A Note from Katana Haibane: In the timeline that I’ve created for my story, I’ve assumed that Sasuke left sometime in mid May, as well as assuming that all of the rookie nine were 12 when he defected as well.
Chapter 4: On the Flip Side
Temporary Hokage Office – 8 Hours after Assassination Attempt
Tsunade pissed off. Very pissed off. Not so much at the assassination attempt itself, but at the incredible breach in security that had occurred to allow the Sound Nin into Konoha in the first place. She spun and punted a rather large chunk of wood out of the hole where the windows used to be. Turning back to the Captain of her entire Anbu force, Tsunade preceded to rip into him, “I thought that you had been keeping your forces up to scratch Shiro. Considering the pride you take on being the best, even disobeying the Hyuuga clan rules and learning skill far beyond your clan’s selective jutsu, I would have figured you would have taken pride on make every one of your soldiers the best. Two of Orochimaru’s men were able to enter Konoha using a Henge! A Henge of all things!”
Shiro decided to chance speaking up in the middle of Tsunade’s rant, “Hokage-sama, the Henge the assassins used was no ordinary Henge. It was heavily modified, to the point that not only did it strip the face clean off of another person, but they were able to take on their physical features as well.”
“That is no excuse for an officer as skilled and accomplished as Nemutai to have overlooked their disguises. Where is he anyway, I have a bone to pick with him!”
“He hasn’t reported back in yet Hokage-sama,” Shiro said, trying his best to calm the lived Tsunade, “But it is understandable why he overlooked them. Not only has he only recently recovered from major trauma to his adrenal system after his most recent mission, but he is the only Anbu member whose Genjutsu detection skills are still at low Chuunin level. That is his only weakness I’m afraid. One I plan to have him rectify as soon as possible.”
Tsunade took a deep breath to calm herself down. It didn’t work much at all. Tsunade’s voice came out in a strained growl as she fought to regain control over her temper, “I see your point. After all I was the one who was able to prevent his kidneys from failing completely after the adrenal glands were nearly ruptured. I expect the pain was a little distracting.” Tsunade began to rub her temples as she felt a headache coming on, “I want you to hand the bodies of the couple the assassins used to perform their jutsu over to the research department of your division to try and figure out how that Henge works and a way to be able to identify it. It should have left some trace or mark as to how it is preformed on their bodies.”
“As you wish Hokage-sama,” Hyuuga Shiro said as he bowed and headed for the doorway.
“Yo,” Said a familiar voice directly behind the Hokage from the windows, “Sorry I’m late with my report. I was passing by the Inuzuka compound and when the dogs decided I’d make a good chew toy, so I had to make a detour.”
Tsunade sighed as she turned to get the report from one of the most frustrating Jounins under her command, “That excuse was almost believable this time, you must be losing your touch at coming up with the most ridiculous excuses ever. Alright Kakashi, what do you have to report?”
Kakashi’s face turned serious, the only indication being the tightening of his left eye, “I’ve been scouting around the outskirts of Konoha since the assassination attempt last night and found something rather interesting.” Kakashi pulled a dirty mask that had a hawk design covering it, “The body of an Anbu member that had clearly been killed with my Raikiri. Sasuke has been back to Konoha.”
Shiro spun away from the door, his eyes falling on the mask that Nemutai had worn, “Hokage-sama, I request to take one of my Anbu teams personally and eliminate the younger Uchiha traitor.”
“Request denied!” Tsunade snapped, “Kakashi, I expect that you’d like to head up a team to go out and retrieve Uchiha Sasuke correct?”
Kakashi’s eye creased indicating a frown, “If that’s alright by you Hokage-sama. Those were my intentions whether you ordered me to do so or not.”
“Don’t worry Kakashi, I made the same promise to both Haruno Sakura and Uzumaki Naruto to do all in my power to bring Sasuke back to Konoha,” Tsunade said seriously. “I’m afraid that most of our Anbu and Jounin are out patrolling the area so you’re going to have to take one of the Gennin teams. Take Kurenai’s Team Eight as they are the best of the Gennin teams in terms of tracking ability. Be careful Kakashi, we don’t know what Orochimaru has been teaching the boy over this last year and a half.”
“Thank-you Hokage-sama,” Kakashi said as he tossed the Anbu mask over to Shiro, “I will do everything in my power to return with Sasuke.”
“One more thing Kakashi,” Tsunade said as Kakashi paused near the edge of the window, “I don’t want you continuing on into Rice Country. The Village Hidden in Sound is killing anyone who makes a clear violation of their boarders. Also this is an A ranked mission so be careful.”
With a nod, Kakashi vanished out of the broken window to quickly gather up Team Eight and head out after Sasuke. ‘Well, I know where the Inuzuka boy is along with the Aburame kid,’ Kakashi thought as he sped off towards the Inuzuka compound, ‘problem is finding Hinata. She has developed a reputation of disappearing lately.’
