Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Shinigami no Naruto: Power of the Soul ❯ The First Mission ( Chapter 6 )

Chapter Six: The First Mission

The day after Anko said that they were ready for their first mission, Team Anko showed up at the Mission Hall to pick up the assignment. The Academy was on break, so it fell to Iruka to deal with Anko.

"Well, hello Naruto, Tenten-san, Hinata-san, Anko-san"

"Hey Iruka-san, what mission have you got for us today?"

"Well, let me see. Hmm... you guys have been a team for two months, and you haven't done a single mission?"

"We have been busy with other stuff," Anko replied.

"Well here you go then," handing her a scroll with a large 'D' printed on it.

"Nuh uh. Give me one of those,” Anko said, pointing at the pile of C-rank missions. Truthfully, she would have asked for a B-rank, but the tray for those was empty, and while she believed in her team, she knew they weren't ready for an A-rank mission yet. “The Hokage said I could pick and choose my missions. I have better things to do than do someone else's chores all day long." While that was true, the main reason she wanted a C-rank mission was to have her genin make their first kills. The first kill for a shinobi was almost always the hardest, so she figured that it would be best to get it out of the way on an easy mission where all they would be facing are some bandits at most.

"But you guys haven't done a single mission, and you want a C rank already, that's preposterous!"

One of the other chunin assigning missions leaned over. "Just give them a C rank, Iruka. If she gets her genin killed, it's on her head."

It was then that the other chunin noticed the not-so-nice smile that Tenten, Hinata and Naruto had come to associate with her getting impatient. An unhappy Anko was generally detrimental to anyone's health that was within reach. Iruka noticed this and capitulated.

Iruka eyed the stack of C-rank mission scrolls. Looking several over, he chose one near the top. "All right, then, here you go." Iruka held out the scroll, but didn't release it when Anko took a hold of it. "If Naruto doesn't come back in perfect health, though Anko-san, I promise there will be hell to pay."

"Sounds like fun. I might have to beat on the brat a bit just to get you to fight me."

"So who is the client?" Naruto asked, hoping to steer this conversation to safer and healthier grounds.

“I am,” came the voice from the doorway. Team Anko turned to face the speaker. He was a medium tall man, with fine cheekbones and soft hands. The slicked back hair and slightly condescending look in his eye identified the man as a courier, most likely a failed genin. The message bag at his side helped too. His eyes narrowed when he saw the four people. “Hey, what is the Ky-urk!” whatever the man was going to say was interrupted by Anko and Naruto. Anko had tangled her fingers in the man's greased hair with a kunai to his throat, while Naruto, not quite having the reach to hit his face sank his fist in the man's soft abdomen.

“Finish that sentence and you die,” Naruto growled.

“And if my son can't finish the deed, be assured I will. Those two girls are his friends and they don't know what we three do. I would like to keep it that way? Capiche?” Unable to breathe the man nodded frantically.

Meanwhile Tenten and Hinata were completely bewildered. What was the man going to say that would have set off the mother and son duo like that? Judging from the hardened expressions on the other occupants of the Mission Hall, they knew what the man was going to say.

“Anyways,” Iruka continued, “this man is a courier with an invitation to Kirigakure to join in the upcoming Chunin Exams. Your four will escort him to Kirigakure, wait for a response from the Mizukage and return. As the information is unclassified and not sensitive in any way, there is no resistance anticipated. That said, be on your guard anyway. Anything can happen after all. That is all.”

Team Anko saluted and exited the room. As Naruto passed the courier in the doorway, he gripped the man's shirt, hauling him down so he could whisper in his ear. “Spill my secret to my friends over there, and I will happily carry out your punishment on the spot.” The man was very pale-faced and looking rather ill, so he just nodded his assent.

Anko was standing just outside the doors to the Hokage Tower when her three students exited the building. "Alright you three. This is your first mission outside of the village, so be sure to pack everything you will need for the next month or so. That means clothes, hygiene products, tools, the works. I don't think I have to tell you two to leave any vanity items here.” Tenten gave Anko a look that said where she could put that. “If you forget something here, we ain't turning around to come get it. Meet up at the east gate in an hour. Anyone who is late will get an extra special private training session with me."

As one, the three genin shuddered. No one wanted to be left to Anko's nonexistent mercies when it came to training. Nodding to her, the three vanished in a puff of dirt, leaping to the rooftops to make better time. Naruto was practically tripping over himself in his haste to get home in order to pack. He hurriedly unlocked the door and began throwing everything he could think of into his over sized backpack. Since he was physically the strongest member of the team, Anko had given him the responsibility of carrying most of the teams equipment on a mission. That included tents, cooking supplies and medical gear, along with any personal items. Finishing up, he locked the door from the inside and leaped out the window, heading towards the meeting spot.

Hinata rushed home, leaping across the reinforced rooftops of the town in order to get to the Hyuuga compound quicker. She knew that her father would want to speak to her before she left, so she would have to pack as fast as she could if she were to be at the gate on time. When she arrived, she hurriedly removed her footwear, rushing through the halls to her room, barely stopping to exchange pleasantries with those she passed like she normally would. Grabbing a female branch house member, she raced around her room, throwing items that she would need into the middle of the room, letting the servant pack her bag. Thanking the woman profusely, she approached her father's study at a brisk pace. It would not do to appear red cheeked and blowing in her fathers presence after all. Pausing a moment to compose herself, she knocked on the door.

“Enter.”

Hinata entered, kneeling in front of her fathers desk. Looking up in surprise, Hiashi said, “I was unaware that you had a mission today, Daughter.”

“I'm sorry for not informing you sooner Father, but this was a last minute decision.”

“I see that you are leaving the village,” Hiashi responded, gesturing to her pack.

“Hai, Father. My team has a C-rank mission to escort a courier to Kirigakure.”

“I see. Do you know how long you will be gone?”

“No, Father, but it shouldn't be more than three or four weeks, from what I understand. I have made arrangements for Hanabi to manage the ledger and the house while I am gone, under the supervision of Aoi-san.”

“Alright. You may leave me then.”

“Hai, Father.”

 

Tenten was able to make it home record time, due to traveling across the roofs of the town instead of walking on the streets like she normally did. The door rang as she opened it. Her mother was leaning on the counter by the cash register, reading a magazine.

“Hello Tenten-chan. What are you doing here?”

