Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Way of the Jinchuuriki ❯ Arc3, Chapter 13 - You've Got to be Kidding?! ( Chapter 13 )
[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]
By: Zagger the Bloody Angel 
Anime/Manga: Naruto Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Adventure / Action / Angst / Suspense / Comedy | Type: Alternate Universe | Uploaded On: 06.19.2011 | Pages: 4 | Words: 6.3K | Visits: 257 | Status: Completed
Anime/Manga: Naruto Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Adventure / Action / Angst / Suspense / Comedy | Type: Alternate Universe | Uploaded On: 06.19.2011 | Pages: 4 | Words: 6.3K | Visits: 257 | Status: Completed
Note: Just for the record, Kerlya is pronounced the same as the Pokemon Kirlia. I just wanted to see how many people would catch that and no one did… I'm so disappointed.
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"This has got to be the most boring mission ever…" Sasuke groaned as this chore of a job they were given was grating his nerves and he felt ready to snap.
"Oh quit complaining… It's good break from our normal training. I like going home and not to the hospital." Kerlya hummed as she had no problem with this mission as she found it quite relaxing and the smell was absolutely wonderful.
"Besides, at least we are being paid for this better then those other D-rank missions." Sakura commented as she plucked a weed from the Yamanaka's garden, having no problem with this as she did this a lot during her early years in the academy's preschool. "And I think our team work is getting better from doing this as we've been working together to finish."
"That's the point." Naruto commented as he stood back and watched his team do the job, being rather bored with it but he felt a lot better as he watched them, glad he wasn't the one that had to pull out the damn weeds. "Now don't forget that we still have training after this, however."
All three momentarily stopped and looked at one another as they shivered at the thought of going through another torture session with their blonde devil of a sensei. They quickly came up with a plan to lengthen their stay at the garden so they wouldn't have to go through it today.
Naruto knew exactly what was going through their heads as he grinned before he started whirling his special kunai around his finger. "And don't think you can get out of it. The more time you spend here the longer and more strenuous it will become. So I would finish soon as I'm tacking on extra time for each minute it takes you to finish starting now."
Biting his lip to keep from laughing as they began to work in unison, almost as if they were one person, to quickly finish as they didn't want any overtime in their training sessions, Naruto only shook his team. If there was one thing to motivate them…
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"Wait, what?!" Kurenai growled as she stood in front of the Hokage, somewhat annoyed at his response. "What do you mean that we can't take the mission?! I thought now with more missions coming in that gennin teams could take C-rank missions as long as their jounin sensei was with them!"
Sighing as this was going to be a long day, as he could understand why Kurenai thought her team was ready to join the gennin squads allowed to perform C-rank missions, Sarutobi caught her gaze. "They are… But you of all people should know why I'm still hesitant to allow gennin to perform C-rank missions."
"Yes I know that but I also know that you set aside two to three missions that are considered low classed and barely worth the C-rank for gennin every month. I just would like to know why my squad cannot perform such a mission as they are more then capable of handling it." Kurenai asked as she was sure the Third had his reasons but she at least wanted to know why.
Shaking his head, understanding she truly believed in her unit, the Hokage shifted his attention to the mission he had taken from the batch. "I've already sent one gennin team out this month so I have only one other left… But this one now looks to be serious trouble from what our scouts have found out and could be upgraded…"
"However to keep that from happening I need a jounin… A very particular jounin to take part of this mission in case if this is to happen." Sarutobi explained before he revealed another scroll that was filled with the information that his scouts had dug up from the area.
As Kurenai took it and began to read over it, as it now had become common for all missions to be checked on, she kept her composure before her eyes narrowed as she looked at the Hokage and handed the scroll back. "Why would you keep such as a C-rank mission when you know it to be higher?"
"Because the gennin will not be exposed to the danger… They will only know it is there and as such this mission will stay C-rank as my top jounin will take this mission." Sarutobi retorted just as the door opened and his gaze turned to the one that entered.
"Naruto, I have a mission for you and your team to take."
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"Hey Sakura!" Ino called out to her friend and rival, noticing that she was actually within the town square for once and not at home or dragging her way back there from training. "It's been a while since you've been here! Come join me for lunch!"
Seeing Ino run over towards her, a Sakura smiled ever so slightly as she was still very tired and she had hoped to spend most of the day sleeping to recover from her insane sensei's version of taijutsu lessons. "Sure… I'm still kind of sore and sensei gave us the day off… Finally."
"Great! The other girls are here too!" Ino happily commented as she led Sakura over to their table, revealing that Hinata, Kerlya and another girl she didn't know was there. "Oh, and this is Tenten. I met her a last week on one of those D-rank missions and heard she was a gennin like us."
"Nice to meet you." Sakura lightly nodded at the bun haired girl before she slumped into the chair and turned over to her team mate. "I thought you were suppose to be sleeping in too."
"I wanted to but I have a feeling sensei made sure you woke up earlier then you wanted to." Kerlya growled as she was rather pissed as she really wanted to rest more then she did. "But on the bright side… I'm getting treated to a free meal so I don't care about it as much."
"Sounds like you two are getting run ragged." Tenten stated as she could see both girls were worn down and was mentally smirking as whoever their sensei was she liked them as the more serious kunoichi the better. "You'll get use to it. At first we thought our sensei's training was going to break us but once we got use to it everything was better… As we got use to his insane methodologies."
Sakura could only nod as she was beginning to become less tired after each exercise. It was truly a miracle as a month ago she would have not believed she could go through some of the lessons, as Naruto called them. "Yeah… But this is our first break since we became gennin a little over a month ago."
Listening to Sakura, frowning a little as it seemed her training was over the top, Ino had to pitch in. "Wow… Asuma is really lenient with my team. He mostly goes over with strategies and if not we normally have both a mission and a chakra control exercises after. …Currently we're doing tree climbing."
"He's probably expecting you to go out and train on your own like Master Gai expects us to do now. So any free time he gives you were you aren't tired I would I would use it wisely. …I'm not saying getting together with your friends isn't a good thing to do but training is rather important now that we are ninjas." Tenten responded as out of all of them there she could tell Ino trained the least among them.
Ino looked indignant at first but didn't verbally respond as she could see her elder kunoichi had a point. However, turning to Hinata as she had been oddly quite, something the Hyuuga heiress always seemed to be whenever she got her involved in her little groups, she focused the attention on her. "Hinata, don't you have something to say?"
Not really wanting to say something, as she wasn't comfortable in such a group, Hinata at least felt a little better that they were talking about training. As that eased her burden a little, she softly spoke. "Not really… Kurenai usually trains us one at a time after a mission and some team training but she makes sure we don't overexert ourselves so we can train on our own later in the day."
