Not So Missed Connections
Terumi Mei wasn’t one to gloat. Not often, anyway.
But when a missive returned from the Hokage with nothing but a request for all future mission reports from Nara Riko and a request that Riko be made to “kindly hasten the progress of her Genin team, as she was wanted back in Konoha at the earliest convenience.”
It was a bit of a political “Fuck you”, but it was better than Ao had been convinced of, and that was enough reason for her to make him read through the message.
“It still isn’t good. She’s dealing with it, but she’s not happy about it.”
“But she isn’t on the warpath, which is more than you had hoped for.”
“Well pardon me for being the voice of skepticism and reason.”
Mei barked a laugh at that, looking at her Jounin commander. “Yeah. You’re the voice of skepticism alright.”
Ao rolled his eyes. It was the calm before the storm, and they both knew it.
Over the last few weeks she had been working with her Genin, Suigetsu had started to make her work with Lightning nature chakra, and he was being vague on his reasoning. If it weren’t so damn painful, she probably wouldn’t care as much, but the throbbing pain down her arms was becoming a distraction, and it had left marks.
They weren’t like the ones from when Sasuke hit her with a chidori. No, those marks were clearly from being hit with lighting chakra. Instead, there was an eerie quality to these marks, which looked like scars already, that made it clear they were caused inside of her body.
“I swear, if you are drilling me on lighting chakra again, tomorrow, I will gut you like a fish.”
Suigetsu hissed in laughter, throwing her a rag. “Well, that was the plan.”
“Why?”
The scars were only on her hands now, maybe a few on her wrists, but they were creeping up a little more each time she tried to channel the lighting chakra through her body. It wasn’t easy learning a third element by any stretch of the imagination, but add in a personal distaste for it and the fact it wasn't one of her affinities?
Ren wanted to strangle whoever thought this was a good idea.
The other concern was the seal on the underside of her biceps. While they were technically parts of one seal, which connected to one on the small of her back and kept the disguise up, these two were critical, as they got constant chakra influxes whenever she did jutsu, which kept the seal from collapsing. If the scarring from learning lighting chakra climbed too high, Ren had to wonder what was going to become of those seals.
“Stop worrying about it. You’ve got cooler scars, anyway.” Suigetsu swatted the top of her head, slipping to grab her sleeve and pull her along. “Let’s grab some more boxes.”
They had found an apartment in the middle of the city that catered to Shinobi teams. They were small, but had enough rooms for teams to either share and room a second team or each have separate spaces. The rent was on the higher side, though rent in Kirigakure didn’t tend to be very high to begin with. Their rent was only slightly higher than she had been told Naruto’s was before he left, and with four jounin it wouldn’t be a stretch to cover it.
The civil war had helped with lowering the rent, too. Too few shinobi in-city to actually take an apartment meant it was easier to negotiate rent in the region. Any money was money, after all.
There wasn’t much to move between the four of them. A lot of weapons, and Haku had bought the group cooking utensils as a housewarming to his teammates. Clothing fit into scrolls, for the most part. The boxes were largely scrolls and books, or important files they didn’t want to put in a scroll.
A small bird flew down, perching on what had been a wire-pole, eyeing her from where it sat.
Ren tapped Suigetsu’s calf with her foot as they walked, a Hunter-Nin sign used when undercover. His eyes flicked over for half a second in acknowledgment.
“Take my box. I gotta go.”
No room for a question, no room for debate. He had seen the bird. There would probably be one for him, Haku, or Chojuro within the hour. He took off towards their apartment, just in case.
The bird flew off, and she followed. The messenger birds in Kirigakure were trained to fly to where the orders were to be issued from, instead of carrying a coded mission statement like in Konoha.
It landed on the Hunter-Nin headquarters.
She wasn’t looking forward to this mission, but she would take it. It was her duty to the village.
By the time she left, her face was hidden behind her mask, her normal gear traded in for the depersonalized gear of the Hunter-Nin squad, and she had three other nin at her back.
Only one of them wouldn't blow a gasket if things went south, as they tended to do when she was involved.
It was the first time their team had been given an interim teacher, and Chojuro was nervous. He had never been a teacher before, and from what he saw these girls were used to working with someone who seemed to be a natural.
“Ah,” he smiled at them, painfully aware of the sword on his back and the reputation that came with it. “I’m Choi Dae-Suk, though I’m also known as Chojuro. I’ll be training you until Chae-Seon gets back.” He preferred to use Ren’s Korean name. She was practically family at this point, and since she had taken her Korean name, it seemed to put her at ease to hear it used. It separated her from the soldier she had become and made her more the girl he had been partnered with.
The girls introduced themselves, the green haired one watching him carefully.