“I have a mission Mom. We have a C-rank escort mission to Water Country today. I gotta hurry to pack, because Anko-sensei wants us down at the east gate in,” she paused to check the clock, “forty-five minutes.”

“Well, don't let me keep you then. Be sure to speak to your father before you leave though.”

“Sure thing Mom,” came Tenten's fading voice from the stairwell. Tenten was finished packing fairly quickly, already having most of her ninja equipment organized and ready to be packed at a moments notice. She tucked a dozen hand sized sealing scrolls in specially designed pockets in her long pants and shirt. When she did that, she ran over a mental list and concluded that she had everything that she needed. Hefting her pack on her shoulders, she descended the stairs and went into the back where her father was working at the forge.

“Hey Dad.”

“Tenten-chan, what are you doing here? Do you have a mission?” He asked seeing the pack on her back, and all the scrolls tucked into pockets on her clothes.

“Yeah, we have our first C-rank mission today. We're escorting a courier to Kiri.” Kouseki wiped his forehead of sweat and put down the hammer and piece of steel he was working on.

“How long are you going to be gone do you think?”

“I don't really know. A month or so. Shouldn't be much longer than that.” Without warning, Kouseki strode up to his daughter and seized her in a bear hug.

“Be safe Tenten-chan. I know that you trust your teammates, but just try to be careful anyways.” Kouseki pushed Tenten back, holding onto her shoulders before addressing her again. “When you first said that you wanted to be a ninja like your grandfather, your mother and I thought that it was just a phase, like many of the other civilian children. But as you got older and showed no signs of dropping out, it looked like you were serious about being a ninja. Your mother and I were extremely proud of you when you graduated, even if I was not best pleased by your team, and we have been fearing this day since then.” Releasing her he turned her around. “Now get going. You wouldn't want to be late for your first mission.”

“Thanks Father,” Tenten said over her shoulder. “I love you.”

Naruto was the last one to arrive at the east gate. He had a large backpack on and a second one in his arms. Grabbing one of the straps on the second backpack, he slung it at Anko. “Here ya go Mom. I got everything, including the shoe box. Although I had to go digging through your closet to find enough clean clothes.” He shuddered. “You mind putting your.. ah... private wear somewhere other than the floor though?”

“What, ladies underwear make you uncomfortable Naruto-chan?”

“It's not the underwear that bothers me Mom, its that it is yours is what is wrong. I didn't want to have my first memories of lingerie to be looking at my moms. You have ruined it for me for all time now.”

“What, you calling my underwear ugly brat?” She said this as she put Naruto into a submission hold, which he wriggled out of, to wrap himself around her legs in an interesting fashion. Well what would have been an interesting fashion had they not been related.

Tenten rolled her eyes, the courier scowled at the pair and Hinata cleared her throat. “Um, Anko, Naruto-kun, shouldn't we be going now?”

The two stopped wresting in the dirt for a minute to glare at the blue haired girl, which got a nervous “eep!” from her. Anko took Naruto's distraction to grip an arm and twist it in a painful fashion so that they were disentangled in a flash and she was sitting on him. Tenten was still ignoring the pair, but Hinata winced. Naruto's arm was bent back to the breaking point and Anko's knee was grinding his head into the dirt. Pressing harder for a second she let him up. “Let that be a lesson in how to speak to a lady son.”

Naruto scowled and muttered under his breath.

Several hours later, Naruto was getting very irritated. For one, the damn courier kept glaring at him and his mother muttering under his breath. Two, the courier had graduated the Shinobi Academy, but had retired soon after, so had never acquired the skill to travel in the forest canopy, and as such were forced to walk on the ground like civilians.

Anko had wisely decided to guard the courier herself, with Naruto as point guard because he was the heavy combat specialist, Hinata in the middle so she could get the greatest range with her Byakugan, and Tenten as rear guard, as she was the sniper of the team. Hinata kept an eye on Naruto, as there seemed to be something the the courier knew that upset him. By the way his shoulders were set and the stiffness of his stride, Naruto was still pissed at the man. Not for the first time, Hinata wondered what Naruto didn't want them to know. It had to be something terrible for him to leap silence the man so quickly. Shaking off the thought Hinata returned to her perusal of the surrounding terrain. Naruto would tell them when he was ready. They were team mates after all.

Camp that night was a more than slightly tense affair, with Naruto and Anko at the opposite end of the fire from the courier, Hinata and Tenten in between. Naruto left to gather firewood as the group found a suitable clearing to rest for the night. Tenten and Anko set up camp as Hinata started preparing dinner. The courier sat to one side, far enough out of the way to not interfere with preparations, but close enough that he could be protected.

Everyone was silent during the meal, speaking only to compliment Hinata on the meal. “Man, Hinata-chan, you are a really good cook.”

“I agree,” Tenten added. “How did you manage to make it taste so good?”

“There are many herbs and spices that can be found in the wild.” Hinata ducked her head to hide her blush. “Is it really that good Naruto-kun?”

“Hell yeah. I wish I lived with you so I could eat your food more often.” Naruto completely ignored the swooning girl until he heard a telltale thump. “What did I do now?” Anko and Tenten rolled their eyes.

“Naruto-san, I swear, sometimes you really are an idiot.”

Anko waved at him to settle him down and dragged Hinata off to the side, splashing some water on her face. Hinata sat up quickly looking around rapidly.

“Don't worry Hinata-chan, Naruto isn't here.”

“Sorry for fainting,” Hinata muttered.

“It's alright. You really have it bad for my son.” Hinata said nothing. “It's alright. If it is any consolation, he considers you a good friend Hinata-chan. Naruto is a good ninja, but a complete moron when it comes to social interaction. If you ever want to be anything more than friends with him, you will have to do something yourself. Naruto has had only two friends in his life because of something that he has no control over. So when he does find a new friend he doesn't want to screw it up by advancing it very far quickly. So it is up to you to do something if you want to be something more.”

“Anko, why does the entire village hate Naruto-kun?”

Anko did not respond immediately. When Hinata looked in Anko's eyes, she saw anger and sadness warring within. “As much as I would like to tell you Hinata-chan it is not my secret to tell. Perhaps one day, if he ever considers you a good enough friend, he will tell you. But until that day comes, I cannot say anything.”

“That's okay. Forgive me for asking.”

“There is nothing to apologize for. You did not know.”

