Gamakichi turned up about an hour after everyone had fallen asleep. Naruto was on watch that night since Gaara had been knocked out. Every month, at some random time, Gaara was knocked out from behind by one or more of the others. It was good for him, and for some reason, Shikaku didn't seem able to be a problem. Naruto really felt sorry for Gaara. At least Kyuubi couldn't talk to him...
Naruto had gone into a sort of trance that he would go into after being on watch to long. Haku called it hyper focusing, and Sai called it the state-of-wanting-to-fall-asleep-but-not-quite-managing-it. At three in the morning, it was hard to keep watch, especially when he knew that there was nothing to keep watch for, other then Neji's kicks. He was only aware of Gamakichi when he started to hop towards him. Naruto blinked a few times, but managed to look like he had been paying attention.
When he had first seen a summon animal, Naruto had almost talked it to death. The idea of a huge toad that wore clothes like a human and could speak to him had thrilled the seven-year-old boy. Now, he was used to the whole thing, and had gotten into the habit of talking to the toads like they were anyone else.
"What's up?" he asked.
"Ya got a message from Jiraiya," Gamakichi said, depositing a scroll in his mouth to the floor, "Got anything to eat around here?"
Naruto gave the toad a bit of candy that he saved for these things. Gamakichi and his siblings were always helpful, as long as they were paid, and like most children, they'd do a lot for treats. The older toads, like Gamabunta, Gamakichi's father, had to be paid with other things. Gamabunta wouldn't fight unless one of his kids was in danger, he actually liked you, or you were going to give him sake. Usually the last two were connected.
"I'd read that letter pretty soon if I were you," Gamakichi told him, "Jiraiya seemed like he was serious when he wrote it."
"It had better not have pieces of once of his manuscripts that he wants me to read over," Naruto muttered as be opened if, "If it is tell him that I burned it."
Shippuu,
You liar.
I really ought to tell Tsunade just what's really going on in Wave, but I won't because then I would have to admit to knowing all along.
My sources are telling me that you've all been busy making names for yourselves amongst the populace, as well as infuriating Gato to no end. Good job all of you. From what I'm hearing, you're really doing a great job. No one has really connected you with Hakumei as anything more then agents. You need to keep things like that as long as you can. The longer people don't know who you are, the longer you guys can walk around in public without people trying to kill you.
Now, until a very important matter: my sources tell me that the local bridge builder has enlisted the help of a genin team. While this isn't all that interesting to you guys other then to avoid like the plague. There's something you should know. The team is being led by someone called Hatake Kakashi. I want you to take the letter that I've enclosed in this and give it to him. He's a part of a certain group who is...er...opposed to Danzou. I'm in connection with them. Don't allow the genin team to know anything. I know for a fact that at least one of them is under Danzou's direct orders. Be careful. I can't say who it is, because I'm afraid this could be intercepted, but Arashi should know when he sees them.
Remember to go and talk to Kakashi when you have the chance.
Also, Gato's hired some real bad news. He's called the Demon of the Mist for a very good reason. His name is Zabuza, and he's one of the Seven Shinobi Swordsmen. They're a dangerous group, even now that they've been disbanded. This guy also made an attempt at the Mizukage's life. He's an S-rank opponent, so you had better take him seriously. Also...he seems to have some sort of help, but I don't know too much about it. I'm sure you'll end up fighting him at the rate you're going at.
Just be careful, and make sure that you burn this letter. Tsunade will kill me if she sees it.
Jiraiya.
"Anything you want to say back?" Gamakichi asked.
"Yeah," Naruto nodded, "Tell him that I'll do as he says, and tell him that we'll be ok."
"Nothing written?" the toad made sure.
"And face the Wraith of Baa-chan?" Naruto snorted, "No way."
"Alright, see you," Gamakichi waved.
"Bye," Naruto called as the toad disappeared in a puff of smoke.
Naruto reread the letter, looked at the remains of the fire and tossed the first letter in, pocketing the second one. He rested his chin on one hand and bit his lip a little bit.
Something told him that they were in for an up close and personal encounter with this 'Demon of the Mist'.
Hatake Kakashi hadn't liked this mission to begin with.
Actually, Kakashi didn't have as much trouble with the mission as with the team.
