Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ The Irony of it All ❯ Start of a New Journey! ( Chapter 8 )

Chapter 8: Starting on a new Journey!

"Kunais...check. Shuriken... definite check. Emergency provisions...check," Rayne continued looking through everything in her bag and mentally checking things off. She grabbed her chackrams and went downstairs and ate some of her breakfast. She left a note on the counter for Mitsu when he wakes up and left some food in the fridge. She didn't know how long she'll be gone, and asked Shikamaru to check up on Mitsu every once and a while.

Rayne's POV

I left my house and started walking toward the gate. I guess Naruto was already there because I didn't see any lights on… or maybe I'm just early. I continued walking, taking the long way around because I figure, a few minutes late won't cause any harm. While walking, I saw a familiar figure closing their door. I was wonder why he was here but when I looked, I found myself near where he lives.

 

“Why am I here?” I asked myself. I just continued to walk past him, pretending that I didn't see him.

“Why are you here?” He asked. I mentally sigh, so close… but instead I stopped and waited for him.

“No reason. I just wanted to take the long way around.” I answered. Sasuke caught up to me and we both started walking in silence. I guess he was still mad at me from yesterday. After a few moments, I just remembered that I didn't know who are client was. Eventhough I could wait to see who it is, I also wanted to be on… almost level terms with Uchiha, so I asked him,

“Hey cockatoo boy, who's our client?”

“A drunk bridge builder.” He replied.

“Oh.”

 

Sasuke's POV

When I saw Rayne walking past my house I was surprised to see her. I called out to her,

“Why are you here?” She stopped, I guess she was waiting for me.

“No reason, I just wanted to take the long way around.” She answered. I caught up to her and we walked in silence. I glanced at her every now and then, catching myself doing so. Her outfit today was what she was wearing at the hospital except instead of a skirt its knee length shorts. On the back of her vest, jacket thing is a crystal with feathers around it. I wonder what they mean but I'm not going to ask. On her right arm are bandages tied tightly on the top while wearing arm braces on her elbow along with a wristband on both arms. However, this time she has her ninja shoes back on*. While I was observing her without her knowing, she suddenly asked me,

“Hey cockatoo boy, who's our client?”

“A drunk bridge builder.” I replied, not knowing why I even did.

“Oh.” She replied, going back to her own thoughts.

 

3rd POV

Both Sasuke and Rayne made it to the gate just to see that they're the first one there. Rayne sat down and leaned on the wall while Sasuke stood a little away from her. A few minutes later, Sakura came. The first thing she did was run over to Sasuke and stat blabbing to him. Rayne watched the pair with emotionless eyes.

“I ALMOST feel sorry for him…” She thought to herself. Sasuke, however, was trying his hardest to ignore her. Soon after, Naruto came to the gate. As he reached the rest of the team he was bouncing with excitement.

“A C-ranked mission! This is gonna be soooooooooooooooooooooo awesome!!” Naruto shouted excitedly.

“Naru… how can you be this energetic in the morning?” Rayne asked. Naruto opened his mouth to reply but never got a chance to say anything because Kakashi walked up with Tazuna following behind.

“Everyone ready to go?” Kakashi asked. Rayne stood up immediately while Naruto turned around in surprised.

“Holy crap!” They both shouted.

“What?!” Kakashi asked stiffening along with Sasuke and Sakura.

“You're not late!” The two exclaimed, earning an sweatdrop from the rest of their team members.

“Kakashi's muscles relaxed and he sighed. “There's no time to dally on a mission like this. Now is everyone set?” Rayne smirk and nodded. Sakura and Naruto smiled and Sasuke gave his simple `hn' in response. Kakashi nodded and led the team through the gates.

“YATTAH!!” Naruto screamed loudly.

“Could you tone it down?!” Sakura shouted.

“Why are you so excited anyway?” Rayne asked.

“This is my first time out of the village!!” Naruto said with a grin. Tazuna pointed at Naruto and looked back at Kakashi. “Am I suppose to place my life in the hands of this fool?” He asked. Kaakshi sigh.

“I am an elite ninja. There's no all for concern or worry.” Naruto crossed his arms, his eye twitching irritably. “This guy has got to be the worst client in the history of our village!” Amd I'm not gonna let him give me crap!” He whirled around and pointed at Tazuna.

