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 Posted: Sat Dec 23, 2006 1:09 pm
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Posted: Sun Dec 24, 2006 11:03 am
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Posted: Sun Dec 24, 2006 11:42 am
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Heh, thanks Maeve. 3nodding . Well here's the next chapter, the much repeated Wave mission. Whoo-hoo...! >_>;;.
BAH! I can't get the font to stay the way I want it to! ><. So please ignore it if the fonts of the post randomly changes.
O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O
:;Seeing the Truth;:
Chapter 5: Wave Arc – Part 1
O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O
(“Do I have to?”)
An exasperated sigh. (“Yes.”)
(“But I don’t wanna! THIS IS ANIMAL CRUELTY!”)
Mission number 39; capture. Target: Tora. Client: The Fire Country Daimyo’s wife.
Success.
Team Seven was currently getting assigned their next mission. In the background, they can all hear a cat yowling and a woman squealing loud enough to crack glass.
The third Hokage browsed through the D ranked mission scrolls.
“Alright. The next missions for Team Seven are digging up potatoes, helping shop for groceries, babysit—“
“NO!” Naruto crossed his hands and shook his head furiously. Iruka, who was sitting next to the Hokage and helping out with the mission assignments, could have sworn he even heard a buzzer.
Sarutobi stopped at the interruption to find Naruto ranting about boring missions.
“NO MORE BORING MISSIONS! WE’RE NOT EVEN GETTING ANY STRONGER! WHERE’S THE FUN; THE EXCITEMENT? I WANNA SAVE A VILLAGE!”
Kakashi palmed his face and sighed. This was bound to happen sooner or later, but I’m gonna hear about this later…
Kouseki just rolled her eyes. She agreed, but the way Naruto had said it made it sound…whiny.
“Naruto…” started the Third, “the mission ranks are there for a reason…”
At this point, Naruto had zoned his lecture out and turned to chat with his team mates. He beckoned them closer.
“Hey! Hey! So I was thinking later on tonight I can have chicken flavored ramen for dinner, but I ran out, so…”
“HEY!”
All five turned to look at a fuming Sandaime, who was glaring at them from behind the desk. “Were you even listening?”
Kakashi sweat dropped and scratched the back of his neck. “Ah. No, sorry Hokage-sama…”
Sarutobi sighed deeply. “Naruto-kun, the ranked missions are very important and—“
“Oji-san! I’m not some trouble-making kid anymore! I’m a full-fledged ninja, and I have a headband to prove it!”
He completely shattered this serious argument by looking away and pouting.
The older man just chuckled as Iruka started scolding the orange-clad ninja for disrespecting the Hokage.
“Alright.”
Both stopped mid-yell and looked at the Third with wide eyes. “W-What?”
He smiled at Team Seven before taking out the yellow colored scroll. He flicked his gaze over a few mission specs before nodding at one in particular.
“Your first C class mission is to escort Tazuna-san back to the Wave Country. Please call him in.”
An Anbu that was hidden in the shadows (undetected to all but Kouseki, Akina, Kakashi, and the Hokage) went to fetch the man, who came through the door, drunk and carrying a sake bottle. He hiccupped before eyeing the much smaller shinobi in front of him.
“These brats are going to be protecting me? They don’t look like ninja! Especially the shrimps.”
Naruto laughed at whoever was being called a shrimp before all three lined up. Sasuke was definitely taller than both Akina and Naruto, but Akina had an excuse, being a girl and one year younger.
A vein popped on Naruto’s head as he growled and lunged to kill the insulting old man. Kakashi caught him around the waist and covered his mouth as he started to scream curses and promises of death.
Kakashi leaned close to Naruto’s ear. “Now now Naruto, we don’t want to kill our client, do we? We won’t get paid…”
Akina paid no heed to the insult as she examined Tazuna. He seemed extremely tense for some reason. She decided to test something out.
“Three genin, one jounin, and a ninja wolf should be enough to protect you against thieves, Tazuna-san. It’s not like you’ll be risking your life traveling there…”
Tazuna flinched slightly and started sweating a bit before he chuckled. “A-Ah, no. ‘Course not!”
This rose suspicion in all the ninja paying attention, but they all pushed them away until they had more clues as to why.
“Maa, maa…meet at the north gate in one hour.”
All the genin nodded before leaving, with Tazuna following them out.
“Akina.”
Both she and Kouseki stopped and walked back to the Hokage. Sarutobi was stroking his chin thoughtfully.
“Keep an eye on Tazuna. He’s up to something.” She just nodded and left.
Iruka was puzzling over why he told Akina of all people to watch over for suspicious acts, but chalked it up to her being able to sense more than most people.
O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O
Akina frowned as she irritated another injury she had gotten in the last few days while training in the Anbu Center.
Kouseki picked up another pack of explosives and put it inside her young charge’s ninja pouch. Next to the beige colored pouch was a hawk that had come to visit his guardian. The bird eyed the bruised leg before it was covered with some bandages.
(“How long are you leaving, hatchling?”)
“About a month. Gomen.”
He nodded. As a bird, it was his duty to spread the message to the council. This was bound to happen sooner or later, but the animals were prepared. After living in a ninja village for as long as they have, you couldn’t help but have to become stronger just to survive.
(“Hiroki. What have you heard of the Wave Country?”) Kouseki was curious about their destination. The situation called for investigating.
The bird seemed to frown. Akina kept on packing her stuff, but they knew she was listening anyways.
(“Wave Country? I have heard during my hunts that there was much killing and corruption there. My brothers of the sky warn others to be careful when in those lands. The name Gatou comes up frequently, in a bad way.”)
The vixen nodded at this new information. It was interesting, to say the least. Akina zipped up her bags and put them on. She tightened her headband over her eyes before moving towards the door. Both animals followed her (the hawk rode on Kouseki’s back, since there was so little space to fly).
When Akina opened the door, Kakashi appeared in a puff of smoke, reading his little orange book.
“Akina-chan. Hokage-sama excused you from the training center, but you have to train on your own while we’re gone.”
He smiled and handed her a small scroll with the Konoha Anbu insignia, which she stuffed deep into her backpack. He tilted his head at the hawk before leaving with a happy wave.
(“What is so good about that bright colored book for him to never let go of it?”)
Both Akina and Kouseki stayed silent, one contemplating on how they should answer this awkward question.
(“It’s…not for pups…”) she said, carefully choosing her words.
The bird blinked.
“Hentai.”
It made an “ah” sound before taking off towards the Hokage Mountain.
The wolf groaned a little. (“Blunt to a fault about everything, aren’t ya, pup?”)
She shrugged. “You were going to have to explain it sooner or later…”
The beast sighed in response, not bothering to explain tact to the slightly ignorant girl. She may be a child prodigy in the ninja field, but she was still an 11 year old girl in experience with socializing.
(“Never mind…”)
O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O
Akina, Naruto, and Kouseki walked together towards the gate, forced to pass through several of the main streets in town. Since they were both the scapegoats of the village they gained a lot of glares and curses.
