txy02.txt
20050727 - created text file
20050729 - training/mission start, we have plot sign! Draft posted for comment.
20050803 - travelling, meet Two Gees Gang, draft post edited with new bits.
20060112 - discarded Gin and Gomaru intro, got through Jiraya scene. Will throw them straight in.
(ch1 is at the top of page 1)
It had been a month now since they'd graduated, and Naruto almost wondered if it had been worth the trouble - well, not really, but the three genin had trained together almost as much as academy students, and at least then when Gai-sensei had a mission and couldn't join them they didn't have to join *him* painting houses or mowing lawns or catching poor Tora, the Fire daimyo's wife's cat *again* to be returned to the Hell of Smothering Tight Hugs.
Well, he thought there was a hell like that, anyway. He'd been chased away by some older kids the one time he'd ever tried to go to one of the temples during a festival, but he knew there were lots of weird hells, like the Hell of Whirling Blades and the Hell of Inverted Sinners and the Hell of Howling Winds - various adults had told him to go to most of them at one time or another, and he'd had too much experience with smothering hugs since he'd met his super-fuzzy-face sensei. At least those weren't caused by malice, just excessive excitement.
These thoughts had carried him through the somewhat dull routine of setting up some lightweight posts for the morning's training with Lee and Rikou while they waited for Gai to get their assignment for the afternoon. They'd gotten the process refined to a smooth system by now - Naruto would pick out a straight, arm-thick branch about the right length, Rikou would trim off all the twigs and leaves with a pair of blades attached to the ends of her silk rope, then Lee would break it off of the parent tree with a solid kick and Naruto would carry it back to the clearing, where Rikou would blast a narrow hole in the ground with the water-type counterpart to his Katon no Jutsu and, finally, Lee would slam it down into place before they went to get another.
Once they'd gotten a dozen or so of them set in a loose circle, all three would get a turn at jumping from one to the next all the way around before having a three-way spar where anyone who got knocked off the posts had to wait for a count of twenty before jumping back in. That much had been in the instructions Gai had given when they started doing the exercise each day, but they'd quickly added Self Rules as well - today, for example, Lee declared, "For this match, I shall stand only on my right leg, and if I'm knocked down I'll do left-leg squat-thrusts until the time limit passes!"
"Okay!" the blond enthused, his usual cheerful nature reasserting itself. "Well today I'll use only kicks, and if anyone can knock me down I'll do handstand push-ups until I get to come back!"
Rikou tightened the knots where she'd replaced the daggers on her cord with similarly shaped, blunt weights for training. "YEAH!" she shouted, charged up with their collective enthusiasm. "I'm going to hold the kirigakure no jutsu for the whole fight, and if I fall it's BACKFLIPS!"
The two boys gasped, knowing how much she hated doing flips. They tended to loosen the bun she wore her hair in, even with four large pins to hold it. "Such dedication," Lee murmured, his eyes sparkling with re-doubled youthful spirit, while Naruto treated her to his best Nice Guy pose.
Oddly, Rikou always seemed to get a bit flushed when he did that, and sometimes her breath would catch, but when he'd asked her if he was doing it wrong she'd said no, it was just perfect and to please do it more. So he did, chalking it up to girl-weirdness. She shifted her hips and gave him a sultry grin before hopping up to the nearest pole and forming the hand seals to use Kirigakure no Jutsu, the basis of her mother's family technique (jutsu name meaning 'impenetrable mist' or fog or impervious or blinding or ship-wrecking).
Rikou had much better chakra control than Naruto, but her biggest challenge as a ninja was maintaining that control when she was struck, so maintaining the Kirigakure at a constant level where it would feel and taste as damp as the genjutsu element of the refined technique would make enemies experience while still keeping it it thin enough the she and her team mates could see and distinguish each other by their bright outfits was a perfect Self Rule to practice. Doing that while also using chakra to stick her feet to the post with the tree-climbing technique Gai-sensei had taught them just added to the challenge!
With twin cries of excitement the boys joined her at the tops of the poles, and the battle began in earnest as the first edge of the sun peered over the horizon to light up the mist. It was really quite beautiful, the brightly-dressed girl thought as her weighted cord twirled and lashed out like a demented serpent, only barely avoided as Lee hopped and flipped over Naruto to another pole.
Bewilderbeast Studios Presents
TEAM EXPLOSIVE YOUTH! SEARCH FOR GERO SAN-NIN!!
As usual, Maito Gai was the first person through the door after the ANBU assignments had been distributed, and Sarutobi had already set aside a pair of scrolls in anticipation. One was a normal mission scroll, the other held closed by his personal seal. Sandaime smiled tolerantly as the jounin landed in his customary Nice Guy pose, greeting, "'Good morning. A quadruple flip today? You must be getting used to the new weights."
"YOSH!" Konoha's most excitable ninja cheered, eyes aflame with youthful passion. "I shall have to create a new pair, with the gravity seal set for six hundred and FIFTY pounds! No, six hundred and SEVENTY!" he shouted, pumping a fist. "I will do it this very afternoon, as soon as my excellent students have completed today's mission with youth and spirit!"
The Hokage hummed, and drew on his pipe. He savored the rich south-coast blend for a moment, then puffed a double smoke ring and spoke. "Your team has shaped up well, then. That's good, Gai-kun. Do you think they are ready for a mission outside the village?" The mission reports on Team Six's progress had been uniformly positive, even when translated from Gai-ese, but he always preferred to leave such decisions to the sensei involved when he could. It was partly a mark of trust in his subordinates judgment and partly the fact that even though he tried to get to know all of the ninja under his care, they were the ones working together day in and day out.
"Oooooooh!" The ebon-haired sensei crowed, manly tears of pride cascading down his cheeks. "HOKAGE-SAMA! I am so moved by your faith in the SHINING ENERGY of Team Explosive Youth! My precious students will accomplish any assignment with the POWER of their BRILLIANT SPRINGTIME OF YOUTH!!"
Again, not an answer that came as a surprise. Sarutobi adjusted his squared-off hat and slid the scrolls across the desk, the C-Rank wrapper of the mission scroll plainly obvious. "As you can see, the mission has been rated higher than D-Rank, but mainly because it is likely to take two to three weeks rather than due to any exceptional danger. I immediately thought of your team because speed is of high importance. You should hold off on the new weights until afterward, and have your students leave theirs behind until the message scroll is delivered. I'll add an extra mission allowance for them to purchase new equipment at the destination."
Gai brushed his eyes dry, bowed over the scrolls crutched tight to his chest. "You're so GENEROUS, Hokage-sama!" he cried, before vanishing in a puff of chakra smoke.
Sarutobi grinned again at the man's antics, then signaled for the next waiting shinobi to be sent in.
