Iruka and the rest of Team Seven dropped in front of the border watchtower. Iruka held out the mission scroll as the guard approached. "Umino Iruka, jounin-sensei of Team Seven, here in response to the bandit clearance request." The guard smirked, a pair of red sunglasses covering his eyes.
"So, Iruka, why didn't you tell anyone you got promoted? We had to hear 'bout it from Kotetsu 'n' Izumo. What, you got better things to do than hang out with a buncha chuunin?" he cackled, clapping Iruka on the shoulder. "Seriously, man, we're all waitin' to hear what The Prankster Prince of Konoha does with the most OP team in years!" Iruka just sighed. "You never change, Noboru. What do you need us to do about these bandits, exactly?"
"All business, I see." grinned the newcomer, grabbing an odachi (a/n: big goddamn katana) and slinging it over his shoulders. "Right, I'm gonna show you where they're hiding, and then we take 'em out! Simple, right?" Naruto turned to his companions, grinning widely. "I like the way he thinks."
SCENE BREAK
"Okay, Naruto, I want you to use your clones to sneak in and give us an idea on their numbers. Sasuke, you take out the guards and be ready to catch anyone who leaves. Sakura, you watch his back. Once we have an idea as to what we're facing, myself and Noboru will move to suppress the bulk of the gang while you three pick off any stragglers. We all know what we're doing?"
"Hai, sensei." whispered the trio as they stealthily readied themselves to strike. A trio of clones henged into woodland creatures began their infiltration as Sasuke and Sakura moved into position.
3 minutes later...
"Damnit Iruka, we don't have time for this shit!" barked Noboru, drawing his sword and charging. "Let's do this!" he roared, charging headlong into the den, leaving behind a distraught team. "Oh dear Log, he just ran in." "Sensei, he just ran in there!" "I noticed! Scrap the plan, we've got to back him up!" called the commander of Team Seven, leaping after his friend.
"Mistakes were made! Mistakes were made!" called a retreating Noboru, followed by dozens of armed bandits. "Get back here, ya Konoha bastard!" Noboru grinned as he leapt onto a low branch. "You've stepped right into my trap! Now, Iruka, destroy them all!" Silence followed his proclamation. "... Iruka, they don't look very destroyed."
"Working on it!" hissed the jounin as he wove hand seals together. "Suiton: Daikozui no Jutsu!" he barked, calling up as much groundwater as he could to flood the area. The enemy, caught by surprise, as anyone would by the ground suddenly becoming a lake, began struggling to keep their footing. "Now, take them out while we have the chance!"
Noboru and Iruka charged, sword and kunai drawn, making quick work of the bulk of the group. Naruto and Sasuke charged in behind them, throwing kicks and punches faster than most of the goons could track. Sakura hung back, kunai at the ready.
"Got you, bitch!" snarled a voice as a hand snapped over Sakura's mouth, a knife at her throat. "Now, if you four don't want the girl's blood on your hands, you'll drop your weapons and surrender." continued the man, drawing the attention of the other Konoha-nin.
Iruka's eyes narrowed. "Kotei Kirai. Kusagakure has a bounty out on you after your attack on the daimyo." The missing-nin shrugged, keeping his blade firmly pressed against Sakura's neck. "Fat bastard had it coming. But enough reminiscing. Put your weapons down before I get... antsy."
Gritting their teeth, the older shinobi dropped their weapons with a splash. Sasuke and Naruto stood at the ready, arms hovering by their shuriken pouches. "Let Sakura-chan go, asshole!" Naruto growled, a hint of killing intent leaking out. "What he said." echoed Sasuke, sharingan glowing in the shadows of the forest canopy.
"Well, it appears we've found the weak link, then. Don't feel too bad, girly. If nothing else, you make an excellent hostage-" continued the nuke-nin before a stream of water erupted from the pool below, catching him full in the face. Sakura followed up with a headbutt to stun him, before spinning and knocking him away wiith an elbow strike. "Mizuryu no Jutsu. Don't just assume I'm weak," she grunted, before giving a distinctly Uchiha-like smirk. "Asshole."
He then burst into a cloud of grass cuttings. "You're not as bad as I thought, girly. But anyone can beat a bunshin. Now it's my turn to have some fun."
SCENE BREAK
Shikamaru groaned as he and Chouji heaved Asuma onto the bed, Ino trying to bandage his wounds and keep them from reopening. In his peripheral vision, he saw Tazuna explaining the situation to his daughter, Tsunami.
"Shikamaru, what do we do?" asked Chouji, worry etched into his face. "Now that Asuma-sensei's injured, what do we do about Gatou and his mercenaries?" Shikamaru shook his head, glancing at a pale, horrified Ino.
