Changing Tides 2 Revised Version
Changing Tides: Prologue
Changing Tides: Chapter 1
Changing Tides
Chapter 2:
The Mission
The kids played around forming groups and making games that no one outside their clique could understand. They were in their own world in the yard during their break time as one of the Sensei from the academy looked after them, to make sure none of them tried to repeat what they had learned in class today. Everything was normal, the sun was out and high in the sky, although somewhat hazy from the vantage point of the entire village, the air was chilly, and the children were laughing. The only things out of place were the dark eyes staring at the children in a protective manner like the one the Sensei at the door possessed.
Aikido clenched his hands against the gate as he watched them all play around. His eyes narrowed as he followed each and every one of their movements, expecting one of them to try something. In the back of his mind he knew what children were capable of, but he couldn’t understand why he knew. After that encounter with the leaf ninja he seemed to be doing things out of the ordinary. Even though it was only last night, he felt his routine and views on everything changing slowly. He wouldn't have been there, watching these children, if he had never met that man he slaughtered so easily
For a second he could almost see himself in the other man’s position as a teacher watching over the little ones. He could see himself chasing after the kids when the decided they could run from punishment. He could see himself laughing with them when they all thought something was funny. He could see himself scolding them when they decided not to listen to what he had to say. He almost felt the need to yell at them now for doing nothing out of the ordinary and show them that he was the one in control.
The longhaired man lifted a gloved hand to his temple and began to rub the throbbing vein in a futile attempt to soothe the oncoming headache. Closing dark brown eyes, he took several deep breaths. A girl yelled out as she did something she was proud to show off. His eyes snapped open and he glanced at her, letting his guard drop and just focused on what she wanted to show. Just a single second but that was all it took for one of the children.
A kid with black hair and blue eyes began to pull out something white from his sleeve and ripped it.
Before anyone had time to process what was going on, Aikido cleared the fence in a single jump. He sprinted towards the child he saw with the tag and began the mental process of a countdown. He knew he was going to make it when he reach the child at three, grabbing both pieces of the tattered paper and flinging them up into the air.
The Sensei on duty watched for a few seconds before running towards Aikido, and getting ready to curse out the other man. Several yards away from the other man, the sensei stopped walking and turned his head in the direction that Aikido was gazing in.
Aikido looked up towards the area where he tossed the explosive tag and waited a few seconds before it exploded, making a boom loud enough to catch the attention of the entire playground. When the children saw the child the adults were closing in on they shrugged and went back to doing what they were doing. The high ranked nin looked back towards the child that he took it from and gave him a stern look.
The child started shaking under the man’s eyes and started backing up till he bumped into his Sensei. He turned around to see the other man’s scornful gaze and shook even more as he was grabbed.
“Yuki! Where did you get that explosive tag?” The Sensei yelled as he shook the boy slightly, going over what could have happened if the higher-ranking nin hadn’t interfered. Said boy didn’t say anything and just shook his head and looked at the floor.
“Yuki, answer me.” He said in a voice louder than a regular tone but not quite a yell as he bent slightly so he could look into the kid’s eyes.
“I got it from my brother’s room sensei. I didn’t know what it was. I just want to show it off to my friends.” He smiled up at his teacher as if praying that the smile would ease his punishment later.
“You should have left it where it was. What would have happened if Aikido hadn’t come and you injured all you friends and maybe even your sister?” The older man began but was cut off as the child began to cry.
“I didn’t mean anything by it, I just thought it would be cool to show off.” He rubbed his eyes trying to clear tears away so he could see.
“What possessed you to rip it though? Didn’t I show you in class what they could do? What am I going to tell your brother?” The Sensei began another rant talking to himself more than anyone else.
“Calm down Shin, I’m sure he meant no harm by it.” The Mist Ninja looked down to Yuki and gave him a comforting if cold smile that made him stop crying although he continued sniffling a little bit. “Did you, Yuki?” the boy shook his head. Shin just sighed at everything that was going on.
“Aikido!” a loud female voice screamed. He turned just in time to catch a hyperactive 10-year-old girl as she kept attempting to jump on him. He wrapped his arms around her and gave her a big hug. Spinning her around once he put her on the floor and gave her a warm smile.
“Yari, how are you?” he asked the girl kneeling down so that he was staring into her blue eyes.
“I’m fine Aikido, did you come to school just to visit me?” she asked sweetly as she glanced around to see whom her sensei was talking to.
“Yuki!” she yelled and ran around Aikido to the boy and punched him in the arm. “What did you do now?”
“Nothing, nothing I swear” he said to the dark haired girl.