"We're lucky if we do…" Kerlya softly growled as Naruto worked them into the ground day in and day out. "If we get any rest it is normally in the hospital or in our parent's care… I've been burned on seven different occasions not to mention cut up and bruised almost every single day, Sakura has had a few broken bones and Sasuke had a panic attack or two from one of sensei's genjutsus. …He's the best out of all of us as right now Naruto had been instructing him on genjutsu."
Tenten narrowed her eyes as she recognized that name very well and knew who he was. The fact that he was their sensei… That was unfair in her mind. She had always wanted to learn underneath one of the living legends and the fact that both of these girls had him for a sensei made her extremely jealous.
"Had been?" Ino tilted her head as they made it seem like he had changed… But she was more interested in Sasuke as she hadn't seen him since they graduated. "And how has Sasuke been doing… I'm still pissed that both of you got on his team instead of me."
As Kerlya rolled her eyes at the blonde, not even caring about how crazy in love she was with the Uchiha, Sakura sighed and answered for her. "He's handling the training better then we are but I think that was because he had the easiest of the cycle this month… He's now going to be moving into hand-to-hand as I'm going to ninjutsu training and Kerlya works in genjutsu. He also makes us spar one another every week."
"That's not fair. Sasuke is so much better… Hinata? Tenten? What's wrong?" Ino started going into her Sasuke crazed state when she noticed both girls freeze as they looked at something directly behind her.
So turning to see what it was, she almost gasped as there was Sasuke with a blonde around his age. However, before anything happened Sakura turned and waved at the two, who seemed oblivious to them as they entered. "Hey sensei… Please don't tell me you didn't cancel our day off."
"I'm not that cruel." Naruto twitched as he noted both Sakura and Kerlya in the group of girls before shrugging as he did force them to wake up early today. "No… I was just heading here to get some food and he followed… Something about wanting to train I believe. I don't know as it's my day off to."
"You're an ass." Sasuke growled at Naruto as he had been asking why they couldn't train today and now the blonde finally gave him the reason why he was blowing him off.
"Probably." Naruto simply answered before he took the table next to the girls and simply glanced at Sasuke, which counted as an order in the Uchiha's mind, and forced him to sit down.
As Sasuke made sure to sit where he could keep his eyes on Ino, not trusting her in the least, Naruto shook his head and leaned back in his chair and stayed silent, waiting for his dinner date to arrive. This in turn made Sasuke further nervous as he at least wanted something to distract him from Ino.
However, Ino did that form him as she suddenly pointed at Naruto in shock. "I remember! You were that kid my age that was a gennin a few years back! You're a jounin sensei already!"
Raising his eyebrow at the girl, Naruto turned to Sasuke and back at her for a moment. Then finally he looked down at the table and sighed loudly. "I'm beginning to understand why you hate fan girls… They have no brain."
"I told you… They are like zombies but instead of my brain they want… Something else." Sasuke added onto his sensei's comment before shivering as he was still a little too young to be thinking about stuff like that. "At least Sakura isn't one anymore…"
"That's because I don't have the energy to even care." Sakura responded in an apathetic tone as she really didn't care that much any longer even if she thought Sasuke was still good looking. "Why are you here, sensei? I thought you only ate at Ichiraku's Ramen Shop."
Thankfully he didn't have to answer as one of the reasons he was there entered and immediately slid in next to him. "Sorry I'm late… Anko had me sit on an interrogation with Ibiki and the guy wasn't cooperating very well. …Why are you sitting next to all these girls? Oh, hey Kerlya, Sakura."
"Oh… Hello Miss Nii." Sakura responded with a slight smile as every now and then she took Naruto's place as their sensei on a few occasions as he had a mission he had to take care of every now and then being the Prince of Konoha. "I take it if you're here that means you'll be our sensei tomorrow."
"Kind of. Naruto should explain though as it deals with you." Yugito tilted her head as she looked over at Naruto for a moment before shaking her head as he simply yawned.
"We'll be taking a C-rank guarding mission tomorrow to the Wave Country." Naruto simply stated as there was nothing to it and wondered why Yugito simply couldn't say it. "She will be joining us to take over my role as your sensei as I have a higher rank mission to deal with once we arrive."
"Wait… We're going on a C-rank mission?" Kerlya said in surprise as she had heard it would take months of training to be let out on such a mission as gennin still weren't let out of the village that often as Konoha was still looking to better their reputation with their clients.
"About time… It seems our economy has finally recovered from the drop out six years ago." Sasuke commented with a small smirk as his team would be the first let out of the village out of all the rookies before frowning at Naruto. "But what this about you having another mission?"
Naruto only shrugged as the waitress came by and took their orders and once she left he finally decided to respond. "It is a situational mission at best as it very well may not happen in my presence. Yugito is coming along just for security reasons as it is frowned upon to leave gennin unattended outside of the village since it is not war time."
"That all there is so just have your things ready and packed and be at the mission room by ten. So enjoy the rest of your day off." Yugito finished after a long pause realized Naruto wasn't going to say anything more as he figured is team would know the routine despite only being gennin.
However, Naruto was getting slightly unnerved as the gennin who he knew to be Gai's was just staring at him. It was rather odd as she wasn't giving him a look of contempt or anything like that… In fact the look seemed to be more like the one's Sasuke's fan girls gave him…
As Naruto shivered at that though, Yugito could only grin as her fellow vessel hadn't realized that he had been gaining a fan club over the recent years. She was glad that it seemed that at least some of the hatred had died down once it was learned he was the Fourth's son. The only problem was some of those girls were extremely ravenous and if they dared hurt him…
Before they knew it, Tenten was at Naruto's side still staring at him. This made Naruto very, very uncomfortable as he had been trying to ignore her look and now that she was right upon him he was unsure how to react. Finally he decided to call her out on it. "May I help you?!"
Tenten's gaze did not die as she continued to gaze at him and Naruto was ready to put her in a genjutsu as he couldn't handle this for much longer. However of all things to happen… Something he had not expected did.
"MAY I HAVE YOUR AUTOGRAPH?!" Tenten squealed like on of Sasuke's many fan girls as she held out a small notebook and pen towards the blonde.
Naruto immediately fell out of his chair soon after her exclamation.
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"Ah Naruto… Right on time." Sarutobi beckoned his young jounin and his gennin into the mission room, sitting in the middle and most luxurious chair while Iruka and Itachi sat at his sides, one doing his job with flare while the other was pissed at his temporary demotion.
Naruto couldn't help but make fun of this even if his outward appearance didn't change in the slightest as he pointed over towards another stack towering just behind the table. "Better hurry up. You don't want that thing getting any larger."
