Descent of the Dragon ~ A Naruto Fanfic (On Hold)

Chapter 4

"All right! Road trip!!"

"Shut up dumbass!!" Kai whirled on the blonde as he growled, clutching his ears. "I'm standing right next to you!"

"Oh....Sorry." Naruto wilted under Kai's glare, trembling like a scolded dog.

Kai checked to make sure his ears weren't bleeding as he moved away from the blonde. It'd only been three seconds since they walked out the gate and he already wanted to throttle Naruto. Not a good sign.

"Still, this is the first time in my life I've ever been outside the village!" Naruto recovered quickly, looking around excitedly even though the only things to see were trees, trees and more trees.

"Am I really expected to put my life in the hands of this fool?" Tazuna asked Kakashi for confirmation as he pointed at Naruto.

Kakashi sighed. "There's no cause for concern. I'm an elite ninja, and I'll be along too..."

The fact that no one denied the fool remark irritated Naruto. "Listen you old geezer! You don't mess with ninja. Ever. Especially not a really good one like me! In fact, I'm gonna be the next Hokage, and then you're gonna wish you'd been a lot more respectful to me! So remember my name. It's Naruto Uzumaki!"

"Hokage, eh? The lord of your village? I don't think someone like you has it in him." Tazuna took a drink. "And even if you did become Hokage, I still wouldn't respect you."

Kai covered his mouth, struggling to hold in his laughter. This geezer was savage! No wonder people wanted him dead. Kai liked Tazuna's bluntness though. At least you'd always know where you stood with him. 

Rude people were easy to deal with. It's the ones who're always polite you really have to watch out for.

While Kai was re-evaluating his opinion of Tazuna, Naruto had reached the limit of his patience (not that he had much to begin with). "You're dead!!!"

Kakashi grabbed his neck in a repeat of yesterday. "I said no, you little dunce."

Once again unfazed by Naruto's threat on his life, Tazuna ignored the blonde as he addressed Kai. "Hey, wasn't there one more brat in your group? Where is she?"

"I'm right here." Shiro jumped down from the trees at the same time Kai pointed, nearly giving the old man a heart attack. "Sorry, didn't mean to scare you."

Kai smiled at his friend's bold-faced lie. She was starting to show more emotions around the others now. Maybe she was warming up to them. Or she was just excited about leaving the village for the first time in ages.

Hanging out with Kakashi and the members of Team 7 was fun, but Kai and Shiro hadn't forgotten their personal mission. They'd made an important promise two years ago, and this trip might give them a chance to fulfill it.

Once their resident idiot settled down the group was finally able to set off. Along the way Kakashi taught Sakura and the others about the five great nations, and the various shinobi villages. Shiro and Kai had already learned all of this, so they just tuned the lesson out and scanned their surroundings.

Just as Sakura was feeling relieved that they wouldn't have to fight enemy shinobi on this mission, the group passed a puddle. Kai didn't think anything of it, but Shiro tapped his shoulder. "Kai, when's the last time it rained?"

"Not for a few days, I think."

"Then how is there still a puddle?"

Kai stopped as the possible implications sunk in. "Shit!" They both spun around, just in time to see a spiked chain wrap tightly around Kakashi.

"Eh-!?" "What the-!?"

Sakura and Naruto were too stunned to react as a pair of Mist Ninja each yanked an arm that was connected to the chain. "One little piggy."

That one motion was enough to rip Kakashi's body into pieces. Everyone looked on in horror as the jonin's dismembered limbs fell to the ground.

The enemies didn't give them time to recover, racing toward Naruto. "Two little piggies."

Naruto was still frozen as the chain began to wrap around him, cold sweat pouring down his face. Surprisingly, it was Sasuke who came to his rescue. The raven-haired genin used a shuriken and kunai to fix the chain to a nearby tree, using the opening provided to kick both ninja in the face.

Meanwhile a third enemy dropped from the trees above Kai, aiming a pair of metal claws at the boy's throat. Kai reacted quickly, dropping back onto his hands and using his feet to kick apart his attacker's arms. Shiro threw a kunai in that opening, piercing the man's throat. He fell like a stone and laid still.

Their whole exchange only took a few seconds, but in that time the other two assailants had disconnected themselves from the chain and attacked both Naruto and Tazuna. Sakura and Sasuke jumped in front of the old man to protect him, but just before the enemy could reach them Kakashi reappeared and took the ninja out with a single blow to the neck. Naruto's attacker was already unconscious in Kakashi's other arm.

"I'm sorry Naruto. I should've moved to help you sooner....before you were injured. It never occurred to me that you'd freeze up." Kakashi turned to the rest of the group. "Good job Sasuke, Kai, Shiro. You too, Sakura."

Naruto slowly pulled himself off the ground, still trying to process what'd happened--and how he'd failed. Sasuke couldn't resist kicking him while he was down. "Hey, are you okay....you big chicken?"

Before the blonde could explode, Kakashi told him to stay still so the poison in his wound wouldn't spread. Then he asked Kai and Shiro to bury their dead body while he talked to Tazuna.

To make a long story short: Tazuna was actually being targeted by a billionaire named Gato, who wants to keep the bridge from being finished so he can keep controlling the Land of Waves. Said billionaire has gangs and teams of shinobi working for him, so this mission was actually much more dangerous than the one they'd been assigned.

"We're not good enough to handle something like this." Sakura said. "Can we quit? Besides, we'll need an anesthetic before we can drain the poison from Naruto's wound."

Speak for yourself, pinkie. Kai thought. I'm enjoying this plot twist.

"Hmmm....This is complicated." Naruto twitched as Kakashi thought out loud. "Do we go back now so Naruto can receive proper medical attention...?"

SHLUUK

The sound of Naruto cutting his own hand with a kunai drew everyone's attention. The blonde ignored Sakura's plea to stop as he cut even deeper, causing blood to flow out like a faucet. "With this kunai knife, I promise you: I'll protect the old man. Reporting fit for duty, master!"

Guess that settles that. Perched in a nearby tree, Shiro had watched the entire spectacle while keeping her eyes peeled for enemies. She smiled as Naruto made his resolution, knowing firsthand how it felt to be useless when everyone was in danger. But it would've been cooler if he wasn't about to die of blood loss.

Shiro rejoined the others as Kakashi informed the idiot about his impending death, taking her familiar position beside Kai as they enjoyed watching Naruto fear for his life.