บท 61: The Blood Monarch
"Happy Birthday Naru-chan!" the blonde was enveloped in a crushing hug.
"Thanks, granny" Naruto had a stupid smile on his face.
"Hey tot, I heard there is a party here"
"Shut up Ryu-kun, Happy Birthday Naruto-kun"
"Hug, Umino-nee!" Naruto extended his hands towards Ryuichi's girlfriend.
"Okay, don't stand in the corridor, get in people!" Kaname's head popped out from the kitchen doorways.
"So how old are you tot?" Ryuichi asked.
Naruto counted on his fingers, "Four?" he asked unsurely.
"Little Naru-chan can count to four already? Did your sister teach you that?" Sachi patted the boy's head.
"Hehe, Sasa is bestest!"
"He doesn't have any problems with counting to five, but he learns fast" Kaname replied.
"Just like his mother"
"Aniki, I think you forgot about your last trip around Konoha naked"
"I would like to see that!" Umino hurriedly replied.
"Okay, enough of that. I have enough trouble sleeping while you two are home" Sachi's words made the pair blush heavily.
"Mom!" Kaname yelled.
"What?"
"I would like to know the details, it's a perfect blackmail material"
"That's a big nope, that won't happen, never!" Ryuichi denied her request, covering his mother's mouth with his hands.
"What talking about?"
"Don't worry about that Naru-chan, just adults talking" Sachi easily liberated herself and pampered the blonde.
"You are spoiling Naru-chan every time you see him"
"Oh, Kana-chan, it's the duty of a grandparent to dote on their grandchildren. Saying that." Her head turned towards Ryuichi and his girlfriend, the corners of her lips went upward "Hearing what you two are doing, I hope I will get at least one more grandchild to pamper soon"
"*Sigh* Okay, enough mom. Change the topic, please" Ryuichi replied, Umino hiding behind his back blushing madly.
"Heh, nice one!" Kaname laughed.
"Thanks, Little Butterfly. Now, what about you? You gave me a grandchild, but you still lack a partner"
"Yeah! In your face Little Squirt! Haha"
"I'm sixteen mom, I still have time for that"
"Sixteen and a half. You know that I won't mind if you take a man or a woman as your partner, right?"
"*Sigh* Aniki was right, let's change the topic…"
"How did your first C-rank mission with your team went Little Squirt?"
"Like all the other C-ranks Aniki"
"Give us the details Kana-chan" Umino requested.
------
(Flashback no Jutsu - a week ago)
"Hokage-sama, if the cat runs away one more time. I promise I will let my insects deal with it once and for all" Torune's hands had bloody gashes.
"Wow Toru-kun, I did not expect that from you, still, I fully agree" Koji commented on normally stoic Aburame words.
"I understand, so what do you want to do today? As you caught Tora, you can choose the following mission yourself. There is a request for plowing the fields, another one for raking the Training Ground 11, hmm, oh there is one for taking out all ninkens of Inuzuka's for a walk"
"I think Team 7 will take the doggies for a walk Jiji" Kaname replied.
"Isn't there anything more exciting? I think we're ready to leave the village" Izumi asked to the general agreement of her young teammates.
"Kana-chan?"
"*Sigh* Kids, the world outside is dangerous, are you sure you are ready for that?"
"Yes"
"Yes"
"Affirmative"
"Okay, if they say so. What have you got for us Jiji?"
"Two possibilities, one borderline C-rank mission, the Bamboo Village in the Yu no Kuni (Land of Hot Water) requests a transport of goods between our villages, the bonus for this mission is the use of their famous hot springs"
"Hmm, hot springs" Kaname voiced with Izumi repeating her words.
"Too booooring! What's the second option" Koji destroyed their day-dreaming.
"A small settlement west of Kusagakure called the hidden village of tall grass asks for help, their people are disappearing daily. The Village Hidden in the Grass did not help them, so they ask us. You are to investigate and eliminate the cause of disappearances."
"Ninja activity?" Kaname asked.
"Unlikely, it's too close to the Kusagakure for the enemy ninjas to walk freely. Highwaymen or some kind of beasts are likely to be present." Hokage informed.
"Much more interesting than the previous one!"
"But, my hot springs…" Izumi murmured.
"Oh come on Izumi-chan, I will go there with you someday later" Koji reasoned with her.
"*You wish Koji-hentai. I will go there myself!"