Akina didn’t used to be hated, just feared, until she started hanging out with Naruto; she didn’t mind, as much as Naruto kept apologizing for it after he found out the truth.
Naruto kept on a grinning face as they came close to the edge of the village, though the younger ninja could tell that his aura was saddening as time went on.
“Naruto, isn’t it great to finally get a C class mission?”
He instantly brightened up at the topic.
“Hell yeah! No more gardening or dog-walking for at least a whole month! And we even get to go out of the village! It’s my first time, too!”
Kouseki smiled at Akina’s way of cheering her team mate up. They neared the gate to find everyone there already.
“Is it your first time outside, too?”
Akina tilted her head as she thought back into her past. After about 5 years, her mind went blank, as it always did when she tried to remember.
“I don’t know.”
This seemed to dull Naruto’s cheerfulness a bit as he remembered his friend’s amnesia. Sasuke and Tazuna were staring at the two as they reached the group, having heard the conversation.
“Yosh. Now that everyone’s here, we can leave.” Kakashi went back to reading his book and taking the rear, letting the rest of the people to go on ahead a bit.
A brown hawk that looked exactly like the other hawk that had visited earlier circled overhead before swooping in to land on Kouseki’s back. It clucked its beak at Akina in greeting before getting comfortable.
The elite jounin looked up from his book before shrugging and ignoring it. He’s seen stranger things. Like Gai. Now that was strange.
(“Good morning Aki-chan! I’ll be going with you on this mission! Elder’s orders!”)
Akina nodded to show she accepted before facing the front again.
Kouseki grunted a little in greeting at the female hawk. The other was male, and happened to be her brother. Their names were Hiroki (the male) and Hiromi (the female), and they were also very close to the girl.
Tazuna looked back and raised an eyebrow at the strange sight. A bird riding on a huge wolf’s back walking next to a human and looked to be chatting with it. He looked questionably at Kakashi.
“Are you sure I can depend on this little girl here? She’s even blind-folded! What kind of ninja does that?”
He once again peeked over the edge of his book and was about to reply before Naruto burst into the conversation.
“Hey! Akina-chan is as good a ninja as the rest of us! And it’s not her fault she’s blind!”
This time, both eyebrows went up. “Blind?”
Akina, Kouseki, and Hiromi were quiet as they half-listened to the conversation. Someone had to keep watch, right?
“A blind ninja?” He sounded skeptical. They started to walk by a puddle in the middle of the road.
Naruto, Sasuke, and Tazuna didn’t seem to notice.
Akina tilted her head a little towards her sensei. He just shook his head in answer to the silent question.
Kakashi started to intentionally lag behind, leaving Akina and the two beasts in the middle of the separated group. The water in the puddle shined abnormally, and a hand with a gauntlet rose from its depths.
Two nuke-nin quickly came out of the puddle and wrapped their chain around a surprised looking copy-nin.
“One down.”
With that, they yanked on the chain, cutting the shinobi to bloody ribbons. The Kiri missing-nin charged at the rest of the group, but the chain connecting them was suddenly pinned to a tree with a shuriken and kunai.
Sasuke appeared between the two and kicked them apart. The chain broke, separating the brothers. One went for Naruto, who was frozen stiff, and the other at Tazuna.
Akina appeared in front of Tazuna in a blur of speed, knowing that Kakashi had gotten the information he needed. Sasuke saw this out of the corner of his eye and deemed her strong enough to protect the old man. He ran towards Naruto, who was still staring wide-eyed at the incoming ninja.
Suddenly both ninja disappeared, and reappeared, knocked out, in Kakashi’s arms. He was smiling at the genin.
“Good job everyone. These two were called the Demon Brothers; missing ninja from Kiri.”
Kouseki and Hiromi rejoined Akina at this point. The silver haired ninja cast a stern look at Tazuna.
“You have some explaining to do, Tazuna-san. These ninja were after you. This is not a C class anymore. It just became a B class bordering on A, and it’s out of our jurisdiction.”
Tazuna sighed, knowing he had to explain now or else they would leave him. He explained the situation with Gatou and the Wave Country, going into a guilt trip that had everyone sweat dropping at.
The jounin looked at his team. “Well? Do you want to continue?”
If Hiromi had a mouth, she would have been frowning. B class mission already? This was certainly not expected.
Sasuke’s Uchiha blood started to boil at the thought of fighting more ninja like the Demon Brothers. He immediately agreed.
Akina had no problems with it either. She could probably handle it, and if worse comes to worse, she’ll have to show her true strength. Hopefully it won’t come to that. She nodded and tilted her head in question at Naruto, who had been unusually quiet up until now.
His head was down, and he was trembling. His fists were clenching as he thought about the battle they had just fought, and how he couldn’t do anything other than be a burden. His hands turned white from the pressure.
Tazuna started to wonder if the brat was okay.
Naruto raised his fist before punching the tree he was next to, creating an indent. He growled and looked up with determined eyes.
“I will not run away! We’ll keep going, no matter what! I swear it!”
The two animals grinned at his positive attitude; that is, until they smelled blood coming from his fist where he hit the tree.
(“Really. I get his point, but did he really have to punish the tree?”) drawled out Kouseki, as she eyed the bleeding hand. Hiromi sighed lightly.
“Naruto…that was cool and all, but if you let your hand keep bleeding like that…you’ll die.”
He ‘eep’ed before looking at his bleeding hand, full of splinters, in horror. Sasuke and Tazuna just shook their heads at the blond.
Kakashi came over and looked at Naruto’s out-stretched hand. Why wasn’t Kyuubi healing him like before? He then saw all the splinters up close. They were pretty deep.
“Neh…K-Kakashi-sensei? Is it okay?”
He looked up. “Hmm?”
Naruto gulped. “You looked really serious just now…”
The jounin smiled and shook his head. He beckoned Akina and her animal friends over. They complied.
Akina was currently ‘looking’ at the point where the scent of human blood came from. She could smell the essence of a demon inside the blood, but it was barely noticeable.
“Akina-chan.”
She tilted her head in question.
“Can your friend help me pick out all the splinters?”
She gestured at Hiromi to come over. She shrieked in response and landed on Akina’s arm. The talons didn’t affect her at all. Akina lowered her arm until it was at a level where Hiromi could pick out all the splinters, though it would cause him some pain.
As the splinters came out, the wounded areas immediately started to heal. Those who could see (Kakashi, Hiromi, and Kouseki) watched in fascination. The smell of blood was starting to dissipate now that the source of it was closing up, so the blind one knew what was happening.
Hmm…I guess the fox really doesn’t want to die. He glanced over at the other three. How should he explain this to them? There was a law against letting them know of the jinchuuriki.
Akina felt Kakashi’s gaze and instantly knew why, considering the situation.