---=- + -=---
When Gai poofed into existence at the training ground, he found his charges still hard at work in the sun-touched mist, Lee hopping and flipping from one post to the next as he avoided Rikou's furious assault, attacking across the full width of the circle with the long, weighted cord.
Naruto was on the ground, doing two handstand push-ups for each second as he counted them off, "18, 19, 20, dattebayo!" He flipped down to his feet and then formed the seal for a bunshin as he leapt again, one heading for Lee on the right, one for Rikou on the left, and one straight across to the far side of the circle. One of the kunoichi's weights sailed through that last, the puff of smoke invisible in the mist as it was disrupted, while the one heading for the Proud Green Beast dissolved on its own after he dodged out of the way. Rikou's second cord was already wrapping around her real team mate, but too late - the blond's snap kick knocked her off her perch and set himself spinning to unwind the flat silk binding. Coming to a perch on a post next to the one she'd been occupying, he bounced exuberantly and crowed, "YEAH! Got'cha back!"
"You should WATCH your back," the bowl-cut boy reminded helpfully, even as he landed a kick to the side of Naruto's post and sent him flailing, to fall right in Rikou's arms as she was climbing to her feet. He bounced back from the springy, greenwood post, reaching overhead to grab the one he had rebounded towards and vault to the top.
After making sure Naruto's face had been in place long enough for him to realize where she was holding it, Rikou let the struggling genin disentangle himself and get into another handstand, obviously trying to pretend the blood had rushed to his cheeks from being upside down. "He's so cute when he's like that," she thought to herself, forming a short burst of hand seals before beginning her own series of backflips. Feeling the faint tingle across her scalp, the Maito heiress called out excitedly, "YOSH! Kunoichi Ninpo: Koyonaigamigata no Jutsu ... SUCCESS!!" No matter how boldly she expressed the explosive energy of her glorious springtime of youth, she'd never have to worry about looking bad while doing it! The sheer joy of it was enough to buoy her up and do a double backflip on the count of twelve.
Not to be left out, Lee jumped down on his own, and began another series of squat-thrusts.
Wiping new tears of pride from his eyes, Gai waited for the genin to complete their forfeits before teleporting again, appearing in a puff of smoke atop one of the poles. "AN EXCELLENT BATTLE, MY STUDENTS!" he bellowed, "Your youthful spirit has brought tears to my eyes! Alas, I must sadly announce that our usual morning practice is impossible for the next while, but DO NOT DESPAIR!" He leapt down form the pole, landing in another action-hero pose before continuing, "The burning passion of your springtime of youth shall NOT be ignored! We will be forgoing it only because our wise and generous Hokage has assigned a long-term mission to Team Explosive Youth!"
One glance at the mission scroll his sensei was brandishing was enough to have the hyperactive blond hopping around and shouting his excitement to the world. "YEAH! YEAH! C-RANK MISSION! And next, B-Rank, and A-Rank, and S-Rank, and then I'll be Hokage and surpass all previous Hokages IN MY FLOWERING SPRINGTIME OF YOUTH! DATTEBAYO!" He bounced off an overhanging bough and homed in on the powerposing jounin, talking uncommon initiative in wrapping the man in a tacklehug. "OH GAI-SENSEI! THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR GETTING US A COOLER MISSION!"
Their own excited cries echoing across the training field, Lee and Rikou latched on from the sides, all four taking several minutes to recover themselves.
---=- + -=---
Gai was in what might be called 'serious mode' as the team collected again at the villiage gates, each carrying a backpack. The lack of training weights on her calves left Rikou with a tan line, and even the boys jumpsuits were a bit darker on the lower legs, since they wore the weights continually except to wash and for two hours of their training each day to practice moving without them. He gave each only a breif arm-clasp as they arrived, then checked over their equipment. Finding everything in order - if a bit heavy on the instant ramen for Naruto, but if the boy wanted to challenge himself with just a LITTLE extra weight, who was Gai to dissuade him? He did make Lee dump about half of the rocks in his pack, though - the bowl-cut jounin took his customary explanation pose to go over the assignment details.
"The mission that Hokage-sama has entrusted to Team Explosive Youth will require your top speed," he reminded them, explaining, "We will be searching for a certain man to deliver a top secret scroll! He was last seen near the seaside town of Kirika, on the Taimatsu Peninsula, and since many people vacation on the beach there this time of year, he should still be nearby." The usual enthusiastic expression on his super-fuzzy face turned stern for a moment as Gai instructed, "This mission, it has a strict time limit. Even if we meet bandits or enemy nins, the first priority is to keep going, without spending time on a fight."
Lee nodded seriously, taking notes in his little book, but Naruto kicked at the ground in disgust and scoffed, swinging his pack by one strap in irritation. Rikou, snuggled up to the blond boy's back, shot a frown at her father over his shoulder, then heaved a sigh after it. "Moooooou, SENSEI..." he complained, trying to ignore the warm, soft girl against his back (and espescially those and his imagination has to be running away with him because his jacket's too thick to feel that and it's just Rikou being huggy again and he's talking to Gai-sensei about the mission, dammit!) "How can we prove our strength as ninja if we run away from the fight? That's too uncool!"
Suddenly, Gai had replaced Rikou, and was delivering a power-noogie instead of a snuggle. "FOOL!" he scolded. "Knowing when the mission outweighs a battle is the MOST IMPORTANT strength of a ninja! To remember, you must do five hundred one-arm pushups with each arm as soon as we arrive!" Just as suddenly released, the blond staggered against his kunoichi team mate, who'd appeared off-balance in front of him when the jounin had used kawarimi to switch places with her. Unable to maintain his anger, the older man swept both of them into a crushing hug, proclaiming, "EVEN THOUGH IT'S WRONG, I STILL FORGIVE YOU MY STUDENT, FOR THE EAGER SPIRIT OF YOUTH IS WHAT DRIVES YOU! OOOOOOOH!"
"OH, GAI SENSEI!" Lee exclaimed, piling on from the other side. "YOU'RE SO MAGNANIMOUS!"
Naruto and Rikou may have made positive noises, or may have been merely praying to the Kami of the Breathing Miracle. They were turned loose before going completely blue, however, and after a few gasps the foxy blond shouldered his backpack and asked, "Hey, hey, sensei, who are we looking for, anyway? You didn't tell us what he looks like or anything!"