Hinata was silent for a minute more before speaking. “Um... A-anko, do you know how N-naruto-k-kun thinks of me?” Anko looked to the young woman and smiled at her discomfort.

“I could tell you but that wouldn't be fun at all. Why don't you ask him yourself?” Anko just smiled wider when she didn't answer. “Well, I think I had better go back to the fire. Who knows what that asshole courier will start without me there. Come back when you are ready.”

When Anko returned to the fire, things were not as she had left them. Naruto was up on the balls of his feet, poised to leap the fire to attack the messenger. The messenger was on his feet as well, with an arrogant sneer on his face. Tenten was to one side, worriedly alternating looking at each man.

Glowering, Anko strode into the light of the fire. “Alright, what is going on here?”

“This fool is about to earn himself an execution Mom.” Anko turned to the courier.

“I just happen to think that the young lady here should know what she is consorting with.”

“That knowledge is forbidden from being spoken. Break the Sandaime's law and you know the consequences. I don't know who you think you know that will protect you, but out here, you will follow my orders or be arrested and detained. Do I make myself clear?”

“If you harm me I assure you you will regret it. Perhaps I have forgotten to tell you my name. I am Mitokado Sanji. My father is Mitokado Homura, advisor to the Hokage himself. So be careful who you threaten snake whore.” Half a second later, he was hoisted off his feet, a grinning Anko holding him up by one hand.

“Call me that again, fucker. It will totally make my day. Pretty please?” Anko's other hand had drawn a kunai from her leg holster, and was playing with it in an eager manner. “My kunai hasn't had any fresh blood in a while, and it is a little cranky.” Alarmingly enough, Naruto was still crouched ready to pounce, and fondling his own kunai.

Tenten figured that his she didn't do something to defuse the situation quickly, things would get a lot more complicated. “Anko, let the guy down please. We are supposed to be guarding him, not killing him.” Anko held the man up a moment longer before lowering him, when he hunched over and clutched at his throat, hacking and coughing.

“Luckily for you, my student doesn't know everything and is a lot more forgiving than I am.” Sending one last disgusted look his way, Anko beckoned to Naruto, Tenten and Hinata who had just come back. She led the trio to her tent leaving the three genin outside for a minute. They her her rustling around inside, presumably looking for something. Anko reemerged a minute later, holding a shoe box, likely the same one Naruto had mentioned earlier that morning.

“Alright, in the two months that I have been your jounin-sensei, we have done a lot of training. But the one thing that I have not taught you is any ninjutsu or genjutsu. We are about to correct that now.” Anko opened the box which held three small scrolls, taking them out and handing one to each of them. “Each one of those scrolls has two jutsu on it, according to your affinities. I want each of you to learn the first one first and show me before you go on to the second.” Turning to Hinata she spoke to her. “The first jutsu on that scroll is Lightning Release: Lightning Grip. What it does is change your chakra to lightning-natured chakra and charges your hand with electricity. From there you can grab or jab an opponent, paralyzing or killing, depending on how much chakra you use, The second jutsu is Lightning Release: Lightning Blast Technique. Basically, you shoot a lightning bolt out of your hand. You change the number of fingers you point at your target to change the strength. Again, it can just paralyze, or electrocute your target to death.

“Naruto, your first technique is Wind Release: Great Breakthrough. What it does is generate a gale-force wind from your mouth. Depending on the power, it can do anything from deflect thrown weapons, to blow a person away. The second is Wind Release: Pressure Bullet. Basically you perform the hand seals and exhale sharply. The air then condenses and is fired forward. I've seen shinobi fell a tree with the Pressure Bullet before.

“Tenten, your first technique is a defensive one called Earth Release: Earth Style Wall. Perform the seals and slam your hands onto the ground to flip up a wall of dirt to block an attack. It can be pierced by a jutsu of sufficient strength though, so it is not an ultimate defense. The second is Earth Release: Double Suicide Decapitation Technique. What you do is dive underground and get underneath your target and pull them down into the ground, up to the neck. This is an assassination jutsu, not because it actually does any harm to the target, but once you do it, they are immobilized, and waiting on you to execute them.

“We will arrive in Port City in another five days. I want each of you to practice your first jutsu until then. I expect you to be able to perform the first jutsu on those scrolls by then.” Hinata and Tenten just sighed. Naruto grinned and nodded. There was no way that he would fail. Anko put the top back on the box. “Take care of those. If you lose them, you won't be getting any more for a good long time.”

Naruto went back to the first and unrolled his scroll. The first jutsu Anko wanted him to master, Wind Release: Great Breakthrough was a C-rank wind ninjutsu. Studying the diagrams, he slowly went through the hand seals several time before he felt he had memorized them. Looking at the next section he saw that after making the seals he had to bring his hands to his mouth, and exhale a large breath. The air would then be charged with wind-natured chakra, amplifying the minor breeze in both power and volume. He figured that he could spend tomorrow practicing the actual jutsu, while tonight he would work on the motions.

Hinata had crossed her legs and spread the scroll across her lap. Even without really thinking, she could come up with a dozen applications for the Lightning Release: Lightning Grip. Combining the paralyzing effects of the jutsu along with the Jyuuken would be a particularly devastating combo if she could manage to maintain channeling both at once. If she couldn't manage that, then she could just use the Lightning Claw to lock up key muscle groups, and then got after her opponent with the Jyuuken. She thought she would probably be able to perform the C-rank jutsu twelve or fifteen times a day after looking at the description and chakra consumption.

The way that the Lightning Release: Lightning Grip worked was to channel chakra to the hand and use the hand seals to charge the air surrounding the hand, and using a extremely thin lay of chakra to prevent her shocking herself. Putting a hand to her chin, she wondered what would happen if she were to use a kunai or shuriken while maintaining the Lightning Grip. That would be something she would have to test out when she successfully performed the jutsu.

Tenten had chosen a third log to sit on and cracked open her scroll. She was glad Anko had found a jutsu like Earth Release: Earth Style Wall to teach her. She had a number of jutsu under her belt, but none of them were defensively oriented. She imagined that she could use the Earth Style Wall to block any big taijutsu or ninjutsu that were aimed her way in close range and allow her to break the line of sight and get out of melee range, back to where she was more comfortable.

