Nobara's Spiel

             Nobara had been following team seven for almost three hours when she had noticed they were being stalked by two individuals, unaware that they, too, were being stalked. Which raised a red flag, and she couldn’t help but question, why were they being followed? Was this bridge builder being tracked for the same reason as Asahi the merchant? If they had not attacked yet, they must be waiting them to be far from any signs of civilization. And Nobara waited for them to attack, so that their target may be revealed. Thus, if casualties were going to be made, she was going to have to intervene. She made sure to always be vigilant, made sure the two foes after team seven was always in her sight.

Then, the girl (which Nobara recognized was Sakura) started to ask questions, some of the trivial questions she had once asked her sensei too. Sudden vivid memories resurfaced as if she was only reminiscing them only from yesterday.

“Hey, Asahi?” She remembered calling to the merchant, and asked, “do you have ninjas in your country too?”

“Unfortunately, my country is too small and isolated to have one of them. However, our neighboring countries do.” He replied, as he rode the cart he sat on.

“Don’t you have a shinobi village?” Hiroto then asked, curiously.

“No.” Asahi replied, shaking his head.

“Why?” Kazuki queried next.

“Well, it’s a bit hard to explain… I’ve no knowledge of the politics as I’m only a simple merchant.” He chortled.

“Hideyoshi-sensei must know.” Nobara then stated and all three of Hideyoshi’s students turned their attention to him.

Sheepishly, Hideyoshi began, “well, most of the large countries have ninjas, meaning that they have existing shinobi villages, which are also called hidden villages – but that’s matter of preference, I suppose. Anyways, like most countries, the culture and traditions are different in each country, each have their own system for recruiting ninjas. To the countries of the continent, the existence of these shinobi villages means military power. This is how they maintain advantages over one another. Though, it’s not that these villages rule over the countries, they merely stand equal with their country’s government. A small country like Nami no Kuni doesn’t benefit much to the larger countries financially and politically and therefore may not need a shinobi village. Within the many shinobi villages, Konoha, Kiri, Kumo, Suna and Iwa are large and powerful, and referred to as ‘the Five Great Shinobi Village’. And these are the only countries whose leader receive the name ‘Kage’. In all, there are ‘Five Kage’: the Hokage reigns over Konoha, Mizukage over Kiri, Raikage over Kumo, Kazekage over Suna and Tsuchikage over Iwa. They reign over the thousands of ninjas in the world.” He finished.

“So basically…only the rich countries have hidden villages?” Kazuki then asked, his curiosity taking over. “How come?”

“It’s all a matter of money, unfortunately.” He answered before shrugging. “Although, there was a law that was passed in our country recently, stating that any villages and/or small town from smaller neighbouring countries could demand and buy services from the shinobi villages.”

“I’d go over to the small neighbors and fix their problems myself if I was the Hokage, our current one is getting extremely old and should sit this one out…” Kazuki expressed, almost too proudly.

Hideyoshi-sensei snickered, “You think you can beat the old man?”

“I can beat up any old person.” The dark-haired boy was quick to reply, which made Nobara and Hiroto cackle.

“The fact that you said that so confidently.” Nobara tittered and Hiroto continued, “I feel bad for the next old soul that crosses our path.”

“That’s not how I meant to sound like!” Kazuki defended himself, an embarrassed blush creeping its way to his cheeks and the bridge of his sunkissed nose before chasing after them. But soon, they erupted into laughters. “I’m just bummed we won’t get to fight any bad guys along the way.” Kazuki said as he, Nobara and Hiroto pretended to fight, throwing fake punches and kicks at one another, like they had been doing for a few months now. Their childish game ended with them pushing one another and laughed as they did so.

“I highly doubt we’ll come across any in our path… it’s only a C-rank mission, after all.” Hideyoshi sighed, stuffing his hands into his pockets.

She remembered how much she prided herself to learn from her sensei, to sponge up every bit of knowledge, wisdom, and lessons he had to teach her. If there was some sort of compensation for all that she endured at the academy, Hideyoshi-sensei, Kazuki and Hiroto were it. A salvation for all that she had suffered during most of her childhood, she would even say. They felt very much like treasures she had stumbled upon when she most needed it. But that was before they lost their lives, now living only in her memories. At times, even after their deaths, she would almost wait for Hideyoshi to call for a team meeting, to train, or even invite them over to grab a bite. A bittersweet reminiscence. It was clear to her what she had to do; to make sure that any tragedy of the kind doesn’t happen again, so no one could suffer the pain she suffered.

