We improve ourselves by victories over ourselves. There must be contest, and we must win. ~ Edward Gibbon
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"You know," Tsunade drawled from behind the missions desk. "Generally when I give people two month long missions, it means I don't see them again for two months."
Given that it had taken less than a week to sail there, we'd spent less than a week there and then sailed back, we were in at well under a month.
"Mah, mah," Kakashi-sensei waved his hand lackadaisically. "The mission was completed successfully. Just… interestingly." His eye curved up into an irritatingly happy smile.
"Interestingly," Tsunade repeated, sounding unimpressed.
We nodded. Naruto sheepishly scratched the back of his head.
The other ninja manning the assignments desk were staring at us like they really hoped that we were going to expand on 'interesting'. It was a little uncomfortable.
"Alright, briefing room!" Tsunade snapped. "This is going to end up on my desk anyway, I just know it."
We trooped out of the mission assignment room and ignored the surge of conversation that happened behind us.
"Okay," Tsunade said, leaning back in her chair and eyeing us seriously. "What happened?"
We gave her the run down of the mission.
She stared at us and very slowly lifted a hand to rub her temples. "It was a simple, straightforward mission," she groused. "And while I can't see anything that points to it being your fault…"
That wasn't entirely true. We probably should have kept a better grip on Koyuki and not let her get kidnapped twice, for instance, but there was nothing we could do about the basic premise of her being the princess.
"Kakashi, you're probably going to have to spend the next day or two in the Intelligence Division filling them in on this new chakra armour and generator and what have you," she said with a sigh.
Kakashi-sensei groaned, but nodded. Yeah, I could see how they'd want that information.
"And, hmm, I suppose your early return solves one problem anyway," she folded both hands under her chin. "There's been a mission specifically requesting Sasuke Uchiha."
Sensei sharpened to attention. Heck, so did I.
"Relax," she said. "It's been vetted. Thoroughly. You've got tomorrow off, but come to my office to pick it up the day after."
Not the mission desk, her office. She was keeping her hands tight around it so that even if it was legitimate, the wrong people didn't find out and screw it up anyway. I wondered just how much of a shakedown was going on through Konoha's systems. Tsunade didn't seem the type to be anything less than completely thorough when she set her mind to something.
The thing was, turning down missions looked bad for a Hidden Village. And she could hardly stop sending Sasuke out. Well, she could, theoretically, but that really wasn't a viable long term solution.
"Fill out your paperwork," she directed. "Go home. Try not to cause trouble."
Naruto's incredibly innocent face probably didn't help our case any.
"So," I said, as the door shut behind her. "Dinner at my place?"
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It was a quiet day off for me; Team 8 and Team 10 were both out of the village on missions. It was a strange feeling, so far it had always been the other way around. And I'd been looking forward to making Ino flip by telling her just who we'd been guarding.
I wrote my mission report, switched out all my winter gear and restocked my pack. A days worth of downtime wasn't exactly a lot, especially coming off an A-rank, but we weren't injured and the last week had been spent travelling and recovering anyway.
"Team Seven. Come in, come in," Tsunade said, waving a distracted hand at us as we entered her office.
"This is a C-rank mission from the Neko-baa, the proprietor of an independent supply outpost in the abandoned city of Sora-ku." The way she said it, Neko-baa sounded more like a title than a name, which made sense since it roughly translated to Grandmother Cat.
Sasuke stiffened noticeably.
"They used to have very strong ties with the Uchiha clan," Tsunade acknowledged with a dip of her head. "And the request was made specifically for Sasuke to be the one to fill it." She paused a beat, as though waiting for protests, then continued smoothly. "Kakashi is still working with the Intelligence Division to update our information on the Land of Snow so he won't be going with you. It's only a C-rank, so two Genin and a Chunin should be an adequate team, even if you are rookies."
"Yes, Tsunade-sama," I said respectfully. Going without Kakashi-sensei added a nervous thrill to the mission, but as long as it stayed a C-rank, we should be fine.