She twitched her hands a little bit, signaling the start of an Anbu conversation in hand signals. He noticed and didn’t know whether to feel proud that she already knew the sign language or worried that she wanted to talk to him in private.
As the splinters continued to come out, Akina made the small message, blocking Sasuke and Tazuna from seeing it with her body. Kouseki blocked it from Naruto.
We know already.
How?
The side of her mouth twitched upwards into a tiny smirk. It gained Naruto’s attention through the pain, distracting him further from her hands.
The blind can see more than you think.
With that, she ended the conversation and walked back towards the others, leaving a pondering Kakashi with a fully healed Naruto.
He didn’t bother asking how she knew which hand signs he was using even though she was blind. Everybody had their ways of doing things.
I’ll have to tell Hokage-sama when we get back…
Sasuke lagged behind with Naruto, letting the others go ahead. He smirked at him.
“Are you okay…you scaredy cat?”
Naruto scowled, narrowing his eyes. “What was that, teme?”
The smirk grew in superiority. “Just don’t get in my way later, dobe.”
He growled, but forcefully restrained himself from punching the Uchiha’s face in. They had a mission to finish, and they couldn’t do that with one of them badly hurt.
A bark from Kouseki broke the tension.
(“Oi! Hurry your little asses up! We need to get to the old man’s house!”)
They reached a boat and climbed in, rowing through the thick mist. Hiromi seemed uneasy, since her usual sharp eyes were dulled by the mist, and she couldn’t fly.
The bridge came into view, causing Naruto to yell out in awe. And he would have, too, if not for Akina placing her hand over his mouth and Kouseki laying one of her huge paws on his head. The man rowing the boat sighed in relief.
“Kid, don’t do that! Why do you think I’m rowing and not using the motor? We want to stay hidden or Gatou’s men will find us and kill us!” he hissed out, cautiously looking around.
Naruto gave a muffled “gomen”, taking both the hand and the paw off of his person.
They got dropped off and started towards Tazuna’s house again. Kakashi was still reading his book, though he was spreading his senses out.
The next fight will be with a jounin; an elite ninja…it won’t be easy like with those chuunin…but at least I have Akina to back me up if it gets that bad…
He stole a glance at the girl, seeing her body relaxed, but ready for battle. She must have come to the same conclusion.
Naruto was looking around suspiciously, kunai in hand. He whirled around and chucked a few kunai into the bush, making everyone tense up.
“OVER THERE!”
(“EEK!”)
Hiromi sighed before hopping off her perch and landing next to the frightened white rabbit. She cast a knowing glance towards it before pulling out the kunai that were trapping it and giving them back to Naruto, who immediately cuddled the rabbit, crying.
“Ahh! Sorry, Usagi-chan!”
(“A white rabbit should only be around in the winter.”) said Kouseki, for Akina’s benefit. Even if all canines were color-blind, they can at least tell when something is white.
Both caught the scent of two foreign ninja before the heard a “woosh” of something being thrown.
“GET DOWN!”
Sasuke pulled Tazuna with him while the others hit the deck.
A giant sword was embedded a nearby tree. A ninja appeared on top of it, his Mist headband swaying in the breeze. A scratched headband.
“Copy-nin Kakashi…no wonder the Demon Brothers failed.”
Said ninja nodded before putting himself between the missing-nin and his students and client.
“Zabuza I presume?”
He chuckled. “I’m flattered you know my name. Move. I need to kill the old man.”
Kakashi shook his head. “I can’t let you do that…Naruto, Sasuke, Akina, Kouseki! Manji formation around Tazuna!”
“Hai!” They formed a protective square around Tazuna, with Akina in the back. Since she couldn’t see, she might as well. Hiromi perched on the tree next to them, ready to take off and assist if she was needed.
“I guess I’ll have to get serious…” he grasped his headband. This sound got Akina’s attention. Was he going to reveal the Sharingan already?
(“I smell another enemy.”)
Akina did, too. In a tree a few hundred yards away was another person. He smelled like medicine and ice, though it was hardly noticeable.
Zabuza lifted his kubiriki onto his back before jumping onto the middle of the nearby lake. He formed a hand seal.
“Kirigakure no jutsu (Hidden Mist technique)!”
The mist started to roll in, obscuring everyone’s vision. Sasuke thought of the irony of the situation. It seemed that the only one not affected by this was Akina, since it was always like this for her; even worse.
Kakashi lifted the headband from his left eye, revealing a red eye with 3 spinning commas.
The Sharingan.
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Posted: Sun Dec 24, 2006 2:53 pm
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Posted: Sun Dec 24, 2006 4:18 pm
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Posted: Wed Dec 27, 2006 12:38 pm
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Warning: Slight AU later on in the story.
“Talking”
Thinking
(“Communication with animals/Telepathy with animals”)
O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O
:;Seeing the Truth;:
Chapter 6: Wave Arc – Part 2
O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O
With the mist surrounding the small group, they could barely see Kakashi, who was standing right in front of them.
(“Hiromi. Keep an eye on our little spy.”)
(“Hai!”)
A wave of killing intent washed over them, causing the less experienced to shiver. The feeling was terrible. It chilled them to the bone and made them want to run for their pitiful lives.
“Heart, liver, jugular, spine, lungs, kidneys…6 points that kill on contact…which one should I choose?”
Sasuke squeezed the handle hard as he felt two energies clash. The feeling of two skilled ninja about to fight…it’s so much intense than ours. This isn’t just a spar. They’re out to kill. So this is a jounin level fight…but why is he called the copy-nin?
A pulse of soothing chakra lessened the blood lust and enabled them to see Kakashi more clearly again. He smiled at them all, trying to ease them a little. All of them caught a glimpse of the matured Sharingan before he had closed his eyes in that smile. The Uchiha’s eyes widened at the sight.
“Don’t worry, I won’t let any of you die.”
Zabuza appeared in the middle of the formation, with his word ready to cleave their heads off.
“I’m afraid I can’t let you keep that little promise.”
Metal hit metal as Kakashi appeared in front of him, blocking the much larger weapon with a kunai. The force of the movement knocked back the others, who skidded to a halt at the edge of the road. The silver haired jounin stabbed Zabuza’s stomach with another kunai.
Water leaked out of the newly punctured stomach. Zabuza erupted into a puddle of water.
Naruto gasped. “A clone!”
Another Zabuza appeared behind Kakashi, with his sword resting on his shoulders.
“Die.”
He swung the sword, cutting Kakashi in half. Kakashi’s eyes widened in shock and Zabuza smirked in triumph.
Until the copy-nin turned into water.
Zabuza felt a kunai against his neck.
"It’s over."
Naruto cheered from the sidelines as all of them got up. Sasuke allowed a smirk to grace his features.
“…You copied the Mizu Bunshin, even through the mist. The Sharingan truly is amazing.”
The jinchuuriki scowled. “Sharingan? What the hell is that?” Sasuke recovered from his shock long enough to explain it to him.