"Fuck you Naruto." Itachi growled at the blonde as this work was demeaning of his status. He was the head of the Uchiha clan and one of the strongest shinobi in Konoha as once again he wasn't interested in fighting Naruto for that title. "Unless you know of a way to make this go by any easier… You fucking do don't you!"
Only grinning at Itachi's accusation, Naruto said nothing as he turned his attention back onto the Hokage and lightly bowed. "We're here to pick up our client for our C-rank mission to the Wave."
Ignoring the fumes coming from Itachi's temples as well, Sarutobi simply nodded as he turned to Iruka. "Could you go get Tazuna for me and tell him his ninjas are ready?"
Iruka only nodded as he wasn't going to even question if Naruto's team was ready for a C-rank mission. He knew of the skill he possessed and just from first glance at the three behind him he could almost see how much stronger they had become and he was quite sure Sakura didn't have those kind of muscles when he last saw her.
Besides her, Sasuke was doing his absolute best not to laugh at his fuming brother. He never thought he would see him get so angry and it was just because of a bunch of papers and Naruto knowing how to make his job easier and not telling him. Needless to say he was having problems as his blood was leaking from the corner of his lip.
Of course Itachi caught this and was ready to lash out at his younger brother when Sasuke finally decided to ail his brother's misery. "Why don't you just use those clones? Naruto uses them all the time and never complains about any of the papers he has to fill out."
Turning back to Naruto, Itachi twitched as he felt like putting the blonde in Tsukiyomi despite his neutral expression. He could have just told him that but no he had to kick him while he was down. "I hate you. …I really do. You are the greatest asshole in Konoha that no one knows about."
"Probably." Naruto responded once more, making Sasuke look at him and wonder if this was a normal occurrence with those who were close with his sensei.
Just at that moment Iruka opened the door and was followed by Tazuna, who now was looking oddly at the four shinobi assembled before him. After examining them thoroughly, or as best as drunkenly possible, he finally commented on what he saw to the Hokage. "What the hell?! You are sending four pipsqueaks with me! I thought I told you this was serious!"
"Did he just insult us?" Kerlya growled as there were many things she could put up with but being insult to her face was not one of them, a trait her entire clan shared.
Simply popping her knuckles, wearing a pair of fingerless gloves Naruto had given her, Sakura was also pissed. However before anything bad could happen, Naruto stood before him as he was use to this sort of treatment due to his age. "I would encourage you not to insult my gennin again. They are all very capable and can easily deal with any threats we may deal with and if they can not, I am a jounin."
Tazuna blinked for a moment as it took that long for what he had said to sink in. Then he looked at the young boy in shock. "You are a jounin?! You don't look much older then they are… And you are shorter then them."
Naruto twitched as this was something he had not noticed before. Sasuke was easily taller then he was by an inch or two and he realized the only reason he was Sakura's height was because of his hair. And he twitched even more as he heard the Hokage and Itachi snickering to themselves and vowed vengeance upon them. This was another reason why he didn't want to become a jounin sensei!
Gnashing his teeth together and taking a few breathes to keep his anger from rising any further, Naruto simply glared at the elderly man. "My size nor age have anything to deal with my skills. We are the best you are being offer so you should be thankful…"
"It isn't often that the Prince of Konoha is sent on such low rank missions." Itachi finished for him and grinned as he got back at Naruto and didn't care that the blonde would pay him back two fold. At the moment it was worth it.
Glaring dagger back at the onyx haired Uchiha, Naruto almost groaned as Tazuna's eyes widened as that name was very well known through the entire continent. "You're kidding me! This kid… Is the Prince?!"
"I would like it if you not referred to me in such a manner… We'll be heading out soon." Naruto commented as he reeled in his overflowing anger and schooled his face back to its near emotionless norm as he turned to his gennin. "Go the gate; Yugito should already be there… We need to speak to Tazuna before we head out."
While the three looked towards their sensei for a moment each nodded as they had packed their things before hand and were carrying them on their person… Each was glad the first thing they were taught was how to use storage scrolls.
Soon as they left, Naruto's gaze turned to Tazuna but stayed silent as the Hokage sighed lightly before speaking. "Tazuna… We know this mission is higher rated then you say it is. …However, we still will accept it as our scouts have stated how desperately your country needs that bridge as you barely have enough money for even this."
As Tazuna looked at them in slight fear at being discovered and even more awe that they weren't canceling this mission. "I have sent Naruto out with you along with a jounin of his choice as he will be assigned to assassinate Gato to free your land from his tyranny but in return for this we would like to set up a trading agreement in the future. Is this acceptable?"
"Yes! Yes!" Tazuna eagerly accepted the generosity that the Hokage was showing despite not being able to gain much as of the moment. "As soon as we recover we will do anything that can help, open trade and allow you access to…"
Silencing the hysterical man, Hizuren softly smiled as it always felt good to help those in need. "I understand. This village was sunk into darkness not too long ago so I know all too well how you and your people feel. We will help you so when you return tell your Lord of the chunin exams in three months. We'll discuss the arrangements then."
Standing at attention, Tazuna could simply nod as he couldn't trust his mouth any longer. He was filled with hope and felt he made the right choice in choosing Konoha over the closer nations.
Simply glancing at the Hokage, Naruto nodded as well before he moved over to Tazuna and motioned him to follow. "Alright, let's get going. There is work to be done."
Once more the man could only nod as he followed the blonde haired boy out of the room. Not only had Konoha accepted his mission despite knowing what it detailed… They sent the Prince of Konoha to bring freedom to their land.
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"So 230; This mission is going to be a little more difficult then a normal C-rank?" Sakura quivered as Naruto explained the details to them as they were on the road.
She was a little afraid, she had to admit. Being told that they honestly were probably going to be partaking in a B-rank were they could run into chunin level opposition was a little frightening despite she knew that Naruto and Yugito would handle such a threat. However being informed that there might be jounin that they come across…
"Sakura." Sasuke spoke as he noticed that she didn't seem as confident as she had been of lately. "You need not worry about any of this. Our mission is still C-rank while theirs is B to A rank. We will not be expose to anything higher then bandits and gennin, maybe a weak chunin. The three of us together should easily be able to handle such a threat."
"Yeah… And besides, almost every other nation has given a flee on sight order if they run into sensei. I doubt any ninja that has access to a bingo book will overlook that detail." Kerlya added to help boost Sakura's confidence as she happened to admit she was a little scared they were given such a mission but with Naruto around she felt secured about it.
