Naruto
Petals in the Wind
Chapter III
It had been three months since the formation of Team Seven for the most part they were doing menial chores for the villagers called d-rank missions. Honestly Kakashi thought his team was being underutilized, in his opinion. Honestly for rookies they were beyond the scope of normal genin fresh out of the academy.
Both Sasuke and Neji were prodigies of their clan and Naruto while not a prodigy like Sasuke or Neji he was still not the deadlast of his class. Kakashi had also been training his team into the dirt making sure the hardest battle they would ever face was himself. Honestly Kakashi had to hand it to Hiruzen, the aging Kage knew what he was doing with this team.
Currently Team Seven was at training ground three their usual training ground. The young genin of team seven were relaxing under the shade of a tree after having a heated sparring match against Kakashi. Even Kakashi was feeling the burn of the spar.
"I have to hand it to you three you're coming along great. Your teamwork is spot on and you don't pull your punches." Kakashi praised his team. "Alright go get cleaned up then meet at the mission hall. You have one hour."
Naruto was on his way to his apartment in the red light district to get cleaned up and into fresh clothes. Now Naruto wasn't hated in the red light district but he knew he wasn't welcomed with open arms. Arriving at his apartment Naruto dug out his keys and opened his door walking inside.
Once in his apartment Naruto walked to his room and grabbed a change of clothes. After the first month as an official shinobi Naruto had traded in his old orange kill me now jumpsuit for something more practical, a two piece black long sleeved bodysuit, a short sleeve burnt orange jacket, black sandals, and tied his Hitai-ate around his left bicep. This change in attire didn't go unnoticed by his classmates, especially Sakura.
The pinkette had rather loudly accused Naruto of trying to be cooler than Sasuke, who mind you was rather glad Naruto traded in his old jumpsuit. Many of Naruto's classmates were happy for this change in Naruto's attire, sure Naruto still had some orange in his outfit but honestly orange just suited Naruto. After a quick shower and some instant ramen later Naruto was on his way to the mission hall to meet up with his team.
One hour later Team Seven was inside the mission hall standing in front of the Hokage and one Umino Iruka. As Usual Hiruzen was smoking his pipe, a habit the old man would take to his grave. Hiruzen was looking over the mission requests as Team Seven entered.
"Ah Team Seven. Here for a batch of missions?" Hiruzen asked.
"Actually Hokage-sama, I was thinking my team might be ready for a c-rank mission." Kakashi replied.
C-ranks usually meant the team in question would be leaving the village though there was minimal risk on a c-rank there was always the possibility of something going wrong.
"A c-rank you say? Yes I have something that can be handled by your team. Iruka go get the client." Hiruzen told Iruka.
A few moments later Iruka walked back in followed by a shorter man wearing simple clothing with a straw hat hanging around his neck.
"This is my protection? I requested ninja not brats." the man said, taking a swig from a bottle of sake he was holding.
Not a second later the bottle shattered courtesy of one Uzumaki Naruto who looked rather annoyed.
"We are ninja. If you don't like it, take your business elsewhere." Naruto said annoyance clear in his voice.
"This is Tazuna, a bridge builder from Nami. He has requested protection while he completes his bridge from Nami to the mainland." Hiruzen explained.
"We leave in an hour. Go get your go bags and meet at the main gates." Kakashi ordered his team. "Tazuna, walk with me."
XxXTwo Days LaterXxX
It had been two days since Team Seven left Konoha with Tazuna. Since they were traveling at a civilian's pace it was taking longer to get to Nami than if they were traveling at ninja speed. Naruto was in front of the group since he had the best senses without a dojutsu. As the group was walking Naruto noticed a small puddle of water off to the side of the road.
This was unusual for this time of year even more so since it hadn't rained in weeks. Naruto signaled his team to proceed with caution using a system that they created to let each other know things without raising suspicion. As team seven passed with Kakashi being the last to walk past two figures rose from the puddle quickly wrapping Kakashi in a chain and seemingly tearing him to shreds. Team Seven saw this and jumped into action.
"Neji, stay with Tazuna, use your Byakugan to watch out for additional threats. Sasuke, you take the dumbass on the right and I'll take the dumbass on the left." Naruto said firmly.