"The man we are searching for has not been in Konoha for many years," Gai explained seriously, "but he has been seen wearing (a dark green shirt and pants, with a red vest and sandals, iirc), carries a large scroll on a shoulder strap, and has long, spiky white hair. He is... Jiraya, frog summoner of the Leaf's Legendary Three!" Pointing dramatically out through the open gate, he commanded, "TEAM EXPLOSIVE YOUTH! HASSHIN!!" There were four muted booms like distant thunder as the team pushed off, literally leaping to full speed and raising a cloud of dust. The gate guard on duty muttered a curse on over-enthusiastic bowl-heads as it subsided, then used a doton jutsu to smooth out the deep footprints left behind in the path.
---=- + -=---
They'd had to stop for rest at night and (breifly) every so often during the daylight hours, of course, because as conditioned as they were, the kids were still rookie genin. Even so, they were closing in on a destination most ninja would call a week away after only four days, and it was barely mid-afternoon. Gai had gone to scout ahead while his subordinates refilled thier canteens at a small stream and munched granola bars. They hadn't spoken much during the trip, and what little conversation they'd made was conducted in hushed whispers, words distorted by avoiding the sibilants that would carry more easily to alert possible enemies to their presence.
That fact might have suprised someone who only knew the boisterous personalities Gai and his charges usually presented, but he hadn't achieved the Elite Jounin rank without understanding the concept of field discipline and - since part of their objective was to avoid confrontations anyway - he'd made a stealth drill part of the excercise. Naruto was now up to one thousand one-armed push ups on each arm, 1500 sit ups, and six hundred squat-thrusts due on arrival as penalty for forgetting to keep his voice down, Rikou only slightly less, and Lee almost half again as many more. Still, even he'd finally gotten the hang of it, and as his idol appeared the bowl-cut wearing genin contented himself with springing to his feet with open arms and shining eyes.
Momentarily overcome with pride at their progress, Gai shared a quick hug with his younger doppleganger, then stepped back to give them all a thumbs-up, super-bushy moustache twitching as he fought to keep from showing a smile that could give away their position with the telltale glint of reflected sunlight. Manly tears escaped the corners of his eyes as the genin followed suit, and sniffles normally hidden by exclamations of excitement echoed softly in the small clearing.
Bringing his youthful passion once more under control, Gai signalled for a huddle, murmuring seriously once the circle was complete, "A party of smugglers have infested the clearing ahead, they appear to be two groups trading contraband. We would avoid them like all others up to now, but ..." The jounin's twisted into a suprisingly firece scowl. "They are trading moonsugar, to be distilled into skooma and poison the spirited youth of Fire Country." He drew a kunai and scratched a quick sketch into the dirt, an irregular circle with two squares inside. Pointing to the larger square, he explained, "We'll make a single attack as we pass through. This is where the moonsugar crates are stacked, the other area is kegs of fire-apple whiskey. I'll go first and knock the crates in the air, Lee, you follow and smash as many open as you can bouncing between them. Rikou will be next, and perform a Suiton blast to melt the sugar in the broken crates - this stream joins another on the low side of the clearing, here, for you to draw on. Naruto, you take the rear. Throw a Katon to set the kegs alight. There are many thugs in the area, but none appear to be ninja, so there should be no pursuit, but if one of them is suprising remember that the priority is to escape and continue the mission." Looking around the circle Gai saw Lee nodding seriously, while Naruto bounced in excitement at finally getting to use some ninjutsu on this mission and Rikou watched him with a smile for how happy he seemed.
--=--
The plan had gone off without a hitch, leaving the smugglers milling about in confusion and cursing ninja brats who show up out of nowhere and vanish just as fast after ruining a deal worth thousands of ryo - apparently Gai had blazed through too quickly to be seen for more than a streak, even though he'd had to kick over a dozen large crates into the air he he'd passed. Lee had hardly been any slower, ricocheting from one to the next and flinging them back down with shattering force, but Rikou had to pause, balancing in mid-air on the jet of water as she played it across the wreckage before continuing on, and Naruto had actually landed and stood on one of the less intelligent thugs' head for his part. The prehistoric-looking enforcer had just started reachingup to feel around on his noggin and even the fastest of his fellows wese still drawing their weapons as the Orange Wildfire bounced away again, laughing madly at how pathetic the whole encounter was - he'd had tougher opposition playing pranks on the mean old guy with the vegetable stall in Konoha Market than from both gangs put together.
---=- + -=---
Team Explosive Youth split up once they reached Kirika, searching block by block after an initial sweep along the beaches, hoping to find their target before another night passed (or they'd all do 500 sprints.) Now the glorious sunset tapestry of orange and gold had faded to a thin glow on the horizon, and still they'd had no luck. Naruto's stomach rumbled louder than his footsteps as he jumped up and clung to a lamp post to survey the lightly traveled street, delicous smells of miso and noodles wafting out of a nearby restaurant.
"Well, the passionate flames of youthful spirit require a good fuel supply," he reasoned, "I'll just look for him inside while I get some food, dattebayo!" Ignoring the handful of passerby who'd stopped to point and marvel at a boy standing sideways on a lamp post, he hopped down and skipped toward the entrance, eyes screwed up with a wide foxy grin, only to run into some one coming out. The blond stumbled backwards a couple of steps before regaining his balance, and opened his mouth to curse out the old fool who'd...
"Ano sa, ano sa, what did Gai-sensei say the guy we're looking for was like again?" he asked himself, frowning in concentration. He snapped his fingers and looked closely at the bemused older man, counting the points off as he catalouged them. "Bushy white hair, yep, green top and pants, yep, red vest and sandals, big scroll, yep yep..." The orange-clad genin crossed his arms and nodded decisively. "...but a legendary ninja wouldn't have such a stupid look; must be the wrong guy. Sorry oji-san!"
The stranger's jaw dropped, eyes blank with shocked disbelief.
"Ne, if you see a ninja who looks like you, tell him there's an important message from the hidden leaf, okay?" Naruto continued, obliviously.
"Why you little..." The traveler recovered his composure, then delived a smack that left the boy rubbing his shoulder aggreivedly. Assured that he was paying attention, the white-maned man pointedly adjusted his horned hitae-ate, then took up a crane pose and announced, "I am... Legendary Frog of the Three Ninja... Jiraya-sama!" (Ore wa... Densetsu no Gero San-nin, etc.)
"Ero-sennin?" Naruto mumbled, unimpressed. Jiraya's eyebrow twitched, but before he could protest his mangled title the blonde burst into motion, jumping excitedly as he hollered, "Okay, okay! Now I'LL introduce myself!" Coming down into a crouch, he hurtled up into the air, at least twenty five feet by the older man's experienced eye. Forming a tiger seal, the boy blasted off a pair of Katons, one upward to signal his team mates, the other down to light a short-lived bonfire in the street to pose in front of as he landed. "Like an erupting volcano, the Leaf's Blazing Orange Wildfire, Uzumaki Naruto has arrived, dattebayo!" the blond shouted, one arm extended in a thumbs-up and the fire light glinting off of a brilliant smile.