"But you must know there are those that will ignore it despite the warning… As they are desperate enough that not even death will deter them from their mission… It is very likely we will have to take care of at least one of them as a man like Gato wouldn't just contact a shinobi village and ask for help." Yugito explained, still feeling a little awkward about having to wear normal clothing instead of her Anbu attire for such a mission.
"He has more then likely hired missing ninja as they are cheaper and much easier to deal with as most have abandoned their morals as they have to constantly live on the run and scrape by on the bare minimum." Naruto added on to keep his gennin and Tazuna aware of the situation.
However Yugito immediately picked up onto this as she knew Naruto wouldn't say anything about this unless he could feel someone within striking range. What didn't help was that he was very difficult to read and as such she couldn't truly gauge the level of the threat. But she quickly caught a puddle just in the distance before she rolled her eyes.
The three also noted it as they came closer upon it. Sakura acted like she saw nothing, too busy gazing at the scenery. Sasuke didn't look any different then usual while Kerlya had to repress a growl as the two in the genjutsu stunk to high heaven. She also had to keep Ralts calm as he smelt them as well.
Finally both rose from the water after they had passed and pulled out their chain, ready to cut down the first in their path. That happened to be Naruto and as they neared him, the blonde didn't even react and simply closed his eyes as it was merely inches from cutting into his flesh.
At that very moment a kunai was driven into the chain and pinned it to the ground. "You're reaction time is slow, Sasuke. You should have had it pinned a full second ago."
"Sorry… I'm just a little excited." Sasuke grinned before he drew forth a scroll and was ready to draw a weapon from it. "I finally get to see how I compare to ninja on the outside…"
"You're too late then… Yugito's already handled it." Naruto spoke as he went through a few hand seals while blood began to spill from their collar bones before the two hit their knees. The very next moment the earth around them wrapped them into a firm cocoon and held them back to back.
Checking on the one to the left as Yugito did the same on the right, Naruto shook his head as he looked at the stunned face of Sasuke. "As I said before… We will not expose you to a threat greater then a gennin. These guys were chunin and could have torn you apart if given the chance. You may be skilled… But as of right now these guys are still much better then you are at this moment."
"Fine…" Sasuke only grunted as pulled free his kunai as he understood that even if he didn't like it. That was one thing Naruto had forced down his throat as he wasn't going to always be superior to his opponent. Not to mention in his last spar he barely managed to beat Sakura as she had pounded him in close range…
As Sasuke shook that from his mind, Naruto turned to Yugito and with that one glance he turned from her and to his team. "Let's keep going. Yugito will catch up to us later."
"Wait, why is she… Oh." Kerlya started before it dawned onto her way Yugito would stay behind before remembering during their introduction a couple weeks ago that she specialized in taijutsu and interrogation.
It took a moment for both Sakura and Sasuke to realize it as well, the former flinching at the thought while the latter only shook his head knowing it was a part of the life he had chosen before he turned to his two team mates. "Alright… Kerlya take point and alert us if something changes in the smell. Sakura stay next to Tazuna with sensei and I'll take the rear and cover our asses."
Smirking as both did as they were told, Naruto moved to Tazuna's other side and gave Sasuke a slight glance. His lessons were finally starting to pay off and he was taking the role he was meant for in their unit and understood the others roles as well.
Now if he could just beat out the superiority complex that the academy blessed him with. Something told him that would still take more time.
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It didn't take long for Yugito to catch up with them and it was nearing night time. Naruto, however, refused to call it a night after hearing it was only a few more miles to their destination.
Needless to say he wasn't very well liked at the exact moment. "Sensei… Why in the hell didn't we just set up camp? It's almost midnight, I can't smell anything because of this damn mist and not to mention something just doesn't feel right."
"That's because we're being hunted, Kerlya." Sasuke commented for Naruto as with his one tomoe Sharingan could see that there was a light haze of chakra within the mist. "This mist isn't natural either… There's chakra within it."
Tazuna gulped as he didn't like the sound of that. That meant there was going to be another ninja attacking them and they were only half a mile from his home. Fear began to envelop him thinking that Gato might have done something to his family and with that thought in mind he began to quicken his pace.
Placing her hand on his shoulder, forcing him to look over at her, Yugito only shook her head and looked into his eyes to convey her message. "Stay calm. The worst thing you can do right now is break rank and make yourself an easy target. I'm sure your family is safe."
Tazuna slowly began to calm and keep pace with the rest while Naruto simply had to wonder what it was about a woman's eyes that seemed to calm people down in tense situations as he seen Anko do the same and she had learned that from Kurenai.
Shaking his head of that thought, Naruto closed his eyes to keep his focus on reining in his chakra to allow him to sense the chakra signatures around him with more ease. The first thing he noted was that the mist was slowly weakening and kept from interfering with his senses. He then quickly found his gennin were showing signs of anxiety from how restless their signatures were but something odd caught his attention.
The two he knew had been within a couple hundred meters within their position had suddenly vanished and replaced by two more potent… His eyes widened for a moment realizing what they had done, his eyes snapped open before he ran before Tazuna as he let Yugito take his place once she returned. "Encircle Tazuna now! Our enemy is at seven and twelve o'clock!"
Sakura didn't have to do much as she was already in her spot for the most part. Sasuke simply followed Naruto and took his spot and turned around to watch the rear. Kerlya, however, didn't get any chance to react as she was too far ahead and a shadowy figured formed behind her.
She had already been a little fearful before as she could sense something was wrong but now… She broke out in a cold sweat and the hair on her neck stood up as a cold shiver traveled down her back, freezing her. Her breath became ragged as it felt the temperature around her suddenly dropped as she turned to see the said dark figured behind her.
But in that exact moment there was a clang of metal as Naruto stood before her with his katana in hand, holding off what seemed to be a triple bladed scythe that was only an inch from cutting his face. At that moment she felt relieved only for it to immediately drain as she could see him snarling at his opponent and his eyes visibly darken.
"Kerlya…" Naruto growled out as he gazed into the man's eyes before him before he pushed him back and gripped her shoulder.
In the very next moment they were besides Tazuna and Naruto dropped the Inuzuka onto her bottom. "Sasuke, take the girls and Tazuna to his house… These guys aren't here for Tazuna. They're here for me and Yugito."
"Actually… We're here for both." Another dark figured emerged from the point Naruto said the other had was. "We're being given a pretty hefty reward for his head and as you know… We want you for your demons, nine tail vessel."
Yugito froze at the voice as she remembered it all too well. It was the voice of her attackers all those years back and the main cause for her nightmares. And despite all the training she had underwent… She was still afraid of these two. "No… Not you."
