Twelve Swords - three of which Naruto apparently Knew. Woundhealer, Doomgiver, Stonecutter.
He could detect weapons even if they were concealed by a jutsu - that had been determined when they'd encountered the Demon Brothers Of Kiri.
It was plainly obvious. Having Naruto around provided him access to skills he wouldn't otherwise have.
"Barbed chain, extra kunai, pair of ninjato," said Sasuke out loud as he sealed the weapons away in a scroll.
"Sakura, seriously, you were hacked apart," Rin pointed to a thin line on Sakura's arm. "Woundhealer was able to put you back together. I'm a medic-nin and I couldn't have done that. I don't think Tsunade could have put you back together like that."
"Do you even know how to use those?" Kakashi asked Sasuke.
"I know the basics of ninjato and gusari-style weapons," admitted Sasuke. "I've concentrated on other skills though."
"Honestly, at your age it is better to concentrate on mastering a few skills than trying to have hundreds of barely practiced ones," said Kakashi.
"Hnnn," hnned Sasuke, disagreeing but not wanting to argue the point at this time.
"So, Tazuna," said Kakashi. "Are you going to tell me more about why missing-nin are after you?"
Tazuna considered for a whole second lying. Though after recent events, and having a pretty good idea what had happened when the jonin and his apprentice had gone off with the living missing-nin - that consideration was very quickly squelched.
Sakura glanced at Naruto.
Inner Sakura cleared her throat, or at least made the appropriate noise. Okay. Are you going to say something or not? You've opened your mouth five times and haven't even managed to get a 'looks like rain tonight' out.
Sakura grimaced. What do I say? Gee, Naruto - thank you for saving my life? You know darn well he's going to take that and make it some sort of love confession or something. He's just so overboard.
Inner Sakura tsked a couple of times. Okay, he's annoying and every time you told him 'no' he took that to mean 'maybe tomorrow' but he DID save our lives.
Sakura grimaced again, glancing at Naruto. Remember last year? He asked me out and I told him 'No, a thousand times no, not even if you were the last boy on Earth, you're stupid and uncool and you have no fashion or any other kind of sense. No. Never.' Do you remember what happened?
Inner Sakura nodded. Yeah. You got glared at by Hinata for some reason. Then the next day, Naruto asked you out again and you hit him with a desk. He hasn't been that annoying since becoming a ninja. And hey - maybe he's gotten a tad bit smarter since that Weaponmaster thing got turned on.
Sakura sighed. Okay, okay. I'll thank him. As soon as we get to the client's house and aren't in immediate danger of getting carved into little pieces.
Inner Sakura nodded. And with that - he's not being The Load and holding Sasuke back. That's good, right?
Sakura flicked her eyes to Sasuke and a slight smile appeared on her face. Yeah. That's good.
Rin kept an eye out, experience during a ninja war being sufficient that she was ready for an ambush at any given point despite having many things to think about.
Such as that she was alive again. She'd been resurrected with her clothes, but her sealed equipment and supplies had not been with her. She'd have to resupply as soon as she could.
Tazuna was the center of their group, with herself taking the left and Obito's clan-mate taking the right. Kakashi lagged behind in back, while Naruto and Sakura were ahead of them.
So they'd managed to negotiate with Tazuna, and instead of a lump-sum payment - they'd be getting the full payment as income slowly picked up with the bridge.
Normally it would be fine to turn back and abandon the client, as this genin team was still too raw and inexperienced to be handling a mission that was A-Rank.
The decision to continue forward with the mission was based on several points. One, Naruto needed experience with his Weaponmaster bloodline. His ability to manifest those three Swords made it likely that unless he was killed outright, he'd be able to use it to become the group's healer.
The major limitation seemed to be that he had to do that incantation or aria before he could manifest something as powerful as the three Swords he'd spoken of. Simpler things like a kunai was much easier and merely required practice to be able to do it quickly and without imperfections in the manifested weapon.
Rin Nohara was a medic herself. If Naruto was disabled, there was a good chance of her being able to bring him back around. As it was not simply three raw genin and an experienced jonin, but there was an experienced chunin along as well - the balance was much better suited for an A-Rank.
All of those were considerations for a moment. That Kakashi was so OLD, that these children had apparently not even been born before she had DIED, and the little fact of that resurrection were all things she'd have to come to terms with when the missions were done.
Zabuza Momochi was ready as the little boat grounded. There were only four approaches that the old man was likely to take. The most direct one was this one.
It was a question of the direct/obvious one being also the fastest one. Once the builder was at that home, he would be a little bit safer if only because attacking civilians in their home was pretty much frowned upon even by ninja like himself. Nothing exciting about going up and killing an old man in their sleep after all.
You didn't hire a Swordsman of the Mist to do a job a rank genin with a rusty spoon could do. Reputations were carefully built.
So, the obvious thing to do was wait here. Ah. They were... pointing in his direction. Zabuza checked but he was completely concealed. Well, hell. They had to have some kind of sensor with them.
He threw the blade, noting that the stupid-looking blond kid had yelped the moment he did that. The jonin barked some command and it was time for him to shunshin onto his blade.
Simple, easy, and allowed for a dramatic entry. He had to do that sort of thing, it was true before he went missing-nin and it was true afterwards. Clients paid for reputations.
"Well, well, well. A jonin, a chunin, and three babies. I don't suppose you'll just surrender the old man and take your lives back to your village?"
"Kubikiribocho," said the blond. "Also known as the Seversword. Special ability is that the sword drinks in blood, using the iron and carbon to form steel crystals that then merge with the existing metal. The blade has almost attained sentience of its own, in another thirty years it might awaken."
"What?" asked Zabuza, before something he'd heard of years ago came to mind. "Oh. That's rich. An Uzumaki Weaponmaster? Really? I thought you were all dead."
"We're ninja, surprises are just part of our lifestyle," said the jonin. "Zabuza Momochi. Demon of the Hidden Mist. A-Ranked missing-nin who killed his entire graduating class."
"Kakashi Hatake, Sharingan Kakashi, The Copycat Ninja," replied Zabuza. "A pity to cut a Weaponmaster's life short. Given a few years he might actually end up a decent opponent."
Naruto's eyes flicked to the side, looking in a different direction.
Zabuza caught that and realized that Haku must be within range of the weapon-sensing talent despite Haku's superior stealth abilities. "Well, shall we get started then?"
Kakashi reached up and uncovered his Sharingan eye. "Yes. Let's."
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(Posted Wed, 30 Jul 2014 18:18)
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