“Why does Ren-Seonsaengnim have scars growing on her arms?” Ren had said this one was shrewd, that she would catch details. She was the one Ren wanted to work her into a strategist, instead of as a front-line fighter. That was the girl with the purplish-red hair that slumped against a tree, playing with her senbon needles as she watched him, waiting for his answer.
“It’s a new training she’s started. Don’t worry about her – if it gets too dangerous we’ll stop her.”
The short-haired brunette, Ji-Su, scoffed. “Your team’s definition of ‘too dangerous’ and the general definition of ‘too dangerous’ don’t seem to be too close. Are you sure you will stop her before it causes some kind of damage?”
Chojuro sighed. “I’ll try.” He wasn’t going to make any promises he couldn’t guarantee he could keep.
That seemed to be enough to placate the girls, though, and they quickly stood, ready for instruction.
“So what does Ren have you working on right now?”
Ji-Su answered. “She’s had us improving our chakra control by having us fight while water-walking. She’s also been training us on our weapons of choice. She has promised to teach us the Water Whip and/or water clones once our reserves improved and she deemed our control adequate.”
Chojuro nodded. “What weapons do you all prefer?”
Ji-Su shrugged. “I tend to favor knives or fists.”
Jae-Un smiled, “Senbon, for me!”
Mi-Na’s notebook was put away, and she looked towards him. “I’ve been considering learning the sword, but for now I’ve been focusing on my accuracy with shuriken and kunai.”
Chojuro nodded. “Let me see if I can get Haku for you, Jae-Un. Ji-Su, Mi-Na, I might be able to help the two of you.”
Maybe he could handle this whole teaching business after all. It was only for a few days, after all. That's what he had been told when the Mizukage called him in and asked him to take over Ren's team while she was away on a mission, anyway.
“For now, let’s do physical training.”
Kakashi and Sasuke were being rerouted from their original plan, being sent to aide Sunagakure as they fought to save their Kage.
“We’ve been ordered back to Konoha after this,” Kakashi watched his student carefully. The young man had grown quite a bit over the course of their training. He was far less prone to bouts of impulse (not that they didn’t still happen, of course, but Kakashi had learned before even leaving the village to take what he could get when it came to mitigating some of his students’ habits) and his constant anger and guard had lessened somewhat over the years on the road.
“Will our team be reformed?”
Kakashi shrugged. “That’s not for me to decide, now, is it?”
Sasuke rolled his eyes, continuing on their new track towards Suna. They had allies to support, and they couldn’t waste anymore time.
Ren signaled her group to stop. They had taken a full 34 hours to cross the distance into the Land of Wind, mostly by water and then by land, and now she could sense their opponents ahead. Now was the time to work out a strategy, even if they were a ways away from Suna, where the mission statement had said the main threat was.
She was terrified. Mei had told her she was aiding Konoha. The chances of her being found out were high, and as a result she wasn’t to give away more details than necessary about her stay in Kiri. She wasn’t allowed to go back with them either, though that went without being said.
She had her Genin, after all.
“Our allies are pursuing two jounin-level threats, and based on mission parameters, they’re likely Akatsuki.”
Suigetsu (Jong-Min, since Hunter-nin relied on Korean address forms for their missions, the added layer of anonymity being a protection) stood behind her, her second-in-command by default. The other two, Kim Jeong-Hwa and Park Soo-Jung, were shinobi she hadn’t worked with before, but they were a strong team from what she had heard.
“Jeong-Hwa and Soo-Jung will pursue the threat to the East, work with the Konoha-nin, ne?”
“Ne, Seonbae.” She wasn’t older than either of them, but she was in charge in this mission. That’s what mattered.
“Jong-Min, you’re with me.”
The squad split into pairs, and Ren stopped Suigetsu and herself just before the battle. She could sense Gai-sensei and Genma, as well as Gai’s team.
They were just meters from Hoshigaki Kisame. Technically, he was their target.
Unofficially, they had been informed, they were to aide Konoha and Suna in whatever way they could.
“Split and go around. Come in at him from the North, I’ll distract him for now.” Suigetsu hesitated, palming a seal on his coat. “That was an order, Jong-Min.”
He nodded, taking off. Ren, Riko, Chae-Seon…
Whoever she was in this moment, she was ready to fight for her village. Villages.
Running through hand signs, she prepared a water whip, shunshining in to the left of where Kisame was charging in at Neji.
Gai didn’t know what to make of the masked Kirigakure shinobi that appeared by Hoshigaki Kisame and started attacking. She didn’t speak, and instead engaged in what appeared to be a complicated dance to avoid while striking blows with senbon or her whip, trying to create openings for Gai, even though they had never met.
Something seemed oddly familiar about the way she fought, but every time he saw it, it disappeared.
Gai came in, hoping to shield his already run-down team from any further damage. For all his yelling about the power of youth, he knew when he or his comrades were worse for wear. Shiranui might hide it better, but Gai knew he was suffering from the deep gash he had sustained along his arm and part of his side earlier in the fight.
