chapter 85

The entrance to Iwa was surprisingly similar to Konoha's… except for the fact that there was a whole lot more rock to it, that is. Once they announced ourselves, an escort appeared instantly around Eiji and his group. Not much was said, actually, but Eiji was perfectly fine with that. He'd take that over insults and the like any day of the week, that was for sure.

Eventually, the team was led to what he assumed was Iwa's equivalent to the Hokage tower. They didn't have to wait for even a second to be allowed in and, sure enough, there was Onoki, who instantly scanned them all with his eyes. Eyes that narrowed dangerously almost the second he started. That was something that Eiji expected though.

"You have some nerve bringing these people with you, Weaver," The Tsuchikage said threateningly, making almost all his team tense. Kabuto didn't, however. Eiji found it highly amusing though, that the ex-spy seemed to only be scared of him.

"Respectfully, I can't do this mission alone, Tsuchikage-sama, and Konoha can't send people with me, even if your people allowed that," Eiji explained, doing his best to keep his tone even. "These people are, contrary to what you would expect, completely under my control, I assure you. None of them will betray or otherwise bring harm to your people. That I can swear."

"And I'm supposed to take your word for it?" Onoki asked, still eyeing the team suspiciously.

"You trusted me to help with what threatens your people. I only ask that you trust me with this too, Tsuchikage-sama," Eiji replied, taking a deep breath in as discreetly as he could.

"If they do anything, anything at all suspicious… You know what will happen, don't you?" Onoki continued, but the boy would take that. It sounded like the man was coming around the smallest bit.

"I do." He nodded, somewhat stiffly. "And they won't do anything of the sort, I assure you," He added then, turning to his team and unleashing his Bloodlust on them. Even Tayuya, who usually stayed dismissive even if she always took his words to heart when threatened, tensed up. Even Temari, who hadn't experienced Wit's End and thus had a lot less reason to be afraid of him, stood at attention. All of them straightened, shoulders squared, as if they were soldiers waiting for an order.

"I see," The village leader mumbled, staring at Kabuto in particular, who looked a breath away from starting to tremble out of fear. Onoki had to guess why he was so sure of his control. The other village leaders that had been there were aware of Wit's End's existence, Eiji was sure. "Just make sure you remember to make sure of that," The man agreed and the boy would freely admit that it surprised him. He'd expected to have much more trouble with his team's composition.

"Thank you, Tsuchikage-sama," Eiji said, bowing out of respect and gratitude. "There's one more teammate yet to arrive, however," He added, wishing he didn't have to continue this conversation. He would rather leave it as it was, but springing something like that on the people of Iwa would have been a very bad idea.

"Oh? I'm not gonna like their identity, am I?" The man guessed instantly, smiling wryly at Eiji who simply returned the gesture apologetically.

"No, you are not…"

Indeed, he didn't. However, Satou was once more surprised with how easily the man agreed to it though. He'd expected a lot more resistance to his team. Then it occurred to him that Onoki knew the chances of death in this mission were high and he expected them to die. It was a bitter realization, but an understandable one. Little as the Nations knew of Akatsuki, they knew enough to be very wary of them.

"So, tell me, how do you want me to go about helping protect your remaining Jinchuriki? Is there anything I should know?" Eiji asked. With all the permissions given, it was time to get to the reason why they were there. The grimace on the Tsuchikage's face spoke volumes and the boy almost grimaced alongside him.

"There's been more attacks. Attempts, more like," He told Eiji, who narrowed his eyes. "They've been testing our defenses with seemingly random explosions and sloppy infiltration attempts."

'Deidara and Sasori,' Eiji noted instantly, receiving words of agreement from both Kage and Hachi. It was obvious though and he was almost reassured. He'd rather deal with those two than some of the other options, that's for sure.

"I've been losing people from the protection detail I assigned to Han, our Jinchuriki of the Five Tails," The leader continued, making Eiji more and more nervous the more he spoke. It didn't bode well for him, that's for sure. He'd expected to have some more time, for things to not have escalated so much. 'I should have seen this coming,' He chastised himself. 'Because God forbid things get easier.'

"If you can take us to him, we'll help with protecting him," Eiji said, more like an offering than anything else. He certainly didn't want to insult the leader of the village they were in by accident.

"Hm, that'd be appreciated," Onoki nodded, but it looked like he wanted to add something else. Sure enough, after a short silence, he continued. "Dealing with the threat would be a much better help, I have to say."