Once Kakashi and Shiro left the makeshift office, Tsunade slid one of the desk drawers open and unsealed the bottle of sake she had hidden there. Downing the small bottle in a few moments, Tsunade sighed as she felt the warmth trickle down her throat and into her stomach. Calming down a little bit Tsunade opened the door and called down the hallway to the Chuunin who was acting as her secretary for the day, “Hey! I’d like you to send a message out to Haruno Sakura and have her report to my office immediately.”
The Chuunin gave a nod of accent and immediately started writing a note to send to Sakura by carrier pigeon.
Tsunade sighed for what felt like the thousandth time since she had killed the Sound Assassin and thought hard on the Sakura situation, ‘I guess the best thing I can do to keep Sakura out of this is train her like crazy. I wonder if she has enough chakra and stamina to learn the secret to my strength yet. She has the build for it if that forehead of hers is any indication…’
Konoha Training Ground # 37
Thock, Thock, Thock.
The sound of someone hitting wood resounded repeatedly throughout the forest.
Thock, ThockThockThock.
The speed of the blows increased rapidly and kept getting faster. The figure’s feet and palms were a blur as they proceeded to flash out in every direction at the training posts that were placed around them. A palm strike to the heart was followed by a low sweep at the post behind them, rising into a rapid succession of pokes and jabs to the ‘arms’ of the third training dummy. The speed and aim of the strikes was perfect, every blow landing on the tenketsu painted on the dummies, even the kicks were perfectly incorporated into landing blows to the tenketsu.
Spinning, the figure turned to her last target and snapped their hand forward. This dummy had the eight critical points of the body painted on it and the jugular vein in the neck was struck perfectly with the figure not even slowing their pace. The liver and kidneys were palmed with equal precision while they shot upwards striking the clavicle and the heart. The figure began to spin to the back of the target a flash of chakra erupted from their hand as it slashed across the lungs. Another two strikes and the spine and the base of the brain were struck finishing off all eight of the critical points of the body.
Hyuuga Hinata was breathing very hard as she finally slowed down to take a break during her training as she deactivated her Byakugan. She had been pushing herself to her limits and beyond ever since Naruto had left. She wanted, no needed to prove to her family, to everyone else, to Naruto, and especially herself that she was a worthy ninja. The concealing coat had been left off to the side of the clearing revealing Hinata in navy blue shorts that came down to just beyond her knees with her ninja pack on her right leg. A loose sleeveless black training shirt and a pair of navy shoes completed the outfit. Plain and sturdy, perfect for training.
Hinata had gone to most of the Jounin Sensei for the Rookie Nine, along with Maito Gai once. She went to visit Maito Gai after working up enough courage to ask for tips in Taijutsu training. All Hinata could remember was the weight training they had suggested, to shocked and scared after they had pulled out a green jumpsuit for her and managed to create one of the strangest Genjutsu she had ever seen completely subconsciously while shouting about the ‘Springtime of Youth.’ Sarutobi Asuma hadn’t been much better, only tossing her a beaten book entitled, ‘Advanced Shogi: Strategies and Tactics.’ Hatake Kakashi had only shrugged when Hinata had asked for training tips and then turned back to reading his little orange book. Only Yuhi Kurenai had been of help to her, drilling her constantly in Genjutsu evasion as well as helping her practice with her Byakugan.
Picking up her water bottle, she sat down on a nearby stump and took a long drink as she rubbed her wrists and ankles where the weights had started to dig into her skin. Rearranging the bandages she had underneath of them, she relaxed and lay down across the stump, her mind wandering.
On her 14th birthday last December Hyuuga Hiashi had declared that today would be the final battle between Hinata and Hanabi to determine who would be the clan successor. Not one of the Hyuuga members had been surprised to see Hinata come outside wearing her bulky coat along with leg warmers in the cooler weather. Hanabi was wearing a simple, purple full body suit for the fight. When the fight began and Hanabi had activated her Byakugan at the same time as Hinata the Hyuuga members present had been surprised at Hinata’s increase in speed. However, they had not expected was Hanabi’s outburst at Hinata, telling her to take the fight seriously and remove the weights that she had strapped to her wrists and ankles. In front of the shocked members of the Hyuuga clan, Hinata had removed the weights and tossed them aside. They had cracked the wooden floorboards when they hit the ground.
The fight had gone completely downhill for Hanabi from there. No longer was did she completely dominate her older sister; in fact the rolls had been reversed. Hinata’s drive to prove to Naruto and herself that she was a worthy ninja had paid of. Hinata hadn’t thought of the battle as one to prove herself worthy to the clan as the heiress, but to prove to herself that she could beat Hanabi. Hinata put on a Juken display worth of her older cousin Neji. Her speed had developed far beyond Hanabi’s thanks to the weights she had worn, allowing her to easily block every palm thrust and finger strike that Hanabi threw at her. The true surprise of the match had been when Hinata had attack using her own modifications to the Juken style: namely sealing off Hanabi’s tenketsu while throwing kicks along with her palm strikes.