He had known early on the Danzou didn't like him. Kakashi was the student of the Yondaime, and the devoted follower of the Sandaime, and Danzou wanted to keep very close tabs on him. Actually, Kakashi was astounded that Danzou hadn't tried to kill him. It wasn't like it would have been the first time that someone in Danzou's way just...disappeared. Most of the Sarutobi family had died already; it was only Asuma and that kid Konohamaru left. Kakashi assumed that he was considered too useful at the moment to be killed and loyal enough so as not to be a real threat.
That hadn't stopped Danzou from saddling him with a Genin team. When Kakashi first noticed that his name was up from every single graduating class, he had developed the perfect counter stratigy. He employed his sensei's old bell test, cheated, and made sure that every single team failed.
Unfortunately, it appeared that Danzou had figured out his tactic.
Team 7, consisted of Inuzuka Kiba, Aburame Shino, and Uchiha Yumi. The Inuzuka family was unquestionably loyal to Danzou, who they saw as the 'alpha'. It made sense that he would be on the team. If Kakashi said or did anything that wasn't considered proper, he would tell his family, who would report to Danzou. The Aburame family was...well it was hard to say what they thought of anything. They seemed to accept Danzou's leadership, if only because he had been elected Hokage. Shino's loyalties were with his parents, but Kakashi had no idea where his parents' loyalty lay. Uchiha Yumi was the real problem. She had transferred to the Academy a year ago, and had had little to no contact with any of the students. This was normal for that family, but her actions during the bell test made him wonder if she had been a ROOT ninja sent to observe him. She had single handedly made sure that the team passed, seeing through all his lies and making the others do the same. Her manner was too controlled for a normal twelve year old girl, and something about her was just...off.
The mission had started normally enough. Kiba had started to moan about lame D-rank missions and wanting to do something worth while, and how he was a ninja now and why couldn't he help with the war. Kiba had been very disappointed when they had been assigned the mission to escort the bridge builder Tazuna back to Wave. To him, this was just a long D-rank.
Kakashi had learned from a very young age during the last war just how to tell if someone was hiding something. Tazuna's eyes shifted too much, and the way he was walking proved that he had drunk too much and was unaccustomed to it. Also, he refused to tell why he needed an escort other then he didn't want to be attacked by bandits, but this story didn't make sense. Where was the escort that he would have had from Wave to Konoha? Why was he even there?
His suspicions had been justified when the Demon Brothers had appeared, and been disposed of. While Shino and Kiba had both fought in the battle, Yumi had stayed back. While Kakashi usually expect this out of girls, most of them were more interested in finding a husband then being a ninja, her calm face told him that she was observing both her allies and enemies.
With the proper intimidation tactics that Kiba employed without orders, Tazuna confessed that he was being targeted by Gato, a local business man who had gotten rich from selling illegal items on the black market. This had made a tremendous amount more sense, and Kakashi had said that he was considering calling the mission off. Kiba had been furious, saying that this was his chance to prove himself worthy of going to battle. Shino had say simply that judging by the power of these opponents, the mission would do best to continue as they were the more powerful, and had signed a contract. Yumi had shrugged and said it was for the captain to decide.
Kakashi still believed in the Konoha of the past, an honorable village that completed its duty. He had never intended to leave the man, just to frighten him enough so that he knew the danger that he was in. He ordered the mission to proceed as planned, got a cheer from Kiba and a nod from Shino, but no visible response from Yumi.
They were nearing the village and it seemed that everything was going smoothly, yet Kakashi could practically feel the danger rising. The bridge builder seemed apprehensive as well, judging by the way his eyes were constantly shifting around.
A bush moved to Kakashi's right, but he ignored it, whatever it was was too small to be a ninja. Kiba, however, threw a kunai into the bush and was very disappointed with a white rabbit hoped out.
"Let's skin it and eat it," Kiba said, grinning savagely at the creature, which seemed to sense his intentions and hoped away from him only to be caught by Yumi.
"You're a total moron." she said calmly, "This rabbit belongs to someone."
"What? How do you know that?" Kiba asked, looking from the rabbit to her.
"Because this rabbit is white, meaning that it has not shed its winter coat," Shino supplied, he seemed to be the only one interested in maintaining some kind of team unity when they weren't in some life threatening situation, "If it had been wild, it would have a brown coat as it is now early summer. Therefore, the only conclusion can be that it is domesticated."