“The Sharingan. A blood line limit that manifests in the user’s eyes. A dojutsu. It allows the user to see through all genjutsu and ninjutsu, and see the opponent’s next move. That’s not all. By seeing the way the chakra is manipulated, those with the Sharingan can copy techniques in an instant and send it back at their opponent.”
But it only appears in a few select people in the Uchiha clan! My clan! Could he be…?
The mist shifted behind Kakashi, and yet another Zabuza was already swiping his kubiriki at Kakashi as the other Zabuza disintegrated. Kakashi ducked the swing and took the opportunity to slash at Zabuza’s midsection.
He dodged and punched Kakashi into the water.
The jounin got up, soaking wet, and feeling heavier than he should be. Why is the water so dense? Wait…!
“Bad move, Kakashi.” Zabuza appeared behind the other ninja and formed a few hand seals.
“Suiton: Suiro no jutsu (Water Element: Water Prison)!”
The water around Kakashi morphed into a large sphere, trapping him inside. Kakashi mentally berated himself for a moment.
I was careless! I fell for a simple bunshin!
Zabuza formed another Mizu bunshin, which fingered the handle of his own sword and looked at the old man. “And now to finish the job…”
“Run! You can’t defeat Zabuza! He’s too strong for you! Get Tazuna and run!”
The boys both scowled at their sensei. Naruto shook his head and voiced their thoughts.
“Those who don’t follow the rules are trash. But those who leave their comrades are worse than trash. Right Kakashi-sensei!”
Kakashi blinked. Naruto…when did you grow up?
“Don’t be fools! You’re just genin!” Not entirely true, but you can’t show your true strength here… “You’ll be killed!”
Naruto just grinned and looked at Tazuna. He sighed and shrugged. “You kids do whatever you want. I got you all into this mess. Go get your sensei back.”
The boy grinned and was about to charge, but Akina grabbed his arm before he could leave. He looked questionably at his only female team mate.
“Team work; you and Sasuke.”
They looked at each other, then Akina, then back. Nods and determined expressions were exchanged before they both charged at the clone. Kouseki grinned at the two before taking her position to guard the old man with Akina.
(“Aww…the boys are getting all grown up…I think I’m gonna cry…”) she did a mock sniffle before giving out a bark of a laugh.
Sasuke took the lead and threw a group of shuriken at Zabuza while running. They were all blocked with a lazy swing of his sword, but Naruto took this chance to create his kage bunshin and send them into attack.
The clones surrounded him and took turned swiping kunai at different parts of his body. They were about to be destroyed when he got distracted by a chakra powered bark from Kouseki. Akina added to the distraction by throwing a few kunai at both the clone and the real Zabuza, who was calmly watching from the water’s edge.
Sasuke and a Naruto added to the incoming rain of metal by throwing some of their own kunai and a couple demon wind shuriken, leaving Zabuza no choice catch one of the large shuriken and use it to block some of the other weapons, dodging others.
One of the kunai that he dodged erupted into a puff of white ninja smoke, revealing a grinning Naruto, who caught an incoming kunai and threw it back at Zabuza.
The other ninja was still in midair, after pulling off a series of dodges. He tensed. If he let the kunai hit him, he’s dead. But if he let go of the water prison, then Kakashi would be free.
The kunai came closer, and Zabuza decided to take his chances.
He took his hand out of the prison and jumped out of the way. The missing-nin growled and was about to throw the demon wind shuriken he was holding at the boy, but his wrist was caught in a firm hold by none other than Kakashi.
“Not so fast.”
Kakashi grabbed Zabuza’s arm and threw him farther into the lake, away from the others. Sasuke switched places with Akina, who took out a ninja wire, tying it to a kunai. She went to the edge of the water and threw it towards Naruto.
He scrambled to catch it, before being pulled in by Akina. She spread chakra throughout her muscles, strengthening them. With an almighty pull, Naruto flew out of the water, towards land, just in time to avoid the Suiryuudan jutsu that the jounin released on each other.
“ACK!”
He panicked for a minute before his training kicked in. Naruto flipped and landed upright, though a little bit woozy from the flight. Akina untied the kunai and put it away, rolling the wire around her arm just in case.
Naruto panted a bit, but before he got to thank the girl, a huge wave of water rose up from behind him, thanks to Kakashi’s Suiton: Daibakufu no jutsu. The genin jumped up to the tree tops while Sasuke and Kouseki helped Tazuna get away from the sudden tidal wave.
Zabuza hit a tree, where the water crushed his body as it rushed past. Several kunai pinned him to the tree, and Kakashi appeared in the tree branch above, with another kunai in his hand.
The swordsman coughed out some water and blood. “H-How? Can…Can you see the future?”
(“Aki-chan! That other person is moving in fast!”) screeched out the hawk as she flew towards them. Akina loosened the wire around her arm in preparation.
“Yes…I see your death.”
Two senbon pierced Zabuza’s neck before Kakashi can even raise his kunai. A ninja wearing a hunter-nin mask appeared on a nearby branch from the same direction that the attack came from.
“Yes, he did die.”
(“Senbon…? Well, he smells dead.”) muttered Kouseki, as she approached with the others. Akina inwardly frowned. His spirit aura was still there. He wasn’t killed.
Kakashi nodded at the ninja before covering up his Sharingan and walking towards his team. Naruto glared at the other ninja.
“Hey! What’d you do that for!”
His sensei sighed. “This ninja is a hunter-nin, Naruto, let him do his job.”
Naruto’s glare lessened at this statement, but it still stayed. Akina had helped tutor him while in the Academy, and frequently quizzed him on the shinobi ranks, saying that if he was going to be Hokage, he should know who he was going to be commanding.
That wasn’t his problem with the ninja though.
“This…This guy! He barely looks older than us, and he’s able to take down a tough ninja like Zabuza without breaking a sweat! It…it makes us look like idiots next to him!”
Kakashi frowned at this. “Naruto…in the ninja world, there are those that are younger and stronger than me.”
Like Akina…she’ll probably become much stronger in the next couple of years…I wonder how far she’ll go…
The hunter-nin nodded before appearing next to Zabuza’s body. “I thank you for helping me catch this ninja. I have been after him for months and finally found him. Excuse me; I must be going now…”
He lifted up Zabuza’s arm to take him away, but was stopped by Akina, who lashed out at him with the wire, using it as a chakra enhanced whip. He jumped away and tilted his head at the girl, who was still in a position to attack again.
Everyone sent confused looks towards Akina. “Akina…?” questioned Kakashi.
“Hunter-nin do not move the bodies,” was all she said before whipping at the ninja again and throwing a shuriken at him.
The hunter-nin dodged before blurring towards Zabuza’s body, with Akina following hot on his heels.
They met in front of the body, where Akina kicked Zabuza towards Kakashi and ducked a swipe from a senbon.
The only conscious jounin frowned in frustration. He was out of energy from overusing the Sharingan, and couldn’t help at all. He signaled at Naruto and Sasuke to help, and Kouseki and Hiromi to stay behind.