She nodded. "The Neko-baa will be waiting at the outpost in Sora-ku with additional details for you. There are directions in the mission scroll, but I assume you know where it is?" The last bit was directed at Sasuke with a raised eyebrow.
He nodded. "I know where it is." He sounded a little stiff, and I glanced at him curiously out the corner of my eye. I'd ask, later.
"Off you go then," she said, dismissing us.
Sora-ku was just slightly less than a full days travel to the north-east, in the middle of a barren rocky stretch more similar to something you'd expect to find in the Land of Earth than the Land of Fire. The city itself was … bigger than I expected, tall square buildings that stood several stories high… blocks of nearly identical buildings tightly compressed into a small area.
"This place is creepy," Naruto said, staring around.
It was abandoned, and though there were signs of disrepair on the buildings, signs that it had been abandoned for a long while, there was no clear cut destruction or destabilisation that showed why it was abandoned.
Sasuke just grunted. "This way," he said.
"You've been here before, right Sasuke?" I asked, glancing at him. "You seemed to know what Tsunade was talking about." He still looked tense, even after travelling here. It could have been the general reminder of his clan, but…
"I… came here when I was younger," he said quietly. "With Itachi." His hands clenched tightly into fists.
"I see," I said, even though it didn't clear up everything. It was no wonder that he was tense, though.
Naruto had an uncharacteristically serious look on his face at the announcement. "So how much further to the old lady's place?" was all he asked.
Sasuke scoffed. "You're the one with the mission scroll; why don't you tell me?"
"You're the one that's been here before," Naruto shot back, a playful glint in his eyes.
I rolled my eyes at their bickering, but it was better than doom and gloom. And it was friendly teasing, neither of them serious enough to be actually annoyed.
"This is it," Sasuke said, stopping in front of a building that looked more cared for than the rest. He paused for a second, then breathed deeply and went inside.
Naruto and I followed. I was a little surprised that Naruto hadn't brought up the issue of who exactly was team leader here, but I guessed that either personal history outweighed rank in his mind or he hadn't started thinking of himself in the role of team leader. To be fair, all our team decisions and planning had always been based more on a general consensus than any one of us taking charge and Kakashi-sensei really only took over when things went to hell anyway.
"I'm glad you came, Sasuke-boy," an old woman said as we entered the room. The shop more like. The walls were covered in good quality weapons - kunai, shuriken, katana - and there were shelves of all kinds of bottles and jars. And there were cats. Everywhere. Not that that was a bad thing; I rather liked cats myself.
"It's been a long time Neko-baa," Sasuke said respectfully.
"My how you've grown," she said. "It has been a few years, hasn't it?"
He nodded shortly. "You hired us for a mission."
"Yes, yes. The young are so impatient," she sighed. "Tamaki! Bring me the Paw Encyclopaedia."
A young girl - well, youngish. She was probably about the same age we were - stepped out from the back room carrying a think, pink covered book.
"You turned that into a book?" Sasuke asked, surprised.
"Indeed, I did," she replied, looking pleased with herself. "But it isn't finished."
I looked curiously at the book, wondering just what it was. Neko-baa caught my gaze and chuckled.
"Sasuke collected all of these," she said opening it, and showing us what looked to be ink stamps of cats paws - not just housecats but lions and tigers… oh my. "When he came here with his brother." She shook her head. "But it isn't finished. There's still one more paw print that I need to get."
"One?" Sasuke repeated, faint surprise in his voice.
Neko-baa nodded, turning to a specific page. "I asked Yugito Nii of the Hidden Cloud and she kindly agreed."
I choked on a giggle, just a little bit, at the kind of insane balls that it would take to ask a Jinchuriki for a paw print. Crazy old lady. Then again, Naruto would find something like that hilarious if someone was making a fox book.
"Huh?" Naruto asked, not getting it.