Tenten frowned however when she read the description. It was a B-rank ninjutsu with good reason. It required a good bit of chakra to make an usably large wall, and the jutsu need plenty of upper body strength up shove enough chakra into the ground and enough physical energy to flip the slab of compacted dirt up. The hand seals were kind of tricky too, with a left handed tiger, and two modified ox seals. Tenten sighed yet again. She was going to have to work hard to use the Earth Style Wall by the time they all arrived in Port City. She should also probably ask Naruto for some upper body exercises.

The next two days passed relatively quietly, with the courier staying silent and sullen, barely speaking, and only to answer a direct question in as few syllables as possible. Hinata, Naruto and Tenten had been working on their jutsu almost nonstop. Hinata had gotten the technique down on the second day, and had been refining her control since then. Testing it on Naruto, she was able to power it to give a slight tingle, or lock up an entire muscle group. She hadn't dared go any farther than that, for fear of doing him permanent harm. They had tried to practice on shadow clones, but no matter how much chakra Naruto pumped in them, they were destroyed before she could work up to what should be a lethal level. So she had switched from practicing on Naruto and clones to the surrounding foliage. She was now able to create enough of a charge to boil the sap in small trees and large bushes. She remembered the first time she had successfully exploded a tree.

Flashback no Jutsu

The three ninja and the courier had been on the road for about two hours now. The sun was starting to peek over the trees, making it uncomfortable to look straight ahead. Hinata had been seeing how long she could maintain the Lightening Grip, when Naruto stepped up beside her.

“Hey Hinata-chan. How's your jutsu going?”

“I-it's coming along N-naruto-kun.”

“That is good. How strong is it?”

“I really d-don't know. I h-have been seeing how l-long I can maintain it before having to d-drop it.” Hinata nearly blushed again. She had stuttered only four times that time. Ever since her talk with his mother, Hinata had resolved to become a person that Naruto could trust completely with all his secrets. The first step, she had planned was to be able to talk normally in his presence. But it was so hard. He was so perfect, that she couldn't help but feel nervous that he would see something that displeased him about her.

“Well, lets see how strong it is then. Try stabbing that tree there.” Looking at her love, seeing him believe absolutely in her, she suddenly felt that there was no possible way that she could fail him. Reforming the Lightening Grip, she focused all her chakra to her fist, and locked it into a knife hand. Chambering her hand she took two steps to the side and jabbed her hand straight forward. She cracked the bark of the tree before something completely unexpected happened. A moment passed when nothing happened and Hinata's features started to droop, when the tree dissolved into tiny wooden shards that flew in every direction. She was launched from her feet by the concussion, and slammed into something hard. When she recovered her senses, Anko had a kunai out in a fist, trying to see what had happened and Tenten had a partially unrolled scroll in hand. Next, she realized that the thing she had slammed into was Naruto. She immediately pushed herself away from him, mortified. Anko put her knife away, seeing that there was no danger. Everyone except Naruto looked at her with a questioning expression.

“Sorry Anko. I was testing out how strong I could make the Lightening Release: Lightning Grip on a tree and I must have overpowered it.”

“Well, at least we know that you can use it at a lethal level.”

“That was pretty impressive Hinata-san.”

“Not really. It was Naruto's idea.”

Right on cue, Naruto grinned sheepishly, scratching the back of his head. “Well, I didn't expect the tree to frickin explode on us.”

“Well, what did you expect?”

“I dunno, may be a little charring or a bit of a hole.”

“Electricity conducts, Naruto-san. It will never stay in just one place. It will try to spread out as far as possible.”

“Well, I know that now.” Meanwhile, Hinata smiled. Naruto had said she had done a good job, and that was enough for her.

Flashback no Jutsu kai

Naruto had gotten his jutsu down after ten minutes of practice, much to the annoyance of Tenten. He had spent the rest of the time systematically stripping the forest of its leaves. In fact the constant whistling of the hurricane winds was starting to wear slightly. She kept her annoyance at the blond in check though. After all he had helped her when she had needed it without a second thought. She thought back to the first morning after leaving receiving their jutsu scrolls while Anko and Hinata were breaking down camp.

Flashback no Jutsu

“Hey Naruto-san, I need some help with something if you could.”

Naruto looked up from poking the ashes of the fire. “Sure thing Tenten-chan. What is it you need?”

“Well, the jutsu that Anko gave me, Earth Release: Earth Style Wall is giving me some trouble. It seems that I am not strong enough to get it to work. What I got to do is push a bunch of chakra into the ground when I hit it hard enough to flip the dirt up. I know you do a lot of physical training and was wondering if you could give me an exercise or two to help me build up my upper body strength.”

“Yeah, sure thing. I think I know just what you need. You say you need to be able to hit the ground harder to flip the wall up? I can lend you my spare set of weights to help you slowly build muscle mass.” Tenten stood outside his tent as he dug around for his extra weights. Finally he emerged with four segmented metal bracelets.

Naruto was holding two bracelets in each hand when Tenten took hold of one pair. Immediately, the bracelets were drawn toward earth and Tenten was hunched over, not expecting the weight. Using both hands she managed to barely straighten herself. Looking at the iron nugget inlaid to the bracelet, she saw that it read '100' on it.

Looking up at her blond team mate, she had a slightly embarrassed expression on her face. “Uh, hey Naruto-san, can you change the weight of these things. I don't think that I can handle a hundred pounds on each limb yet.”

“Oops. My bad. I forgot to change them back to normal.” Naruto reached over and took the bands of steel from her. Tenten was annoyed to note that he was able to hold and lift them effortlessly. She knew that she didn't train nearly as hard as Naruto did after spying on him that one morning back in Konoha, but she was surprised to realize how big the difference between their physical strength was. Tenten knew that men had a natural advantage when it came to brute strength, but she hadn't thought the gap was so large.

Naruto brought her out of her inner speculation by handing the bands back. Here you go. I changed them to thirty pounds a piece. Try that out and see how it is. This time when she took two of the weights she wasn't dragged to the ground. Naruto showed her how to secure them to her wrists and how they had a strip of felt on the inside so that her wrists didn't chafe. Moving her arms about, she looked back with mild approval.