“Listen, you old geezer, don't mess with a ninja, Ever. Especially not a good one like me!”

“Yeah right…” Everyone thought at the same time.

“I'm the cream of the elite!” He continued, “If fact one day, I'm gonna be the next Lord Hokage! My name's Uzumaki Naruto, remember it!”

“Hokage, eh?” Tazua said. “The Lord of the village? The best there is? I don't think someone like you has it in him.” This only added fuel to Naruto's fire.

“Well, you're old and stupid! I'm doing all the right things, and I'm doing them fast. And when I became Hokage, you're gonna respect me, and wish you were more respectful to me now!” Tazuna swallowed a large bit of this alcohol.

“Respect you? I don't think so, even if you did become Hokage.” Naruto was going to pounce on him until Rayne pulled him back.

“You don't kill your client.” She said calmly, then looking at Tazuna. “Even if they're an old geezer who can't do anything themselves.” Everyone looked at Rayne in surprised.

“What did you say?” Tazuna asked, a little upset.

“I believe that Naruto will become the Hokage, that he'll be the best of the best one day, not now but one day.” She then glared at Tazuna, hard. “At least he's determined to do something, even without help. That's more than I can say about you. Drunken old man who comes and ask us for help then disrespecting us. We can leave you in the middle of nowhere and come back home you know. But we have more pride than that so keep on talking big. You're nothing more than a little ant compare to us.” Tazuna looked sadden for a moment before covering it up.

“Who are you, girl? You weren't with these kids yesterday.”

“Raito Rayne, I was… unable to help them with their mission yesterday, therefore missing out on introductions.” Rayne replied boredly. They all started walking in silence after that. Naruto and Sakura were in from with Kakashi and Tazuna in the middle. Rayne and Sasuke brought up the rear. It was quiet for a while, everyone faced forward in their own personal thoughts. Finally, Sakura decided to break the silence.

"Sensei, doesn't the Land of Waves have ninja too?"

"Well, no. It is true that the different hidden villages have ninja, but the Land of Waves do not because they don't need ninja to protect them. The Land of Waves is completely surround by water and that protects them, there is no need for shinobi," Kakashi explained Sakura nodded and Kakashi continued, “There may be hidden ninja villages equivalent of the country's military powers. They maintain their relationship with neighboring countries, but aren't under the control of the country. Supposedly, they are equal in position. However, because the Country of the Wave is so small, they don't need a ninja village. The five hidden villages of the countries of fire (Hidden Village of Konaha (Leaf)), water (Hidden Village of Mist), lightning (Hidden Village of Cloud), wind (Hidden Village of Sand), and earth (hidden Village of Rock) make up the Five Great Ninja Powers. Their leaders carry the name of `Kage.' Hokage, Mizukage, Raikage, Kazekage, and Tsuchikage are known as the `Five Kages' that reign over the tens of thousands of ninjas.

“He's that strong? Yeah right..” Rayne, Naruto and Sakura thought.

“Hey. You just doubt the Hokage didn't you?” Naruto and Sakura froze while Rayne bit her lip and looked off to the side. She heard someone chuckled to her side and felt her cheeks becoming a little hot.

“What Uchiha?” She asked, still facing away from him.

“You look…” Sasuke paused and brought his hand to his chin, thinking. Rayne looked at him, wondering what he was going to say. It seems like he was going to say something nice.

“When you where embarrassed right now you look…” Rayne narrowed her eyes. His stop and go talk about her makes her want to know what he's going to say. Sasuke suddenly put both his arms down and looked at her with a blank face.

“Like an idiot.” Rayne tripped over her own two feet upon hearing those three words.

“What was that about?!” Rayne asked through her teeth, fist clench, trying not to shout at him angrily. Sasuke smirk and faced her.

“No reason.”

“No reason my foot…” Rayne mumbled looking at Sasuke's back. Not watching where she was going, Rayne stepped on something wet and looked down to see a puddle of water.

“Huh?” She thought. “It hasn't rain in days… oh well, whatever…” Rayne continued to walk along, noticing that Kakashi lagging behind a bit. A few minutes later, they all heard clinking. They looked behind and saw Kakashi wrapped in chants that two guys dressing in black were holding.