"We have to be ready for anything. Ino, take some of my and Chouji's supplies and start setting up some defences around the house and the bridge. Chouji, you and I will stick with Tazuna until we can send a message to Konoha for backup. Check some of Asuma-sensei's supplies as well, see if there's anything we can do with them." The other two genin nodded shakily, rifling through the packs they'd all brought. Shikamaru sighed. 'Troublesome... seems like I'm in command for the time being. So much for an average C-rank...'
"You're all going to die, you know." came the sullen voice of Tazuna's grandson, Inari. "No-one stands up to Gatou and lives. Just look at your leader." Shikamaru gritted his teeth. None of them actually knew how to help Asuma recover, only keep him relatively stable. "Why did you even come here? You could have stayed home and not gotten involved in all this."
"We came here because it was the right thing to do. Don't bother talking to me if you're just going to whine about things being impossible." hissed the Nara, uncharacteristically angry. "It's a pain trying to fight someone like Gatou, but it's even more annoying if someone like that just gets to do whatever they want. We're going to fight, even if we only have a tiny chance of actually achieving anything." The boy just rolled his eyes.
"Whatever. You don't know anything about suffering under a tyrant like Gatou." he huffed, wandering away. Shikamaru clenched his fists, before storming off to help Ino set up the traps. 'That kid... he really pisses me off...'
SCENE BREAK
"Jump!" Iruka barked, slamming a hand onto the surface of the water, now barely at ankle height. "Raiton: Raihadou!" he called, electricity flowing down his arm into the water, stunning the few remaining bandits. Kirai, however, merely stepped onto a tree trunk, smirking at his hired goons falling to the ground.
"Interesting use of techniques. Suiton and Raiton in conjunction? You must feel very proud of yourself." he mused condescendingly. "Still, to have an Uchiha placed under your command, you must be more accomplished than that. What do you say we skip the formalities, the warm-ups, and just go straight for the big guns?" he continued, eyes fixed on Iruka. He thrust his arms forward as he finished speaking.
"Kusagakure Hijutsu: Jigoku no Kakera!" he roared, chakra bursting out of him to form an enormous sphere, containing all six of them within a barrier. Naruto threw a kunai at the curved wall of chakra, only to have it repelled back towards him. "This is the technique I used to escape Kusa. If their forces couldn't break throught this, what chance do you have?" grinned their opponent, who seemed no worse for wear even after such an energy-intensive technique.
"Don't underestimate Konoha ninja, asswipe! Kenkousen!" roared Noboru, firing a wave of chakra from his sword and charging headlong at his opponent. "Just who the hell do you think I am!" he continued, throwing a punch that smashed through the tree behind their opponent. "Don't you dodge me. Don't you fucking dodge me!"
"Very good. Maybe if you were a little faster, I'd have had some trouble with that. As for your technique..." interjected the former Kusa-nin, snapping his fingers. "It's only fair to give it back, no?" A diagonal slash tore through the back Noboru's flak jacket, slamming him against the tree.
'Shit, I couldn't even see that coming.' thought Iruka, struggling to focus through the haze of chakra. 'Wait, I couldn't see it...' "Sasuke, what can you see?" he called, readying himself for an attack. Sasuke flinched as he activated his bloodline.
"Sorry, sensei. All this chakra in the air is interfering with the Sharingan." Iruka nodded gravely. "Naruto, get us some reinforcements and stand back to back. Don't give him any openings to attack you-" he cut himself off mid-sentence, barely keeping ahead of the flashing kunai that burst into existence in front of him.
"Worry about yourself, jounin-san." jeered the Kusa native, who hadn't moved from his position next to the barely aware Noboru. "You know, I thought I was pretty well informed about Konoha's main players, so why don't I know you?"
"I'm new." snarked Iruka, thoroughly sick of the other man's attitude. "And I think I've figured you out, Kotei-san. See, Kusa won't give away anything on you that could be used against them," he continued, now calmer, as he made a boar seal and held it for a moment. "So your technique is hyped up as an unbeatable ninjutsu. In fact," he grunted, thrusting out an arm, grabbing hold of something, and throwing it over his shoulder. The haze surrounding them flickered as Kirai reappeared beside Iruka.
"It's just a simple barrier in combination with an illusion. Your genjutsu is very impressive. But it's not unbeatable." concluded Iruka. 'I'm starting to enjoy this kind of thing... Naruto's been a bad influence, I guess.' Iruka closed his eyes and entered a taijutsu stance, to the surprise of his students. "Iruka-sensei, what are you-" A raised hand cut off Naruto's question.
"Naruto, trust your sensei. You three take care of Noboru. Leave this one to me." he instructed, charging in a seemingly random direction. As he moved forward, striking at empty air, Kirai's silhouette flickered and dispersed. "What the hell?" Naruto asked, as the genin moved to support the stunned chuunin.
