Chapter 33: Chapter 32
Chapter 32
With their mission accomplished, there wasn't anything more for Kaen and his team to do. They found and retrieved all the information they needed to put Gato's business down. Yet instead of leaving, Kaen rounded up his team and sat nearby the bridge, where mist started to rise, surrounding Kakashi, Sasuke, and Pinky.
"Kiba, go to the town and beat down all the ruffians that are there," Kaen ordered, and Kiba gave him a feral smile before running off. "Hinata, go to the bridge builder and defend him with the pinky. Shino, keep your distance and help those you think need it."
With orders given, Kaen used transformation jutsu, turned into an owl, and flew up. He watched as a masked boy with long black hair engaged in battle with Sasuke while Zabuza and Kakashi observed. Kaen was impressed with how well Sasuke efficiently handled the black-haired boy, deflecting attacks and counterattacking.
The boy couldn't even touch Sasuke as he was kicked back to Zabuza. Even then, Sasuke didn't let his guard down and prepared for another attack. Yet even he couldn't have expected to be surrounded by ice mirrors. Kaen saw confusion in Sasuke's eyes as he had never seen a jutsu like that.
The masked boy turned tables as now Sasuke was surrounded, and the black-haired boy moved from one mirror to another, throwing senbon at Sasuke. The large needles didn't even graze Sasuke as his training with Kaen paid off, and he dodged them. But Sasuke was still surrounded and could do nothing to counterattack.
It might seem that Sasuke was cornered, but Kaen could see that Sasuke followed his attacker's movement with keen eyes and tried to discover a weakness in the jutsu. Even Kaen had to admit that this jutsu was quite impressive. As long as one was trapped inside it, not much could be done to escape. One needed quite a lot of strength to break it.
The mirrors deflected Sasuke's fireball knocking him back. The ice was sturdy, and it indeed seemed like there was no way out of the jutsu once you were trapped. Sasuke was getting progressively more tired, and senbon started hitting him. Yet he didn't panic and still tried to observe and see a weakness in the jutsu.
When Kaen started to consider interfering, he saw Sasuke's eyes. They turned red with one black tomoe swirling around. Suddenly he could dodge the senbon, catch them with his hands, and throw them back at the black-haired boy who moved from one mirror to another. It didn't change anything, as Sasuke was still stuck and couldn't hit anything.
As Sasuke's situation worsened, dozens of shuriken flew, hitting every mirror. It did nothing. The shuriken bounced off the mirrors and stuck to the bridge's floor. With a plum of smoke appeared a certain blonde. Kaen observed from the air as Naruto declared himself and tried to make shadow clones, only to be shut down by shuriken from Zabuza flying at him. Senbon deflected the shuriken, and Naruto looked around, shocked.
As everyone looked at Naruto like an idiot, he only smiled in embarrassment to run straight into the black-haired boy's jutsu. Now he was stuck with Sasuke inside, defenseless. As Sasuke was about to comment on Naruto's stupidity, the shuriken on the bridge exploded into all kinds of colored smoke.
Kaen smiled. Naruto had seen through the weakness of the jutsu with only one glance. Blocking the black-haired boy's sight, together with Sasuke, Naruto punched one of the mirrors, shattering it and escaping the jutsu. Zabuza looked surprised, and the black-haired boy returned to his side. Both of them were now facing Kakashi's team.
This time Kakashi himself stepped in with kunai in each hand. Zabuza rose to the challenge and, with his massive sword, moved forward to meet Kakashi, not before ordering something to the black-haired boy. It was hard to hear anything from the air, but Kaen saw the boy throwing senbon at Naruto and Sasuke, but instead of attacking them further, he moved to the pinky and the bridge builder.
Before the black-haired boy could attack them, Hinata jumped from underneath the bridge and stopped the black-haired boy. The Kakashi team was surprised at Hinata's appearance. Before the black-haired boy could do anything else, insects clung to him, and Shino walked in from a distance.
Seeing the situation, Zabuza tried to cut down Kakashi, but his sword was blocked or dodged. The black-haired boy struggled to fight Hinata, with Shino supporting her. Soon enough, Naruto made half a dozen shadow clones pushing the black-haired boy away. Sasuke, with a mighty kick, smashed the mask of the black-haired boy and knocked him to the ground.
"I think that's enough," Kaen appeared above the black-haired boy and put his boot on his chest. "I wouldn't want to kill the last member of the Yuki clan."
"Hmph," Zabuza looked at them, seeing he was outnumbered. "He is just a tool."
"Is that so?" Kaen asked, pressing his boot harder at the chest as the black-haired boy coughed in pain. Kaen saw a flicker of worry in Zabuza's eyes. "Even so, I suggest surrender. You are outnumbered and won't get paid even if you beat us. Gato will be gone."
"Let him go," Zabuza demanded.
"I will if you drop your weapon," Kaen replied.
"No," The boy beneath Kaen's boot grabbed Kaen's leg. "Run, master Zabuza."
"Don't be stupid," Zabuza laughed and dropped his weapon. "You couldn't hold them back long enough for me to escape. Especially not from the Hunter."
"I am sorry, Master," Haku said before Kaen kicked him over to Zabuza.
"What is this?" A new voice announced himself as many men walked up the bridge. "Well. It doesn't matter. Take care of them all."
"Sorry, sensei," Before Gato could say anything more, he was knocked to the ground with Kiba on him. "Someone beat up the ruffians inside the town, so I came back."
"Do not kill them," Kaen said and motioned Hinata and Shino to join Kiba in beating Gato's men.
