Spectral Ninja

First mission, guys, and part one of a long-assed chapter.

I recently read in an interview with Masashi  Kimshimoto he said that Sakura's hair was SUPPOSED to be an pale red, not pink, so I decided that so would mine.

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Naruto grinned at his team cheekily. They were heading out on their first mission outside the village not classed as an D-Rank.

It was nearly a full year since they came together as a team and after about their twentieth D mission Sasuke was loosing patience with them. He many times would start yelling how they weren't being  challenged enough to improve their skills, let alone actually learn anything they didn't already know or are able to do and after an particularly loud outburst (ie, version of an Uchiha tantrum) inside the Thirds office, the man had given in.



Naruto personally understood the purpose of D-Ranks if his brother and Sakura didn't, but if Sasuke wanted an harder mission, he was going to get it-and so they did.



Naruto had long come to see the world as what the ninja saying meant, as a child it had helped him survive beatings and harm. 'Look underneath the underneath' it said, 'look for meaning under the obvious or hidden' it meant.



D-Rank missions may seem pointless to others in terms of becoming an great shinobi, but Naruto saw the obvious way they helped. It wasn't getting shinobi to do work that villagers should normally be doing, it was training of a sort in an hidden way.



Like-weeding an villagers field-they learned what were weeds, eatable in the wild, medicines and uneatablepoisonous. If you were stuck in the wild with no food you knew which you could eat and which could heal you.



Painting fences-you learned patience and concentration, also it helped with the wrists for signing and flexibility.



Chasing Tora was obvious-teamwork, thinking quickly 'on your feet', speed and maneuverability.



Helping out in the forge showed them how to temporarily fix weapons like kunai-if it was needed during battle.



Repairing fences and various other carpentry work on homes......well Naruto would rather patch up holes in his own clan home when he moved in then let anyone else do it. But that just might be because he loved using his hands, like his work in the forge with Arasoi-sama.



Babysitting taught them patience, controlling your emotions as well as care for something fragile. It ensured loyalty to the village and taught them skills they would later need for their own future clan.



Naruto also knew in the future in maybe ANBU or on a mission, they could easily be guarding an important civilian or ninja family that included babies or children, that would be hard to do-especially if you were hiding with them-if you had an screaming baby or child with you and no idea how to quiet them.



Nearly every D-Rank Naruto could find an hidden purpose for, and those he couldn't he trusted them to have one, so he never protested or complained.



Some of them he even loved, like the Tora hunting (of course) and babysitting. Something about caring for those more helpless than himself-even if some of the kids were real brats-just appealed to more than one of his instincts, the protective and maternal ones more than others.



Of course having two other souls inside you, one an mother in the past and the second once an 'older brother', certainly intensified things, but that wasn't all it was.



And the younger generation loved him, some almost immediately, and especially babies and toddlers. They seemed fascinated by him, reaching out to grab and tug on an tail or an ear perched on top of the head.



In fact many times with the normally roudy children, the parents would request Naruto and his team suspifically for the job.



Naruto told them and the rest of his team he couldn't wait to have his own with Hinata.







The three pre-teens met their sensei and client at the gates to the village.



Sasuke was in his Uchiha uniform-similar to the ANBU clothes his brother wore they were dyied navy blue, white and red with the Uchiha fan on the back. He also carried his flame sword in its specially made sheathe on his back-which he had named Honoo Shinzo, or Flame Heart.



Naruto wore his Wraith Armor with his long coat over it, Soul Reaver against his back, the coat hiding various pockets inside filled with storage scrolls, holding weapons to medicines to food and soldier and blood pills.



Sakura had changed her appearance over the time she was apprenticed to Tsunade. She wore an dark red suit like Naruto's only made from an light mesh ninja armor, long pants and sleeveless top and thick vest of black over the top, ninja sandles like the others. The outfit fit her and made her look dangerous and she secretly loved the way 'her boys' would look at her in it.



Over their time as a team Sakura had come to see Naruto, Sasuke and Kakashi more as brothers, Kakashi  as the 'big' brother, but she still wore the make up and clothes she used to-just when they weren't together as a team.



Her weapons were the normal kunai, but Naruto had made her a set of gloves in an material an kind of mix between leather and metal, meaning they were as flexible and tough as leather, but ten times stronger and gave force to her blows like being hit with an metal bat. They also had an special ability, when she funneled her chakra inside her fists they powered up, giving her an elemental boost to the gloves.



She cut her long hair short to around her ears but the biggest surprise was the color. It turned out pink wasn't her natural one, she dyed it thinking it looked better on her. In reality it was an pale red, just shy of pink but not quite red, with darker streaks through it, highlighting it.



The first time the group had seen it they were shocked. Sasuke had circled her, body oddly predatory and  black eyes taking in the outfit with her hair, something in his walk and stance that made the others think of an stalking wolf.