“One down,” One of the goons said and pulled the chans. Kakashi was slashed into pieces.

“SENSEI!” Naruto and Sakura shouted.

“Two little piggy” They appeared behind Naruto.

“Naruto!” Rayne shouted and took out two shurikens and darted over to Naruto but Sasuke beat her there. Sasuke pulled a shuriken and kunai from his pouch. He flung the shuriken at the goon's chains, connecting them. Rayne threw a kunai at Sasuke which he caught and thew it into the middle of the shuriken, binding the duo into a tree. Sasuke jumped on the ninjas and kicked them causing the chan to break off. Rayne ran toward Naruto while the ninjas smirked and disappeared, reappearing infront of Naruto. Sasuke couldn't reach him in time but Rayne reached the boy and pushed him out of the way of the attack. It wasn't fast enough because they both got cut a little bit. As Naruto fell to the ground, Rayne dropped to her knees and kicked the ninja's leg. The two jumped up and Rayne did a handstand and kicked them in the stomach, pushing them both back. As if nothing had happened, the two got up and started running at Tazuna. Sakura, standing at Tazuna's side, realized what she had to do. She took out a kunai and stood in front of Tazuna in defensive position. As the ninjas got closer, Sasuke ran in and stood between Sakura and the ninja ready to strike. Rayne's eyes widen and instincts took control. She dived forward, about to grab and pulled on the ninja's cape when she was knocked down to the ground.

“What the-” Rayne looked up to see Kakashi holding the goon that she was after.

“Kakashi-sensei! You're alive!” Sakura exclaimed in relief. Sasuke and Rayne had annoyed faces.

“Show off…” They thought

“Naruto…” Naruto looked up at Kakashi. “I'm sorry I couldn't help you sooner but there was something I needed to check out,” Kakashi then faced the two fighting genins. “Anyway, good job Saskue, Rayne. You too Sakura.” Naruto shook his fist and clenched his teeth.

“I couldn't do anything!” He then looked at Sasuke, who was looking at the sky, Rayne who was walking toward her and Sakura, who was talking to Kakashi. “Sasuke and Rayne… I was useless compared to them!” Instead he said, “Why am I so different?!” This caught the attention of the other four people.

“Sakura-chan, Sasuke-teme and Ray-nee-chan didn't freeze! Sasuke-teme and Ray-nee-chan didn't even flinch! They fought without hesitation or fear! And it was their first battle too!” Rayne started walking toward Naruto.

“That wasn't my first battle, Naruto. Instinct took over.” Rayne said softly, however only Naruto and Sasuke heard, being the closest to her. Sasuke tilted his head and wondered when she fought before.

“Hey…” Naruto looked over to Sasuke. “Are you alright, scardy cat?”

“Stupid pretty cockatoo head….” Rayne muttered to herself looking over at him. Naruto looked down at the ground, then shook

“SASUKE-TEME!” He crouched down, ready to lunge at Sasuke.

“Naruto!” Kakashi yelled. Naruto halted, almost falling on his face. “Those ninjas have claws that were soaked in poison. Your scratch got poison in your systam, we need to reopen the wound and leech it out. For now, do not move around or it will spread throughout your body.” Naruto looked down at his hand worriedly.

“Tazuna, I need to speak with you,” Kakashi said looking over his shoulder at Tazuna.

“What'd about Naruto, Kakashi-sensei? We can't leave him there like that.” Rayne said looking at Naruto. Kakashi ignored Rayne and turn toward Tazuna. He looked taken aback for a second.

“Yeah, what is it?” Kakashi tied the two ninja to a tree and turned to Tazuna.

“Wait, how did you know?!” one of the ninjas called who we now know are Hidden Mist Chunins. Kakashi turned back and looked at the duo.

“It was obvious. A puddle on a sunny day like this when it hasn't rain in a week?” Kakashi turned back to the rest of the team.

“If you knew that then why did you let these punks deal with them?” Tazuna asked.

“We saved your pathetic low life, old man!” Rayne replied rudely

“I hid so I could see who they were after. They could be after us, ninja versus ninja, or they could be after you, Tazuna the bridge builder,” Kakashi said looking directly at Tazuna who said nothing. “In the mission description there was nothing about ninjas coming after you. If we had known that then we would have bumped it to a B-ranked mission and charge you for it.” Kakashi continued.