He missed the quickly-suppressed look of shock that crossed his target's face. "Uzumaki Naruto... This is that boy?" the wandering ninja thought, deciding, "This should be interesting."
---=- + -=---
"Before we left Ice Country, we were due to become jounin! Some brats making trouble out of school... It may be too much for ordinary guys, but we'll kill you instantly!"
---=- + -=---
Message scroll is from a spy in Gatou Group, says some new, super-ninja-tools are being moved through Fire, gang is just thugs/not ninja. Training and info gathering, then Jiraya and TXY intercept but it turns into a ninja battle after all - dropouts too weak to merit listing as nukenin who become a threat due to the movie-type chakra armor they use, having opened the shipment. Jiraya was called on because he's in the area and is Leaf's expert on foreign techniques and equipment after wandering around for decades.
Gin and Gomaru - sister and brother, new additions to the Two Gees. Snow-country nuke-nin who want to steal the chakra armor for themselves.
---=- + -=---
(Would you like to know more?)
W.ms: Z ret Nd swd, acc K (HM prst, rep: Aoi stl wh def to M & Nu-Nnjanai, off hired by G)
===========================
Kunoichi Ninpo: (perfect hair) no Jutsu - quoth Nathan, "(I saw a Genin drinkin' a Pina Colada at Trader Vic's...) Koyonaigamigata no Jutsu. I think. (Awoooooo...)" A chakra hair-net, and so much more - Ino used a variation on it to trap Sakura in the canon Chuunin Exams.
Taimatsu - noun, (pine) torch, flambeau, torchlight. The peninsula belonging to Fire Country which extends to the south, across a gulf from the Wind coast and southwest of Water Country. Not yet named in canon, and some maps show the gulf as landmass - the one seen onscreen has it as water, and that's what I went with.
Gero San-nin - 'gero' (pronounced with a hard g) is one of the words for 'frog,' probably an onomatopoeia for croaking. Naruto calling Jiraya 'Ero-sennin' is a pun on that and his peeping, while 'sennin' is hermit and 'san-nin' is 'three ninja.' Jiraya is the frog summoner of the Legendary Three, so it's actually a double pun.
Moonsugar and skooma are from the Bethesda Software's RPG Morrowind, though with the amount of moonsugar you find in various smuggler camps in that game it has to be easier to procure than I've made it here - this version has to be collected from small, white, snowbell-like flowers that bloom in early spring in Lightning Country. On its own it's a very sweet-tasting stimulant with mild mood-altering properties, but when distilled as skooma to be boiled and inhaled it is a strongly addictive, hallucinogenic stimulant especially popular with upper middle class and noble teens and young adults. Gai loathes it and anyone involved in its production or distrobution.
------------------------------------------------
Tales from the cutting room floor:
There was considerably less merriment when word of the hit-and-run got back to Kirika - those Lightning Country bastards had haggled long and hard over the deal, an entire season's collected moonsugar for the specialty liquor so prized in that cold northern penninsula. While hardly a fatal blow when the Two Gees Gang existed purely to be a front for those dealings of the multinational Gatou Trading Group that fell outside Fire Country law, it would still put a big dent in revenues for the vacation season, when hordes of late teens and early twenty-somethings flocked to the Kirika area and its beaches.
That didn't mean it was all that good for his personal well being, however, the Two Gees boss reflected. He was overseeing a different transaction himself at the moment, to prevent any more screw ups - a very special shipment had arrived. He signed off on the manifest - not that it bore any relation to the actual cargo, of course - after prying open the two coffin-sized crates and checking their contents.
CUT! Take two...
(name), leader of the Two Gees, was decidedly less amused when he heard the story - those Lightning bastards had been trouble enough to set up a deal with the first time. Sure, the organization wouldn't be brought down by one deal gone bad - not with their sponsor - but his personal health could be a different question if the situation wasn't quickly dealt with.
"Damn smartass ninja brats!" he complained, the dock workers unloading his latest, very special shipment giving the boss a wide berth. The problem was that legitimate ninja were both expensive to hire and generally supported the laws of the major countries, while the Two Gees avoided hiring missing nin because they tended to attract those same legitimate ninja in the form of hunter squads... But to deal with troublesome ninja, even just kids, required getting better ninja of his own. He cursed fluently and pulled out a handkerchief as a seagull dropping landed on the shoulder of his expensive business suit, wiping at it ineffectually in hopes of preventing a permanent stain.
"Allow me," an unfamiliar, feminine voice said, intruding on his tantrum. Dropping the wadded kercheif, (boss) turned to see a pale, dark eyed woman in grey and white, an unfamiliar snowflake insignia on her hitae-ite marred by the all too familiar slash of a nuke-nin. A similar looking man was walking down the gangplank and tucking a money pouch into his jumpsuit beyond her, and the austere beauty raised an eyebrow, then at his nod, cupped a hand near the offending organic matter, which floated away from the fabric to gather in a hovering ball.
Um, no. Cut!
...better ninja of his own.
Hence, the two nuke-nin standing across from his desk. They were brother and sister, pale and dark of eye and hair, wearing white and grey jumpsuits with the distinct look of having been designed to go over more layers than the pair were currently wearing - no surprise there, with their scored Hidden Snow hitae-ate.
They'd been hired on the sly as extra protection by the captain of a ship that had just made a special run from that far-off country. Ordinarily, anything from Snow Country would go to Lightning and then directly to the Wave via caravan and short-haul shipping, but this cargo woud be too tempting to their supposed partners, and there was always the possibility of being boarded by a team of "customs inspectors" from Hidden Mist. No, the ship had taken a long, roundabout course that circled around the Shinobi Countries to the Fire, whose more open society and more forested terrain made moving things quietly easier, and which was only a few hours' ferry ride from the Wave.
... Oh forget it...
In the city, the Two Gees Gang boss is pissed about the deal those ninja broke up, hiring Gomaru and Gin straight off the boat to guard 'that' shipment
"Gatou-oyabun will be upset if it's interrupted."
we'll kill them instantly
"Heh... Gomaru and Gin... two more 'G's. It's a lucky sign."
END OF LINE
What, you think Samuel L. Jackson isn't going to survive the zombie apocalypse?
SERVO: Loook *deeeeply* into my eyes... Tell me, what do you see?
CROW: (hypnotized) A twisted man who wants to inflict his pain upon others.
--
"Anko, what you do in your free time is your own choice. Use it wisely. And if you do not use it wisely, make sure you thoroughly enjoy whatever unwise thing you are doing." - HymnOfRagnorok as Orochimaru at SpaceBattles
woot Med. Eng., verb, 1st & 3rd pers. prsnt. sg. know, knows
20050727 - created text file
20050729 - training/mission start, we have plot sign! Draft posted for comment.