Sasuke reached the fighting pair first, not being dragged down by wet clothes, and helped Akina fend off the other ninja. Naruto created 5 more clones to pick up Zabuza.
The boy behind the mask scowled. I must protect Zabuza-sama!
He kicked Sasuke away before blocking one of Akina’s kunai, stopping her attack. Three one-handed seals were made, surprising everyone.
“Sensatsu suisho (Thousand Flying Water Needles of Death)!”
A stomp to the ground raised groups of water that quickly froze into senbon needles. They flew at Akina and pierced her body in many places, pinning her to the tree like Zabuza had been just minutes before.
Akina winced inwardly as a senbon hit another one of her injuries. Keeping secrets like her true strength was such a pain sometimes…
The attacking ninja appeared in front of the Narutos (which had brought the body over to Kakashi) and destroyed them all brutally, quickly taking away Zabuza in a whirl of leaves.
Akina calmly made a one-handed seal while everybody but Kakashi and Kouseki weren’t looking.
Tanuki neiru no jutsu (Forced Sleep technique).
Kakashi sighed and shook his head at the situation. Technically, Akina was supposed to be knocked out from both the pain and because some senbon went through her neck, but he felt her chakra pulse last second and change its direction slightly to lessen the damage.
“Sasuke, Naruto, bring us to Tazuna’s house.”
Naruto blinked. “Us…?”
With that, Kakashi fell to the ground in a heap, knocked out from chakra exhaustion.
“Damn.”
O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O
Kakashi bolted upright, scaring the hell out of Naruto, who had been about to peek under his mask. Pain seared through his muscles, and he instantly regretted getting up so quickly. A cautious eye swept around the small room.
Next to him lay Akina, with the senbon taken out of her body, covered in bandages. Kouseki and Hiromi were sitting next to Akina, staring at the now conscious jounin.
Kouseki scoffed. (“About time, scarecrow…now Akina can wake up.”)
Sasuke was leaning against the wall near the door, which opened to reveal a pretty black-haired woman carrying a glass of water with Tazuna next to her. Both looked surprised to see the man up so soon.
“It’s good to see you up, Kakashi-san. And only a few hours after you came, too! I’m Tsunami, Tazuna’s daughter.”
Kakashi nodded slowly and drank the offered water thankfully. He sighed.
“It seems that the hunter-nin was Zabuza’s accomplice…they will come back to finish the job.”
Tsunami gasped, but the others just nodded grimly.
“We have about a week’s time until Zabuza’s injuries to heal, so we’ll be spending that time training.”
Naruto cast a worried look towards his childhood friend. Kakashi saw this and smiled at her body.
“She’ll wake up by tomorrow, judging by her injuries. Don’t worry. She’ll join us soon enough. Training starts tomorrow morning.”
They all nodded, determined to get stronger.
O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O
The first thing she noticed when she woke up was that her headband wasn’t on. The other was that Kouseki was the only living thing in the room other than her. The wolf licked Akina’s cheek in greeting.
(“Mornin’, pup.”)
Akina nodded, touching the place where her eyes should be covered. They had been closed the whole time, but she’d feel more comfortable if it was hidden.
Kouseki dropped the headband in her lap. (“The others are training in the woods today. The lazy scarecrow said when he woke up that you’d be with them by today, so I couldn’t wake you up until now, dammit.”)
She grumbled some more while Akina slowly got up and got ready to go outside again. The girl checked her body and found the injuries already healing. In the house were 3 other auras, and in the distance were 3 chakra signatures.
“Hiromi…?”
The other female blinked. (“Oh. She went to go report this to the elders and deliver a scroll from Kakashi.”)
Nodding, she walked outside and down the stairs.
Tsunami was washing the dishes with the help of Inari, her son, while humming a tune. Tazuna was reading the newspaper at the table. He looked up at the girl descending the stairs.
“So you’re up. The others are outside.”
Inari turned from his task to glare at the ninja covered in bandages. She looked weak to him.
Kouseki and Akina both sensed the glare, but brushed it off to go outside. The piercing glare followed them as they walked outside.
O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O
They found the team climbing trees, while Kakashi was reading his book, as usual. His crutches were leaning on the tree he was sitting under. He looked up from his book and smiled at the two.
“Yo!”
The appearance of Akina distracted Naruto, causing him to fall on his head. Kouseki grinned.
(“It’s good to see the gaki training so hard…”)
Akina made no comment.
The sensei waved at the two boys. “Sasuke and Naruto are walking up the trees using chakra, Akina. See if you can do it. Try not to strain yourself though, you’re still healing…”
She nodded and felt Sasuke climb about 10 steps up the tree before losing control. Naruto reached 6 steps. Feeling she had enough “observing”, she tried it herself.
Akina set a foot to a nearby tree, feeling the chakra automatically go to her feet. But for appearances sake, she had to take it slow. She calmly walked up the tree trunk, all the way to the top before sitting on the branch.
Sasuke and Naruto both looked surprised (and slightly jealous) at this feat. Kakashi didn’t, having already seen and expected this. He grinned at the boys.
“Hmm, the girl of the team’s got the chakra control down. It seems the Uchiha clan isn’t all that it was said to be. And I guess Akina is closer to becoming the Hokage than someone else I know.”
This made determination filter into their eyes. They both ran once again towards their respective trees.
Kakashi called over Akina, and when she was next to him, he smiled and put a hand on her head, leaning in a little. To others, it looked like he was quietly complimenting the girl.
“Akina,” he whispered,”now is the time for your Anbu training. I’ll tell them that I gave you another exercise. Try not to kill yourself, okay?”
He smiled brightly before lightly pushing Akina towards the deeper parts of the forest.
She walked until she was just inside the border of how far Kakashi could sense her, which was pretty far. It was a moderately large field of grass, perfect for training. She took out the Anbu training scroll from her pouch and broke the seal.
She sat down and ran her fingers over the words. This was how she read. Even ink made some kind of imprint or mark on paper, and with enough practice, she can feel it. Kouseki read it over her shoulder.
(“Number 55 of class E34. Sensei: Enkou. We have been informed of your mission and have made the following training schedule for you, do not slack off, blah blah blah…”)
Akina read the rest of the scroll silently, ignoring the comments like she usually did.
Warm-up (time limit: one hour):
1. Wear 500 lbs of weights on your arms, legs, and torso.
2. Run 5 miles.
3. 500 punches and kicks with each arm and leg.
4. 500 slashes with sword using left hand. Switch.
5. Stretch.
Training (time limit: three hours):
1. Practice sword kata until perfected.
2. Spar with own shadow clone.
3. Do training exercise 60D 10x.
4. Do training exercise 85B 5x.
5. Practice interrogation jutsu on shadow clone.
6. Free training.
Cool down (time limit: one hour):
1. Run 5 miles.
2. Stretch.
3. Study human anatomy.
4. Chakra control exercises.
5. Meditation.
The sides of her mouth twitched as she read “training exercise 60D 10x”. Her sensei was cruel even when she was gone on a mission. Kouseki cocked her head.