"It is girl." The first figure said as his image became visible, his silver hair glittering within the moon light before he knelt down and held onto his pendent. "Lord Jashin, let this job be done quickly and with much blood shed for none of these ignorant fools will see the truth that you are the one true god."
Releasing his pendent, Hidan stood before them with his scythe in hand and a wicked smirk as the mist around him began to dissipate. "Sorry for the delay, but my Lord requires prayer before every battle. I plead for death, but no matter what is done I stand alone… I hope one of you can finally deliver me into sweet oblivion!"
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"This has got to be the most boring mission ever…" Sasuke groaned as this chore of a job they were given was grating his nerves and he felt ready to snap.
"Oh quit complaining… It's good break from our normal training. I like going home and not to the hospital." Kerlya hummed as she had no problem with this mission as she found it quite relaxing and the smell was absolutely wonderful.
"Besides, at least we are being paid for this better then those other D-rank missions." Sakura commented as she plucked a weed from the Yamanaka's garden, having no problem with this as she did this a lot during her early years in the academy's preschool. "And I think our team work is getting better from doing this as we've been working together to finish."
"That's the point." Naruto commented as he stood back and watched his team do the job, being rather bored with it but he felt a lot better as he watched them, glad he wasn't the one that had to pull out the damn weeds. "Now don't forget that we still have training after this, however."
All three momentarily stopped and looked at one another as they shivered at the thought of going through another torture session with their blonde devil of a sensei. They quickly came up with a plan to lengthen their stay at the garden so they wouldn't have to go through it today.
Naruto knew exactly what was going through their heads as he grinned before he started whirling his special kunai around his finger. "And don't think you can get out of it. The more time you spend here the longer and more strenuous it will become. So I would finish soon as I'm tacking on extra time for each minute it takes you to finish starting now."
Biting his lip to keep from laughing as they began to work in unison, almost as if they were one person, to quickly finish as they didn't want any overtime in their training sessions, Naruto only shook his team. If there was one thing to motivate them…
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"Wait, what?!" Kurenai growled as she stood in front of the Hokage, somewhat annoyed at his response. "What do you mean that we can't take the mission?! I thought now with more missions coming in that gennin teams could take C-rank missions as long as their jounin sensei was with them!"
Sighing as this was going to be a long day, as he could understand why Kurenai thought her team was ready to join the gennin squads allowed to perform C-rank missions, Sarutobi caught her gaze. "They are… But you of all people should know why I'm still hesitant to allow gennin to perform C-rank missions."
"Yes I know that but I also know that you set aside two to three missions that are considered low classed and barely worth the C-rank for gennin every month. I just would like to know why my squad cannot perform such a mission as they are more then capable of handling it." Kurenai asked as she was sure the Third had his reasons but she at least wanted to know why.
Shaking his head, understanding she truly believed in her unit, the Hokage shifted his attention to the mission he had taken from the batch. "I've already sent one gennin team out this month so I have only one other left… But this one now looks to be serious trouble from what our scouts have found out and could be upgraded…"
"However to keep that from happening I need a jounin… A very particular jounin to take part of this mission in case if this is to happen." Sarutobi explained before he revealed another scroll that was filled with the information that his scouts had dug up from the area.
As Kurenai took it and began to read over it, as it now had become common for all missions to be checked on, she kept her composure before her eyes narrowed as she looked at the Hokage and handed the scroll back. "Why would you keep such as a C-rank mission when you know it to be higher?"
"Because the gennin will not be exposed to the danger… They will only know it is there and as such this mission will stay C-rank as my top jounin will take this mission." Sarutobi retorted just as the door opened and his gaze turned to the one that entered.
"Naruto, I have a mission for you and your team to take."
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"Hey Sakura!" Ino called out to her friend and rival, noticing that she was actually within the town square for once and not at home or dragging her way back there from training. "It's been a while since you've been here! Come join me for lunch!"
Seeing Ino run over towards her, a Sakura smiled ever so slightly as she was still very tired and she had hoped to spend most of the day sleeping to recover from her insane sensei's version of taijutsu lessons. "Sure… I'm still kind of sore and sensei gave us the day off… Finally."
"Great! The other girls are here too!" Ino happily commented as she led Sakura over to their table, revealing that Hinata, Kerlya and another girl she didn't know was there. "Oh, and this is Tenten. I met her a last week on one of those D-rank missions and heard she was a gennin like us."
"Nice to meet you." Sakura lightly nodded at the bun haired girl before she slumped into the chair and turned over to her team mate. "I thought you were suppose to be sleeping in too."
"I wanted to but I have a feeling sensei made sure you woke up earlier then you wanted to." Kerlya growled as she was rather pissed as she really wanted to rest more then she did. "But on the bright side… I'm getting treated to a free meal so I don't care about it as much."
"Sounds like you two are getting run ragged." Tenten stated as she could see both girls were worn down and was mentally smirking as whoever their sensei was she liked them as the more serious kunoichi the better. "You'll get use to it. At first we thought our sensei's training was going to break us but once we got use to it everything was better… As we got use to his insane methodologies."
Sakura could only nod as she was beginning to become less tired after each exercise. It was truly a miracle as a month ago she would have not believed she could go through some of the lessons, as Naruto called them. "Yeah… But this is our first break since we became gennin a little over a month ago."
Listening to Sakura, frowning a little as it seemed her training was over the top, Ino had to pitch in. "Wow… Asuma is really lenient with my team. He mostly goes over with strategies and if not we normally have both a mission and a chakra control exercises after. …Currently we're doing tree climbing."
"He's probably expecting you to go out and train on your own like Master Gai expects us to do now. So any free time he gives you were you aren't tired I would I would use it wisely. …I'm not saying getting together with your friends isn't a good thing to do but training is rather important now that we are ninjas." Tenten responded as out of all of them there she could tell Ino trained the least among them.
Ino looked indignant at first but didn't verbally respond as she could see her elder kunoichi had a point. However, turning to Hinata as she had been oddly quite, something the Hyuuga heiress always seemed to be whenever she got her involved in her little groups, she focused the attention on her. "Hinata, don't you have something to say?"
Not really wanting to say something, as she wasn't comfortable in such a group, Hinata at least felt a little better that they were talking about training. As that eased her burden a little, she softly spoke. "Not really… Kurenai usually trains us one at a time after a mission and some team training but she makes sure we don't overexert ourselves so we can train on our own later in the day."
"We're lucky if we do…" Kerlya softly growled as Naruto worked them into the ground day in and day out. "If we get any rest it is normally in the hospital or in our parent's care… I've been burned on seven different occasions not to mention cut up and bruised almost every single day, Sakura has had a few broken bones and Sasuke had a panic attack or two from one of sensei's genjutsus. …He's the best out of all of us as right now Naruto had been instructing him on genjutsu."
