~You still know me, still not cut out for this sort of thing, never want to be caught in between~
Kiyomi's POV
We hadn't been walking for long, and already Naruto and Tazuna had had at least one argument, and Sakura had asked a question.
"Sensei, are there any shinobi in the Land of Waves?" she asked. Naruto and Sasuke turned as well to hear the answer, but I didn't. Fenrir had already told me the answer.
"No, there aren't any shinobi in the Land of Waves." Kakashi replied easily. He then proceeded to explain a bunch of stuff about the Five Lands that we'd already learned in school, and yet my teammates conveniently forgot. "... And there shouldn't be any ninja battles on a C-Rank mission like this."
'Man, that sensei of your sure can drone on,' Fenrir commented.
I frowned at the brown wolf. 'Fen, I'm on a mission. Are you sure you want to be distracting me?'
'Don't worry. I'm keeping an eye out, so to speak,' he reassured me dismissively. 'And I don't sense anything near- Actually, crap! Return to consciousness now!' There was a tone of urgency in his mental voice, and I didn't hesitate to follow his instruction.
As soon as I focused on the real world again, I noticed something was amiss. I couldn't pinpoint what, but there was a feeling of wrongness in the air. 'Fen... What is it?' I asked hesitantly.
'Two shinobi are hiding nearby. I would say activate Yasei, but that would give the appearance that something is wrong. You don't want your team freaking out if it turns out to be nothing. For now, see if you can sniff them out and find their location. My senses are dulled by being in your body, so I can't tell exactly where they are.'
'Right,' I replied determinedly. I closed my eyes, focusing only on my nose and what I could smell.
The now-familiar scents of my team, the stinging alcoholic scent Tazuna emitted, the general smell of the forest, a tiny hint of water, the scents of a few small animals scurrying around nearby...
Water?
'It hasn't rained in the past week, has it....?' Fenrir muttered suspiciously. 'That's it! Find any source of water nearby! The enemy shinobi will be near it!'
'Got it!' I replied. 'But... What do I do when I find it?'
'You're hopeless...' Fenrir sighed. 'You take them out. It's your job.'
'... Okay.'
I started discretely looking around for any water in the surrounding forest. Nothing to the sides... I inhaled through my nose again. 'It's further ahead,' I concluded.
We walked along for another minute, before I accidentally stepped in something wet. I was so busy scanning the sides of the path that I forgot to watch where I was going, I guess.
'Kiyomi. You stepped in something wet. Need I say any more?' Fenrir commented sarcastically.
Shit.
But I was too late in realizing it. Two chains had shot out and wrapped themselves around Kakashi. My sensei had a surprised look on his face, like he couldn't believe what happened. Then the chains tightened, and tore Kakashi to pieces.
I stifled a gasp as two figures rose from the puddle. "One down, five to go," one growled demonically. The next chuckled, and sent his chains next for Naruto.
The blond was frozen in fear, and I could only watch as the chains got closer and closer. Then Sasuke leapt in, and deflected the chains. He then kicked the two guys in the head, and used a kunai to pin one's chain to a nearby tree.
That snapped me out of my frozen state. Sakura rushed in front of Tazuna, holding a kunai shakily. I pushed off the ground and headed for the other one, who had just scratched Naruto with his chain. Something smelled sickly on the chain. Poison?
'Yep. Now, take him out!' Fenrir commanded, getting to his feet in my mind. 'He's distracted! Now's your chance!'
I quickly drew a kunai from my pouch, and stealthily jumped through the air, heading right for the second ninja's back. But he turned at the last moment, and sent his chain heading straight for me.
I crossed my arms, hoping to absorb the impact. But I landed on the ground without a hitch, and I uncrossed my arms to look around.
Apparently Kakashi-sensei wasn't dead, and he was holding both shinobi in a headlock under his arms. I sighed in slight relief, happy my first human sensei hadn't been killed so easily.
'Dang... He didn't die...' Fenrir was muttering unhappily. I rolled my eyes, unaware that I hadn't done it in my head. And I was also unaware that Sasuke had seen me, and was watching me with suspicion.
"Nice job Sasuke," Kakashi praised. "You two as well, Sakura, Kiyomi. Naruto, sorry I didn't stop them faster. I didn't think you'd freeze up like that."
I nodded distractedly, still looking around. Yes, the two shinobi who attacked us were tied to to a tree. But I still felt like it wasn't over yet.
'Don't worry about it now,' the great wolf in my head grunted. 'You survived your first encounter with an enemy ninja. And two Chunin level ones at that. That's an accomplishment.'
'But I really didn't do anything,' I replied sadly. 'I was frozen for the first part, and then all I did was fail to sneak attack one of them.'
'You did more that your pink-haired teammate did. All she did was stand in front of the drunk guy with a small knife. Fat lot of help that was...' Fenrir grumbled. By now he had sat back down in my head, and was staring straight at me with his green eyes. 'This kind of thing takes practice. Which you don't have yet. It will get better.'
'Better?' I asked wryly.
'... Not better. Easier,' Fenrir amended his statement. 'I've been around for a long time. And it's never gotten better.'
'That's reassuring.'
'Isn't it?'
"I won't ever back down again!" Naruto suddenly yelled. "I won't let anyone rescue me, and I won't run away! Upon this wound, I'll make a vow! Tazuna, I'll protect you with my life!"
"What did I miss...?" I muttered aloud, staring at the strange scene I came back to. Naruto had a gaping wound in his hand, with a kunai sticking out of it. Sakura was looking at him in horror, and Sasuke looked surprised. Kakashi was sweatdropping, and Tazuna looked as confused as I felt.
"Naruto, that was touching, really, but..." Kakashi started, his eyes closed in a forced smile. "If you lose anymore blood, you're going to die."
As expected, Naruto started freaking out. I just watched this all with a bemused look on my face, completely lost. Kakashi started to bandage the wound, and I chanced a look at my teammates.
Sakura was oogling Sasuke, and the Uchiha was trying to subtly distance himself from the pink-haired kunoichi. It wasn't working, and neither were paying attention to anyone else. Naruto was still freaking out as Kakashi wrapped some gauze around the bleeding wound on his hand. Nobody was watching our surroundings, or Tazuna. Which was our job.
My team, everyone.
'You're all a bunch of weirdos with family issues,' Fenrir commented. 'Cause there's you, who's parents were killed, Sasuke, who's brother killed his entire family, Naruto, who never had parents in the first place, Sakura, who's a teenage girl with the family issues of one, and Kakashi, who's more mysterious than a black hole.'
'Well, when you put it like that...'
======
After that little incident, we continued on, and soon reached water. There, Tazuna led us to a boat, which he said would take us to the Land of Waves. Also, we'd learned that Tazuna was lying to us, nice old man that he is. We all climbed aboard, and then Kakashi decided to interrogate our client.
"Tazuna, before we get to the shore, I think you need to explain some things to us," Kakashi said sternly. "The truth about this mission."
Tazuna sighed, before closing his eyes. "Very well. Then let me tell you a story... Of a short man who casts a long shadow..."
And that's where I tune out.
'So Tazuna needs to build a bridge, and the only thing in the way is a short man whose name means cat? Wow, that's kind of lame,' Fenrir summed it up, lying down in my mind. I mentally laughed, then walked up and leaned against his side. The wolf's brown fur tickled me, but it was nice and soft.
'I guess,' I sighed. 'I don't understand some people. Why do people lust for money and power? They should be happy with what they have. Eventually, they'll just be driven mad by greed.'
'This is why I'm a wolf,' Fenrir boasted. 'Wolves don't deal with stuff like that!'
'No, they don't...'
'But, there may be a problem.' The wolf said, growing serious suddenly. 'If this cat guy is truly after Tazuna, then next time he isn't just going to send some Chunin ninja. He'll send someone more powerful, like a Jonin.'
'And the higher rank they are...'
'The higher a chance you have of being recognized,' Fenrir finished my thought. 'That's a problem.'
'And those last shinobi were from Kirigakure. One of the villages that was most receptive to Yamagakure's order to hunt us down. Their shinobi all know of us,' I said worriedly. 'It's a good thing those previous two didn't say anything.'
'I'm not sure they knew!' Fenrir laughed. 'Weaklings!'
'They weren't that weak,' I said, frowning at my friend. Even if they were an enemy, nobody deserves the disrespect of being, well, disrespected.
'Fine, fine,' Fenrir said, rolling his eyes. 'But we need to be ready for the next enemy. Next time, you're going to have to use Yasei.'
'If that's what's necessary,' I replied. 'But-' And I was cut off by a smack to my head.
Goddammit Kakashi.
"Pay attention, Kiyomi!" Kakashi said with a smile. "We're getting off the boat."
I blinked rapidly a few times, then nodded. So we're almost there...
Our next opponent will strike soon.
~I'll keep to myself, avoid the sun and cancel plans with everyone, I know 'cause this is how it always ends~