Chapter: 22

It shouldn't take much longer to get to my home," Tazuna announces about thirty minutes after they've reached the shore. He's been mostly silent since they'd dragged the full story out of him the day before, except for a short conversation on the boat where he told them about the other two members of his family. And can he really be blamed for waiting on the other shoe to drop?

Narumi's getting suspicious, as well. She knows there's another attack coming, and the fact that it's supposedly so close to Tazuna's house puts her on edge. Not only does that put the old man's family at risk, but it also means that they have less room to fight if it comes down to it. She may end up having to reveal herself anyway. Will Zabuza choose to fight her? Or will he finally face the honest truth, that Narumi will beat him? Or, maybe when he sees Kakashi, he'll decide not to fight, and Narumi won't have to reveal herself anyway.

Swoosh!

She barely has enough time to shove the bridge builder and Sasuke to the ground, trusting

Kakashi to do the same for Sakura, before a giant sword impales a tree directly in front of the group. She knew that sword. Kubikiribocho. And with that sword comes the missing-nin who carries it.

"Well, well, bridge builder. Three little brats and the Copy Nin won't be enough to save you, I'm

afraid." Momochi Zabuza stands tall, perched on his sword in the tree, looking just this side of nonchalant. He looks almost smug, but Narumi can see the underlying stress on his face. The man is worried.

Narumi inches closer to their client, her hands already forming the correct signs for her barrier seal, but her eyes never leave their opponent. The man is smart and brutal; he fights dirtier than most and doesn't care whom he has to kill to get what he wants. And, unfortunately, he's willing to work for anybody as long as they pay well.

Sure, Narumi could put an end to the whole charade if she wants to release her henge and

explain to Tazuna that she's actually an SS-Rank ANBU with two full pages in every Bingo

Book, but her particular role on this mission is to go as long as possible without revealing her

identity-or, at least, her ANBU identity.

There, she thinks as a purple chakra barrier surrounds the bridge builder. "Don't worry,

Tazuna-san, this can't be penetrated!" She ignores the fact that the old drunk obviously doesn't believe him. "Sakura, Sasuke, come." She smiles when the two fall into formation around the barrier. "Be careful not to touch, this thing could seriously harm you if you're

careless."

A few yards away, the fight between her fiance and the missing-nin picks up its pace, ever

evolving in its violence.

"Is Kakashi-sensei gonna be okay?" Sakura asks quietly, pulling a kunai out of her holster."

Sure! And if he looks like he's in trouble, She'll step in. Honestly, She thinks he's having a bit of

fun." Narumi lets her sleeves fall over her hands, calmly assessing Kakashi's fight. Each blow her fiancé takes is returned with twice the effect, but the demon of the mist is starting to look determined, and when Kakashi gets cornered in the water, Narumi knows he's going to have to step in. That's her future husband out there. "Kakashi, are you finished playing?"

The Copy-Nin shoots her a sheepish look from inside the water prison. "Yes, dear."

Narumi steps forward, revealing her hands and releasing the henge, mask already in place.

"Zabuza," she barks, eyes never leaving the man. The missing-nin jerks in surprise, taking a

half-step backward. "Call your partner."

Said partner lands beside his master without waiting for Zabuza to call him, has been nearly and offers Narumi a shallow bow. "Kitsune-sama."

And truly, Narumi doesn't have anything against either of them. They may be cold-blooded

killers, but they're devoted and loyal to each other, and they're doing their best to find a way to change their country for the better. So, Narumi really doesn't want to have to kill them, and she'd like to make it to Tazuna's house before Kakashi's Sharingan drains all of his chakra.

"Release him."

The Jutsu is dropped and Kakashi slinks out of the lake, soaked from head to toe, moving to stand just behind Narumi's right shoulder, taking the position of second-in-charge for the first time since Team 7 was formed. The others in the clearing fail to hide their surprise.

"I was sent on this mission under disguise to sniff out the danger," she reveals, releasing the barrier around Tazuna. "But you two will cut ties with Gato, won't you?" Narumi stands tall, reminding herself that she has played leader over and over again, clasping her hands together under her sleeves. "I don't want to have to hurt you if I don't have to, you see. I would much rather deal with the real problem at hand. What are two talented shinobi such as yourselves doing working for somebody like that, anyway?"

She smiles under his mask at their discomfort.

