MTL NOVEL Chapter 8: Chapter 8
After much whining, complaining and puppy dog eyes (all Haruto's doings), Team Seven—which was still relatively new—was granted a C-Rank Mission.
Kakashi knew his team had potential—and he was the strongest jounin out there—but still, he had a bad feeling that things would go terribly wrong. It started when he actually found himself on time at the meeting grounds. Naturally, as he'd expected, his team were surprised.
He found it amusing when the Senju heir started repeating mantras of prayer for a safe journey and when Pinky looked like she was ready to froth at the mouth. Only the Uchiha looked remotely normal, still, she eyed her surroundings like she expected her older brother to pounce on them the very moment.
Needless to say, Tazuna was driven up the wall by their antics, already starting to doubt his sanity and safety. It was quite amusing in Kakashi's opinion, but if they give their client a heart-attack, it wouldn't be pretty on Konoha's reputation at all.
The bridge builder felt slightly guilty though, and he'd been trying to cover it up with a brash and arrogant drunkard act. He didn't want them to catch him lying—and in doing so, dying. He knew that what the genin team had been expecting were merely bandits as such, not ninjas and assassins sent to kill him.
But he had to, the bridge builder strengthened his resolve and yelled out, urging the kids to walk faster so that they'd reach his country faster. The faster, the less risk and the quicker his country will be saved.
"Seriously," muttered Tazuna disapprovingly as Kakashi pulled Haruto and Satsuki— "Moron." "Asshole!"—away from one another, after another petty fight. Truth to be told, Tazuna, personally, though the two clan heirs were acting like an old married couple. He knew how an old married couple fought; he shuddered, he'd been in a few—regrettable—fights with his beloved wife, involving a spatula and a flying knife (don't ask!).
But between ninja couples… Tazuna expected more than spatulas and kitchen knives to be flying.
He grinned teasingly as the red haired kid hurried his pace, settling himself in a pace by Tazuna's side, grumbling about stupid Uchihas and a few other unpleasant names. Tazuna couldn't help himself, he said, "Lovers' spat?"
The Senju exploded, his cheeks red with both anger and embarrassment. "Old man—not you too! Kakashi-sensei and almost everyone said the same! How many times do I have to tell you that I do not—and never will—"
Tazuna had already clapped his hands over his ears the moment the boy opened his mouth. "Look, I get it, you don't have to make me go deaf, brat. I was just teasing!"
"Don't joke about something so serious!"
"Oh," Again, he couldn't help the slip of tongue. "I didn't know kids can go so seriously."
Haruto looked ready to claw his eyes out until he stepped onto a puddle. Tazuna scowled, disgruntled as he wrung the part of his pants where the water had gotten to. He gave the brat a plain old glare and was about to complain loudly when the unusually serious expression on the boy's face stopped him.
Tazuna swallowed nervously when the ninjas, subtly moved themselves into a position surrounding him. "Is something the matter?" he asked in a hushed whisper, nervous.
The pink-haired girl suddenly appeared by his side, silent as a well, ninja (pardon the pun) and touched his arm lightly. "Follow my lead," she said and that was when all hell broke loose.
Haruto, turned, abruptly and so quickly Tazuna nearly didn't see it, and lashed out his leg—glowing with chakra—and something was knocked out of the sky. "Wah!" the bridge builder stumbled back in shock but Sakura grabbed him and hauled him out of another projectile's way.
His heart must've skipped a few beats! "Damn," the middle aged man cursed. "If anything happens to them, I'll never forgive myself."
Tazuna watched in horror as the teacher was torn apart by some chains—did that mean their enemies were stronger than the best jounin of Konoha?—but the clan scions didn't falter. The Uchiha jumped, twirling and letting loose a few kunais—to a civilian like Tazuna, she didn't seem to be taking any aim—which pinned the chains to a tree trunk, momentarily immobilizing them. Their pause gave the Senju more than enough time to punch their lights—oh, and let's not forget about those poor men's teeth—out.
Haruto grinned threateningly, exposing his sharp canines as the tree roots—fucking moved!—wrapped themselves around the two ninjas. "You will tell us everything, right, Sensei?"
"Yep." The cheery light hearted and nonchalant voice nearly gave Tazuna another heart attack. Kakashi seemed to be smiling under his mask, but his lone eye glinted coldly at Tazuna. "It would be nice if more than two people would talk."
He gulped.
***
"No way."