Naruto grinned, well, well, he never realized his Sulk brother was attracted to red heads.



Naruto had just grinned again wider at this idea, asking her if she had any Uzumaki blood in her line.



It took quite a while before the youngest Uchiha got used to it on her, even then he could be seen every now and then looking at her critically and Naruto knew he was now seeing the formally pinkette as not a fangirl anymore, but an actual person, an potential ninja and teammate.



For that Naruto was glad, it enabled the youngest Uchiha to train her properly, to see her as an sister who needs help with training, not an nuisance who he should avoid when he can help it.



They approached the gate, Kakashi introducing them to their client Tazuma, and vica versa.



"Humph, bunch of snort-nosed brats" the older man took a swig from an sake jar.



Sasuke glared, moving towards the man threateningly, but Naruto's arm across his chest stopped him. The other just shook his head at him, denying him and telling him to calm down mentally.



When the Uchiha frowned the other continued in his head in amusement "we won't get much business if you attack out clients, drunk or not."



The group started off.



However Sasuke and Kakashi noticed the boy giving the old man odd looks. Waiting until the winged boy glanced to him Kakashi used the hand sign they had developed between them. They allowed silent communication and had ones created between them for their abilities.



This one meant 'mind to mind', or telepathy, so Naruto linked their minds "what is it, Naruto?"



"The old fart is hiding something. He is drinking from guilt and turning his nose up at us because he thinks if he makes us angry, we won't notice it."



"I thought so" Kakashi said "can you tell what it is yet?"



"No but it's about the mission, that I DO know."



"I could sense that as well"  Kakashi frowned in their heads "however we can't do anything about it right now without solid proof, so keep alert for  now."



"Right!"  all three chorused.



It didn't take long for them to come across the first sign something was wrong, Naruto silently pointing it out.



"A puddle in the road? So?" Sakura asked with a mental frown.



"Think for a minute. When did it last rain around here and how far is the nearest lake or body of water?"



Sakura frowned "so it's an jutsu of some sort?" Naruto nodded mentally and activated the second stage of the byukugan, training his eyes on the out-of-place area.



"Two people" he reported "ninja. Their aura's say threat."



"Prepare yourselves for possible battle"  their sensei said and all three mentally nodded "Sakura, protect the client, Naruto, track the ninja and warn us of when they are about to move, Sasuke back up your brother-just in case."



"Right!" the three chorused. Sakura slowly and casually walked to position in front of the drunk-Kakashi in front and a little to the side of her, Naruto moved to the front of the line while Sasuke moved to his Sulk brothers side, between him and the puddle.



Naruto could see their sensei's hand moving slightly to his side out of view of the puddle and he knew he was preparing an jutsu for the occasion.



They were almost past the puddle when there came the sound of metal links against each other.



"NOW!" Naruto yelled and two thick chains shot from the water and headed for Kakashi. Only experience with Itachi and Kain's speed allowed Naruto and Sasuke to see their sensei instantly substitute himself with earth, landing in an nearby tree safely while the chains tried to rip the earth apart.



"SAKURA!" Naruto snapped the order.



"RIGHT!" she cried in answered with a nod. Using the strength technique learned through Tsunade she grabbed the chains before they could withdraw and yanked-hard.



Obviously not expecting the girls strength, let alone from an pre-teen, there came an cry of shock and surprise as an figure was yanked from the 'puddle' by the attached chains and went flying towards her.



Once close enough Sakura followed it up by driving her weight behind a fist, slamming him straight into the ground at her feet, the resulting impact leaving an huge crater.



The figure didn't move, just groaned faintly, probably unconscious.



Sasuke and Naruto meanwhile were fighting the second figure who had leapt from the puddle to defend his 'brother' when he had been pulled out. However he wasn't doing so  well either. Both boys were vicious and skilled and even though they had looked like just a bunch of inexperienced kids, they fought like Master Zabuza in a bad mood.



He was having an difficult time just keeping up, both boys weaving in and out from each other,  one defending while the other attacked and then reversing, mixing it up to keep him on edge. That flame sword was hard enough to keep from burning or slicing him as it was without that OTHER one in the mix.



Not only did that strange weapon cut him, but each time it even just touched him or his skin he felt himself getting weaker, his body slowing and his chakra fading.



It scared him, truly scared him.



He had only heard of one weapon that could absorb chakra, and that currently belonged to the sharkman of Akutsuki, besides it in no way matched this one. The other weapon of the Seven Swords of the Mist was an broadsword, this one was smaller and slimmer, but equally weird.



Was there an eighth sword and this boy had claimed it? It couldn't be the sharks sword, that fed of chakra and this didn't just seem to take his, no it took his strength as well, making him feel empty and world-weary.