In one swift battle Hinata had regained the respect of her peers, her title as heiress, and the respect of her father and the clan elders.
The rewards and praise that had been lavished upon her by the clan since that day had meant nothing to Hinata. The proof that she was worthy as a ninja is all she cared about. Becoming the heiress to her clan again only felt like a bonus prize to Hinata.
Then, in the month following her defeat of Hanabi, she had claimed the title of Chuunin before either of her teammates. Again, the title and the pay raise meant nothing to Hinata. She only felt closer to being considered a worthy ninja – worthy enough to consider being worth Naruto’s time.
Smiling slightly, Hinata remembered the day that Naruto had left the village to train with the Sannin Jiraiya.
Outside the Hospital – the Day of Naruto’s Departure from Konoha
Hinata was nervously pacing outside the hospital’s doors trying to work up the courage to go inside and visit Naruto to wish him well. She had heard how he had been injured by Sasuke when his team had gone to try and bring him back to Konoha. Her fingers were twitching in her nervous habit constantly as she blushed at the thought of visiting Naruto so early in the morning. When she finally lost the nerve to try and visit Naruto this early the Hospital doors had banged open with a shout of, “Hey, Ero-Sennin! Where are we heading out to first?”
With a squeak of surprise, Hinata had jump about a foot in the air and spun around to find Naruto throwing on his orange jacket over his black t-shirt and following the Sannin Jiraiya. Hinata promptly fainted, only to have Naruto scrambling around her shouting out for help that his friend had passed out.
Hinata had awoken to being held in Naruto’s arms as he went to set her on a bench, causing her to turn an interesting shade of red. “N-n-na-Naruto-kun!” Hinata had gasped out as Naruto laid her down on the roadside bench.
“Neh, neh, you all right Hinata-chan?” Naruto had asked as he stared down at the recovered Hinata in puzzlement, “You had me scared there for a moment.”
“I-I’m sorry for c-causing you to w-worry Naruto-kun,” Hinata whispered blushing once again.
“That’s fine Hinata-chan! Just as long as you’re alright.” Naruto had his big clueless grin on his face as he only succeeded in turning Hinata into a human cherry tomato. “Why were you standing outside the hospital so early in the morning?”
Hinata’s face was still burning, “I…I w-was g-g-going to visit y-y-y-you Naruto-Kun. Wish you well.”
“Thanks Hinata-chan, but as you can see I’m just fine,” Naruto said as he stood up to prove he was fine, “as a matter of fact I’m getting to go on a training mission with Ero-sennin today.”
“Where a-are y-you going N-Naruto-kun?”
“Not too sure, all I know is that I’m gonna be gone for a long time Hinata-chan.” Naruto’s smile fell from his face when he said this, “I’m gonna miss Konoha and all of my friends, you included Hinata-chan.”
Hinata felt tears leaking out of her eyes when she heard Naruto say he was leaving. In a surprising burst of desperate courage Hinata asked something she never believed she ever could, “T-t-then c-c-could you leave me s-s-something to r-remember you by? I w-want to be strong. Strong e-enough to b-b-be worthy…”
When he heard what Hinata was saying, then saw the tears Naruto started to freak out a little bit, “Neh, neh, don’t cry Hinata-chan! I’ll give you something!”
Naruto unzipped his backpack and snatched the first thing out of it that his hand came across: a scroll. Pulling it out Naruto sweat-dropped when he saw his handwriting on it, ‘Rasengan Training by Uzumaki Naruto – How to use without Shadow Clones’ Hearing a smack come from behind him, Naruto turned to see Jiraiya with his hand across his face. Jiraiya sighed, “Whatever kid, you can give her that. Never thought you’d write it out however, or anything for that matter. Let’s get going, I want to get to the first town soon.” Jiraiya gave a lecherous grin, “They supposedly have some pretty good hot springs there.”
Hinata didn’t stop blushing for the rest of the day after Naruto had given the scroll. That day had changed her life completely. For the first time in her life, Hinata had found a true goal that she had wanted to pursue with all her heart after finding out that Naruto had given her a technique scroll. She wanted to prove that she was worthy to her clan, to her peer, but mostly to herself and Naruto. From that day she had begun training with a vengeance, swearing to learn Naruto’s ‘Rasengan’.
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Hinata looked to the end of her secret little clearing where she had been training ever since. The trees that still stood were scored all over the place with spiraling slash marks, a clear sign of a second stage Rasengan being used. Having tried to learn the Rasengan off and on during the last year and a half, Hinata had finally reached the third stage of training described in the scroll. However, since her chakra capacity was nowhere near that of Naruto she could only make a few attempts each day to learn the technique, at least at first.
