Meiko woke up at her usual time of four A.M. Meiko made three clones. One made breakfast, another cleaned Meiko's room and got out the clothes for the day, and the third just sat and gave a running commentary on everything going on around the house.
Then, Meiko did her usual seven rounds of the village, stretched, and her morning rituals, finishing by quarter to five. When she arrived back, breakfast was nearly ready and the third clone was doing nothing, just sitting on the side.
Meiko shook her head and went to her room for a shower. When she had her shower, she used the hair dryer and dried her hair, then came back down for the ready breakfast.
Since it was nearing the end of summer, sunrise still happened at early hours, around six A.M. They had to be at the training grounds for six, but knowing Kakashi, Meiko decided to be there at 7:30.
"-oh, there she is, walking like a snail. Mei has reached the kitchen, finally, and she has managed to figure out that we aren't her servants, here to give her knives and forks-"
Yeah, Meiko had no idea why she summoned a third clone.
"-the knife clattered against the table top as Mei zones out. Wait, no! She's back at it, alive and still here, not all the way back in her bed, wishing for the comfort of the soft sheets-"
Meiko sighed and finished her simple breakfast of rice and miso soup. It was, of course, delicious. The clone's commentary was not helpful.
"-the weights have been picked up and look at those gorgeous muscles, ooooh. Wait, no, that's disgusting. Why am I hyping you up?"
"We're the same person," Meiko replied tiredly.
"We are the heck not. You're ugly and annoying while I am a gorgeous, dashing, and amazing shinobi. Go to hell," the clone said, regarding Meiko with disgust.
"Already there," murmured Meiko as she put the weights down.
It was five minutes till six, so Meiko flashed to the roof of the house, the clone right behind her.
"-the pretty, golden sunrise shone down on her lonely face. She's such a pitiful soul who deserved so much better. How I long to be able to watch the sunset with a real body," the clone said.
Meiko wanted to dispel the clone, but truth be told, she always found the commentary nice when it filled up the empty space. Of course, it was annoying, but still funny.
"-as you all know, life's a piece of crap and you are all living in a horrible world because I don't exist in your world. Anyway, the sunrise was nearly over. It was literally so pretty, like what the hell? Meanwhile, here I am, the dumpling. I literally hate this. Why do we have to leave bed?"
Meiko dispelled the clone. What in the name of Kami was it talking about, she'll never know, but we do.
Meiko stayed on the roof for ages, just wasting time until she needed to go to the training grounds.
And then she realised the time.
"Kami! It's 7:25. I'll never get there in ti-" Meiko sighed. Her mark was still in the tree at the training grounds. If she flashed there, she could pretend she was there the entire time.
Meiko shrugged. She checked her supplies in the pouches on her belt. Protein bars and water, check. She sensed for the mark she had put on the tree and flashed to it.
Meiko arrived at exactly 7:27 A.M. and watched as Sakura and Sasuke sat around, bored.
She dropped down from the tree silently and then leant against the tree and closed her eyes.
It wasn't until around 8 A.M. that Meiko sensed an approaching chakra signature.
Kakashi came into view and Sakura shouted at him for being late, then she finally realised something. "Wait, Meiko's later than you."
Kakashi looked at Meiko, behind the two, and then looked back at Sasuke and Sakura. "Meiko's literally right there."
Sakura and Sasuke turned to where Kakashi pointed to see Meiko, a smirk on her face and her eyes still closed. She gave a lazy two-fingered salute. "Yo."
"B- but when did you get here?"
"I've been here a while, just sitting in the tree," Meiko replied.
"What?!"
Sasuke just "hn"ed and moved on. Sure, he was jealous of Meiko and her skills, but he wasn't going to pester her because Meiko had a weird habit of turning up and never giving a straight answer.
"Great, you're all here. Our first mission is..."
"...fixing a fence. Seriously!" Meiko threw up her hands angrily.
"Yes! Welcome to the wonderful world of D-ranks!"
鳴戸
Meiko hated those words.