“Yari, did your older brother leave any explosive tags out?” Shin asked.
“No, he makes sure he locks everything up so we can’t get into them.”
Shin turned to Yuki and glared at him. “You are in so much trouble young man.” Yuki winced and tried to back away.
“Wait till your brother hears you were going throughout his things again and almost hurt yourself. I’m sure he’ll enjoy that.”
Yari just sighed and glanced back at Aikido who seemed to be suppressing his laughter as much as he could.
“Brothers.” The 10 year old said as she rolled her eyes. “You never answered why you were here, Aikido, since you’re not here to visit me,” she said as she crossed her small arms over her chest in a mock serious expression that had the man laughing out loud.
“I was just passing by when I saw your brother pulling out the tag.” The man lied partially, as he scratched the back of his head. He was just passing by before he decided to watch them all for a little bit. He was supposed to be on his way to meet his uncle and train for a little while. He wondered why his uncle sent a messenger and didn’t get him himself, but he had to remember his relative was the head of the village and he did have other duties besides trying to help him recover his past. The thoughts of his unknown past saddened him as he look up to the hazy sky.
“Kido,” Yari said softly and hugged the man. He looked so lost for a second that she wanted to do something to cheer him up. It was the same as when she was in the hospital to visit her older brother and happened to go into his room by accident. He just stared blankly at her and she did her best to get that blank look off his face by giving him one of the flowers she had picked for her brother. He looked lost for a second before he gave her a smile and his name, ‘Aikido’ or ‘Kido’ as she called him from time to time. She visited him for about 3 weeks before he left the hospital. They still saw each other from time to time but this was the first time she ever saw him at the academy.
“Did you bring me a present?” She asked, hugging him tighter to break him out of whatever trance he was in. He blinked a few times before looking down at her.
“Do you have a water bottle with you?” She nodded at the question and gave him the one she had in her pocket.
“Watch,” he said as he opened the bottle and waved a hand over it calling the water to come out. The Mist Nin attracted a crowd when he took the water bottle from the little girl and everyone began crowding around to see what he could do. He dropped the water bottle before bring his other hand to close it over the sphere he made. Opening the back up, the sphere was made out of ice before he molded it. A sound like ice cracking was heard while he reshaped the sphere into something else something suited for his young friend.
Satisfied with his work he handed her the ice rose. It was completely the same as a regular rose but this one held it’s own beauty. It had a clear and thorn less stem while the petals were of a white color and as soft a newly fallen snow. The whole rose itself was smoking but instead of looking bad it added to the strange beauty of the figurine, making it look ethereal.
“Will this do for a present?” he asked, handing her the object. Her mouth was wide open as she clasped it in small hands. It didn’t feel as cold as she thought it would. Yari clutched it to her chest and nodded enthusiastically to him. The kids all stared, amazed at what he made for their classmate before bombarding him with questions as he stood up, laughed and answered a few.
The salt and pepper haired man standing on the other side of the gate smiled as his nephew amused the kids. This was only a fraction of what he was capable of but no one needed to know that. He began to wonder if what he was doing was right, but knew he had no choice.
~~~~~~~~~~
The blonde rolled over as the rays of sunlight touched his skin. He scrunched his face up before rolling again, muttering about it being to early and pulling the covers over his head. He hated getting up early because once he was up he could never go back to sleep. Tossing a few more times, he gave up on the valiant fight for more sleep.
Pulling off the covers Naruto stretched his arms, locking them over his head as he brought them as far back as he could without dislocating the bones. Yawning loudly he let his arms falls to his side before removing his sleeping cap. He blinked a few times trying to remember what day it was before dropping his cap on the bed and setting out from the bedroom to the small kitchen.
Humming to himself he walked to the fridge and pulled out some ramen left over from yesterday’s trip to Ichiraku’s. Tossing it in the microwave he set the timer for two minutes. Moving to the bathroom he washed his face and brushed his teeth before he heard the microwave signal that it was done heating his food.
Moving back to the kitchen he put the heated food in a bowl before setting the ramen down in front of him and began to devour it faster then anyone else could do without years of practice. He got a message yesterday that he was to report to Tsunade’s office at 9 o’clock in the morning. Slurping the last bit of broth he looked at the clock and almost choked on the liquid.
“Shit I’m late!” he screamed as he noticed it was a few minutes to nine.
Leaving his bowl on the table he sprinted back to his room where he rushed to get dressed. He grabbed a fishnet shirt off the floor and began putting it on while making his way towards the closet, glad that the shirt had holes he could see through. He pulled out black pants with thick orange stripes on the sides. Putting one leg into the pants he began to hop to his dresser, falling flat on his face when he tried to get the other leg in.