Chakra loss he knew how to handle, could fight through, but the rest.....he didn't want to fight, he just wanted to sit down and rest, maybe have a short nap. But he couldn't and the feeling got worse the longer he fought and the more he was touched by that weapon.



He HAD to get rid of that weapon, get it from the boy's hands, no matter the cost or he-and probably his brother if that blow hadn't already turned him to mush-were both dead.



So he made his move desperately, sacrificing his left arm to the black haired pale boy's flame weapon to be able, with all his strength, knock the weird sword from the winged boys.



He followed up with something dumb. Instead of grabbing his brother and running, he gloated "hah! I got you! Can't use that cursed sword on me now kid!"



But the boy just smiled sarcastically "oh really" and as he watched a light started behind his head at the base of his neck, slowly weaving its way across the shoulder and winding down his arm until it reached his hand.



Then, with the light weaved around his fingers, the boy raised his arm towards his weapon where it was embedded into an nearby tree.



To his horror it began to shake, as if called back. Then it began to violently wiggle as if desperate to get free and back too him.



"NO!" he snarled, attacking the boy, he HAD to distract him!



Instead the other boy moved in front of him with his flame sword to defend him, and still the sword wiggled free.



If he allowed them to get that weapon back he, and his brother, was done for.



There was only one thing left to do.



Using a couple smoke bombs as an distraction he grabbed his unconscious brother and fled.



Naruto growled and moved to go after the two, but their sensei stopped him "no, Naruto, protecting the client is more important then tracking them down." He looked at the three "You all did extremely well for your first real battle, I'm proud of you three."



Sasuke and Sakura beamed in pleasure of his praise, but Naruto growled again, eyes flashing, and moved to follow the two fleeing ninja's.



"No, Naruto" Kakashi said again, his voice firm "forget them, there is more important things right now."



Sasuke spoke as he approached his sulk brother "sometimes when he's angry he fixates. He's like an fox hunting prey, you have to calm him. We think it's an combo of neesan's animal nature, outuo's stubbornness and his own parents' tempers. Wait and I'll calm him."



He lightly touched the glowing sword and said nothing, but they felt a tickle in their heads through the link of Naruto's telepathy as he spoke into his brother's mind.



Naruto came out of it, but he turned towards them and started stalking towards them-or rather, the client, angry eyes locked to him and his KI (Killer Intent. The reference to an aura of power and danger many ninja can create around them to intimidate. Mostly only the most skilled ninja and ANBUHunter-nin can do so and get away with it) blazing.



"Naruto?" they asked uncertainly.



"I want to know why the two S-class nin Demon brothers, one of who bares one of the fabled "Swords Of The Mists" want an simple bridge-builder dead."



"You KNOW who they were? How?" Kakashi asked him.



"Jijisan. Just after they revealed my heritage he showed and let me read the bingo book. He said I needed to know who may come after me or be hired to come after me because of my birth father's enemies. I need to know what they could do or were capable of."



"True" Kakashi nodded "but the client..."



"Lied to us sensei, lied to Hidden Leaf. Those guys are S-classed nin and if it was any other team we'd be dead now," his hands clenched at his sides "can you imagine the massacre? It could have been HINATA'S team for kami sake!"



Now his anger made sense.



"That's not just all, these guys are known for traveling with another two extremely dangerous nin's, more powerful then they and more of a threat!"



"Beating the client won't do anything" he sighed "we will return to Hidden Leaf, the Hokage needs to know about this."



"No!" Naruto snapped "we don't abandon the mission" he started forward again "but we DO get the truth, ALL OF IT. I can't protect my team if I don't know what's going on."



"OUR team, Naruto" Sasuke said, stepping to his side "there is no I in TEAM. We protect each other. You're not immortal even if you like to think you are."



The other two nodded in agreement.



This seemed to calm Naruto down more and after a deep sigh he looked at the supposedly drunk man "The truth, now, or we leave you to the nin's hunting you."



"I don't know what you're....."



Naruto's KI blazed around him, cringing the old man "DON'T LIE TO US! YOU WILL TELL THE TRUTH OR I WILL PERSONALLY HAND YOU OVER TO THEM RIGHT NOW!!!" he roared.



Just shy of soiling himself the old man stuttered out his story, how their village was being oppressed by an Crime Lord, how he was taking every ryo from them and the village was almost completely broke. How they had struck on the idea that by building a bridge from their home to the main land would allow much needed business into their home and for them to struggle out from under the Crime Lord, but because of this very fact, he was sending missing nins after him to try and kill him.



He hadn't lied to them, the village had scratched and scrapped together every ryo they could short of starving themselves to allow him to hire the guards he needed to protect them while building the bridge.



Kakashi sighed "I've been telling the Hokage for years the way they classified missions were wrong. The seem to go mostly by money than danger level. There have been rich clients out there who have hired for an simple escort mission, only to find every S-class nin comes out after them because the rich client is too skimpy to pay any more money than they feel they have to. We've lost good ninja like that."