"I love it when you get assertive," Kakashi hums, voice low.

I love you, Bakashi. Narumi grins beneath her mask.

"Now, gentlemen, if you wouldn't mind. Please see yourselves elsewhere. If you help me deal

with Gato, I might even pay you myself." Her eye catches the way the two of them shift,

anticipatory. "You'll have to behave yourselves, of course."

"What the heck is going on?" her pink-haired genin whispers to her teammate, understandably

confused.

Neither of them would know the extent of Narumi's abilities; Sakura comes from a civilian

family, so it's unlikely she could have overheard her parents discussing the shinobi world in

their home. As for Sasuke, despite the fact that Narumi is friends with both his older brother

and his older brother's best friend, the boy has only seen and heard the bare minimum of what

Narumi can do-mainly because when Narumi is off-duty and with friends, she's just being a big idiot. It helps to be a fool when he feels shy because if people are laughing, they aren't treating him badly. Not that people ever really treated him badly.

But the fear, the fear is real. He loves people, but they still terrify him.

He can't read minds, after all.

"Ducklings," Kakashi hums, turning in place to eye-smile at their genin. "You can put your weapons down. Come along, hup-to, let's get the bridge builder home."

Narumi waves the missing-nin and her apprentice away, turning around to face their students.

"Any questions you have can be answered while we walk, ne?"

Kushina Pov

Kushina taps her nails against the table under her hands, gazing out the window at their backyard. Maybe they'll move into the Hatake compound? Ah, but Kakashi hasn't returned to that place since his father's death. It's unlikely that he'd go back after all this time.

But where will they live?

If she knows anything about her daughter and her daughter's soon-to-be husband, they'll seek comfort above all else. They don't need a showroom as a home, and they don't need a place with too much space, which would only collect dust. the both of them Workaholics, the both of them.

Still, it wouldn't feel right to go buy them a place. Besides, Minato would probably kill her if she did so without consulting them, especially since the wedding is already put together. I still need them to write their vows, though.

She's willing to bet they're going to make each other cry during the vows.

She's hoping for it. Kakashi needs to shed a tear every once in a while. A good tear. No more heartbreak, Kushina doesn't think he can take it, the women (women, she's a woman now, even if she'll always be that little lost girl to her) has been through too much. They both have.

I can at least put together a list of available properties for them, they might appreciate knowing their options. And my husband cannot fault me for that, can he? No, I think not. She breathes a sigh, pushing herself out of her seat, intent to speak to the real estate agent who helped her and Minato when they were looking for their own home. It's a start, at least, and until she gets the couple to sit and write their vows, there's not much else that Kushina can do for them.

Gato Pov

If you want something done right, do it yourself. Gato sucks his teeth, sliding his hand against the underside of his desk, unsheathing the dagger tucked away there. Those damned rogues

should know better than to mess with him.

He signals his bodyguards to follow him, stomping into the hallway and taking a left, toward the room Zabuza and that girl-boy he keeps at his side have been staying in. The man is, in a word, infuriated. The bridge-builder should already be dead, and if it weren't for the incompetence of the men in his arsenal, that wretched man would already be at the bottom of the ocean. Dead.

No, instead, the mutinous ninja has failed, again, and Gato wants very much to kill someone.

He gestures; one of the men steps forward and kicks the door open. The frame creaks, wood splinters, Gato glares at an empty room. Below, dozens of footsteps assault his ears, somebody shouts, an explosion sounds. His bodyguards direct him back into his office, shutting the door as quickly as their fumbling allows them. It's not fast enough. There, at his desk, sits a masked ninja, lounging on Gato's furniture as if she belongs there.

"Good evening, Gato of Gato Company." The ninja twirls a senbon between her fingers, one of those senbons that Gato has seen the girl-boy use, but this ninja isn't anything like Zabuza's servant. No, her hair is short and spiky brown, and her mask is different, too. Plus, Gato's never seen the other one wear so much black in all the time they've been working for him. "You have a contract to kill the bridge builder, don't you?"

"What of it?" one of his bodyguards asks, and Gato barely restrains himself from killing the idiot for his sheer stupidity. This woman isn't here to kill the bridge builder, fool!

"You see, I was hired to protect the man that you're attempting to kill." She stands, and she's not quite as tall as the muscle to Gato's right, but every inch of her is solid, like a woman who's been working hard her entire life. This doesn't bode well for Gato, but there's a chance, a chance he can make a deal with this one.

