Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Naruto of the Mirage ❯ Chapter 7 ( Chapter 7 )
[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]
Two weeks have passed since Team 7 passed their test, and the members were well entrenched into the shinobi life by now. They were used to getting up early, only to remember that Kakashi was always two hours late, they were used to training, which consisted mainly of physical exercises and light sparring. But, they weren't used to the crappy D-rank missions they were receiving. While Sasuke kept up an emotionless facade, he was inwardly steaming, swearing on the graves of his deceased parents, that if he had to weed one more garden, he was going to find a way to resurrect the dead members of the clan and then kill them himself. Naruto was angry as well, he was pissed that he was doing grunt work when he could be off chasing bandits or doing something productive, like training…or eating ramen, anything to stop the monotony. Sakura was getting bored doing the same tedious jobs over and over, but she was also glad that these short missions gave the team ample time to train, something she realized she needed to do much more of.
She was currently waiting for her three other teammates at their regular meeting place, a small bridge that spanned a small river and was roughly half ways between the three genin's houses. She was adamant about punctuality and continued to show up before her teammates, although now it was only about ten minutes before the others now. She was currently researching different ways to increase her power. Given that she had excellent chakra control, albeit a small amount, she found two different fields that were perfect for her, medicine and genjutsu. She was trying to figure out which area to concentrate on, but was having a hard time deciding.
The two weeks had shown a marked increase in the trio's teamwork. She learned a lot about her teammates and was rethinking her previous notions about them, especially Naruto. Before, she would have written the multicolored haired boy off as a general idiot and fool that had only just squeaked by the academy, but now…he had proven himself to be intelligent, physically strong, and cheerful, despite these strange looks he often received. Sakura had heard rumors about her teammate, but she didn't know what to think of them. From what she had pieced together (she would never just go up and ask him) he had been separated from his mother after the Kyuubi attack and not rejoined with her until he was seven. His mother was a jounin and was the former apprentice of the traitor Sannin, Orochimaru. Due to her connections with the powerful ninja, she was often disrespected and sometimes hated. For whatever reason, Sasuke had moved in with the two and had been living with them since his family died.
`But, just because the people don't like his mom, do they really hate him?' she thought.
When she told her sensei that the things she disliked were Ino and Naruto, she was basing those on what she had seen. Many of the civilians of the village often shot glares at the boy and muttered curses behind his back. When she asked her parents why, the answer she was looking for was skirted and if her parents were in a good mood, they would simply tell her she wouldn't understand and that she should probably keep her distance from him.
Yet all of the new data she had told her that Naruto was trustworthy and protective of his teammates and would never hurt anyone that didn't deserve it. He was a mystery, and she would figure him out sooner or later.
As Sakura was contemplating Naruto's life, the rest of her team was making their way towards the bridge for their next mission. She absentmindedly greeted the boys as they arrived only minutes before Kakashi showed up and they made their way towards the Hokage Tower for their assignment.
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`Damn them! Damn them to hell!' Sakura was fuming as she waited for her tardy sensei. Some how, the boys had managed to talk the Hokage into giving them a C-rank mission instead of the boring and safe D-rank ones they normally got. She was beside herself, she didn't want to look weak in front of Sasuke, but she doubted her ability to perform up to par on the harder mission. Hence the cursing of her teammates…them and that annoyingly late sensei! `I mean, would it kill him to be on time once?' Apparently it would, because he was running an astounding two and a half hours late. If he didn't have the client with them, than the three would have left a long time ago, with or without Kakashi. The threat potential on C-level missions was mostly bandits and those were rare.
“Yo, sorry we're late, there was this drowning fish and it needed to be given CPR and someone glued my mask to my face, so I had to instruct Tazuna-san, here how to do it.” Kakashi greeted the trio with a smile (or at least what they had come to interpret as a smile) and a wave of his head. Tazuna was simply staring at the man in disbelief.
`He was buying supplies and he tells them I was giving CPR to a fish?' Tazuna thought as Sakura yelled “LIAR!” at the jounin.
