Inheritance

CHAPTER 16

The first man just grinned widely, and followed the other's instruction, any disagreement forgotten.

Tonight, Hatake Kakashi and the son of the Yondaime Hokage would die by his hand.

Naruto inhaled sharply, as the memories of his Bunshin rushed into his head, one after the other.

"My Kage Bunshin have been killed!" The blonde exclaimed, drawing the attention of his entire team.

"Tell me exactly what happened Naruto." Kakashi ordered, his demeanour almost instantly changing to that of a Jonin commander.

"Well, I can;t really explain what happened to the first one. And hand came out of the canyon wall and attacked, except it wasn't really like the Doton: Shinji Zanshu. It was almost as if the rock was made from water, and the hand just kind of emerged from it, without damaging the wall at all."

Kakashi couldn't help but be intrigued as to the ability Naruto described. He had heard of a technique like it, but little was known of it's exact details outside of it's village of origin, Iwagakure. He had checked out the list of recent missing nin from Iwa prior to leaving for this mission too, in order to try and prepare for possible attempts on Naruto's life while they were gone.

"I think the second Bunshin was destroyed by someone else, although it was pretty hard to tell." Naruto continued, focusing on the memories he had inherited. "It managed to dodge some kind of Katon jutsu, but the enemy managed to kill it from behind, with some kind of blade, I think."

"That's good Naruto. Any information on the enemy we can get improves our chances massively, although ideally we would want a bit more, so we could try and identify the enemy. Unfortunately, the fact that they attacked your Bunshin, indicates they intend strike sooner rather than later." Kakashi sighed before turning towards Hana, who was still working on Baki's injuries. "Hana, I'm going to need Baki good to go as soon as possible. How long do you need to get him ready to move?"

Hana paused in her work, frustration that she would have to move her patient sooner than was good for his health evident on her face.

"I need an hour at best. I need to ensure his bones aren't going to break again when we move him, otherwise he could be facing permanent damage."

"That will have to do, then. I don't think we're going to be able to stay any longer than that. Unfortunately, you are going to have to move him away from the wall. Given the enemies' ability, I don;t think it would be safe to keep him up against it. Naruto, Shikamaru help her, and then get into a defensive formation around Hana. I need you to stay absolutely focused okay?"

"Hai, Kakashi-sensei!" Came the call from all three of the Genin as they got to work, the two male shinobi listening intently to Hana's instruction on how to move Baki with as little risk as possible, and then proceeding to carefully move the ninja away from the stone wall he had been resting against, and laid him down a few metres away from the wall, resting his head upon the dull green flak jacket that Hana had removed previously in order to diagnose the Suna shinobi.

Naruto created a Kage Bunshin, allowing himself and Shikamaru to form a basic triangular formation around the Genin medic and her patient, and began to focus on his senses, listening for the slight scratching sounds his Bunshin had heard before it had been destroyed, when he had a thought.

"Kakashi-sensei, I don't suppose you've heard of any techniques that let you move through rock like the one my Bunshin saw, do you?" Naruto enquired, being careful not to lose focus on his surroundings as he spoke the the Jonin.

"I do know of one clan from Iwagakure, that had a similar technique as their Kekkai Genkai, but the last of that clan were wiped out during the last Shinobi War" The experienced shinobi's senses flared as he felt a surge of chakra ahead of him in the clearing that his team had occupied. His was moving almost before he had time to process what he had felt as the tell-tale chakra surge of a 'Shunshin no jutsu', a technique that allowed shinobi to move at almost untraceable speeds over short distances. His kunai was already to hand as a single figure materialised before him, ready to land a fatal strike before his enemy could recover from the momentary daze that usually accompanied such techniques.