"So it's someone's pet?" Kiba asked.
"How is it possible that you're still alive?" Yumi asked, "with that mind, you should have killed yourself years ago."
"HEY!" Kiba yelled.
"Be quiet!" Kakashi hissed, as mist began to form around them, "That rabbit was a distraction."
Kiba looked like he was about to say something, but shut his mouth when he felt the rush of killing intent.
"Well, Kiba, it looks like you're going to get to prove yourself after all..." Kakashi said as he prepared for battle.
Kakashi knew he hated this mission from the beginning.
Naruto was woken up one morning three days after the meeting with Tsunami by being pecked on the forehead by something. He moaned and opened his eyes to see a small carrier pigeon with a note attached to its leg. The bird pecked him again, and Naruto sat up, mumbling some half formed curses about 'early birds' and took the letter.
It had obviously been written by Tsunami, and it consisted of only two words:
They're here.
"Dattebayo," Naruto grinned, "Yo, everyone, get up!"
Sai blearily looked up from the couch (it was his turn). Sasuke lifted up his head from a heap of old rags. Sakura and Hinata's heads popped out from the room that they shared. Gaara was already next to Naruto, reading over his shoulder. Haku slowly stood up from his old blanket that he had found, looking like something out of a horror movie since his hair had fallen over his face. Kimimaro didn't move from his corner, but he opened one eye to show that he was awake. Neji looked up from his very uncomfortable looking sitting position.
"What's up?" Sai asked.
"Mission's about to begin," Naruto said, holding up the note, "We need to get ready. We're going to meet the Konoha nin."
"This ought to be good..." Sasuke muttered, "I've been looking forwards to seeing how well we match up to Konoha nin."
"They're just going to be genins, Sasuke," Gaara said, "It won't be that interesting. We're in an entirely different league."
"Don't be so cocky," Hinata warned, walking in, "Just because their genins doesn't mean they're not dangerous. It's that same underestimation that's caused hundreds to die."
"You're such a killjoy," Sasuke muttered.
"Attention in the barnyard!" Naruto yelled, making all conversations cease, "We need to stop talking and start moving. We know our job, and we know just what to do."
"This is mostly just a test on how well we can deceive others right now," Sai said, remembering all the plans, "Our job is to fool them and to observe their techniques and level."
"Yeah, yeah," Sasuke grumbled, "We wait and see if they attack and if they do, we crush them. If this Zubuza guy shows up, we attack on sight. The only problem with that plan is that we have no idea what he looks like."
"Well, if he's one of the Swordsman, I bet he's going to have a big sword," Sakura said, "I read a little about them, almost all of them had swords that no human should be able to pick up let alone use."
"Well, one of them doesn't look human," Sai said.
"But that's not Zubuza," Kimimaro cut in, "That's Kisame."
"It's funny that that's the only one we really remember from Baa-chan's lessons," Naruto said thoughtfully.
"Probably it has to do with the fact that he's blue, with gills and very sharp teeth," Neji said.
The rest nodded on agreement.
"Let's get this show on the road!" Sakura said with a grin, "I wonder if the genin are anyone we know..."
Naruto knocked on the door of the small house. It was a pleasant looking place, a little ways from the village, with some actual land around it. It looked as if Tsunami's family had money or had had money at some time in the past.
The door was opened by an old man in a black shirt holding a bottle of sake in one hand.
"Wadda what?" he slurred.
"Hi, Tsunami-san hired us to help build the bridge and she promised that our payment was two meals a day, so here we are," Naruto said brightly, grinning widely.
The man stared at him and then at the other eight and fully opened the door with a very large smile.
"Come in, come in," he said cheerfully, "people who'll work for food are always welcome!"
Naruto led the group to into the kitchen where they found Tsunami setting breakfast in front of a group of people.
The first one to catch Naruto's eye was a boy his age with brown hair and sharp, rather sharp eyes, and red tattoos on his face. He was wearing a heavy coat and a small puppy was perched on his head. He was wolfing down the food on his plate at a mile a minute, and he had looked up briefly as they came in.
Kiba.
Naruto knew his old friend in an instant. It was the tattoos.
