Obito fought with the Kiri shinobi that appeared out of nowhere to slash at him with his overgrown blade. If it were any other circumstances, he would have ordered Hanabi and Sai to go on ahead to assist Haku, who is no doubt in a fight on his own. However, the two of them are only genins, and sending them to aid Haku when he has no idea on the strength of the foes that Haku is facing is not a sound decision. There's a possibility that he might be sending all three of them to their deaths.
Sai's ink lions pounced on the Kiri shinobi but he sliced them even before they could touch him. Hanabi sent in a wave of shurikens, but it was easily deflected by the Kiri nin's blade. Obito used this chance to send out a large fireball before following up with a huge fire dragon to trap the Kiri shinobi in a sea of flames, but his enemy braved through the flames and came out relatively unscathed.
Obito had half a mind to just use Kamui to search for Haku while taking Hanabi and Sai along with him, but every usage of it takes him a step closer to total blindness, and he have no close living relatives left to swap his eyes with. Obito have to consider every usage of Kamui very carefully. Tsunade had theorised that implanting the cells of the Shodai Hokage, her grandfather, might be able to delay or stop the blindness due to his overwhelming life force, but that research is still a work in progress and there's no guarantee that it might work. This Kiri shinobi is not giving him any time to rest and decide on this matter as he kept up with his attacks on him. At least the Kiri shinobi is not going after Hanabi or Sai so it made things slightly easier. Still, Obito cannot use his more destructive techniques around his genins who have no idea how to best support him, and thus Obito is stuck with using lower level techniques, which wastes a lot of time. Precious time that they can use to get to Haku.
If he was alone, or with Rin and Kakashi, he would not need to split his attention between fighting this Kiri nin and protecting his students. This Kiri shinobi would have been six feet under the ground by now. The Kiri nin is not as strong as him. This guy with the overgrown blade is mid A rank at best even when Obito is at his worst.
A shrill whistle caught everyone's attention and the Kiri shinobi leapt back to keep his distance away from Obito and his two genins.
"Suiren and Jun should have completed their objectives. I have no more quarrel with you Konoha nins. Farewell."
"The hell? Wait up!"
Obito dashed in to prevent the Kiri shinobi from leaving. A foreign shinobi had attacked them on their own soil without any warning or explanation, Obito simply cannot let him leave just like that.
The Kiri shinobi threw two kunais with explosive tags attached at the end of it, one for each of his genin, and Obito was forced to stop and knock them off course with his own kunai in case his genin didn't manage to get out in time or defend themselves from this sneak attack. However, the Kiri shinobi also used this window of opportunity to throw down a smoke bomb and had disappeared in that short moment.
Damn it!
Every shinobi in the Elemental Nations know that it is common occurrence that shinobis sneaked in and out of the countries' borders and everyone turns a blind eye so long as you don't get yourself caught on foreign soil and don't try anything that might start another war. The borders of each country, especially the great five, is too big for border patrols to be truly effective and no shinobi village is big enough to dedicate the required manpower to maintain a successful guard on their borders unless it is an all-out war where every shinobi is present at the frontlines. However, in peacetime, it is a different story if foreign shinobis blatantly show themselves on foreign soil and attack on their own volition. Obito have no idea if this means that a fourth war is brewing, but he cannot leave the safety of the village and his students to chance.
Obito sent an emergency flare out into the sky that will get the attention of the border patrol. They will be on alert and keep a lookout for any foreign shinobis now, that particular flare had meant that some foreign shinobis had sneaked in and that everyone should be on high alert. The border patrol will also probably be sending a small team here to investigate.
"Hanabi! Can you get a visual on Haku or the Kiri nin?!"
"I'm still searching for him, but I think I found the bandit camp, and Haku isn't there!"
Damn it, what happened?! The portable radio set they have on each of them are unable to connect to Haku's as well. They have no idea whether Haku is dead or alive.
Since Haku isn't at the bandits' camp, the three of them continued to move at high speeds towards the direction that the Kiri shinobi had most likely disappeared to, and Obito ran through the options in his mind on what they can now possibly do.
"I found the Kiri nin! He has two other companions, a shinobi and a kunoichi, the other shinobi is carrying… Haku?" Hanabi began to visibly panic. "Sensei! They got Haku! They are trying to bring Haku with them!"
Crap, they must have found out about Haku's bloodline somehow.
"Hanabi, how far are they?"
"About three kilometres at our two o'clock!"
"I will go and intercept them to save Haku, you guys catch up as soon as possible. Sai, send an ink bird to the nearest outpost that you know of to inform them of this new development, I trust that you know of the locations of the nearby outposts?"
"I do, sensei."
"Good, see you two whenever."
Obito felt the twist in his eyes as he activated his mangekyou sharingan, a power he gained after he experienced the death of his grandmother who passed away from old age shortly after the end of the third war. No way in hell is anyone going to take his students away from him. Not even the Shinigami itself can stop him from saving his student.
Obito called upon his chakra and felt the tug that signified the use of one of his best techniques.
"Kamui."
Gan ran along with his comrades as they successfully completed their mission objective. The fact that they found and retrieved a wayward citizen of their homeland is another bonus. This boy is from the famed Yuki clan, and his powers will be invaluable to help the Rebellion overthrow Yagura for good and usher in a new era for Kiri.
He still doesn't understand how the boy managed to find his way to Konoha from their country, but the questions can come later when they get back to the Land of Water.
It was only the instincts honed through countless battles and from the previous war that the three of them managed to dodge an unexpected attack from above and Uchiha Obito, the Phantom of Konoha, a shinobi known to be capable of sneaking into the most heavily guarded places and also the student of the Yellow Flash, descended upon them like a vengeful god.
How did he close the distance? And how did he sneaked up on them without even Suiren noticing his arrival?!
Uchiha Obito summoned a long chain attached to braces on his wrists that appeared from nowhere and lunged at Jun, who was carrying the unconscious boy. Gan leapt in to block Obito's path and slashed at him.
Only to find him and his blade phasing through Obito.
What?!
The chain wrapped themselves around Gan, who is now struggling to break free.
"Gan!"