Neji and Sasuke nodded at Naruto and took positions ready to fight.
"We only want the old man and we already took out the biggest threat here." said one of the two shinobi that attacked.
The two shinobi were Gozu and Meizu, the Demon Brothers of the Hidden Mist. Officially they were rogue ninja having abandoned their village.
"I wouldn't be so sure about that." Naruto said ready to fight.
XxXWith NarutoXxX
Naruto and Gozu squared off, neither one letting themselves falter; they knew what was at stake, Tazuna. Gozu rushed Naruto with his clawed gauntlet raised ready to strike. Naruto jumped back away from the clawed hand forming a single hand sign, a cross with both hands using the fore and middle fingers of each hand.
"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu(Shadow Clone Jutsu)!" Naruto yelled.
Instantly Naruto was replicated going from one to five each ready to fight their opponent. Naruto wasn't the smartest among his classmates, hell he had to steal a forbidden scroll and kill Mizuki to get his rank but he was exceptionally skilled at Fuinjutsu and his seals could be deadly. Naruto's best seal to date was one of his own creation, a seal that could kill a target in two hits, a seal he dubbed Nigeki Kessatsu(Death in Two Steps).
"So you can use clones. Those won't save you." Gozu said as he brought down his gauntlet on one of the five Narutos only for it to puff into smoke, a clone.
"They aren't meant to save me, only distract you." Naruto's voice came from behind Gozu.
Gozu turned toward Naruto's voice and was hit in his chest by a single claw on Naruto's right hand. Gozu never realized but Naruto was sporting a golden gauntlet, slender with a single claw. As Naruto's claw hit Gozu a tribal butterfly appeared on Gozu's chest.
"What's that supposed to do Kozo?" Gozu asked.
"Nothing by itself." Naruto said.
Gozu was confused but this wasn't a time to question what Naruto meant by his words. Gozu raised his clawed hand and brought it down, aiming to kill Naruto. However when the claw hit Naruto he turned into smoke, another clone. Then it happened Gozu felt another prick on his back then nothing until the seal activated and Gozu cried out feeling his body vanish, Gozu was dead.
XxXWith SasukeXxX
Sasuke looked at Meizu, the other member of the Demon Brother duo. Sasuke knew he had this in the bag while Meizu may have been a chunin of Kirigakure Sasuke was an Uchiha and a genius. Meizu rushed Sasuke rearing his clawed hand back aiming to stab Sasuke in the heart. Sasuke ran through a number of hand seals before taking a deep breath.
"Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu(Fire Style: Great Fireball Jutsu)!" Sasuke yelled letting out a stream of fire.
Meizu cried out in pain as the flames engulfed him, stopping his advance. Meizu growled at Sasuke and jumped back Sasuke was a ranged fighter with his jutsu but that wasn't to say Sasuke lacked skill in close quarters combat, quite the opposite actually Sasuke actually favored close quarters combat but he wanted to get a feel for Meizu's fighting style.
Next Sasuke rushed Meizu drawing a tanto which he would use against Meizu. Meizu met Sasuke's advance by bringing his gauntlet down only for Sasuke to duck under the claw and twist around behind Meizu and run his tanto into Meizu's back. Meizu cried out in pain and tried to pull himself off the tanto. Sasuke withdrew the tanto letting the man go which pissed Meizu off even more.
Meizu ran through a number of hand seals before letting off a volley of water bullets from his mouth. Sasuke dodged the bullets with the Kawarimi and rushed Meizu from his blindspot plunging his tanto even deeper into Meizu's side getting through the man's rib cage and into his heart causing the man to drop to his knees holding the wound which was quickly bleeding out.
With the Demon Brothers dispatched, Kakashi came out of his hiding spot in the treeline.
"Tazuna you never said shinobi were after you." Kakashi said.
A/N: Hey everyone Azrael here with the next chapter of Petals in the Wind. I hope you all enjoyed reading this chapter and I hope it was worth the weight. As always if you're liking the story drop a review and tell me about it and what I can do better. As always, have an epic day and I'll see you next time. Ja~ne.