Chapter 97: Naruto : Uchiha : Chapter 97
The entire trip had been made in silence, everyone walking quietly with trained eyes searching for an imaginary ambush each passing second. It almost seemed believable that they were wishing for an ambush to take place so that their minds would be taken off the unnerving quietness settled around them.
Even Jiraiya, Duy and Tsunade, the most carefree trio of the party, were quiet as a cucumber - testament to the volatile atmosphere surrounding them.
Things between Samurais and Shinobi had hardly been anything but friendly in the past, the former standing up for even the smallest of chores if it called on their honor as warriors while Shinobi were anything but honorable - they were only in it for the money or other forms of gains. Betrayals, back stabbing and mutiny were hardly even surprises anymore for their creed.
Differences made them seem night and day to each other.
Needless to say, both parties held a hateful amount of resentment for the other. Mifune, leading his patronage, eyed the backs of the two genin walking in front of him with a hint of curiosity. More specifically the bold symbols embossed on the back of their necks, "May I ask you something?" he broke the silence.
"Hmm?" Naruto hummed nonchalantly, "Shoot." he shrugged.
"Why do your clans wear your clan symbols so openly?" he asked. "Aren't shinobi supposed to hide their clan names from any and all enemies, or so I've heard?" he questioned in a small attempt to make small talk and learn what made these dishonorable monsters tick.
Surprisingly, "It's a matter of pride." it was Tsunade who answered him. Flicking her ponytail left to right, she locked her hands behind her hips and smiled.
"Since olden days, our clans have been unquestionably strong. Not hiding our identities was supposed to be a testament to the powers our clansmen possessed.
The four noble clans are the only ones who did this at first, with many others trying to imitate us over time. Most of them forgot about it or just thought it to be too much work, but the noble clans stuck to their codes loyally." she answered in a knowing tone.
"Really?" Mifune asked halfheartedly, "I never would have put words such as honor, loyalty and nobility near the creed of you ninjas." his tone was demeaning, and the shameless snickering of his henchmen behind him was doing anything but riling up a volatile princess way too much for her liking.
"You wouldn't be the first to make that mistake." Naruto chimed in before his female accomplice blew a gasket.
"The Senju, The Uchiha, The Uzumaki and The Hyuga aren't feared as the noble clans for no reason, take my word for it. They are the best of allies and worst of opponents" had it not been for his carefree tone and bored expression, it might have been deemed a threat.
"let history be witness to all those who stood against them, be it enemy or ally, not one has ever survived the wrath of the honorable four." he added wisely. Hiruzen stood silently in the back, relishing in observing what it was that had intrigued his father so much to take on this particular genin for his student.
To make the man who hated teaching, become a teacher.
Mifune though, caught the slight wavering in his words, "Them, you say?" he asked. "You speak as if you're not one of them." he added his own two cents, eyeing him cautiously.
Naruto hadn't expected him to look so deeply into his words. Narrowing his eyes on the road ahead and glancing back at him with an unsettling smile, "You read too much into it." he simply replied, effectively cutting their conversation to an abrupt halt.
"Uh, hey?" Jiraiya nudged Sakumo's shoulder to gain his attention. "Yeah?" asked Sakumo.
"Is there something wrong with your team?" stiffening at that, Sakumo eyed him suspiciously. "Why would you say that?" he inquired.
"I don't know, I mean each one of you is trying to maintain their distance from the other. Even that guy with the freaky eyebrows is awfully silent." sighing, Sakumo shook his head wordlessly and motioned for him to drop it for now. This was hardly the place to discuss their internal matters and problems.
Frowning, but knowing when not to be a prude, Jiraiya dropped the topic and went back to brooding at the unfair positions his sensei had assigned to them.
He had wanted to take point, with Tsunade no less!
But, no…!
It had to have been someone else, Naruto no less!
Being the sharpest eyes of the bunch and the best front line fighter of the bunch, Hiruzen had deemed Naruto to be a better choice for guarding the front of their envoy along with Tsunade.
Clearly, he had seen the hints of hostility between teammates of his father's squad, and found it wise to let them have their space to sort things out - time was the best healer in cases like these. Tsunade had been anything but disappointed, instead, she seemed elated, overjoyed even - something that annoyed Jiraiya to no ends.
"Jiraiya, keep your eyes on the road." chided a smooth voice, "Ambush happens when you least expect it to, after all." bristling in anger, said boy leveled a murderous glare at Orochimaru's smug looking back. The teasing edge to his words wasn't lost to the white haired boy, and he looked ready to pull the mane of his hair out with his bare hands.
It was hardly his day.
Ignoring the bickering going on behind his back, Naruto took in all the serenity of these unknown lands with the curiosity of a five year old. West of the road were steep plateaus, providing them with natural shade from the overhead sun.