"Yugito Nii," I said, breathlessly. "Is the Jinchuriki for the Two Tailed Cat." It wasn't exactly secret knowledge; Hidden Cloud liked making sure everyone knew they had two effective Jinchuriki.
"Nekomata is the only one that remains," she continued. "He's a big shot in the ninja cat underworld that never shows his face in public. He hides in an impregnable fortress. The number of ninja cats who guard Nekomata is unknown. Can you handle this?"
Sasuke nodded curtly.
"Just leave it to us!" Naruto said.
"Very well," she said gravely. "In order to infiltrate the fortress you will need these."
She whipped out … fuzzy, cat ear headbands?
"If you put these on, the cats will think you're one of them."
"And it'll let you understand cat talk!" One of the cats sitting beside her chirped. I tried not to flinch in surprise. It wasn't that I wasn't used to animals that could talk, I just hadn't expected it.
"Alright," I said doubtfully, but my distrust vanished the instant I actually touched them. They were imbued with chakra. Some kind of seal work or genjutsu? I shrugged, and slid them on.
Naruto had no problems wearing them either, but Sasuke gave them a distasteful look, before he put them on. Oh, they looked too cute.
"I wish I had a camera," I said quietly, so he didn't hear me.
The young girl, Tamaki, giggled and held her finger to her lips before slipping off to the back of the shop.
"Using the headbands, Hina and Denka will summon you to just outside the Cat Fortress," Neko-baa continued. "They won't be able to take you close, but they should be able to point you in the right direction."
"Okay!" Naruto cheered. "When do we leave?"
Neko-baa smiled. "As soon as you're ready."
"Then let's do this," Sasuke said firmly.
Two of the cats vanished in a puff of smoke, and then I felt a tugging sensation, not all that different from being the target of a replacement jutsu. White chakra smoke obscured my vision and when it cleared the scenery was different. We were outside, for one, and there were hills and trees and grass rather than the bare rock of the land around Sora-ku. The air and chakra were different too.
Well. We had been reverse summoned. It was to be expected.
"This way!" Hina said, running forward. We followed until we cleared the tops of one of the hills and saw a valley with a lake nestled in the centre. And built into the centre of that lake was the Cat Fortress.
Not just a fortress belonging to the cats… but a fortress built in the shape of a cat.
"Zero points for guessing where we're headed," I murmured.
"We're known in these parts," our guide said. "So we can't go any further."
"No ninja cat has ever seen Nekomata's face," Denka added. "Will you be able to find him?"
"Thanks to these, infiltrating will be quite easy," Sasuke said, gesturing at his cat ears. If Sakura and Ino could see him now… "If we can get in successfully, the rest will be easy."
"Wait! Hold it," Naruto cut in. "We're supposed to be able to talk to ninja cats with these things, right? Meaning there's no need to start a fight. Let's just talk it out with him. I'm sure he'd be willing to give us one or two paw prints."
"Impossible," Hina said.
"What? Why?" Naruto asked, bewildered.
"Having your paw print taken is extremely embarrassing for a cat," Denka said, as a matter of fact.
"For humans, it would be like being stripped naked and then photographed," Hina added, licking a paw.
Well, some people did it. I wondered if Yugito Ni knew… okay bad thoughts. Not going there. Actually, if the cats were intelligent enough to talk and reason, did this count as a violation of privacy? That was … suspect.
"I think talking will be useless," the old cat said.
I shrugged. "Trying diplomacy never hurts, even if you think it will be useless." Sometimes it was but that didn't mean you should stop trying. Besides, Naruto had been the one to suggest a less violent path, and I didn't want to dismiss that.
"Let's go," Sasuke said, breaking the argument. His gaze was fixed on the fortress.
We moved off, circling around to approach the single bridge that lead out across the water. The second we set foot on that, we'd be in hostile territory.
Here's hoping these headbands work.
I wasn't quite sure how much of a threat to consider these ninja cats. Obviously, they were summons animals, and therefore worthy of respect, but that didn't mean they were all fighters, or even that they were powerful ones. Although, conversely, it didn't mean they weren't either.