"No, I don't think so." The masked ninja stalks forward, the needle still twirling, and if she isn't smirking underneath that mask, Gato will eat his shirt. The bodyguards step forward, into the ninja's path; their bodies slump to the ground in the next second. It's unfortunate, truly. They had been loyal protectors, never questioning his decisions, rarely thinking for themselves.

The masked nin (ANBU, Gato's memory finally provides) sighs, sliding the porcelain aside to reveal one stormy blue eye and a head of blond hair, with three symmetrical scars on either cheek. The kid looks familiar…"

Look, kid, you didn't have to kill them, they're loyal like dogs-"

"That right there's your problem, Gato. You treat your employees like animals." She points to the one on the right. "Look at them. Really look, with your mind and not just your eyes." Gato stumbles backward when a katana manifests at his neck. When did she-?

He chokes, fears gripping him with great hands, his entire body convulsing with it, and forces himself to look at the boys on the floor, the boys on the floor who are-

Still, breathing?

"Unlike you, I don't kill needlessly. These men are loyal to you, so showing them mercy may come back to haunt me later, but my intuition tells me that I'll be able to handle whatever it is that they throw at me. You, sir, are the one who deserves death, and by God, I'm the one who will deliver it." The blond smiles, her face anything but friendly. Her eye burns and her teeth are bared, including, but not limited to, the very sharp canines unnatural in any human being.

"What are you?! "Gato chokes, shuffling backward when the girl stalks closer.

"I am your worst nightmare," she says, feral and vicious. Her eye flashes red and then Gato is no more.

Sasuke Pov

It takes a moment to understand what wakes him. Sasuke stares blankly at the window of their second-story guest room and wonders why there's a silhouette standing beside it until he registers that there's a silhouette standing beside it, and then he's on his feet and reaching for his kunai-

-only to drop his weapons pouch when his eyes adjust.

"Nii-san?"What is he doing?

Sasuke glances around the room, but Sakura and Kakashi-sensei are both sound asleep, or at

least they appear to be.

"Sasuke-Kun," his newest sensei hums, dropping her mask onto her bedroll. "Did I startle you? I'm sorry." She strips her weapons off, "I was just-"

"Gato's dead, isn't he?"

Narumi only smiles, sinking onto her bedding.

"Nii-san, you don't have to protect me." Sasuke inches forward, but Narumi slides her mask back into place, clucking her tongue.

"You are my student," she says, "and it's my duty to protect you and train you until I

believe you're ready to move up in the ranks. Not only will I protect you from physical harm when I must, I will also do my best to prepare you without ripping apart your psyche." she rolls onto his other side, putting her back to Sasuke. Silence blankets the room for several minutes,

and he has no choice but to climb back into bed with his thoughts.

His eyes have been drooping for several minutes when Narumi speaks again.

"Gato is dead."

.....

This is not what Sasuke had expected when his teacher had whispered her confession the night before. This morning, Narumi had been as chipper as could be, practically glued to Kakashi-sensei's side and chattering about several things at once during breakfast. Sasuke had begun to wonder if he hadn't dreamt the entire interaction from the night.

No longer. When the four of them had set off for the bridge with Tazuna-san in tow, life throughout the town seemed livelier, bursting with energy and, dare he say, cheer. Cheer, after years of pain and fear and suffering.

Cheer, because Gato's head has been displayed on a spear at the very edge of Tazuna's bridge. His head, sunglasses askew, eyes gouged out, mouth wide open in a silent scream. The man will never scream again. Scream, or drug-deal, or steal, or murder.

Gato is dead, alright, and neither of his teachers bats an eye. Sakura turns green, Sasuke's stomach churns, but Tazuna-san falls to his knees. "Freedom?" passes his lips in a harsh whisper.

Is this what it means to be a ninja, truly?

Sasuke considers the village, considers Tazuna, considers the lack of remorse in either of his teachers' body language. Gato is dead, and none of them grieve. He'd been a bad man,

the worst of the worst when it comes to 'average' people, and it's such a strange sensation that bubbles up his throat at the thought that people are celebrating somebody's death.

Konoha… Shinobi are truly killers, aren't they? And Sasuke wonders… is he prepared for that? For something as brutal as this deed that his sensei has done?