Tenten narrowed her eyes as she recognized that name very well and knew who he was. The fact that he was their sensei… That was unfair in her mind. She had always wanted to learn underneath one of the living legends and the fact that both of these girls had him for a sensei made her extremely jealous.
"Had been?" Ino tilted her head as they made it seem like he had changed… But she was more interested in Sasuke as she hadn't seen him since they graduated. "And how has Sasuke been doing… I'm still pissed that both of you got on his team instead of me."
As Kerlya rolled her eyes at the blonde, not even caring about how crazy in love she was with the Uchiha, Sakura sighed and answered for her. "He's handling the training better then we are but I think that was because he had the easiest of the cycle this month… He's now going to be moving into hand-to-hand as I'm going to ninjutsu training and Kerlya works in genjutsu. He also makes us spar one another every week."
"That's not fair. Sasuke is so much better… Hinata? Tenten? What's wrong?" Ino started going into her Sasuke crazed state when she noticed both girls freeze as they looked at something directly behind her.
So turning to see what it was, she almost gasped as there was Sasuke with a blonde around his age. However, before anything happened Sakura turned and waved at the two, who seemed oblivious to them as they entered. "Hey sensei… Please don't tell me you didn't cancel our day off."
"I'm not that cruel." Naruto twitched as he noted both Sakura and Kerlya in the group of girls before shrugging as he did force them to wake up early today. "No… I was just heading here to get some food and he followed… Something about wanting to train I believe. I don't know as it's my day off to."
"You're an ass." Sasuke growled at Naruto as he had been asking why they couldn't train today and now the blonde finally gave him the reason why he was blowing him off.
"Probably." Naruto simply answered before he took the table next to the girls and simply glanced at Sasuke, which counted as an order in the Uchiha's mind, and forced him to sit down.
As Sasuke made sure to sit where he could keep his eyes on Ino, not trusting her in the least, Naruto shook his head and leaned back in his chair and stayed silent, waiting for his dinner date to arrive. This in turn made Sasuke further nervous as he at least wanted something to distract him from Ino.
However, Ino did that form him as she suddenly pointed at Naruto in shock. "I remember! You were that kid my age that was a gennin a few years back! You're a jounin sensei already!"
Raising his eyebrow at the girl, Naruto turned to Sasuke and back at her for a moment. Then finally he looked down at the table and sighed loudly. "I'm beginning to understand why you hate fan girls… They have no brain."
"I told you… They are like zombies but instead of my brain they want… Something else." Sasuke added onto his sensei's comment before shivering as he was still a little too young to be thinking about stuff like that. "At least Sakura isn't one anymore…"
"That's because I don't have the energy to even care." Sakura responded in an apathetic tone as she really didn't care that much any longer even if she thought Sasuke was still good looking. "Why are you here, sensei? I thought you only ate at Ichiraku's Ramen Shop."
Thankfully he didn't have to answer as one of the reasons he was there entered and immediately slid in next to him. "Sorry I'm late… Anko had me sit on an interrogation with Ibiki and the guy wasn't cooperating very well. …Why are you sitting next to all these girls? Oh, hey Kerlya, Sakura."
"Oh… Hello Miss Nii." Sakura responded with a slight smile as every now and then she took Naruto's place as their sensei on a few occasions as he had a mission he had to take care of every now and then being the Prince of Konoha. "I take it if you're here that means you'll be our sensei tomorrow."
"Kind of. Naruto should explain though as it deals with you." Yugito tilted her head as she looked over at Naruto for a moment before shaking her head as he simply yawned.
"We'll be taking a C-rank guarding mission tomorrow to the Wave Country." Naruto simply stated as there was nothing to it and wondered why Yugito simply couldn't say it. "She will be joining us to take over my role as your sensei as I have a higher rank mission to deal with once we arrive."
"Wait… We're going on a C-rank mission?" Kerlya said in surprise as she had heard it would take months of training to be let out on such a mission as gennin still weren't let out of the village that often as Konoha was still looking to better their reputation with their clients.
"About time… It seems our economy has finally recovered from the drop out six years ago." Sasuke commented with a small smirk as his team would be the first let out of the village out of all the rookies before frowning at Naruto. "But what this about you having another mission?"
Naruto only shrugged as the waitress came by and took their orders and once she left he finally decided to respond. "It is a situational mission at best as it very well may not happen in my presence. Yugito is coming along just for security reasons as it is frowned upon to leave gennin unattended outside of the village since it is not war time."
"That all there is so just have your things ready and packed and be at the mission room by ten. So enjoy the rest of your day off." Yugito finished after a long pause realized Naruto wasn't going to say anything more as he figured is team would know the routine despite only being gennin.
However, Naruto was getting slightly unnerved as the gennin who he knew to be Gai's was just staring at him. It was rather odd as she wasn't giving him a look of contempt or anything like that… In fact the look seemed to be more like the one's Sasuke's fan girls gave him…
As Naruto shivered at that though, Yugito could only grin as her fellow vessel hadn't realized that he had been gaining a fan club over the recent years. She was glad that it seemed that at least some of the hatred had died down once it was learned he was the Fourth's son. The only problem was some of those girls were extremely ravenous and if they dared hurt him…
Before they knew it, Tenten was at Naruto's side still staring at him. This made Naruto very, very uncomfortable as he had been trying to ignore her look and now that she was right upon him he was unsure how to react. Finally he decided to call her out on it. "May I help you?!"
Tenten's gaze did not die as she continued to gaze at him and Naruto was ready to put her in a genjutsu as he couldn't handle this for much longer. However of all things to happen… Something he had not expected did.
"MAY I HAVE YOUR AUTOGRAPH?!" Tenten squealed like on of Sasuke's many fan girls as she held out a small notebook and pen towards the blonde.
Naruto immediately fell out of his chair soon after her exclamation.
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"Ah Naruto… Right on time." Sarutobi beckoned his young jounin and his gennin into the mission room, sitting in the middle and most luxurious chair while Iruka and Itachi sat at his sides, one doing his job with flare while the other was pissed at his temporary demotion.
Naruto couldn't help but make fun of this even if his outward appearance didn't change in the slightest as he pointed over towards another stack towering just behind the table. "Better hurry up. You don't want that thing getting any larger."
"Fuck you Naruto." Itachi growled at the blonde as this work was demeaning of his status. He was the head of the Uchiha clan and one of the strongest shinobi in Konoha as once again he wasn't interested in fighting Naruto for that title. "Unless you know of a way to make this go by any easier… You fucking do don't you!"