She hated them with a passion. It had been a month of D-rank mission after D-rank mission after D-rank mission, and she was dead tired of the cycle.
Menial tasks such as fixing fences, taking dogs out for walks, manual labour on farms... Meiko was confused as hell as to how these tasks could be labelled in the same category as missions. She was sure Sasuke and Sakura were too.
In those four weeks, Meiko had also finally done the fourth level of the simulation her father left for her. And she was more than surprised at how difficult it was. She may have reached a level in her resistance seals that actually permits her to try all seven levels, but she still received some impressive bruises. It taught Meiko that her taijutsu, while very good, was not good enough. She increased the resistance on her body, believing if she was faster, she would be better.
She tried the fifth level after a week and was pleased to note that the number of bruises she got were significantly less. A sign of improvement. She had also learnt a water jutsu and practised with her lightning. Her red lightning was easy to mould and it felt like an extension of her body. It was, essentially, cool.
They were currently on the mission of retrieving Tora, the feudal lord's wife's cat. This mission, Meiko had absolutely no problem failing.
So far they had already caught it six times. This was their seventh. And she was ready to tear her hair out.
"This is Kakashi, everyone copy?"
"Sakura here, copy."
"Sasuke here, copy."
"Meiko here, copy."
"Does everyone have eyes on the target?" Kakashi asked.
"I have clear eyes on the target. Just waiting for the go." Meiko replied.
"Alright...go."
Meiko shunshinned to the cat and grabbed it. It at first growled and hissed but stopped as soon as she placed a paper seal on its forehead that sent it into a sleep.
"Does it have the red ribbon on the left ear?" Kakashi asked.
Sakura appeared beside Meiko. "Yes Kakashi-sensei," she answered, her voice very irritated, as Meiko held the cat.
鳴戸
Once they returned to the Hokage office, the feudal lord's wife squeezed Tora.
"No wonder it ran away," Sakura said to her team and they nodded in agreement.
Kakashi looked at the tired and annoyed faces of his students. He knew it was repetitive, but they weren't ready for a C-rank. "Hokage-sama, requesting another D-rank."
Hiruzen nodded and started sorting through the D-rank missions he could assign when Meiko groaned. "No."
Everyone turned to her.
She had her arms crossed and was very clearly more than just annoyed. "No, I am done with D-rank missions. This was why you made this team, Jiji. An Uchiha and Uzumaki have large chakra reserves, then you have Sakura over there with great chakra control. We are a heavy-hitter team and I refuse to go and find another cat in a well or weed another garden, it's a waste of our talents."
Sakura and Sasuke seemed surprised she would even include them, but Kakashi was looking at her calculatingly. That was indeed the purpose of this team.
Kurenai's team was a tracking team while Asuma's was an intelligence gathering team due to it being the usual Ino-Shika-Cho trio. This team was made for heavy-hitting.
Kakashi knew Meiko was hiding her talents. She obviously knew more ninjutsu than she was letting on. Her speed was probably high chunin–low jonin level. She was strong and could probably take down most chunin.
Sasuke was not as skilled as Meiko, but he was definitely faster than most chunin and he knew chunin level jutsu.
Sakura was the biggest liability. Sure she had good chakra control, but she did not have any motivation to train or improve. She had some crazy idea in her head that Sasuke would always be there to save her. She stalked Sasuke, but a C-rank may snap some sense into her.
While Kakashi was thinking, Meiko was getting scolded by both Iruka and Sakura.
Sakura was shouting about not showing respect to the Hokage and Iruka was saying Meiko can't demand missions.
The Hokage put a stop to all the noise quickly. "Kakashi, what do you think?"
He looked at the three kids. Sakura was looking at him with hope. Sasuke looked intrigued, as if waiting for the yes. Meiko was not looking at him, but was looking out the window and she looked done with everything.
"Hai, Hokage-sama, they are ready."
Meiko turned to him so fast her neck could've snapped. She wasn't smiling or looking like she was going to say thanks, but her eyes shone with gratitude. Kakashi nodded back to the girl.