“Then more skilled ninja could have done it. We're simply not ready for it.” Sakura put in. Rayne rolled her eyes while Sasuke scowl.

“Speak for yourself…” Rayne whispered to herself with Sasuke nodding in the background.

“You didn't tell us ninjas were after you but I'm sure you had a reason?” Kakashi asked raising an eyebrow.

“We're just genins. We can't do this mission,” Sakura said yet again.

“Sakura.” Rayne said with annoyance in her voice, “When did you become our speaker?” She then glared at her. Sakura glared back but continued,

“Besides, we need to get Naruto back. He needs to go to the hospital so they can treat his wound.”

“Hmm… she's probably right. We need to get back and treat Naruto.” Kakashi said agreeing. Naruto's face curled up in anger, eyes narrowed and a scowl on his lips. Everyone heard the sound of unsheathed metal and looked at Naruto. He raised a kunai with his right hand, the sun gleaming off its metal and slowly brought it down.

“Naruto!” Sakura yelled. Naruto drove the kunai into his left hand. Blood squirted out and some splat onto Rayne's cheek, since she was the closest to him.

“Naruto! What are you doing?!” Sakura yelled in disbelief. Even Sasuke was shocked. Naruto cringed and turned his back to the rest.

“Why…why am I always so different?! I should be stronger than this! I stayed up late every night and get up early eery morning and trained by myself! I practice jutsu and jutsu!” Blook ran down Naruto's hand and dropped to the ground forming a puddle, “I'm not ever going to need saving! I am never gonna chicken our, or try to run! I will not so to Sasuke-teme nor Ray-nee-chan! I swear… from the pain in my left hand, I will not back down!” Naruto turned around and smirk, “This mission is still on!”

“Such an inspirational idiot…” Rayne thought sighing.

“Naruto,” Naruto looked at Kakashi, “It's really cool how you got our the poison and everything but if you lose anymore blood, you'll die.” Naruto turned deathly white and started freaking out, moving around everywhere. Everyone sweatdrop as Kakashi tried to help the fussing Naruto. Rayne chuckled and turn back toward the three other people.

“That's that. We're staying with the mission.” Rayne then gave her attention to Sakura, “Sakura, next time, don't speak for all of us. Some of us actually want to fight real ninjas.” Sakura glared and huff, turning away with her hands on her hips. Rayne sigh but then lost her footing and almost fell to the ground when something, or rather, someone grabbed and pulled her left arm.

“H-Hey!” She shouted earning the attention of everyone, “What are you doing Uchiha?!” She shouted glaring at him. Apparently Sasuke pulled her closer to him and now was on her right side holding her right arm with his left hand and bandages with his right.

“You got poison too, idiot.” Sasuke explain pointing to the small cut she has. Rayne glanced down and tried to pull her arm away. Sasuke's grip tightens and he took out a kunai. Rayne immediately stops fussing and stood still while Sasuke made a small puncture and squeezed out the blood, Rayne wincing every few moments. Sasuke noticed this and while he was badaging it, asked smugly,

“What's wrong, never been hurt before?” Rayne glared.

“No, I have.”

“Then what?”

“None of your business.”

“Why not?”

“Why do you want to know?”

“Why won't you tell?”

“Why are you asking me these questions?”

“Why won't you just answer?” Sasuke hiss.

“Why do pry into other people's business?” Rayne hiss back.

“Why are you so hard head?”

“Why are we playing the `why' game?”

“Huh?” Sasuke asked tilting his head to the side, one eyebrow raised and confusion in his eyes, “The `why' game?” Rayne gave something that looks between a grin and a smirk.

“You lost.” She then pulled her arm away while he was distracted and took a step back for space. While they were paying the why game, arguing they subconsciously got closer and by the time they stop their noses where almost touching.

“Are we ready to go?” Kakashi asked after a moment of silence where they all had their own thoughts.

“Rayne's going to steal Sasuke-kun from me!!” Inner Sakura cried while `outer' Sakura glared at her. Rayne stared at Sakura questionably but nodded to Kakashi.

“Alright, let's go.” Kakashi announce and they, once again, began their journey toward the wave country.