Land Of Waves I. Deception
My first impression of our client was that he was just another pathetic old man. Tazuna, he called himself, was a self-proclaimed top ranked bridge builder. A proclamation that was belied by the fact that he looked slightly inebriated and extremely weary.
The fact that he just called us a bunch of wet-nosed brats probably didn’t help.
“Especially,” he continued, “the shortest one. He looks like an idiot. This has got to be a joke. Are you sure you’re ninjas?”
“Hahaha, the shortest one!” Naruto laughed looking at me and Sasuke, trying to determine our heights. “Who is it?”
“It’s you.” I replied, smirking as Naruto’s expression switched from ecstatic jubilation to immediate outrage.
“What! I’ll kill him!”
He leapt forward, only to be caught in the collar by Kakashi-sensei and hauled back. “No killing the old man we are assigned to protect. That’s not how it goes.”
Old? Well, Tazuna is indeed quite old, at least by ninja standards, where occupational hazards tend to prevent most of us from growing past thirty. Still, something struck me wrong about the old man. I examined him with a critical eye. His clothes were made from fine comfortable materials, but looked rather worn out. Added to that was his graying, unkempt hair and cheap sake he was holding and you pretty much would had guessed that the man had seen better days.
Still, there was a nervousness that I could not place about him. Not the typical fear of ninjas that the clients coming to Konoha would display. No. The way he held himself, was a sort of wariness that only someone that had something to hide would act. Then there was that question. The way he said it when he asked if we were ninjas almost sounded like he was trying to confirm if we were actually in that occupation, not the incredulous tone many would take when they were questioning Naruto and Sasuke’s outfits. I mean, when people think ninja, a boy in a orange jumpsuit was probably the last thing in their mind.
Regardless, I filed my thoughts away. There would be plenty of time to think about the old man’s secrets later.
Introductions were done with quickly in an awkward manner. Mostly because Naruto could not help but glare at old man Tazuna, who was needling him at every opportunity he had.
“Right, meet me at the main gate by noon.” Kakashi-Sensei said once all the introductions were said and done. “Pack enough for a week’s trip, is that understood?”
I nodded before leaping out of the window, one of our standard exits, with the boys. Personally, I took a bit of pleasure in the look of amazement on the old man’s face as he saw three kids that were probably a quarter of his age quite literally throwing themselves out of the window.
“What do you make of him?” Sasuke asked as we scaled another building, leaving the Mission Headquarters, which was situated on top of the academy, behind us.
“Don’t like him!” Naruto stuck his tongue out as he grabbed onto the side of a railing and flung himself over it.
“Yeah,” I agreed, landing on a wall at the side before running along it. “He’s hiding something.”
“Hiding something?” Sasuke asked as he joined me. I’m actually impressed that he kept up with me this time. The last time that he attempted the Treewalking technique Naruto had a blast laughing at his detriment. Not that the ‘dead last’ was any better than him. “Think it’ll be bad for us, Kyoku?”
“Don’t think so.” I replied, ignoring his lack of use of honorifics. I’ll get back at him later. “Besides, Sensei definitely noticed. He won’t have accepted the mission if it would be dangerous for us.”
Sasuke nodded in agreement, before leaping off the wall over onto the opposite roof in the direction of his apartment.
“See you!” I yelled, getting a wave in return. Naruto broke off from me a little later, leaving me alone on my journey home.
Unsurprisingly, Father was not home. It was still morning, of course, and that meant that he was probably in the Jounin headquarters awaiting orders or sorting paperwork out.
I scribbled a small note and left it on the table before leaving for my room to pack my things. Truth be told, the bag was already packed, as a Shinobi might never know when they had to leave immediately on a mission. Now that I had excess time on my hands, I began to take inventory, customising my pack to suit the current escort mission.
Thanks to the funds that father had given me for my graduation gift and the savings I accumulated from my D-ranks, I had managed to go through a rather substantial equipment upgrade. Extra kunais, senbons and about a dozen exploding tags. Then there was the herbalism kit I got from the Yamanakas and the medical kit I brought from one of the Nara clan’s outlets (at a discount). All this I packed into the mission pack, though I did seal some of them into the bunch of storage scrolls that dad had gotten me, though I did leave the one that I set aside for research purposes alone. The scrolls were incredibly handy, truth be told, but they were incredibly expensive. Learning how to make one would save me a lot of ryou.
As I made my way out, I could not help but feel just a little forlorn as I closed and locked the door. I suppressed the feeling before leaping out of the building and onto the next, making my way over to the gate.
Home was just a place anyway.
“YOU’RE LATE!!!” Naruto hollered, causing me to wince at the sheer volume of his voice.
“Sorry, I got lost trying to find my favorite kunai~”
Where in the hell did he even find these kinds of excuses from anyway?
“Seriously,” Tazuna muttered. “I thought that ninjas are supposed to take their job seriously? Are you sure that your sensei is up to the task?”