Hiruzen nodded and browsed through the pile in front of him, "Let's see. Hmm... Found it. Simple escort and protection mission to wave country. Your client is a bridge builder named Tazuna who wants you to protect him until he completes building his bridge in the Land of Waves."
Kakashi took the scroll, "Mission accepted, Hokage-sama."
Hiruzen then turned to Iruka, who looked shocked, but listened to Hiruzen's orders to send Tazuna, the client, in. He went to the door and opened it for a man.
The man was probably just under six feet tall. He had grey hair, probably in his fifties then, and had a large beard. He also had glasses over his dark eyes. He wore a sleeveless V-neck shirt with an obi, pants, and a pair of sandals. He also carried a towel around his neck and wore a pointed hat on his head. He had a faint smell of alcohol on him.
Kakashi noted how Meiko viewed the man, scanning him for threats and keeping her body turned towards him in case she needed to attack, but other than that, she showed nothing other than her usual open body language. She did seem to be uncomfortable with the smell of the alcohol, not unexpected as she was the closest to him and probably smelt it most.
Smart, he noted. Always view a stranger as a threat until proven otherwise.
Tazuna looked at the team of genin and slurred, "These are the brats that are supposed to protect me? I paid for real ninja protection! I mean, you even gave me a dumb blond-"
He turned to the right, barely moving so as not to get touched by the cold metal of the katana at his neck. It was the blonde, not even looking at him, but her blue eyes were like ice daggers, just waiting to cut him apart.
"This "dumb blonde" could slit your throat," Meiko growled.
Tazuna noted that she held herself differently to the other two. She definitely had a relaxed body language when he entered, but now he noticed how she had kept her body towards him at all times, as if he was the threat to eliminate.
That was when the light grey-haired man sighed. "Ma, ma, Meiko, no scaring the client."
"Hai Kakashi-sensei," Meiko replied. Her katana disappeared to who knows where, but the icy eyes never disappeared. Tazuna noted not to annoy this one and also made a note not to judge based on appearance.
Kakashi reassured the builder, "You have nothing to be afraid of, Tazuna-san. My genin are among some of the best upcoming ninjas of this village. We can easily take care of a few bandits."
Instead of making the man relax, Tazuna tensed up a bit at the word "bandits". Meiko narrowed her eyes a bit at that. Protection from a jonin would be enough to make anyone relax, so Tazuna tensing up didn't make sense.
She was sure Kakashi had also caught the small movement, but no one else did. Meiko made a note that the man was hiding something.
Kakashi looked out the window. They could leave today as they still had a lot of daylight left. "We leave in an hour. Be at the gate for 10 A.M."
Meiko bowed to the Hokage and then left first. Tazuna left afterwards and the two other genin followed. They hadn't reacted much to Meiko's katana appearance and her threat, but Sakura obviously was more shocked then she tried to stop from showing.
As soon as they were gone, Iruka glared at Kakashi. "What are you thinking? They have barely been genin for a month and you're already taking them out of the village?"
"Iruka-"
"Hokage-sama, let me handle this. Iruka, my three genin are capable and skilled. Besides, they need real life experience," Kakashi said and promptly shunshinned away.
鳴戸
Meiko packed quickly and efficiently.
Two pouches on her belt were for food and hydration (energy drinks, water, etc.). A third pouch on her belt was a hidden storage seal and in that storage seal she had necessities like a sleeping bag, a toothbrush and toothpaste, medical supplies, etc. Finally, a fourth pouch she had had a book, a scroll for a jutsu, her brush and ink for seals, and special paper for drawing seals. The small cylinders had chakra pills and liquids, both important in case of emergencies.
She sealed her jacket into the necessity storage seal and checked that she was stocked on kunai and shuriken before exiting her house and shunshinning to the gate. She arrived and saw Tazuna was already there. Meiko waited in the tree beside her and watched as Sakura turned up, then Sasuke.