The same smell, same scenery, and the familiarity of it all only made room for concern in Nobara’s mind. She was brought back from memory lane when suddenly, from the single puddle of water team seven had just passed, two cloaked men with masks emerged.

Unbeknownst of travelling group, the men were preparing an attack against the team leader, Kakashi. Caught off guard, the squad was too slow to react as Kakashi was already caught into the enemies’ thick, barbed chains, ensnared into an unescapable trap. The two foes pulled, straining the chains from opposite sides, slashing through the team leader’s body. Blood splashed everywhere as the dismembered body parts fell onto the sandy ground, shocking his students. Screams were ensued from the group. Their reactions were appallingly slow, Nobara had moved before the two men could go for their next victim, a strong wind manifesting as a dust devil destabilized everyone around and in the midst of it appeared Nobara.

Two members of team seven’s senses were dulled with shock and fear, she could see them unmoving as statues from where she was standing, with their bodies frozen with fright and disbelief. It was easy for her to use the wind to toss them away from her and the foes, far out of harm's way.

Now she could focus solely on the two enemies. She unsheathed her wakizashi blade. With the weapon in her hand, she bolted forward, wrapping their barbed chains around her blade, tensioning, and locking their chains before planting her sword deep into the ground. In their astonishment, she sought the opportunity to strike the foe on her left first. With her blade still buried into the ground, she kicked the man's legs out from under him, sending him falling on his side and with her wakizashi still lodged in the earth. Before he could recover from his fall, she quickly pulled her sword free and swung around the chains with all her might and wrapping them around him, tearing his clothes and flesh, ensnared him tightly in his own chains. The second foe was already charging towards the bridge builder with the intent to kill. She spots the Uchiha getting ready to attack the foe.

"No." She frowns as she kicked her foot on the ground, the chakra gathered on the sole of her feet gave her a burst of speed, putting herself in between Sasuke and the foe, pushing them once again with the dust devil surrounding her. Quickly, she took out a kunai from her holster (attached to her left thigh), and muttered, "Bāsuto seigyo," before throwing it with high velocity at the last foe standing and stabbing his sides, staggering him in the process.

Team Seven had only had time to blink before they saw her standing above the enemy, with Kakashi holding her back from finishing off the foe.

"Not just yet, they may have some use to us still." Kakashi spoke up, and Nobara seemed to calm down.

"Kakashi-sensei!" The pink-haired girl exclaimed out of relief. "You're alive."

"And so are you guys, thanks to you." Kakashi turned to the newcomer, but she still seemed in a daze. He then turned to the blonde-haired boy, who had a minor injury on his hand. "Naruto, I'm sorry for not helping you right away. I got you injured. I didn't think you would freeze, but thankfully, she was here just in time.”

"What the hell was that for?" Sasuke approached Nobara, scowling at her.

Nobara could only glare at him, a loathing glimmer flashing through her lilac irises. "I just saved you."

But even before the young Uchiha could utter a word, Kakashi said, “Save it for later, Sasuke." His sensei intervened, grabbing him by the shoulder. Kakashi then turned his attention to Naruto and said, "We have to tend to Naruto first, their claws are soaked in poison. We have to remove it quickly. We must open the wound and release the poison from your body. Don’t try to move much, or else it will spread even quicker.”

The boy, known as Naruto, suddenly seemed anxious and worried about the scratch on his left hand.

“Tazuna…” Kakashi called, turning to him with a somber look.

“W-what is it?” The man in question stuttered.

“I need to talk to you.”

And so, the sensei approached the other who was still tangled in his barbed chains, making sure the one locked in his arm was unconscious before he tied them tightly together. “These guys are chunin-class ninja from Kirigakure, they are known to keep on fighting, no matter what.”

“How did you read our moves?” The conscious twin glowered at Kakashi.

“Well, when it hasn’t rained in three days, a puddle of water seemed rather out of place.”

Nobara had heard many things of Kakashi the Copy-cat ninja. And briefly, she was admiring how perceptive and observing he was being, the ability to foresee potential danger out of a puddle of water was nothing but impressive.

Tazuna then spoke up, “then, why did you let this kid fight them off if you knew that?”

“If I wanted to, I could’ve killed these two in an instant but…” Kakashi side-eyed him, frowning before carrying on with his sentence, “there was something I needed to find out first, who was their target?”

“What do you mean?”

“Don’t play coy now, old man.” Nobara hissed at him. “Tell them what happened to Yamamoto Asahi.”

Tazuna’s own reaction betrayed him, concretizing Nobara’s suspicions. He looked shocked and surprised to hear the name. It was as if he had just seen a ghost.