Tazuna glared at the Uchiha girl, he couldn't believe he ever felt any concern for her safety earlier when the ninjas attacked. He growled but decided she was a waste of his time where he could spend convincing the other to help. As he was saying,"—and my poor grandson will keep crying, Grandpa, Grandpa—" voice altered to be dramatically convincing—"every night and my daughter will forever harbor a grudge for Konoha-nins."
Success! Tazuna thought, wanting to jump up and down with a victory sign, when he saw Sakura and Haruto crumbling. Kakashi didn't mind, nonchalantly saying, "Oh, well, okay, then. We'll be protecting you until you finish the bridge." The bridge builder wisely ignored the Uchiha's smoldering glare.
But Senju couldn't ignore her—he never seemed to be able to.
"Aw, little Satchan couldn't bear the thought of facing more strong ninjas—"
"Don't call me Satchan!"
Before either of the kids could break into degrading insults, Tazuna interrupted them, yelling and pointing to the large building in sight. "There—that's the bridge I'm completing!"
"Whatever," muttered Satsuki as she jumped off the boat, looking somewhat paler than usual, like was suffering from motion-sickness—but then again, it could only be the mist starting to shroud them, making her seem so white and ghostly. "Let's just hurry and get this finished with."
"So quick?" Haruto sneered—he couldn't help it, he was a challenging person by nature, one who thrived off hurdles in life and the Uchiha was an antagonistic person (girl or no girl), neither could resist taunting the other it seemed—his hands crossed behind his head. "We should take the time to enjoy the scenery, bastard."
Satsuki grunted but instead of answering to the challenge, her eyes widened. Sakura looked mystified when she didn't answer. Haruto looked curious as well, he stepped towards his raven haired teammate, but before he could reach her, she tackled him and Sakura down.
"Get down!"
A large and thick blade, enforced with chakra, went spiraling past their heads. It would've taken their head had Satsuki not pushed her teammates out of the way and given them her warning.
Tazuna swallowed, only realizing that his instincts had reacted before his mind did. He found himself on his butts, shaking because the sheer pressure—killing intent—pressing down onto him was terrifying; he found his limbs locked, he couldn't move and he was simply terrified. To his amazement, the ninja kids—they were still children despite their power—stood, even though the pink one looked slightly scared as well.
"Y-you saved me…" the boy looked dazed before sprang to his feet, in a stance ready to fight. "Who the hell are you and what have you done with the Uchiha-bastard? How did you get past our guard?!"
Huh? Tazuna didn't know the Uchiha wasn't the Uchiha anymore. He scrambled further away from her. Kakashi threw a mild glare at his only male student. "Haruto, stop fooling around. Our enemy is powerful and he is near."
Momochi Zabuza—too powerful for both clan heirs, but with something known as teamwork, they managed.
Tazuna swore his heart stopped when Kakashi—their only hope of getting out alive—was locked, trapped in some bubble. What's worse, Haruto looked amused and confident as ever, as if the thought of losing against such a powerful opponent has never crossed his mind—sometimes, Tazuna wondered what went on through that redhead head of his–
He took that back, he didn't want to know after all.
What on earth would possess the boy to throw a shuriken at his own ally's face. Fortunately, Satsuki caught it—looking mildly irritated but otherwise not complaining, for once when Haruto did something to her—and her eyes widened a fraction before a smirk curled her lips, as the Senju charged their enemy, his hand glowing.
Tazuna spluttered, Sakura did the same as wave after wave exploded from the lake. The bridge builder wiped the water out of his eyes to take a better look and he couldn't believe what he was seeing. The redhead boy punched the water, kicking it up and it didn't take Tazuna long to realize he was trying to create a distraction.
If a civilian like Tazuna could figure it out, Zabuza certainly did too. He snarled, shaking his head as water seeped into his eyes. "This won't work on me, brat!" he yelled, ducking as a shuriken flew at him, again he jumped to dodge another shuriken.
Haruto, unexpectedly, grinned crazily. "So?"
He kicked upwards, this time not to distract but with the intent to hurt. Zabuza jerked back; he growled, his other hand was still holding onto the bubble and this little redhead was proving to be more than a pest. Just as he thought that, the shuriken he'd dodged earlier came flying back. He sneered, about to punch it out of the sky and when he reached out to grasp it, a hand encircled his wrist and the blows came, swift and powerful.
He flew backwards, onto land as his bubble prison on the Hatake dissolved.
"Great work, Satsuki, Haruto," Kakashi said as he shook the water out of his hair. His lone Sharingan spun in his eyes—once again drawing Satsuki's undivided attention—as his gaze locked on Zabuza's form. "Now, time to end this."