A Kunoichi At Heart

Chapter 76: Demons of Her Past

The next few weeks were dedicated to completing various tedious tasks otherwise known as D-rank missions. Kakashi sent your team on a wild goose chase to locate Madam Shijimi’s cat, Tora. Then, the Mission Assignment Desk doled out the job of weeding a garden, much to your dismay. Though everyone tried to hide it, you were sure the entire squad was shamelessly relieved when Naruto voiced the complaint that was undoubtedly haunting all of your minds.

And now, Team 7 was on their way to the Land of Waves, thanks to an outburst from a certain hyperactive knucklehead. Tazuna hadn’t been impressed by the group of scrawny, fresh-out-of-the-Academy genin. But he had no choice but to make do with what he got.

By then, the only one complaining was, as to be expected, Naruto. He was also the most excited, but his excitement was marred by Tazuna’s occasional complaints about whether or not he was qualified to be a ninja.

The journey there put you in a good mood. It felt refreshing to be on a mission where you could get outside of the village. Like Naruto, you’d never left the Hidden Leaf before. You were glad the pace of the journey was relatively slow, as your team was escorting a non-ninja client after all. Even though the surrounding area was mainly forest, you still enjoyed the view immensely.

It wasn’t until two partially-masked men appeared out of nowhere did you realize the true level of danger of the mission. Armed with metal gloves and shuriken chains, they incapacitated Kakashi in less than a second, and appeared to have killed him in the next.

You ought to have found it rather suspicious when there was no trace of your sensei in the pile of dust, muck, and who knew what else. There should have been blood. There should have been some indication of a corpse, ripped to shreds. The lack of such incriminating evidence ought to have comforted you somewhat. But your body was too busy panicking to respond in a rational manner. It was as the men switched their target over to Naruto that Sasuke made his first move.

His body language made it clear that he didn’t want anyone to interfere. He wanted to do this alone. You could tell that Sakura, frozen in terror, wouldn’t be able to offer him assistance even if she wanted to. This signal was for you. And so you stayed out of his way, drawing closer to Tazuna and Sakura to provide them the little protection you could offer.

Sakura seemed to relax in your presence, and as Sasuke began to hurl weapon after weapon with expert precision. His shuriken pinned the metal chains wielded by the men to the trunk of a tree several metres away. They cursed, and pulled themselves free after a short struggled, their eyes zeroing in on the man your squad was supposed to protect. You shifted so that you were blocking their view of Tazuna, a kunai held at the ready.

“Stay back, Tazuna-san!” came Sakura’s voice. She too, had bounded over to protect the client as soon as the two men changed course. One came after Tazuna, while the other disappeared off to the side, just out of range of your peripheral vision. Now that you had a frontal view of one of the attackers, you could see that his forehead protectors stated his affiliation with the Mist. You froze suddenly, eyes growing wide with horror at the sight of the design engraved into the metal. Your blood turned to ice.

As the man’s clawed hand began to reach for Sakura, Sasuke abruptly flickered into view, his arms spread wide in a protective stance.

And that was when Kakashi decided to make his appearance.

He had scooped up the two men, one under each arm. By the looks of their choked expressions, he was gripping their necks pretty tightly.

“Kakashi-sensei!” Sakura almost squealed, barely able to mask her excitement and relief. Sasuke’s expression was sour. He had wanted to claim the attention for himself, you were sure.

You watched in silence as your sensei first addressed Naruto, showing obvious disappointment in him as he apologized for not being there earlier. Naruto hung his head, looking both ashamed and abashed. Kakashi then congratulated Sasuke for his quick reflexes and sharp skills. Next, he turned to you and Sakura.

“You two did well. You could tell who they were after right away…speaking of which,” Kakashi turned to Tazuna, who paled. “You have some explaining to do —”

“…Sasuke!”

It was Naruto. He looked ready to launch himself at Sasuke, who was standing a little off to the side. Judging by his smirk, he must’ve said something to aggravate Naruto. Before the latter could carry out whatever he had planned to do, Kakashi stopped him with one warning look.

“There’s poison on those guy’s claws, Naruto. Better get the poisoned blood out right away.”

-:-

The decision to carry on with the mission was ultimately left to Naruto, who’d stabbed himself unthinkingly in the back of his hand to get rid of the poison. And so, unanimously, Team 7 continued on its way.

Your sensei had managed to get some disturbing information out of Tazuna, and you could tell Kakashi was troubled. You’d never heard of Gatou Company in your life. He was a rich man, the client explained, who dealt with smuggling illegal goods using his wealth to hire professional ninjas that did his bidding. Gangs too, and samurai warriors from the Land of Iron. The bridge would provide the link from the Land of Waves to the rest of the world, and Gatou wanted to see it destroyed, and the bridge-builder killed.

Upon reaching land, Naruto created unnecessary ruckus in a feeble attempt to show off. He failed miserably, and it only resulted in you all being more on edge than before.

You supposed that was a good thing.

Because then, without a warning, Kakashi took in a sharp breath. “Everyone, duck!”

You didn’t need to be told twice. You dropped to the floor, hearing the deceptively soft whoosh as the weapon soared over all your heads. Scrambling to your feet as soon as you were sure no more flying objects headed your way, you glanced warily around.

Momochi Zabuza, Kakashi called him, speaking to the man as if he knew him personally. Rogue ninja. A Kiri-nin. You felt a flicker of dread at the sight of his forehead protector, not at the deep gouge through the metal plate, but at the original engraving behind.

Four small scratches.

The emblem of the village that brought nothing but death and destruction. Almost as bad as the symbol of Iwagakure.

And then, you heard Kakashi’s voice, sounding almost…frightened for the first time since you’d known him.

“Rin…snap out of it. Snap out of it now.”

Go to Chapter 114.