"Leave me! Get the boy and our mission objective out of here!"
Jun and Suiren are obviously unwilling to leave him behind, but they heeded his words and began to run away from Obito. They will all die here otherwise.
"You won't escape."
Obito detached the chains from the braces on his wrist and huge shurikens appeared out of thin air before launching themselves at Jun and Suiren. Suiren managed to call upon a massive wall of water to stop the shurikens, but Obito had somehow appeared behind her back during that one short moment. It's like he can teleport anywhere.
Was that the Flying Thunder God Technique?! It might be possible that the Yellow Flash had passed on his famed technique to his student. If that's the case, they are screwed.
Obito gave a swift chop to Suiren's neck and knocked her out cold. Jun had put down the boy in favour of defending Suiren and launched a barrage of water bullets at Obito, which did nothing but sailed through Obito's body harmlessly.
What kind of jutsu is this?!
Gan had managed to free himself of the chains by now and slashed at Obito with his sword. Obito jumped backwards to stand in between the Yuki boy and them.
Curses! He had managed to successfully separate the Yuki boy from them!
"Jun, we can't defeat him. Beat it."
Jun gave a nod of agreement and threw down a flash bomb. Gan quickly took the opportunity to grab the unconscious Suiren and ran away as fast as possible with Jun, hoping to get away from the Uchiha, fearing that he might teleport in front of them at any moment.
It's a pity that they couldn't bring the Yuki boy back to Kiri, but they are lucky to get out of this alive. Uchiha Obito is an opponent who is close to reaching S rank in the bingo books, right up there with Hatake Kakashi and Uchiha Itachi. The only reason why Gan could fight toe-to-toe with him in their initial skirmish is because Obito was trying to make sure he didn't go for the two genins behind him, and Gan exploited that fact in their earlier fight. Gan suspects that Uchiha Obito might have already reached S rank from what he experienced in the second fight, and that his powers might not be properly documented into the bingo books.
They have to report this to Mei-sama. Both about the Yuki boy and Uchiha Obito.
"Sensei!"
"Took you guys long enough."
Hanabi panted as she arrived onto the scene with Sai. They had ran here as fast as possible and Hanabi had saw how Obito-sensei dispatched three Kiri shinobis without breaking a sweat with her byakugan while she was running here. The abilities that Obito-sensei displayed is beyond her understanding, but at least now she knows why their sensei is listed high up there in the bingo books. After watching that one-sided battle, she has no doubts that if it wasn't for Obito-sensei trying to protect her and Sai, he would have finished off the Kiri shinobi within seconds when he engaged them in battle.
Obito-sensei waved them over to him cheerily where he is sitting down on a large rock next to an unconscious Haku who is lying on the ground.
"Haku's fine, but we need to wake him up. You know what to do, nabi-chan."
Hanabi activated her byakugan again and tapped on several of Haku's tenketsu points. Haku began to stir.
"Ow… Hanabi? Sensei? Sai? Where are the Kiri shinobis?"
"I drove them off. You worried us sick, Haku. What happened?"
Haku slowly sat up and rubbed the back of his neck with a single hand.
"Well, the bandits captured a girl and attempted to rape her, and I cannot in good conscience see that happening in front of me, so I assassinated him. Another one passed by and I did the same thing with the same success, but the civilian girl was a little too loud at the shock of seeing me killing people and it attracted the rest of the bandits, so I have to take them out as well. They weren't the problem. Three Kiri nins appeared out of nowhere shortly after I took the bandits down, supposedly to retrieve a stolen item from the camp or something, but they didn't produce a pass when I asked for it. We fought, they found out about my bloodline, and I lost soon after. I tried to warn you guys that one of them is coming after you, but the kunoichi broke my radio set before I could get the message across."
"I see." Obito-sensei said as he closed his eyes in thought briefly. "We need to be more careful when we are completing missions outside the village walls from now onwards. This incident is probably just a one-off thing, and I don't think Kiri is bold enough to send more shinobis to come after you without risking another war, they have enough internal problems as it is."
"Speaking of Kiri's internal problems." Haku continued as Hanabi continue to scan for any signs of injury on him with her byakugan. "I think there is a rebellion going on in Kiri right now. They were talking about overthrowing the Yondaime Mizukage, and something about someone named Mei. You might want to bring that up with Hokage-sama when we get back to Konoha."
"Got it, thanks for the information. And good job for taking out the bandits. We will go and do some clean up at their hideout later. For now, rest. The border patrol should be coming at any time now. We need to give our findings to them."
"Hai, sensei. OUCH! What was that for, Hanabi?!"
"Don't scare us like that again!" Hanabi exclaimed and she is trying very hard not to cry in front of sensei and Sai from all the worry she felt earlier. "Do you know how worried we were?! If… If they really brought you back to Kiri…"
"Then I will find a way to get back here to you, one way or another." Haku reassured her as he flicked a finger against her forehead and Hanabi recoiled from the dull pain. "We did it once, doing it a second time will not be a problem. It's not like I want to go back to Kiri either."
"I heard a little from my grandfather about how you came here, girly-kun." Sai interrupted. "Both of you were like… four or five? When you both escaped Kiri to come to Konoha, and even then, it was a close call. How did the both of you even managed to find your way here?"
"Trade secret, Sai."
"According to what I had read, friends should not be stingy with each other, girly-kun. We should share our secrets."
"Shut up, Sai. Those books are not even correct half the time."
Hanabi rubbed away the wetness in her eyes with the back of her hand as Haku and Sai began to bicker. She had always known that Haku had never felt as if he truly belonged here in Konoha as he never had a say on whether he could leave or stay when he first arrived, and that's why she tried so hard to make him feel included in the village. It's the least she can do for him, after everything he did to try and bring her back to Konoha when they first met. She felt a little guilty for being the reason why Haku is living a life that he doesn't like. If she have to be honest with herself, she had probably developed feelings for Haku that went beyond being "best friends" a long time ago, but she knows a relationship is not something Haku needs right now. They are still young. She was overjoyed when Haku mentioned that he will find a way to get back to her even if the Kiri nins succeeded in the kidnapping. This is a sign that Haku had begun to try and accept Konoha as his home, and that's all she needs.
"I will need to up the intensity of our training when we get back to Konoha." Obito-sensei mused. "You guys have been slacking off if even Haku was taken out so quickly."
"Sensei, those three have to be jonins, even if they aren't the strongest of jonins. You expect a fresh genin to beat them all? Seriously?"
"You three are my students, Haku. Of course I will hold you guys to a higher standard."
"You are crazy, sensei."
"You haven't seen even half of it."
Haku paused for a short while as if he is trying very hard to get something out of his mouth.
"Thanks for coming to rescue me, guys. I really appreciate it. Thank you."
"Awwww, my cute little Haku-chan is embarrassed at being the damsel in distress, how cute!" Obito-sensei said in an obnoxiously loud voice as he purposely ruffled Haku's hair roughly with a single hand.
"According to another book I read about friends, it is expected for good friends to put their lives on the line to save each other in times of danger. You have nothing to thank us for, girly-kun. We are friends."
"We are a team, Haku." Hanabi said as she pinched and twist Haku's ear as he tried to free himself from her death grip. "Of course we will try our best to save you, even if sensei did most of the job this time."
"Sai, look at it! Nabi-chan and Haku-chan are so cute together!"
"I agree. According to a book I read about boy-girl relationships, their behaviour around each other that I observed since the start of our academy can be considered as flirting. And when their relationship progress to the next level-"
Hanabi's face flushed red and quickly let go of her grip on Haku and threw a stone at Sai and Obito-sensei, who merely ducked out of the way.
"According to a book about emotions, this emotion is called embarrassment."
"Absolutely correct, Sai! You are making progress!"
Obito-sensei definitely isn't helping things.
"I take it back." Haku grumbled as he threw senbons at Sai and Obito-sensei to shut them up and they are now busy with dodging Haku's senbons. "I take it all back. I take back everything nice that I was going to say about the team."
Hanabi cannot help but giggle.
Team 13 feels like a real team now. A goofy sensei, a socially stunted artist, a jaded training maniac, and the boisterous princess. They are a bunch of misfits, but they are each other's misfits.
This is Team 13, her Team 13, their Team 13, and Hanabi loves every single one of them.
They are finally a true team.
We got back to Konoha about a week after our run-in with the Kiri shinobis. The border patrol had turned up quickly like what Obito-sensei had said and we reported what we encountered to them. We also went back to clean up the bandits' hideout and to make sure that there aren't any more of those around the client's village. We head back to the village to bring the client to see the destroyed hideout as proof of the completion of our mission, claim the reward from our client, and head back to Konoha.
The first thing we did when we reached Konoha is to report directly to the Hokage tower about the successful completion of our mission. Usually a desk chunin will be the one recording and filing the report, but somehow Obito-sensei managed to skip the usual procedure and bring us straight to the Hokage's personal office instead.
The Yondaime Hokage listened to our verbal report with rapt attention as we each gave our report in turn.
"I see. If Kiri is indeed experiencing a rebellion against Yagura's tyranny, then that might bring about a huge change for the Elemental Nations." Kizashi tapped a finger on his desk in a monotonous rhythm for a few seconds before speaking up again. "Good job, Team 13, I'm glad that all of you came back safe and sound despite what had happened. Obito, I need you to stay behind. The rest of you, you are dismissed. Your sensei will inform you when you need to report for missions again."
The three of us wasted no time in exiting the office.
"So, what are we going to do now?" Hanabi asked as we exited the Hokage tower.
"I have to go back home to see my grandfather. He had made it clear that he wants to know the outcome of my first mission outside the village the moment I'm back."
"Goodbye, Sai."
Sai waved his goodbye with that fake smile on his face. Hanabi and I slowly walked back towards the Hyuga compound.
"Hanabi-chan! Haku!"
Naruto bounced up to us and we saw Sasuke and Sakura walking to catch up with their blond team mate from behind. Kakashi as well, although he is more interested in his perverted book than us. They are all carrying their backpacks and from the looks of it, they too have just returned from a mission outside Konoha.
"Guess what? We just completed our first mission outside the village! A C rank turned A rank too!"
Hanabi let out a sound of disbelief. I have a feeling I know what C rank mission Team 7 just came back from.
"You too? I mean our mission's ranking got bumped up to B rank instead of an A like yours, but what are the odds?"
"What happened? Is everyone alright?"
"Everything turned out ok, Kakashi-sensei." I replied to his concern. "But Obito-sensei is now stuck in a discussion with Hokage-sama. Hokage-sama seems a little concerned about what we found out during our mission."
"Ah. Thanks for the info." Kakashi snapped his book shut and turned to face his team. "The three of you are free to go, I will report our mission completion to Hokage-sama myself."
And just like that, Kakashi vanished in a swirl of leaves.
Seeing that it is still early, the five of us decided to take a quick bite at a nearby dessert store, refusing Naruto's request for Ichiraku. We are all sick of Ichiraku after Kushina-shishou bought us those noodles every time we go to her house for a study session when we were still in the academy. Ichiraku's ramen is tasty, but eating those ramens too frequently makes you sick of it after a while. I have no idea how Naruto's family are able to eat them on a near daily basis.
We shared with each other about what our teams experienced after graduating from the academy. The mission that Naruto was talking about was the Land of Waves mission, a mission that I am curious about since it involved canon me.
From what Team 7 told me, they had encountered Zabuza twice. In their first encounter, Zabuza managed to escape after Kakashi broke out of his Water Prison, similar to what happened in canon. In their second encounter, Zabuza fought them on the bridge, but halfway through the battle Gato showed up and revealed his 'masterplan'.
To say that Zabuza wasn't pleased is an understatement.
In the end, Zabuza and Team 7 took care of Gato and his goons together, and Zabuza disappeared shortly after to raid Gato's mansion to get his deserved pay. Zabuza had no known apprentice with him during the entire ordeal. His only known accomplices were Gozu and Meizu, who were taken out by Kakashi shortly after they left the village when they tried to ambush Tazuna.
Zabuza is still alive and roaming out there, and I have no idea what to feel about this development.
Hanabi and I also gave our mission report to Hiashi when we got back to the Hyuga compound. He was concerned about the attempted kidnapping on me, but Hanabi and I reassured that everything turned out fine in the end. Seeing that we are both fine, he told us to be more careful next time before shooing us out of his office so that he can continue with his clan duties and paperwork.
I may not be his biological son, but even I have to say that I am touched at how he shows his care for me in his own subtle way. Hiashi is not the most expressive person I had seen and neither am I, but the acts of care and kindness he had shown to me throughout the years had made me opened up a little to him, just as how Team 13 came to my rescue made me opened up to them a little bit more as well.
Maybe I can start to trust people again.
No, I am not going to trust people again.
"Aww, come on, Haku-chan! It's for the sake of the mission!"
"I know there is a reason why I call you girly-kun."
Hanabi isn't helping at all as she rolled on the ground in peals of laughter.
"No." I growled out as I pointed a finger at them. "Do that to me, and I will end every single one of you. I will personally carve your names onto the memorial stone and scatter your ashes into the sea."
"But Haku-channnn." Obito-sensei whined like a three-year-old who just got denied of his candy. "How are we going to get the information from our target otherwise?"
"You need a girl? Get Hanabi."
"But she's too recognisable." Sai argued back smoothly. "Anyone would know she is a Hyuga in an instant, and by extension, a shinobi."
"There's something called a Henge. Or you can always get her to wear contacts."
"But." Obito-sensei held up a picture of the target who we are supposed to get near to, and then somehow steal the information from his brain. I'm more inclined towards torturing the information out of him at this point. He is a pig of a man and according to the file, he lusts after little girls. Disgusting. I would have killed him on sight if he didn't have vital information we need to retrieve to complete this mission successfully. "Can you bear to subject Hanabi to… him? What if the mission goes wrong and Hanabi is somehow left all alone? What if he…"
I scowled. No way am I dressing up as a girl, but I am even more certain that I definitely don't want Hanabi to go even within a mile near this man if the files on him are accurate.
"There has to be a way to get close to him without needing me to dress up as a girl. We can use your sharingan to get what we need out of him."
"I told you that I will only be supervising this mission, Haku-chan. The three of you are the ones who are going to complete it." Obito-sensei chided as he waved a finger at me in a disapproving manner like I am a disobedient puppy. "Since I'm not going to interfere, my sharingan is out of the question. So between the three of you and your skillsets, approaching the target through disguise, build rapport with him, and then getting access to his home is paramount if we want to be efficient in retrieving the information we want. It just so happens that our target has… questionable tastes and we sure as hell don't want to subject our only lady here to possible…" Obito gestured vaguely towards the end. We all know what might happen to Hanabi if she is the one doing the infiltrating and something went terribly wrong and we are unable to reach her in time. "In that case, the next best candidate is you, since Sai-kun cannot act like a proper human even if it kills him."
"Hanabi will just end him with her Gentle Fist." I argued.
"But we don't know for sure if our target has shinobi training, or whether he has shinobi guards that can see through Hanabi's disguise immediately."
"Sensei, I thought you said I displayed improvement in acting normally?"
"Not enough to qualify you for this mission, my dear Sai-kun. So which is it? Haku-chan."
Hanabi had recovered from laughing by now and went up to give a solid pat on my back.
"I believe in you, Haku. Even I have to admit I lose to you in the looks department if you dressed up as a girl."
"Shut up." I growled out from the embarrassment I'm facing. "Be glad that the one going in there isn't you."
"Thank you Haku! I know we are best friends for a reason!" Hanabi gave me a brief hug before she shuffled through her backpack and pulled something out. "Look! I even have a spare kimono all ready for you too! It's the prettiest one I have! You are going to look gorgeous in it!"
"Excellent foresight, nabi-chan!"
"Thanks sensei!"
Hanabi pushed the bright orange kimono that she is so fond of wearing back at the compound into my hands, and pushed me further behind the bushes to get me to change.
"Don't take too long now! We need to complete this mission before the sun goes down!"
"I'm going to kill every single one of you. I swear it."
"AWWWWWWW!"
"Shut. Up. Before I puncture holes in your faces with my senbons."
This time, Obito cannot help it as he followed Hanabi's example and fell onto the ground and rolled about in laughter together with her. This is hilarious! He knows his student has delicate feminine features and people often mistook him for a girl, but seeing him dressed up as one… By the sage! He is even prettier than Rin when she was his age!
"You look good in Hanabi's kimono." Sai mused.
Hanabi suddenly have a mischievous glint in her eyes that meant that she is up to no good. "We need to help you put on some makeup."
"No. I refuse."
"But Haku, we need to convince our target that you are a girl! He doesn't go after little boys!"
"I'm already wearing a kimono. Your kimono."
"Actually, on second thought…" Sai trailed off as he went through the file documenting known information about the target again. "Nothing is written about whether the target has a preference for boys or girls, just that he wants them to be little kids."
"Better be safe than sorry then, a girl will definitely work. Haku pulled it off splendidly too." Obito said as he gave a thumbs up at Haku, who scowled, but he somehow managed to look pretty while doing it even if it wasn't his intention to be so.
"No matter how I look at it, he sure looks like a girl the moment he puts on my kimono." Hanabi said out loud as she adopted a thinking posture. "And a very pretty one too. Nee-san and I aren't bad looking ourselves, but even we lost to him in the looks department. Why can't I be as pretty as him?"
Obito grinned and whispered to Hanabi's ear.
"Well, I'm sure that any kids between the both of you will be pretty given how pretty the both of you are. I cannot wait to see how your future kid with Haku looks like, especially if it is a girl, nabi-chan."
"SENSEI!"
Hanabi visibly flushed and strike out with her fingers, chakra flaring with the use of Gentle Fist as Obito howled with laughter while dodging it. Hanabi's feelings for Haku are too obvious, although that poor bloke Haku probably didn't know about Hanabi's feelings for him. For someone so smart, he can be denser than Sai sometimes. Even Sai picked up on Hanabi's fondness for him, and there's no way Haku felt nothing towards Hanabi given how protective he is of her. Sometimes Haku isn't even aware of how he acts around her or realised how natural it is for them to be always together. They are rarely apart from each other and they did almost everything together.
"Er… team?" Sai called out as he pointed from where they are hiding by the side of the road. "I think that is our target passing by."
The entire team turned their heads to follow Sai's outstretched finger. True to his words, the target will be approaching any moment now.
"Go for it, Haku." Obito gave the best impression of Guy's 'good guy' smile to encourage his feminine-looking student and pushed him forward. "You can do it. Make the target fall in love with you."
"Make him lust after your body, girly-kun."
"Don't make me castrate you, Sai."
The rest of Team 13 remained hidden from view as their target, Kamichi, strolled down the dirt path leading back to his town. Haku lay down in the middle of the path, acting as if his ankle was sprained and unable to get up on his own, a cliché but effective move to seduce idiotic and perverted targets. Obito swears that it works every single time.
Kamichi 'found' Haku like they had planned, and Haku's acting is superb.
"I… I am supposed to go to Chisaku town but I'm lost…" Haku's lips trembled and his right hand went up to his lips, his fingers curled up to show signs of weakness and dependency. "I… I don't know what to do… there's nobody here to help me until you came."
"My ankle is sprained, it hurts! I can't walk on my own!" Haku played the part of the injured damsel perfectly. Even Obito would have been fooled if he never saw Haku before. Haku looked up to Kamichi as his eyes glistened with water, and Obito wondered if there is a jutsu to make your eyes water in an instant. If there is, Haku definitely knows it. "Will you help me?"
"Really? You can bring me there?! Thank you!" Haku played the part of an excited girl and gave their target a big hug.
The rest of Team 13 watched from their hiding place as Kamichi visibly inhaled Haku's sweet scent in a lustful manner during that hug. Hanabi had sprayed Haku with her perfume that she brought along for this mission since they know that there is a chance they might need to disguise themselves to approach the target. They could have just searched the target's home directly with Hanabi's byakugan, but Obito had quickly declared that this mission will be also used to train them on how to disguise and infiltrate into their target's home through the more sneaky aspects of the shinobi arts, purposely lying to his team that they have to get the information from the target himself and that they are no written copies since the 'target is known to be a very cautious man'. He made that up, of course. He totally omitted the part where the real mission that they are given is to retrieve the information from the target's house, and that the information is probably just lying around in the house somewhere. There is no real need for whatever they are doing now. It's hard to fool Haku, but Obito is glad that he managed to pull it off by mentioning Hanabi. Hanabi is like his weak spot to pretty much anything.
Obito knew that if his colleagues knew about what he did, they would definitely ask: Why go through all that trouble? Just raid the target's house and leave no traces behind. It's more efficient that way.
Obito gave a wicked smile as he brought out one of the best inventions ever invented by mankind.
The camera.
"Obito-sensei! Is that…"
Obito gave a solid nod of his head. Cameras are uncommon and are very expensive. He only managed to got himself one by stealing it from the Kumo Damiyo during one of his missions in Kumo.
"That's right, nabi-chan. This is the reason why I insisted Haku to dress up as a girl. Everything is for this moment."
"What are we waiting for?! Quick!"
Obito wasted no time as he quickly snapped pictures of Haku dressed up and acting like the demure girl he is playing the part of. Haku is definitely in his element, he got the target completely fooled and wrapped around his little finger. Even Sai wasted no time in painting what is acting out right in front of their eyes.
This is gold.
The target carried Haku on his back and the rest of Team 13 followed behind discreetly, with Obito taking pictures with his camera the entire journey, purposely zooming in on Haku's face or take pictures when he did certain gestures that would make others think that without a doubt, that Haku is a girl and not a boy.
Best. Mission. Ever.
Who says being a jonin sensei doesn't have its own perks?
The target carried me to his house on his back the entire journey, and I have to restrain myself from puking at his body odour. I don't really know how to act like a girl even if I am born to look like one, so I improvised. The elegant and demure way of carrying myself is referenced from how Mum used to carry herself, the bubbly and cute reactions are inspired by Hanabi, and the occasional shyness and meek personality from Hinata.
I can't believe I had to act all of these out. Urgh. At least no one other than my team sees the entire process and hopefully their memories of it will be lost to time.
Hopefully.
The target left me sitting on his bed and excused himself to get us some drinks, and I have no doubt that he is going to spike it.
That disgusting pig.
I looked around the bedroom, and a file lying on a table nearby caught my eye.
My curiosity prompted me to look through the file.
Isn't this the information that we are looking for?! It's just here all along?! Why the hell do I need to dress up as a girl then?! We could have just sneaked in and swiped it without anyone the wiser! 'Target is a cautious man', my ass! He displayed no such signs during my interactions with him! The information we had about our target is obviously wrong and there's no way Obito-sensei wouldn't know about it given how cautious and stringent he is regarding mission details. Then why did Obito-sensei say that-
Oh.
OH.
I fumed as I stored the file in a storage scroll that I brought along and kept it within the kimono, plotting sensei's imminent demise as I do so. I will have to apologise to Rin later, she is going to be short of a boyfriend. Maybe I can convince her to date Kakashi instead to get over her loss? I must make it such that Obito-sensei wouldn't be missed even in his death, even by Rin. How am I going to murder him? Death by senbons? Freeze him in ice while cooking him over a huge fire to see if it is possible to cook someone alive while being frozen? Maybe as an experimental test subject for some of my seals? There are definitely a few that I have been itching to try out. What other ways do I have that are able to make him die a slow and painful death? Drowning him in his own blood?
I'm so going to kill him.
"You must be thirsty." The target walked in carrying a tray with two glasses of drinks. "Here, drink up."
But first, I'm going to kill this pig. He is the reason why this entire fiasco happened in the first place, and the world is better off without someone like him around. I accepted the fact that my moral compass had been lost somewhere a long time ago. The fact that I am able to kill people without remorse no longer bothered me. There are times where I am glad I felt this way, it helps me to sleep better at night.
This is a different world, the values I held dear in my previous life are no longer applicable here. In this new world, new values are needed if I want to survive till I die of old age.
"Sure, thank you." I said as I put on the sweetest smile paired with the sweetest voice I can muster as a senbon slid down into my hand, hidden from view thanks to the sleeves of the kimono.
There are two people that I am going to slaughter today. A pig, and an idiot of a sensei.
"Haku! Did you get the information?!" Obito yelled loudly the moment he spotted Haku walking towards them at the agreed meeting point.
"Of course I did." Haku retorted as his hands went to search for something within the kimono. "Huh, where did I put it? I'm sure I sealed it in a scroll somewhere."
Obito leaned in closer as he stood in front of Haku.
"Seriously, Haku, you need to learn where to put- WHOA! What was that for!"
Obito barely managed to avoid the senbons that Haku threw out without any warning. Haku looked murderous as he held his senbons in both his hands, one in between each finger. The temperature around the area plummet instantly and white breaths of air can be seen the moment they opened their mouths to speak.
"Stand still, sensei. I just want to murder you, painfully. That's all. Don't make this harder than it already is, I am already planning on how to apologise to Rin-san for causing her to lose her boyfriend. I don't want to explain to her why she doesn't even have a corpse left to bury after I am done with you."
Obito yelped and ducked the next barrage of senbons as he continued to run with Haku hot on his heels.
"Wait, wait! Haku! What's going-"
"You sure as hell know what is going on! Water Release: Water Dragon Jutsu!"
"I can explain!"
"The only explanation I need is your death. Get back here this instant so that I can kill you! Thousand Flying Water Needles of Death!"
Hanabi and Sai watched in delight as Haku began to chase and unleash jutsus of the destructive kind on their goofy sensei as they both dashed about the clearing, with Haku looking like a demon from hell and their sensei running about like a headless chicken. Hanabi had already bent down in laughter and even Sai had a smile on his face, a smile different from the fake one he usually wore.
"How mad do you think girly-kun will be if he knew we had pictures and drawings of him dressed up as a girl and seducing our target?"
"Very." Hanabi giggled out.
"We are not telling him?"
"We are not telling him."
True to his words, Obito-sensei put the team through a much more intensive and rigorous training regime after our run-in with the Kiri nins. He was merciless as he spammed Fire jutsus at us and he is near impossible to catch even without activating his sharingan, showing us how he earned his moniker as the 'Phantom of Konoha'. I'm not sure which is stronger, Obito-sensei or canon Obito, but from his Bingo book entry I know that Obito-sensei should be at least a high A rank threat or maybe even an S rank threat at his current level. I don't think the information about him in the Bingo book is totally accurate, there are some high level stuffs I know he can do that are not listed in the book, especially when it comes to his Fire jutsus.
Obito-sensei also got the three of us to expand our range of techniques and to improve existing ones. With the help from his sharingan in picking out and correcting the flaws of my jutsu, I finally managed to master the Demonic Mirroring Ice Crystals to the extent of being able to move at near instantaneous speed from mirror to mirror. I am trying to incorporate the concept of the ice mirrors into another jutsu that I am trying to invent for my Ice Release, and if it succeeds, I may have just earned myself a technique comparable to the Flying Thunder God Technique in certain aspects.
I trained myself even harder than before. Our run-in with the Kiri shinobis was a close call, and the next big event coming up, if nothing else changes, will be the Chunin Exams. Since Orochimaru is also a traitor to Konoha in this world, I guess it is safe to assume that it is likely that the invasion will still happen. There's no way I can warn the village of the attack without alerting them to my reincarnated status, and to be honest, even if I am starting to like Konoha, I don't see a real need to go out of my way to help protect it either. The extent of my loyalty to Konoha extends only to the people that I am close with. Whether the establishment known as Konohagakure exists or perish doesn't matter to me as long as the people that I have grown to care about remains safe.
Besides, Konoha has more S rank shinobis now than in canon. Maybe Orochimaru might get himself slain here if he really dares to invade Konoha, and wouldn't that be great?
I dove in and out of the ice mirrors as Obito-sensei pointed out how I can improve further on it while he defended himself against my attacks. My ice mirrors are likely to be my bread-and-butter technique with how much utility it provides me. Obito-sensei is able to keep up with my speed as long as he has his sharingan active and sparring with him is very good practice on how I should fight against foes who are able to somehow keep up with my speed. Right now, not many are able to do so, but Obito-sensei happened to be among the few that do.
"Alright. Time out." Obito-sensei said as he leapt backwards to disengage from me.
I emerged from one of my ice mirrors and let them melt as I relinquished my chakra on it. Obito-sensei had a few senbons sticking out from his body, but he plucked them out as if he felt nothing from the stabs. I didn't manage to do any real damage to him with my senbons since he dodged or blocked most of it. We had agreed that for this spar, I will only use senbons and ice mirrors to attack him and see how it goes.
"Your speed has improved greatly and your mirrors are a lot sturdier now. It helps that you don't need to rely as heavily as before on a ready water source before you are able to use your techniques. Good job, Haku. Even I wasn't expecting that big of an improvement. Keep it up, and one day you might be able to draw huge amounts of water directly from the air just like the Niidaime did."
I gave a hum and the both of us turned to watch Sai and Hanabi sparring on the other side of the training field. Sai had wanted to train more in his taijutsu. Like me, he is not as proficient in a close-up fight and is better at attacking from a distance. Taijutsu isn't his strong suit. Hanabi had volunteered to help him and hence the both of them are out there having a taijutsu bout while Obito-sensei helps me with refining my Ice Release.
Sai lasted another five minutes before Hanabi had him knocked down into the ground. It's already a big improvement for him since it is Hanabi that he is facing, even if Hanabi is going easy on him. She is a monster when it comes to taijutsu, and among our generation, probably only Neji and maybe Rock Lee can beat her with just taijutsu alone. I haven't seen Lee yet in this world although I know that he is Neji's team mate, but his strength in taijutsu should at least be the same as what was depicted in canon. Hinata is good in her taijutsu as well and her skills in the Gentle Fist is on par with Hanabi, but Hinata's unwillingness to hurt people always made her pull back her punches unconsciously, and hence she lost more than she won whenever we sparred with her. I can only hope that she only holds back against her friends and not her enemies. I may not be as close to her as I am with Hanabi, but I don't want to see her wind up dead either.
Obito-sensei brought us back to his apartment in the Uchiha district for dinner after our training session, saying that Rin had wanted to meet all of us and that she is cooking up a feast. He had told us a week ago to clear up our schedules today for this occasion.
I had seen Rin on and off many times during my stay in Konoha, mostly when I was at Minato-shishou and Kushina-shishou's place to study Fuinjutsu and she happened to be visiting as well together with Obito and Kakashi. She tends to mother and fuss over me for every single thing I did, and I don't know why she has such a vested interest in me. Personally, I don't like it when I am being fussed over as if I am a three-year-old kid, but I know that she is doing this because she cares for me, so I kept quiet and let her do her thing as I endured the fussing.
Somewhere, somehow, the list of people that I had grew to accept gets longer and longer. I had told myself repeatedly not to trust people anymore in this world when the tragedy that struck my family happened, but I am finding myself placing more and more of my trust in them. When did it first start to happen? Was it the weekly session organised by the study group? Or did it happen even before that when Hanabi dragged me to eat lunch with Naruto and co. during our academy days?
I don't know.
As usual, Rin fussed over me the moment she spotted me and I can see Hanabi and Obito-sensei hiding a snicker at the side. Sai had a notebook and pen out as he jotted down the ways 'one can show affection and care to another'. He always has a notebook on hand for him to write down his observations on how different people display their emotions and he studies it religiously like some sort of bible.
Dinner was a pleasant affair as the five of us ate and talked about what is going on in our lives in general. I don't really have much to share since my life mainly consists of training, training, and more training. Whatever interesting things I experienced, Hanabi would have experienced it too since she is almost always with me and she can share them on my behalf. Hanabi loves to talk and I prefer my silence, so I let her do most of the talking. Sai shows us the newest paintings he drew. His paintings are an outlet for him to express emotions that he does not know how to describe, and we will try to teach him the various emotions we think he is trying to express through his paintings. So far, I think that this method is working.
"As you guys might know, the Chunin Exams are coming up soon." Obito-sensei said at the dinner table after we finished our meals as he put on a sagely look on his face. "And being the nice, dutiful, responsible sensei that I am, I decided to nominate the three of you for the exams. TADA!"
Obito showed us the application forms for the Chunin Exams in an exaggerated manner and we all leaned in closer to take a look.
"Come on, at least show some excitement! It is the Chunin Exams!"
The three of us stared back at him in a disinterested manner. None of us are exactly keen on participating in the exams for various reasons. Unlike what was suggested in the manga series, you don't need to take part in the exams to earn a promotion to chunin. We will get promoted either way with or without the exams. The purpose of the exams is for the shinobi villages to put up a show of strength, it is a substitute for war. It's how shinobi villages show the world who is the top dog here and persuade their potential clients to hire their services instead of going to the other shinobi villages. Nothing more, nothing less. Many shinobis in Konoha earned their chunin rank out on the field or based on their achievements they accumulated as a genin. Going through the Chunin Exams, in reality, is a hassle, unless you really like the idea of fighting really strong opponents, like Naruto and Sasuke for instance. However, the three of us aren't that type of people.
"Not everyone is as interested as you at the thought of fighting to your death just for the sake of the possibility of a promotion, sensei." I answered dryly.
"Haku, why do you wound me so! My heart! I can't take it! My student just broke my heart into a million pieces with his words!"
"You have Rin-san with you. Ask her to heal you."
"You hear that, Rin? I need you to heal-"
Rin silenced Obito by pressing the heel of her foot on Obito-sensei's foot -hard- with a sweet smile on her face. I can see my sensei's face scrunching up and I counted him displaying at least ten different painful expressions on his face in just a few seconds. I have no idea how he did that.
"So this is how someone's expression looks like when they are experiencing extreme pain…" Sai trailed off as he noted down more notes in his little notebook. "Rin-san, do you mind doing it again? I'm afraid I didn't catch all of sensei's expressions."
"Sure thing, Sai-kun."
"Wait, wait, Rin-chan! YeowwwwwW!"
I continue to practice my calligraphy on the work desk in my room. It is our team's day off today and I had finished practicing my taijutsu in the morning. Since it's too hot to do anything else in the afternoon, I decided to use this time to practice my calligraphy instead. Although the study group don't have study sessions anymore since we graduated from the academy, my weekly lessons with Kushina-shishou and Minato-shishou is still ongoing. Kushina-shishou is planning to start on letting me learn containment seals and I need to get my calligraphy perfect before I can even attempt to start drawing containment seals. Kushina-shishou and Minato-shishou had been nothing but nice and patient with me, and I start to find myself not wanting to disappoint them when learning Fuinjutsu from them. They kind of grew on me.
The shogi door to my room slid open and I don't even need to turn my head to see who had came in. There's only one person in the entire compound who barges into my room regularly without announcing their presence. Even Hiashi knocks before entering.
The typical smell of jasmine wafted into my nose and I felt Hanabi sitting close by my side. Her hair is still a little wet, she must have just come out from the shower.
I idly pushed my chakra outwards and took control of the water still clinging onto her hair, collecting it into a small glob that floats a short distance upwards from us. I sent the small globule of water out of my window and heard it splash outside in the garden surrounding the compound. Hanabi hates the time needed for her hair to dry. Since I have advanced control over water, I might as well use it to help dry her hair and get some chakra control practice down at the same time.
"Why am I not surprised that you are practicing your calligraphy again."
"Why am I not surprised that you entered my room without knocking again. I could have been changing my clothes." I said as I continued writing without even needing to look in her direction once.
"I have the byakugan, and learning the Gentle Fist requires us to memorise the diagram of the human anatomy. You think I will be bothered at seeing you naked? I have seen you naked with my byakugan more times than I can count since we sparred with each other regularly."
