Chapter 11
Chapter Eleven:
The dinghy is rather small and Naruto is pressed between Sakura and Sasuke, feeling much like a sardine packed into a tight can. Around them, the water ripples as they sail across the lake to the land of the waves.
There's a thick mist obscuring everything from sight and Naruto's nose wrinkles. He tries to scent the air, but there's nothing to smell except for the murky water and the dampness in the air. He can't even discern his teammates' scents, the hint of tangerines and plums barely existent. Naruto feels trapped ━ like a mouse held down by a starving cat. He wants nothing more than to get back onto land, where he's steady and surrounded by scents which he can discern into emotions.
Out here, sailing across the lake, pressed between Sakura and Sasuke, Naruto feels his mask slipping. Lately, it's been happening too often. He isn't sure why.
Naruto ducks his head, balances his elbows onto his knees and holds the palms of his hands over his face, hoping to hide the itching need to provoke emotions from out of everyone around him.
It takes him a moment to notice, but a thick blanket of Kakashi's scent ━ prickly and earthy, like lightning scorching the earth ━ spreads throughout the mist filled air. He lets Kakashi's scent wash over him. It guides the growing tension away from his shoulders.
"...did you do that on purpose?'' Naruto asks quietly, raising his head. He shifts atop the bench, turning his head around to glance back at Kakashi.
His so-called sensei, who's lounging across the back boards, hums softly. Kakashi tilts his head, his one grey eye following the movement of Naruto copying the tilt of his jaw on pure animal instinct. "Sensei won't be answering any of your questions until you answer one of his," he says, smiling beneath his mask.
The line of Naruto's mouth curls into a scowl. He turns back around to duck his head and hide his face with the palm of his hands, his bony elbows cutting into his bony knees.
"What was that about?'' Sakura asks, her voice coming across as a whisper. Her shoulder presses into Naruto's as she leans fully into him, her pink hair brushing lightly across the boy's cheek.
"Nothing," Naruto answers, rubbing the pads of his fingers across his closed eyes. He doesn't bother pushing the girl away, knowing it's useless on such a tiny dinghy.
"Is Kakashi fishing for information about your skills?" Sasuke questions, the curious tone in his voice obvious.
Naruto feels an oncoming headache. What is it with Sasuke and his growing need to know everything about Naruto? So what if he was hiding his full potential at the academy? It doesn't change the fact that Naruto still can't make basic clones, let alone know how to apply a mediocre genjutsu.
Amusement, soft and rich, permeates through the air, swirling between Kakashi's thick, ozone-like scent. Finally, Naruto almost sighs in relief, an emotion I can copy.
Naruto snorts. "Nah," he says, pulling his hands away from his face and raising his head. "He's trying and pretty much failing to manipulate me. If he wants to know anything about me, he'll have to up his grovelling."
"Ha," Sakura slaps her knee. "That's hilarious." She leans back to give Kakashi an unimpressed look. "Good luck, sensei."
Kakashi makes a wounded noise. "I'm being bullied by my adorable pups once again━"
"━We'll be able to see the bridge in a minute," one of the guides pipes up, accidentally cutting Kakashi's whining to a minimum. "On the other side of it is Nami no Kuni; the Land of the Waves."
Team seven squint their eyes to see better through the thick mist around them. True to the guide's words, they come into contact with a large, uncompleted bridge.
"It's huge!" Naruto and Sakura chorus, peering up at the mixture of wood and cobblestone over their heads. Beside them, Sasuke makes an unimpressed face.
"Keep it down!" The other guide warns. He lowers his voice, switching off the motor at the rear end of the dinghy. "The mist will keep us hidden, but from this point on we have to turn off our engines and row. We'd be in big trouble if Gato caught us."
Kakashi raises a single, thin brow and shifts closer to his pups. He knocks his knuckles twice against the bottom boards of the dinghy and murmurs, "once we get back onto land, there will be no separating. Am I clear?"
Before his pups can answer him, Tazuna, who has been quiet since the start of their sail, speaks up. "There's something you should know… about the request for help I made to your village. As you guessed, this job is more dangerous than you and your students were led to believe." He ducks his head, the curve of his straw hat covering his face. "There's a real scary man who wants to see me dead."
"And he's not the only one," Sakura mutters beneath her breath, making Sasuke chuckle lowly.
"A 'real scary' man?" Naruto asks, wrinkling his nose in distaste. His voice is soft and quiet, aware that if he raises his voice in annoyance, he and his teammates will undoubtedly be spotted by enemy ninja.