She nodded to herself, glad she wouldn't have to be alone with Tazuna, then jumped down and walked towards the three.
Upon her arrival, the three looked at her with varying degrees of confusion. Sasuke shrugged and went back to brooding. Sakura continued staring for a second longer then went back to watching Sasuke. Tazuna was the one regarding her for the longest time.
"What?"
"I know that symbol on the back of your shirt. Isn't that the Uzumaki symbol?"
"Yes," Meiko answered, rolling her eyes.
"You're an Uzumaki?!"
"No, I'm a child wearing the symbol to disrespect the clan," Meiko retorted sarcastically.
Tazuna shut up and turned away, probably thinking about how rude she was. Well, that was fine by her. He was rude, she'd return the favour.
Meiko sensed Kakashi approaching first and turned around. Kakashi was forty minutes late.
"Brilliant timing sensei," Meiko drawled.
"It's better than usual," Kakashi defended himself, and his students had to agree that forty minutes was better than three hours.
鳴戸
It was nearing 2 P.M. Three hours since they left, and Sakura felt like she could cut the uncomfortable atmosphere with a kunai. There had barely been words passed between them.
She knew Meiko wouldn't want to speak with the man, Kakashi-sensei wasn't a conversational teacher, and Sasuke barely spoke to anyone he deemed unworthy.
It was up to her to end this awkwardness. "Um, Tazuna-san, you are from Wave country right?"
Tazuna turned his head towards her, "Yeah, what about it?"
"Do you have a ninja village in that country?"
Surprisingly, it was Kakashi who answered, "Actually, Wave does not have a ninja village. Each of the elemental nations has their own hidden shinobi villages. But the smaller countries don't have the resources to fund, let alone maintain their own hidden village. Budget, people, missions... there are so many resources to account for that the smaller nations can't afford. So they prefer to hire ninjas from other countries."
Sakura listened to the explanation with rap attention. Sasuke seemed kind of uninterested, but he was also listening.
Meiko, however, was only half-listening, the other half of her attention focused on the puddle to the side of the road. It looked so out of place on the sunny day that a word automatically rang through her mind.
Trap.
She glanced at Kakashi-sensei, who had also seen the puddle and figured out it's a genjutsu. She caught Sasuke's attention and motioned to the puddle with her eyes. It took him a second, but he understood. The two subtly repositioned themselves, Sasuke in the front and Meiko on the right so she was closer to the puddle, while Kakashi was still behind.
As soon as they passed the puddle, Meiko's sense of danger buzzed loudly and she called out, "WATCH OUT!"
She and Sasuke both jumped back in time, but Kakashi was apparently too slow to react.
Two ninjas jumped from the puddle and attacked Kakashi with a bladed chain, tearing him to shreds. At least that's what Sakura and Sasuke saw. Meiko's senses were fast enough to follow the kawarimi followed by a minor genjutsu. Sakura immediately froze when Kakashi was "ripped to shreds".
Meiko had no idea why Kakashi was doing this but suspected that it was a test. She didn't have time to suspect any longer because a nin was running behind her.
The nin appeared behind Meiko, aiming to kill but she ducked and then twisted around to face the nin, her resistance and strength seals lowering with the movement.
In her peripheral vision, Sakura was still frozen and Tazuna was quivering as well.
She sensed the kunai before she saw it and jumped up as the kunai, courtesy of Sasuke, lodged between the chain connecting the two enemy nin and pinning them to a tree.
Meiko landed beside Sasuke. "Right," she said.
"Sakura?"
"Just defeat them faster, less time to worry about Sakura and Tazuna," Meiko replied just as the chain snapped.
Sasuke dashed for the one on the left first. Meiko stayed where she was as the one on the right tried to get past her. It was obvious with this movement what wasn't obvious with the first. They weren't the targets, Tazuna was.
"Sakura snap the hell out of your shock and get some damn guts!" Meiko shouted just as the nin made a strike for her.
