· Nami's POV
I woke up earlier than my team. Well, except for Kakashi-sensei. I think that guy didn't sleep maybe he kept watch the whole time pretending to be asleep when his turn to watch is finished. I think he kept watch over us the whole night.
Now, I was playing with my team and pretended that I was asleep. Sasuke and Sakura were fast to react because they hurriedly escaped from where they were and told Naruto that each of them will do something important. That's when Naruto realized that he was the one left to wake me up. He turned for the two to complain but they weren't there anymore so he grudgingly went to my supposed sleeping body and poked my cheeks or pushed me a little.
I felt he was in a defensive position. I think they hate it when they wake me up because there was something that happened back then.
When we had a sleepover, I was having a very very good dream but Naruto woke me up and I kind of got mad and wrestled him to death. They thought that that was a habit of mine when someone wakes me up in the middle of my sleep. They were always on alert mode when I sleep.
I moved a little and opened my eyes.
I yawned and stretched. Some bones in my back, cracking.
When I sat up, I saw Naruto a meter away from me. His hands were on a protective stance towards me.
I almost laughed but I willed myself to turn it to a frown and narrowed my eyes at him.
"What are you doing?" I asked.
He suddenly made some random exercise. "Nothing. I just wanted to exercise."
I just shrugged until Kakashi-sensei arrived. I felt Sasuke and Sakura still hiding in the tree. Kakashi-sensei called for a meeting so I stood up and packed my things up.
I untied my hair from its braid and settled for my usual bun.
Sakura and Sasuke jumped down from the tree they were hiding from and walked towards us. They packed their things back to their bags like I did.
Kakashi-sensei sat into a shadow casted by the big tree and rolled down a map where we can follow the direction so we can arrive to the village.
I tried sensing for the wires I set up last night and suddenly frowned. Something had cut all the wires. The wind blew and some leaves started falling to the ground. My eyes widened as I caught something.
"So this is the plan--" Kakashi-sensei started.
I intervened and shouted "JUMP!"
Thankfully, all of them followed me. They jumped away like I did. On that last second, I caught a glimpse of their facial expressions. Kakashi-sensei's was as bored as ever. Sakura's was worried. Naruto and Sasuke's were surprised but were soon replaced by a mischievous grin or is it an excited grin?
I backed up into a tree and shrouded my chakra.
I think it's my lucky day.
I smirked as a white-haired guy jumped in front of me. He was oblivious of the fact that I am just behind him.
· Kakashi's POV
I was about to say the plan when Nami suddenly shouted us to Jump.
I easily snatched the map away from the ground and concentrated chakra to my feet. I jumped to a big tree and stayed there. As I landed, someone landed beside me too. I looked at him, just staring at him. Until I realized that this person is the enemy who came attacking us.
"Yo!" I greeted casually as he stared back at me.
It took a while for him to register that he was the one who attacked us until his eyes travelled to my forehead protector. "Oh! You're the Konoha ninjas?"
I didn't see him open his mouth.
He just touched my arm and I just heard his voice in my mind. I just kept my face as emotionless as ever as I stared at him.
"I am Sho. I am the leader of the group who is currently attacking you. I have a favor to ask."
I just nodded but still kept alert. He touched his shoulder and pulled his cloth, revealing the Kisaragi Village's insignia.
As he told me, I did what he said. We pretended that I caught him and he can't move. We saw his teammates scattered on the field. I think this guy knew that Nami can sense the field we are standing on. She can hear in a wide range and it is common sense that she can sense what is happening on that place too.
I saw Nami glance at us and a relief flash across her face when she saw me holding Sho like he said. So this is what Sho is planning? This little boy thinks like he is an expert in this kind of stuff... Or there is something this Sho is not telling me.
Sho sighed in relief when he realized Nami didn't realize that this is an act. Sho told me his teammate's name. The boy with the white hair is named Chi. Then the girl is Mami.
"Chi!" Mami shouted which caught all of our attention.
Sho shook his head when Sasuke and Naruto jumped at where she is hiding. Probably those boys wanted to ask who are them and what do they plan on doing.
"Kakashi-san. Let's go down, shall we? Don't want them to kill each other. And by the way, I didn't roam around your mind so I know your name. It just happens that you're pretty famous in the ninja world. Copy Cat ninja, Hatake Kakashi." Sho told me as he jumped away from the place. Why do I feel like I've met him somewhere before?
He whistled at Mami and I jumped down beside him to call for Sasuke and the two. Nami and the white-haired boy which I forgot the name didn't hear us call them. They are still up in the tree.