"You've probably heard of him," Tazuna says gravely. ''He's a billionaire in the field of marine transportation. His name is Gato."
"You mean…" Kakashi settles himself back onto the back boards, shifting his gaze upwards, towards where the mist is the heaviest and thickest. "Gato of Gato shipping and transportation? The Gato? They say he's the richest man in the world."
"So we're dealing with a businessman?'' Sasuke scowls, displeased by the revelation.
"That's what he is on the surface," Tazuna explains, "the truth is, he's a ruthless, murdering criminal who employs gangs and teams of shinobi, and traffics in drugs and contrabands." The man pulls out his trusty bottle of stale sake and takes a generous sip. He wipes his mouth clean with the back of his hand and continues on, tying the bottle back to the rope around his waist. "He starts out taking over companies and ends up running entire countries. He lives by every low and vicious trade known to man."
A weary sigh escapes the man's mouth. "It was just one year ago that Gato and his men━"
Naruto yawns, effectively cutting Tazuna off. Beside him, Sakura leans her chin into the palm of her hand, looking equally as bored.
"We get it," the girl says, "as the architect of the bridge and overseer of its construction, you're in the businessman's way."
"That means the chuunin who attacked us earlier were working for Gato," Sasuke supplies. "If all his men are as weak as those two, then we should be fine."
"Theoretically," Kakashi says, "we don't know if Gato hasn't employed any missing nin to stop us from completing our mission.''
"Either way," Naruto stands to his feet, tucking his hands into the pockets of his orange pants, "none of us are dying on this stupid, underpaid mission." He balances atop the edge of the dinghy and jumps off, making the tiny boat jostle from side to side.
"H-hey!" Sakura calls after him through the slowly thinning mist. She squints her green eyes, easily spotting Naruto standing on land. There are thick trees up ahead, surrounded by a foliage of bushes and an uneven path.
"Finally," Sasuke mutters, following after Naruto. The dinghy jostles once more and Sakura puffs up her cheeks like a chipmunk, hurrying after him.
"Something smells… off," Naruto frowns, scenting the air. He catches a whiff of nature, earthy and alive, followed by moss, the wild scent of small land animals and something cold and wet, something that reminds him of snow.
Sasuke copies Naruto, scenting the air, just as Kakashi and Tazuna join them on land. "You're right," Sasuke clicks his tongue, "it's… snow?"
"Smells like it," Sakura joins in. "Though I'm not really seeing any. There's just this forest, right? And the town's supposed to be on the other side." She turns her attention to Kakashi. "Ne, sensei, what's with the weird scent in the air?''
"Hm?" Kakashi tilts his head back. His nose twitches beneath his mask.
While he detects the smells in the air, Naruto closes his eyes. He concentrates on the snow-like scent, barely a wisp of a thing, and lets his senses take over for him. The scents in the air get sharper, more clear. Next, the sounds around him become louder, more amplified. Naruto furrows his brows, counting the amount of heartbeats he can hear. One, two, three, four… five, six… seven…eight…
A soft, little sound, barely audible, catches his attention to the right. Naruto snaps his blue eyes open and throws one of his regular kunai towards the direction. A second later, a startled rabbit with a white coat jumps out from within a bush, scattering away in fear.
"Well, now I'm just confused," Sakura says, holding her chin between her thumb and forefinger. "I understand the seasons are different in every land, depending on where the village is built, but I know for a fact that wave country is supposed to be in spring right now… and that, " she sniffs, pointing her finger in the direction where the rabbit ran off to, "was definitely a winter hare."
Sasuke's face does something complicated and Naruto doesn't even have time to decipher it, because a sword launches towards them from up above the tree line and Naruto's body moves without his consent.
"Everyone take cover!" Kakashi yells, just as Naruto activates his flying raijin, tackling both Sasuke and Sakura to the ground with the jutsu, safely transporting them further down the uneven path.
Sakura yelps from underneath Naruto, gazing up at him with wide green eyes. Sasuke's breath comes out harsh as he pushes Naruto off, heaving himself up into a sitting position. The three scramble to their feet, aligning their sights to a large broadsword, shaped like a butcher's knife, lodged into the side of a tree. The design is clearly used for decapitation.
Balancing atop the sword is a man ━ a shinobi ━ who's hiding the lower half of his face behind a set of bandages. When he turns his head, Naruto spots his hitai-ate which rests on the side of his temple and head.