“God damn it, you cunt! Who the hell taught you?” Kisame had been cursing and throwing attacks around non-stop since she had shown up on the field.
The woman didn’t respond, instead ducking around another attack. The way she moved triggered something in Kisame, though, and the shark-man laughed as he dodged a kick from Gai. “You’re that bitch Zabuza started teaching, aren’t you? What’s it they’re callin’ ya? The Bloody Flower?
“Alright, Akagi-chan. Let’s play.”
Ren ducked the blade, feeling it skim part of her hair that moved slightly slower than she did.
Now would be a great chance to jump in, Jong-Min…
In his usual style, Suigetsu jumped into the fight with a quick and loud strike from Shibuki, throwing Kisame off balance enough that Ren has a chance to slip in, her own sword in her hand, and aim a strike to his chest.
He deflected, but the wound on his arm would be enough to slow him down, if only slightly.
“Took you long enough, Jong-Min.”
“Eh, Deongsaeng, what did you think I was doing? Sniffin’ flowers?”
Gai faltered a bit as they speak. Korean was the natural for Hunter-nin, especially on the mainland, but this mission was as much about inter-village cooperation as it was about anonymity.
“Ilbeon-o marseyo. We have company.”
Suigetsu nodded, jumping in front of her, switching languages without a thought. “You take a second, get them filled in. I’ve got it for now.”
Ren nodded, falling back towards where Gai stood.
“Hello, sir.” Pretending she didn’t know all of them, when Neji gave her a glare that clearly said he knew something was up. “My comrade and I were sent as back-up aide.”
“Nice to meet you, Hunter-san! I am Might Gai! The Beautif-“
“Beautiful Green Beast of Konoha? I have heard of you, Gai-san. It is a pleasure to meet you.” Introductions were being made to a soundtrack of explosions and multi-lingual cursing. That sounded about right, when she thought about it. An accurate picture of her everyday life, all things considered, just slightly more deadly.
“AH! Truly? You have heard of me?” Not the right thing to say, then.
It was Genma that tried for a name. “That missing nin, he called you –“ But his statement got cut as another explosion rocked the ground under them.
“Deongsaeng, catch!”
Suigetsu was flying towards her, thrown by an attack of the Samehada. Quickly creating a water wall, Ren flew into action.
“Don’t kill yourself, you idiot!”
“Didn’t plan on it!”
The Konoha nin jumped into action, though Ren was quick to land behind Genma and to glance at Gai’s team. “Please, get yourselves out of the line of fire. I will be along soon to provide medical assistance.”
“Hunter-san, I am afraid I can not take that order!” Lee was standing straight, despite his injuries.
“Konoha-san…” She was technically supposed to defer to them, as her team was a reinforcement force, but these were people she considered friends. She didn’t want them in the line of fire.
She had to stop thinking like Riko, though, and think like Akagi Ren. They weren’t friends, they were teammates on the battlefield. She couldn’t take this moment and wasted it. “Fine. Konoha-san, as reinforcements, we defer to you.”
Neji stepped forward. “Hunter-san, we appreciate your help, however all of our skills would best be applied to the fight at hand.”
“Ne, Sunbae.”
“Is the little bitch done yet?” Kisame was sneering at Suigetsu, though he was addressing her.
She hadn’t meant to throw out the Korean terms, or to address them as her superior, but old habits died hard, and being in this uniform brought out a lot of older habits she didn’t feel like correcting. Instead, she responded to the taunt and jumped into action alongside Suigetsu. “Jong-Min, Nuibari!”
The name of the sword was enough to get Suigetsu to catch onto her plan. As he dodged the next strike, he backed out, giving Ren a chance to throw out senbon with wires attached, creating a small web around their opponent. She had developed this based on some of Haku’s attacks with the Nuibari, though it wasn’t nearly as deadly.
Channeling a small amount of chakra into the wires, snagging against Kisame, who redirected his attention, she got an idea.
She hated using lightning chakra, but she had to admit that if this went well, she would owe Suigetsu a drink.
The lightning ducked down the wires in small amounts as she dodged a strike, keeping her hold on the wires. They cut into one side of Kisame while she upped the amount, causing the man to twitch in response. “You bitch!”
“Damn, Deongsaeng!” Suigetsu came down from above, preparing an attack while Genma threw some of his needles at the man. “Should give a guy a little warning before you bite like that!”
“You wish, asshole.”
Genma laughed as he got an opening for a more direct attack as the wires were cut and slashed by the Samehada. “Should you really be fighting with each other right now?”
“Better here than when Haku’s around.” Suigetsu huffed, coming in with the Shibuki towards Kisame’s head.
“Who the hell is Haku?” Genma ducked another strike, getting grazed lightly down his arm, as Ren laughed.
