Sakura Kiss- Attack on the Road to the Land of Waves

Sakura Kiss- Attack on the Road to the Land of Waves

“What? A C-rank mission? Are you serious?”

Naruto smiled- all his groaning and whining worked. “Alright!”

Everyone in Squad Seven wore different expressions- Sasuke looked hopeful at the thought of a C-rank mission instead of the simple D-ranked ones he and his cell members were assigned to, Sakura gave Naruto a reprimanding look at his arguing with the Hokage like that, and Kakashi was simply dumbfounded that the Third Lord would actually go along with Naruto’s whiny complaints. Yet, the Hokage just smiled.

Both Sakura and Iruka looked like they were going to protest when Squad Thirteen walked in the room. Hiita was the first to notice the sudden crowding. She looked at Kakashi and smiled.

“Ohayo gozaimasu,” she greeted.

“Hey. ‘Good morning’ to you too,” Kakashi replied, smiling. Hmm… he thought. I sense a new vibe around her…

Sakura then eyed Miyabi and instinctively moved between her and Sasuke, making a stubborn, pink-headed wall between them. Shimari and Saya said some normal “Hi”s to everyone in the room, but didn’t do much except stand and look around the area. The Hokage then started to speak to the group of shinobi.

“Yes, a C-rank mission, Naruto, only…” he eyed Hiita with that familiar don’t-worry-I-know–what-I’m-doing look. “…I would like Team Hiita to accompany you.”


The whole of Squad Thirteen stared in amazement.


Our first mission will be a C-ranked one…? They all seemed to think.

Iruka stood up arbitrarily from his seat and looked at the revered Lord.

“Excuse me if I overstep Lord Hokage, but I don’t think it wise to send a team with absolutely no mission experience on a C-ranked mission.”

The Hokage looked once at him, and then looked at Hiita as to expect her to retort. Hiita then felt a sudden responsibility to this in a way she didn’t understand, but she tried to rejoinder to Iruka’s comment.

“If we go on this mission…” the mahogany-haired Jonin began “I will take full responsibility for them.”

The Third Lord then looked at Iruka again, but this time he sat down without another word, knowing he wouldn’t win.

During that whole time, all the Genin and Kakashi were just watching the conflict with interest, watching the fate of their teams’ mission at hand being tossed back and forth.

“Awesome! Looks like the other team is coming with us!” Naruto grinned.

“Cool!” Saya chimed in with the whiskered ninja.

Hiita looked from Lord Hokage to her Genin to the Hokage again. “What does this mission consist of?” she asked, inquiringly.

“I’m glad you asked.” he said. “You’ll be protecting a certain someone… send him in.”

Just then, an elderly man holding a brown bottle of some unknown substance walked into the room. He wore a small knotted rope around his forehead, despite his age, had a strong build, and smelled faintly of booze.

“I’m Tazuna,” the man said, using the back of his hand to rub under his nose. “…A bridge builder of great renown. I hope you all are prepared to protect me with your lives.”

He took another glance around the room and looked a little taken aback. “Are all of you coming to take me back to my country?”

Slowly, all the shinobi in the room nodded. Tazuna took a drink from his bottle.

“Even that squirt? He looks like an idiot.” He looked at Naruto, who didn’t notice because he was on cloud nine.

“What squirt?” he laughed. “What idiot?”

Suddenly everyone in the room was looking at him too, and Naruto snapped.

“I’m gonna kill him!” Naruto started to run after Tazuna, but Kakashi grabbed him by his collar, leaving him to flail with his arms and legs uselessly.

“No, no…” Kakashi told him. “No killing the man you’ve been assigned to protect.”

The silver haired Jonin let go as soon as Naruto called down. All the little orange-clad ninja could do was sit down and grumble in anger. Miyabi sort of sniggered with Saya and Shimari, but she was still trying to silently look for Sasuke. For some reason, she couldn’t catch sight of him- Sakura always seemed to be in her way. The aqua-haired Genin then walked up to her, took her by the shoulders, and moved her to the side. Miyabi then walked up to Sasuke and greeted him.

“Hi, Sasuke-kun,” she said, smiling.

“Oh, hi, Miyabi-chan.” He smiled back at her.