"I see you three decided on taking the mission, Kana-chan keep them safe, I don't have to remind you how your first C-rank went"
"Don't worry Jiji, they are more experienced than I was that day. Team 7, go home and prepare for a three-day-long mission. I will await you at the west gate" Kaname ordered.
"Do you want some help on this mission? I can order Guy, Kakashi or Yugao to accompany you. You know why those people always request C-ranks." Hokage spoke when the genins left the office.
"Thanks, but we will manage Jiji, if push comes to shove, we will just retreat. And yeah, most C-ranks are commissioned because the contractors lack the money for higher ranks"
"Just be careful out there Kana-chan"
"It's not my first mission, see you later Jiji"
"Bye"
One hour later Team 7 was traveling northwest towards their target.
"Sensei, what has happened at the mission Jiji was talking about?"
"My team was ambushed Izumi-chan, we were fighting against three ninja teams. From the wounds I received my heart stopped beating for a couple of seconds, luckily I was brought to the hospital in time."
"You? They were able to defeat you, sensei?" Koji asked.
"I was your age, and I fought alone against an entire team with a chūnin to boot, even I can be beaten with right odds Koji-chan"
"What can we expect on C-rank missions, sensei?" Torune asked.
"C-ranks are mostly qualified as non-shinobi fighting requests that deal with bandits, wild beasts, investigations or escorting people. Probably each one of you will have to draw the blood for the first time, I hope you are ready"
"Shouldn't we catch the bandits and pass them to the civilian authorities?" Koji asked.
"No, we don't have the resources to catch and escort the bandits to the closest hidden village. I hope that when you see one, you will deal with him swiftly. Now, we will get off our track, I need to travel somewhere close to Kusa"
"Which way sensei?"
"A little north from the village Torune-kun" Kaname replied.
Six hours later the sun started to hide behind the trees in front of the team in front of them stood a massive bridge made of concrete.
"Where are we?"
"This is the place that allowed us to stop the invasion of Iwagakure during the war Izumi-chan, it's called the Kannabi bridge. At the time we were heavily outnumbered, the only chance was to destroy two bridges leading into Fire Country" Kaname led them onto the overpass.
"Ah, I heard that story from my mom!" Izumi observed, "You almost singlehandedly stopped the Iwagakure ninjas and got your previous nickname here!"
"It was at the Tenchi Bridge, this bridge was supposed to be destroyed by my friends"
"Then why is it still intact, I mean we won the war sensei"
"You say we won Koji-chan? *Sigh* A propaganda taught in the academy, look over the railings kids" Below the overpass laid the debris of the old bridge.
"Are you implying that Konoha lost the war sensei?"
"No Torune-chan, I would say that there were no winners. Our oldest ally lies in ruin, Suna is still slowly getting up from its knees, and we lost hundreds if not thousands of friends and family members. The thing you see below is the natural tomb of one of my friends that gave his life to accomplish the mission, without his sacrifice many more people would die"
"I'm sorry sensei"
"Don't worry about me Izumi-chan. I just wanted to see his resting place, let's go now!" Kaname ordered in a loud voice while taking a last glance down and murmuring "Goodbye Obito-kun"
With the moon rising above the horizon they arrived at their destination.
'No guards or scouts, no wonder they're attacked' Kaname discerned, "Hey little one, can you lead us to your hamlet's elder?" she called to the black-haired boy running around the buildings.
When the boy noticed the new arrivals he instantly hid behind the crates of one of the buildings.
"They're scared of us," Torune said.
"Yeah, people are observing us from their homes" Izumi added.
"Then why would they request help from Konoha? We're not the bad guys here!"
"There is a fear ingrained in them Koji-chan, humans are scared of the unknown, especially the older generation remembering the war, they were raided by ninjas from Iwa" Kaname walked forward and stood in the center of the small village near the well. From each of seven earthenware houses in the village, she felt the eyes following her movements, "We're ninja from Konohagakure, we came here to respond to your request. I ask for an elder of the village to come forth and speak with us!" She shouted out.
"They're all dead, it was done by ninjas" the boy behind the crates shown his head.
"At last some information, now, who died little one, your elder?"
"Shinobi-sama. Please come in, don't bother with this little prankster" Woman in her thirties called them in. She gave the stink eye towards the boy, in response, he blew her a raspberry.
"Team 7, stay here" Kaname ordered, giving them the eye signal to talk with the boy.
"Thank you for coming from so far away" the woman greeted them in her house.
"Thank you, madam, could you tell me everything you know about the request?"