"Nami-chan! Bring him down here!" I decided to shout at the place where they are now. We can't see where they are because they are covered with the tree's leaves. Soon, we heard some shuffling and then they jumped at us.
I think all of us were surprised when we saw them. Nami managed to tie him up like a real enemy using the wires. Sho and Mami were surprised to see their teammates tied by Nami.
"Nami, you can untie him. They are from the Kisaragi Village. They are our clients." I told her. I looked at Mami and Sho apologetically. Sho spoke to my mind again that it was okay.
Surprise flashed across Nami's face for a second but she replaced it with a blank expression. She slashed the wires behind the guy and put the kunai back on her pouch. She rubbed her rib. I realized it was a habit of her when she did wrong or embarrassing like tying up our client.
She looked at the white-haired kid and started apologizing "Oh. Sorry about--"
But then the boy suddenly disappeared in front of her and re-appeared behind her. The kunai pointed on her neck.
"Chi! Stop it! They are no the enemies!" Sho shouted. Naruto and Sasuke pulled out a kunai and readied themselves to attack on my signal.
I smirked behind my mask as something glinted on Nami's hand which was scratching her ribs earlier. I didn't even notice her pull out a kunai. That's a Koizumi for you. I just watched how this will turn out. It was silent until Nami spoke up.
"So do you want us to kill each other? I can just stab your chest in an instant."
Chi was surprised when he realized the kunai pointed on his chest. He narrowed his eyes at my student and slowly pulled his kunai and put it back on his chest, the same with Nami. They walked towards us.
The three throwing Nami some questions of how she is. Nami sighed in relief secretly. So that scared her too?
"Konoha ninjas. Sorry for being impolite. We thought you were the enemies. We are really sorry." Sho apologized and casted me a secret grin. I shrugged.
"It's alright. But how come you mistook us as enemies?" I asked.
"We are catching some bandits or more like keeping them away from infiltrating the village. By the way, my name is Sho, Ikeda Sho. I am the captain of this team. Her name is Mami and he is Chi." After he pointed his teammates to us he made some hand signs and transformed into a mature version of him earlier.
I knew it wasn't his true form when he was a kid.
"Follow me. I'll explain everything on the village. It is not much far away from here."
Sakura and Naruto's mouth gaped open at Sho's transformation. I realized that Sho was observing his teammates earlier like I did.
But...
Sho Ikeda. I knew he was familiar. The Ikeda Clan that could use a telepathy link with one touch and rivals the Yamanaka Clan's telepathic skills. So that's why he seemed familiar. I had heard of him back then. Their Clan doesn't like wars so they mingle with themselves and prevent other ninjas from attacking them or interacting with them for planning battles.
They lived in a village together with normal villagers close to Konoha. But this time, they asked for help. Maybe the mission is more serious than I thought.
· Sasuke's POV
"Nice job, all of you." Kakashi-sensei told us while we waited outside a big house. The guy with the violet hair told us to wait for a moment outside.
The three smiled and I smirked.
I leaned on the wall and crossed my hands while waited. Nami sat beside me and pulled me down with her. Making me fall awkwardly to the ground. I glared at her and dusted myself off.
"What?" I asked, my voice sounded angrier more than necessary.
Nami frowned at me. "Grumpy duck butt." She muttered.
I saw Sakura secretly glaring at Nami for talking to me or something.
"How did you do the thing earlier?" I asked her out of curiosity. I noticed Kakashi-sensei, Naruto and Sakura listening too.
"What 'thing'?" She asked. I didn't answer. I just stared at her.
"OH! You mean when I caught... what was his name again? Chi? Is it Chi? Yeah. When I caught Chi? He landed in front of me when we had spread out. I luckily caught him. Teehee~" She said and laughed.
The door opened and all of us looked at it. The Sho-guy went outside and stood in front of us.
"Sorry about that. The Lady is not feeling well for now but she gave me orders. I'll show you where you will stay and I'll explain the details there. Follow me."
-
"Hatake Kakashi, Uchiha Sasuke, Koizumi Nami, Haruno Sakura and Uzumaki Naruto, Right?" Sho asked and stated our names as he looked at each of us.
"No time to spare, right? Lady Iki asked for help in the nearest village. As it turned out, Konoha is near here and the good thing is that our village are in good terms with each other so we can ask for help in any problems. I think your Hokage had explained some things about the mission. It started 2 months ago; one of the villagers was out walking then the day after that, he suddenly disappeared. We had searched for him but we can't find a trace. Then a week after that, another person disappeared. Every week, a person disappears without a trace. There are 10 persons disappeared, all in all. The villagers are starting to get scared of it thinking that the next person that will go missing will be their relative. We want you to help us find the culprit behind this."
