A hero is someone who understands the responsibility that comes with his freedom. ~ Bob Dylan
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Three days later saw the full Team Seven assembled and escorting Shibuki back to Hidden Waterfall. He was a ninja himself - newly instated leader of the village, though I think the post was more administrative in requirement than that of a Kage - so 'escorting' in this mission meant less 'protect' and more 'keep him from poking his nose in places that we don't want it'.
Because he was from an allied - and trusted, which wasn't always the same thing - village, it was only a C-rank. If he'd been from a village that we had strained relations with, or one of the big five at all, it would have been a B or A and wouldn't have come anywhere near us.
Shibuki himself was… twitchy.
It got old, pretty fast. Every time he jumped at wildlife or 'heard something' I reacted to his reaction. We'd been wired tightly because our previous missions had had a tendency to go badly and quick reaction times had been our saving grace. Here… it was exhausting.
Kakashi-sensei appeared not to notice at all, and gave off the impression that he found our repeated startling highly amusing. Since I knew he was twice as aware of any threats as we were, his ability to filter out non-threatening stimuli was pretty amazing.
So we were pretty relieved when we finally got to our destination, a large lake fed by a huge waterfall at one end. Presumably Hidden Waterfall was nearby, since there were two kids wandering about who greeted Shibuki enthusiastically.
Hidden Waterfall, as a ninja village, was fairly unique. For one, it was actually hidden and only the residents knew how to find it. For another, Land of Waterfalls claimed to have never been invaded, which was a pretty strong comment considering the nearby Land of Rain had been repeatedly devastated by it's stronger neighbours. Part of that could be attributed to the third interesting point; it was the only minor village to house a Jinchuriki.
The exact identity of the current Jinchuriki wasn't known, but there were a couple of suspects among the upper tier of the village. For a small place with only a few dozen ninja, it had a consistently high level of shinobi. Either they had an excellent training program or… well. Or something.
"Could you help us, please?" The young girl asked, after they'd finished greeting Shibuki. "We have to clean up the litter in the water, but the current is strong and it can be pretty scary."
Naruto groaned.
"Consider it part of your mission," Shibuki said with a laugh.
Kakashi-sensei said nothing against it, apart from a mild reminder that it would be considered an extra mission, before taking a seat in the shade and leaving us to it.
"This sucks," Naruto said with a sigh.
"Cheer up," I said. "It's not like it's anything we haven't done before."
So picking up rubbish was hardly the greatest of missions but it would be over fairly quickly. The sun was shining and the water was cool and clear, so it wasn't as bad as it could have been.
We were jerked to attention by Shibuki's startled cry, a sound which had become familiar to us on the journey.
"Not to worry," Kakashi-sensei said, as a bird swooped down to perch on his arm. "It's just a messenger bird from Konoha." He easily unravelled the message tied to it's leg.
"Sensei?" I asked tentatively, because it really wasn't common to contact ninja that were out on missions. And when something unusual happened, it generally didn't mean anything good.
"I hate to miss out on the fun," Kakashi-sensei said laconically. "But it looks like you three will have to finish up here on your own. Complete the clean up and head straight back to Konoha, okay?"
"Wait, wait!" Naruto protested. "Where are you going?"
"There's been an emergency meeting called," Kakashi-sensei said. "I wouldn't worry about it, if I were you." He gave us a reassuring smile.
Emergency meeting? My questions died in my throat. With Shibuki here - a foreign ninja - Kakashi-sensei wouldn't say any more than that. Even his leaving was highly suspicious.
Because you didn't call a ninja back from a mission for a meeting and if the emergency was anything less than dire, he would have waited for us to finish up to save face. Heck, suggesting that Naruto use Shadow Clones would have had the whole thing done in minutes.
Unless he wasn't supposed to take you…
But even then it would have been easy enough to send us on our way alone, since he could move faster without us. Which meant that it was an every-second-counts, Jounin response only emergency…
Which is what?
I tried not to think about it too hard. Without any information, every situation my brain created would be as false as it was worrying.
I glanced at my team mates as Kakashi-sensei took off, leaping straight into the tree tops. Naruto looked mostly annoyed, and truthfully, I hadn't really expected him to pick up on the subtext, but either Sasuke hadn't picked up on it either, or he was better at hiding his thoughts than I was.
Numbly, I went back to picking up litter.
We were pretty much finished when the mother of the two children came out of the trees to get them. At first I didn't pay her much attention, really, but Naruto lifted his head, nose twitching and face set in a peculiar expression.
"I smell blood," he said.
We waded out of the water, dumping the sacks of rubbish on the ground.
"Shibuki-sama," she was saying, voice trembling. "It was terrible… they attacked without warning…"
I saw the way her facial muscles went slack a split second before her legs gave out and lunged forward to catch her weight before she sprawled out on the ground. Grunting, I lowered her down gently to reveal what we hadn't seen before - the kunai stuck into her back.
"Mother!" the kids shouted.
"It's okay," I reassured them. "It's not as bad as it looks." It couldn't be. She was walking, so obviously it hadn't severed her spine, and it wasn't gushing blood, so it hadn't hit any major arteries or veins. It had probably just been the shock and pain that had got to her.
"We've got to get to the village right away!" The boy said.
"That wouldn't be a good idea," Sasuke refuted calmly.
"She said they attacked without warning," Naruto added.
"That's impossible," Shibuki protested weakly. "How could anyone find this place?"
No one answered him.
"Shikako," Naruto said. "Can you…" he made a weak gesture towards the woman and kids.
I understood. "I'll take them into the forest. We'll find somewhere to hole up while you guys check out the village. Stay safe," I added.
It wasn't that I was precisely thrilled about being the one left behind, but in this case it made sense. Someone needed to look after the kids, the mother was injured and I knew healing jutsu.
"Four incoming," I murmured in a low tone. "Behind the waterfall."
Shibuki's mouth thinned at the information.
"Go," Sasuke said, pulling his foldable fuuma shuriken out of his pouch. "I've got this."
I ducked, heaving the woman over my shoulder and beckoned the kids. "Come on. Lets get out of here and take care of your mum, okay?"
For kids under pressure, they were doing really well.
"Are you two at the Academy?" I asked, hustling them away while at the same time trying to keep an eye on the fight behind us. There was the sharp clanging of metal on metal as incoming kunai were deflected, but it was hard to really hear over the roaring of the waterfall. It had become background noise over the last hour or so, but it still muffled other sounds.
"Uh, huh," the boy said. I really had to find out their names. "We just started this year."
"You're doing very well," I said. "Keeping calm is important."
Unseen to them, I grimaced. We couldn't go too far away, it would simply take too long with having to carry the woman and at the pace the kids were travelling. The surroundings weren't exactly good for cover either, with a sheer cliff going up and the land below pancake flat. It was forested, of course, and with a team of ninja or by myself it would have been fine, but hiding civilians in a forest is tricky.
There was a small curve in the cliff, not enough to be called a cave, but it would probably give some protection. Hopefully.
"Okay," I said, carefully setting the woman down and then rolling my shoulder. She wasn't exactly light and if I hadn't been a ninja, I wouldn't have been able to carry her, let alone so easily. "Let's see what we can do about this."
I dropped a False Surrounding genjutsu over us, hoping it would buy us time while I dealt with this injury. There was no reason to suspect that they were looking for us, of course, but I preferred to take precautions when I could.
I used my Diagnostic Jutsu and confirmed what I had suspected before. It hadn't pierced her spine or hit anything immediately vital, which was good news.
"Alright, I'm going to pull this out and then heal it up," I said, grasping the kunai firmly. "You might want to look away."
They shook their heads, eyes fixed on my hand.
I probably should have insisted, really, but I didn't, pulling the kunai out with a short, sharp tug the same way that it had gone in so as not to cause any extra damage. Blood welled in the wound and spilled down her back as I ran through the hand seals for the Mystical Palm Jutsu.
The kids gasped as the wound knit itself back together slowly. It took concentration but it wasn't much more serious than anything else I'd healed. Eventually, all that was left was pink new skin and I absently wiped it clean before taping a bandage over it, just in case.
"There we go," I said, leaning backwards with a sigh.
Now I needed to set some traps and preferably make this little spot as defensible as possible.
I had only managed to rig a few very basic tripwire traps when I felt the incoming chakra. Four people. Three Chunin level. One Jounin level.
Shit.
Who were they after? Me or the kids? They already knew we were here, the skirmish by the lake had proven that.
I snuck back to the kids. "Keep your heads down," I whispered. "Whatever happens, stay calm, stay quiet. Understand?"
They stared at me, wide eyed. I didn't really have time to explain, because they were homing in on us. "Understand?" I repeated.
They nodded.
Good enough.
Carefully, I pulled my chakra in tight, a ball of adrenaline burning in my stomach and then faded carefully back into the trees. I cancelled my Resistance Seal, feeling lighter and freer as it faded away. If I had to go into combat alone, I wanted to be as ready as possible.
The group split up, the three Chunin level ninja staying in the trees and the Jounin one descending to land by the kids. I caught a glimpse of him, black cloth mask over his face, hair covered by a bandana, as I waited breathlessly.
Who to take out first? The lone Jounin or the three Chunin. I'd only get one shot, if I went for the Jounin, and fighting four at once would be too much. But if I went for the Chunin, I'd have to take them all out silently or he'd be alerted anyway.
"Well, well, well," he chuckled maliciously. "Look at what we have here."
I could feel the fear radiating off the kids.
Right. Decision made.
I ran through the seals for Earth Walking and sunk noiselessly into the ground. I could use jutsu while keeping my chakra compressed, it just took more concentration. A sensor type ninja might be able to pick up on the chakra used for a jutsu, but your average ninja didn't have that sensitivity.
If I'd approached him normally, he'd have heard me. I didn't doubt that. By the time they got to Chunin most shinobi would expect an attack from above. But even ninja forgot to think about underground.
I pushed forward, manipulating the dirt in front of me and almost swimming through it. I had to hurry - before he took them and left - but I couldn't be noticed. It was frustrating.
Then, I was beneath him. I lashed out, hands reaching upwards and breaching the surface, latching onto ankles and pulling. I yanked him downwards, rearing backwards and packing the dirt in around him as hard as stone.
"H-Hey! What the hell!" he shouted, struggling.
I surged out of the ground, gulping fresh air greedily. I scrambled in my kunai pouch, pulling out a knockout tag and slamming it down on his forehead - above the Hidden Rain forehead protector. A flick of chakra and he was out cold.
I would have taken that chance to breathe a sigh of relief, but there were still three ninja in the trees, stirring uneasily. They'd been expecting screaming, but not his.
Plans flickered through my mind. They were up in the trees, so the same strategy wouldn't work twice. I didn't know how far away the rest were, so I wanted to have this done as quietly as possible.
I circled as widely around them as I dared, coming up to them from the back. Not a leaf whispered at my passing.
Don't try and evade a Mist shinobi on the water, or a Konoha shinobi in the trees went the old saying. I hoped to prove it true.
"Should we go down there?" Ninja one whispered. I could see them, just, perched in the branches around a single, thick trunk. They were all dressed in a grey uniform, but not one I recognised from any Hidden Village.
"Do we have to?" Ninja two hissed back. "He creeps me right out."
"Quiet!" Hissed the third.
My shadow crept along the branches, aided by the abundant canopy. My fingers were busy tying loops of ninja wire to my weapons. This one was one of Sasuke's favourite shuriken tricks, though he did it without the added paralysis and with a Wire Dragon Jutsu to give it a bit of oomph.
Up the trunk my shadow crept, splitting into three unnoticed. It latched on; one, two three.
"Shadow Possession Complete," I breathed, and let fly.
Shuriken whipped through the air, curving around the tree trunk, trailing silver wire behind them. Once, and then again…
The three shinobi cried out as they tried to evade and couldn't. I pulled tightly on the wire, pinning them to the tree, and cut the Shadow Possession as the outside force nearly yanked me off my feet as it did them.
One of them was quick enough, clever enough, to use a replacement jutsu before the wire got too tight. He hit the ground running, either to get a better position or to go for reinforcements, and I couldn't allow that. I yanked the wire tight, pinned it to the tree branch I was standing on with a shuriken, and was after him.
Over one branch, under another, a quick zigzag - bounce horizontally off a tree branch - and I was gaining on him. He knew I was there, but not where; every brace of thrown kunai missed by miles, and none of them had explosive notes or ninja wire attached. I'd checked.
I leapt off another branch, judged my distance and caught the next one with my hands, swinging around it and launching myself down. I slammed into his back, legs first, sending us both tumbling over the ground. I was expecting it. He wasn't.
He went sprawling and I rolled us over, no easy feat when he was bigger than me, and pinned him down. He lurched, trying to throw me off and I cocked my fist back and slammed it, hard and fast, into his jaw.
"Glass jaw," I panted, double checking that he was really out and not just faking before clambering off. It had been a stupid move, though, turning it into a grappling match. He was bigger than me, physically stronger than me… one wrong move and I would have been screwed.
I rolled him on his side and used ninja wire to tie his hands and feet together, making sure to get his fingers so he couldn't form hand seals. Trying to restrain ninja was an art.
Then I backtracked to the two still furiously tied to the tree trunk and slapped knockout tags on them. No need for them to get free either.
The kids were where I left them, huddled next to their mother. I gave them the all clear, and dragged them to a new clearing away from people buried in the ground up to their necks. It was better that way. Then I told them to stay there with their heads down.
"Where are you going?" The girl asked, eyes tearing up.
"I have to go check on Shibuki and my friends," I said, as reassuringly as possible. "I'm sure they're fine."
I actually had great faith in Naruto and Sasuke's ability to deal with things, but that didn't mean they wouldn't need help.
And since Kakashi-sensei was gone, I was the only one left to help.
For lack of a better place to start, I made my way back to the lake. I was surprised, and not a little worried at what I found there.
All the villagers had been rounded up - tied up - and corralled by the lake. Even worse, so had Sasuke. He was hanging suspended from wooden arch. I could make out a metal sheen around his chest, and his arms were pinned up against his back.
There were three ninja in the clearing, all Jounin level. One, a young man with a blue blocky tattoo across his face, the second a young woman, and the third an older man.
Not. Good.
Naruto wasn't there, and neither was Shibuki which was a spot of hope. Naruto's chakra was somewhere behind the waterfall, and it seemed strong and vibrant. I hoped like hell he was alright, because this was definitely going to need both of us.
Maybe if I could meet up with Naruto…
Except…
I didn't know how to get to him. Oh, I could probably get behind the waterfall, but there was a slight problem of the waterfall being completely out in the open. They'd see me before I even got halfway there. If there were other ways in, I didn't know them.
Shit.
That was okay. It was fine. Don't panic.
There was no rush. Just wait for Naruto to come out. Wait, watch, listen.
"Why are you doing this?" One of the villagers shouted. "You were once our most respected Jounin, Suien!"
Okay, there was a name. Suien. Presumably a missing-nin from Hidden Waterfall. Well, that explained how they'd found the place.
"Have you come to take over the village?" Another asked fearfully.
Good. I encouraged them. Get him talking. I couldn't see a single headband among them, so they were probably civilians. Hidden Village civilians, though.
"What would I want with this pathetic collection of huts?" Suien scoffed. "No, I've come for the Hero's Water."
Hero's Water?
The admission sent up a clamour from the civilians though. "Shibuki-sama would never hand it over!"
"He'd pour it out before he did that!"
"Maybe if he was a different sort of leader. But you forget; I was the one that taught him the ways of the shinobi. I know what he is," Suien said smugly.
This just kept getting better and better. Granted, I hadn't thought much of Shibuki myself, but presumably they'd elected him leader for a reason.
"Just where is Kirisame, anyway?" the woman muttered to the other ninja. I felt myself stiffen. Of course they would notice that their comrade was missing.
Stupid…
He shrugged. "Probably stopped to have 'fun' on the way back. Doubt we'll get more than mangled corpses from him now."
"Suien won't like that," she said, but didn't seem to find the explanation odd. I dared breathe a sigh of relief. As long as they didn't go looking for him…
"I know you can hear me wherever you're hiding, Shibuki," Suien called, turning towards the waterfall. "Come out and bring the Hero's Water with you. Don't let this village suffer any more because of you."
I didn't know what the Hero's Water was - some kind of medicine or artefact? - but obviously Shibuki had it and Suien wanted it. Wanted it badly enough to storm the village and take people hostage.
"You wouldn't be thinking of pouring it out now, would you?" Suien asked, as if talking to Shibuki. There was no answer, but if Suien had been close to him, he probably knew how Shibuki would have reacted. "If someone came along and attacked the village, you wouldn't be able to defend yourselves, would you?"
Okay? A weapon then? Except they'd said 'pour it out'. Which implied that it was a liquid…
"Time's running out, Shibuki," Suien called. "There's a limit to how long you can just sit out there. Bring out the Hero's Water, or I'll start killing your villagers, one by one." He paused. "Starting with the children."
He singled out one of the younger ones, maybe ten years old, and dragged her to the front.
"One minute, Shibuki," he shouted. Then he started counting down.
And.
Nothing happened.
Shit. There was no way in hell that Naruto would stand by and just let this happen. Not if he could see it.
Then I had an idea. A crazy, stupid idea.
Oh, hell.
"Twenty seconds!"
I clasped my hands together and carefully built the fragile chakra construct around myself. "Transform!"
"You want the Hero's Water?" I asked, stepping out of cover, and the voice that came out wasn't mine but Shibuki's. "Come and get it!"
"Shibuki-sama!" The civilians cried. "Don't do it!"
The three ninja stared at me. I felt cold sweat sliding across my forehead. My left hand trembled in a perfect mimicry of Shibuki's nervous tick.
Funnily enough, it was really difficult acting terrified, even when you were. I was more used to trying to pretend I wasn't.
Suien chuckled. "What a hero," he mocked. "Hand it over, boy."
I lifted my chin. "Not- not until you let them go!"
Holy hell, what was I doing? I shuddered. I was damn surprised that they hadn't seen through my transformation, and yet, if they did, I was screwed.
"You're not really in a position to bargain," he pointed out. Then his eyes narrowed. "What were you doing over there?"
And not behind the waterfall where he expected Shibuki to be. I thought fast. "If you knew where the Hero's Water was, you'd have got it yourself," I bluffed.
At the very top of my vision, I caught a flicker of orange. I consciously did not look upwards.
Suien smirked. "Or maybe you were trying to run away, weren't you, Shibuki? That was always your answer to everything. You truly haven't changed. How disappointed they must be."
I couldn't think of a retort to that. "Let them go," I said instead. "You don't need them anymore."
Suien shrugged, dropping the girl unceremoniously to the ground. I was right, though; they didn't need them. I was one person surrounded by three Jounin. My only advantage was that I wasn't the person they thought I was.
"The Hero's Water," he said.
I gulped. I had no idea what the Hero's Water really was, or what it looked like. I couldn't fake it. The civilians exploded into a chorus of 'don't do it's. Up above, I could feel Naruto's chakra building.
I stepped forward. My hand reached into my pouch, and I hoped that the Hero's Water was small enough to believably fit in there.
Suien narrowed his eyes.
Breathe.
I stepped forward again. And again. Every step carried me closer to him.
"Hand it over. Now," he said, face stony.
My hand whipped out, sending a volley of shuriken scattering through the air. My shadow lashed out underneath them, heading straight for him. He dodged, faster and more agile than I'd thought, and backhanded me straight across the face.
My saving grace was that Shibuki was taller than me. Suien's punch shattered the chakra construct of the transformation, but I was able to dodge it.
Naruto's chakra surged and then there was orange all around me, clones slithering out of ropes. He'd replaced all the civilians, sending them to safety inside the waterfall.
One of my shuriken, the barrage that had scattered wide and missed Suien so completely had had a different target all together. It neatly severed the rope holding Sasuke and dropped him to the ground.
For a moment, things looked up.
We'd run into strong opponents before and we'd always come out, if not better off, then alive. I'd only just taken out a Jounin through sneak tactics - but that was very, very different to a straight up fight. That there had been mitigating circumstances… that those opponents hadn't always wanted to kill us… we knew it but at the same time…
We were probably kind of arrogant.
We were strong, for Genin. Strength-wise, Sasuke and I probably ranked Chunin alongside Naruto. The three of us could maybe even be called high Chunin.
But there was still a hell of a difference between Jounin and high Chunin.
The three of them, quite effectively, proceeded to school us in that difference.
They were faster, stronger, could do better jutsu and do them faster. We were slammed with water bullets, slashed with water whips, in one memorable case nearly electrocuted, and they cut through the horde of Naruto clones with ease.
I had the feeling that the fight would have been over much, much faster, if only Suien hadn't wanted us to understand just how pissed he was.
Three against one, we might have stood some semblance of a chance. Three against three…
Yeah. No.
"Anyone got a plan?" I asked, a little desperate, as we were forced back to back.
"I think I gotta pull on furball," Naruto said.
I choked on a giggle. Furball.
"Do it," Sasuke said.
Before he could, the water itself swirled up, spinning furiously like a tornado. I braced myself for the attack, but it swung outwards, slamming into the woman and second man. It sent them flying and they tumbled to the ground.
And didn't get back up.
Hallelujah, timely saviour! I thought.
The water spun itself out, revealing visible blue chakra around… Shibuki. Huh.
He knows how to use the Eight Gates? I wondered. That's what it felt like, that surging chakra, more than a person should have flowing through them.
Go figure.
"Leave them alone," he said.
"So, you used the Hero's Water?" Suien asked, mockingly, seeming not to care that his two comrades had just been taken out. "You know what it does to people of your constitution."
"Shut up," Shibuki ordered. He extended his hand. "Takigakure Style: Watercutting Sword." Water swirled around his hand, condensing and coalescing until it was blue and opaque, formed into a curved sword.
He leapt forward, sword slashing through the air in a flurry of blows.
Suien blocked every one. "Your chakra might have increased, but your moves haven't gotten any better. You've left your guard wide open. Just like you always did," he sneered.
"Sorry pal," I said, hands clasped together in the rat seal. "The only one here whose guard is open is you."
And then I spread my arms wide.
Suien did the same.
Shibuki's sword came down and cleaved his head straight from his shoulders.
"Well, that was anti-climatic," Sasuke said.