Life in Konoha's ANBU by Shezza

Chapter 45: Operation HURRICANE: Part II

Operation HURRICANE began the very next night at eleven in the evening. Operative Rat had already departed the night before and would meet the rest of the team at the rendezvous point.

Departing from a discrete gate, Team Sigma headed east towards the Land of Waves. The nation had always been a quiet, rather dull place. Since the fall of the nearby Village Hidden in Whirlpools, it had rarely been involved in international events. The most notable thing to happen in the last ten years was the corporate magnate Gato's attempted takeover of the island nation. Kakashi and his genin team had been there, and it had ended with the Missing-Nin they had been fighting fleeing from the battle after being doublecrossed by Gato.

Not one month later, Gato's mangled corpse had been found hanging outside his private yatch. One does not betray an A-rank shinobi without reaping the consequences.

Since then, things had turned relatively peaceful for the Land of Waves. A new bridge had been constructed revitalising trade to the area, and the influx of merchants and traders to the area had brought a degree of shinobi presence to the region, scaring away many of the mercenaries and other unsavoury characters that had lingered since Gato's fall.

Team Sigma encountered none of them as they travelled quickly unpopulated regions of the tiny nation. Above them, the clouds flashed with light, and a second later a crack of thunder pealed through the air. The downpour was torrential and the storm obscured the moon and stars in the night sky. Visibility was poor, but with Daichi in the lead, it was a moot point. They continued travelling until the head reached the coast, arriving at the top of a steep, rocky bluff. Daichi paused, and his fingers twitched.

: Contact – lights visible, outside byakugan range : the Hyuuga signed

Naruto came to stand behind him while the others took a loose defensive formation around them. They all crouched down in the mud, reducing their profile against the horizon, the rain slamming down on them. Their thick, black ANBU cloaks shielded them from the worst of it, and the tight, black bodysuits they wore underneath kept them relatively warm. Naruto reached into his cloak with a gloved hand and pulled out a set of binoculars. He peered through them.

A set of lights glimmered faintly in the distance, bobbing up and down and often disappearing behind the swell of a wave. The sound of the ocean around them was deafening, the waves slamming against the rocky beach below, and Naruto could practically taste the salt in the air. He lowered the binoculars and gestured to Komachi.

The slender Jonin pulled out a large, waterproof map. Naruto eyed it carefully, looking at the scrawled annotations written on it and comparing it to the lights he could see in the distance. They matched, and his lips thinned behind his mask.

: Operation is a go- begin phase two : Naruto signed.

Then, he took a deep breath, backed up a little, and ran towards the cliff. His teammates followed him as they jumped over the edge of the bluff. The slope was steep, but the ANBU team scaled down it quite easily with the minor application of chakra. The closer the got to the beach, the louder the waves became, and in a few moments, they were all perched on a large, sharp-edged slippery rock. The water around them surged back and forth, white spray whipping up splashing against them even as the storm rumbled up ahead.

Naruto reached into his robes and pulled out a small rebreather attachment. He fiddled with the straps, adjusting it as he slipped it around his head and placed it over his mask. With a small click, the rebreather settled in place and suddenly his breathing changed. The smell of salt and seaweed almost disappeared completely. Naruto adjusted his rebreather one more time and then turned to Yuuka, who had just done the same as well.