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The group was walking along the road between Konoha and the Wave Country and it was very boring. The only interesting thing was a quick lesson about the different Shinobi nations and their leaders. Besides the Hokage (When this was mentioned Naruto supplied that he would be the greatest Hokage of all time one day), there was the Raikage, Kazekage, Mizukage, and Tsuchikage, who were the leaders of the Cloud village, Sand village, Mist village and Stone village, respectfully.
When he was done talking the team and their charge drifted back into a lull of inactivity. Naruto, who was in the front was searching for signs of bandit attacks or ambushes, Sasuke who was behind him was mostly sightseeing and enjoying his time out of the village, Tazuna was worried that he was sending these three kids to their death if they were to encounter the true reason he needed escorting and Sakura returned to pondering over her teammates. They became so entrenched in their various activities that when an inconspicuous puddle came into view, no one immediately realized that something was wrong. Kakashi was the first to notice that a rather large puddle had formed in the road when there hadn't been any rain for days. Naruto probably would have overlooked it, if he hadn't been bored and activated his sharingan. It was a habit he had developed, although he wasn't sure why, but if he got bored, he would activate the sharingan and try to copy new jutsu or just the way people acted and walked. On this occasion he saw the chakra flowing from the deposit of water and silently signaled Sasuke that there were enemies about. Sasuke, in turn, turned towards Kakashi, catching the attention of Sakura, but the jounin didn't seem to be paying attention, but Sasuke noticed his eyes were harder than normal.
`He must have noticed them.' He reasoned and turned his attention to the front, where Naruto was deciding what to do.
`This is a C-rank; there shouldn't be any chance of shinobi encounters.' Naruto reasoned to himself. `But if I attack them and they aren't after Tazuna-san, then I could start something I can't get out of.' He gulped at the thought of possibly attacking another jounin. He settled for a simple strategy, he passed through the puddle and watching the reaction of the liquid, trodding in it purposely. Sasuke followed suit, but Sakura and Tazuna walked around it, while Kakashi just ignored it.
As he passed, the puddle quickly changed shape into two men, whose faces were covered with horned masks bearing the symbol of the Hidden Mist village. They had metal gauntlets on their arms, connected by a serrated metal chain, which was covered with a deadly poison. The masked duo quickly ran forward and wrapped their chain around Kakashi and before anyone could do much more than look surprised, they pulled the sharp chain through the jounin, separating his body into many different sections.
“One down!” Their voices were given a deeper timbre by the masks they wore, and they were good tag team fighters.
They quickly moved towards Tazuna and Sakura. Sakura was frozen, seeing her sensei ripped apart by the two masked ninja in front of her, and it wasn't until the forms of Naruto and Sasuke leapt in front of her and their client that she realized how close the two attackers were.
Naruto completed the seals for Katon: Housenka no Jutsu, forcing the pair to either jump up, due to the area covered by the small fire balls, or disengage the chain and dodge separately. The pair jumped up into the air, just as Naruto intended for them, only to be greeted by a much larger fire ball, courtesy of Sasuke. The ball of intense flame connected with the pair, although they were able to lessen much of the damage by disconnecting the chain and twisting to the side. It was during the masked men's dodge that Naruto leapt into the air and threw a pair of kunai attached with wire at the pair, successfully capturing one ninja, the kunai acting as weights like a bola and then embedding themselves into a tree, with just the slightest help from the boy's bloodline.
Meanwhile, Sasuke was engaged with the other ninja in a taijutsu match. He was easily dodging the slowed blows, thanks to a combination of sharingan and the fact that the armor of his foe was slowing him down. The masked ninja launched a clawed palm at the Uchiha's face, only for the boy to duck under the blow and land a straight jab into the attacking shinobi's stomach, doubling him over. Before the mist ninja could even blink, Sasuke's knee connected with his face, sending his head reeling backwards once more exposing his stomach. His clawed hands flew to his face to staunch the blood flowing from his nose. Only then did the Mist ninja remember the poison on his over-sized clawed gloves. Upon impact with his face, the poison on his claws mixed with the blood that was trickling into his mouth through the crack in his mask caused by the boy he was fighting. At first he staggered backwards, probably from the force of Sasuke's knee, but he quickly dropped to his knees before falling on his stomach, dead. Seeing his brother's death, the second ninja tried to cut himself with his own gauntlet, only for it to be forcibly held to his side by an unseen force.