20050803 - travelling, meet Two Gees Gang, draft post edited with new bits.
20060112 - discarded Gin and Gomaru intro, got through Jiraya scene. Will throw them straight in.
(ch1 is at the top of page 1)
It had been a month now since they'd graduated, and Naruto almost wondered if it had been worth the trouble - well, not really, but the three genin had trained together almost as much as academy students, and at least then when Gai-sensei had a mission and couldn't join them they didn't have to join *him* painting houses or mowing lawns or catching poor Tora, the Fire daimyo's wife's cat *again* to be returned to the Hell of Smothering Tight Hugs.
Well, he thought there was a hell like that, anyway. He'd been chased away by some older kids the one time he'd ever tried to go to one of the temples during a festival, but he knew there were lots of weird hells, like the Hell of Whirling Blades and the Hell of Inverted Sinners and the Hell of Howling Winds - various adults had told him to go to most of them at one time or another, and he'd had too much experience with smothering hugs since he'd met his super-fuzzy-face sensei. At least those weren't caused by malice, just excessive excitement.
These thoughts had carried him through the somewhat dull routine of setting up some lightweight posts for the morning's training with Lee and Rikou while they waited for Gai to get their assignment for the afternoon. They'd gotten the process refined to a smooth system by now - Naruto would pick out a straight, arm-thick branch about the right length, Rikou would trim off all the twigs and leaves with a pair of blades attached to the ends of her silk rope, then Lee would break it off of the parent tree with a solid kick and Naruto would carry it back to the clearing, where Rikou would blast a narrow hole in the ground with the water-type counterpart to his Katon no Jutsu and, finally, Lee would slam it down into place before they went to get another.
Once they'd gotten a dozen or so of them set in a loose circle, all three would get a turn at jumping from one to the next all the way around before having a three-way spar where anyone who got knocked off the posts had to wait for a count of twenty before jumping back in. That much had been in the instructions Gai had given when they started doing the exercise each day, but they'd quickly added Self Rules as well - today, for example, Lee declared, "For this match, I shall stand only on my right leg, and if I'm knocked down I'll do left-leg squat-thrusts until the time limit passes!"
"Okay!" the blond enthused, his usual cheerful nature reasserting itself. "Well today I'll use only kicks, and if anyone can knock me down I'll do handstand push-ups until I get to come back!"
Rikou tightened the knots where she'd replaced the daggers on her cord with similarly shaped, blunt weights for training. "YEAH!" she shouted, charged up with their collective enthusiasm. "I'm going to hold the kirigakure no jutsu for the whole fight, and if I fall it's BACKFLIPS!"
The two boys gasped, knowing how much she hated doing flips. They tended to loosen the bun she wore her hair in, even with four large pins to hold it. "Such dedication," Lee murmured, his eyes sparkling with re-doubled youthful spirit, while Naruto treated her to his best Nice Guy pose.
Oddly, Rikou always seemed to get a bit flushed when he did that, and sometimes her breath would catch, but when he'd asked her if he was doing it wrong she'd said no, it was just perfect and to please do it more. So he did, chalking it up to girl-weirdness. She shifted her hips and gave him a sultry grin before hopping up to the nearest pole and forming the hand seals to use Kirigakure no Jutsu, the basis of her mother's family technique (jutsu name meaning 'impenetrable mist' or fog or impervious or blinding or ship-wrecking).
Rikou had much better chakra control than Naruto, but her biggest challenge as a ninja was maintaining that control when she was struck, so maintaining the Kirigakure at a constant level where it would feel and taste as damp as the genjutsu element of the refined technique would make enemies experience while still keeping it it thin enough the she and her team mates could see and distinguish each other by their bright outfits was a perfect Self Rule to practice. Doing that while also using chakra to stick her feet to the post with the tree-climbing technique Gai-sensei had taught them just added to the challenge!
With twin cries of excitement the boys joined her at the tops of the poles, and the battle began in earnest as the first edge of the sun peered over the horizon to light up the mist. It was really quite beautiful, the brightly-dressed girl thought as her weighted cord twirled and lashed out like a demented serpent, only barely avoided as Lee hopped and flipped over Naruto to another pole.
Bewilderbeast Studios Presents
TEAM EXPLOSIVE YOUTH! SEARCH FOR GERO SAN-NIN!!
As usual, Maito Gai was the first person through the door after the ANBU assignments had been distributed, and Sarutobi had already set aside a pair of scrolls in anticipation. One was a normal mission scroll, the other held closed by his personal seal. Sandaime smiled tolerantly as the jounin landed in his customary Nice Guy pose, greeting, "'Good morning. A quadruple flip today? You must be getting used to the new weights."
"YOSH!" Konoha's most excitable ninja cheered, eyes aflame with youthful passion. "I shall have to create a new pair, with the gravity seal set for six hundred and FIFTY pounds! No, six hundred and SEVENTY!" he shouted, pumping a fist. "I will do it this very afternoon, as soon as my excellent students have completed today's mission with youth and spirit!"
The Hokage hummed, and drew on his pipe. He savored the rich south-coast blend for a moment, then puffed a double smoke ring and spoke. "Your team has shaped up well, then. That's good, Gai-kun. Do you think they are ready for a mission outside the village?" The mission reports on Team Six's progress had been uniformly positive, even when translated from Gai-ese, but he always preferred to leave such decisions to the sensei involved when he could. It was partly a mark of trust in his subordinates judgment and partly the fact that even though he tried to get to know all of the ninja under his care, they were the ones working together day in and day out.
"Oooooooh!" The ebon-haired sensei crowed, manly tears of pride cascading down his cheeks. "HOKAGE-SAMA! I am so moved by your faith in the SHINING ENERGY of Team Explosive Youth! My precious students will accomplish any assignment with the POWER of their BRILLIANT SPRINGTIME OF YOUTH!!"
Again, not an answer that came as a surprise. Sarutobi adjusted his squared-off hat and slid the scrolls across the desk, the C-Rank wrapper of the mission scroll plainly obvious. "As you can see, the mission has been rated higher than D-Rank, but mainly because it is likely to take two to three weeks rather than due to any exceptional danger. I immediately thought of your team because speed is of high importance. You should hold off on the new weights until afterward, and have your students leave theirs behind until the message scroll is delivered. I'll add an extra mission allowance for them to purchase new equipment at the destination."
Gai brushed his eyes dry, bowed over the scrolls crutched tight to his chest. "You're so GENEROUS, Hokage-sama!" he cried, before vanishing in a puff of chakra smoke.
Sarutobi grinned again at the man's antics, then signaled for the next waiting shinobi to be sent in.
