DISCONTINUED

15 | C H A P T E R

THEIR FOOTSTEPS WERE SLOW

no progress on their journey to the country of waves. Or at least that's what they thought, in front of them was the beginning of their troublesome mission— The Land of Waves or known as The Zabuza and Haku Arc.  She dreaded the upcoming events, ahead of this would be the Chunin Exams. Why couldn't she just sleep forever? Without any unnecessary absurd dreams. Unaware of her surroundings, [Name] let out a yelp of shock as her feet were met with cold mushy water.

The Nara let out a sigh of dismay, even walking was beginning to be such a drag. Her momentum stopped— this was the puddle that started it all. The puddle that would soon start trouble. Scowling in distaste, the Nara continued to walk. She has no reason to engage with the enemy yet. Thought maybe she could cease Naruto wound in the fight, but than again why would she do that? His process of healing is remarkably fast thanks to the nine tail fox. But considering there's four of them with the added plus of Tazuna their enemy would have a different attack strategy.

A clank of chains rattled behind them, startling them out of their ease. [Name] watched Kakashi clone get shredded into pieces, the chains ripping him apart. Her eyes narrowed, this was different— everything about this was different. Her heart thumped against her rib cage, adrenaline roaring through her arteries. Everything felt like it was in slow motion, it all felt so real— but it was impossible. None of this was real, she was stuck in a dream— So why? Why did she feel this way?

Their next opponent was Naruto. Who was frozen in shock no doubt— what a troublesome teammate he is. Sasuke appeared next to them just like in the anime, he had launched his weapons at their designated aim. Their chains pinned down by his shuriken and kunai. Unluckily for the five of them, they had managed to break free of their chains. One of them was aiming at Sakura and Tazuna while the other was aiming for her and Naruto. Her hands were quick to form the rat seal, her shadow coming alive and lunging for their opponent.

Surprisingly enough Kakashi had managed to save them at the nick of time. His entrance was cold and quite refreshing to be honest. He had the demon brothers by his mercy. ❝Naruto, sorry I didn't help you right away. I didn't mean for you to get hurt, I just didn't think you'll freeze up like that. ❞  The Nara winced, it was a low blow. She didn't know if it was meant to be an insult or hidden parental disappointment. ❝You're not hurt are you? Scaredy cat ❞ Sasuke teasing was enough to rile Naruto up.

❝ Naruto! Stand still, these ninja have poison in their claws. We need to take it out of you quickly. We must open the wound and remove it. It's in your blood so don't move around that spreads the poison by the way Tazuna we need to talk— ❞ There was a hint of urgency laced in Kakashi tone of voice. The way his stare pierced Tazuna soul had caused him to shiver in fear. With the help of Kakashi and her other teammates they had successfully ❝ Their Chunin from the Hidden Mist. Their specialty is relentless attack they keep fighting no matter what the sacrifice ❞

One of the brothers huffed in dismay, shifting against the ropes. ❝ How did you know about us? ❞ Kakashi smiled carelessly, his ego flaring ❝ Well a puddle— Not you, the girl ❞ The Chunin growled, interrupting Kakashi. His head nudged towards [Name] who was currently falling asleep. The Nara was startled out of her nap, was pouting from the abrupt awakening. Rubbing the back of her nape she couldn't help but mumble out her catchphrase ❝Troublesome— I suppose it's wrong to keep information away from others. I'm a sensor type. I can sense chakra around us. ❞

She waved her hands with a mock smile, eyes narrowing down at them as if they were nothing but stepping stones towards her goal. ❝ And I suppose the puddle was also a clear give away, I'm surprise you made it past Chunin❞ While she spoke in her know it all attitude, Kakashi had a grey cloud looming over his head. ❝ In that case why'd you leave it to the Genin to do the fighting? ❞ Questioned Tazuna, trying to wrap his mind around the situation. Kakashi pondered in thought ❝ I could have taken them out quickly but than I'd have learned nothing. I had to know who their target was— and what they were after ❞ His eyes narrowed, landing on Tazuna.❝ What are you getting at?❞  Tazuna shot Kakashi a nasty glare, he took a quick swing from his drink

❝ This— I wanted to know if they were after us. Shinobi attacking shinobi or if they were after you, the master bridge builder. When you put in your request you asked for standard protection from robbers ans highwaymen you didn't say they were ninja looking for you— hunting you down. If we knew this it would be a B-Rank mission or higher. Our task was simply to get you to your destination and protect you while you finished building your bridge. If we knew we'd be fielding attacks from enemy shinobi we would have staffed differently and charged for the cost of a B-Rank mission. Apparently you have your reasons for lying but lying to us is not acceptable. We are now beyond this scope of this mission. ❞

[Name] couldn't help but smile inwardly. She knew Kakashi was exaggerating to the extreme, she knew he could take care of himself and her teammates against a an A-Rank Shinobi but could he against an S-Rank? If only he knew— if only he knew just how exceeding this mission would turn out to be. ❝ We are genin, this is too advanced for our level of training. We should go back and I really think we should treat Narutos wound and get the poison out as soon as possible. Back in our village we can take him to a doctor. ❞

Kakashi hummed, keeping a cool and collected facade  ❝ Naruto's wound could become a problem— ❞ Cut off with a grunt of frustration coming from Naruto, he angrily plunged his kunai into his wound. The blood splattered across the grass, his voice coming out firm and honest as he made a small pledge to protect Tazuna and surpass Sasuke. A blur of images glitched out before [Name's] eyes, the blood splattered on the ground had increase into a large pool of blood. With a body laying in the middle and a drunken man stumbling out of the scenery

Her brain stuttered for a moment. Every part of her body was on pause while her thoughts tried to catch up. She steadied her breaths to try and calm the panic stirring in her. Her lips quivered, pupils blown as she stared down at the corpse. She wanted to scream, she wanted to yell but no sound came out. No one could help her, not because she refused their attempts.By contrast she believed she needed therapy succeeding this. After all how can someone stay sane while looking at their dead body on the ground?

❝ Hey! [Name] let's go! We're holding up everybody, my wound is all fine now, ya know!❞