“Don’t worry sir, he’s a jounin elite.” I replied dryly, a hand still massaging my poor ear, “Though he doesn’t look like it.” I added under my breath. I did not have the courage to say aloud that Sensei’s skill was probably proportional to his tardiness. Yet.
Four days, by Kakashi-sensei’s estimates, we would take four days to reach make it to Tazuna’s village, where our job would end. The first day was relatively quiet, with nary a soul in sight on the road. The four of us took up our positions around Tazuna-san, looking out into the trees. Still, considering that we were hired mainly to deal protect him from bandits, I wasn’t overly worried. The otherwise boring walk was made easier as I managed to make conversation with him. Surprisingly, he was very forthcoming with the information, especially for someone who appeared to have secrets to hide. From what I gathered, the Land of Waves was a rather poor country, consisting of people who lived on a series of islands who fished for a living, though there appears to be a shipping company that was making things rather difficult for them.
“Which is why I am going to build a bridge that will link the Land of the Waves to the mainland!” He said, clenching his first in a show of determining. I could see the wisdom in that, actually. Having a bridge would definitely improve the situation. Easier access meant more trade, and more trade meant greater opportunities for the country’s economy to improve.
I could respect that sort of thinking.
We made camp in the middle of a small clearing, no light was lit, at Tazuna’s insistence which perplexed me. Still, as escorts, we did as we were told, after all, the client’s wishes had to be respected, to a certain acceptable standard, of course.
Dinner was stale and bland, consisting of field rations and simple water. If there was a fire, we would have gone hunting and probably cooked whatever game we caught, as taught in the survival exercises back in the academy.
“Don’t complain,” Kakashi-sensei said as Naruto grumbled about disgusting food and lack of ramen, excitement and his general disappointment.
I resisted the urge to point out that he was the most excited one out of all of us to be heading out of the village and that he did beg for this mission in the first place.
Night fell and I took the first watch. It was relatively quiet, but I kept a firm lookout, even casting that Life-Seeking spell just in case. That was when I saw them. Two human shaped heat signatures perching in a tree at the edge of the forest two hundred meters away. I tensed but otherwise did not give away the fact that I noticed them. When Sasuke woke up to take over, I grabbed his hand. He tensed for a moment, but relaxed as I tapped a message onto his palm.
Unknowns: Two, location: tree southeast. Take care. He didn’t nod back at me, but squeezed my hand reassuringly to let me know that he had received the message. I released his hand and crawled over to Kakashi-sensei. Unsurprisingly, he was a light sleeper and was already wide awake when I crawled over to him.
Two unknowns in trees. Orders? I tapped on his hand.
Do not engage. He tapped back. Act normal. Stay alert.
I returned to Sasuke after that to relay the orders before slumping down on my sleeping bag, falling into a light sleep.
The next day, when we woke, I took the liberty of checking the forest. My suspicion grew when I saw the two humans gone from the forest. That was not exactly a good thing, especially now that I could not keep track of them.
“Good morning, my little genins.” Kakashi-sensei stretched in the morning sun.
“Morning sensei.” I replied in chorus with the boys. I reached up with a hand, making the gesture obvious enough to catch their attention so that they could see my other hand.
Unknowns gone. I signed. Orders?
“Let’s get on with the walk, shall we, Tazuna-san?” Kakashi-sensei asked as he turned to the old man, but tapped a finger on his waist. Stay alert.
And so we did, as we continued our walk. In our hubris, however, we appeared to be so intent looking around for anything suspicious that we totally failed to notice a small puddle in the middle of the road.
I looked at it, feeling something odd about it, but decided that it was nothing.
That was when I remembered that it had not been raining for the past few days. As such, where did the puddle come from?
I turned around, hand reaching for my senbons, but I was too late.
Two ninjas clad in the distinctive gas mask unique to the shinobis of Kirigakure, the Village Hidden in the Mist leapt out of the small puddle, each wearing a metal claw connected by a spiked chain. In half a second, they had wrapped Kakashi-sensei in it, taking him completely by surprise.
“Wha-” I heard him say, before the two shinobis pulled.
Fear overtook me as I saw one of the most powerful Konoha ninjas ripped to pieces before me. My heart pounded as I saw the two shinobis look upon us with an almost gleeful spark in their eyes. They must have thought that now the Jounin was dealt with, the genins would have had no direction, no way to coordinate their efforts.
Unfortunately for them, I had been conditioned to act on fear.
“Sasuke, take them!” I cried out. “Naruto! Cover him! I’ll protect Tazuna-san!”
That snapped the two of them out of the reverie. No, I corrected myself, one of them. Naruto was standing stock still as Sasuke charged forward.
“NARUTO!” I snapped, breaking him out of whatever shellshocked state he was in. “Clones! Now!”