"I do not know much shinobi-sama, it began two months ago, our elderly started disappearing, after a quick investigation from Kusa they reported that the problem was a wild beast and that they dealt with it. The problem stopped, but a week later children started to disappear, the men of the village launched a hunt for the beast, none of them returned. Now the village is left with two kids, and several women only"
"So you don't know what is attacking the settlement? Miss, why were you treating lightly the words of the boy we met before, why did he say that it was the ninjas that did the kidnappings?"
"*Sigh* It was the Rintaro's father, our village armorer, that commissioned the mission in Konoha, the community was against it. Truth to be told, we wanted to request help from Iwa as it is closer, the man's wife was presumably raped and killed during the last war by Iwa shinobi. Now the boy heard too much about the hate from his only parent, and that's where his lies come from"
"I understand, how often the disappearings happen?"
"Every second night, sometimes more than one people vanish Shinobi-sama. As yesterday was calm, it will most likely happen this night."
"Alert everyone, they're to shut their doors and windows this night. With my team, we will try to repel the invader"
"As you wish shinobi-sama"
Kaname left the flat and headed to her genins talking with the boy, "Is everything okay?" she asked.
"Sensei, we need to talk" Torune replied leading her out of hearing range.
"So what did you hear from Rintaro-kun?"
"He did not trust us at the beginning sensei, fortunately, he and Sarutobi-san are similar in their behavior and were able to reach an agreement of some sort"
"And?"
"He told us that one night he was woken up by the sound of someone stepping on tea branches. Looking outside the window he noticed dark-cloaked men carrying bounded elder out of the village" Torune reported.
"Dark cloaks... Did the boy mention something about red clouds on those cloaks Torune-chan?"
"Negative"
"Good, and that's an order Torune-chan, if you see one, take your teammates and run away, they are way above Anbu tier, they are almost Kage's power level"
"... I will" he replied after a small pause.
"So we have don't know anything really, the woman talked about the beast lurking in the woods, the boy could have dreamed it, or he is telling the truth and we have to take care of a group of slavers or ninjas. Call your teammates to the woods outside the village, we have to talk"
A minute later Team 7 met, "So what are we going to do now sensei? If it's ninja we're dealing with, we should retreat now, it's above C-rank mission"
"You're right Koji-chan if it's a fight against ninja the mission should be classified as B-rank. Still, you can't exclude the possibility that we're against bandits, slavers or some kind of beast. I will let you three decide what you want to do"
"I'm up for staying here and helping the village, we're to at least know what we're fighting against." Izumi voted.
"I believe Rintaro-kun if the unknown force of ninja comes here it will turn into combat whether we're here for investigation or not. I vote for leaving"
"Rintaro-san is our age, his best friend was taken away or most likely died. If it's still possible I would like to offer my help to this village"
"So you are outvoted Koji-chan"
"I can see that sensei. *Sigh* It's a bad idea, but we're a team, what's the plan?"
"This night we will camp here, at least one of you needs to stay awake, you should swap every four hours for each one of you to get at least some shut-eye. I will not act until it's necessary, the defense of this hamlet is on your shoulders."
"Isn't it too much? We're just genins"
"No, Koji-hentai", Izumi replied, "We're shinobi, and we should accomplish our mission"
"I will take the first shift, I will wake both of you up if something happens" Torune assured.
At 5 a.m. high above the ground, Kaname was keeping watch lying on a tree perch. Coming from the east, she heard the sound of a group of people coming towards the village.
The force consisted of at least fifty burly men in rags and dark cloaks, behind them marched a chunky light brown reptile the size of a big house, after a second look she discerned that it was a crocodile. On top of its head rode a man in green jōnin flak jacket and scantily clad woman hooked up on the man's arm. Zooming in with her Sharingan she noticed a Kusagakure scratched symbol on top of the man's forehead protector, on his back, there was a long green spear. Kaname detected smidges of chakra, just above the chūnin level coming from the woman.
'Hmm, is he the crocodile summoner? Izumi-chan and the team won't stand a chance against a jōnin. I should let them deal with the bandits at the least, I won't have anyone in my team that is scared to kill their enemies' She observed next move of her genins.
(AN: I will change Naruto's character to be more ninja-like - his friend-zoning was weird for me, how could you not kill, as in deal the finishing blow, anyone in the ninja world? Haku - killed by Kakashi; Yura - there is a likely possibility that he was just a reanimated corpse; Kakuzu - once again, finished by Doofus; White Zetsus - just clones… And the list goes on and on...)