---=- + -=---
When Gai poofed into existence at the training ground, he found his charges still hard at work in the sun-touched mist, Lee hopping and flipping from one post to the next as he avoided Rikou's furious assault, attacking across the full width of the circle with the long, weighted cord.
Naruto was on the ground, doing two handstand push-ups for each second as he counted them off, "18, 19, 20, dattebayo!" He flipped down to his feet and then formed the seal for a bunshin as he leapt again, one heading for Lee on the right, one for Rikou on the left, and one straight across to the far side of the circle. One of the kunoichi's weights sailed through that last, the puff of smoke invisible in the mist as it was disrupted, while the one heading for the Proud Green Beast dissolved on its own after he dodged out of the way. Rikou's second cord was already wrapping around her real team mate, but too late - the blond's snap kick knocked her off her perch and set himself spinning to unwind the flat silk binding. Coming to a perch on a post next to the one she'd been occupying, he bounced exuberantly and crowed, "YEAH! Got'cha back!"
"You should WATCH your back," the bowl-cut boy reminded helpfully, even as he landed a kick to the side of Naruto's post and sent him flailing, to fall right in Rikou's arms as she was climbing to her feet. He bounced back from the springy, greenwood post, reaching overhead to grab the one he had rebounded towards and vault to the top.
After making sure Naruto's face had been in place long enough for him to realize where she was holding it, Rikou let the struggling genin disentangle himself and get into another handstand, obviously trying to pretend the blood had rushed to his cheeks from being upside down. "He's so cute when he's like that," she thought to herself, forming a short burst of hand seals before beginning her own series of backflips. Feeling the faint tingle across her scalp, the Maito heiress called out excitedly, "YOSH! Kunoichi Ninpo: Koyonaigamigata no Jutsu ... SUCCESS!!" No matter how boldly she expressed the explosive energy of her glorious springtime of youth, she'd never have to worry about looking bad while doing it! The sheer joy of it was enough to buoy her up and do a double backflip on the count of twelve.
Not to be left out, Lee jumped down on his own, and began another series of squat-thrusts.
Wiping new tears of pride from his eyes, Gai waited for the genin to complete their forfeits before teleporting again, appearing in a puff of smoke atop one of the poles. "AN EXCELLENT BATTLE, MY STUDENTS!" he bellowed, "Your youthful spirit has brought tears to my eyes! Alas, I must sadly announce that our usual morning practice is impossible for the next while, but DO NOT DESPAIR!" He leapt down form the pole, landing in another action-hero pose before continuing, "The burning passion of your springtime of youth shall NOT be ignored! We will be forgoing it only because our wise and generous Hokage has assigned a long-term mission to Team Explosive Youth!"
One glance at the mission scroll his sensei was brandishing was enough to have the hyperactive blond hopping around and shouting his excitement to the world. "YEAH! YEAH! C-RANK MISSION! And next, B-Rank, and A-Rank, and S-Rank, and then I'll be Hokage and surpass all previous Hokages IN MY FLOWERING SPRINGTIME OF YOUTH! DATTEBAYO!" He bounced off an overhanging bough and homed in on the powerposing jounin, talking uncommon initiative in wrapping the man in a tacklehug. "OH GAI-SENSEI! THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR GETTING US A COOLER MISSION!"
Their own excited cries echoing across the training field, Lee and Rikou latched on from the sides, all four taking several minutes to recover themselves.
---=- + -=---
Gai was in what might be called 'serious mode' as the team collected again at the villiage gates, each carrying a backpack. The lack of training weights on her calves left Rikou with a tan line, and even the boys jumpsuits were a bit darker on the lower legs, since they wore the weights continually except to wash and for two hours of their training each day to practice moving without them. He gave each only a breif arm-clasp as they arrived, then checked over their equipment. Finding everything in order - if a bit heavy on the instant ramen for Naruto, but if the boy wanted to challenge himself with just a LITTLE extra weight, who was Gai to dissuade him? He did make Lee dump about half of the rocks in his pack, though - the bowl-cut jounin took his customary explanation pose to go over the assignment details.
"The mission that Hokage-sama has entrusted to Team Explosive Youth will require your top speed," he reminded them, explaining, "We will be searching for a certain man to deliver a top secret scroll! He was last seen near the seaside town of Kirika, on the Taimatsu Peninsula, and since many people vacation on the beach there this time of year, he should still be nearby." The usual enthusiastic expression on his super-fuzzy face turned stern for a moment as Gai instructed, "This mission, it has a strict time limit. Even if we meet bandits or enemy nins, the first priority is to keep going, without spending time on a fight."
Lee nodded seriously, taking notes in his little book, but Naruto kicked at the ground in disgust and scoffed, swinging his pack by one strap in irritation. Rikou, snuggled up to the blond boy's back, shot a frown at her father over his shoulder, then heaved a sigh after it. "Moooooou, SENSEI..." he complained, trying to ignore the warm, soft girl against his back (and espescially those and his imagination has to be running away with him because his jacket's too thick to feel that and it's just Rikou being huggy again and he's talking to Gai-sensei about the mission, dammit!) "How can we prove our strength as ninja if we run away from the fight? That's too uncool!"
Suddenly, Gai had replaced Rikou, and was delivering a power-noogie instead of a snuggle. "FOOL!" he scolded. "Knowing when the mission outweighs a battle is the MOST IMPORTANT strength of a ninja! To remember, you must do five hundred one-arm pushups with each arm as soon as we arrive!" Just as suddenly released, the blond staggered against his kunoichi team mate, who'd appeared off-balance in front of him when the jounin had used kawarimi to switch places with her. Unable to maintain his anger, the older man swept both of them into a crushing hug, proclaiming, "EVEN THOUGH IT'S WRONG, I STILL FORGIVE YOU MY STUDENT, FOR THE EAGER SPIRIT OF YOUTH IS WHAT DRIVES YOU! OOOOOOOH!"
"OH, GAI SENSEI!" Lee exclaimed, piling on from the other side. "YOU'RE SO MAGNANIMOUS!"
Naruto and Rikou may have made positive noises, or may have been merely praying to the Kami of the Breathing Miracle. They were turned loose before going completely blue, however, and after a few gasps the foxy blond shouldered his backpack and asked, "Hey, hey, sensei, who are we looking for, anyway? You didn't tell us what he looks like or anything!"
"The man we are searching for has not been in Konoha for many years," Gai explained seriously, "but he has been seen wearing (a dark green shirt and pants, with a red vest and sandals, iirc), carries a large scroll on a shoulder strap, and has long, spiky white hair. He is... Jiraya, frog summoner of the Leaf's Legendary Three!" Pointing dramatically out through the open gate, he commanded, "TEAM EXPLOSIVE YOUTH! HASSHIN!!" There were four muted booms like distant thunder as the team pushed off, literally leaping to full speed and raising a cloud of dust. The gate guard on duty muttered a curse on over-enthusiastic bowl-heads as it subsided, then used a doton jutsu to smooth out the deep footprints left behind in the path.