“Much better. A little heavy, but that is the point of the exercise.” Naruto smiled back and knelt down, pulling up the hem of her pants to put on the anklets. “I know you want to focus on your upper body, but I want you to wear the anklets also. It will increase your leg strength at the same time as your arm strength and increase your stamina. Now let me show you how to alter the weight. It is quite simple really. All you have to do is channel chakra into the iron nugget here,” he said pointing. “The more chakra you put in, the heavier it gets, and the numbers will change automatically. Don't increase the weight by more than five pounds a day though. Getting too heavy too quickly will cause tears in the muscles, tendons and ligaments. If we were back in Konoha, that wouldn't be a major deal as you could just go to the hospital to get patched up, but we have no medic with us. So if you get hurt, you are stuck with it until we get to Kiri.”

“Wow Naruto-san, you actually sounded smart there for a minute.”

“Eh, well, Mom forced me to let my muscles heal naturally the first time I disobeyed her about the weights. Trust me, it is annoying as hell.” What he didn't say was that since the fox inside him increased his healing speed several hundred times over, Anko had pinned him down and ripped the muscles herself over and over as he healed.

“Well let me show you the actual exercise.” Naruto turned away from her and bent down placing his hands on the ground and flipped his feet into the air. “Walk on your hands.”

“Tenten eyed him dubiously. “You sure that this will make me stronger quickly?”

Naruto bent his feet backwards over his head and he swung his body back so that he was upright and facing away from her again. Turning around he responded. “Well, it's not going to be an overnight thing, but yeah, I think you should be able to manage the Earth Style Wall in a couple of days between the weights and walking on your hands. Since you are a a hundred twenty pounds heavier, you probably wont be able to walk for more than a few minutes at a time, but do it for as long and often as you can, and before you know it you will walk on you hands as easily as your feet.”

Flashback no Jutsu kai

It was on the fifth day that they arrived in the coastal town of Port City just like Anko said. Naruto, Hinata and Tenten were awed by the sheer sized of the town. Konoha was a relatively small village, only having a population of ten thousand or so. Port City had a population of 5.5 million people. The town walls stretched to the left and right of the road, fading into the distance.

“Name, nationality and purpose of your visit please,” and extraordinarily bored gate guard said. Anko stepped forward to address the man. “Konohagakure tokubetsu jounin Mitarashi Anko, genin Higurashi Tenten, Hyuuga Hinata, and Uzumaki Naruto escorting courier Mitokado Sanji.” The guard looked up in surprise. It wasn't every day that a team of Konoha-nin passed through Port City. The only two places that ships sailed to from Port City was Water and Wave Countries. After checking their hitai-aites and passports he waved them through.

Naruto was rubbernecking the entire time they passed through the city. He doubted that he had seen this many people at once before, and this was just one street! Hinata and Tenten were less impressed. Tenten had visited other towns before with her father when he went to negotiate prices for iron and coal, but never to a place this large. Hinata had been to the capitol of Fire Country once when she was little, but she didn't remember much. That was the last, and only trip out of Konoha that she remembered. After all, she was the Hyuuga Heir, and as such was far too valuable to risk to kidnapping or murder callously.

It took the four people half an hour to navigate through the crowds to what Anko referred to as the Perfumed Quarter. The Perfumed Quarter boundary was marked by a bridge crossing a canal called the Bridge of Flowers. It was a very plain bridge actually, with no flowers anywhere, or any decorations that Naruto could see. When they crossed onto the far side Anko took a deep breath and Naruto gagged. “Perfumed Quarter my ass. More like the Putrid Quarter.” For indeed the Perfumed Quarter was a bit of a misnomer. The smell was a melange of many smells, chamber pots, sour mud, and decaying fish most predominant among them. Naruto pulled up the neck of his shirt to cover his mouth an nose, trying to breath as shallowly as possible. He breathed in through his mouth trying to get some relief from the smell, and now he could taste the sour mud on his tongue. He fervently hoped that they would be getting the hell out of there as soon as possible.

Anko turned to the Mitokado. “Do you already have a ship lined up to take us to Kiri or do we have to find one ourselves?”

“There should be a ship waiting for us called Spray.”

“Do you have any idea where it is docked?”

“No, but we will be contacted before long.”

“You mean we have to hang out here?” Naruto was not pleased to be spending a second longer in the Perfumed Quarter than necessary.

“Sucks for you don't it brat.” Instantly, all three ninja were glaring at him, but he managed to shrug them off. “Oh, there is my contact I believe. Too bad. I was starting to enjoy the air here.” Sanji stepped forward to face a hulking red haired bruiser of a man.

“You are Mitokado Sanji?” Naruto imagined the ground rumbling at the sound of his voice.

“You are Maeldin Yarin?”

“Hai. The captain is ready to go, so if you will follow me.” Without waiting for a response, the man named Yarin turned away and walked away. Exchanging a look with Tenten and Hinata, Naruto followed him. Spray was eighty feet long, with two masts, and broad in the beam, with room for deck cargo as well as in the holds. There was short, squat, broad and muscular man with a peculiar beard with a round but not soft face shouting orders from the raised rear of the boat. The man saw them board his ship and promptly made his way to them. He walked with an odd rolling gait, as if he were accustomed to the ground shifting beneath him.

“I be Domon Bayle, captain of Spray. I take it you be the Konoha-nin traveling to Kiri?” Naruto looked hard at the odd man. He was obviously a foreigner, from his squat, but muscular build, thick accent, his dress, a green woolen coat, with a white shirt and black pants embroidered with nine golden bees, and his hairstyle, grown long in the back and cut off at the collar, a beard that covered his chin but left his upper lip bare and name.

“We are,” Anko answered.

“Good then. There be some rules while you be on my ship. One, you do no go into any room other than your own without a crewman. Two, you be passengers, so stay out of the way of the sailors. Three, you be a Hyuuga. You will no activate your Byakugan while on my ship. Four, you no be training with your jutsus on board my ship. I do no wish my sails to be set on fire because you be learning a new technique. You follow my rules or find someone else to take you to Kiri. Do we have an accord?” He finished this by spitting into his palm and holding it out.

“We have an accord,” Anko responded without missing a beat, spitting in her hand and shaking his.

“That be good then. I do no want your hunter-nin coming after me for dumping you in the ocean. “Fortune prick me, man, do you want to run us into a sandbar,” Domon returned to the helm roaring at the poor pilot.

“He is an... interesting character for sure,” Tenten said.

“He comes from a continent across the ocean called the Wetlands. They have some very unusual people there.”

“Have you ever been there Mom?”

“Not myself, but I have dealt with several natives and know someone who has been there. They have the some of the best sailors in the world, able to cross the whirlpool fields in Whirlpool Country which cuts the trip to several island nations sorter by several days.”