The other boy was wearing dark glasses and a turtleneck shirt that covered most of his face. His hair frizzed out into something that resembled an afro. His clothes were nondescript and seemed made so that he could blend into the room. He was watching them as they came in, but Naruto couldn't tell what he was thinking.
He looked familiar, but Naruto couldn't quite place him.
The girl was completely unfamiliar to Naruto. She was pretty, with long black hair pulled into a ponytail and black eyes. Her already pale skin looked almost ghostly, which actually made her more alluring. She was wearing a black, sleeveless shirt with her forehead protector was on her arm and black pants. She also...had been attacked by the hormone fairy.
Naruto noticed that Sasuke's eyes had flickered slightly when he saw her. He remembered what Jiraiya had written and resolved to ask him what was up when he had a chance of doing so without being overheard.
"Who're you?" Kiba asked glaring at them.
"Hi," Naruto said with a big grin, "I'm Taiki. My friends and I are helping Tazuna-san on the bridge."
"I'm pleased to meet all of you," the other boy said, not getting up, but bowing anyway, "My name is Aburame Shino, these are my teammates, Inuzuka Kiba and Uchiha Yumi. We've been hired to protect Tazuna-san."
Shino. The name brought back a shady recollection to Naruto of a quiet boy who he had seldom spoken to. He only once remembered a conversation and that was when Shino stated his surprise that Naruto had left a spider that was on his desk alone. Naruto had responded that he liked spiders since they usually didn't bother him and they ate bugs that did bother him.
"Why are you being so polite to these guys?" Kiba asked sounding irritated, "They're just civilians."
"It is best to be courteous to all you meet," Shino told him, in a monotone voice, "You can never tell if you are looking at a common insect or a deadly one until its anger is aroused."
"Comparing people to insects again," the girl, Yumi spoke up. She turned to the Hakumei, "You'll have to forgive Kiba. He failed miserably in his emotional training, and it's a wonder that he was even made a ninja at all."
It took almost all of Naruto's self control not to attack Kiba and the girl at that moment, and from the feel of the hidden killing intent of his friends, he wasn't the only one.
"Hey, hey, what's all this about," a bored voice asked and another man walked slowly into the room.
This must be Kakashi. He was young, only in his mid to late twenties, but his hair was gray. His lower face was covered by a mask that made Naruto really curious as to what was under it, and one of his eyes was covered by the Konoha hitai-ate. He was smiling, or at least, it looked like he was smiling. His uncovered eye was closed. Naruto also noticed that he had a copy of Icha Icha Paradise in his pocket.
Naruto could never understand just what people found so interesting about those books. Naruto had read the manuscripts. They were deadly dull. It was almost entirely drippy sentimentality and with some really boring parts mixed in.
"Ohayo, Kakashi-san," Tsunami said, "These are the children I told you about."
Kakashi looked over each of them in turn, and Naruto was sure that he saw something flicker, or maybe it was just a twitch, in the visible eye when it came to rest on him, but it was gone before he could tell what it really was.
"Oh, yes, I remember," Kakashi nodded, "I heard some people talking when we came here. You kids'll do pretty much anything for a small price, right?"
They all nodded.
"How did you notice that?" Shino asked, "Weren't you unconscious?"
"No," Kakashi shook his head, "While I was exhausted from the battle with Zabuza, I was still aware of everything."
He sat down, and Tsunami set the rest of breakfast out, as well as set some more chairs for Naruto and the others.
"Well, at least Zabuza's dead," Kiba sighed.
Naruto pretended to be very busy with his meal and not paying attention to the conversation.
"I'm not sure that Zabuza is dead," Kakashi said flatly.
"We did see him fall into the lake, and he never came out," Yumi said raising an eyebrow, "No one could have stayed under for that long, and the places where he could have gotten to land were in plain sight."
"The problem is, the wound I made shouldn't have been fatal, and as a former Kiri shinobi, the idea that he couldn't swim is laughable," Kakashi explained, "No, I'm certain that he's still alive, and that he had help somehow."
"I didn't smell anyone," Kiba protested, "and neither did Akamaru."
The puppy on Kiba's head yipped once in conformation.
"You didn't smell Zabuza at first either," Shino pointed out, "It looks like the Kiri ninja have learned about the Inuzuka's sense of smell and have figured out how to fool it completely."