Time slowed as Meiko twisted out of the way. Her katana popped into her hand and she coated it in wind chakra.
The nin, one of the Demon Brothers Meiko had realised, seemed shocked at the sudden appearance of a sword, so he had no time to react when lightning fast attacks met his unguarded front.
The Demon Brothers were B-rank, so not the most terrifying.
Meiko had already gotten this one on the defensive. She was faster than him, definitely due to her resistance seals. Meiko's next attack was a fake.
She left her left side unguarded, waiting for the inevitable try to take advantage.
Meiko was facing Meizu while Sasuke was fighting Gozu.
Predictable, she thought. Meizu went straight for the opening and at the last second, Meiko ducked under his arm and kicked him right in the chest, following up with an elbow to his face.
Either he was surprised or just stupid because Meizu stumbled back, holding his bose and staring at Meiko in a mixture of shock and awe, or plain anger. She barely cared, already back in the fight.
He couldn't fight back now. He was injured and bleeding, but he was also facing a genin who could defeat his speed.
His last thought before Meiko's heel met his head was that this was no ordinary genin.
Meiko landed in a low crouch, her katana positioned behind her as she stared at the limp body of Meizu. She turned to see Sasuke still fighting Gozu and restored her katana. She put her hand in her special pouch and pulled out a paper seal to stop Meizu's ability to shunshin or kawarimi in case he woke up.
She was kneeling to put the seal on and then she dug around to find her water.
She had her water and was still on the ground as she watched Gozu be defeated. Sasuke had prolonged the battle, either not fast enough to defeat Gozu or not strong enough. Either way, Gozu had managed to pass Sasuke and ran at Tazuna. Suddenly, Kakashi was holding the other enemy nin in a headlock. The lack of oxygen caused the nin to lose consciousness.
Meiko shrugged and then drank her water, but the presence of Sasuke looming over her was hard to ignore.
Sasuke looked at Meiko on the floor. "You're not hurt are you, scaredy cat?" Sasuke taunted.
Meiko smirked. "Please, at least I actually knocked out my enemy." She resealed her water and stood, about to say something else when Sakura appeared.
"That was amazing, Sasuke-kun! You were so fast and-"
"Sakura, you failed."
Sakura turned to Meiko in shock, her words jarring and confusing. She didn't have a chance to ask because Meiko was already speaking again.
"You froze in a dangerous situation, you didn't watch the client, you left the client unguarded so as to watch Sasuke, and you did nothing to help with the fight. Actually, you did less than an inanimate object. Sasuke, Kakashi, nor I am going to be around to save your butt, so stop freezing in situations like this. People die on missions and if you freeze, you aren't cut out to be a shinobi," Meiko scolded, harsh and cold. She patted Sasuke on the back and then walked past the shocked Sakura.
Meiko arrived to where Gozu was and studied him. "I'll move them to a tree where someone from Konoha can pick them up. I already placed a seal to stop Meizu's shunshin and kawarimi ability. Do the same for him?"
"Yes, Meiko," Kakashi agreed. Then, as if it was an afterthought, he turned back to Meiko as she dragged Gozu's body. "Well done for reacting accordingly."
Meiko sent him a thumbs up and then somehow got Sasuke to help her drag the Demon Brothers. Once they were tied to a tree, Meiko and Sasuke returned. Sakura had already walked back in a dazed state, as if confused.
With his three genin all together, Kakashi finally turned to Tazuna. He was scared, obviously, and shaking. "If you were not skewered to pieces, why did you let your genin handle them?"
"Because he needed to see who they were targeting: us because they're rogue nin and there's a grudge between Konoha and Kiri, or you," Meiko answered, her eyes narrowed as she regarded him. It wasn't a glare, but it was damn well near one.
"And to answer why I let my genin deal with it, I had to test how they would react to a real life experience. Sorry Sakura, didn't realise you would freeze like that. Well done Meiko and Sasuke," he congratulated.