Grumbling, Naruto flipped over and pulled the pants up so they rested on his hips. Standing, he proceeded to the dresser where he found a jacket he had just gotten a few weeks ago that he hadn’t worn yet. It was black with a giant orange swirl going clockwise on the back and two eclipsed suns on the arms. The trim of the entire jacket was in orange and he couldn’t help but like it. Slipping on the jacket he zipped it up halfway before heading back into the bathroom.
Turning on the water he cupped a bit in his hands, dropping his head down low close to the sink and splashing water on it gently. He shifted his head back up and looked into the mirror, ruffling his hair and growling as it went back to being spiky.
Remembering his appointment, he ran out towards the front door looking for his keys. Not finding them he picked up his shoes and went to the nearest window. Opening it he climbed out and sat on the ledge looking down below, perching himself on the sill as he proceeded to put on his shoes. Hitting his shoes against the building, he was satisfied they were on tightly enough for his taste.
Jumping down he pulled the window close, landing on his feet and walking away without a single wince. He spun around while looking backwards to make sure that the window was closed before running down the street and jumping onto a building to his left.
He knew that this route would be faster than running down the street and he could already see the tower from his small apartment. A few people spotted him and waved to him as he ran along the rooftops. He smiled and waved back before continuing on his way. He wondered what kind of mission Tsunade could have for him. Nothing was in the message that he received last night except the time and that his two teammates would meet him in her office.
Grinning at the thought of a new mission, Naruto began to run faster to the tower. He couldn’t remember the last time Tsunade assigned him a mission herself, she was usually too busy with one thing or another. The academy bell chimed and he began running faster as he was officially late. Looking towards the academy he stopped for a few seconds as he allowed memories of his years there to play before doubling his pace and going to the tower.
“Report now, remember later,” he muttered to himself.
~~~~~~~~~~~
The blonde haired woman rested her chin on intertwined fingers as she gazed at the only occupant currently in her office. The only person who thought it was worth the effort to come at the time she assigned for a briefing. If anything the other occupant was someone who knew when to please a person who had more power than him, even if he only did it only to further his own goals in power. Light brown eyes gazed to dark almost black eyes that blinked when she looked into them and she smirked.
Sasuke did not like the look the Hokage held in her eyes. His arms were folded low on his chest as he sat on the windowsill in the room. One of his legs was bent, foot flat against the wall, while his other was swinging barely hitting the floor every few seconds. He ran a hand through his hair which was longer now than when he was younger and let out a sigh as he looked at the birds outside. He let himself watch the birds for no set amount of time just so he wouldn’t have to face the woman at the desk.
He was surprised when he was informed to report to her office early this morning, as he was no longer a ninja on the active roster. Not that he was injured or anything, but just for the simple fact that neither she nor the rest of the village trusted him not to turn traitor again. That old-line “fool me once fool me twice” passed through suddenly and he shook his head trying to banish it from his thoughts.
“You know you’re very, very pale,” the soft yet stern voice said, causing Sasuke to face her again.
“I know.” He said in a bored monotone as he again mentally asked why she wanted him here.
Tsunade shifted her head to the right hand and began to drum fingers on the desk rhythmically to a song Sasuke knew he never heard of in his life. His attention shifted back to the window as birds flew to the ledge then away again.
“I swear-” the woman growled, her fingers stopping to claw at the desk in a bit of impatience. Sasuke watched and tensed up a bit as he could see that she was not a very patient woman and it was already 9:15. In the message it said to be on time or else and he could see that whom ever else she called here would be in big trouble as he watched her getting angrier as the seconds ticked by.
“I’m going to fucking-” she was cut off as the door to her office swung open and a blonde haired energy ball ran in.
“I’m sorry! I’m sorry!” The new male chanted hunching over hands pressed against his knees struggling to catch his breath.
“Naruto.” The Hokage growled out between clenched teeth as her fingers dug into the desk. Today was not off to a good start for Tsunade, if her first briefing was going like this she just knew that the rest of the day was going to be hell for her. She felt a vein throb, as she got angrier at Naruto’s late arrival, even he though he was never a person to arrive late like a certain silver haired man she also invited. He wasn’t the first person to arrive but he also tended to make sure he was there on time; she supposed she could forgive him this once. Feeling the rage drain from her body she felt she was getting mad at nothing. Picking up the nearest object on her desk and flinging it at the other blonde she smiled as she watched him stumble back.