“Now, now, we need someone to question.” Naruto grinned at the captured foe.
“Excellent work, you two.” Kakashi's lazy voice greeted the ninjas and their charge.
“Sensei…but how…you…chain…died?” Sakura's gaping mouth was able to form that disconnected sentence after the initial shock of her sensei's return wore off. She glanced at the pieces of his body, a twig was sticking out of his mid section…wait! A twig? He had used Kawarimi before the deadly duo had cut him with the chain and substituted himself with a section of tree.
Kakashi turned to face the captured man and asked who their target was. The masked ninja didn't reply. He reached up and lifted his forehead protector, but from the position of the genin, they couldn't see what he was doing. After a moment the incapacitated ninja's eyes widened in horror and he began to scream and yell
“The bridge maker!” Over and over until he passed out.
Lowering his headband, Kakashi turned and leveled his gaze at Tazuna.
“It would seem,” He started, “that Tazuna-san needs to explain a few things before we
continue.”
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`Damn it, damn it, damn it!' Sakura was more than angry with her luck today. First of all, she was sent on a mission she probably wasn't ready for, and now she was on a mission she definitely wasn't ready for. `Damn that drunken man!' As she cussed out Tazuna she wondered who she was more pissed off at. Tazuna, the man who had lied about the mission specs or Gato, the man who was harassing the people of the Wave village. The other thought floating around in her mind, was her sensei. What was hidden under his protector that it would cause an assassin to cry out in horror? `Maybe he lost his eye and he showed him the empty socket.' She thought, shuddering at the thought.
After Tazuna explained that he was trying to bring relief to the oppressed village by means of the new bridge he was building, much of the mystery surrounding the attack of the Nuke-nin was resolved. The Wave country/village was a once thriving place, until Gato, a ruthless businessman had set his sights on it. He had entered and wrecked the economy of the town through blockades and violence. If the bridge was completed it would be a gateway for new supplies and goods to enter the town. After some discussion, and more than a little `crying' from Tazuna, the team decided it would continue the mission. If the bridge was completed than not only would the economy of the village return, but trade between the Konoha and the hopefully reinvigorated sea town would blossom. They would request assistance when they reached the relative safety of the town. Kakashi explained that the mission was at least B-rank now, and if they encountered a jounin ninja it would escalate again to A-rank.
The group was making good time after the ambush and had an uneventful trip across the water surrounding the Wave country. After they made landfall, they headed towards Tazuna's house so they could send for help. About midway between the house and their landing spot, Naruto, who was leading the group still, suddenly threw a kunai at a bush to his left. Sasuke quickly followed suit, adding a Goukakyuu no Jutsu to scorch the area in case Naruto hit anything. As the foliage began to burn down a bit, they discovered a rather terrified snowshoe hare, hugging against the farthest tree for his life. Kakashi quickly doused the fire with a small suiton jutsu. However he pondered about the appearance of the hare.
`Hmm, that's a snow hare, but it hasn't molted yet, it's the middle of summer, it should have turned brown by now. Unless…it was raised to be used in a replacement. It seems that tougher competition has arrived.' He was sure to keep his visible eye open for any signs of their enemy. It was a good thing too, because not five minutes after his genins almost barbecued an innocent hare, a giant sword came flying at the team from behind.
“EVERYONE, GET DOWN NOW!” He ordered, throwing himself at the ground as Sasuke and Sakura managed to bring down their ward and Naruto flattened himself out as well.
The sword embedded itself into the trunk of a large tree, and when the group raised their heads to look at the weapon, they found a fairly tall man with spiky brown hair, his forehead protector was askew to his left and his mouth was covered in bandages. He wore no shirt, but his forearms were covered in camouflaged warmers and he stood on his sword with an air of confidence.