At that moment, the ninja with one horn, the one whom Meiko had knocked out, seemed to wake up. He groaned in pain, "How...did you know...we were going to attack?" His words were slurred and a little weirdly said because of his broken nose. Meiko didn't realise she could hit that hard.
Meiko spoke up before Kakashi could, "A puddle on a completely sunny day, added to the fact it hasn't rained in weeks. Well done, genius." She gave a slow and sarcastic clap to the man.
She rolled her eyes and turned back to Tazuna. Kakashi also turned to Tazuna at the same time. "Now, Tazuna-san, we need to talk."
Tazuna adopted a nervous, trying to feign innocence, expression, "About wh-what?"
"It was stated in the mission scroll that you needed protection from bandits, not rogue ninjas. Especially from Kirigakure, where the ninjas complete their missions, no matter the cost. Why would they be after you?" His tone was light, but the suspicion was heavy.
"Unless they were hired specifically to take you out," Meiko added her two cents, pointing at Tazuna.
Tazuna tried to think up an excuse, but it was already too late. With a resigned sigh, he asked them, "Have you heard of a man called Gato?"
Kakashi questioned with a thoughtful frown, "Do you mean one who is among the richest men in the nations? That Gato?"
"I've heard of him," Meiko stated. Kakashi raised an eyebrow, silently asking her to elaborate and she did. "He is the owner of a shipping company. When I last read about him, he was among the top fifteen richest in the nations. Suspected for criminal activity, but no proof," she said with her arms crossed.
"The very same," Tazuna agreed, "Though now he is among the top five. He came to Wave Country a bit more than two years ago. First we didn't think anything about it, but soon he had bought up all the shipping industry of our nation. You see, Wave Country is an island so we are dependent on shipping to get goods. But that wasn't the worst part. He used his monopoly to drain the country dry.
"The people live in poverty. Many lost their houses to Gato. Whoever protested is killed. He takes what he wants with his hired thugs, making sure nobody dares to oppose him. His shipping business covers his criminal activities. He deals with drugs, alcoholics, rare goods, even slaves. Everything and anything that brings him money. The only thing he fears is the bridge I'm building. If I finish my bridge, his monopoly will be rendered obsolete and our country will be back in business because we will be connected to the mainland."
"And you couldn't tell Hokage-sama, why?" Kakashi questioned with a glare.
Tazuna threw his hands up, "I couldn't! Wave country has been sucked dry. We don't have enough money to pay for more than a C-rank mission!"
Kakashi shook his head, "While that is sad, you had no right to lie to the Hokage. This mission is now at least a B-rank, requiring a team of chunin and jonin. This is not a job my genin are suited to perform." Glancing at his students briefly, he said, "But as they are ninjas of Konoha, they have a say in this as much as I do now."
Sasuke and Sakura immediately agreed. Sasuke because he still wanted real life experience. Sakura because she wanted to follow Sasuke, even if she was shaken.
They all turned to Meiko. She glanced at Tazuna and shrugged. "A whole country doesn't deserve to suffer. If we turn around now, it will basically say that Konoha doesn't care. I agree, we should continue."
Kakashi gazed at them a moment longer. He sighed and then said, "Very well, let's go."
They had a new formation as they continued walking. Sakura was at the front and Kakashi stood behind. Sasuke and Meiko flanked Tazuna.
That was how they continued for a while, until dusk, where they stopped in a clearing to camp.
"I'll take the first watch. Meiko, I'll wake you up for the second watch, and you wake up Sasuke for the third watch," Kakashi decided as they set up camp.
"Sensei, what about I take the third watch and Sasuke takes the second," Meiko asked.
Kakashi nodded. "Sure. We continue at 7 A.M."
"What about me, Kakashi-sensei?" Sakura asked, annoyed at being left out.
"You're not on watch duty because you froze in an enemy attack. You're not ready," Meiko replied shortly.
Sakura scoffed, but she didn't bother answering Meiko because she knew she was right no matter how much she wanted to disagree. Kakashi sent Meiko a look, telling her to let him handle these things. She sighed and nodded, then finished setting up her cover and put her sleeping bag inside.