Beige and rugged, they stood tall like watchtowers standing proud on their stony summits. To the east, the grounds were lower while getting deeper and deeper with each step until the land melded with the water flowing beneath the bridge, far in the distance.
The bridge itself being the only way to cross the border between Fire Nation and Grass country. As mesmerizing as the view around him was, it unnerved him to no end. An emotion reciprocated equally cautiously by Hiruzen, Sakumo and Orochimaru. This was the perfect spot for an ambush. To make things worse, everything was calm.
Way too calm.
No hoots of baboons, zero chirps of birds - each of them knew from experience what that meant. Eyes bleeding crimson, the black marks in his eyes swirled lazily in concentric circles. Like a predator eyeing his prideful lands, his sinned eyes took in each little flicker of the leaves with vision rivaling that of a hawk.
Out of everyone's eye shot, his little finger clasped Tsunade's in a soft clasp. Tilting her head aside, she eyed him curiously. His words were anything but what she had expected to hear;
"We are surrounded."
Stiffening, her hand subtly dug into her hip pouch and gripped a kunai tightly. Gulping uneasily, she let the dreaded words slip past her lips.
"How many?"
Eyes darting around, Naruto signaled Hiruzen with a subtle nod that was reciprocated equally stiffly.
Both of them knew.
"Too many."
That was all he said before all hell broke loose. Harshly clasping Mifune's arm, Naruto vanished in a bolt of lightning just in time to escape the deadly volley of metal stars that would have rained down on them a second later. Landing by his side, Tsunade expanded her senses and looked towards her sensei for orders.
"Split up." the man mouthed.
Unsheathing the sword slung on his waist, "What's the meaning of this?!" roared Mifune, looking at the corpses of some of his unlucky comrades with rage filled eyes.
Naruto would have face-palmed and made a sharp comment had it been any other day, any other time. Instead, "It's an ambush, let's go!" he told him
Clenching his jaw tightly, Mifune followed Tsunade for directions while Naruto flanked the rear for fending off any enemy attacks. Hopping branch to branch, the blonde cursed Mifune's mobility being restricted only to running and started cleaving down wired traps laid down all around them.
He was certainly aware of all the samurais running behind them, following their master like lost puppies.
But the main priority right now was Mifune himself.
Skipping a step in his hop, Naruto pushed enough chakra to the soles of his so that the bark of the tree cracked, and barreled himself to Tsunade's side, only to watch the scene unfold in vain.
He helplessly watched the raging inferno flowing in from ahead of her in horror, he couldn't make it not matter what!
"Water Style : Tearing Torrents!"
Launching a cannon of concentrated water from the river by her side, Tsunade's technique plowed through the flames like butter.
She breathed in relief when Naruto landed by her side, a gesture shared by her accomplice. She knew he was the only one right now who could see anything farther than ten meters away from them in the thick steam settled around the area from those colliding techniques.
But that was hardly the case right now.
"Keep your senses trained Tsunade, someone is purposely channeling chakra into the mist. Even my Sharingan cannot fully neutralize everything, so don't drop your guard." he whispered, pushing his back against hers to widen their peripheral vision.
He could feel the slight trembling of her body from his back when a wave of potent killing intent washed over the forest, "Tsunade." he called quietly.
"Y-Yes?"
"Calm down Tsu-hime, I'll stay by your side."
His soothing words doing the trick, he could practically feel her breathing return to normal. Peeling his ears to hear the soft clanging of metal, he knew Mifune and the other Samurai were engaging some sort of enemies on their own. But the real enemy was lurching around them, them being the shinobi among the bunch.
Twisting his hand to the back of his neck, he grabbed Kiara by the scuff of her neck and dropped her on the ground. "Go girl." he whispered. The cub soundlessly obeyed his command and dissolved herself in the mist. Now, with another pair of eyes trained on them, Naruto crouched down and placed two fingers on the ground.
Pulsing a small amount of chakra into the ground, he felt it go no more than ten meters to his left before it was disrupted. Grabbing Tsunade by her waist, he jumped back and rightfully watched a chained sickle swing in on the spot in annoyance.
The enemy was trying to get rid of them quickly, that was for sure.
Tsunade though, had already had enough of this mist.
Clapping her palms together, Tsunade churned a humongous amount of chakra in her gut and blasted it out all at once. As a result, the air around them cleared a bit and Naruto's eyes trained in on the silhouette of an averaged height, muscularly built man.
Blonde hair, a bit danker than Tsunade's own, the man was wearing a weird hat on his head and the lower half of his face was obscured by a strange helmet-like respirator mask. His headband had four vertical lines embossed on it.
Whoever the hell it was, he was no ally.
No Rain shinobi was an ally to the Leaf.
...
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