"We're genin!"
Tsukiko overheard the conversation even as her team rounded the corner.
"This is way too advanced for our level, and I really think we should get Naruto's wound checked-"
"Ack!" Naruto almost fell over when Tsukiko appeared in front of him, cutting off Sakura's comments.
"Looks like I missed the party," she commented, glancing at the tied up ninja. 'Kakashi, what happened?'
"Didn't expect to bump into you here," Kakashi commented. 'An ambush. I suspect they're after Tazuna, our client.'
"TSUKIKO-SENSEI, DON'T JUST DISAPPEAR LIKE THAT, YA KNOW!" Aki burst out of the trees and skidded to a halt in front of Sasuke. "Who the heck are you?"
"Aki!" Aiyanna and Nanami arrived, stopping far more gracefully than their teammate. "Geez, don't just take off!"
"Tsukiko-sensei ditched us!"
"Oh, a secret rendezvous?" Nanami said. "Scandalous."
"Pipe down," Tsukiko laughed walking over to the unconscious ninja. "Aiyanna, give Naruto's hand a look, will you? He got cut by one of these ninja. Their weapons appear to be poisoned."
"Uh, oh!" Aiyanna quickly hurried over to Naruto. "I'll have to open the wound, won't I?"
"Probably," Tsukiko crouched in front of one of them and made a focusing hand sign.
'I'm not gonna be gentle, so consider this your punishment,' she communicated to the ninja who'd begun to stir.
"If we just take him back to the village, we can get him to a doctor, though, ya know?" Aki said, folding her hands behind her head. "Since we're going back there anyway."
Naruto made an angry noise as he glared at his hand.
"Naruto, wait!" Tsukiko called, turning her attention to the small ninja, as he stabbed his hand with his kunai.
"Dude, what the hell!?" Aki yelled jumping forward, as Aiyanna blinked in surprise.
"That looked painful."
"No kidding - Nanami cut that out!" Aki screamed at the blind ninja.
Naruto turned his back on the group, his shoulders hunched as blood dripped onto the ground.
"Why am I so different!?" he demanded.
'Oh Naruto,' Tsukiko thought, standing up and ignoring the enemy ninja for a moment.
"Why am I always... argh!"
"Naruto!" Sakura cried, running towards the ninja, as Aiyanna and Aki followed her. "Stop that, what are you doing!?"
"I worked so hard to get here!" Naruto yelled as the kunai clattered to the ground. "Pushing myself until it hurt, training alone for hours, training with Tsukiko for just as long, anything to get stronger! To reach my dream."
Tsukiko smiled gently, recalling all the times she had to carry him to his bed when he'd passed out from working so hard, the pain relief for when he'd worked too hard... He really did try so hard.
"I will never back down again," Naruto vowed. "And let someone else rescue me. I will never run away. And I will not lose to Sasuke!"
Tsukiko glanced at Sasuke, who looked slightly uncertain, though he didn't say anything. By his thoughts, he was unsure how to respond, so he didn't.
"Upon this wound, I make a vow, believe it!" Naruto declared, holding up his bloody hand. "Bridge builder, I'll complete this mission, and protect you with this kunai knife!"
He turned around to face them, his face scrunched in pain but also determination. "A real ninja never gives up, and neither will I!"
"You know, a real ninja also knows when to quit," Tsukiko teased.
"Aww! Why'd you have to go ruin the moment like that, sis!?" Naruto snapped.
"Naruto, that was cool and all how you got the poison out," Kakashi said, as Tsukiko's team gathered around their sensei. "But, if you lose any more blood, you're going to die."
Naruto stared in horror for a few seconds, before he panicked.
"Dude's a little off, ya know?" Aki said, folding her hands behind her head again. "Who the heck stabs themselves with a kunai?"
"It was correct in theory," Aiyanna defended, as Kakashi took Naruto's hand. "But one wrong move, and you could end up losing the use of your hand."
"Naruto'll be fine," Tsukiko said. "You two stay over here, I'm going to talk to Kakashi about his mission real quick."
֍
'The wound...'
Tsukiko looked at what Kakashi was seeing and saw the wound closing itself before their eyes.
'Oh yeah, that happens sometimes,' Tsukiko responded as she crouched next to him to look at the wound.
"Um..." Naruto broke them out of their reverie. "You guys have really serious looks on your faces, you're scaring me. Am I okay?"
"Oops, sorry," Tsukiko said, grinning as she waved off his concern. Kakashi started to wrap his hand, though they both knew it was fine. "I was thinking about something random, don't mind me!"
"There, you should be fine," Kakashi said, as he tied off the bandage. 'This healing power... is it from the Nine Tailed Fox?'
'Probably,' Tsukiko responded as she stood up and looked over at where the girls were chatting with Sasuke, Sakura, and the Bridge Builder. 'I have a bad feeling about all this. Mind if I tag along?'
'Don't you have work to do?'
'I can get that dealt with in no time,' Tsukiko looked over at the tied up chunin. "I'll bring those two back to the village so Ibiki and Kurai can have a look at them."
"Thanks," Kakashi said. 'What about your team?'
'They'll be fine. I suspect this might be bigger than even Tazuna knows.'
'Alright, catch up when you can.'
'Got it.'
"Hey, you three, help me out with the deadweight!" Tsukiko called as she started to walk off.
Kakashi caught the glint in her eye as she passed and barely avoided having his mask ripped off.
"Damn, next time," Tsukiko sighed as she rejoined her team.