291. The Manhunt Begins

Next day in the morning,

In training ground three,

Tok… Tok… Tok…

Ayaka is walking back and forth with a frown on her face.

"He is late again!"

She has a livid expression on her face.

"I think Sensei is busy with some urgent matter!"

Hanabi tries to calm her down.

"No, you don't know him! He must have overslept like usual."

Ayaka shakes her head.

Yakumo is silently sitting on a log as she draws a painting of the nearby scenery with her brush.

"Wow! That's amazing!"

Ayaka curiously stares at the painting.

"Your drawing skills are amazing, Yakumo-chan!" She praises Yakumo.

Hmph…

Yakumo snorts and focuses her attention on the painting.

"Don't hold me back later during our mission."

Swoosh…

Izuna teleports behind the group and waves his hand.

"Yo! I was a little busy with work. So, it took me some time!"

Ayaka walks towards him with a smile.

"It's fine as long as you are here!"

Whoosh… Bang…

She elbows him in the gut as Izuna clutches his stomach in pain.

"What was that for?" He complains.

"It's another of your cheap clone, I knew it!"

She snorts and rests against the log.

Clone Izuna has a helpless expression as he stares at Ayaka.

'It was thanks to my resilience; I didn't dispel, but what's with her. How can she always figure out the real me among my clones? It has always been like this since she was an infant.'

Clone Izuna has a helpless expression.

'Whenever any of my clones held her in arms, she will throw a tantrum and won't stop crying. She would only cheer up when the real me picks her up.

Also, why I always subconsciously lower my guard around Ayaka? I don't know why but I can easily recognize the real Ayaka among a bunch of henges.'

"Ayaka? How did you always recognize me?"

"Intuition!" Ayaka smugly pats her chest.

"Well! That doesn't answer my question!" Izuna scratches his head.

At the sidelines,

Yakumo stares at their interaction as various doubts erupt in her mind.

'Is he really the strongest shinobi of the village?'

She doubtfully stares at Izuna.

'I thought he will have a cold and aloof personality with an air of superiority. But…'

'Why is the real him completely different from my expectations?'

The previous image of Izuna crumbles in her heart as she spends more time with him.

Ahem…

He clears his throat and answers.

"Yes, this is a clone of mine. The real body is in the Hokage office picking your first mission."

Meanwhile, in Uchiha compounds,

Yawn…

Izuna groggily opens his eyes. He quickly washes his face.

"Here is your breakfast!"

Mei passes his breakfast to him.

"Thank you for the food!"

Izuna quickly munches his breakfast.

"You are already late for your meeting with your squad."

"I sent a clone to fill in. But knowing Ayaka, she will probably find out. So, I have to hurry!" He quickly swallows the remaining food.

-----------------

Back in the training ground,

Whoosh…

The real Izuna appears in the training ground.

Poof…

He dispels his clone as a conflicted expression appears on her face.

He turns to Ayaka, but she ignores him.

Ahem…

He clears his throat and walks in front of the group.

"Alright! Your first mission as a squad will start now. This mission will decide your fate; so, give it your all."

Izuna has a serious expression on his face. He takes out a portrait from his pocket.

"This is Mizuki, a former chunnin instructor of the academy; now a criminal on run. He was a friend of your Iruka-Sensei and a former classmate of mine."

Izuna briefs them on Mizuki's information. His eyes scan the group as he continues.

"This mission is a manhunt mission and your aim is to capture this man."

Izuna hands over the portrait to Ayaka.

Gulp…

Hanabi gulps her saliva.

"But Sensei… he is a chunnin and we are genins who just graduated from the academy. How could we fight against him?"

Hmm…

"You don't have to worry about that. Iruka is already on his trail, you guys have to just assist him." Izuna waves his hand.

"I… I see!" Hanabi nods her head.

"Also, an important note, you have to capture him before midnight or else you will fail my test and return to the academy. Alright! You guys are dismissed."

Whoosh…

Izuna disappears into countless light particles. He hides on a nearby tree and spectates the group.

"Ah!"

Hanabi blankly stares at the empty space.

"Sensei left without even giving us a lead!"

"No! We already have a lead."

Ayaka turns over the portrait.

There is a map on the reverse side of the portrait with a cross-mark.

"I presume this is the last known location of our target. Let's go there and search for the trails."

Ayaka rolls the portrait and dashes towards the marked position. Hanabi quickly follows her.