"Hey, I came first," Naruto joined them soon after.
The fight was over in an instant. Kakashi hadn't even finished tying up Zabuza when it was over. Kaen told Sasuke to tie up the men and leave them to the townfolk to deal with them while he took Gato. He will have many things to answer. He will be sent to Daimyo and will be judged by him. From Kaen's information on Gato, the judgment won't be light.
…
After finishing talking with his captives, Kaen let Zabuza and Haku go. He didn't care about them; he only captured them to get information about Hidden Mist. They didn't know much, only that Mei Terumi was gathering forces and allies to overthrow the Fourth Mizukage and take control of the village.
Kakashi, at first, didn't want to let them go, but Kaen knew how to convince people. He explained that killing or containing them wouldn't benefit either side. Letting them go would put them in our debt, even if they have no reason to repay it. At least it showed Konoha's goodwill for Hidden Mist village.
"Naruto!" As Kaen and Kakashi talked, they heard Sasuke yelling. "What did you do to my boots?"
"I have no idea what you are talking about," Naruto replied, trying and failing to hide his snickering.
"My boots weren't so tight yesterday," Sasuke snapped. "Tell me where you put my real boots before I kill you."
"Naruto!" Before Naruto could reply, Kiba came running and yelling. "What did you do to my clothes?"
Kaen smiled, amused as his student came wearing clothes too small for him. The sleeves of his jacket only went to his elbows, and his shirt couldn't cover his stomach. His pants were more shorts than pants. As Naruto ran away from them, Kaen gave him a high five as he passed him. It was a good prank. Kaen had to admit.
After explaining their mission, Kaen's team stayed together with Kakashi's for a bit. The town became festive as all the ruffians that bullied townfolk were lynched and exiled from the town. Gato was still tied up and held in a shed. After some rest, Kaen decided it was time to return to the village, while Kakashi stayed a bit longer.
…
Having to drag Gato along with them made Kaen's team slow. Kaen put his frustrations into training his students, putting them through vigorous regimes every day of walking back to the village. Kaen knew what awaited next to them, and he wanted at least one of his students to pass the chunin exam.
When they reached the village, some people thought that Kaen's team had gone through the war with how tired and worn out they looked. Kaen dismissed his team and let them rest for today while he delivered Gato to the interrogation division, where he would tell everything he knew and then be transferred to the capital city.
After finishing his work, Kaen rushed home to check on Ash, as he worried about him. Seeing that Ash was fine, Kaen decided to rest too. He was disappointed he didn't have a chance to fight a worthy opponent, but he felt elated to see Sasuke unlocking his sharingan. Kaen felt proud of the brat.
"Oh, Kaen, you returned," Anko was first to find him as he was having dinner in a nearby restaurant.
"Kaen-san," Asuma came after Anko with his team behind him.
"Sarutobi," Kaen greeted back. "I hope you are not corrupting the children, Anko."
"None of that," Asuma waved his hands. "I asked her to help Ino make some of the poison. I know nothing about it."
"Poison?" Kaen got interested and turned to the girl. "What kind are you trying to make?"
"Ah," Ino blushed for a moment before regaining her composure. "I wanted to make something that would let me use my family jutsu on other people more easily. Something to make people relax or something."
"Hmm?" Kaen nodded in understanding. "If I am not wrong, Yamanaka clan jutsu works best against those who can't focus."
"Yes, to slip into another mind, I need to have more focus and willpower than my foe. And to possess someone is tough. So, I thought if I could make my opponent unfocused or something like that, it would help me big time."
"You mean, I thought it would help you," Kaen recognized Nara's heir.
"Shut up, nobody is talking with you," Ino smacked Shikamaru's head before returning to Kaen. "Sorry for interrupting you, Uchiha-sama."
"No need to worry," Kaen smiled at patted her head. "Try using cannabis flower. Once processed, its smoke can make people relaxed. Just don't use it on yourselves. You are too young for that."
"Thank you, Uchiha-sama," Ino bowed her head.
"When are we going to eat?" Choji asked.
"Well, why not join me?" Kaen asked and let Anko and Asuma's team sit at the same table.
"Why so kind?" Anko asked only for Kaen to hear.
"I left my money at home," Kaen whispered back. "I thought to dine and dash, but then you show. Let's make Asuma pay for our dinner."
"I didn't know you could be so romantic," Anko smiled in agreement.
Kaen and Anko ordered the most expensive dishes and finished them before Asuma's team finished eating and then apologized that they had to go before leaving. It took a couple of moments after Kaen and Anko left for Asuma to realize what they had done. And from the loud groan they heard, Asuma didn't like it.
"So, how was your mission?" Anko asked.
"Boring," Kaen replied as they walked through Konoha streets. "I didn't even see Kakashi beaten up, so I can't make fun of him."
"It can't be that bad, right?"
"Well, I did switch his Icha-Icha books with edited ones," Kaen smiled. "He should soon realize that men replaced all the women in the book."
"He is going to kill you," Anko said seriously. "And how did you manage to get the edited books."
"It will still be worth it," Kaen replied. "Being a Jiraiya student, I edited his works. Sometimes, when bored, I change things to mess with people."
"Could I get a copy?"
"What?" Kaen turned to Anko.
"I am just curious about that all," Anko quickly tried to defend herself. "I wondered if your version was more interesting."
Still suspicious of Anko's real thought, Kaen hesitated but, in the end, gave one copy to her. Mistakes were made; even if Kaen didn't realize it now, he would soon regret it.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone