Chapter 193: Urgent Mission: Onto the Land of Sound!
Disclaimer: Naruto and all of its characters belong to Shueisha and Masashi Kishimoto. I own nothing but the original characters I create.
"Dialogue"
'Thoughts'
-Author notes-
Chapter 193: Urgent Mission: Onto the Land of Sound!
On the next day, Naruto received a call to attend a meeting at the Hokage's office.
Initially, he had assumed that Jiraiya had returned to the village so his presence would be required. But after being unable to sense the man's presence inside the range of his 'Divine Senses,' this thought was discarded.
When he opened the door of the room and glanced inside, he noted that Shizune was missing from her usual spot next to the Hokage.
Tsunade sat at her chair while glancing at some papers, and two men in jonin outfits stood before her.
"I have an urgent mission for you, Naruto," she told him without lifting her eyes from the papers.
Naruto closed the door and walked closer. One of the men standing there was Kakashi, who gave him a gesture of acknowledgment.
The other one, he had never seen before without the mask, but he had felt his peculiar aura before. On the day he arrived at the village…this was one of the ANBU who came to face the One-Tail Beast along with Kakashi.
His physical looks were very ordinary, other than his peculiar headband that also covered the sides of his face. He had short brown hair with dark eyes and wore the standard Jonin uniform.
"Must be a difficult one," Naruto commented.
After all, a mission that required two ANBU ninjas and him, could not be anything less than an SS rank.
Tsunade finally glanced at him and began to explain. "Two years ago, Uchiha Sasuke defected from Konoha while also killing one of his teammates in the process."
"Yes, I do remember that," Naruto stated.
"I wasn't done…" Tsunade massaged her temples. "Three hours ago, we received a report sent from one of our ninjas who had been stationed at the border to the Land of Sound. He had spotted some suspicious individuals moving across the border and managed to follow them to a secret base."
Naruto moved his eyes to the unknown individual. "You mean him?" The young man returned Naruto's look and smiled at him.
Tsunade shook her head. "No, but the introductions can be left for later. The one who brought us this information is… unfortunately no longer with us. He sustained grievous injuries during his mission. So we must not waste time if we are to put his sacrifice to good use." She threw him a harsh glare.
Naruto got the message. "Alright, tell us about it."
"In the report, two men are mentioned visiting that secret base, and one of them matches Uchiha Sasuke's description. It is unknown to us if he is still in there or has left already. This is why time is of the essence…the faster you can get to that base, the more we will stand to gain. Whether it's important information on Orochimaru or the chance to find our missing Uchiha."
"What are we to do if we encounter him? Capture or?..." The brown-haired ANBU gave Kakashi a side glance, obviously concerned by his companion's reaction to this news.
"If you can capture him without taking serious risks, that would be preferable. The council is still adamant about preserving some vestige of the Uchiha clan even now. But if it comes to that…you have permission to terminate the life of Sasuke Uchiha. He must not remain in Orochimaru's hands any longer. Is that clear?" Tsunade said.
Kakashi nodded. "We understand."
The Hokage then looked at Naruto. "Are you okay with this? Would you be able to be part of this mission?"
"Of course," Naruto responded. He had little interest in what Sasuke was doing, but this was a good opportunity to find Orochimaru. He had some unfinished business with him.
Tsunade nodded and handed the papers to Kakashi. "Then you will leave as soon as possible. The leader for this mission will be Hatake Kakashi. Follow his instructions."
Kakashi looked at Naruto. "Looks like we will be a team again, even if it's for a short while."
"But I don't have to call you Sensei now," Naruto pointed out.
Kakashi made a pensive face. "I don't recall you ever calling me that…"
"Perhaps we should..." The brown-haired man pointed at the door.
"Right, we must hurry up. Naruto, go collect supplies for a few days and meet us at the North Gate ASAP," Kakashi instructed.
Naruto shook his head. "There is no need for that. I always have access to my supplies. I'm ready to leave whenever you want to."
Kakashi could not see any scrolls on him. Naruto was just dressed in his usual simple attire consisting of martial arts robes and sandals. At most, he could have a small storage scroll inside the robes, but not much more.
Still, this was not the time to question him about that.
"Well then… let's leave." Kakashi calculated that it would take them close to half a day to reach the border, but after that, they would need to move at a much slower pace since they had to be wary of sudden enemy attacks from all sides.
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As they were passing through the gates, the brown-haired man finally decided it was time to introduce himself at least.
"It's good to finally meet you, Naruto. My name is Yamato."
"Are you no longer in ANBU?" Naruto asked.
This seemed to surprise him a bit. "How did you know that?"
"You are not as good at hiding your presence as Kakashi. I remember you from the day you went after the Sand Demon," Naruto told him.
"Oh…that day. I see." It was true that Yamato had seen Naruto before. He had actually seen him many more times before that one. But it was not something he wanted to admit.
Or the fact that he had been chosen to keep an eye on him.
"Okay, enough talking. Let's keep a fast pace until we reach the border," Kakashi ordered. "Unfortunately, there is little more information to share, so we will maintain communication to a minimum in order to prioritize speed."
As he said this, Kakashi jumped on top of a tree and began to increase the pace while Yamato and Naruto followed behind.
'Sasuke…' There were a lot of thoughts running through his mind right now. He could not wait to see his former student…there were a few things he wanted to tell him.
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