Hmm…

Izuna stares at Yakumo who is slowly chasing after them.

"This girl has a weak body. Her fitness is only as good as a civilian kid."

Whoosh…

He follows the group to monitor them.

'These girls are in no sense weaker than Naruto and Sasuke when they had their first bell test. Also, all of them can contribute to the team if only they co-operate.'

Whoosh…

Ayaka and Hanabi follow the mark on the map and arrive in front of a small cottage on the outskirt of the village.

"This is the place marked on the map."

Ayaka puts down the map.

"Someone lives this far from the village!" Hanabi exclaims in surprise.

Knock… Knock…

She knocks on the door.

"Is anyone home?" Both of them wait for someone to respond.

Five minutes later,

"Why is not anyone responding?" Ayaka has a frown on her face.

"Perhaps the owner isn't at home." Hanabi speculates.

"Can be! But this is the place marked on the map, so I suspect the culprit must be hiding here!"

She turns to Hanabi and asks her.

"Can you check the situation inside the house?"

"I am on it!"

Hanabi makes a hand seal and activates her Byakugan. She peeks inside the house to search for the target.

Hmm…

A frown appears on her face and she deactivates her Byakugan.

"The target isn't here. But there is someone passed out on the floor." She reports.

"Quick! Let's ask that person."

Bang…

Ayaka clenches her fists and punches the wooden door.

Whoosh…

Both of them flickers inside the house and spot an unconscious woman on the floor.

Ayaka inspects her body.

"She has passed out from concussion. Someone must have knocked pretty hard on her head."

"Let's wake her up!"

Ayaka conjures a ball of water.

"Keep your guard up, she might be an enemy." She warns Hanabi.

Hanabi takes a Taijutsu stance.

Ayaka douses the woman with water and wakes her up.

Argh…

The woman clenches her head as she slowly wakes up.

"Mi… Mizuki!"

She weakly opens her mouth. The woman slowly opens her eyes and notices Ayaka and Hanabi.

"You two are…"

She stares at the duo.

"We are on a manhunt mission and are looking for Mizuki." Ayaka takes out Mizuki's poster.

"Mizuki!"

Click…

The woman bites her lower lip as she replies.

"I am Tsubaki, Mizuki's fiancée. I sheltered him over for the night, and he left in the morning before knocking me out. He has changed too much; he isn't the kind Mizuki I used to know."

"I… I see." Ayaka nods her head.

"Then we will be on our way, he shouldn't have gone too far."

Ayaka and Hanabi walk out of the house.

Huff… Huff…

Yakumo breathes heavily as she catches up to them. Ayaka and Hanabi ignore her as Ayaka turns to Hanabi.

"Hanabi search for target's trails!"

"Alright!" Hanabi activates her Byakugan and searches around.

A minute later,

"Found it!"

She points in a direction.

"Let's go!" Both of them flicker away.

"Wait up!" Yakumo yells at them but both girls ignore her.

"You two!" Yakumo grits her teeth in anger.

She rests against the tree to take a breather.

On a nearby tree,

Izuna stares at the trio as he remarks.

"There teamwork is already in shambles. Yakumo has her bias against Konoha shinobis, whereas Ayaka has her pride. As for Hanabi, she has become a follower of Ayaka."

Izuna shakes his head.

"Despite their capabilities, they won't reach their full potential. Also…"

He stares at the departing back of Ayaka and Hanabi.

"Now I understand, why they don't pair Uchiha and Hyuga in a team. Jeez… These girls are on dev mode with those overpowered eyes."

He turns to an angry Yakumo who is fuming with rage.

"As for this girl, she needs to look at the world with a different viewpoint to get out of her cage. She is in no way inferior to current Ayaka, no, she is even superior in some aspects. But she has placed various mental barriers around herself which are limiting her potential."

Huff… Huff…

Yakumo slowly stands up and jogs toward Ayaka and Hanabi.

'Looks like some interesting days are coming ahead. For now, this team is pure chaos and I enjoy a bit of chaos.'

Izuna stretches his arm and follows the girls.

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P.S. A quick note for F.T.: I.S.L.E. readers. You don't have to watch or read Fairy-Tail to follow my new fan-fic since it's a fresh start with many new changes making it almost an entire new story. But a little bit of Fairy-tail knowledge will surely help in the long run. So, I do suggest watching Fairy-tail since it's a fun anime; well atleast I enjoyed it. But our taste may differ you know, still atleast give the anime a try.