We stepped onto the bridge.
No immediate alarms were raised. There were other cats coming and going, and none of them seemed to be giving us a second glance.
"I think we're good," I said, tentatively.
We walked forward, keeping a steady, even pace and joined the line of cats waiting to enter the fortress. There were two guards by the door, checking everyone who passed. That would be our first test.
"Next!" The guard cats wearing pseudo samurai armour called. We stepped forward. "I don't recognise you guys."
"We're newbie cats!" Naruto said cheerfully.
Sasuke went the smarter route and bribed them, with a small jar of catnip. "Here."
"For someone new, you're quick to catch on." The cats levelled their spears at us.
I froze, legs tensing, ready to dodge or fight at their next action.
"So here's a reward for you! New cats that get the idea are welcome!" They twisted the spears, one end coming away to reveal a fluffy cat toy that bobbed in the air in front of us.
I blinked at the mood whiplash. The toys bobbed. The guards looked on expectantly.
Gingerly, I reached out a hand and batted at it, as a cat would do. We were trying to sneak in, so acting so as they seemed to expect us to was important. After a seconds hesitation, the boys joined in. I giggled, just a little, at the absurdity of it.
"You like that?" The guard chortled. "Yes, yes. Welcome to Nekomata's Fortress. I hope to see you around."
They withdrew their toys, returning the sheath that made it into a spear and let us pass.
"Close one," Naruto said as we entered what looked like the main courtyard. "I thought they had us there."
"So did I," Sasuke admitted, looking around. The place was fairly well lit, which was good because it was getting dark. "Now we need to find Nekomata."
"We could search," I murmured, before nodding at the main, cat shaped tower. "But I think the main tower is our best bet. It's the most logical choice and it's where the strongest chakra signal is coming from."
"As good a place to start as any," Naruto said with a shrug, starting off in that direction.
Sasuke didn't move.
"Sasuke?" I asked, carefully.
He looked at us both. "I need to be the one to fight Nekomata," he said.
I exchanged a worried look with Naruto. "Why would you say that?"
"It was… it was a target Itachi set me, but one he always said I wasn't ready for," he said. "I need… to prove that I can. To overcome it."
For someone he wanted to kill, Sasuke cared an awful lot about measuring up to Itachi's standards. It made sense in a way - just because someone you loved did something horrible, didn't mean you stopped loving them; you just started hating them as well, and that wasn't the same thing at all - but it was heart achingly sad.
"You don't have to do this alone, you know," I said gently. "We're with you."
"I know," he said. "But this is important and it wouldn't be the same…"
I thought I could see the reasons Sasuke was trying to articulate, even if I couldn't really understand them.
"Fine," Naruto said abruptly. "But don't think we wont jump in if you're losing. Because we will."
Sasuke snorted. "I won't lose."
"And don't think that that line of reasoning is going to work too often," I added wryly. "Because there's only so much I'm willing to let you get away with."
He smirked. "I wouldn't expect anything less," he assured me.
We headed to the main building, finding the stairs and going upwards. No one tried to stop us, but it was a little nerve wracking all the same. We were at the level below Nekomata when we ran into trouble. The stairwell opened into what looked to be a well staffed guard room, with half a dozen cats in samurai style armour.
The doorway to the next stairwell was straight across the room, and after a seconds hesitation, we strode for it confidently, hoping we could bluff our way through this. Sometimes, acting like you were allowed to be there was all it took.
"H-hey!" One of the cats squawked as we neared the doorway. "What do you think you're doing? No one's allowed to see the boss!"
"It's really important that we see him!" Naruto said earnestly. "He really needs to hear what we have to say!"