Ever since reaching the second stage it had become her exercise of choice for expanding her chakra capacity. Learning the first stage for her had taken only a month to learn, usually only able to try it three to four times a day. However, even when she had pushed herself to her absolute limits when she had first tried the second stage – and before doing any other training – she didn’t have enough chakra to cause the rubber ball to explode like the scroll said it should. Try as she might, from focusing the power into a dot in her hand, to eating a soldier pill before she attempted it nothing worked. So Hinata had left the technique to train her stamina and Taijutsu using the weights Gai had suggested (among other things to do in the springtime of youth).
Hinata pulled out one of the balloons that she had in her hip pack and blew it up. Focusing the energy into her hand, she tried her absolute hardest to keep the power contained inside the balloon. When the balloon exploded with a bang and the backlash of chakra cut her face, Hinata sighed and pulled out her first-aid kit. Cleaning the cut, slapping a healing salve and bandage to her face, Hinata began to try again.
“OI HINATA!” came the excited shout of Inuzuka Kiba from behind her, “SO THIS IS WHERE YOU’VE BEEN SNEAKING OFF TO!”
Hinata let out a shriek and spun around as her concentration wavered, causing the balloon to blow up in Kiba’s face. Kiba yelped as he felt the deadly chakra slash across his forehead. “YEAOWCH!”
“Kiba!” Hinata exclaimed reaching for her first aid kit again, “I’m sorry! I’m very, very sorry. I didn’t mean to hurt you!”
As Hinata proceeded to patch the dog boy up, Akamaru appeared and gave lick to the small part of Hinata’s midsection that was showing. Hinata giggled as she turned and gave the deer sized dog a pat on the head.
“Yo,” Kakashi said as he appeared right behind Shino to see Hinata patching up Kiba, “Uhh, do I want to know what happened here?”
Hinata blushed, “W-well I was practicing a new technique when Kiba scared me and caused me to lose control of it, cutting him in the process.”
“Hmm?” Kakashi’s eyebrow went up at the mention of a new technique, “What would that be?”
“One that Naruto gave me before he left to go training with Jiraiya-sama Kakashi-san,” Hinata said as she slid the Rasengan scroll into her backpack.
“We have to get going,” Shino said in his usual monotone and turned towards Konoha’s west gate.
Snapping back into action, Kakashi took charge of the team he had been assigned for the mission, “Shino’s right. We’ve got to get moving. Turns out that there was a second person along for the ride during last night’s assassination attempt: Uchiha Sasuke.”
Hinata let out a little gasp of surprise at the news while Kiba gave a shout, “WHAT?” Shino just stood at the far edge of the clearing.
“We have no time to waste. Of the Rookie Nine, your team was rated as having the best tracking skills. As I said, Uchiha Sasuke was here last night as I found a body that had clearly be killed with my Raikiri, and only Sasuke knows that technique besides myself. Our mission is to track Sasuke down using the site of his fight last night as a point of origin. We are to capture him, and bring him back alive.” Everyone nodded their ascent to the mission and followed Kakashi towards the body he had found.
Western Outskirts of Konoha – Site of Nemutai’s Death
As Kakashi and Team Eight approached the place that Nemutai was killed, Akamaru gave out a loud bark and Kiba sniffed the air closely, “Akamaru’s right, I smell blood around her as well.” Shino gave a nod to say that his bugs had picked it up as well.
Hinata quickly activated her Byakugan on the fly, without any hand seals and let her vision race on ahead and saw the body with the right half of its chest cavity ripped open. Despite the fact that the wound looked mostly cauterized it was clear that parts of it had been spilling blood onto the ground. She gave a gasp at the grizzly sight, “The b-body is up ahead. It’s pretty bad.”
Even Kiba remained silent when they came upon the body of the dead Anbu member. There was no doubt about it, the fatal wound was defiantly left by an electrical attack of some type, and the Raikiri fit the damage perfectly. Kakashi pulled a worn black shirt out of his pocket and tossed it to Kiba. Catching it, Kiba saw the symbol for the Uchiha clan on it, “That’s one of Sasuke’s old shirts. It should still have his scent on it. Try the best you can to pick up the scent from here in case Sasuke set a false trail other than the one that heads off due north towards Rice Country.
Akamaru sniffed the shirt along with Kiba and they spread out to try and catch Sasuke’s scent in the clearing. When Akamaru started barking Kiba spoke up, “Yeah, I thought it was funny too Akamaru.” Kiba glanced at Kakashi, “Guys we picked up Sasuke’s scent, and it does head north along the trail you found. Funny thing is we also picked up a third scent in the clearing besides the Anbu’s and Sasuke’s. Someone was with him is what I’m thinking.”
Kakashi raised his eyebrow at that statement. ‘Sasuke is working with a partner? Hmm, that doesn’t sound quite right. I wonder what’s going on here. Guess it’ll be better to take action so that I can find out what’s going on later.’