(“What’s exercise 60D? It doesn’t sound so bad…”)
“A mile long training obstacle course.”
(“So?”)
“30+ attacking kage bunshin, a couple hundred traps, kunai and shuriken, jutsu, 600 lb weights, blindfolded, attacking back forbidden.”
(“…Oh.”) That must have been why she got all those bruises, and why she was always dead tired all the time. It must have been bad if she had to force Kyou to stay out of that exercise.
(“And 85B?”)
“An underwater combat exercise. 35+ kage bunshin attack in any way from above and below while you dodge and destroy them, keeping underwater for as long as you can.”
(“…and you have to do this every day?”)
“Hai.”
(“May kami-sama have mercy on you.”)
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Posted: Wed Dec 27, 2006 2:07 pm
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Posted: Wed Dec 27, 2006 6:11 pm
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Posted: Wed Dec 27, 2006 9:27 pm
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Posted: Thu Dec 28, 2006 6:33 am
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Posted: Thu Dec 28, 2006 3:49 pm
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Posted: Fri Dec 29, 2006 6:10 am
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Posted: Fri Dec 29, 2006 12:49 pm
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Posted: Sat Dec 30, 2006 12:24 pm
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Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.
Warning: Slight AU later on in the story.
“Talking”
Thinking
(“Communication with animals/Telepathy with animals”)
O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O
:;Seeing the Truth;:
Chapter 7: Wave Arc – Part 3
O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O
The door opened to reveal a worn out Akina, with one arm on Kouseki’s back for support. She was covered from head to toe in cuts and bruises. Naruto and Sasuke followed her in, looking just as worn out, though with considerably less injuries.
Inari scoffed as his mother rushed over to help them towards the dining table. Akina plopped onto the chair next to Kakashi while the boys sat across from each other at the last two empty seats.
Kakashi looked up (in the background, Tazuna was staring wide-eyed at the magically finished plate of food) and smiled at his students.
“Did you guys train well?”
Sasuke grunted and Naruto scowled. The question had brought up negative feelings. They’d rather not talk about it. Kouseki sighed as Akina politely declined the food and settled for tea. Tazuna eyed a rather large bruise forming on the girl’s arm.
“What happened to you? It looks like you just fought your way through an army.”
The wolf yawned and curled up to rest for a bit. (“I guess you could say that…technically he’s right.”)
Akina shrugged lightly, but stopped when her muscles complained about the movement. “Training.”
The man frowned. “The life of a ninja must be difficult if one so young has train this hard just to survive…” he commented. Kakashi just smiled.
“We manage.”
Naruto stopped stuffing his mouth full of rice to look at Akina’s injuries as well. “Oi oi! Akina-chan! What kind of training did Kakashi-sensei give to you? It looks really hard! I bet I can do it though…”
Sasuke looked up from his bowl, finally interested in the conversation. The girl frowned slightly at their curiosity, but she might as well tell them a half-truth.
“Evasive maneuvers.”
From the looks of things, the training was hard, if Akina received that many injuries. After being on the same team as her, it was easy to tell that Akina used her smaller body as an advantage and was very quick on her feet and flexible. The traps must have been complicated to have Akina fall into them.
Kouseki stared at Inari, who kept on glancing sadly at a picture on the wall between bites. It was a family photo, but a man’s head was ripped off. The gaki probably misses that one guy…
The kid excused himself after finishing his food, muttering about going to watch the ocean and getting away from annoying ninja. When he left, a screech was heard from outside. Kakashi looked outside to see Hiromi heading straight for a closed window. He sweat dropped.
The canine let out an annoyed growl and rushed over to open the window with her snout, just before the hawk swooped in and landed on top of Akina’s head, carrying a scroll in her beak. The girl made no move against the bird and drank her tea like nothing had happened.
The jounin took the scroll from the bird, who ruffled her feathers with a little pride at a job well done. He opened it and scanned the message, seeing the name “Akina” before starting from the top and reading the whole thing.
Kakashi,
This really is a problem. Your team isn’t ready for this kind of mission. But I have an idea on how to fix your little situation. I have a solo-mission for Akina-chan.
Hmm, that doesn’t sound too good… he thought.
This is a B to A class mission. She is to find and, unfortunately, kill Gatou. I didn’t want a child to kill so early, but the Anbu Commander insisted, saying she would have to eventually. We talked for a while and decided that, given the situation, Akina will be given her Anbu mask early.
Use the seal below to summon her supplies.
If you need back-up for any reason, there is a squad of Anbu just outside the border of Wave. They will be on stand-by until your mission is over.
Sandaime Hokage (Hokage seal)
Sarutobi
Kakashi sighed. Naruto blinked curiously at the scroll. “What did the old man say?”
The copy-nin just shook his head. “An Anbu squad is nearby, as a last resort. Other than that, we’re on our own.”
He fiddled with the ends of the scroll. Akina stopped drinking her tea and paid attention.
Mission.
Akina played with her empty tea cup and continued the conversation as Naruto argued with Sasuke over their training. Tsunami got up and washed the dishes.
Yes, sir.
B to A class. You got your Anbu mask early. Meet at the your training area an hour after dinner. Mission prep will be then.
Akina got up quietly and headed towards the door. The boys stopped bickering and looked at her questionably. With her hand on the door knob, she looked back and muttered “Finish training.”
Naruto blinked. He’s never seen her so focused on training before. Usually she’d just do the bare minimum, like Shikamaru. Maybe his attitude rubbed off on her? Sasuke just took out his kunai to sharpen, paying no heed to the girl. Training meant that she was getting stronger, which meant that she won’t be holding him back.
Kouseki got up after a while, distracted by thoughts of the ningen’s hidden conversation. Akina had brought home scrolls on the Anbu sign language, so the wolf got to study up on them, too. She knew exactly what they were saying, and followed the girl out to give her some not so silent moral support. Hiromi stayed put, tired after her long trip.
Kakashi flipped the page of his book and giggled, blushing a little over his mask.
O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O
The jounin found Akina meditating under a tree, with all her injuries healed. He blinked, but figured she used a basic healing jutsu to mend her body. He took out the scroll as he got closer and tossed it towards her.
She caught it and opened it in a smooth motion, reading it with her fingers. Kakashi watched with interest at her method of reading, having been wondering about it for a while.
After a while she frowned and bit her thumb. She swiped the blood across the seal underneath the message and in a poof of smoke came her uniform and weapons. A white porcelain mask rested on top of the bundle of supplies.
It was a white dragon mask (which wasn’t too unexpected, considering the ninjutsu she showed to her evaluators). It had no expression whatsoever, but the eyes which were decorated with black paint, had a sort of knowing look to it; like it knew everything. The only other mark on the mask was a small silver outline of a crescent moon on the forehead.
(“Well whaddaya know, it looks just like you, pup.”)