“Ah, the copy-ninja, Hatake Kakashi, no wonder the Demon brothers failed to kill the bridge builder.” His voice was deep and ominous, sending chills down the backs of Tazuna and Sakura. Naruto and Sasuke were affected a bit, but it was less intense, due to their mothers training.
“Momochi Zabuza, Nuke-nin of Kirigakure. As you can see, I too read the bingo book.” Kakashi replied, his voice didn't carry any of his usual laziness. He once more reached up and lifted the barrier obscuring his left eye.
“Oh, the sharingan, I get to see it already. How interesting.” Zabuza leapt off his large head cleaver and onto the surface of the water, taking the large sword with him in one movement. He raised his right hand up to his face and raised the index and middle fingers, while his left arm stood straight up, the fingers mimicking those of his other hand. A thick fog suddenly rolled through the area, obscuring the woods and its occupants.
The chakra being released by the two jounins was something to be in awe of. Sakura, who was much more aware of chakra signatures than the boys, was having a hard time refraining from screaming in terror, the killing intent of the enemy jounin was focused at the genin and their instructor.
“Don't worry Sakura; I won't let any of my teammates die.” Kakashi turned towards the team, his eyes closed and a smile played on his lips. Running vertical along the center of his left eye was a long since healed scar. This lead to another train of thought for the pink haired girl.
`I thought the sharingan was the bloodline of the Uchiha clan, but then how does Kakashi-sensei have it? Is he related to Sasuke-kun maybe?'
Suddenly, Zabuza appeared in the center of the defensive perimeter the team had set up around Tazuna, sword stretched across his back, ready to slay the three genin. But almost as soon as he appeared, Kakashi was there, planting a kunai into the side of the enemy, only for the body to turn to water and fall to the ground in a pool of liquid.
`Mizu bunshin!' he thought as he quickly searched for the missing Nin. However, Zabuza got the upper hand and appeared behind the leaf jounin; his sword swung at Kakashi's waist and ripped him apart, only for the grey haired man to turn into water as well. Zabuza's eyes opened in astonishment. `He copied my technique in this fog? The sharingan truly is a weapon to be feared.'
As he finished thinking, Zabuza felt the unmistakable edge of a kunai pressed against his neck.
“It's over.” Kakashi said, coldly.
“Are you sure about that?”
Suddenly `Zabuza' dissolved into water once more, the product of a mizu bunshin. This time it was Kakashi's eyes that widened. He suddenly found himself flying towards the river a few meters away from the group. He didn't notice the impact of Zabuza's leg, but it was strong enough to send him into the water.
Zabuza rushed towards the river, before stopping suddenly.
“Makibishi. Good try, but not good enough, Kakashi.”
He quickly back flipped onto the rivers surface once more. Kakashi's head broke the surface of the lake, trying to find his adversary, only to realize that it was far too late. Zabuza stood at his side, forming hand seals very quickly.
“Suirou no Jutsu!” (Water type: Water prison technique) He spoke the jutsu with practiced ease and the surrounding water quickly engulfed Kakashi into a swirling sphere of water. Zabuza's right arm was sticking into the sphere, holding it together and increasing the density of the water to trap the illustrious copy ninja.
“Run! He can't follow you while he keeps this jutsu up!” Kakashi pleaded with his team.
Naruto let out a short laugh. “Nope, not gonna happen sensei, `those that would abandon their comrades are worse than trash' right?” He gave his brother a quick look and the two rushed the mist jounin, only to stop at the waters edge when Zabuza created a mizu bunshin without using hand seals. The two boys attacked the clone, but were thrown back by the flat of the giant sword their attacker wielded.
Searching the surrounding area for anything that could be used to fight off the clone, something on the ground caught Sasuke's eye.
“Hey, Naruto…” He gestured towards the ground off to the side of the clone that was steadily making its way towards the boys.
Naruto looked towards his teammate was indicating and got the meaning of the unspoken sentence.