“Cool that we’re going on a mission together, huh?”

“Yeah…”Sasuke swallowed and sighed.

He was going to ask her.

“Miyabi-chan…” he began.

“Hm? What is it, Sasuke-kun?”

“After the mission, would you… like to grab some dinner with me?”

Miyabi blushed deeply. Sakura heard Sasuke’s offer too, and when she did, nearly had a heart attack and died.

What-? She thought jealously. He’d rather ask that blue-haired freak out to dinner than me? She’ll pay for this- CHA!

Miyabi smiled and said yes, and she and Sasuke stayed close together, with Sakura fuming in a nearby corner and Sasuke smiling and blushing.

Tazuna got to talking with the Hokage, and Kakashi walked up to Hiita.

“This mission may take a few days,” he said in concern. “We probably won’t be able to go to Suna tomorrow.”

Hiita smacked her head with her palm in frustration. Crap…

“But… I’ll still go with you whenever we can go, if you want.” He added with a happy tone.

“Thanks,” Hiita sighed with a smile. “I’d appreciate that.”

“You know…” Kakashi said lightheartedly. “I’ve noticed a big change in you compared to before you got your team.”

Hiita became curious. “Such as?”

“You seem to be much happier and brighter than you were. It’s a vibe I’m just receiving from you, that’s all.” Kakashi smiled cheerfully behind his mask, but she could tell.

“Oh? Hmm…” Hiita thought for a moment. Yes, she did seem different compared to before she had her team- much more open. “I guess that’s true…”

Tazuna stopped talking to the Third Lord and the Hokage cleared his throat.

“Okay, everything seems to be in order. You will all be leaving for Kirigakure in an hour. Pack for a few days, because remember: preparation is a ninja’s greatest skill. You are all dismissed.”

“Hai, Lord Hokage.” The shinobi in the room chanted back in harmony- Tazuna just grunted in his approval.

Before leaving, everyone bowed and then left town hall to pack for their mission.

The large group of ninja left the Konohagakure gates exactly an hour later with Tazuna in their party. Naruto ran a little bit ahead of the group and pumped his fists into the air.

“Yeah, it’s my first time out of the village! This feels great!” he yelled to the world, energized.

Tazuna furrowed his brows in disapproval and turned to Kakashi.

“Do you really expect me to put my life in the hands of this idiot?” he asked.

Kakashi smiled, a little embarrassed. “Don’t worry, with this unusually large group Lord Hokage put together, you should be fine. Hiita-chan and I are elite ninja too, so you’ll always have good backup.”
Hiita-chan? Hiita thought slightly in a happy daze. Not Hiita-san?

She smiled as she walked with her eyes closed, but immediately stopped and looked down when she sensed Miyabi in front of her.

“Sensei, are you okay?” she asked.

“Yeah,” she replied slightly irritated.

Miyabi shrugged and went back to where Sasuke was. They seemed to be around each other a lot since town hall. Shimari and Saya sort of sniggered at this when they noticed too and Saya called out to her sibling.

“Hey, Sasuke! How’s your girlfriend?”

Both Miyabi and Sasuke stopped when they heard her comment. They turned their heads and glared at the two konoichi evilly with dark red stains spread across their faces.

“Shut up!” they both yelled in unison.

Shimari and Saya chuckled and then Shimari turned to her sensei.

“Hiita-sensei, why did Lord Hokage send two teams on this mission? Aren’t there supposed to be small numbers of shinobi in a group because of stealth reasons?”

Of course she’d be the one to ask this… Hiita chuckled silently. “Well, since this is just a C-rank escort mission, I guess he thought that stealth wouldn’t be necessary seeing as there are only minor foes we may face.”

Shimari processed this in her mind as they all walked by a large puddle. “Okay, I get it!” she said, grinning. Hiita grinned too, but thought the puddle there seemed very odd.

Strange…it hasn’t rained here for days…

Tazuna looked up to the pair and all the sudden looked very guilty. Kakashi took notice to this and was about to ask him about his sudden change in behavior.

“Tazuna-san, why-” He quickly glanced behind him.

“Everybody, duck down!” he yelled with Hiita.