“This was supposed to be a simple protection mission until you complete the bridge. If you had mentioned that ninjas were after you, this mission would have been an expensive B-rank. And I’m sure you have your reasons, but it causes problems when you lie about the mission details. We are now operating outside of our duties.” Kakashi scolded the older man for his actions and his blatant inconsideration towards his genin students.

Tazuna lowered his head in shame, mumbling something to himself while Sakura replied, "we aren't ready for this mission, let's quit. Naruto needs medicine for his wound, so we should go back to the village and take him to a doctor." Anyone could tell she was embarrassed to even ask to retreat, but it was wiser to do so.

"Hm... it might be too much." The sensei of team seven began and continued, "I guess we should return to the village to treat Naruto."

Nobara could see it was upsetting the boy – that such thing was suggested on his behalf. And so, to everyone's dismay, the boy grabbed a kunai from his pouch and jabbed it in his own hand, opening the wound even more.

"Naruto!" Sakura shouted in panic. "What are you doing?!"

Nobara watched as his blood fell onto the ground, staining the soil red as he pledged, "With this blood, I pledge to complete this mission until the bridge is completed and I swear to protect the bridge builder with this kunai knife, believe it."

Nobara couldn't help but notice how Naruto's eyes were full of determination as he spoke those words. It was almost admirable. But also, she couldn't tell if it was a smart or a completely idiotic decision on his part. He might have been releasing the poison from his system but, he was also losing a lot of blood. But what was said next by Kakashi only confirmed her second assumption about the blonde whiskered boy. "Naruto, it's good that you are releasing the poison out of your system, but...any more and you'll die from lack of blood."

The boy gave a grim expression before it turned into sheer panic and fear. "No! That's bad! I can't die from something like this!" Then Kakashi approached him, holding out a hand to him before saying, "let me see your wound." And crouched down to Naruto's eye-level.

"What are you some kind of masochist?!" The pink-haired girl scolded him, hands on her hips. "Do you want to die?"

"I don't want to die!" Naruto cried out while Kakashi looked at him with a serious look in his eyes. "H-hey sensei, um, am I going to be... ok?"

While team seven were focused on Naruto, Nobara walked over to Tazuna. "So, you do know Asahi?" It came out more like a statement rather than a question, to which Tazuna responded with a nod of his head. "And do you know why he died?" She then asked, coldly. The old man was quiet, anyone could see the guilt through his expression. "It's because he lied to us. And I guarantee you're lying to them as well."

Tazuna's face was ashen and pale. "You were with him." He stated. His eyes were filled with sorrow and regret as he muttered, "he...he never intended to do that. It was never our intention to bring you harm."

"Our?" Nobara's brow furrowed, and continued, "you mean to say there were more people involved?"

"We had our reasons." Defended Tazuna, looking defeated. Letting out a sigh, he continued, "but you're right. I need to tell them..." Which Nobara found a little satisfaction in.

"You mean to tell this isn't the first time it's happened?" Kakashi then spoke up,

"Sensei, we have to talk." The old man finally said, finally ready to confess.

Kakashi nodded, giving him a chance to explain himself. The older man then clasped his hand before whispering, "It's about the mission details... and you were right, this mission is most likely outside of your duties."

☽☾

"YOU FAILED?!" The small rapacious man in a tailored suit yelled at a much bigger man than he. Perhaps it was the tall bodyguard next to him that gave him this false sense of superiority, but the small wealthy man kept shouting, "that's twice in a year your men have failed to return from their mission! It’s only a matter of time before somebody notices something! Do you know how much money to hire ALL of you because I've heard you were skilled ninjas?! You're not getting paid until that bridge builder is killed!”

The man sitting on the couch in the end of the room sighed, before he met his gaze. He wore bandages that covered his mouth and nose; he was shirtless and wore loose cargo pants; he was muscular and tall. He was mysterious, something horrid was hiding under his calm, collected facade. And for a moment, the small man faltered, fear written in his eyes as the missing nin rose the sword right under his chin; the cleaver he was wielding was as tall as he was and as heavy as the hand of death.

Futilely, the opulent man’s bodyguard tried to shield him from the mercenary’s executioner blade.

             “Stop bitching,” the missing nin from the hidden mist had spoken up, staring back at his contractor. “This time, this head-slicing cleaver and I will personally see to it… and kill them.”

             “Are you sure? It seems the enemy has hired some skilled ninjas. And with the failure of the demon brothers, they’ll be more cautious.”

             There was a brief silence before the man replied, “who do think I am? There’s a reason why I’ve been given the name the devil of the Hidden Mist, Momochi Zabuza.”