“Alright guys, form up. I want Kiba on point for now. I’ll be behind him. Shino you get behind me and I want Hinata to act as rear guard. Keep using the Byakugan in as safe an interval as you can get away. This is an A ranked mission so be careful. One last thing: we can’t let Sasuke make it to the Rice Country or else we have to call off our pursuit. Let’s move it.”
Kiba and Akamaru took off into the woods intent on following Sasuke’s scent with everyone trailing out behind him in single file.
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Kiba and Akamaru had been leading the others on a mad dash through Konoha’s forest for the better part of 4 hours when he called a halt to their movement. “Kakashi-san, Sasuke and the other person’s scent is all over this area. I’ll just be a moment to get a fix on where they headed off from here. Seems like they took a break, or one of them was injured.”
Hinata sat down on a nearby branch and activated her Byakugan once again to check the surrounding area for any sign of a trap or of Sasuke. Seeing nothing, she continued to scan the surrounding area at just over an 18 meter radius, the largest distance she could see with using minimal chakra. She watched as Shino released some of his bugs to check the area as well.
“Female,” was the only thing that Shino bothered saying.
Kiba and Akamaru came back to the group, “Guys we found the direction they headed off in. I think that whoever is with Sasuke is a girl. Hehe, that’ll make Sakura and Ino rather pissed off.”
Kakashi shot the pair sharp look, “We don’t have time to play games. Male or female, Sasuke having a partner seems rather strange so we have to check this out. Move it.”
//////////////////////////////
Kiba continued to lead the pursuit for several hours, commenting on how the scent was slowly getting fresher as time passed. The trail was surprisingly simple and straight trail to follow without all that many turns. Nor did it seem that Sasuke doubled back on himself at all. It was a straight line heading for Rice Country.
Kakashi was starting to get worried. They were getting way too close to the Fire and Rice Country Boarder for his liking. This straight trail seemed too convenient. ‘Is Sasuke trying to lure us into a trap? No, he wouldn’t know who they’d send after him. What is going on here?’ Kakashi picked up his speed and went ahead of Kiba, “Kiba tell me if I’m heading off the trail at all. I’m taking point cause if we catch up to Sasuke at all anymore it’s going to be right near the boarder so we’ll have to capture him quickly.
Kakashi’s prayers were answered when he felt a familiar chakra signature a ways ahead in the trees. Then it started to move. “Crap. Hinata use your Byakugan right now! Try and see who’s with him.”
Hinata activated her Byakugan yet again that day and her vision sped up through the trees. She caught sight of Sasuke after a moment, obvious by the Uchiha clan symbol he still worn on his back. She had yet to see who he was traveling with so she sent her sight a little further up the trail and was able to catch a glimpse of a feminine figure darting just past a tree before she escaped her line of sight. “I see him!” Hinata exclaimed, “I caught sight of another person, but only a glimpse of them. They seemed to be feminine features. From what I can tell, Sasuke is following her!”
Kakashi’s was no longer surprised by the announcement that Hinata had given. From his recollection some parts of the trail seemed to be non-existent, only being able to track them by Akamaru’s nose. Other sections seemed as if a beginner shinobi had slipped on a branch and flailed about wildly. However all they could do at this point was continue to give chase.
Kakashi began to sense Hinata and Shino start to slow down. Cursing under his breath he realized that they had been running for too long without resting to be fully prepared to take Sasuke captive or deal with his companion. It didn’t help that the boarder to Rice country was only a few Miles away. He grit his teeth in frustration, “Guys, just keep up the pace. I’m gonna try to get ahead of them and cut them off.”
“Do it Kakashi, We’ll catch up for sure!” Kiba yelled for the others.
With that, Kakashi focused more of his chakra into his legs and let loose, flying ahead at almost double the speed he had been traveling at before. Quickly lifting his hitae-ate Kakashi focused the Sharingan ahead to be ready to counter anything that Sasuke might thing to throw back at them.
Kakashi knew he was getting close to them. He felt sure that he would be able to cut them off when he heard Sasuke’s voice in the distance.
“Katon: Fire Dragon Blast Jutsu.”
Even from the distance he was away from the origin of Sasuke’s technique he could already feel the heat emanating off of it. Kakashi rebounded off one of the trees in his path and ran right back towards Team Eight. The heat of the fire dragon was starting to catch up to him along with the light of the flames. The second Team Eight came into his sight Kakashi started shouting, “TURN AROUND NOW! SASUKE’S SET THE WHOLE FOREST ABLAZE WITH A KATON JUTSU! HEAD FOR WATER RIGHT THE HELL NOW!”