Everyone in the group hit the ground as a chain of shuriken came flying towards the cluster from behind. They thought they were all safe from the attack, but Kakashi was bound by the sharp dangerous chain. Shuriken points were digging in his flesh, causing warm, dark blood to seep slowly down his entire body. He gave Hiita a sharp look that told her a lot through a simple stare, and suddenly the chains tightened and ripped up his entire body. Pieces of Kakashi’s flesh hit the ground one after another sickeningly. Sakura screamed, and Tazuna and the rest of the Genin were simply stunned at the violent display.

“One down…” an evil voice chuckled.

“Ready, brother?” another one laughed.

Two masked men in black cloaks hopped in front of the bloody mass on the ground. Dust from the road surrounded their heels as the two cloaked men stood back to back with the chain of shuriken held up by their bulky clawed gauntlets around both of their left fists respectively. They eyed Tazuna with a demonic glint in their eyes, and rushed towards him, claws out.

“Manji battle formation!” Hiita yelled. “Protect Tazuna-san!”

All the Genin surrounded Tazuna in a circle with kunai pointing out, but most looked very afraid that battle would be on them so soon. Hiita jumped high in the air, flipped, and came down hard on the two attackers on top of their heads with the heels of her feet. They yelled in pain and fell on the ground. Quickly, they recovered and leaped in the direction of the defending group. One of the men went after Naruto and tried to move past him to get to Tazuna. Naruto held up his kunai as to attack, but he froze up. The cloaked person took a swipe at him with his gauntlet and slashed his hand before Sasuke got in front of him and kicked him down.

He threw a kunai through the hole of one of the shuriken in the link and it held the chain to a nearby tree. The man and his brother tried to pull it free, but it was stuck. Sasuke leaped over them and then disconnected the chain from their wrists. The two brothers, still greatly determined to reach Tazuna, then immediately went after him again.

Shimari and Saya broke from their formation and went after one of the shinobi- one of the men was rushing to Tazuna from behind, and the other was rushing to him from his front. The cloaked ninja in his midst moved faster, and was ready to claw out the bridge builder’s throat mercilessly. Sakura bumped Tazuna back a bit, and Miyabi thrust her kunai forward.

“Stand back, Tazuna-san!” the Haruno exclaimed as Miyabi’s kunai missed and just lightly sliced the fabric on the man’s right shoulder.

Behind Tazuna, Saya and Shimari rushed at the other black cloaked man attacking him, kunai pointed forward. In sync, they both slashed at the assailant who dodged their attack by jumping high and landing with a small ‘thump’ next to his sibling.

They teamed up once more, preparing for a fatal blow, but suddenly found themselves in a sputtering chokehold.

Hiita stood firm, holding the neck of one assassin, and the other was held by a familiar silver=haired Jonin.

“Kakashi-sensei!” all the Genin exclaimed. “You’re alive?!”
The two senseis bound their attackers tightly with some rope, and Kakashi smiled.

“Yup.” He turned to his students. “Naruto, I’m sorry I couldn’t aid you sooner. I never would have thought you’d freeze up like that. Good job Sasuke. You too, Sakura.”

Naruto stood in a stupor, amazed at Sasuke’s ableness to both keep a cool head and save his neck.

Sasuke… He thought, a little downhearted at himself. He’s never been in a real battle before, but he didn’t break a sweat and still managed to save my life! But I… I wasn’t able to do anything…

Sasuke looked at the sad Uzumaki and smirked.

“Hey, you okay….you big chicken?”

Naruto growled as a bubbling rage began to start in him. Hiita, who was finished congratulating her students as well, looked up at Naruto.

“Hey,” she called to him. “I wouldn’t move if I were you, Naruto. I got a good look at their gauntlets- their claws were dipped in poison.”

Naruto glanced feverishly at his injured hand in shock as Kakashi spoke to him too.
“Yeah, Naruto, just stay as still as you can so the poison doesn’t spread. If we cut your hand open more deeply, the flow of your blood will was the poison away. We have to do it as soon as possible.”

Hiita nodded in agreement, and she and Kakashi turned to Tazuna.

“Tazuna-san…” They both gave him a stern look.

“Wha-what?” Tazuna began to sweat as he stuttered.

Kakashi nodded to his colleague who turned to Naruto and began to walk towards him.

“I need to speak with you.”