Kakashi was ready to attack Zabuza. Zabuza was about to try and get past Kakashi and attack Tazuna. Sakura was looking nervous and trying to look everywhere. Sasuke had drawn a kunai and settled into a 'guard' position. Tazuna was cowering in the center of a group of ninja. Rin had drawn a tanto and was likewise in a defensive pose.
"Kakashi-sensei," said Naruto. "One ninja hidden to the left, eight kunai. Six approaching from behind at high speed. LOTS of weapons."
Tension actually escalated.
"Friends of yours?" asked Kakashi, directing that towards Zabuza.
"No," said Zabuza. He directed his attention towards Naruto. "Any common weapons?"
Naruto concentrated for a moment. "Two have sword-breakers, two chain weapons, several kunai, and one of them has a two-handed maul."
"Shit," said Zabuza. "Of all the time for THEM to show up."
Poof! Just like that he was gone.
"What just-" began Sakura.
Zip! Six ninja wearing face masks tore through the clearing at high speeds.
"-happened here?" finished Sakura, blinking.
"Zabuza is a missing-nin from Mist who has Hunter-nin going after him," explained Kakashi.
"What's a 'missing-nin'? What's a 'hunter-nin'? And does that mean the fight isn't happening right now?" asked Naruto.
"Thanks, Naruto," said Sakura. "I would have looked stupid asking questions like that."
"No problem... hey," protested Naruto.
"A missing-nin is someone who left their village without permission and has been declared a criminal or a traitor or both," explained Kakashi. "A hunter-nin is like the ANBU of our own village, tasked specifically with hunting down and killing missing-nin of their village. They then destroy the body of their target so nobody can learn any of their villages secrets from it."
"Oh," said Naruto. "So - does that mean we can keep going?"
Kakashi listened to a series of explosions that seemed to get further away. "Yes. That might be a good idea."
Zabuza Momochi was not panicked. Though there were six hunter-nin after him, he knew that individually they were no match for him. That they weren't coming after him as individuals made it a bit more difficult.
Still, they were Kiri hunter-nin and Kiri didn't stress teamwork. No, Kiri had long had an individual-initiative focus they instilled in their genin and that mindset was something they'd keep for years thereafter.
That didn't mean they were idiots though. They had to know that they couldn't take him in a one-on-one and had banded together for that purpose.
On the other hand, he wasn't alone either.
There was no reason for Haku to tail the target and the Konoha team. The target would head to their home and try to complete the bridge. Zabuza could hunt them down whenever it was convenient and take up where he'd left off.
As he passed a large puddle of water, Zabuza made a hand sign to leave a couple of water clones in order to pick off the last ninja in the pack.
Time to start reminding these hunters how quickly the hunted could become the hunter.
Rin watched for a few moments before shaking her head. "You have nearly perfect chakra control, but your stamina won't last long enough for you to manage anything like the Mystic Palm technique. I can show you medicinal herbs and how to prepare them as ointments, but that takes a lot of time to master. After this mission is over - I have no idea where I'm going to be assigned."
"Oh," said Sakura.
"Well, if you're not going to do that," said Kakashi from nearby. "We'll work out a schedule for who's on watch. Either the hunter-nin will deal with Zabuza, or Zabuza will deal with them. If it's the last one - I'd expect Zabuza to make another attempt as soon as he's recovered from any injuries he sustains in the battle."
"Where's the other two?" asked Rin.
"I've got Naruto keeping the first watch on the roof," said Kakashi. "His Weaponmaster ability to sense weapons will let him know if the fight gets close enough for him to tell. Sasuke is resting so that he can take the next watch."
"I'll take the next one after that then," said Rin. "Four hour shifts?"
Kakashi nodded. "I was going to go with two-man watches, but we've been walking all day and Naruto's been using his abilities a lot. Even an Uzumaki can wear out."
"True," said Rin.
Thunk thunk came from the roof.
"Ah," said Kakashi. "Two knocks. That means the fight got close enough that Naruto can tell where they are. I should probably go check on that."
"That way," said Naruto, inclining his head. "The big sword has just started picking off the other wielders. Their weapons just completely stop moving."
"How many have stopped moving?" asked Kakashi.
"Two. You want to recover those weapons later?" asked Naruto.
"Anything really worthwhile?" asked Kakashi.
"Not really, I mean - they're better quality than what I could afford, but no special qualities," said Naruto.
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(Posted Fri, 12 Sep 2014 01:46)
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