Skidding to a halt, Team Eight bolted after Kakashi. They could feel the heat of the fire dragon start to bear down on them as they ran as if the devil himself were after them. They could see the reflection of the fire flickering over the trees in front of them. They could smell the burning of the wood as the fire dragon chased them down. As the fire started to get pretty close to their backs Hinata could see the dragon start to dissipate, leaving a wave of flames that was flying after them.
Then they ran across a river. A big river. Kakashi landed on the river an immediately started to fly through a long series of hand seals. “Kiba, Shino, Hinata, try and clear some trees away from me so that the fire doesn’t reach me before I complete my jutsu. Hurry!”
Kiba reached into his vest pocket and grabbed a back of soldier pills out, “Guys take one of these each!” Tossing a pill to each of them, Kiba popped his own in his mouth and gave one to Akamaru. Leaping onto Akamaru’s back Kiba began the combo for his techniques.
“Ninpo: Man Beast Clone,” Kiba grew about half a foot in height and gained claws while Akamaru became more human. “Alright Akamaru, GATSUUGA!” Kiba and Akamaru separated and shot down the river in either direction, carving a swath of trees in his path.
Shino sent out a wave of termites that he had infused with chakra to rapidly tear apart the bases of the trees closest to them. He was only able to pull down a few however, creating a wedge in front of Kakashi.
Hinata grabbed the few explosive notes she had and slapped them onto a few kunai and hurled them to the line of trees just beyond Shino’s termites. The explosion blasted away a few more trees, enough to give Kakashi some clearance. Then the fire hit the trees at the edge of the space they had cleared.
Kiba came running back towards Kakashi and the river, “I HOPE WHATEVER YOU’RE DOING IS BIG KAKASHI! IT’S ALMOST ON US!”
As the fire started to surround them, Kakashi finished his huge chain of hand seals, “GET BEHIND ME GUYS! SUITON: WATER BLAST JUTSU!”
The water rapidly began to form a vortex underneath Kakashi’s feet as he stood facing the chakra enhanced flames. The entire river seemed to move towards Kakashi as the vortex rose up in front of him and angled in the direction of the flaming forest. Then the torrent let loose. The vortex exploded outwards in a massive wave, sending water flying forward into the bulk of the flames as well as flying outwards to the outer reaches of the flames. The water roared through the forest, consuming the flames just as fast as they had consumed the trees. Hundreds of trees that had been weakened by Sasuke’s flames collapsed under the weight of the water as if finally came to a stop near where they had originated leaving only a little bit of the forest still burning. At last, the water began to recede back towards the river where Kakashi stood on only a small trickle of water.
Kiba’s mouth was hanging open. Shino’s eyebrows had shot right up under his bangs. Hinata’s eyes were wider than they had almost ever been. Kiba voice what everyone was thinking, “Holy shit Kakashi-sensei! That was freakin’ amazing!”
Then a rumbling noise sounded from in front of them and to the left of them. Hinata activated her Byakugan and pushed as much chakra into it as she could. She gasped at what she saw. Hundreds of trees destroyed by fire and water, the ground turned to muck. And the water. Lots of water. It was rushing down the stream from the left to fill the gap left by what Kakashi had used for his technique, and a lot of it was rushing downwards back towards the river. Then she looked at Kakashi and saw how dangerously low on chakra he was.
When Kakashi collapsed down onto the riverbed with water rushing straight for him, only Hinata was already moving. She sprinted down into the river bed and grabbed Kakashi as the water was almost on them. With no time to get back on land, only one thing passed through Hinata’s mind, ‘I REALLY HOPE THIS WORKS THIS TIME!’
“HINATA!” Kiba cried as he saw the water about to strike her as she rescued Kakashi.
The water exploded once again as he watched Hinata leap into a spin as the water hit.
“Eight Trigrams: Heavenly Spin!” Kiba watched in shock as Hinata was able to form her clan’s heavenly spin perfectly for the second that she needed clear the water before her chakra lost its stability. Hinata landed on the raging water and leapt off again, making it to the shore this time. Breathing heavily, Hinata set Kakashi on the ground. And smiled. Hinata realized that she couldn’t stop grinning. A feeling of self worth began to fill her as she realized what she had done. She had saved the life of her mission commander, and Naruto’s original Sensei on top of that. She leaned back and dropped to the ground spread eagled.
“You’re unbelievable Hinata!” Kiba cried as he ran towards her and Kakashi.
“Impressive,” The ever impassive Shino said.
Kiba collected Kakashi and helped Akamaru position him across his back. After he finished tying Kakashi to Akamaru he grinned at Hinata, “Let haul this guy back to Konoha. I think the least Shino and I can do is have dinner on us for what you two pulled off back there.”
Hinata blushed through her grin as she watched Shino nod which was as good as an agreement from him. Getting back on her feet she started to follow her team back through the forest towards Konoha. They may have failed their mission, but after that forest fire Sasuke set off they were lucky to be alive.