---=- + -=---
They'd had to stop for rest at night and (breifly) every so often during the daylight hours, of course, because as conditioned as they were, the kids were still rookie genin. Even so, they were closing in on a destination most ninja would call a week away after only four days, and it was barely mid-afternoon. Gai had gone to scout ahead while his subordinates refilled thier canteens at a small stream and munched granola bars. They hadn't spoken much during the trip, and what little conversation they'd made was conducted in hushed whispers, words distorted by avoiding the sibilants that would carry more easily to alert possible enemies to their presence.
That fact might have suprised someone who only knew the boisterous personalities Gai and his charges usually presented, but he hadn't achieved the Elite Jounin rank without understanding the concept of field discipline and - since part of their objective was to avoid confrontations anyway - he'd made a stealth drill part of the excercise. Naruto was now up to one thousand one-armed push ups on each arm, 1500 sit ups, and six hundred squat-thrusts due on arrival as penalty for forgetting to keep his voice down, Rikou only slightly less, and Lee almost half again as many more. Still, even he'd finally gotten the hang of it, and as his idol appeared the bowl-cut wearing genin contented himself with springing to his feet with open arms and shining eyes.
Momentarily overcome with pride at their progress, Gai shared a quick hug with his younger doppleganger, then stepped back to give them all a thumbs-up, super-bushy moustache twitching as he fought to keep from showing a smile that could give away their position with the telltale glint of reflected sunlight. Manly tears escaped the corners of his eyes as the genin followed suit, and sniffles normally hidden by exclamations of excitement echoed softly in the small clearing.
Bringing his youthful passion once more under control, Gai signalled for a huddle, murmuring seriously once the circle was complete, "A party of smugglers have infested the clearing ahead, they appear to be two groups trading contraband. We would avoid them like all others up to now, but ..." The jounin's twisted into a suprisingly firece scowl. "They are trading moonsugar, to be distilled into skooma and poison the spirited youth of Fire Country." He drew a kunai and scratched a quick sketch into the dirt, an irregular circle with two squares inside. Pointing to the larger square, he explained, "We'll make a single attack as we pass through. This is where the moonsugar crates are stacked, the other area is kegs of fire-apple whiskey. I'll go first and knock the crates in the air, Lee, you follow and smash as many open as you can bouncing between them. Rikou will be next, and perform a Suiton blast to melt the sugar in the broken crates - this stream joins another on the low side of the clearing, here, for you to draw on. Naruto, you take the rear. Throw a Katon to set the kegs alight. There are many thugs in the area, but none appear to be ninja, so there should be no pursuit, but if one of them is suprising remember that the priority is to escape and continue the mission." Looking around the circle Gai saw Lee nodding seriously, while Naruto bounced in excitement at finally getting to use some ninjutsu on this mission and Rikou watched him with a smile for how happy he seemed.
--=--
The plan had gone off without a hitch, leaving the smugglers milling about in confusion and cursing ninja brats who show up out of nowhere and vanish just as fast after ruining a deal worth thousands of ryo - apparently Gai had blazed through too quickly to be seen for more than a streak, even though he'd had to kick over a dozen large crates into the air he he'd passed. Lee had hardly been any slower, ricocheting from one to the next and flinging them back down with shattering force, but Rikou had to pause, balancing in mid-air on the jet of water as she played it across the wreckage before continuing on, and Naruto had actually landed and stood on one of the less intelligent thugs' head for his part. The prehistoric-looking enforcer had just started reachingup to feel around on his noggin and even the fastest of his fellows wese still drawing their weapons as the Orange Wildfire bounced away again, laughing madly at how pathetic the whole encounter was - he'd had tougher opposition playing pranks on the mean old guy with the vegetable stall in Konoha Market than from both gangs put together.
---=- + -=---
Team Explosive Youth split up once they reached Kirika, searching block by block after an initial sweep along the beaches, hoping to find their target before another night passed (or they'd all do 500 sprints.) Now the glorious sunset tapestry of orange and gold had faded to a thin glow on the horizon, and still they'd had no luck. Naruto's stomach rumbled louder than his footsteps as he jumped up and clung to a lamp post to survey the lightly traveled street, delicous smells of miso and noodles wafting out of a nearby restaurant.
"Well, the passionate flames of youthful spirit require a good fuel supply," he reasoned, "I'll just look for him inside while I get some food, dattebayo!" Ignoring the handful of passerby who'd stopped to point and marvel at a boy standing sideways on a lamp post, he hopped down and skipped toward the entrance, eyes screwed up with a wide foxy grin, only to run into some one coming out. The blond stumbled backwards a couple of steps before regaining his balance, and opened his mouth to curse out the old fool who'd...
"Ano sa, ano sa, what did Gai-sensei say the guy we're looking for was like again?" he asked himself, frowning in concentration. He snapped his fingers and looked closely at the bemused older man, counting the points off as he catalouged them. "Bushy white hair, yep, green top and pants, yep, red vest and sandals, big scroll, yep yep..." The orange-clad genin crossed his arms and nodded decisively. "...but a legendary ninja wouldn't have such a stupid look; must be the wrong guy. Sorry oji-san!"
The stranger's jaw dropped, eyes blank with shocked disbelief.
"Ne, if you see a ninja who looks like you, tell him there's an important message from the hidden leaf, okay?" Naruto continued, obliviously.
"Why you little..." The traveler recovered his composure, then delived a smack that left the boy rubbing his shoulder aggreivedly. Assured that he was paying attention, the white-maned man pointedly adjusted his horned hitae-ate, then took up a crane pose and announced, "I am... Legendary Frog of the Three Ninja... Jiraya-sama!" (Ore wa... Densetsu no Gero San-nin, etc.)
"Ero-sennin?" Naruto mumbled, unimpressed. Jiraya's eyebrow twitched, but before he could protest his mangled title the blonde burst into motion, jumping excitedly as he hollered, "Okay, okay! Now I'LL introduce myself!" Coming down into a crouch, he hurtled up into the air, at least twenty five feet by the older man's experienced eye. Forming a tiger seal, the boy blasted off a pair of Katons, one upward to signal his team mates, the other down to light a short-lived bonfire in the street to pose in front of as he landed. "Like an erupting volcano, the Leaf's Blazing Orange Wildfire, Uzumaki Naruto has arrived, dattebayo!" the blond shouted, one arm extended in a thumbs-up and the fire light glinting off of a brilliant smile.
