Second chances

chapter 8: journey to wave country

An hour later, the Team 7 were all present outside the gate plus the bridge builder, who edged away very slowly, away from the insane blond who threatened to kill him.Even Kakashi came on time.... And then the apocalypse occured; Hell froze over, then Kyuubi suddenly ripped out of Naruto, declared himself as a she, married Sasuke and left together into the sunset, riding a flying magical pony. (1)Just kidding.The jounin regarded them all with a careful eye, especially watching Naruto's movements. No notable things... though he had a something large inside the backpack. Most likely a scroll or something. Didn't look too important. The party of five left off into the direction of the Wave Country. The journey was uninterrupted, save for two things.One: Two puddles were in the middle of the road. When it hadn't rained for about a week. With looks of disbelief on the three genin's faces at the water, they decided to make the two nukenin paranoid by dropping very obvious hints."Man guys, is it a hot day today! Just like about a week ago! If any puddles of water would be around, that would be very suspicious, right Sasuke?""Hm? Oh yeah, right. Oh look! Some puddles of water! I'd hate it if it was a missing-nin! Especially if they're trying to ambush us!""Remember the last time a couple of ninja tried to ambush us? They couldn't sit down for a month! The prank we pulled on them was absolutely hilarious!" said Hinata. The three smirked evilly at the thought, causing the bridge builder to shy away from the genin's killing intent rolling off them."Are your suborbinates always like this, Kakashi-san?" he asked nervously."Unfortunately, yes," sighed Kakashi, "But this is actually quite mild compared to what they did in the village. They do much worse than th-."The jounin was interrupted by chains ripping through his body. The two knew that they were detected, so screw the element of surprise."One down... Three to-""Katon: Gokakyu no jutsu!" (2)The happiness of the two ninja were short lived, as they were both half-dead by two large balls of flames. The finishing blow was dealt with some well-placed Juken attacks which rendered the two unconscious."The two Demon Brothers... Supposedly chuunin-rank... Tazuna-san, you're hiding something, aren't you?" The voice made the said person jump and almost give him a heart attack. Nervously, he stammered out his country's state, wealth, Gatou and why he needed to build the bridge."Yare yare... Well, it's up to those three to decided to continue the mission or not. This is bordering along an B-rank mission, possibly even an A. It's their choice," Kakashi finished, looking directly at the three who rolled their eyes as an answer. Honestly, why bother asking if he already knows what they would say? Naruto expressed this feeling onto Kakashi verbally."Of course we'll do the mission! What, do you actually believe we'll give up on it just because these two losers," (Kicking the two nukenin, who both cried out in pain and glared indignantly) "Tried their pathetic excuse of an ambush on us? I've seen academy students do better!" Hinata and Sasuke nodded to this statement.To say that Tazuna the bridge builder was happy was an understatement. "Thank you all so much.. And I'm sorry for calling you short earlier. You're not going to make some sort of revenge... Are you?""Why, of course not! I mean, it's our mission to protect you, right? I wouldn't even dream of hurt you in the mission," replied Naruto, giving a fox-like mischievious grin. Something about that grin unnerved the old man even further and gave him a mental reminder to tell his grandchild never to insult the Team Seven's genin. Especially the blond one.(A/N: ... And now, for something that's not canon! Shock! Horror!)The second interruption occured when a multitude of kunai headed towards our heroes."Move out of the way, Now!" shouted Kakashi urgently towards his team. (A/N: Gee... he's quick on the uptake, isn't he?) Of course, the five managed to dodge the assault of projectiles easily. "Protect the bridge builder, I'll take the ninja!" The carefree atmosphere shattered, the three moved Tazuna to a safer area to watch the battle unfolding.Sniffing out his enemy, Kakashi cut his hand with a kunai. Letting the blood flow freely, he formed several seals."Kuchiyose no jutsu!" Instantly a nin-dog appeared. "Pakkun, please find the enemy.""Hai..." The dog instantly froze when he managed to identify the scent. "Kakashi... This isn't an enemy. We know this person, and she was considered dead two years ago." The jounin's eye widened as he blocked an incoming kick."Nani? Then that means..." He looked up abruptly to see the said attacker."It can't be... Rin?