"How would he have survived?" Yumi asked Kakashi, although from her tone it was hard to read whether she was confused or testing him, "We would have seen if someone had jumped in after him."
"Someone could have been there already, Kiri might have been working on a way to breathe underwater. It's mostly closed itself off from everyone, even its allies don't really know what they're up to most of the time."
The same could be said of Konoha, Naruto thought.
"Everyone knows that Kiri specializes in water jutsu, and it could be experimenting on all sorts of things," Kakashi continued, "He could have been alone and just used something that let him breathe; it's impossible to tell."
"Then you'll have to be ready at anytime for him to attack again," Shino said.
"No, he was injured too badly for him to attack anytime soon, it'll take some time," Yumi shook her head.
"That's a good thing too," Kakashi said, smiling again, "It's going to give you kids time to train a little as well as give me time to recover."
There was a motion in the doorway to the stairs and bedrooms, and Naruto looked out of the corner of his eye to see a kid standing in the doorway. He looked around at all of them and glared. He mumbled something that Naruto didn't quite catch but was sure he had heard the word 'die' and walked back up the stairs. Tsunami heard the sound and called out to him.
"Inari, come and greet our guests!"
"What's the use?" the boy yelled back, "They're all going to die anyways."
Naruto felt himself getting irritated with the boy but shoved it aside. It wasn't like he was going to have much to do with the brat. He probably wouldn't see much of him anyways, but, he promised himself, if he got too annoying Naruto would find some time to tell him just what he could do with the emo junk. Naruto really wasn't the sympathetic type.
"You'll have to excuse him," Tsunami said, bowing politely, "He's been that way for a while now...ever since...he saw his hero die."
Naruto wanted to ask more about it, but the expression on her face made him shut his mouth. Apparently, Inari wasn't the only one who had seen this person as a hero.
Yumi wasn't so subtle.
"Who?" she asked. Naruto got the feeling that she wasn't really curious, but was simply gathering the necessary information, not really caring if she hurt the people involved.
Tsunami looked out the window and sighed a little bit.
"My husband, Kaiza," she said softly.
"What happened to him?" Kiba asked. He seemed to have picked up on the information gathering, since it looked like this was the last question he wanted to ask.
"...He...he was a fisherman who had come here, looking for opportunities, and one day met Inari and saved his life. He became a father to Inari, who had never met his true father, and in time, and after plenty of failed proposals, I finally agreed to marry him. Those were happy times. Kaiza was very kind and very brave. He never gave up when he started something, no matter how badly he did at it, and he was always saying that no matter how bad something became, sooner or later, times would change. Unfortunately, his attitude was what killed him in the end. When Gato turned up, Kaiza did his best to stop Gato's business. Naturally, Gato would have none of that, and ordered his...men...to kill his as an example to anyone else who stood in his way."
"After that...the people here just kind of lost hope. No one dared to challenge Gato, and any strangers who talked about it were silenced... Inari especially has lost all faith. It's very rare for anyone in this town to do anything for someone else nowadays."
"What about these guys," Kiba jabbed his thumb at Hakumei.
"Taiki and his friends are a rarity, but even they don't go against Gato directly." Tsunami said, her voice sounded somewhat hollow. She was upset from talking about Kaiza, and the ninja didn't really seem to even care. Didn't they know where information gathering ended and sticking your nose into things that were none of your business began.
"Not yet," Sasuke muttered, "Once we start working though, we will be. Gato's made it pretty clear that he doesn't want that bridge built."
Sakura gave him a smirk.
Gaara kicked both of them under the table.
"Knock it off, you psychos," he hissed.
Naruto finished his breakfast and looked around at the others. They were about done, and were waiting for him.
"So, kids," Tazuna said, Naruto had the feeling that he was trying to change the subject, "Are you ready to work?"
"Yes, I think so," Sai answered.
"We're being paid aren't we?" Neji muttered.
Sasuke rolled his eyes. Naruto couldn't tell whether it was at Tazuna's attitude or Neji's comment.
"Hey, Masaru," Sai called to Sasuke, "You need to move it a little to the left."
Sasuke, who had been the one to have to figure out how to use a crane, glared over at Sai, and ignored him.
"Masaru," Sai called again, "You need to move that beam a little to the left, and you're not moving fast enough."