The Middle of Fire Country’s Forest – That Night
Team Eight was huddled around the fire as they ate the fish that they had finished roasting over the fire. They were tired, but more importantly, alive. One by one they finished eating and began to relax.
“Umm, Kiba could I borrow another one of your soldier pills? Kakashi’s chakra is too low to risk another day without proper medical treatment to restore his chakra balance. His reserves are too low and none of the medicine that I have on me can help with chakra depletion.”
“Sure,” Kiba said in a subdued voice. He tossed one of his soldier pills to Hinata before speaking again, “It’s been a while since we’ve failed a mission hasn’t it.”
Hinata crushed the soldier pill in her hand and tilted it into the water flask she had with her, “It can’t be helped. Sasuke has become very powerful and he had a pretty big head start as well.”
As Hinata went to reach over and pull down Kakashi’s mask Kiba spoke up again, “Hey, wait a sec. If you’re taking a look at Kakashi’s face then I want a look as well. What’s he hiding under there anyways?”
Hinata only shrugged and reached to pull Kakashi’s mask away and make drink the water. As she touched his face, Kakashi’s eyes snapped open. He grabbed Hinata’s hand and snapped a kunai to her throat before he realized who it was. Groaning, Kakashi dropped his kunai in the dirt and relaxed again, “Remind me never to use that jutsu with that much chakra behind it ever again. I feel like I was just hit with a hundred Akimichi ‘Meat Tanks.’”
Kiba burst into laughter as Hinata began to giggle a little bit, “It’s good to see you awake Kakashi-sensei. Here, drink this up. I’ve crushed a soldier pill into the water and will help rebalance your chakra.”
“I’ll take first watch,” came Shino’s voice from off in the woods. Distracted, Kiba and Hinata turned away from Kakashi for a second. When the looked back he was holding an already empty flask.
“That hit the spot. Thanks guys.”
Kiba face-faulted into the ground. ‘I can’t believe I missed it.’
Temporary Hokage Office – 1:30 the Next Day
Hinata, Kiba, Shino, and Kakashi on Akamaru stood in front of Tsunade after giving their mission report. She did not look happy at all. Sighing, Tsunade felt the urge for a drink welling up in her again, “Considering the circumstances you did all that you could. You were able to save most of Fire Country’s forests from going up in flames and were able to confirm that Sasuke was working with a partner other than that assassin. I’m afraid that the mission still has to be classed as a failure, but I will give you compensation for the resources you used during this mission.”
Kiba gave a wry smile and nodded. His soldier pills weren’t all that expensive, but it built up over time.
“Hokage-sama,” Hinata spoke up for the first time since the meeting began, “I am sorry that I failed to get a good look at the person who was traveling with Uchiha Sasuke, however I was able to determine that there gender was indeed female.”
Tsunade nodded, “Thank-you for the information Hinata. You all did your best you could and that’s all I can ask of you.” Tsunade gave Kakashi a hard look, “You mister, had better get over to the hospital right away. You die from chakra exhaustion and I reveal to all of Konoha your rather impressive collection of Icha Icha Paradise novels.”
Kakashi started sweating at that proclamation, “Alright, alright, I’ll drag myself over to the hospital for a check up.”
“And you won’t be late this time? If you’re late I’ll burn you Icha Icha Paradise novels.”
“Go there right now ma’am. Mind if I borrow Akamaru for a minute to get me there faster Kiba?”
Kiba started laughing at the obvious panic on Kakashi’s face and waved at Akamaru to tell him to take him. Akamaru leapt from the window and sped towards the hospital with Kakashi holding on for dear life.
Tsunade grinned for the first time in the past two days. “Well, I guess you’re all dismissed. Oh, hold on a moment Hinata, I’d like to talk with you for a moment before you go.”
Kiba and Shino started to head out of the room as Kiba called over his shoulder, “How ‘bout I treat you guys to Ichiraku tonight?”
Hinata blushed slightly as she gave a nod to Kiba and they headed out of the temporary office.
Tsunade’s face lost its smile rather quickly, “Hinata, I’d like to ask you to be part of the Hyuuga team that I’ve elected to have work with me at the moment. I have selected a team of some of the top Hyuugas to be spread out around Konoha through varying shifts in the week, mainly in the guard towers. You’re incredible improvement in the last year has not gone unnoticed. I’m asking you to act as my personal assistant for a while so that you can use your Byakugan to determine if a visitor is using a Henge or illusion of some kind. I’ll make it worth your while by training you in some of my medical techniques as well if you like.”
Hinata slowly nodded when after she had listened to Tsunade’s request. “Why would you need a Hyuuga around to see if someone is using a Henge or not? Isn’t it usually easy to see through them without the Byakugan?”