And so the voyage to Kirigakure started of without a hitch. Of course things were going far too smoothly to last. On the second day of the second leg of their journey they were attacked.

“Captain Domon,” the man in the crows next called down. “There be something ahead of us.”

Domon looked up from his sea chart up on the quarter deck. He held his hand out and a crewman handed him a telescope. He swept it back and forth across the horizon several time before spotting what the look out saw. Lowering the telescope he scowled mightily. Domon descended to the weather deck where the three shinobi were.

“You,” he said, pointing an accusing finger at Anko, “what be the message you be taking to Kiri?”

“Why do you want to know?”

“Because there be four men standing on the water ahead of us. I want to know what kind of trouble I be in.”

“I assure you, it is only a routine communique between two shinobi villages, completely unclassified. I know of no reason for anyone to desire to intercept us.”

“Well, there be four men that definitely be shinobi that will probably dispute that. Fortune prick me this do be why I hate carrying shinobi. After this I no carry any shinobi, even if it were my aged grandmother that do be asking.”

That said, Domon stumped off, thundering orders. He disappeared into his cabin and reappeared a minute later, a thick cutlass on his waist. Naruto, Tenten and Hinata didn't need to wait for Anko's order before they were retrieving their weapons. By the time they returned to the weather deck, the four men were close enough to make out. Disturbingly, not one of them seemed to be wearing hitai-aite on their foreheads, although it was a possibility that they were wearing them elsewhere, they were not yet close enough to tell. Hinata closed her eyes and performed the eleven hand seals to activate her dojutsu.

“Hinata, what do you see?”

“They are wearing no identifying insignia, Anko.”

“Fuck. Well that complicates things a bit. Alright here is what we will do. We are facing four shinobi of unknown allegiance and skill. I will see if they are friendly or not, and we will proceed from there. In the more than likely case that they are hostile, stay close to the ship. We do not want to be drawn into and extended battle if at all possible. Ideally, we delay the shinobi long enough for Spray to get past and catch up. Do not hesitate to call for help if you should find yourself over matched. There is no shame in needing help to defeat an enemy. I believe in you three. This is what you have been training for the last two months. Now make me proud.” Waiting for her three students to nod, they ran up to the quarter deck.

“Captain Domon, I am going to see what they want. It is entirely possible that they are not enemies, in which case we should be able to move on without the delay. Nevertheless, prepare for a fight.”

Domon looked back with a look that told her to teach her grandmother to suck eggs. Grinning, Anko jumped down to the weather deck and leaped off the prow. Channeling chakra to her feet, she ran on top of the water to the four shinobi. She glanced back once to check on the tree genin to find them pacing the ship on the water. Naruto was running ahead of the bow, with Hinata to his right and Tenten to his left. Nodding approvingly, she turned to focus on her potential opponents. Reaching earshot she stopped and addressed them.

“You are impeding a Konohagakure-chartered ship on a diplomatic mission to Kirigakure. State your intentions or depart in peace. Konoha has no dispute with you, nor wishes to.”

The four figures were all robed in thick brown cloth, exposing only their heads. They were all very similar looking, the three men and one woman. Each had black hair and black eyes. The only distinguishing features about them were their hair styles. The first ninja had his hair in a Sasuke- like style, what Naruto had termed the duck's ass hairstyle. The second ninja was a woman, and had her hair grown out to her shoulders, one side extremely unkempt, and the other neatly combed. The middle guy had done his hair up in random spikes, while the fourth had his in a flattop.

She figured that they were probably related somehow. The middle man, the one with his hair in spikes, smirked and threw his head back laughing. “Wow. That is amusing. You think you have no dispute with us, yet your council is the one who ordered our extermination. I think that is a pretty good indicator of you having a dispute with us, even if you probably don't know it. Jin, Misao, Akira, go and handle the runts. I'll take care of the Konoha-bitch myself.”

Anko tensed as the three other figures jumped past her to attack her students. She hoped that they could handle those three, because she had a feeling that this guy wasn't going to be a pushover. Grinning widely, the man discarded his robe, letting it sink beneath the surface of the water. “I do hope that you are skilled. I would hate to think that I picked the weak one in your group to fight.”

“My name is Mitarashi Anko, and I think you will find that I am plenty skilled.”

“A pleasure to meet you, Anko-san. My name is Takehiko.” Hardly waiting for the words to leave his mouth, he attacked. Anko set herself into a defense stance, ducking and dodging, measuring her enemies skill. Unfortunately, he was very skilled, able to keep up with her easily. Knowing that she would not last at all in an extended battle, she went straight for the kill. “Hidden Shadow Snake Hands,” and thrust both her arms forward, fanged serpents leaping forth. They wrapped around Takehiko and bit deeply, injecting lethal poison into his flesh. A second after that though, he shimmered out of existence.

'Fuck, when the hell did he cast a genjutsu?'

“Impressive. I don't think I have ever seen a jutsu quite like that before. Tell me, is that an original technique?”

Anko snarled whirling around to face Takehiko to find him inches away from her. Slamming her hands together, she made three seals, crying “Snake Fang Nails.” She swiped her now-lengthened nails across his face, only to have him shimmer away again. “Come out and fight me like a man,” she snarled.

“Why would I do that? Do you mistake me for some idiot samurai who will abandon his cover to fight honorably? We are ninjas you stupid woman. There are no rules in our fights. Konoha has become soft of you are allowed to be a jounin-sensei. And here I thought that I could have some fun, but now you bore me.” Anko detected the faint slap-slap-slap of feet hitting water and dropped all her chakra control. She dropped down into the ocean, narrowly avoiding a knife hand that would have likely ripped her heart out. As it was, it merely grazed her shoulder. Grinning her snake-grin, Anko climbed back up on top of the water.

“Well, so maybe you aren't all talk. I am glad. That means I can start taking you seriously now.” Dropping her arms loosely to the side, she charged him. “Learn why they call me the Snake Bitch.” As she came within range Anko leaped up and struck a knife hand blow to his neck. Takehiko warded the jab off to one side, but felt the skin of his hand part. Next there was a burning sensation as the poison generated by Anko's earlier Snake Fang Nail entered his blood stream. Takehiko leaped back with an emotionless mask and brought his hands to his mouth saying “Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique.”