Akina fingered the symbol and tilted her head slightly. The moon? She’ll have to ask why that was on her mask when she got back.
Kakashi looked at the mask for a moment before returning to reading his book by the last rays of sunlight.
“I suppose your mission starts now…” he glanced at Kouseki, who seemed to have a thoughtful expression on her face. The wolf caught his gaze and held it for a while. They exchanged slightly worried looks before Akina got up, carrying her stuff with her. She nodded at the two.
“I will be back by tomorrow morning.” She started to walk away to change and leave before she stopped and addressed their distressed auras.
“Scouting.”
This lessened the feeling enough for Akina to be comfortable enough to leave. When she walked out of their range of sight, Kakashi turned towards Kouseki.
“Err, Kouseki. I guess you can guard the house from the forest since they’ll get suspicious if you come back without Akina.”
The wolf nodded. All the better. This way she can be the first to meet the girl when she came back from checking out the surrounding area. With one last satisfied nod, Kakashi walked away, leaving Kouseki alone.
O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O
Akina jumped through the trees at a leisurely pace, suppressing her chakra a much as she can, as well as her spirit aura, just in case. Her new black cloak flapped noiselessly in the wind. She spread her sensory range and sniffed at the air for any scents of the two enemy ninja they had fought the day before.
(“Halt.”)
She stopped on a tree branch and looked up, spotting a barn owl. It cocked its head at the girl and gave her a knowing look.
(“So you do understand the beast’s tongue…what is your business here, child?”)
Akina hopped onto the branch that the owl was perched on, not disturbing anything to hide her tracks. “I am on a mission to kill Gatou, Fukurou-san.”
Several other nocturnal animals peeked their heads out of their respective hiding places. A mouse chattered for a bit.
(“W-We can help you!”) it squeaked. The little mammal didn’t fear the owl for some strange reason. The bird seemed to sense her thoughts and chuckled a little.
(“I only eat the sick and old, like the noble wolves. I am also the Elder of this forest. You seem to seek information for a cause that will help us indirectly. We would all be happy to help.”)
The other animals made sounds of agreement. Akina looked down at the mouse and nodded at it.
“Where is Gatou?”
It pawed nervously at its whiskers. (“He is in a strange honeycomb den in the heart of the forest! We sense great evil coming from there, so we avoid it!”)
The girl nodded, and was about to take off, but a question from the wise owl stopped her.
(“Little one, have you ever wondered why you are so connected to okaa-sama?”)
All beasts called the Earth okaa-sama. Akina shook her head once. She considered those things part of her past. And she couldn’t remember anything from back then.
It nodded in understanding. (“I will tell you this, my child. You are more like us than you think.”)
With this vague statement, it lifted off of the branch and flew away, as silent as an owl should be. The girl puzzled over this for a short while, before shaking the distracting thoughts from her head. She had a mission to do.
After about 30 more minutes of tree-jumping, Gatou’s headquarters came into view. Indeed, the mouse was right. She connected with the wind once again and felt it move around the building, giving her a picture of what it looked like in her mind. Indeed, the mouse was right. It did look like a honeycomb, in a sense.
Akina stayed hidden a few hundred yards away from the base and started to count the amount of people inside. She counted at least 35 people on each story (there were about 7), but only about 20 had at least genin level chakra. In the basement, there were hearts that were barely pumping. The girl could smell the blood from here. It must be where they kept people prisoners.
A slight flare in chakra drew her attention to the 4th floor. She recognized that chakra as the one who forced her to knock herself out; the fake hunter-nin. There was great anger in his aura.
The Anbu in training let her chakra flow through her ears to enhance the sense even more. She blocked out all the distracting noises and focused on the place where she now sensed a weak Zabuza and his accomplice.
“So this is the limit of the great Demon of the Mist? Pitiful. It’s more like Demon of the Whisp. HA!”
The anger grew.
“Do not insult Zabuza-san!”
There was an arrogant chortle. “Don’t kid around. If you don’t get the job next time, I’ll kill you myself.”
Two other voices yelled in agreement as the middle aura went closer to Zabuza. She classified them as lackeys or bodyguards. The one insulting Zabuza must be Gatou. Akina filed away his scent and aura into her mind for later use.
There was a yell of pain from Gatou and the sound of weapons clashing. The fraud was leaking killer intent now.
“You are not worthy of touching Zabuza-sama!”
“F-Fine! But you better kill the old man next time!”
Gatou and his bodyguards left the room with pained auras. The killer intent disappeared as Zabuza spoke for the first time in the confrontation.
“Haku, you didn’t have to do that…”
“I wanted to, Zabuza-sama.”
So, his name is Haku. Akina melted into the shadows and left towards Tazuna’s house.
It was around 10 pm right now, so they won’t suspect anything if she came back around now. She made a pit stop at her training area to dirty herself up a little bit (i.e. do obstacle course she set up one more time) and change before arriving in front of the house.
Kouseki trotted out of the shadows and came inside with her to see Kakashi waiting for her. He was the only one up at the time and was sitting at the table, reading by a lantern. He looked up and put his fingers in a position to snap.
Akina closed the door and stood at attention, saluting to her sensei and senpai (Kakashi was a retired Anbu Captain, having been in the Anbu for about 10 years). That hand position meant Attention! Movement allowed. Report.
Her saluted hand went down. 245 enemies. Approx. 20 ninja, most chuunin level and under. 2 jounin level ninja. Enemy base 10 miles northwest. Target found and identified.
Kakashi nodded, satisfied. Jounin level previous enemies?
Hai.
You have the shift for guarding the client tomorrow. Dismissed.
Sir, yes, sir!
With that, Akina and Kouseki walked towards the room that she shared with her team to get some shut eye.
O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O
A few days later, Naruto was left at Tazuna’s house because his exhaustion. Kakashi, Kouseki, Hiromi, and Sasuke were to guard Tazuna today. The jounin didn’t tell them, but he suspected today to be the day that Zabuza would finish healing. This would be Akina’s chance to strike, so he assigned her training.
Akina waited high in the trees near Tazuna’s house for Kouseki’s signal. When she heard her howl, then that meant that Zabuza and Haku had arrived, and it was time for her to finish her mission.
She watched as Naruto yelled out for being left behind, hurrying to catch up to everyone. He sprinted right past her tree. Five minutes later, after Akina smelled the scent of boar’s blood, Naruto came back just in time to save Inari and Tsunami from the hired samurai.
Kouseki’s faraway howl made her spring into action. She swiftly made her way towards the base where she had found her target, and found that Gatou wasn’t even there. Only a few genin level ninja and a few normal humans were left in the building.
She frowned and sniffed around, picking up Gatou’s scent heading towards the bridge. It was still fresh.
The girl followed it and found the crime lord and a couple hundred of his lackeys in boats not far from shore. There were 3 high-genin/low-chuunin level ninja on each boat, with a total of six boats.