“Well, shit, I didn't want to do it, but you got a point.” The blondish boy spoke, before raising his arm and pointing it to the left of the clone, his eyes closed in concentration.
Meanwhile, Sasuke was throwing shuriken and kunai at the clone, only for them to be blocked by the giant sword. Thinking quickly he created a mizu bunshin from the river and used it to catch the clone in a pincer move, but the jounin's clone was much too strong and destroyed the clone before once more kicking the Uchiha away.
“Hm, those students of yours are weak.” Zabuza commented, off handedly to Kakashi.
The Konoha jounin didn't respond, but watched his students fight against a superior opponent. He watched as Sasuke was once more repelled and fell to the ground. But as he rose, both of the jounin noticed that his face wasn't contorted in pain or frustration, but plastered with a smirk of superiority.
“Naruto, NOW!” Sasuke yelled.
Naruto simply smirked, eerily reminiscent of his brother, and waved his arm. In a fraction of a second, the mizu bunshin disintegrated and Zabuza was hit with an unseen force and the shock of the attack forced him to release the water prison.
`What was that?' Sakura wondered in awe.
Zabuza's right arm began to drip blood as he brought it to his face to inspect the damage. He found the small makibishi lodged in his arm and stomach. The spiked pieces of metal, normally used to impede enemy's movements, had become a rather effective ranged weapon.
`How the hell did that brat do that?' He cursed mentally, drawing his sword and advancing towards the duo, until he was stopped by Kakashi's figure rising from the river in front of him.
“Your fight is with me.” He calmly stated, locking eyes with Zabuza.
`Damn it, this guy is pissing me off.' Zabuza commented to himself as he began the hand seals for the Suiton Suiryuudan no Jutsu (Water type: Water Dragon Technique). As he flashed through the seals he noticed something peculiar in the behavior of his opponent. He was doing the exact same seals…at the exact same time.
“Suiton Suiryuudan!” Both jounin's cried out at the same time. Two dragons composed of water rose from the raging river and spiraled at their intended target, only to crash into each other.
“Damn it, it's like he knows…” Zabuza started
“What I'm going to do next.” Kakashi finished.
Zabuza's eyes widened in shock as the copy Nin read his thoughts.
“Damn you…” Zabuza cursed
“Insignificant monkey!” Kakashi once more supplied the demon of the mist with the end of his sentence. This time Zabuza didn't respond and just ran through the seals for Suiton Daibakufu no Jutsu. (Water type: Great Waterfall technique) Kakashi once more imitated his opponent, and when Zabuza locked eyes with his opponent once more, he was startled to find not only Kakashi, but the ghostly figure of himself, standing behind him. Zabuza slowed his seals just a fraction of a second, but it was enough for Kakashi to finish. The water on which the two were standing began to churn around the two and rise up, creating a tidal wave that crashed against the rooted body of Momochi Zabuza.
Zabuza felt his body slam into the trunk of a tree, before he was pinned to the trunk with kunai.
“How is it…that you can see the future?” He asked groggily.
“Your future…is death.” Kakashi began to move forward, kunai in hand, but was stopped as two metallic needles slammed into the incapacitated jounin's neck, killing him instantly. Everyone in the small clearing created by the battle followed the path of the needles to a masked figure standing on the tree.
“Thanks, I've been looking to kill Zabuza for quit some time. You were right, his future was death.” The person spoke in a voice that sounded like he was the age of the genin, maybe a year or two older, but there was no appreciable difference.
“Ah, a mist hunter-nin.” Kakashi said and lowered his headband, covering the sharingan once more.
The hunter Nin disappeared in a swirl of leaves, before reappearing next to the body of Zabuza. After a quick series of hand seals, the two disappeared, leaving only Team 7 and Tazuna.
“Well this sucks.” Kakashi said, before crumpling to the ground and passing out.
“Kakashi-sensei!” Sakura cried out and ran to the side of her teacher to check on him. He appeared to be fine, but he seemed tired some how.
“Come on, lets take him to my house, it's just a ways to town from here.” Tazuna offered, still in awe at how the team handled themselves.
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