“Owww, what was that for Granny!” He yelled as the object smacked him directly in the middle of his head. Sasuke couldn’t help but chuckle at the younger ninja.
“Call me ‘Granny’ again and I’ll make sure to throw something harder.” She threatened, feeling around her desk for something else to throw at the blonde if he dared to call her by that name again. She swore at times Naruto had no respect for his elders or superiors.
“Naruto.” Sasuke spoke drawing the blonde’s attention to himself.
“Sasuke!” he gasped before running over to his peer. “You’re coming on this mission too? This is going it be awesome!” the blonde said hugging the avenger. Sasuke frowned for a second before hugging the blonde back. He was curious why the blonde was hugging him since they saw each other last night.
‘But this will be our first mission together since I’ve been back,’ he thought before pushing the blonde teen away from him, smirking slightly.
“So think you will mess this mission up like you always did when we were younger?” he teased.
Tsunade decided to make herself known again after the boys exchanged a few more words. Clearing her throat rather loudly she motioned for Naruto to stand in front of her desk.
“So,” She started, staring into blue eyes. “Care to tell me why you were so late to come here, brat?” the ninja fidgeted a little bit.
“Well,” he scratched the back of his head. “I was on my way up when I ran into Sakura.”. Black eyes narrowed at the mention of the pink haired girl but only Tsunade noticed it.
“We kind of got lost track of time talking about what we’ve been up to since we rarely see each other now a days.” He continued, unaware of the narrowed Uchiha’s eyes. “She finally got sick of me and decided that she had to leave fast, only then did I remember I was supposed to meet you, Granny,” he finished.
“So let me get this straight,” Tusnade moved to stand up, palms flat against the desk, as she began to lean forward over it, her anger starting to show again, “you thought it was more important to talk to my apprentice knowing that you were already late, especially when you got a message that told you to report to the damn Hokage’s office at 9 am sharp this fucking morning?” she roared, causing the birds that were being watched so avidly moments before to scurry away. The addressed male nodded, turning slightly red in embarrassment.
The powerful woman slammed her fist against the desk. “Listen Naruto when you receive a summon from me even in the form of a message you damn well better make sure you get your ass here first. I’m the Hokage your leader, not my apprentice not Sasuke over there not some random person in the village me. Got it?”
“Yes Granny!” he as soon as she finished.
“Stop calling me Granny!” she bellowed, before sitting back in her chair and staring up at the ceiling. She knew she was going to have a headache soon. Rubbing her eyes softly she sighed and got ready to inform those two of what needed to be done knowing that the third member of their team probably wouldn’t come until the briefing was over and she’d have to repeat herself again afterwards just so he could know the mission. She hated repeating herself almost as much as she hated gambling and losing. Gazing back down to the two people in front of her, she reached into a draw and pulled out a folder and tossed it on her desk.
“We’ve had several missing-“ a popping sound followed by smoke stopped her from continuing as she got ready to defend herself if need be. No one was allowed to just teleport into her office and leave with their life still in tact. The door burst open as the ANBU guards felt the surge of charkra in the air and rushed forward to protect the village leader.
“Sorry am I too late?” the amused voice asked as the smoke cleared and revealed the masked silver haired man Tsunade was thinking about not long ago. He smiled behind his mask and scratched the back of his head walking a few feet so that he was right along side Naruto.
Waving her hand she dismissed her guards back to their post outside her office. Grabbing a paperweight off her desk she flung it at the jounin and wasn’t surprised when he dodge it just by tilting his head and having it smash against the wall.
“Lady Tsunade, am I that late that it calls for such violence already?” He grinned under the mask at the blonde woman, as he knew that he was already on her bad side for being late.
“Well I should be honored you’re not as late as you usually are.” She muttered under hear breath although he heard her clearly.
“Oh, but you see I have a good story why I was late today. I was-“
“Save it for another time Kakashi,” she interrupted, just wanting to get this briefing over as fast as possible so she could kick everyone out her office and drink a quick cup or two of sake. Just the thought of the alcohol that was in her desk drawer was enough to make her forget everything for a second and begin to reach down towards the bottle. Stopping herself she sighed and decided to get this over with as quick as she could.
“Well I should thank you for gracing us with your presence, I won’t need to go over this again just for you later.” She opened the folder on the desk. “I have sent more than half a dozen ninja on surveillance missions to Kiriga because we have had no contact with them in the past few years. Usually this would pose no problem for most ninja, but everyone I have sent into The Land of Water has never been seen again.” She turned the folder around and pushed it towards the three occupants so they could see the contents.
“Iruka-sensei was on a mission to water and never came back?” Naruto said in a somewhat yell somewhat whispered voice as he thought of his ex-sensei.