“Our teammate,” she glanced at Suigetsu, knowing she was going to regret her next words. “Though he might be Jong-Min’s boyfriend. Not really sure on that one.”
“You little bitch! We aren’t dating!”
Before he could go too far in his tirade, Ren had shunshined away, getting behind Kisame while he was ever so slightly distracted by Gai charging from the side, landing a strike to his back with a kunai.
Better than nothing.
Kisame twisted around, glaring at her. Suddenly he stopped, glancing less than a second towards a rockface that blocked off some of their vision. “Well it looks like I’ve gotta go. You might wanna go check on those friends of yours, Akagi-chan.”
“Jeong-Hwa, Soo-Jung…” Ren froze. “You son of a bitch!”
“You shouldn’t have split up…” the snicker that followed him as he turned and left was irksome enough, but the way he started to disappear as Ren gave chase sent her into another fit of anger.
“Chae-Seon! Calm the fuck down!” Suigetsu had shown up in front of her and blocked her from going further. “I’ll stick with the Konoha-nin, you go after Soo-Jung and Jeong-Hwa. Understood?”
“I swear to Kami, Jong-Min if you don’t get out of my way right now!”
“I don’t give a fuck who you swear to, you’re not in your right mind. It’s always been the second you start switching languages and charging in without a plan I take over. Now do as your fucking told, understood?”
Ren scowled at him before taking off. “Son of a bitch.”
“Maa, Riko-chan, that’s a nice disguise.”
As if this could get worse.
Soo-Jung had avoided looking the Uchiha in the eyes since Jeong-Hwa had gone still. “He’s just in a genjutsu, he’ll be fine.” That’s what this prick had said.
She could really use some help right about now.
Throwing a barrage of kunai at the man, she shunshined fast enough to send some senbon at him.
But that fucking Sharingan told him half a step ahead of time. Fucking Uchiha. If she ever saw another Uchiha, she would gut them and leave them to die because at this point, they were nothing more than a thorn in her side. A toxic, festering, obnoxious thorn.
She felt the chakra before she even realized who had come to help her, and she was silently praying thanks to every god she had ever heard of.
Ren wouldn’t let her die. She never let a teammate die.
She was suddenly damn glad she was on a team with a woman with that kind of reputation.
“Sunbae!”
The water whip enclosed the Uchiha’s wrist, as he hadn’t expected the intrusion on their fight, but it was a second that Soo-Jung used to her advantage. Swinging in with her kunai, she slashed toward his neck, missing, but placing a nice gash on his arm.
Make that bastard think twice before fighting Kiri shinobi.
Two Konoha shinobi were behind her (which reminded her – the pink-haired chick and that team with the dog-boy got out of here, right? They weren’t in the area anymore…) and the younger one was glaring murder at their opponent.
“You dragged my younger brother into this, Riko-san? That was rather reckless.”
“Yo, ugly!” Soo-Jung sneered behind her mask. “Who the fuck is this Riko-chick you’re talking to?”
“He’s talking to me, Soo-Jung. I’ll explain in-village. For now, just focus on the fight.”
“You have too many names, Sunbae. I’m holding you to that explanation, too.”
Ren ducked into the fight, throwing a hit into Itachi’s side after using two feints – one for a right hook and the other for a push-kick to his chest. She didn’t celebrate long, getting out of his reach as fast as she could.
“Get Jeong-Hwa and leave. I’ll follow you.”
Soo-Jung nodded, launching herself toward their teammate and grabbing his body, running away from the fight.
Getting out from under Itachi, she prepared to leave.
“RIKO!” It was Sasuke, Kakashi was keeping Itachi occupied. “What about your team?”
“I’m helping them, Sasuke.”
“But –“
“Ask the Hokage. She’ll be more than happy to tell you, I’m sure.”
And she was gone.
It fucking burned, though, leaving Sasuke and Kakashi behind. Even if it was only to let her team regroup, it stung.
Kakashi recognized the situation when she left - she was team leader, she couldn't let someone run off without making sure they were safe. He couldn't explain it to Sasuke midfight, though, so it would have to wait.
Still, he hadn't thought she would come back, but she did, surrounding Itachi with the two remaining members of her team, the three of them taking personal offense to him doing harm to their other teammate, the one with the J-name. They really did have strange names, now that he thought about it.
The commands she shouted weren't in Japanese, though, and that was stranger. All three of the shinobi seemed to understand each other perfectly, though, and there were jutsu and attacks flying around the Uchiha, who suddenly peered at the sky before shunshining away. All three of the hunter-nin were trying to sense him, just as Kakashi was, and he was sure Sasuke was.
He was gone.
Kakashi, for all he wanted to ask, decided against it, signalling Sasuke. If she was undercover, they may have already done enough damage.
She had said to ask the Hokage, and he had every intention to do so. The first question?
Whose fucking idea was it to send a twelve year old into a war zone?