Only grinning at Itachi's accusation, Naruto said nothing as he turned his attention back onto the Hokage and lightly bowed. "We're here to pick up our client for our C-rank mission to the Wave."
Ignoring the fumes coming from Itachi's temples as well, Sarutobi simply nodded as he turned to Iruka. "Could you go get Tazuna for me and tell him his ninjas are ready?"
Iruka only nodded as he wasn't going to even question if Naruto's team was ready for a C-rank mission. He knew of the skill he possessed and just from first glance at the three behind him he could almost see how much stronger they had become and he was quite sure Sakura didn't have those kind of muscles when he last saw her.
Besides her, Sasuke was doing his absolute best not to laugh at his fuming brother. He never thought he would see him get so angry and it was just because of a bunch of papers and Naruto knowing how to make his job easier and not telling him. Needless to say he was having problems as his blood was leaking from the corner of his lip.
Of course Itachi caught this and was ready to lash out at his younger brother when Sasuke finally decided to ail his brother's misery. "Why don't you just use those clones? Naruto uses them all the time and never complains about any of the papers he has to fill out."
Turning back to Naruto, Itachi twitched as he felt like putting the blonde in Tsukiyomi despite his neutral expression. He could have just told him that but no he had to kick him while he was down. "I hate you. …I really do. You are the greatest asshole in Konoha that no one knows about."
"Probably." Naruto responded once more, making Sasuke look at him and wonder if this was a normal occurrence with those who were close with his sensei.
Just at that moment Iruka opened the door and was followed by Tazuna, who now was looking oddly at the four shinobi assembled before him. After examining them thoroughly, or as best as drunkenly possible, he finally commented on what he saw to the Hokage. "What the hell?! You are sending four pipsqueaks with me! I thought I told you this was serious!"
"Did he just insult us?" Kerlya growled as there were many things she could put up with but being insult to her face was not one of them, a trait her entire clan shared.
Simply popping her knuckles, wearing a pair of fingerless gloves Naruto had given her, Sakura was also pissed. However before anything bad could happen, Naruto stood before him as he was use to this sort of treatment due to his age. "I would encourage you not to insult my gennin again. They are all very capable and can easily deal with any threats we may deal with and if they can not, I am a jounin."
Tazuna blinked for a moment as it took that long for what he had said to sink in. Then he looked at the young boy in shock. "You are a jounin?! You don't look much older then they are… And you are shorter then them."
Naruto twitched as this was something he had not noticed before. Sasuke was easily taller then he was by an inch or two and he realized the only reason he was Sakura's height was because of his hair. And he twitched even more as he heard the Hokage and Itachi snickering to themselves and vowed vengeance upon them. This was another reason why he didn't want to become a jounin sensei!
Gnashing his teeth together and taking a few breathes to keep his anger from rising any further, Naruto simply glared at the elderly man. "My size nor age have anything to deal with my skills. We are the best you are being offer so you should be thankful…"
"It isn't often that the Prince of Konoha is sent on such low rank missions." Itachi finished for him and grinned as he got back at Naruto and didn't care that the blonde would pay him back two fold. At the moment it was worth it.
Glaring dagger back at the onyx haired Uchiha, Naruto almost groaned as Tazuna's eyes widened as that name was very well known through the entire continent. "You're kidding me! This kid… Is the Prince?!"
"I would like it if you not referred to me in such a manner… We'll be heading out soon." Naruto commented as he reeled in his overflowing anger and schooled his face back to its near emotionless norm as he turned to his gennin. "Go the gate; Yugito should already be there… We need to speak to Tazuna before we head out."
While the three looked towards their sensei for a moment each nodded as they had packed their things before hand and were carrying them on their person… Each was glad the first thing they were taught was how to use storage scrolls.
Soon as they left, Naruto's gaze turned to Tazuna but stayed silent as the Hokage sighed lightly before speaking. "Tazuna… We know this mission is higher rated then you say it is. …However, we still will accept it as our scouts have stated how desperately your country needs that bridge as you barely have enough money for even this."
As Tazuna looked at them in slight fear at being discovered and even more awe that they weren't canceling this mission. "I have sent Naruto out with you along with a jounin of his choice as he will be assigned to assassinate Gato to free your land from his tyranny but in return for this we would like to set up a trading agreement in the future. Is this acceptable?"
"Yes! Yes!" Tazuna eagerly accepted the generosity that the Hokage was showing despite not being able to gain much as of the moment. "As soon as we recover we will do anything that can help, open trade and allow you access to…"
Silencing the hysterical man, Hizuren softly smiled as it always felt good to help those in need. "I understand. This village was sunk into darkness not too long ago so I know all too well how you and your people feel. We will help you so when you return tell your Lord of the chunin exams in three months. We'll discuss the arrangements then."
Standing at attention, Tazuna could simply nod as he couldn't trust his mouth any longer. He was filled with hope and felt he made the right choice in choosing Konoha over the closer nations.
Simply glancing at the Hokage, Naruto nodded as well before he moved over to Tazuna and motioned him to follow. "Alright, let's get going. There is work to be done."
Once more the man could only nod as he followed the blonde haired boy out of the room. Not only had Konoha accepted his mission despite knowing what it detailed… They sent the Prince of Konoha to bring freedom to their land.
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"So 230; This mission is going to be a little more difficult then a normal C-rank?" Sakura quivered as Naruto explained the details to them as they were on the road.
She was a little afraid, she had to admit. Being told that they honestly were probably going to be partaking in a B-rank were they could run into chunin level opposition was a little frightening despite she knew that Naruto and Yugito would handle such a threat. However being informed that there might be jounin that they come across…
"Sakura." Sasuke spoke as he noticed that she didn't seem as confident as she had been of lately. "You need not worry about any of this. Our mission is still C-rank while theirs is B to A rank. We will not be expose to anything higher then bandits and gennin, maybe a weak chunin. The three of us together should easily be able to handle such a threat."
"Yeah… And besides, almost every other nation has given a flee on sight order if they run into sensei. I doubt any ninja that has access to a bingo book will overlook that detail." Kerlya added to help boost Sakura's confidence as she happened to admit she was a little scared they were given such a mission but with Naruto around she felt secured about it.
"But you must know there are those that will ignore it despite the warning… As they are desperate enough that not even death will deter them from their mission… It is very likely we will have to take care of at least one of them as a man like Gato wouldn't just contact a shinobi village and ask for help." Yugito explained, still feeling a little awkward about having to wear normal clothing instead of her Anbu attire for such a mission.
"He has more then likely hired missing ninja as they are cheaper and much easier to deal with as most have abandoned their morals as they have to constantly live on the run and scrape by on the bare minimum." Naruto added on to keep his gennin and Tazuna aware of the situation.
However Yugito immediately picked up onto this as she knew Naruto wouldn't say anything about this unless he could feel someone within striking range. What didn't help was that he was very difficult to read and as such she couldn't truly gauge the level of the threat. But she quickly caught a puddle just in the distance before she rolled her eyes.
The three also noted it as they came closer upon it. Sakura acted like she saw nothing, too busy gazing at the scenery. Sasuke didn't look any different then usual while Kerlya had to repress a growl as the two in the genjutsu stunk to high heaven. She also had to keep Ralts calm as he smelt them as well.
Finally both rose from the water after they had passed and pulled out their chain, ready to cut down the first in their path. That happened to be Naruto and as they neared him, the blonde didn't even react and simply closed his eyes as it was merely inches from cutting into his flesh.
At that very moment a kunai was driven into the chain and pinned it to the ground. "You're reaction time is slow, Sasuke. You should have had it pinned a full second ago."
"Sorry… I'm just a little excited." Sasuke grinned before he drew forth a scroll and was ready to draw a weapon from it. "I finally get to see how I compare to ninja on the outside…"
"You're too late then… Yugito's already handled it." Naruto spoke as he went through a few hand seals while blood began to spill from their collar bones before the two hit their knees. The very next moment the earth around them wrapped them into a firm cocoon and held them back to back.
Checking on the one to the left as Yugito did the same on the right, Naruto shook his head as he looked at the stunned face of Sasuke. "As I said before… We will not expose you to a threat greater then a gennin. These guys were chunin and could have torn you apart if given the chance. You may be skilled… But as of right now these guys are still much better then you are at this moment."
"Fine…" Sasuke only grunted as pulled free his kunai as he understood that even if he didn't like it. That was one thing Naruto had forced down his throat as he wasn't going to always be superior to his opponent. Not to mention in his last spar he barely managed to beat Sakura as she had pounded him in close range…
As Sasuke shook that from his mind, Naruto turned to Yugito and with that one glance he turned from her and to his team. "Let's keep going. Yugito will catch up to us later."
"Wait, why is she… Oh." Kerlya started before it dawned onto her way Yugito would stay behind before remembering during their introduction a couple weeks ago that she specialized in taijutsu and interrogation.
It took a moment for both Sakura and Sasuke to realize it as well, the former flinching at the thought while the latter only shook his head knowing it was a part of the life he had chosen before he turned to his two team mates. "Alright… Kerlya take point and alert us if something changes in the smell. Sakura stay next to Tazuna with sensei and I'll take the rear and cover our asses."
Smirking as both did as they were told, Naruto moved to Tazuna's other side and gave Sasuke a slight glance. His lessons were finally starting to pay off and he was taking the role he was meant for in their unit and understood the others roles as well.
Now if he could just beat out the superiority complex that the academy blessed him with. Something told him that would still take more time.
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It didn't take long for Yugito to catch up with them and it was nearing night time. Naruto, however, refused to call it a night after hearing it was only a few more miles to their destination.
Needless to say he wasn't very well liked at the exact moment. "Sensei… Why in the hell didn't we just set up camp? It's almost midnight, I can't smell anything because of this damn mist and not to mention something just doesn't feel right."
"That's because we're being hunted, Kerlya." Sasuke commented for Naruto as with his one tomoe Sharingan could see that there was a light haze of chakra within the mist. "This mist isn't natural either… There's chakra within it."
Tazuna gulped as he didn't like the sound of that. That meant there was going to be another ninja attacking them and they were only half a mile from his home. Fear began to envelop him thinking that Gato might have done something to his family and with that thought in mind he began to quicken his pace.
Placing her hand on his shoulder, forcing him to look over at her, Yugito only shook her head and looked into his eyes to convey her message. "Stay calm. The worst thing you can do right now is break rank and make yourself an easy target. I'm sure your family is safe."
Tazuna slowly began to calm and keep pace with the rest while Naruto simply had to wonder what it was about a woman's eyes that seemed to calm people down in tense situations as he seen Anko do the same and she had learned that from Kurenai.
Shaking his head of that thought, Naruto closed his eyes to keep his focus on reining in his chakra to allow him to sense the chakra signatures around him with more ease. The first thing he noted was that the mist was slowly weakening and kept from interfering with his senses. He then quickly found his gennin were showing signs of anxiety from how restless their signatures were but something odd caught his attention.
The two he knew had been within a couple hundred meters within their position had suddenly vanished and replaced by two more potent… His eyes widened for a moment realizing what they had done, his eyes snapped open before he ran before Tazuna as he let Yugito take his place once she returned. "Encircle Tazuna now! Our enemy is at seven and twelve o'clock!"
Sakura didn't have to do much as she was already in her spot for the most part. Sasuke simply followed Naruto and took his spot and turned around to watch the rear. Kerlya, however, didn't get any chance to react as she was too far ahead and a shadowy figured formed behind her.
She had already been a little fearful before as she could sense something was wrong but now… She broke out in a cold sweat and the hair on her neck stood up as a cold shiver traveled down her back, freezing her. Her breath became ragged as it felt the temperature around her suddenly dropped as she turned to see the said dark figured behind her.
But in that exact moment there was a clang of metal as Naruto stood before her with his katana in hand, holding off what seemed to be a triple bladed scythe that was only an inch from cutting his face. At that moment she felt relieved only for it to immediately drain as she could see him snarling at his opponent and his eyes visibly darken.
"Kerlya…" Naruto growled out as he gazed into the man's eyes before him before he pushed him back and gripped her shoulder.
In the very next moment they were besides Tazuna and Naruto dropped the Inuzuka onto her bottom. "Sasuke, take the girls and Tazuna to his house… These guys aren't here for Tazuna. They're here for me and Yugito."
"Actually… We're here for both." Another dark figured emerged from the point Naruto said the other had was. "We're being given a pretty hefty reward for his head and as you know… We want you for your demons, nine tail vessel."
Yugito froze at the voice as she remembered it all too well. It was the voice of her attackers all those years back and the main cause for her nightmares. And despite all the training she had underwent… She was still afraid of these two. "No… Not you."
"It is girl." The first figure said as his image became visible, his silver hair glittering within the moon light before he knelt down and held onto his pendent. "Lord Jashin, let this job be done quickly and with much blood shed for none of these ignorant fools will see the truth that you are the one true god."
Releasing his pendent, Hidan stood before them with his scythe in hand and a wicked smirk as the mist around him began to dissipate. "Sorry for the delay, but my Lord requires prayer before every battle. I plead for death, but no matter what is done I stand alone… I hope one of you can finally deliver me into sweet oblivion!"
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