"The hidden mist…" Naruto trails off, watching as the man's dark eyes shift from Kakashi to Naruto.
"Well, well, well," Kakashi dusts himself off, hiding Tazuna behind him. He peers up at the mist ninja with one, narrowed grey eye. "If it isn't Momochi Zabuza. I heard you defected from the hidden mist, and yet your forehead protector isn't slashed. Feeling nostalgic?"
Zabuza's dark gaze moves ever so slowly back to Kakashi. He shifts atop his sword, crouching low. "Hatake Kakashi of the sharingan eye, I presume? If it wouldn't be too much trouble, could you surrender the old man?"
At the mention of the sharingan, something that Naruto knows solely belongs to the Uchiha clan, Sasuke visibly flinches, his face once again making a complicated expression.
"I'm afraid I can't do that," Kakashi says, reaching for his hitai-ate. He lifts the side up, aligning the metal across his forehead properly to reveal his other eye. Three tomoe surround the pupil, laying in a pool of blood ━ Naruto is a little bit distracted by the sight of it.
"This is truly an honour," Zabuza reaches down to wrap his hand around the handle of his sword. "First, I'm gifted the sight of the mini yellow flash," he laughs good-naturedly, "it is him, isn't it? That blonde, blue eyed brat? He's a Namikaze, yes?" Zabuza nods to himself, as if already knowing the answer. "And now I get to fight you, the man who has copied over a thousand different jutsu… Kakashi, the copycat ninja."
"Dear god," Sakura mutters, scrubbing her hand down her face at the information.
Whatever she's feeling, Naruto can't bring himself to copy it. There are too many things at play right now for him to emotionally keep up. Naruto grits his teeth, his fangs scraping together.
"Pleasant as this conversation has been," Zabuza exhales a soft breath, undoubtedly grinning beneath the bandages wrapped around his face, "the time for talk is over. I'm on a very tight schedule to get rid of the old man." His grip on the handle of his sword visibly tightens, "unfortunately, Kakashi, it looks like I'm going to have to kill you first!"
With one swift movement, Zabuza yanks his sword from within the tree and jumps towards the lake, landing smoothly and safely atop the water. With his sword now attached to his back, Zabuza performs a simple hand sign, one hand tucked to his chest, the other raised towards the sky. A moment later, he vanishes out of sight, shrouding the whole area in a thick layer of mist.
"H-he's gone!" Tazuna trembles.
"Shit," Sakura curses, pulling out a kunai. Instantly, she pulls Tazuna behind her, standing guard. Sasuke takes a second longer to move, copying the girl. There's sweat trickling down the side of his face and Sakura doesn't look any better, her fingers trembling around the handle of her kunai.
Naruto steps forward, past his teammates and Tazuna, and slips his hand into Kakashi's, startling the jounin. "Here," Naruto murmurs, channelling his chakra down to the palm of his hand. A swirl of orange and blue travels along Kakashi's arm, before it settles along the side of the man's neck, creating a small, delicate seal along his pale skin.
"I won't lose sight of you this way," Naruto explains, stepping away and into position to guard Tazuna's life. "It's temporary, so don't get too smug about it."
Kakashi huffs, trailing his fingers over the seal. "He'll come after me first," he says, "Momochi Zabuza used to be an ANBU of Kirigakure. He's a master of the art of silent killing." Kakashi moves, scenting the air as he goes, "I can't use the sharingan to its fullest potential yet, so keep your guards up," he warns.
Easier said than done, Naruto thinks rather sourly. Sakura is downright terrified and even Sasuke looks paler than usual, shifting his gaze unsurely from side to side.
Naruto mulls over his options, wondering if he should copy their frightful expressions. In the end, it wouldn't do him any good, not out here, not whilst there's the chance of them all being executed.
"Move," Naruto orders, changing the formation of their group. He shoves Sasuke to the side and takes the middle, grabbing a hold of both Sakura's and Sasuke's wrists. He takes a deep breath and exhales it slowly, channelling chakra down to his hands. Just like with Kakashi, a mixture of orange and blue chakra flickers up Sakura's and Sasuke's arms, before it settles over their necks and seeps into their skin, creating a seal.
"What … what is this?'' Sakura awe's.
"It's the seal from Naruto's kunai…" Sasuke audibly swallows, looking at the blonde boy with wide eyes.
"It's temporary," Naruto releases their wrists, annoyed at having to mark them, "don't get used to it."