Anko frowned as she countered with a Water Release: Water Style Wall. The Great Fireball Technique was a trademark jutsu of the Uchiha clan. How did this hitai-aite-less stranger know it? Not waiting for Takehiko to recover, she cast a Lightening Release: Lightning Blast Technique with three fingers. She saw her lightning bolt connect and raced forward to finish him off. Before she got halfway however, he responded with a Water Release: Water Shark Projectile Technique. Five water sharks hurtled toward her, but she drew her kunai and using the Hebi Style, danced in between them, dispersing them with sharp steel. But the technique had given the mysterious shinobi the chance to vanish. She looked around quickly, but saw nothing. Of course, that didn't mean much, as he seemed to have some skill with genjutsu.

'So where would I hide if I were him,' she pondered. Suddenly she realized where he was a split second before he jumped out of the water beneath her. Rotating in mid air, she used the Hebi Style to send half a dozen cuts his way, shredding his clothes. As she landed Anko launched herself towards him, trying to keep him from retreating by engaging him in taijutsu. She was starting to feel the drain on her chakra, having used one A-rank and a C-rank jutsu already. She was by no means done, but she did not have the stamina for a prolonged fight. There was a reason why she specialized in assassination.

The two shinobi exchanged half a dozen taijutsu blows, Anko scoring three more glancing hits. This was good. He was clearly a ninjutsu and genjutsu type, as his taijutsu was clearly merely average. What was unusual though was how he was able to predict her Hebi Style attacks, a style developed specifically to be unpredictable. He wasn't perfect at it, but good enough to be interesting. She tried a straight arm knife hand strike at him like he had earlier, only for him to do the same thing she did when he tried the same maneuver earlier. That caused her to blink in surprise. Not many shinobi out there that could or would use an enemy's tactic against them. Running away so that he would not be able to catch her standing still she zig zagged in a random pattern.

She noticed the water start to boil about ten feet to her left, and a second later, a Fire Release: Fire Dragon Projectile leaped out of the water at her. Definitely a ninjutsu-type then, as he was able to create a fire technique while underwater. Well, if he wanted to hide underwater, than she would use that against him. She charged her hand in a Lightening Release: Lightening Grip and thrust it into the ocean. Sure enough, a moment later, Takehiko jumped out of the water, worse for the wear.

“Fucking ow.”

“Yeah, thats kind of the point.”

“Well, you get points for creativity.”

“Thanks. I was surprised when you used my own tactic against me. I sure didn't see that coming.”

“Well, I try to keep my enemies guessing.”

Anko was about to retort when the three chakra signatures of her students faded, first Hinata, then Naruto twenty seconds later, and finally Tenten fifteen seconds after that.

“Well, I can't say I am surprised. It was three on three.”

But he was surprised himself when he felt the three genin's chakra signatures return, coupled with a new power also.

“Don't count them out yet,” Anko replied, smiling ferally, although she wondered at the new power as well.

Naruto watched Anko confront the four unidentified ninja, presumably exchanging banter for a minute until the middle one said something and the other three ran past his mother and approached them. Spray had stopped, all the crewmen watching anxiously as to what would happen. Domon Bayle may have only met the four ninja the other day, but they had paid for passage, and well, he might add, so he would not run off and abandon them at the first sign of trouble. Unfortunately, he had no archers among his crew, so he ordered everyone to arm themselves with swords, pikes and whatever else they might favor. None of his men had any shinobi training, so they couldn't water walk, but if Spray was boarded, then they would defend her.

Meanwhile, Naruto, Tenten and Hinata were not doing so well. Things had started off somewhat evenly, with the three genin sticking together and attacking the same person at once. These guys were most likely nuke-nin, despite their lack of hitai-aite, and fairly skilled. The three people approached in a headlong rush and stopped abruptly. Naruto, Hinata and Tenten drew kunai and retreated, back to back. The three ninja stood there silently, until the one with the flattop flicked his gaze away. As if that broke some kind of invisible restraints, they charged the trio of genin. Flattop drew a fist back and aimed it at Naruto who easily parried the fist.

“Hey,” Naruto grunted, blocking a series of lightning fast punches, “can we at least know who we are fighting here?”

Without missing a beat, the man with the flattop replied “Akira.” The duckbutt headed one said “Jin” and the schizophrenic haired woman replied “Misao.”

“Nice to meet you guys. Don't mind telling us why you are attacking us would you?” As Naruto said that, he hooked arms with Tenten and switched places with her, drawing her out of the way of a foot sweep. Naruto dropped a pile driver onto Misao, but caught nothing but water. Waiting a moment to see whether or not they were going to reply, Naruto shook his head. “Well, nothing to do but to beat it out of you.” Saying that, he immediately formed the cross seal to perform his trademark jutsu. After the sea breeze dissipated the cloud of smoke, the three teki-nin were surrounded by thirty Narutos, ten for each.

Again the other three ninja paused. Without a word being spoken, the ninja with the duckbutt hair broke ranks. But it was not to flee, but to attack. Before any of Naruto's clones could react, Jin had destroyed eight clones. Naruto's mouth thinned. The bastard was fast, he would give him that. But quantity had a quality all of its own, and a few seconds later, Jin was being pressed back, the sheer weight of the onslaught forcing him to retreat. Of course, he destroyed a clone with every step he took, so he wasn't doing too bad.

“Now,” Naruto roared. They had to take make the most of the brief numerical superiority that his shadow clones afforded them. Judging by the rapidity that Jin was dispatching them, they didn't have much time. Naruto hurriedly summoned another batch of thirty clones to make up for the losses before he led the charge on Misao and Akira. Naruto flew forward, loosing a flurry of punches, trying to distract the two nin and allow Hinata to get into a more favorable position to use her Jyuuken with. Tenten had fallen back, hopping several paces away from the mysterious ninja, gaining the range she needed to use her scrolls, keeping them off balance with the occasional flurry of kunai and shuriken.

Naruto smiled slightly as Hinata charged, bloodline eyes activated, hands glowing, ready to end this battle. Misao either realized that something was wrong when Naruto smiled, or sensed Hinata's rush, since she turned to face the approaching kunoichi. Misao ducked, pushing Hinata's outstretched arm harmlessly to the side and drove a kunai into her stomach.