(3)" The kunoichi stared at him with cold, yet blank eyes."No. I am only known as Meian(4). I was hired to destroy the bridge builder. Now, hand him over, and no one will be harmed," she replied, eyeing the five cautiously.Kakashi was not one to be wavered by this. He gave the mysterious 'Meian' a quick once over.By all appearances, it looked like Rin, though she sported more scars than Kakashi last remembered. Her hair was a light brown, her trademark rectangular red marks was still on her face, and her dark colored eyes were colder than when he last saw her two years ago. All in all, this was definitely the Rin from the old Team 7, or the ninja was in a henge. Also, Kakashi didn't detect any signs of a genjutsu."Tell me... Meian, was it? I take it you were found by someone two years ago, right?""What the.. How the hell did you know that? You're not some sort of sick perverted stalker or something, are you?" The others sweat-dropped at the kunoichi's sudden mood swing.'Kyuubi?' said Naruto to his furry tenant. In his mind he could see an angry chibi fox sleepily glaring at him."What is it! Can't you see that I was taking a freakin' nap? What is it that you had to wake me up for? It better be good, or I swear your training is going to be a lot more torturing than what we're doing now."'Well, I actually have two questions for you. First, are you a female or male? It's like you've got PMS with your moodswings or something.' (5)"Kit... If that was supposed to be important... I swear I will destroy you and make it look like an accident."The statement managed to produce a small squeak from Naruto, where in reality his two teammates looked at him oddly.'Just kidding! Geez, it's like you really do have PMS...'The growls that steadily grew louder stopped Naruto's trainwreck of a thought. 'Anyway, who's this woman, and why is Kakashi-sensei acting like he knows her?'"What! Let me have a look at her..." The blond complied, earning a miniscule gasp from the kitsune."...Rin? I thought she was dead... I haven't met her in years... Kit; summon me. NOW."'What? But what about Sasuke and Hinata-chan? Does this mean I'll have to tell them about us?'"Kit. This is urgent. The girl has seemed to have recieved amnesia. If something happens to her... FINE! Just summon a fox. I'll just have to make do with being in that form."'Fine.' Naruto snapped out of his conversation to come face to face with his curious friends. Ignoring them for a second, he bit his thumb hard enough to make it bleed and formed the exact same seals as Kakashi. "Kuchiyose no jutsu!"Smoke billowed forth, and evil cackling could be heard. The figure stepped out of the smoke to reveal...A tiny chibi fox, exactly the same form Kyuubi took around four or five chapters ago, save the multiple tails and little fans he danced around with.(6) The little kit glared at the grinning blond for a moment, then quietly padded towards the two adults who looked ready for a fight. Ignoring the shocked expressions from both parties, he raised a tiny paw at 'Meian' lazily, one eye half-closed, mimicking Kakashi. "Yo."The reaction was immediate."OH MY GOD! IT'S SO CUTE!" For the second time that day, the five sweat-dropped. Cold demeanor broken completely, she hugged the tiny fox as if it was a soft toy."She's... Crushing... Spine... Help me...""Yup, that's definitly Rin. Exactly the same reaction she made when Arashi-sensei summoned one of those things," confirmed Kakashi. Not looking away from the scene, he added, "Oh, and you're going to explain this to us when we get to Tazuna's house, Naruto."The genin cursed his bad luck.'Kuso...'"Zabuza-sama, Meian-san has failed her mission to assassinate the bridge builder. What should we do?" whispered a small figure to a tall one wielding a giant sword, watching the scene unfold."We'll observe their movements for now, Haku. Good work. I think we should wait for about a week longer. Let them nearly complete the bridge, then we'll kill them. The blond one intrigues me...""Hai, Zabuza-sama." With that the two disappeared in a swirl of leaves.