“More than that Naruto, it seems that a lot of disappearances have been happening after him and his team went missing or died. I can’t seem to get any ninja back from around Mist’s border with anything important and those few families that travel to Mist aren’t even worth the time to try and get any information from.”
“So you want us to go and find out what has been happening to all those ninjas?” Sasuke spoke up.
“More than that Sasuke, I want you to gather any information about what is going on in Kiriga as well. Is there an attack on Konoha being planned? Is there something going on? Are they planning a war? Is Konoha going to have another invasion of ninjas soon? I want these questions answered and I want to know why all those ninja have never come back. I want to know if they are dead or not, at the moment they just seemed to have just vanished, even their contacts seem to be disappearing, only the ones who stay out of water in general seem to make it out alive but you know how that breaks down communication.”
“So you think there might be a warrant for any leaf ninja?” Kakashi questioned.
“Seems like there is one with all the missing ninja.” She answered.
“So how do you want us to get in their country, granny?” Naruto questioned this time.
“What did I say about calling me granny, Brat!” she fumed. “There is going to be a festival for them soon; this will probably be the best time to get any kind of information we need from there since they don’t turn away anyone at this time.”
“Why would Kiriga open its gates to anyone if it’s supposed to be a hidden village” Naruto asked.
“The Village Hidden in the Mist is probably one of the hardest Villages to find. It’s always in the same spot yet it always moves at the same time. It’s very hard to explain but, they are more capable of allowing people into their village and them never finding it again than we are.” She sighed for a second and put a hand on her chin looking thoughtful. “I once heard a ninja from Mist say they have a lullaby that tells their young and some of the villagers how to find the village again but no one understands it unless you are from there.”
Naruto scratched the back of his head and laughed embarrassed, “I don’t get it but what ever.” He smiled.
“You never get anything you idiot.” Sasuke said to himself.
“What was that you bastard?” Naruto yelled turning his eyes to the brunette and making a fist like he was getting ready to do something.
Kakashi’s eye formed a crescent as he watched the two bickering teens. It was times like these when he would remember how they acted when he was their instructor and how they never really changed when around each other.
“Quiet!” Tsunade roared in order to get things back under control before things really got out of hand with the two boys.
At the loud exclamation both of them turned toward her and had the decency to look slightly embarrassed. They settled their dispute for now as Naruto shot Sasuke a look that clearly showed that their argument wasn’t over by a long shot.
“Now that you two are done, you are to start heading over to Water Country and infiltrate Kiriga as soon as possible.”
“Wait a second Granny wouldn’t this be a better operation for ANBU?” Naruto questioned.
“Waste of recourses since we don’t know what exactly we are looking for or dealing with. If we knew something, anything, I wouldn’t hesitate to send them.”
“So you’re using us as guinea pigs.” Sasuke commented.
“Well what better way to serve your village than by doing what ninja’s are supposed to do Sasuke?” Kakashi teased.
“Whatever.” He replied back.
“Well Sasuke put it this way,” Tsunade paused, opening a draw and pulling out a Leaf headband. “If you come back after this mission with everything I asked of you and your team and prove your loyalty, I will reinstate your Ninja status.”
Sasuke could really care less about being a ninja again he had already fulfilled his goal of killing Itachi. His only goal left was to start a new Uchiha clan but he was having doubts about that. He shrugged his shoulders and stared into the older woman’s eyes.
“Whatever.” he said again, carelessly.
“My, my, don’t jump up and down with joy,” was the witty response from the woman.
Sasuke shrugged his shoulders and moved to get up and leave the room.
“Who said you could go brat?”
“Well I thought that we only needed to know what the mission was and that’s it. So it seems like there is no more reason for me to be here.” He walked out the door without another word.
“Is that all there is Granny?” Naruto questioned the kage and left as she nodded.
“So why did you want me to go on this mission? Seems like there are other who are more capable of surveillance then I am.” Kakashi asked standing in front of her.
“You saw the reason when you first entered.” She muttered and moved to the lowest draw to get her bottle of sake.
“So you want me to watch over Saskue and make sure he doesn’t turn rogue again, ey?” he questioned as he looked out the door to see if the two occupants were somewhere within hearing range.
“Few shinobi are more powerful than he is, I want him to become a leaf nin again, and without the Uchiha's we seem to be at a partial loss of power in this village.” She stated pouring herself a cup of the drink.
“Is that all?” she nodded at him, as she seemed to inhale the cup. A grin plastered onto her face as she dismissed him.
Changing Tides: Chapter 3