Soon the first arrow was shot, Izumi aimed it into the heart of one of the bandits but she barely missed, as the arrow punctured the body right off the man's sternum incurring a loud howl of pain. Before the rabble was able to react, another bandit had an arrow sticking out of his left lung.
'You're getting closer Izumi-chan, now aim between those two shots'
When the division sprang around looking for enemies, many of them fell dead to the hidden ninja wires spread around the forest. Many bandits had deep cuts around their necks and ankles, effectively disabling them from further combat. After five more arrows, one a little more intellectual, bandit noticed the side they were coming from and alarmed his friends. The bandits charged, after fifteen more casualties from the hidden wires and arrows, they finally saw their target.
Koji shot out an earthen javelin piercing through two bandits and swung with his three-piece-staff breaking the shoulder and ribs of the closest bandit. Behind him, a swarm of black insects rose and attacked the front row, eliciting a panic in their ranks. Kaname watched as Izumi cast a genjutsu making two brigands kill each other. When the numbers of highwaymen started dwindling from the forest came the oversized crocodile with two ninjas on top.
'Not bad for their first time, still, they need more training.' Kaname flickered to stand before the genins, kicking the last bandit alive towards the jōnin but the crocodile maw snapped around the body.
"Sensei!" genins shouted out.
"Good job so far, you did your part. This fight is above your pay grade"
"Who are you, little lady?" the missing-nin asked.
Kaname observed the face of her more dangerous enemy, blonde swept-back hair with a strand hanging down his face, sharp confident brown eyes, and mouth twisted in mockery.
'A-rank criminal from Bingo Book, Gaichū' she turned her eyesight towards the woman on his side. She had a lot less clothing than she should have, a voluptuous beauty, but from her facial expression, Kaname deducted one thing, the woman was dumb as a brick.
"I'm no one you should take notice of Mr. Missing-nin and his respectable donglicker" Kaname bowed in greeting.
"HOW DARE YOU, I'M HIS LOVER!" the woman screeched.
"You will die today, My name is Gaichū the Reptile, I believe you heard about me. I will feed you to the Kasshoku like the rest of the villagers!"
"Ah, it was the Reptile. Sorry, man, I forgot your nickname." Kaname replied without a care of his threats, "Now Izumi-chan, I saw you were using genjutsus, I will teach you a trick" Kaname drew two shurikens.
"Now is not the time sensei"
"Your genjutsu wouldn't work on a ninja above the genin class, it was too easy to discern for shinobis, it's not about a big splash with this art…" Kaname lightly threw shurikens aiming at the two heads of their enemies.
To Kaname's amazement, the man easily deflected the projectile with his kunai. The Screecher, as Kaname called her, drew a kunai from gods know where and tried to deflect the slowly flying weapon as well, instead of protecting her head she tried to block it near her heart. With a *Tunk* the star-shaped projectile dug deep into the woman's forehead.
"Eh?" Izumi was puzzled.
"*Tch*" the man clicked his tongue.
"It's not about making an entirely new world in the mind of your victim. It's about the little things Izumi-chan. Don't make your enemy see another being as it is hard to put a realistic body into his mind. Make him lose his footing by missing the unreal step, make him think that he lacks the chakra, or make her think that the shuriken is flying towards her heart" Kaname explained.
"Sensei, you are amazing…" Koji was baffled.
"You… She was a dumb bitch, but now I will have to look for another one, you will pay for that" the man said, "Kasshoku, eat" he kicked the dead body of the crocodile's head, with a loud sound of snapping bones the woman disappeared in the belly of the beast.
'It's not a summon, it's barely above a mindless beast… Did he tame it?' With this thought, Kaname took the decision, "I will leave this big pile of meat for you three to have fun with, don't get eaten"
"And how should we defeat something so big?!"
"It's relying on the instinct, you can plan. You're ninjas such beasts are your bread and butter Izumi-chan. Now, I heard you wanted to fight Gengo?"
"*Growl* It's Gaichū and you shouldn't be so confident I'm listed as an A-rank in Bingo Book!" he drew his spear, "Kasshoku, kill!" he ordered pointing at Kaname and her students.
'Wow the reptile is fast' Kaname turned her head towards the genins, "Be careful, the crocodiles have soft underbelly". She drew her blade and jumped towards the charging beast, Kaname dodged the opened maw of it, landing on the crocodile nose. With the additional support jumping platform, she was able to duck under the thrust of the green spear and slash with her blade towards the enemy jōnin. Her attack was blocked by the spear's shaft but with the relative speed of the attack, the man got tossed away from his animal.