The cat looked doubtful. "You can just tell it to his attendant," he offered. "That's what everyone does." He frowned, and peered at us. "You know, I haven't seen you guys around before…"
"We're new," Sasuke said, offering the same excuse we'd used at the gate. I could see that it wasn't going to work though, or at least not how we needed it to. Unobtrusively, I turned sideways, sliding behind Sasuke and blocking my hands from view. Gently, very gently - made more difficult because I didn't actually know what we looked like to them - I settled a False Surroundings genjutsu over the group, duplicating the room exactly to give the impression that we were moving away from the door.
"Well, I'll forgive you for not knowing how things are done then," the cat said. "But Nekomata-sama doesn't need to be bothered with petty details. That's why we have people to report to, you know."
I grabbed Sasuke and Naruto by the arms, tugging them backwards, even as the cat followed open air like we were moving. I didn't expect it to hold for long because they were cats and their sensory priorities were different to ours. Still, they weren't expecting it, and I was being as subtle as I could with it.
We slid up the stairs silently, appearing at a large, stone room with low lighting. One end had a raised pavilion with bamboo blinds blocking our view.
We traded glances.
"Nekomata?" Naruto called, voice echoing loudly. "Eh, Nekomata? We're ninja on a mission for Neko-baa-chan, to get a paw print from you. Whaddaya say?"
There was a shifting, rustling sound, and behind the bamboo screen, a huge shadow loomed. "Such insolence," he growled.
"It'll be easier if you willingly offer your paw," Sasuke stated. "If not, this will be quite painful for you."
I was tempted to roll my eyes, just a little.
The cat laughed. "You have guts to stand before me and make such threats."
That hall changed.
Genjutsu. I shook it off, snapping out of the illusion and grabbing Naruto's arm to disperse it for him. Sasuke's eyes were already spinning Sharingan red.
Below us, I heard the wail of a siren starting up.
"Looks like they discovered our trick," I said. Meaning, there would probably be a whole lot of guards pouring into the room very soon. "Naruto and I will guard the stairway." With that as a choke point, we'd be able to restrict the number of enemies we had to fight at any one time.
Sasuke nodded, satisfied. "Good." He leapt forward, putting a decent amount of space between us. "The Sharingan can see through genjutsu," he informed Nekomata coldly. "That won't work on me."
A huge form moved off the pavilion, white and blue stripes. Nekomata was big, but not in league with Gamabunta or Shukaku.
"Then I'll go with brute strength!" He lashed out, claws arched and his paw slammed into the ground, sending chips of stone flying. Sasuke dodged agilely, evading the angry swipes.
"Here they come," I said, turning back to the descending stairwell and away from Sasuke's fight. "Get ready, Naruto."
The first cat charging up the stairwell had his spear already out and ready. It was easy enough to catch him in my shadow possession jutsu and then spin it like a staff to knock out those around him. There was strange resistance on the jutsu, and the different joints made the moves translate awkwardly, but it worked well enough.
Some of the cats had very flexible taijutsu styles, able to bend around our attacks, or to change direction on a whim, but the small space of the stairwell limited them and with two of us defending the top, it was a painless fight.
"How long do you think Sasuke is going to take?" Naruto grumbled, blocking claw swipe with his kunai.
"Probably not much longer," I said, listening to the ground shaking thump of something very large hitting the floor hard.
Naruto snorted. "Nice timing."
"Proper timing is an essential component of ninja battles," I said faux-haughtily. "And witty quips."
He laughed. "Sure. But… important question here; how are we going to get out? Because I'm pretty sure we won't be able to sneak out." He threw another attacker back down the stairs, bowling over two others that weren't quick enough to get out of the way.
And they were probably going to be guarding the bridge something fierce. "Through the window," I suggested. "Just slide down the wall and go across the water?"
"Mission accomplished," Sasuke said behind us, a folded up piece of canvas in his hands. "Let's go."
He looked pleased with himself, lighter somehow, like overcoming this challenge had been important. Maybe it wasn't something that had weighed on his mind until it had been brought up again, but having it over with meant something to him.
"Awesome," Naruto cheered. "Let's get back to Neko-baa-chan."