A dragon had just landed and disgorged a passenger, who was the Uzumaki girl. Though she seemed to be wearing some form-fitting armor under some overclothes, he couldn't really get much detail at this distance. And getting very close to - a - freaking - DRAGON - was not on his "to do" list today.
The dragon vanished in a puff of chakra smoke, revealing it was the girl's summon. Which meant that the forbidden techniques that the Whirlpool had been working on, the fear of which had caused the temporary alliance to destroy that village, had been completed. This escalated a mission that had started out as "gravy train" and gone downhill into "Uzumaki Disaster" to "Full Blown Nightmare." The only good thing of which was that if he DID get away - he would be able to make himself filthy rich selling this information to people who would practically wet themselves upon hearing about it.
Zabuza grinned. What he NEEDED was proof that Konoha was harboring one of the elite Uzumaki and they were perfecting their Seal Techniques. He could otherwise say whatever he wanted and nobody would believe him enough to pay him for that information.
So, get in. Injure the Uzumaki girl. Exchange a few words with Copycat Kakashi. Intimidate and/or injure his little genin. Then get away. Choose the right time to return, hit hard and fast and kill the bridge-builder when their defenses had relaxed some. Collect evidence on the way out. Get paid for killing the bridge builder and then turn the evidence over with the tale of the return of the Uzumaki clan to the appropriate authorities.
Then get the HELL out of the Elemental Countries before the Uzumaki and any pet monsters could come after him.
Right about... NOW.
"So... you know many dragons?" asked Sasuke, looking at the place that had been occupied by the one that had carried Sakura across the water.
"Oh?" asked Naruto, thinking about it. "Yeah. I guess I do. I got together with Sparky mainly. You know how it goes, old story. Evil mage captures young dragon for evil experimentation, young hero steps in and brings down the Wrath Of The Heavens upon evil mage. Young hero escapes with young dragon, meets family of dragon, nearly gets eaten by great-grandfather of dragon, spends some time with dragon family before rest of team catches up. I'm sure Kakashi-sensei has had missions go like that."
"Uhm, right," said Kakashi, who honestly couldn't remember ANY mission going like that.
"That was on a mission for the Time/Space Administration Bureau, right?" asked Sakura.
"Yeah," said Naruto brightly. "I-"
[Danger] reported Mjolnir.
"Duck!" called out Kakashi.
"Wha-" said Sakura just before a great big sword slammed into her, sending her flying off into a tree.
Naruto straightened from over the prone client and eyed the guy standing on a sword which was now imbedded in a tree. "Mjolnir."
[Barrier Jacket. Aggressive Mode.]
"So, Kakashi," said the intruder nin.
"Zabuza Momochi of the Mist," said Kakashi. "You guys stay back, he's way out of your league."
"Like hell!" said Sasuke, running forward while throwing a kunai. This was his chance to show everyone! Sasuke Uchiha did not live in another's shadow!
WHANG!
The mist solidified into a second Zabuza who had just slammed the flat of his sword down on Sasuke's head. "So much for the dead weight. Now, Kakashi - just let me have the old man and nobody else has to get hurt."
Sasuke, out cold on the ground, was unavailable for comment.
"Hey, no brows!" said Sakura from where she was standing up. "EAT BLASTER!"
Having felt the impact and KNOWING he'd hit the pink-haired girl hard enough to go through her, Zabuza was fairly surprised that she was getting up again. Much less this quickly. Much less shooting at him with some sort of jutsu he was barely fast enough to avoid.
Kakashi let out a deep sigh as he moved back to protect the client and let his genin fight the jonin-level missing nin. Mainly because he really didn't think anything he said was going to dissuade them from going forward like that.
Naruto threw his hammer at the big bad.
"Stupid," said Zabuza, dodging the throw and then snagging the weapon as it went by. "Throwing away your weapon like that. Just a raw geni-"
"Mjolnir! Remote Control!" said Naruto, who then made a gesture skyward.
Zabuza reflexively tightened his grip on the hammer's shaft as he felt it twist, the head shifting.
FWOOOSH!
Kakashi unveiled his Sharingan, but Zabuza Momochi - demon of the mist - was already a dot in the distant sky. Then vanishing altogether. "Naruto? What did you do with the missing-nin?"
Haku watched the dot disappear overhead. "Zabuza-sama?!"
"He's still holding onto the hammer, Kakashi-sensei," answered Naruto, though he sounded as if he was straining for all that he was just standing there. "Beyond that, I can't really tell."
"Okayyyy," said Kakashi, covering his eye again. "And where is your hammer?"
"Coming up on thirty kilometers altitude," said Naruto. "Thirty-two. I'm speeding it up."
"Thirty two kilometers?" asked Kakashi, glancing up. "You sure?"
"It's taking a lot of concentration to keep accelerating, Kakashi-sensei," said Naruto with a definite strain in his voice.
Kakashi sighed, looking at the unconscious Sasuke. "Bring your hammer back, Naruto. We were not paid for an assassination mission, and I'm not authorized to upgrade it to that extent."
"Oh," said Naruto. "So you want me to bring the missing-nin back?"
"Yes," said Sakura, smacking her fists together with a sound like two hammers clanging. "I've got to pay him back for that sneak attack!"
"You rhymed," noted Naruto, making a gesture. "Mjolnir, return."
After reflection, Zabuza decided that not letting the hammer go was a tactical mistake. Kid was definitely an Uzumaki though. Who else would put him up here in this cold dark where things had turned all floaty?
He'd felt his tears freezing, and so wasn't looking. He'd very quickly realized there was nothing to breathe - so this pretty much left him...?!
The hammer had just shifted and was moving again?
Kid was probably bringing the hammer back. Now if he just would slow it down some.
Otherwise - this was liable to hurt.
Read the comments on this episode
(Posted Mon, 25 Oct 2010 16:11)
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.