Well, she has a point, and I already knew about this when Hiashi told me the traits of the byakugan when explaining the Gentle Fist taijutsu style to me. I still feel a little violated at the thought that anyone with a byakugan could have seen me naked already. Neji, Hinata, Hiashi, and Hizashi definitely did since we sparred regularly. There's no privacy living with a clan of people with all-seeing eyes. There are rules on when and where the clansmen can use their dojutsu in the compound, but I don't know how many of them actually abide by the rules when no one is looking.
I continue to practice writing the kanji for 'seal', a basic kanji that every aspiring seal master should perfect if they want to advance further in Fuinjutsu. I don't think I will ever be a seal master, but I want to be at least good enough to seal most objects away or to at least create my own unique seals. According to Kushina-shishou, my written kanji is good enough, but nowhere near perfect yet, even when I am under her tutelage for so long.
Hanabi sighed.
"Just… take a break already. I don't know how you can keep going on and on in improving yourself as a shinobi even when you don't like being one."
"Practicing calligraphy helps me clear my mind. I don't like beinga shinobi, but if I grow stronger, then no one will be able to force me to do things that I don't like to do. I can finally be free."
Hanabi tilted her heads downwards guiltily.
"I'm sorry."
"Don't be. I told you many times already, I never regretted saving you. I just regret being too weak to be able to say no to the Hokage. That's why I will grow strong, strong enough so that even the great five shinobi villages won't be able to do anything to me."
"If… If you really decide to leave Konoha one day… at least try and visit me once every while."
"I will."
I can feel Hanabi shifting closer to me at my side and our bodies touching each other. The smell of jasmine that is always on her got a little stronger due to her getting closer to me, and somehow, I feel a little uncomfortable at the distance between the two of us.
Strange, I am usually not so bothered with us being so close together. And out of so many things I could notice about her, why am I noticing her scent more than before? She always smells like jasmine and the smell is always pleasant, but why am I so bothered by it now of all times?
Oh. Puberty. I am thirteen this year and I am starting to experience my growth spurt. This must be my hormones running wild, and hence I am now more sensitive and starting to notice more about those from the opposite sex.
Whatever. This is a part and parcel of life, it will go just as quickly as it had arrived. I just have to endure the process until then. I just didn't expect the first thing for me to notice about Hanabi is her scent.
Hanabi said nothing as she rested her head on my shoulder and watched me carrying on with practicing my calligraphy. She's usually not this quiet.
"Something on your mind?"
"The Chunin Exams. I heard people die in it every year, I'm a little scared. I don't know why, but I have a bad feeling about the exams. Obito-sensei thinks that we are prepared, but I don't think so. Jonin senseis usually don't send out their team in less than a year after they got them."
"We survived through worse when we first met, and we are a lot stronger now. We have Sai with us too. Don't worry too much about it, if worse comes to worst, there's me."
"You nearly died that time, Haku. I know you purposely wear long sleeves shirts for my sake, to hide it from me so that I don't feel guilty about it. I cannot even imagine the pain you felt from all the kunai stabs."
"It hurts, that's true, but we are still alive, that is what matters. The exams are held in Konoha this time, so we are a lot safer as compared to taking the exams in another village."
Hanabi snuggled closer to me and I don't have the heart to push her away, even if her body weight on me is severely affecting my ability to practice my brush strokes properly. Her fear of the exams must have affected her more than I thought.
Oh well, if I can get my calligraphy perfect even in this condition, then I should be able to pass Kushina-shishou's test. I will just treat this as training.
Every breath I inhaled took in a little of Hanabi's scent with it, the scent of jasmine, and it is proving to be a big distraction. I can't even write properly anymore. Stupid puberty.
"Haku?"
"Yeah?"
"Should I keep my hair short, or should I grow it out?"
"It's your hair, do whatever you want with it."
"I'm asking for your opinion."
"If you want to be practical, then keep it short. If you feel a little vain, then keep it long."
"And which one do you think looks better on me?"
I paused in my writing to think about this. Hanabi may be a kunoichi, but she is very conscious of her looks, as all girls are. Kunoichis sometimes like to keep their hair short as having long hair may be used against them on missions, especially when they are fighting with their taijutsu and enemies may just grab onto their hair to hinder them. It is usually not a problem for kunoichis if they reached a certain level of strength, to the point that having long hair will not prove to be a disadvantage.
"Long, I think. I think you look better with long hair. It may be a little troublesome having long hair while you fight with taijutsu, but I think that should not be a problem for you."
"I see."
Hanabi and I continue to spend our time together in this manner, where I practice my calligraphy while she just sat beside me and watch quietly with her head on my shoulder. If it were anyone else, I would have just pushed them away from me the moment they leaned on me, but this is Hanabi. She will just keep coming back to annoy me until she gets her way, I learnt that within the first month I'm in Konoha. It's better to just let her do whatever she wants, it's less troublesome that way.
Damn, now I sound like Shikamaru.
I looked up after awhile and saw the time on the clock. It's been two hours already?
I glanced towards Hanabi and saw that she had already dozed off, with her head still on my shoulder without me realising it.
I silently put down my brush and picked Hanabi up gently, taking extra caution to not wake her up as I carried her bridal style. I exited my room and entered hers, which is just right beside mine, and gently lay her on her bed in her room. I pulled the covers over her body and silently exited her room, closing the door behind me quietly.
Hanabi is right in feeling a little scared for the Chunin Exams. I am too. Orochimaru may very well be making his appearance here, and none of us are able to fight him if we ever encounter him. He is a Sannin, someone so strong that he can toy with most jonins like they are newborn genins.
I clenched my fist as I made my way to the Naka River to practice my ninjutsu. I don't like seeing Hanabi being afraid of anything, it's not in her nature. She's always been very confident. Seeing her so scared of something makes me feel angry for some reason.
I don't understand what kinds of emotions I am feeling right now and why I feel that way, but I do understand that I have to do something to ease Hanabi's fear. In this life, there are only three people that I truly care about and two of them are already dead. She's the only one left. She's the only one that is anchoring me to Konoha and my only true attachment to this world. I need to be able to protect her.
I need to get stronger.