Tsunade frowned, “It appears that Orochimaru is on the move again, and targeting Konoha. We found three bodies total that had their faces removed from their bodies and incorporated into a Henge that cannot be seen through using the normal detection methods. The Anbu Captain recently gave his report after the Anbu research division went over the three faceless bodies we found. Even the research team cannot completely determine how the jutsu works entirely, but the best bet that we have is using the Byakugan to see through it as the Sharingan is no longer an option for our village.”
Hinata bowed to the Hokage, “I will be your assistant if you will have me Hokage-sama.”
Tsunade gave a wry smile as she looked at the bowing Hinata in front of her. “Report back here tomorrow. You will begin your training at the same time as Haruno Sakura, working close to my office at all times. When you are training and not working directly in my office, I will signal you to use your Byakugan by buzzer. Let’s hope the Byakugan can’t be fooled by Orochimaru’s Henge.”
Village Hidden in the Wind – Home of Juuboku, Advisor to the Kazekage
When Deidara entered the modest home that belonged to ‘Juuboku’ and headed to the basement a familiar sight met her eyes. His black-haired partner Yakubyougami at work over his miniature lab station in the corner of the room. He was currently a light, baggy white overcoat that was common amongst members of desert Wind Village
“What do you want Deidara?” The man said without even glancing back over his shoulder. “I believe that your mission was to secure information on the movements of the Nekomanta, not come to my residence and risk blowing my cover. It took me some time to take over Yura’s place on the council.”
Deidara swallowed at the annoyance in her partner’s voice. In all honesty, Yakubyougami was the master and he was the slave in their ‘partnership.’ “I’ve located the Nekomanta and have placed one of your tracer viruses on her. You should be able to locate her with just a slight activation of your chakra.”
Deidara watched his partner pause in his work, “Hmm, I guess you’re telling the truth. What do you want?”
“I’m passing on a report that Itachi sent to me. He apparently spotted a girl fitting the description that you gave to our leader. She was spotted working alongside his little brother who recently defected from Konoha and joined Orochimaru’s Village Hidden in Sound.”
Yakubyougami snapped his pitch black sword off his shoulder and into his hand, spun and leveled it at Deidara’s throat in lest than a second, “You’d better hope that you’re not lying or else you won’t have that head of yours any longer.”
Deidara stared down the point of the sword that was as big as he was. Gulping, he was reminded of just how big Yakubyougami’s sword really was as only Kisame’s Samehada was larger than his was. “Easy. I’m telling you the truth. Damn but you can be easy to piss off sometimes.” He looked up into the red eyes of his partner. Yakubyougami had a rather thin, almost hawk-like face as if he had once almost starved to death. However, it didn’t look dead at all, but vibrant with life, his sunken eyes like miniature suns their glare was so intense.
Yakubyougami returned his sword to the sheath on his back and returned to work. “Sorry but Orochimaru pisses me off somewhat. I hate snakes, and I hate turncoats.”
Deidara found it odd that Yakubyougami decided to run his hand down his back as he said that but shrugged it off. “Mind if I ask you something I’ve always been wondering about?”
“Depends on if I’m in the mood to answer.”
“In all the records that I’ve gone through not once have I found your name or identity connected to any village. You’re not classed as a Missing Nin, nor as a deceased Nin in any of the records I’ve come across. Who taught you how to be a ninja?”
Deidara was startled when Yakubyougami began to laugh. It was the first time he had ever heard Yakubyougami laugh and he had a dry, humourless laugh. “I guess I really am in the mood to answer that one. My father taught me. Several Missing Nins also taught me in the year or so before I joined Akatsuki. You won’t find any of them alive anymore as I killed them for their bounties once they were no longer of any use to me. I never was part of any village, so how would any of them have a record on me?”
Deidara gave a short chuckle, “I guess you really are the perfect spy then. Not only do you not have any identity according to the Hidden Villages, but whatever type of Henge you perform not even Itachi’s Sharingan can see through it. Heck, you even took down Sasori and his army of puppets and that other guy Tobi who wanted acceptance to Akatsuki. You’re really something else.”
“I’m off to report back to the boss man, see ya later ‘Juuboku.’” Deidara turned and left Yakubyougami alone in his house once again.
After Deidara had left the house, Yakubyougami halted his lab work and covered the apparatus. With a pulse of chakra he pressed a on the wall by the lab and watched as it rolled back and disappeared behind a section of the wall. Walking up the stairs he headed for the front door when his eyes flashed for a brief moment. Then his physical features began to change. First his face filled out into a fleshier and meatier figure and a thin layer fat filled in around the solid muscle that covered his body. His skin tone darkened to become closer to the colour of the other Wind Village residents. Most shockingly, his hair turned from black to red, and his eyes changed from red to a dark blue colour. Yakubyougami now stood with an entirely new look to himself: the figure of Juuboku, advisor to the new Kazekage Sabakyu no Gaara.
Putting a bounce into his step, Yakubyougami slid into the persona of the jolly and wise Juuboku and went out to greet another sandy day in the Village Hidden in the Wind.