"Do you want to do this?" Sasuke yelled.
"Not really,"
"Good, I'll do it, and you can either watch or go do something constructive, but don't stand there with a cool glass of water and give me advice!"
Naruto shook his head and busied himself with his job. As they had discovered, Gato had done a very good job of discouraging people from working with Tazuna. They were pretty much the only people working on the bridge, aside from one or two others and Tazuna himself, who mostly didn't do much other then get drunk and shout out orders. Because of this, Hakumei had all been given jobs that they would have never had under normal circumstances. It was dangerous work, and it was made even more dangerous by the mercenaries that loitered around, harassing them. They weren't able to do much at the moment other then threaten, but Naruto knew that things were going to change quickly. Once the jobs were done, and the people had gone home, they would sometimes be cornered and attacked.
They really were going to have to leave after this, if they didn't get exposed first.
Kakashi was on guard. He had turned up about an hour after they had, and was reading his book, and occasionally would look around at the workers. Naruto had the impression that his eye fell on him a lot more then it did on anyone else, and it made him nervous.
Did Kakashi recognize him?
That was impossible, Naruto told himself. How could he. It wasn't like they had ever seen one another before. No, it must have been something else. Maybe he was seeing through their act. That would be bad, but if what Jiraiya said was true, he wouldn't be too hard to convince.
Speaking of Jiraiya...
"Hey, Masaru, I have a question for you!" Naruto called over to Sasuke, "Take a break and let Ryou do it."
Sasuke looked somewhat confused but shrugged and jumped down.
Kakashi had just been pulled into conversation with Tazuna, so at least he wasn't going to be eavesdropping on that conversation.
"Hey, what's up with the Uchiha girl," Naruto asked.
"...She's a fake," Sasuke said quietly.
"What?" Naruto asked.
"I'm the youngest in the Clan, or at least I was," Sasuke hissed.
"So that makes her?"
"A problem," Sasuke muttered, "I don't know who she is, but unless there was an Uchiha my age that I didn't know about, she's a plant set there by Danzou."
"He's trained kids in ROOT like Sai too. Do you think he would know her?" Naruto asked thoughtfully.
"Probably not," Sasuke shook his head, "He said that he was in the fourth division, so that would mean there were a bunch of other people that he never saw."
"So you don't think she's an Uchiha at all?"
"No, she's just an imposter, and it would be impossible to prove it since women almost never activate the Sharingan, and that's the only surefire way to prove if you're an Uchiha."
"Too bad your family doesn't have a more obvious kekkei genkai," Naruto sighed, "Like the Byakugen."
"Ah, to have the Sharingan ready and waiting for me to activate at birth..." Sasuke said dreamily, "I guess you can't have everything in life."
"Nope, you just got all the fangirls," Naruto said cheerfully.
"Don't even mention fangirls," Sasuke hissed as if they could hear him.
"Fangirls!" Naruto said loudly.
"What are you two talking about," Neji asked walking up and looking annoyed, "Right where Kakashi can see and hear you?"
"He's not going to listen to us when we're talking in the open," Naruto said, "Especially not with Yuuma the mechanically impaired going around scaring people. I think that we've learned his weakness."
"Yeah," Sasuke muttered as they watched Kimimaro try to fix a relatively simple piece of equipment that had decided to break the second that he touched it and looked like it may be fixed once Kimimaro managed to figure out just how to use a hammer without breaking his hand or someone else's head.
"Hey, you two," Sakura yelled, "Get back to work!"
"Sorry, Emi," Neji said picking up the things he had sent down.
Naruto and Sasuke split up and Naruto went back to what he had been doing. He only noticed out of the corner of his eye when it was almost too late. One of the loitering men was fingering a large knife as he looked at the ropes that were holding up some of the steel bars that hadn't been completely attached to the rest of the frame yet. While most people used steel cable now, the ropes were cheaper, and Tazuna was on a pretty tight budget. Naruto hadn't really thought that much about it before, but he was thinking about what would happen if the ropes that were supporting a beam that was right above Tazuna were cut.
Naruto was too far away to appear without showing that he was a ninja, and he couldn't shoat out a warning because normal people wouldn't have noticed him. Kakashi was busy watching something that two other mercenaries were doing that looked suspiciously like they were carefully inserting an exploding tag into some equipment.