He brought his hands up unthinkingly, forming his cross seal, and a bunch of clones rushed out from the chakra smoke from using the jutsu to aid Sasuke. Unfortunately, it seemed the clones were more of a hindrance to Sasuke and me than actually helping the scenario. The melee was a mess, I had my senbon out but was unable to throw it due to the clones getting in my way from time to time.
Maybe we should start coordinating ourselves. Luckily though, the tide of numbers were somehow able to make up for our lack of coordination. While the two shinobi were definitely formidable opponents, they were soon forced to disengage their chain from their claws when a number of clones grabbed onto it and refused to let go. One immediately jumped among the huge mass of Narutos, lashing out indiscriminately while the other charged towards me.
I let loose a brace of senbons. He dodged, letting them whiz by mere centimeters of his head before pulling his claw back to strike me down.
No, he was not looking at me. He was looking at Tazuna. Our client was the target, I realised but that was something that I could deal with later. I focused on the incoming enemy, whose eyes were still trained on Tazuna.
Not paying attention to me would be a mistake.
I formed a claw with my hand and reached out with my telekinesis before making a sharp pulling gesture. The Shinobi shuddered as a trio of my senbons that he had deflected and ran past suddenly sank deep into his back, right above his shoulder blades. He looked at me, eyes narrowed as he swung his claw at me.
I dodged, drawing my kunai in the process. The senbon was coated in paralyzing poison, the most powerful that I could afford from the Yamanaka’s retail stores right now. It acts fast, but only lasts for a short period of time. Meaning, that the ninja before me should be feeling the effects soon enough.
Pity I did not get the chance to see the effects when Kakashi-sensei suddenly appeared behind my attacker, knocking him out with a single strike to the back of his neck.
“Good job.” He said. I, on the other hand, was extremely confused. After all, I had seen him die.
Kakashi-sensei nonchalantly picked up the fallen, but still alive shinobi with a single arm before heading over to his companion, who seemed to be currently dogpiled by a mass of clones.
“Kakashi-sensei! You’re alive!” Naruto cheered, echoing my thoughts, though with much more enthusiasm than confusion. I blinked, still perplexed by the fact that sensei was somehow alive.
My question was answered when I looked over at the pile of sawed logs. Substitution technique, I realized as I turned back to watch Kakashi-sensei knock the other ninja out before tying them up. And probably a bit of genjutsu to make it seem as though he actually died. Color me impressed. Well-played, Kakashi-sensei.
“You’re alive.” Tazuna said in wonder, and I turned my head slightly. The old man was still in a state of shock, and truth be told, I couldn’t really blame him. The ambush and subsequent fight had ended in a matter of seconds, and that was actually very fast, even for a shinobi. I couldn’t really blame him for not keeping up.
“If you had been fine,” The old man demanded. “Why let the kids fight?”
“Because I needed to see who was their target,” Kakashi replied, standing up and fixing Tazuna with his eye. “Us” He pointed to himself, “Or you.” He pointed to Tazuna. He shrugged, “ besides, they did fine against these two.”
I frowned, pulling out a storage scroll and retrieving a bingo book on it. I flipped through it until I found my subject of interest.
“Gozu and Meizu.” I read aloud, “brother shinobis that tend to accept assassination missions in pairs. Missing-nin from Kirigakure. Combat strength, Chunin level. Last seen during an attempted assassination attempt on the fourth Mizukage.” I snapped the book shut. “Sensei, this is way beyond our mission parameters.”
“I agree.” Kakashi said as he turned to regard Tazuna, who had turned as white as a sheet. “This is at least a B-ranked mission. While I’m sure that you had your reasons for withholding information, it’s never a good idea to conceal the facts when you are asking for help, Tazuna-san. As it is, this task falls far beyond the boundaries of the job we were assigned.”
Tazuna sighed. “I’m really sorry about this. But I would like to say something first.” Kakashi nodded, giving him the go-ahead. “Well, as you guessed, this mission is a lot more dangerous than you were led to believe.” He paused, as though for dramatic effect. “Somebody very dangerous wants me dead.”
“Who?” Naruto asked, eyes wide.
“You know the shipping company that has been making the lives of my people difficult?” Tazuna asked. “It was led by a man named Gatou.”
Gatou? My eyes widened in surprise. That man was a leading entrepreneur in the maritime industry, if the textbooks were to be believed, and judging from what Tazuna’s expression, I could easily guess where this was going...
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Mmm, it's been a while since I watched this arc but things seemed to mostly go as with canon 'cept for Sunset being far more competent (and thus making the team more competent) than Canon. I guess the interesting part will come when Zabuza and Haku get involved...
Also hope you feel better soon!
Extinction liking story very much. Do good at mixing story and canon. Me approve.
I love how you included the use of hand signals, they make everything seem more covert and ninja.
And in regards to the Author’s Notes, there were a few instances of where you used the wrong word in a situation.
I’m pretty sure there’s at least one more instance of wrong wordiness in this chapter, but at least you now know what to look for.