To that, Eiji smiled wryly.

"I will see what I can do," He replied, feeling the urge to sigh loudly. He'd expected that though. After all, his mission was simply to help with the Akatsuki situation and thus- "We would stay here for a while if we wait for someone else to take care of them, considering everything," He added, before taking a deep breath in.

Surprisingly, the old man chuckled to that, shaking his head.

"And we certainly wouldn't want that, either of us," The Tsuchikage said, nodding. "If there's anything that we can do to help, you have only to ask," The leader told him. Eiji, however, also got the hidden part that said he should only do so if it was completely necessary.

"Of course, Tsuchikage-sama."

"I'll have someone guide you," Onoki told them before waving his hand, seemingly making an Anbu member appear and signal for them to follow, which they did. Once they were out, Eiji heard Tayuya grumble something.

"Completely insane."

[}-o-{]

"Well, color me surprised," Eiji said when their actual guide appeared. The ninja that had taken them outside hadn't been the person that would take them to their mission site, apparently. He'd just left them waiting outside the Tsuchikage building, or whatever it was called, saying that the guide should arrive soon.

"Who did you expect?" Kurotsuchi asked with an amused smile.

"..." Eiji, for his part, opened his mouth to say something before closing it once again.

She was, as he'd liked to point out in the past, the princess of Iwagakure. Even without his foreknowledge, it was pretty obvious that she would be Tsuchikage at some point in the future. So, he had to wonder why Onoki would do this. It was a particular risk to make her guide them, but what was the point of risking such a valuable person?

"Tsuchikage-sama wants to show that he trusts us," He realized then.

"Something along those lines," The girl replied with a nod. "Let's start moving," She decided before continuing speaking. "He also wants to remind people of the reason he gave to have you here. That you saved me." 'Wow, that sounded like it hurt,' Eiji noted on that last part. "It should work well enough, for most people."

"Honestly, I came expecting pretty rough treatment, not gonna lie," Eiji admitted, looking around. Some people were side-eyeing them, yes, but that was about it. He'd thought they would treat them like Konoha treated Naruto, at best. At worst there'd be insults thrown around freely. 'Suddenly I wish I had been placed in Iwa…' He thought dejectedly. However, that would mean that Naruto would have stayed by himself, and that was a no-no.

"Just don't try to approach them unless you really need them," Kurotsuchi advised.

"Hm, I can work with that," He said with a nod.

"Do you know what you are getting into?" She asked then, her voice turning serious. His eyes moved towards her, stopping sightseeing as it were.

"Pretty sure I know more than you," Eiji replied. It was a good assumption, he thought. After all, why would Onoki tell her such sensitive information? Evidently, he guessed right because she grimaced before sighing. "I wouldn't get involved if you don't need to be."

"Dangerous?" She asked, looking intently at him. 'What's up with that?'

"I won't tell you anything, Princess. Ask your grandfather," He told her, looking away then. He heard her grumble something that he couldn't quite hear. From there, she didn't say anything, which he took as the end of the conversation.

"Was Creepy Eyes flirting with the Tsuchikage's granddaughter?" He heard Tayuya not so discreetly whisper behind him. He didn't reply, already used to her nonsense, but the girl next to him certainly wasn't. He was about to apologize in her stead but… Kurotsuchi didn't say anything.

She'd clearly heard her, considering the embarrassed expression and slight pink tinge on her cheeks. Evidently, she didn't want to respond as Tayuya so obviously wanted her to. 'Smart,' He thought to himself. The visible reaction was somewhat understandable, he supposed. Younger people were like that, even if they were ninja. The fact that she didn't act on it was good enough, he supposed. She'd get there.

In the meantime…

"Jealous, Tayuya?" He asked back, turning around with a lazy smirk. "Don't worry, you'll have all my attention when we get a moment to train a bit," He added, his grin widening just as much as the ex-Sound nin's eyes did. Before she could backtrack though, he continued. "Everyone else for that matter. Wouldn't want anyone else getting like that."

With that, he turned back to look where they were going. However, he could almost feel the glares that the redhead behind them was receiving from everyone else. Even Yuki, sweet as she was, was giving her the stink eye. That one he reassured, placing his hand over her head as he continued walking.

"I would refrain from saying things like that," Kurotsuchi said in the end. If she was trying to sound serious and menacing, she failed. She was still looking a little pink, after all, and that took away any threatening look she might have been going for.

"Noted," Eiji replied with a sigh. "I'll make sure they behave. Just in case, most of them would deserve a smack and they have been expressly told to not cause trouble. So, if you want to… Feel free."

"Excuse me? The fuck did you just say?" Tayuya protested before her mouth clicked shut when he turned to look at her, blasting her with the whole might of his Bloodlust, only her. The girl's face paled rapidly and he was sure she started sweating. He saw her body tremble under his glare.

"Just keep it in mind," He continued, turning back to the front once again and turning off the skill. Kurotsuchi, for her part, stared at him. She seemed to be considering his 'offer' as it were, before just shaking her head.

"Should you be antagonizing your… team?" She said then, looking back at them.

"You don't know them, do you?" He asked with a chuckle.

"I remember the blonde, she was from Suna, right? I'm guessing this is part of paying for that whole mess?" She wondered out loud with a tilt of her head. Eiji was surprised that she was immediately pushing aside any suspicion. As if reading his thoughts, Kurotsuchi added. "Tsuchikage-sama agreed with all this. I won't insult him by doubting him."

"Makes sense, and yes, it is," Eiji replied with a nod. "Also, the rest of them are ex-Sound nin," He revealed and she tensed up. She didn't otherwise react though. "I've got them properly… motivated to be on their best behavior."

"I'm almost curious to know about that," Kurotsuchi admitted with a slight smile. "But I feel like that would be a bad idea."

"You have no idea, Princess," He said with a slight smile. "No idea."

[}-o-{]

"A pleasure to meet you, Han," Eiji said, looking at the tall man covered in red armor with a red conical straw hat. He had to look up, considering that the man was probably the tallest person he'd met so far. However, he wasn't as frightening as he had half-expected, his brown eyes looking back at Eiji with nothing but slight curiosity and little else.

"So, you are the one they sent here to act as bodyguard? How did that happen?" He said, with his voice muffled by the plate placed over the lower half of his face. Now, that was less of a surprise. He'd been wondering when someone would point out that a person that looked like they should be a Genin would be guarding a Jinchuriki.

"I'm very good at what I do," The boy replied with a slight smirk. "And I have a very good team," He added, earning a bark from Yuki. "Very good team, isn't that right?" He asked inside his mind, making Tsuchigumo reply in much the same manner.

"That so?" Han mused, tilting his head as he looked him up and down, as if searching for something that would give away why he had been chosen. Then, his eyes seemed to find Nuibari on his back and they narrowed. "More to you than meets the eye, huh?"

"If only you knew, man," Eiji said then with a smirk.

"Well, I think you can fill him in on what he has to do, Han. I have other things to do," Kurotsuchi told them, after coughing in her hand to get their attention. The boy noticed that she hadn't gotten too close to them, same for his team, really. 'Jinchuriki prejudice is everywhere, huh? Well, everywhere except maybe Kumo. Gotta train these ones out of that,' He thought, looking at the people that he had brought with him for the mission.

"See you around, Princess," He replied with a wave of his hand, making the girl scoff. Then he saw Han raise a hairless eyebrow at him. "What?"

"You are a very brave man to speak like that to the Tsuchikage's granddaughter," The Jinchuriki answered, sounding highly amused. Eiji also heard a comment from behind him that he was sure came from Tayuya.

"Neither of them has said anything so far, so I'll just continue until they do," Eiji said with a shrug. "So, how's this going to work?"

"Hm, you could start by introducing yourselves," The man told him and Eiji's smile grew awkward. He'd been a little too focused on what was happening, it seemed. Chuckling and scratching the back of his head, he went to do just that.

"I'm Eiji Satou, leader of this mission, as you probably guessed," He started, before turning to his team. "The adorable one is Yuki." He placed a hand on the pleased dog's head. "The proud blonde is Temari, my second-in-command. The redhead with a foul mouth is Tayuya, Genjutsu specialist. The big one is Jirobo, Taijutsu and Earth Ninjutsu specialist. The one with glasses is Kabuto Yakushi, med nin."

"Pleasure to meet you. I'm Han, the Jinchuriki of the Five Tails," He introduced himself with a nod. "As for how this mission will go… You just have to be around. I don't do much unless it's for a mission, which I haven't been given any as of late, due to this whole situation we are in right now."

"So, we are gonna be doing fuck all for as long as we are here? I can get behind that," Tayuya said behind him and Eiji sighed. He briefly considered blasting her with Bloodlust again. He had a feeling that training her out of her attitude would be a fool's errand though, it could even end up working against him. There must be a reason why Orochimaru left her be like that. 'Maybe it's better to try to curve the worst of it than the entirety of it…'

"Please, could I ask you to just ignore her?" Eiji asked the Jinchuriki, who was now looking between the two of them curiously.

"I have a feeling that having you around won't be boring," Han commented and Eiji sighed once more, knowing that he was absolutely right. If anything, the team he'd gathered was interesting, that was for sure.

"Well, I don't think we'll be bored either," Eiji mused, looking around. They were inside what seemed to be a Training Ground. It was a big, relatively empty place except for the mountain-like surroundings, with rocks everywhere. The only sign of civilization they'd seen since they crossed a gate somewhat far away was the house that Han seemed to live in.

"Is there a place to stay or will we have to camp outside?" Temari asked, skillfully hiding anything she might have felt about that idea. After all, camping might be a normal thing on missions, but considering the fact that they didn't know how long the mission would take… None of them were looking forward to sleeping over hard rock for an unknown amount of time.

"You can build yourself a place, but you are expected to be close by in case anything happens," Han told them and Eiji's mind started working on plans. "There's a patrol of ninja around the border of this zone, but you should still be on guard," he informed.

"I expected that…" Eiji absently replied. "Jirobo, can you make a place for us to stay the night in with some rock Jutsu?" He asked the ex-Sound nin, who turned to eye the surroundings with a calculating gaze. "Everyone else..." He trailed off, taking a scroll from his pouch and tossing it to Temari. "That has just about anything we might need for the time being, start setting everything up."

Instead of replying, everyone nodded and got to work. Eiji could only hope they would remain like that. Aside from that, there was nothing for them to do but take in the surroundings and think about what to do while they guarded the Jinchuriki. The man himself was simply watching them as they went about the mission. Eventually though, he seemed to decide that he had other things to do.

"I'll be inside, meditating," He informed them. "Don't disturb me until I come out myself."

"Noted," Eiji acknowledged with a nod, watching the man go. 'Well, at least I'll have time for some training.'

[}-o-{]

"I don't know about trusting you with my life, but you are definitely an interesting person, Eiji Satou," Han mused as he sat next to the boy in question. In front of them was the rest of his group, participating in what seemed to be a spar with everyone being on their own side.

Be that as it may, it seemed that the girls, despite practically hating each other, had teamed up. That made sense though. They were at a disadvantage, since Tayuya's Genjutsu didn't work on Kabuto. The silver-haired man had really trained himself to be the best spy. Maybe he wasn't the best combatant, but there was little that could affect the guy's mind. Eiji wondered what everyone thought of the fact that he seemed to be the only one that could.

Temari, for her part, was very countered by Jirobo, who could basically walk through her winds, especially if he used Earth Jutsu. She also was the first one to notice how things stood and approached, reluctantly, Tayuya for a temporary alliance. From there, Kabuto had allied himself with the other boy and now they had turned the everyone for themselves spar into a two against two.

"Lots of things to work with," Kage commented inside his mind as everyone in the mindscape spectated. Even Tsuchigumo, although she had little idea of what was happening. She was just content doing something together with them, the sweet little thing.

"But overall a good team," Hachi offered for his part. "Hopefully, the remaining member won't ruin it."

"Don't jinx us, Hachi," Eiji all but groaned. He wasn't one to believe in that stuff, but they really couldn't afford to risk it in any way.

"We have this mission covered," He said out loud to the Jinchuriki that accompanied him. He wasn't even lying with that statement… much, at least. He was fairly sure that he could, at the least, help Han repel any of the weaker Akatsuki. The stronger ones were up in the air though. He was 99% sure that he wasn't even close to any of them, so Iwa was alone in that fight.

"Hm, I don't know about that," The man replied, but Eiji didn't take it personally. After all- "I haven't seen you fight yet. I've seen you train, which tells me a fair bit, but not a single spar or fight."

"I like to stay in top shape in case something happens. But I guess I can show you some of what I can do," The boy mused. He'd just have to make do without Tsuchigumo and have her be his backup in case something happened. "You'll have my back, right, girl?" To that, he received an enthusiastic bark that had him smiling. "Ok, everyone! Good work, we'll change the rules up a bit!" He called, making all four of them turn towards him.

"Was teaming up-?" Temari started, but he interrupted her, already seeing where she was going.

"It was a good call. The best thing you could have done in that situation. Good job," He might have been imagining it, but all four of them seemed inordinately pleased with his words. 'I suddenly feel like I'm the Jounin-sensei here,' He thought, unsure of how to feel about that. "Regardless, it's been brought to my attention that I haven't shown why I was chosen for this mission."

Kabuto paled at that, likely realizing what that meant for the whole lot of them.

"So, I'll spar against you all," He revealed, making the other three joining the ex-spy.

"We can team up, right?" Temari asked instantly, although there was little doubt in everyone's minds that that was what was going to happen. Immediately, the four of them gathered together, the girls behind the boys. Eiji saw Kabuto's hand covering itself with the chakra skalpel. Tayuya's flute was already in her mouth and Temari's fan was pulled back, ready to be used at any moment.

Eiji smirked as he cracked his neck. His hand moved back and he unclasped Nuibari from his back. All four of their faces twitched at the sight. He hadn't used the Legendary sword even once during their practice fights. He hadn't even used it in their sight, really, so they had zero idea what he could do with it.

"Ready?" Several of them looked about to say that they weren't, just to avoid the fight for a little longer, but they thought better of it. Which was good, because he would have been annoyed by that, and that was the last thing they wanted, he was sure. "Then, let's get on with this."

With the crack of lightning, he disappeared from where he stood before Temari's Wind got remotely close to him. Tayuya started playing, but, surprisingly, Eiji didn't feel anything with Eternal Purge. 'She isn't casting Genjutsu on me? Then what-?'

Jirobo appeared right in front of him with unusual speed, which made Eiji narrow his eyes. 'Did she boost the others with Genjutsu? Huh? So she got that to work? Good on her,' He mused as he maneuvered around the imposing boy's attacks.

"Nice job, Tayuya," He called out, even as Nuibari's thread wrapped around Kabuto's arm, which had been reaching to stab him in the back. Pulling the offending limb away, he kicked the mednin away. As for Jirobo, Eiji jumped over him before hitting him with a Electromagnetic Strike right on his back. 'Murder sounds like an overkill right now,' He decided. "Didn't know you had gotten it to work," He continued talking with the Genjutsu specialist of the group. "Gotta show me your notes later."

Another Flicker followed, as he evaded the gust of wind sent by Temari before appearing next to the girl. She barely managed to pull her fan in between his sword and her body. Granted, he hadn't activated his skills, but it was still pretty good.

Before he could continue attacking the Suna nin, Jirobo and Kabuto caught up with him, likely due to Tayuya's buff. Dodging their attacks, he considered how they were doing, analyzing how they fought.

"You guys need to train more under that," He told the two boys. "You aren't used to what Tayuya's doing, so you aren't using it nearly as well as you could," He explained as he discreetly prepared Nuibari's wire. Then in one smooth action, the thread wrapped around them before he activated Shocking Thread. "I'm guessing this is the first time you are using it though," He added, looking down at them. He wasn't too worried about Temari. He had some normal wires keeping her occupied. "Considering that I didn't know Tayuya had finished one of her creations. Still, pretty good job."

Just then, he looked up and heard the redhead change the tune of her music. Suddenly, Temari tensed up and a slight smirk formed on her face. A split second later, Eiji was dodging a much faster gust of wind that had appeared out of nowhere. 'Damn, that was fast,' He noted, Lightning still cackling at his feet, ready to dodge once more. Good thing too, because he had to do just that almost instantly. 'That can't be good though,' He thought, dashing towards the blonde and knocking her out with the pummel of Nuibari.

"And that's that," He said, looking around. Tayuya slumping as she pulled the flute out of her mouth. The fight was done, after all. There was nothing she could do against him on her own. "We'll have to go through these new techniques of yours and see how we can implement them to their full potential. Good job though."

She simply nodded.

"Now, go help your teammates recover, since you are the only one that's fine after all that," He told her, making her grimace. She refrained from commenting though.

"Definitely interesting," Han commented once Eiji approached him, his eyes locked on the boy. The Konoha nin simply smirked at him. He wondered if any of the ninja that had been spying on their little spar were already reporting to Onoki. It was likely.

"I was sent here for more than one reason," Eiji said simply, as he sat once more, looking as his teammates recovered from the short spar.