"That guy's got us all in a combination ninjutsu-genjutsu. Iruka-sensei's got some kind of tracking jutsu, I guess, and he's going after the guy. We'd... just be in the way..." grunted Sasuke, forcing as much chakra as possible into his sharingan. 'If I could unlock the third stage, I could break through the illusion. Damn! Why? Why am I still this weak?'
"Alright then," coughed a weak voice. "Let Iruka keep that guy busy. I've got a plan to deal with this lousy barrier..." groaned Noboru.
SCENE BREAK
"Tsunade-sama, I wish to speak with you in private." Tsunade just turned to glare at the unfortunate soul who dared to interrupt her drinking. "Uchiha Itachi. Give me one good reason why I shouldn't just kill you here and now."
Itachi sat across from her, not perturbed in the slightest by the threat. "I need your medical expertise. My vision is deteriorating heavily and I believe only you csn help." Tsunade placed the sake saucer down, turning her attention to him.
"That's not the passcode, brat. Why Jiraiya told me to listen to you, I don't know, but I owe him one, one, favour, and I'd like to get this over with as soon as possible. Meet me upstairs and I'll see what I can do."
"Thank you, Tsunade-sama. Here is the payment for your services, in advance, as you requested." Itachi offered stoically, sliding a wad of ryo bills over to her as he left the bar.
'Jiraiya never mentioned payment...' Tsunade thought hazily, flipping through the bills, a slip of paper falling onto her lap as she did so. 'What the hell?'
"Tsunade-sama,
I'm sorry to bring you into this mess when you are trying to deal with your own issues, but you must deliver this message to Konoha as soon as you can.
Orochimaru has begun amassing an army of nuke-nin and newly trained genin under the banner of 'Otogakure'. He has planned something to do with Konoha's chuunin exams. What exactly he is planning, I do not know, but he will likely make an attempt to kidnap or kill a child of the Uchiha clan.
Akatsuki have begun their assault on the jinchuuriki. To my knowledge, there is no team currently assigned to hunt down the Kyuubi jinchuuriki, but it is now only a matter of time.
As it stands, the members of Akatsuki are as follows;
Myself
Hoshigaki Kisame, former member of the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist. He makes use of Samehada, a semi-sentient blade capable of shredding metal and absorbing chakra. He is also a master of Suiton ninjutsu, but genjutsu usage is almost non-existant.
Akasuna no Sasori, puppet master of Suna. He has at his disposal over a hundred combat puppets and is protected by some sort of armour, though I have yet to see its limits tested. Makes extensive use of a wide variety of poisons.
Kakuzu of Takigakure. While I know little of his full capacity, he can make use of black threads which he freely manipulates for both attacking and defensive maneuvers.
Zetsu, origins unknown. Functioning as the organisation's chief spy, he can apparently merge with the earth to travel more quickly. Appearance and personality are split between the left-side 'White' and right-side 'Black' Zetsu. Possibly separate beings working as one.
Konan, known in Amegakure as 'God's Angel' or simply 'Tenshi', her abilities are unknown as of this time.
The 'Leader' of Akatsuki is a man known only as Pain. Based on my brief encounters, I must urge you not to be drawn into a confrontation with him. He bears the Rinnegan of legend, and has an immense amount of chakra at his disposal.
However, he is not the most dangerous member of the organisation. (Tsunade choked on her sake at this, after recovering from the previous revelation) The most dangerous member is a man operating under the alias of 'Tobi'. Under no circumstances are you to engage this man. I have reason to believe that he is in fact Uchiha Madara, recovered from his battle with Senju Hashirama (at this point, Tsunade merely finished the sake within reach) at the Valley of the End sixty-five years ago. He bears a Mangekyou Sharingan in his right eye, and can make himself completely impervious to attacks. He often wears a distinctive mask, usually containing the colour orange.
I realise that these seem like insurmountable odds, but both myself and Jiraiya-sama are preparing contingency plans to delay the organisation and hinder their goals. Hokage-sama, if you are reading this, be wary of Danzou. He has resources at his disposal that would be much safer in your hands.
The roots of the great tree run deep, but they're also the first part to be tainted.
ANBU operative, Uchiha Itachi, awaiting orders."
Shaking her head, Tsunade left the bar to complete the favour Jiraiya had asked of her. 'Brat thinks he can use me as a messenger? I'll show him. I'll deliver your message all right, but I'll do it on my own time. It's nonsense anyway. Madara is dead. Jii-san killed him and sealed away the Kyuubi. That's all there is to it.' she blinked a few times before activating a jutsu to burn through the alcohol in her system. 'And to top it off, you made me waste perfectly good sake! You're just lucky the chuunin exams are good for gambling, even with my track record. No other reason for me to go back.
'None.'