Naruto's world froze for the handful of seconds that it took for Misao to withdraw the kunai, straighten, and allow Hinata's body to collapse into the ocean. When Misao turned to face the blond genin, Naruto growled. The damnable woman showed absolutely no emotion that he had just killed one of the bare handful of Naruto's precious people. She would pay. Naruto was unaware of the changes that were overtaking him. They were minor, but changed him into another person entirely. Naruto's eyes became slitted and shifted from the clear sapphire blue to a bloody red. His whisker birthmarks lengthened and widened. His nails grew three inches in seconds and gained a razor edge. Unconsciously, Naruto began drawing on the youki of the Kyuubi.

Naruto focused his gaze on the woman in front of him. She had slain Hinata, the kindest person Naruto knew and would pay for it in blood. Forgetting ninja tools, he launched himself at Misao, slashing at her with his new claws. Misao impassively ducked, dodged and parried his attack, retreating when necessary. The fight continued in this manner for two or three minutes. Misao was waiting for Naruto to tire himself out, because she didn't think that anyone would be able to maintain the furious pace that Naruto set. She had not counted on Naruto drawing on the youki of the Kyuubi though. Her mouth thinned into a line as she realized that the blond brat in front of her showed no signs of weakening, or even slowing. She bore numerous cuts and slashes from his nails, all superficial.

Blocking a clawed hand cold, she decided to end this; she ducked under a wild punch and stepped forward, so that his back was now to her. Fingers flickering through the seals, she muttered “Fire Release: Burning Grip.” As she said that, her right hand ignited. Misao slapped the next to attacks away with her incendiary appendage, repressing a smile as she saw Naruto pause, cradling her now burned hands. She masked a frown and he resumed his assault three seconds later, burns healed. The Kyuubi's onijutsu of regeneration no doubt. Warding his assault off again, she took the offensive for the first time. Hands flashing again, she cried “Fire Release: Mythical Fire Phoenix Technique” spewing four medium fireballs from her mouth. Naruto leaped over them, ignoring the gout of steam that rose when they contacted the ocean. But the jutsu had given Misao the opportunity she needed. She drew a kunai in her normal hand and slashed at Naruto with the other, flames roaring with the rapid motion. As he was being driven back she flickered out of existence. Naruto was turning to find her when he felt a kunai drive into his side.

An excruciating pain immobilized his brain, locking all his muscles up. He closed his eyes in agony as Misao hooked her kunai, slicing, and probably cutting his kidney in half. He started to fall forward, to be arrested momentarily as another kunai was driven in under his ribs. It was a much lesser pain though, barely noticeable in the wake of the kidney cut. Unable to do anything, even moan, Naruto was helpless as he fell forward into the cold blue waters. But he did register the red flash of Misao's eyes. She had the Sharingan.

Tenten had a much worse time of her fight with Akira. The bastard was fast, faster than she was, and that was a problem. She had expended a dozen scrolls by now, and was running dangerously low on ammunition. Akira seemed to take pleasure in taunting her, not that his face showed anything. He didn't attack, but instead just stood there, dancing around as she unleashed wave after wave of pointy steel at him. However, she was not able to even come close to cutting the bastard. `Well, I guess it's hand to hand after all.'

Grimacing, she reached down to her thigh, drawing a pair of kunai. She was very appreciative of Anko's lessons in hand-to-hand knife fighting now. She didn't have the chakra reserves of Naruto, or even Hinata, despite all the exercises that she had been doing to increase them, so a ninjutsu battle was not a good idea. And her newest and only defensive jutsu, Earth Release: Earth Style Wall was useless on the water. She knew a pair of fire techniques, but they were extremely draining for her. There was a reason why she specialized in ranged weapons, and this was exactly why.

Tenten backpedaled frantically, trying to gain some space to use her weapons, but Akira was not obliging her. Twisting her mouth into a grimace, she decided that she wasn't going to get to use the rest of her scrolls, so she switched tactics. Setting her foot, she crouched and launched herself forward. Tenten slashed at Akira diagonally with one knife, following up with a low stab, both of which Akira nimbly danced away from.

Before she could follow up on her opening, the world dimmed, darkening until there was nothing but impenetrable ebony blackness. Tenten's heart came pounded furiously, whirling around to try to catch sight of her opponent.

`Calm down Tenten. This is the Bringer of Darkness Technique. It's nothing but a genjutsu. You can handle this.' Tenten took several calming breaths, and raised her hand in the half ram seal, concentrating. “Kai,” Tenten said. Nothing happened. “Kai.” The darkness remained. “Kai dammit!”

Tenten was starting to panic again. “Ah ah ah,” a voice sounded. That won't work my dear. You see, most genjutsu will anchor to the target's chakra system, so if you were to halt your chakra for a moment, you could dispel the jutsu. But I have anchored my technique to the environment surrounding you, so that isn't going to work. Actually, there is a way that you could dispel it, but I am not going to tell you how. Maybe you can figure it out on your own. The real question is, can you do it before I kill you?”

Tenten cursed. It would figure that her enemy would make a genjutsu in such a way that the only method to dispelling it would be the technique that she was worst at. Well, there was nothing to do but try anyways. Closing her eyes, she held one hand in front of her in the half and focused. She felt the chakra start to build up in her solar plexus, a slight warmth emanating from the spot. Concentrating harder, she compressed the mass of chakra into a ball. When she had gathered as much chakra as she could she released the chakra pulse and opened her eyes. She could see the blue shimmer expand outwards and heaved a sigh of relief as the oppressive blackness dissolved. Tenten caught her breath again though when she saw her enemy standing six inches in front of her, smiling slightly and twirling a kunai.

“Good job,” he said and plunged the knife into her chest.

 

A/N: So our heroes finally leave Konoha and get into a fight no less. Bonus points for whoever can recognize the character cameo this chapter. I might even add a prize, like answering a free question or writing a oneshot or something. (Except for you AFI777...) Generally speaking, I dislike revealing future plot points ahead of time in my stories, so the only way you find out what is going to happen is to read it.

Also, give thanks to Tom for catching my bad math regarding Anko's age, and to Deathdingle for spotting and pointing out a rather glaring continuity error in Chapter Five during the Team Seven vs. Nine fight scene. This story has gone through three rewrites before I started publishing this and sometimes scenes from previous versions dont get rewritten or one reason or another. I am the only one proofreading this and sometimes I read a scene how I want it to be, not how it is written. So please, if you see something that is inconsistant, or just plain wrong, by all means, point it out please. I know I am an idiot, so telling me that I am is okay.