He missed the quickly-suppressed look of shock that crossed his target's face. "Uzumaki Naruto... This is that boy?" the wandering ninja thought, deciding, "This should be interesting."
---=- + -=---
"Before we left Ice Country, we were due to become jounin! Some brats making trouble out of school... It may be too much for ordinary guys, but we'll kill you instantly!"
---=- + -=---
Message scroll is from a spy in Gatou Group, says some new, super-ninja-tools are being moved through Fire, gang is just thugs/not ninja. Training and info gathering, then Jiraya and TXY intercept but it turns into a ninja battle after all - dropouts too weak to merit listing as nukenin who become a threat due to the movie-type chakra armor they use, having opened the shipment. Jiraya was called on because he's in the area and is Leaf's expert on foreign techniques and equipment after wandering around for decades.
Gin and Gomaru - sister and brother, new additions to the Two Gees. Snow-country nuke-nin who want to steal the chakra armor for themselves.
---=- + -=---
(Would you like to know more?)
W.ms: Z ret Nd swd, acc K (HM prst, rep: Aoi stl wh def to M & Nu-Nnjanai, off hired by G)
===========================
Kunoichi Ninpo: (perfect hair) no Jutsu - quoth Nathan, "(I saw a Genin drinkin' a Pina Colada at Trader Vic's...) Koyonaigamigata no Jutsu. I think. (Awoooooo...)" A chakra hair-net, and so much more - Ino used a variation on it to trap Sakura in the canon Chuunin Exams.
Taimatsu - noun, (pine) torch, flambeau, torchlight. The peninsula belonging to Fire Country which extends to the south, across a gulf from the Wind coast and southwest of Water Country. Not yet named in canon, and some maps show the gulf as landmass - the one seen onscreen has it as water, and that's what I went with.
Gero San-nin - 'gero' (pronounced with a hard g) is one of the words for 'frog,' probably an onomatopoeia for croaking. Naruto calling Jiraya 'Ero-sennin' is a pun on that and his peeping, while 'sennin' is hermit and 'san-nin' is 'three ninja.' Jiraya is the frog summoner of the Legendary Three, so it's actually a double pun.
Moonsugar and skooma are from the Bethesda Software's RPG Morrowind, though with the amount of moonsugar you find in various smuggler camps in that game it has to be easier to procure than I've made it here - this version has to be collected from small, white, snowbell-like flowers that bloom in early spring in Lightning Country. On its own it's a very sweet-tasting stimulant with mild mood-altering properties, but when distilled as skooma to be boiled and inhaled it is a strongly addictive, hallucinogenic stimulant especially popular with upper middle class and noble teens and young adults. Gai loathes it and anyone involved in its production or distrobution.
------------------------------------------------
Tales from the cutting room floor:
There was considerably less merriment when word of the hit-and-run got back to Kirika - those Lightning Country bastards had haggled long and hard over the deal, an entire season's collected moonsugar for the specialty liquor so prized in that cold northern penninsula. While hardly a fatal blow when the Two Gees Gang existed purely to be a front for those dealings of the multinational Gatou Trading Group that fell outside Fire Country law, it would still put a big dent in revenues for the vacation season, when hordes of late teens and early twenty-somethings flocked to the Kirika area and its beaches.
That didn't mean it was all that good for his personal well being, however, the Two Gees boss reflected. He was overseeing a different transaction himself at the moment, to prevent any more screw ups - a very special shipment had arrived. He signed off on the manifest - not that it bore any relation to the actual cargo, of course - after prying open the two coffin-sized crates and checking their contents.
CUT! Take two...
(name), leader of the Two Gees, was decidedly less amused when he heard the story - those Lightning bastards had been trouble enough to set up a deal with the first time. Sure, the organization wouldn't be brought down by one deal gone bad - not with their sponsor - but his personal health could be a different question if the situation wasn't quickly dealt with.
"Damn smartass ninja brats!" he complained, the dock workers unloading his latest, very special shipment giving the boss a wide berth. The problem was that legitimate ninja were both expensive to hire and generally supported the laws of the major countries, while the Two Gees avoided hiring missing nin because they tended to attract those same legitimate ninja in the form of hunter squads... But to deal with troublesome ninja, even just kids, required getting better ninja of his own. He cursed fluently and pulled out a handkerchief as a seagull dropping landed on the shoulder of his expensive business suit, wiping at it ineffectually in hopes of preventing a permanent stain.
"Allow me," an unfamiliar, feminine voice said, intruding on his tantrum. Dropping the wadded kercheif, (boss) turned to see a pale, dark eyed woman in grey and white, an unfamiliar snowflake insignia on her hitae-ite marred by the all too familiar slash of a nuke-nin. A similar looking man was walking down the gangplank and tucking a money pouch into his jumpsuit beyond her, and the austere beauty raised an eyebrow, then at his nod, cupped a hand near the offending organic matter, which floated away from the fabric to gather in a hovering ball.
Um, no. Cut!
...better ninja of his own.
Hence, the two nuke-nin standing across from his desk. They were brother and sister, pale and dark of eye and hair, wearing white and grey jumpsuits with the distinct look of having been designed to go over more layers than the pair were currently wearing - no surprise there, with their scored Hidden Snow hitae-ate.
They'd been hired on the sly as extra protection by the captain of a ship that had just made a special run from that far-off country. Ordinarily, anything from Snow Country would go to Lightning and then directly to the Wave via caravan and short-haul shipping, but this cargo woud be too tempting to their supposed partners, and there was always the possibility of being boarded by a team of "customs inspectors" from Hidden Mist. No, the ship had taken a long, roundabout course that circled around the Shinobi Countries to the Fire, whose more open society and more forested terrain made moving things quietly easier, and which was only a few hours' ferry ride from the Wave.
... Oh forget it...
In the city, the Two Gees Gang boss is pissed about the deal those ninja broke up, hiring Gomaru and Gin straight off the boat to guard 'that' shipment
"Gatou-oyabun will be upset if it's interrupted."
we'll kill them instantly
"Heh... Gomaru and Gin... two more 'G's. It's a lucky sign."
END OF LINE
What, you think Samuel L. Jackson isn't going to survive the zombie apocalypse?
SERVO: Loook *deeeeply* into my eyes... Tell me, what do you see?
CROW: (hypnotized) A twisted man who wants to inflict his pain upon others.
--
"Anko, what you do in your free time is your own choice. Use it wisely. And if you do not use it wisely, make sure you thoroughly enjoy whatever unwise thing you are doing." - HymnOfRagnorok as Orochimaru at SpaceBattles
woot Med. Eng., verb, 1st & 3rd pers. prsnt. sg. know, knows