He was also, more recently, Tazuna the Drunk. Drink served two purposes, dulling joints made arthritic by age and dulling memories that he'd rather put a little distance between himself and them.
Being ushered into the Hokage's presence in, to his not-so-humble-opinion, a portion of morning that should be labelled Way Too Damn Early, he wasn't nearly as drunk as he wanted to be and feeling fairly irritable about the whole thing. So he wasn't inclined to be kind as he was brought in to meet the ninja team that would be protecting him. Not that he could afford a top ranked ninja team, so he'd have to make do with whatever he got.
A dark-eyed kid, maybe twelve at most, brooding. A blond kid, a little older, who had a cat on his shoulder whose chin he was scratching. Judging from the rumbling purr, the cat was enjoying this. Then there was the girl... what the heck?
At first glance the girl talking to the two other kids was fairly normal. Except that as he adjusted his glasses to get a better look, he could see that those bracers and metal rings at her joints were actually PART of her. Nor was her skin precisely skin, it gleamed a bit too much and looked "off" now that he was examining it more closely.
Then the girl straightened one arm, braced it with the other arm, and a section of her forearm popped open to reveal a tube.
"Now now, Sakura, put that away, our client is here and there's nothing you can blow up anyway," said the tall guy who had to be the senior ninja-guy shepherding these kids.
"Hmph," said Tazuna, taking a quick swig from his bottle to clear his head a little bit more. "So these are my guards? A brooding sad sack, a stupid-looking boy and his scrawny cat, and a toy ninja?"
The members of Team 7 stared at him for a moment.
"So," said the cat, staring at him with the oddest lavender eyes, "I see a faded old drunk. If this is the client we're supposed to protect, what are we protecting him FROM, a hangover?"
"I think I saw a place that sells muzzles," countered Tazuna.
The cat glared at him for a moment before leaping off the boy's soldier. The problem was that when she landed on the floor, a human girl was standing there.
"I see there have been a few changes since I left," said the doll as the little girl continued to glare at their client.
"Kurochan's my familiar," said Naruto. "And I think Kakashi-sensei said something about 'bandits' after the client."
"Yes, that is what the mission entails," said Kakashi, putting one hand on the catgirl's shoulder. "If we could keep from shredding the client? It really isn't within the mission boundaries to protect the client from bandits by killing him beforehand."
"Hmph, buncha kids," said Tazuna dismissively. "What can YOU do against the sorts of bandits lured by the prospect of my bridge?"
For some reason, the kids seemed to find this amusing. So did the adults in the room. Tazuna considered that, then shrugged. "Well, whatever."
Hanabi knew her role. She was the heir. The talented heir of the strongest remaining clan in Konohagakure. As stoic and strong as her father, if you made allowances for their relative size and age.
It was obvious to her why someone would attack her. They were attacking the clan. Motives might vary but ranged from envy to vengeance against some slight or previous battle. That they had turned her into a cat was a bit unusual in that respect, and the first time she coughed up a hairball she had vowed all sorts of nasty and creative violence upon the persons responsible.
However, as a good clan heir should, she was taking the problems and using them to strengthen her position and development.
She was getting a head start on her ninja career, which was necessary for the whole heir-of-a-ninja-clan after all. Her father AND mother had both been jonin. This was a good team to start out with for such purposes. Kakashi Hatake, the Copy Ninja, one of the most highly ranked jonin in the village - though he apparently had some personal habits that were less than exemplary. Sasuke Uchiha, rookie of the year, and while her family didn't see Eye to Eye with the Uchiha clan - nobody had ever really questioned their competency. Naruto Uzumaki, who'd been a class clown but was now a wizard who was literally capable of calling down the Wrath Of The Heavens upon his enemies. Miyuki Takamachi had been interesting. The girl had fallen into the habit of stroking the cat in her lap and talking about her own world - which sounded terribly exotic and strange.
As of yesterday, Miyuki was gone. Returning to Team 7 was this girl - Sakura Haruno. It had taken some time for Hanabi to place where she'd seen that pink hair before - but now knew this was another victim of the forces that had come after her. Except that Sakura had been turned into some sort of puppet.
Hanabi had put the clues together, and no doubt this Sakura was someone who'd been gotten as a kunoichi of approximately the same age to experiment with. That she was now apparently possessed of superstrength and the ability to produce some sort of weapon from a forearm was merely an additional source of payback when the person responsible for their transformation could be found.
She'd gone back to cat-form after briefly confronting their client. It was simply easier, she could have Naruto carry her instead of having to walk all the way to Wave for one thing.
As they approached the gates of the city though, she hissed as she realized that the weakling elder sister was over there hiding behind a streetpole. Which was NOT behavior that someone of the main family of the Hyuga clan should be indulging in.
Unfortunately, that brought Naruto's attention to the girl.
"Oh, hi Hinata!" said Naruto brightly, changing course to speak to her.
Hanabi snarled slightly at the squeak. Was Hinata a Hyuga or a mouse?!
"H-h-hi, N-n-naruto," managed Hinata. "I, uhm, heard you had an extended mission..."
"Yeah, great isn't it?" asked Naruto. "How's that bow working out?"
The pretending-to-not-be-listening Team 7 and the not-hiding-that-she-was-listening Hanabi looked curious at that.
"It's great," said Hinata, her voice dropping further in volume as she tapped fingers together. "I'm working at using it with my Byakugan."
"Great!" said Naruto, clasping her shoulder with one hand. "I knew that would be good for you. Keep it up, and I'll tell you all about this mission when we get back!"
"Unn," managed the very red Hinata.
Naruto considered things briefly. What was a fiance supposed to do? Uhm. Oh! "Here's my apartment key. If you have time, can you water the plants? Just leave all the magic stuff alone though. I've got it warded."
Hanabi was about to say something when she realized her voice hadn't changed. With that and her eyes still being the same color, if she spoke Hinata would probably put it together and did she really want her sister to know about this?
Read the comments on this episode
(Posted Wed, 11 Aug 2010 16:56)
Questions? Problems? Suggestions?
Send a mail to addventure@bast-enterprises.de
or use the contact form.
らんま1/2 © Rumiko Takahashi
All other series and their characters are © by their respective creators or owners. No claims of ownership of these characters are implied by the authors of this Addventure, or should be inferred.
The Anime Addventure is a non-profit site.