The night passed calmly with no attacks and things. Meiko was on her watch for three hours, from four to seven.
Once everybody was packed, they continued the journey to the Land of Waves.
Meiko took the rear, Sasuke and Sakura flanked the sides, and Kakashi was in the front. Tazuna was, obviously, in the middle.
The team reached the coast without any delays around late morning. Tazuna had organised transport to Wave country. The man greeted Tazuna and cast a wary eye on the Konoha shinobis, but kept his words to himself.
He stirred them, appearing extremely nervous despite the dense cover from the morning fog. As soon as the bridge came into view, Kakashi let out a low whistle, "That is one impressive bridge, that is."
Sakura was openly gaping at how large the bridge was. Meiko looked just as impressed. "Incredible," she had said.
Once they reached the shore, the fisherman wished Tazuna best of luck to get home safely while Tazuna thanked him for his help. Kakashi asked Tazuna, "How long is your home away from here?"
"A journey of about one hour and a half."
Kakashi felt a sense of unease, but he motioned for his team to continue walking. While walking, he turned briefly and wasn't exactly shocked to see Meiko seemed to share his unease. She was tense and her eyes were constantly moving, good for catching movement. If you stare at one place too long, you lose track of your surroundings. Meiko was ready to react at the slightest problem.
She did react. Very well actually.
Without any warning, a shuriken flew into a bush on the side, courtesy of Meiko. Sasuke and Sakura jumped at that, along with Tazuna. Kakashi just narrowed his eyes, "What is it, Meiko?"
Meiko walked to the bush, a kunai ready in hand. Though she was confused when she only spotted a white rabbit, scared to the bone.
Sakura scolded her, "Meiko! Look what you did to the poor rabbit!"
Kakashi and Meiko ignored her, looking at the rabbit. They seemed to share the same thoughts of why a white rabbit was here. The lack of brown fur indicated it was raised in captivity because winter wasn't here yet and the white coat had neither been shed nor grown, or it shouldn't have.
Kakashi's shout ran out a second after Naruko's danger sense kicked in.
"DOWN!"
Everyone dropped to the ground, just in time to avoid a giant, spinning broadsword from cutting off their heads. Naruko saw that Sasuke was able to bring Tazuna just in time.
Everyone stood up and turned towards the tree in which the sword was buried, a man standing on the handle. He had black hair and brown eyes, his slashed Kiri headband tilted upwards to the left side of his head, signifying his status as a missing nin. He wore mist striped pants and hand warmers that extended to his biceps. But the oddest thing was that some of his clothing had cow print on it.
Kakashi's voice took a tone of mock surprise, "Well well, if it isn't Momochi Zabuza, rogue nin and former member of the seven swordsmen of the mist."
The now identified Zabuza raised a thin eyebrow, "So you have heard of me." The man's posture radiated confidence and power. "I'm going to ask you to hand over the old man to me. You do that and you get to escape with your lives."
The name caught up to Meiko and she stared at the guy. "Wait, wait. Let me get this straight, Zabuza Momochi, Demon of the Hidden Mist, is that guy? The guy in cow print?"
Kakashi, although amused, showed no change. Sakura had no such control and was barely hiding a laugh, the smile already on her face. Sasuke also showed no change except a twitch of his lips, that was it. Tazuna seemed to change the most, openly gaping at Meiko's boldness.
Zabuza didn't change much. He let out a bark of laughter, then glared at Meiko. "You have some nerve."
"Yeah, well you aren't exactly living up to your title as a Demon when you are wearing cow print," Meiko replied, shrugging casually. "I mean, what are you going to do, moo us to death?" She smirked, but the gleam in her eyes was anything but casual.
Zabuza noticed it since he was the one actually facing her, and he stared hard. She was calculating things, he could practically see the gears moving. Still, she had insulted him. He was going to tear her apart.
AN: Thanks amoonalee for worrying about me.