Kakashi stood up and leaned on the wall, facing us. "Well, this is kind of a complicated mission. But we need to do as much things as possible to prevent more people disappearing like this. Isn't that right, Ikeda Sho? I knew you were familiar."
"Oh. You know each other, Kakashi-sensei?" Naruto asked, looking at them.
Kakashi shook his head a little. "Not that much. I just met him way back when I was still a genin. That's the last time I met him."
"Well. As expected of Hatake Kakashi, a sharp memory huh?" Sho stood up and bowed. "Sorry. But I've been called again by Lady Iki. We'll give you the rest of the day to check out the village all you want and fix your things here. So then, I'll be going now."
"Okay. Thank you, Sho-san!" Nami thanked cheerfully and waved. We watched Sho leave.
"So how did he know he was called by the Lady Iki he was talking about? Nobody called for him." Naruto asked and walked to the door where Sho went out, maybe looking if Sho was still there or something.
"They have telepathic abilities, Naruto. They can communicate through their minds alone." Kakashi sensei stated.
"Ohhhhhhhhh." Both Naruto and Nami said. Nami looked at Sakura who was spacing out in that moment.
"Hey, hey. Sakura-chan. You've been spacing out for a while now. Are you okay?"
Sakura was surprised at Nami's question.
"Something is just bothering me. I had heard the name Ikeda somewhere, I just can't remember where."
Ikeda, huh? As I remember correctly, the Ikeda Clan have the same skills as Ino's Clan. They rival each other in terms of their abilities but the good thing is that they don't really fight for who is the best. That's what was taught to us in the Academy.
Kakashi started explaining who the Ikeda Clan really is. It turned out that I was right about what I remember. He also told us that the Ikeda clan has a distinguished feature which is their violet eyes.
I stood up and went for the door. "I'm going out." I told them from my shoulder and shoved my hands into my pocket. I skipped the stairs and jumped down.
The village is lively but when I looked at their facial expressions, they were tensed. I noticed some of them had violet eyes. But out of the many villagers I see, there were a few of them who had violet eyes.
So that means that there are few Ikeda members living in this village? No wonder they asked for help. Maybe they can't afford losing more villagers or maybe their Clan members and scaring the villagers more.
Something moved in my peripheral vision. A black shadow hiding behind the tree then disappeared. I looked at it for a while when someone suddenly slapped my back, hard.
I narrowed my eyes at the culprit while holding the sore spot she just hit. She just sent me a grin and a peace sign.
"What are you doing? Go away, Nami." I told her and continued walking.
"Aren't I allowed to go outside like you?" She told me with her usual playful look. I just sighed as we walked.
"So, Sasu-chan. I'm really glad for you. You're really opening up now." She said and clipped her hands to the back of her head. She looked at the clouds.
"Why? Where did that come from?"
"Nothing. Sorry for worrying you earlier."
"Hn. But you did great on your own; you caught that guy just by yourself. That's Nami for you." I smirked.
I don't talk with other people anymore since THAT incident. But this girl beside me is too stubborn and is too violent for me to stop talking to. And besides she is my best friend since I could remember and I hate to admit this to anyone but she has a soft spot in my heart. It's like she grew to be my little sister or something.
"Whoa. That was a long sentence. You're being talkative!" She said excitedly and then acted like she was close to tears. "My little Sasuke. You were just silent yesterday and now you've grown talkative. Time flies by too fast."
"Shut it." I said and tripped her on her feet before we sat down beside the lake.
"That's unfair."
"Didn't know a girl that can catch a single guy can trip easily like that." I told her and threw a stone on the lake. She sat beside me and crossed her legs.
She sighed then unexpectedly punched my arm. "Ow! What is it now?!"
"Nothing~" She grinned again.
I sighed for the nth time. This girl really is violent.
"There was someone watching us earlier." Nami said, her tone changed.
I nodded. "Yeah. I saw a shadow earlier but it disappeared out of thin air."
"I wonder who that was...." Nami said and stared at the lake. "We need to catch whoever it was as soon as possible. I don't like how the villagers act. They are scared but they act as lively as they could."
I nodded at her. We looked behind us when we heard footsteps.
[A/N]: Hi minna-san. Thank you for those guys who messaged me. \m/ So then, I think this story is nearing its end. :[
So guys, do you want to suggest some own-made jutsus that you want Nami to have?
Please vote and comment! Ciao. :*