On the bridge, a few miles away, several chakra signatures were clashing, signaling a battle.
She took off her cloak and hid it in a bush. When the mist blocked their view, she slipped underwater and snuck her way towards the group. The training exercises she had been doing were coming in handy. They weren’t even able to sense her yet.
Akina connected to the water, feeling her way under the group through the water. A few sharks lurked underneath her, sensing that there was going to be meat soon.
A large great white swam next to her. (“We hear that you are killing this stinky ningen.”)
Akina nodded, not able to talk at the moment. The shark narrowed his eyes at the boats. (“We can ‘catch’ those that get into the water.”)
Any help right now was appreciated, so she nodded once again and connected her mind with the water around them. The other sharks stared at the girl in interest. She was going to bend the water to her will.
She swam to the middle of them all, raising her hands above her head. She clenched her hands, morphing the water under each boat into a dragon head that quickly ‘ate’ them. The razor sharp teeth had been frozen into ice, so all the boats exploded into bits of wood.
Most of the non-ninja were killed in this ambush, and those that managed to abandon ship were quickly killed by the waiting sharks. The 18 ninja (plus Gatou, who had been rescued by the strongest) stood upon the water, splitting up into two groups. One was to track their mysterious attack down, and the other to get Gatou to safety.
Akina quickly changed positions and went a little closer towards the nervous Gatou. These attacks were straining her mind, but she can handle some more.
After some more concentrating, a dozen water dragons burst from the sea and killed the weaker ninja. The number of enemies was cut in half, and they regrouped. The ninja carrying Gatou finally spotted Akina and threw a group of his kunai at her before rushing out of the tight circle of ninja and towards safety.
The girl frowned as the other ninja found out her position. The element of surprise was gone.
She dodged the large number of exploding tags and raining metal weapons, finally feeling the need for air. She drew her sword and burst out of the water, stabbing the surprised ninja in his stomach.
“Suiton: Teppoudama (Water Release: Gunshot)!”
A couple dozen water balls flew at her, and she went back underwater. They missed and passed each other, causing them to hit their allies. In their moment of shock, Akina sheathed her sword and sent a few more dragons at the ninja.
They tore threw 4 more ninja before exploding into a barrage of frozen senbon needles at the girl’s command.
The senbon pierced several ninja in vital spots, while injuring others. Akina was starting to get a headache from the strain on her mind.
There were 5 ninja left. On the bridge, there was a pulse of demonic chakra that temporarily halted the battle on the water below it. It felt so evil, but it was strangely familiar to Akina.
Her heart throbbed. What was this feeling? She started to see red as the ancient chakra became stronger. Something in her was awakening, but what? It was calling…for blood.
She shot out of the water and engaged the nearest ninja in a taijutsu battle, giving away her identity. Some gasped at the Anbu mask. Where was her tattoo? Was she a rogue Anbu?
The ninja blocked her initial palm thrust with both his arms. The chakra shot through his arms, causing him to cry out in pain. The other ninja tried to distract her by throwing their weapons at her.
She skillfully dodged them all and ducked under a punch from the ninja. Akina took the opening and punched his chest above his heart. Her chakra pierced through the vital organ, killing him.
The blood lust became stronger, overcoming her other senses.
The girl tilted her head to the side to avoid a punch and elbowed the ninja behind her. He stepped back and held his stomach, giving her time to spin around and punch him towards the others with a fiery fist. The fire burned through his skin, reaching his lungs. He sank into the water, unable to get back up.
She turned around to face the other ninja, who got a better look at her. Were those…claws? Akina licked her lips as she smelled the blood, feeling her newly grown fangs. What was happening to her?
With a snarl, she disappeared from view and reappeared behind the frightened ninja. A clawed hand burst through one’s stomach, making the others sick. She disappeared again and decapitated the others.
The girl lifted her head into the air and smelled the other ninja almost at the bridge. A low growl erupted from her throat. She couldn’t let her prey escape.
She rushed at the last ninja and Gatou, quickly closing the distance between them in a matter of seconds. Akina clawed at her enemy, who died quickly, unable to react in time to dodge.
Gatou whimpered as he tried to swim away from the crazed Anbu in training. Akina walked over and lifted him into the air, letting him get a good look at the blood-covered dragon masked ninja.
“D-Don’t kill me! Please! I’ll give you anything! Money! Stocks! Land!”
The demonic chakra in the distance died out, releasing its hold on the girl. Her mind cleared, the haze disappearing along with her fangs and claws, and the stench of what she had just done finally reached her nose. Akina’s nose crinkled in self-disgust. Did she do that?
Another whimper brought her attention to Gatou. She frowned.
“You don’t deserve to live, Gatou.”
She placed her palm on his chest, and let out a burst of chakra, killing him quickly and painlessly.
Following procedure, she cut off the head and froze it, sealing it inside a water-proof scroll in her pouch. Below, the leader of the sharks was observing her. He seemed to know more about this other side of Akina then Akina herself.
He swam up to the quiet girl. (“Little one. The Elder in your village must already know of what just happened. Speak to them when you return. All will be revealed then.”)
The brunette nodded once before grabbing the other part of Gatou’s body. She walked under the bridge, once again suppressing her chakra as much as possible. She disappeared with a shunshin, and reappeared in front of Zabuza on top, who had just been trapped by Kakashi’s summoned dogs.
Both jounin saw the body that was dropped at the swordsman's feet and recognized it as Gatou’s, judging from the expensive clothes and accessories.
Zabuza’s eyes narrowed. “You brat…now how am I supposed to get paid!”
Akina bent down and went through the dead man’s pockets. She found what she was looking for: a wallet. She tossed it at Zabuza after the ninken released him. He looked through it and found more than enough money to last them a few months. A grateful nod was given to her before he looked over at Haku.
Both boys were staring wide-eyed at the bloody ninja. Haku turned towards Naruto with a small smile. “It seems that we don’t have to fight anymore, Naruto-kun.”
The jinchuuriki nodded before running towards Sasuke (who had just woken up after Kouseki had barked in his face several times).
Haku joined the other group of ninja next to Zabuza and bowed to Akina. “Arigatou.”
She nodded before pointing at Gatou’s body. Chakra jumped from her finger and turned into a small fire dragon. It bit into his neck, making the fire spread on top of the whole body.
Everyone stared wide-eyed at this, before Akina left with a shunshin.
O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O
An hour later, Akina (who was now wearing her regular clothes) was found in her (cleaned up) training area surrounded by several knocked out genin level ninja, ‘panting’.
Kakashi congratulated her on a job well done (for her mission and theirs), and she nodded. Naruto ran excitedly towards Akina and started re-telling her all about their own battle, and how he had saved Sasuke (here, he was punched in the head by said ninja).
Kouseki joined Akina and nudged her hand.
(“Are you okay?”)
Akina frowned and touched her nails where the claws had formed just an hour ago.
“I…don’t know.”
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Posted: Sat Dec 30, 2006 1:50 pm
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