown them, he stumbled from the tree and landed on a downward sloping hill, which meant that his tumbling did not stop and in fact let him go on a distance until he crashed into a bed of flowers at the base of some form of shrine he didn't recognize.
A very beautiful, albeit flat-chested, woman was praying at said shrine, which led Naruto to awkwardly apologize about whatever distraction he might have made and for staring, then tried to deny that he'd been staring, which only made things more awkward. The girl just giggled, although with a surprisingly masculine voice.
"Are you training?" She asked.
"Yeah, I've got to get stronger!"
"For who?" She inquired.
"What? Well, I'm going to become Great Kuntisokami! And also for my client, I guess. I've got to protect him."
"Hmmm. Is he precious to you?"
"Well, not really. But he represents my career as a Hero, and so saving his life is important! Plus, though I don't really get it, he's doing important work for this country."
"But that just brings me back around to the original question. Becoming Great Kunitsokami, protecting your client and apparently his country, furthering your career as a Hero, who are you doing this for? Is there anyone precious to you?"
He had to think on that one for a bit. In spite of how she treated him, he supposed that he still felt that way about Sakura. On a different level, there was Iruka, and the current Great Kunitsokami. "I supposed there are," he finally replied.
The strange girl smiled. "Good. There is no cause greater than to fight for one who is precious to you. Doing so gives you strength. Keep your mind on those who are precious to you, and I'm sure you really will become Great Kunitsokami."
As she got up to leave, Naruto asked after her. "Hey, what's your name?"
After a brief pause, the figure eventually noted, "Haku. Oh, and about the staring problem," Naruto felt incredibly awkward again, "it might help if you knew that I'm actually a boy."
Rather than aid with the awkwardness, this only stretched it until it more resembled horror. But…she was hotter than Sakura. As he tried to process this, Sasuke came up to him, looking about as uncomfortable as he felt. Oh no, is he about to mock me over this?
"Hey, I noticed that you asked Sakura for advice, and," it looked like whatever he was about to say was going to strangle his firstborn child, "what did she say?"
--
Kakashi and Sakura were enjoying a meal one night with Tazuna's family when the two boys came in holding one another up, proudly shouting that they had met Kakashi's standards on both the tree and running time. Knowing that neither of their egos would allow them to lie about this in a way that could be disproven the next day, their Guide simply congratulated them and offered up some of their host's food. Both tried to grab some, but were way too exhausted and immediately fell to the floor.
"Well, Tazuna, I regret to say that from what I know of a Demon's healing ability, we can reasonably expect Zabuza to be back on his feet by now. We'll be extra careful about seeing when he'll be back, so with that in mind we'll have one of us accompany you from now on…"
"Why are we pretending that you're not all going to die?" Inari piped up.
"Inari!" His mother reprimanded, but the boy refused to be cowed.
"And why, grandpa, why? You knew what was going to happen if you tried to stand up to him! Why'd you have to be so stupid, just like…like…"
"Listen you little brat," Naruto gave up on sitting still and taking it, and the kid's words had pumped some energy back into him. "Standing up for what's right isn't stupid, and doing it when it's dangerous, well, that's when it's most important to do so. Besides, he's got Heroes like us on his side, so there's no way he'll die!"
"Shut up, you ignorant little rich kid!" Inari screamed back.
That genuinely took all of them aback, since all three Scions knew for a fact that Naruto had never been rich by any reasonable standard of the term. Nor had Sakura for that matter, and Kakashi and Sasuke would require a very liberal definition to fit.
"You don't know what life is like for us in countries like this, where we have to suffer under men like Gato! You don't know what it's like to have to choose between suffering for what you have and standing up only to die slowly and brutally for your efforts! You people from the mainland have no clue what it's like to suffer."
As far as Naruto was concerned, this ignorant little brat was in need of a lesson, but Kakashi understood that Naruto was not actually in the right frame of mind to give it, so he placed a hand on his student's shoulder and told him, "the boy's under a lot of stress, and is merely a child. Don't do anything rash."
That actually seemed to set Inari off even worse. "Stop it! Stop coming here and giving people hope that doesn't exist!" Then he stormed off.
His mother was horrified and apologetic over the whole thing, but Tazuna merely sighed. "I apologize, the boy's been in a bad state ever since his father tried to organize a movement to get all the local rulers in Gato's pocket ousted from power. As soon as it started looking viable, he was strung up on false charges and publicly executed. It did a lot to local morale, as the man was quite beloved, regarded as something of a local hero before then."
"Please, dad, there's enough painful memories. There's no need to dredge all that up," his daughter uncomfortably replied.
--
Later that night, during Kakashi's turn to take watch, he saw the boy sneak away to sulk on a nearby dock. Kakashi casually walked up and sat beside him.
"Go away," the boy said. The Silver Trickster had no interest in listening to such directives, and instead asked Inari what he thought about a story Kakashi once heard. It involved a boy, with a great monster, more horrifying than even the worst that one could find in the wastes of the Weird West, locked inside of him against his will, and the people of his hometown hating him for it. They looked at him, and they only saw the monster inside, not the boy surrounding it. Everyone dismissed him as worthless, they cared little for letting him know that they hoped for his death, he grew up lonely and afraid. What did Inari think of that boy?
"It sounds miserable," he responded.
"Don't you think that boy is spoiled? That he's a little rich kid that doesn't know pain?"
"What do you mean?"
"I'm sorry, I don't remember your exact words, but that is basically what you told that boy at dinner."
It took him a few seconds. "Wait, you mean that annoying Naruto kid-"
"You're not the only one who's suffered. You're definitely not the only one who's cried. However, Naruto decided to stop crying and do something about it, and the result is the annoying boy you see today. Saying that out loud, maybe you should just keep crying."
Kakashi went back to the house, as that was where danger was more likely to strike, without bothering to learn Inari's reaction to his words. The kid would absorb them or he wouldn't.
--
Techniques:
Moon Purview: Smoky Mirror-user's vision is placed as looking down from the sky, about from where the moon looks like it is from their name-eye visual perspective on the earth, can only be used at night
War Purview: Blessing of Bravery-user may expand another's courage if the target's is lower than the user's