'Please, please, please let someone else have noticed,' Naruto prayed. 'If we fail in this, how are we supposed to fight Danzou?'
Neji was sauntering over to were Tazuna was, carrying a large load. Naruto knew that Neji had no business over there, and thanked every god he knew by name.
The man, who didn't seem to care if he killed some kid as well as the bridge builder, threw the knife. The knife hit one of the ropes and slashed through it at the instant that Neji tripped and knocked Tazuna back about four feet. The large steel beam crashed to the floor, missing Tazuna by inches.
Neji wasn't that lucky.
He was on the ground of the bridge, clutching his leg, and making noises of pain that would usually have only escape his lips if someone had just taken off the leg. Everyone else had dropped whatever they were doing and had run over to help him. His wound was more of a fairly deep cut then anything permanent. Naruto knew perfectly well that Neji had managed to get himself wounded enough to be considered suspicious, but not enough so that he would suffer any real lasting damage. The only real inconvenience was that Sakura couldn't heal him up.
Kakashi had come over and was looking at the ropes. The man who had thrown the knife had been knocked out and was sitting, tied up, and ready to be questioned once he woke up.
"This was cut," he said simply, "While the other two were planting a tag, this one was going to try to kill you directly. If it wasn't for Haru here, you would probably be dead. It looks like my whole team is going to have to be out here."
Tazuna was looking very nervous.
One of the men through down his equipment.
"I'm sorry, Tazuna-san, but this is just too much. I really am sorry, but I have a wife to think about, and this is the seventh time. I can't take this anymore!"
"That's fine," Tazuna said gruffly, "go home, you'll have a full day's pay for your work today."
The man bowed, "Gomenasai," he said quietly and ran off.
Two others followed him.
He looked over at Naruto and the rest, and looked like he was waiting for something.
"Hey, Masaru," Naruto said, "You're in charge, my and Ryou'll take Haru back to Tazuna-san's...as long as that's ok with you..."
Tazuna looked like he was at a loss for words, so he took a long drink for the saki jug that was always at his side.
"Yeah, go ahead," he finally said, "That kid looks like he needs a lie down, but you two had better be back here soon."
"Hai!" Naruto said cheerfully, bowed, and he had Haku supported Neji back across the bridge and towards Tsunami's house.
"So, what happened to you?" Kiba asked looking Neji over as he sat with one leg propped up on the table, "Have an accident,"
"Haru-san was very brave, he saved my father's life," Tsunami told the ninja with a small smile
Kiba looked over at Neji in an unimpressed way.
"What's the big deal, so he fell the moment that the beam fell, anyone could do that..." He said with a shrug.
"It's an lucky coincidence," was all that Shino said, and Naruto found himself wondering just how much that guy really had guessed.
"Hn," was all that Yumi said.
Naruto wondered if she and Sasuke really were related and if Sasuke was having memory loss.
"Yeah, well, we're going to be there most of the time now, so that would happen again," Kiba said, "I mean, you did good for civies, but..."
He let it trail off. Naruto really would have given anything to hit him right then. This was the ever smiling, good natured guy he had been friends with? The kid who had said he thought prejudices were stupid, and his opinion was formed by how people acted and preformed, not what people said about them?
What had happened while he was gone?
What was this 'emotional training' that Yumi had mentioned? When he was in the Academy, all that meant was learning how to accept the inevitable fact that death was the only assurance in a ninja's life, and if you couldn't accept that, then you we're fit to be a ninja. This didn't sound quite like that.
Naruto looked over that the rest of Hakumei, but, like him, it was impossible to tell by looking what they were thinking, aside from slightly irritated. He knew that Sasuke would be thinking along the same lines as him, and that he needed to talk to Sai, the only member who had known anything about Danzou about just what emotional training really was.
He knew from the few things Sai said about his life before he met them that he had also been in some kind of emotional training, but Sai didn't seem to like to talk much about it. His answers would get vague after a while and that fake smile that he got when he was talking to someone he didn't know or like or when he was upset but didn't want to show it would turn up.
Everyone was eating their dinner mostly in silence. Conversation was halting and prone to ending as peopled gazed into their meals and contemplated life, death, emotional training, and whether or not it was a good idea to continue this mission in the first place.