She jumped after him, with the Sharingan, she noticed a steady stream of chakra coming from the beast towards the man, 'Ah, so that's why he resisted the genjutsu!'. The man stood up spinning the spear in front of his body, he crouched down leaving his left leg stretched out, his weapon was held just above the ground with the tip aimed right at Kaname.
'He has a longer reach with the spear than I have with a sword, but… <Fūton: Atsugai>' (Wind Release: Pressure Damage) she shot a tornado-like mass at her enemy. The man spun his spear catching the projectile, and with little difficulty deflected it away.
'So you will defend against any elemental projectile, <Doton: Kiretsu>' (Earth Release: Fissure) Before her enemy was able to thrust the spear at her, Kaname put her hands on the ground creating a deep, narrow crevice under the man.
"<Doton: Setchi>!" (Earth Release: Ground) he stopped her jutsu by creating a flatbed under his feet, getting a second of rest he attacked.
'Woah, what's with that speed?' Kaname barely dodged the thrusts aimed at her head, after the third one Gaichū pulled the spear back and swung it in an arch. Kaname ducked below the blade in backward dodge when the spearhead passed above her nose she noticed a couple of black hair strands slowly flying off with the wind.
Jumping to the side she dodged the overhead strike that crushed the ground beneath her last position, 'Strong, experienced and deadly with his weapon. Knowing my luck it's poisoned as well… Ah how much I lack the use of Mangekyo Sharingan, I could finish this fight in a jiffy.' Kaname took a defensive stance with her sword in front of her. She allowed the enemy to thrust his spear, deflecting it with her katana, Kaname found herself just a step in front of him, maintaining the impetus she punched him with her elbow to the face. Kaname slashed at the stunned enemy but was stopped by the blunt side of the long spear hitting her in the hip.
With loud clangs of metal going against metal Kaname deflected each of the strikes, 'I need more speed...' after a quick concentration of her chakra she activated her technique '<Chō Mōdo>'. Two red aura wings grew behind her back, with additional chakra she blocked the following overhead swing and led it to the side of her body before the man was able to block her she impaled his left shoulder with the blade and kicked him away.
"Guh! You are Kaname the Blood Monarch?!" the man asked holding his wound.
'Blood Monarch? Damn, is my nickname still in development? Well, Psyche-san is a milkweed butterfly also known as monarch butterfly' she theorized, "Yep, Kaname Uchiha, what do you think, we should end this now, shouldn't we?"
"It was a good fight. Sayonara, Kaname of Uchiha clan" He rose his spear in his hand readying it to strike at her.
"Yeah, you're not half-bad Gaichū" They both charged at each other.
"<Kai>" (Release) Kaname activated the seal hidden in the handle of her sword, her blade was enveloped by red flames.
With a sizzling sound, the head of the metal spear was cleanly cut through, Gaichū lied beheaded on the ground.
Hearing the sound of combat behind the lush forest, Kaname headed back to her students. Watching their fight she noticed they almost finished it, the crocodile fell into a hole dug by either Koji's jutsu or Torune's Kikaichū. And now they were bombarding the underbelly of the beast. With a last cry, the crocodile died.
"Good job Team 7" she walked out of the bushes.
"Sensei, are you alright? You just charged in, we were worried about you!" Izumi hugged her.
"Hehe, thanks, Izumi-chan. As you see, I'm alright. There is one more ungrateful duty to accomplish this mission"
"What is left?" Koji asked.
"Telling the families about their close ones Sarutobi-san"
"Don't worry kids, it's my job. You did good today, I'm proud of you"
Three hours and lots of tears later they were returning home. An hour after they passed by Kusa, the team heard the sounds of fighting coming from the north.
"Torune-chan, scout it out" Kaname ordered.
They had to wait for a moment before a buzzing insect came back and sat on Torune's finger.
"A big group of Anbu is hunting down a woman, most likely some kind of missing-nin. Can you repeat that?" he asked the Kikaichū, "The woman has green hair and orange tips" Torune finished her report.
"Kids stay here. That's an order!" Kaname charged north.
ความคิดของผู้สร้าง 
dahnik
dahnik Sorry, I had a lot of work this week :-/
Now, should I save Pakura or not? The choice is yours :-) I would love to hear your ideas and comments about the chapter :-)
If you found any mistakes please inform me :-) I don't like mistakes :-)