"So...it's not his fault? They mis-issued because of the money?" Sakura asked this.



Kakashi nodded "it explains what happened before we left. He probably expected older more experienced ninja to escort him."



The others relaxed at this, it made sense.



Kakashi looked at the man "what is the name of the Crime Lord persecuting your village?"



"Gato" the man choked out, struggling to regain his composer and calm down. It helped than now instead of seeming threatening, the strange boy felt calm and soothing.



Which immediately changed when the boy let off an huge grin, followed by an snigger of "Gat..." which transformed into a laugh which grew, as if unable to hold it back.



The group looked at him, baffled "Naruto?"



"Gato!" Naruto laughed "Gato! The slimy little bastard is broke!"



Everyone-especially the older man-looked at him shocked, open mouthed "he's...."



"Broke!" Naruto laughed "he barely has two ryo to rub together!"



"How do YOU know!" the older man spluttered in shock and outrage.



Naruto grinned at his team widely, evilly "the bastard pissed of father by stealing some property and items rightly and legally belonging to him."



"Ah, I see" Kakashi said with an nod, Sasuke's evil smile mirroring his 'brothers'.



The older man looked at their faces, one the other in confusion "so?" Kakashi explained simply "Naruto's adopted father is one of the top five most dangerous men in all the nations, both legally and physically."



Sasuke grinned "everyone in Leaf learned not to screw with him-those that are still alive that is."



"And not just Leaf learnt that the hard way" Naruto grinned "Gato stole from father, so chichi made it an amusing game to shut down every one of his illegal businesses and buy out the legal ones."



The older man looked at him, stunned beyond speech.



"Hum" Kakashi stroked his masked chin thoughtfully "it explains why he's persecuting Wave."



"Yeah?" they asked.



"He's lost most-if not all of his businesses, he sees the village as his last chance to renew his riches. This bridge they are building is an direct threat to that. It explains his desperation enough to hire S class ninja when he obviously can't afford to pay them. He must have something planned for afterwards to get rid of them, I doubt he expects an helpless village to be so skilled they will be killed in battle."



"Does he even KNOW Hidden Leaf was hired by them?" Sasuke asked thoughtfully.



"If he doesn't he will by now" Kakashi answered and the three pre-teens nodded in agreement.







The group stayed at the ready as they further traveled, not encountering anything else as they reached an boat to take them across the rest of the way.



Not long after landing, Naruto started acting strangely. He seemed distracted and preoccupied, his expression almost vacant.



Sasuke looked at his brother with increased frustration, as if the wingedtailed boy was purposely ignoring him. Which changed soon to confusion and concern.



"Sasuke?" Kakashi queried softly.



"Something is wrong" he answered "neesan says both Razeil-san and Naruto sense something she can't and it's distracting them. Whatever it is is weak and distant, but strong enough to catch their attention and keep it."



This concerned Kakashi as well "could he be sensing enemy shinobi?"



Sasuke shook his head "if that was the case neesan would feel it too. She says there ARE two headed this way, but that's not it, it's in the opposite direction."



Kakashi sweat-dropped "and she didn't think telling us there was two enemy ninja headed this way was important?"



Sasuke grinned sardonically "she just did" he pointed out.



Before anyone else could speak Naruto moved, spinning and throwing an kunai into the bushes to the right of Tuzama.



Startled by his action, having gone from distracted to suddenly fixated, Kakashi yelled at him about wasting kunai.



Without speaking Naruto moved into the bushes, parting them to see what he'd caught.



To find an cringing terrified white rabbit.



Naruto frowned but picked it up, stroking the fur soothingly until it seemed to relax happily in his grip.



While Sakura screamed at him for freaking them out about a rabbit and Naruto ignored her in favor of the animal, Kakashi frowned at it in worry.



"Sensai?" Sasuke's worried voice in his head asked "what's wrong?"



"That's an snow rabbit" he started to explain "but the color. They only have white fur during winter when the days are short and there's little sunlight. This rabbit was raised indoors away from the light. Which could only be for one purpose."



Sasuke looked grim and nodded minutely "an replacement technique-or substitution jutsu."



"I know"  the two's head snapped up to look at the other pre-teen male. He had the rabbit clutched to him, face buried in the fur, but both could see one eye free but hidden by the white fluff to anyone not that close.



The boy's eye shifted to a spot to Kakashi's eight o'clock, followed by the three. When he mirrored the action completely again the two males realized something. Naruto was using the rabbit to hide his action from the enemy. While the enemy had used the animal not just as an replacement but distraction, Naruto was using Sakura and that same animal as one of his own.



"How long have you known they were following us, Naruto? Is that why you've been distracted?"



"They were following us since we landed, and no, that's not it, that's and entirely different manner. I....DOWN!"