Inari seemed to have been forced to eat there by his mother. He was looking angry, and even more bratty then he had that morning, and Naruto had the strange desire to just punch him, knock the sense into him and go on about his business.
Sakura, Hinata, and Haku, the team medics, had all looked at Neji's leg. Even Naruto, who had never had any medical training could tell that the wound looked worse then it was, and it wouldn't have taken much to heal it.
Playing civilian was a real pain.
"I know the herbs that should be applied to it," Haku said out of the blue, "But I have to wait to get them until tomorrow."
"Why's that?" Tsunami asked.
"Some of them are only effective when the flowers are open, and that's only in the early morning," Haku explained, "So early tomorrow morning I'm going to need to go out."
"Do you want one of us to go with you?" Kakashi offered.
Yumi and Kiba's eyes flickered over to him, but Shino seemed indifferent.
They probably weren't happy about that offer.
"No, that's fine," Haku smiled, "We don't have the money, and besides, what are the chances of my getting attacked."
"Pretty good," Tazuna said after a long pause, "I think you kids should stay here for a while. At least until the bridge is done, that way nothing will happen to you. After all, we've got the ninja here."
"That may be a good idea," Tsunami agreed, "Haru saved father's life, and I'm sure that they'll be angry you interfered."
"As long as we're not causing too much trouble..." Hinata said pressing her fingers together. It was an old way to show her as shy, but she seldom used it anymore unless she had something to gain by it.
From the expression on Inari's face, they were causing too much trouble.
"Oh, it's no trouble," Tsunami said, "As long as you don't mind staying down here. I have plenty of spare blankets and the girls can stay in the living room and the boys can stay here."
The prospect of sleeping on the hard kitchen floor wasn't really something Naruto was looking forwards too, but it wasn't all to different then sleeping on the hard stone floor of that abandoned building.
"What do you guys that?" Naruto asked the others.
Gaara shrugged in a way that said that since he didn't sleep anyways, it didn't matter to him where they stayed.
Kimimaro looked like it would have liked to said no but was going to accept it.
The others nodded.
"That's a yes," Naruto said with a grin, "Where are those blankets?"
"How can you be so calm?" the voice of Inari suddenly cut in, "You're going to die anyways, so why do you fight back?"
In a flash, before anyone could say anything, he had run upstairs. Naruto would have liked to have run after him, but, after some internal struggle managed not to.
"The blankets are in the closet here," Tsunami said. She was probably upset by how Inari acted but wasn't going to let anyone see just how upset she was.
Naruto looked up the stairs and sighed. He wasn't sure who was more annoying: Inari or the Konoha genin.
Omake: Kiba's Bad Night
Kiba was jolted awake when Akamaru barked an alarm. He looked around, and noticed that Shino didn't seem to have moved at all. That was strange since his bugs usually alerted him when something was going on. Akamaru was standing in the center of the room and was growling slightly.
"What's up?" Kiba asked groggily.
"Listen!" Akamaru yipped.
There was something rattling somewhere in the room.
Kiba felt some hair on the back of his neck rise. For some reason there was something completely unsettling about it.
Kiba sniffed, but he didn't smell anything that hadn't been there that night. There was something in the room, and he couldn't smell it out.
There was a creaking sound, and Kiba looked towards one corner of the room. What he saw there made the rest of his hair stand on end.
Kiba's eyes were better then most people, so he was able to see the closet door slowly creaking open and the skeletal hand that was slowly reaching over the side of the door and towards him.
Kiba was frozen, all of his training had said nothing about what to do when attacked by a ghost or any other form of dead thing.
"A-Akamaru...is that...really..." Kiba's voice trailed off.
"I-I think it is..." Akamaru whined.
Kiba then did the one thing that had worked from his childhood on and had never failed in any account.
He pulled the cover his blanket over his head and allowed Akamaru to hide with him, both were whimpering slightly.
"You know," Neji said to Kimimaro, "you're sadistic."
Kimimaro nodded. He was leaning back in his seat downstairs with a glass of milk.
"I'm really sick of how he's been acting, and I needed someone to test that hand trick out on. I've never tried to make my skeleton move around when I wasn't touching it before."
"I don't see how that will help against enemies..." Sai pointed out.
"It won't," Kimimaro agreed, "but you have to admit, it's kind of cool."