Chapter 12: B-rank mission part 2

One week quickly turned into 10 days, much to the frustration of us all, and only now does it seem like the Fire Daimyo is about ready to set off. While we have no deadline for this mission, and even if we had the Fire Daimyo could easily change it, were all getting pretty restless here.

Although we have been ready to get going at any moment, pretty much since we arrived here, we have not been idle. Me and Itachi have taken advantage of our down time, and have been training in genjutsu. Me in resisting it, and Itachi in performing it. Within the last few day, according to Itachi, my eyes have started to be able to see through very simple genjutsu. This is by no means a resistance to genjutsu, but more like my eyes have started to recognize simple genjutsu as a reflex. This is a start towards sight based resistance to genjutsu.

As we are in the home of the Fire Daimyo, there is not a whole lot of different training we can do. Most of the training we all did together had to be something that did not disrupt everyone living here. So no explosions or training with risk of running amok. So I used the 10 days to practice with Itachi, and practice my fuinjutsu. I feel like I am close to a breakthrough in both my fuinjutsu and my Adamantine sealing chains. I just need some kind of push to get to the next level in both.

The others in team 02 and 42 used their time in different ways. Both Tenma and Yugao used most of their time to spar with the taijutsu. Shinko Inari mostly used her time to read books, while I was not really interested in what she was reading, I did ask her once what she was interested in. Seems like they were books about poisons and how to make and use antidotes, I assume that is part of a bigger plan to study to be a better ninja medic.

Shira spend most of her time running around in the forest nearby, to study the local insects and their ecosystem. I joined her a few times, but this field of study is not really my thing. While I don't mind insects, they just don't really interest me that much. So I mostly joined Shira to get a break from the other study, and to spend some time with my friend.

Both Ibiki and Yuki kept to themselves and out of sight, only showing up a few times to give pointers on some of the training we were doing.

Like this one day passed after another, while we were all getting more and more annoyed with the Fire Daimyo, and his apparent lack of urgency or progress. Although non of us were stupid enough to voice our dissatisfaction. Finally on the 10th day, we were all summoned to an audience with the Fire Daimyo. While we had to wait for about an hour, until we were finally allowed to see him, the audience was over in 5 minutes. Boiled down to just an introduction of each of us, some small talk, and the Fire Daimyo telling us that we would be setting out tomorrow morning. We were surprised when we were also told just how big the travel party would be.

The Fire Daimyo insisted on bringing his personal butler, and two personal maids. Then his favorite cook, a musician, several attendants, and about 20 personal guards. All in all we were looking at a party of almost 60 people. This was turning into a pretty big group. While there is nothing we can do about it, as the Fire Daimyo insisted, we just had to make due.

The challenge is that with so many people, the return trip to Konoha would take significantly longer. Ibiki and Yuki estimated that it would take about 7 days to get to Konoha like this. With a short meeting between team 02 and 42 to discuss logistics, we split up to stock up on food and water before departing tomorrow morning.

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The next morning, about 60 people were setting out of from the Fire Daimyo's home, towards Konoha. In the middle of the convoy was a large carriage, the carriage was decorated with splendor, which made no doubt about the wealth and importance of the person riding it. The carriage was of a model, where it had a cabin, that was closed of to the outside world, so no one could be sure who was inside, if anyone. Around the carriage was 8 guards on horses, surrounding the carriage, protecting it from all angles. Further 6 guards on foot was walking in front of the carriage, and another 6 was walking behind. Behind the guards, was a following on foot, of about 20 or so civilians. At the very front of the convoy was a team of 4 ninja, team 02. Yuki and Tenma was taking the lead, while Itachi and Shinko was walking behind them. At the very end of the convoy Ibiki was walking alone.

As this is where the mission truly started, team 42 was hiding in the surroundings and following along the convoy. Shira acted a sensor, and had her bugs spread out all around the convoy. We moved as a group, scouting ahead, and returning to the convoy several times during the first day of travel. With Shira's bugs around, we were pretty confident that we would have advance notice if anyone approached the convoy.

The first two day saw no problems, and steady progress for the travel. However on the third day, we encountered our first challenge.

As we were scouting ahead, we encountered a bandit group laying in wait, to rob whoever was coming along the road. There would be about an hour before the convoy was in range of the bandits. So we came up with a quick plan to gather information.

We were hiding, and studying the bandits, without them knowing we were even here. Shira's sensing and bugs are really good for this kind of thing. After about 5 minutes, we had enough information about them, to device a plan. Shira said her bugs had detected no chakra in the group of bandits, so there were no ninja among them, thus we decided that we could handle them ourselves.

I created a shadow clone, to run back and inform Yuki and Ibiki about our plan, and other relevant information. While my clone was running back and sharing information, we got into position. The group of bandits were consisting of about 30 bandits, in four different groups. We aimed at taking out the four groups at the same time. To do so Shira focused on one group, with her bugs. Yugao would take another group. I would take the last two groups, the real me and another shadow clone would each take one group. To thin out the groups, before we engaged, we set up several traps, that would launch kunai at the bandits first, then assault them in close combat in the immediate confusion following the traps.

One my first shadow clone had contacted Yuki and Ibiki, and gotten an update from them, it dispelled. I got the information back, and signaled to Yugao and Shria to commence the operation. The kunai flew silently, and the bandits never knew what hit them. After the kunai hit the bandits, there was an outcry and surprise, but immediately after we engaged in close combat. While it is was not the first time I kill someone in this world, it is never a god or fun activity.

The operation was a success, we eliminated all the bandits. By the time the convoy passed through the place, there was no trace left of what had happened here. We burrowed the bodies, and covered any evidence, of a fight, up.

An incident like this happened 3 times on our way to Konoha. It is almost like showing of your incredible wealth will have desperate or greedy people planning to take it. I would have much preferred if we could transport the Fire Daimyo on ninja back, or animal. The carriage is just drawing to much attention from the surroundings.

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After almost a weeks of travel, were finally getting close to Konoha. While this entire mission was probably closer to a C rank, not a B rank, I has been the most exhausting mission I have ever been on. Bandits are more annoying than a challenge, and there has been no need to engage rouge ninja so far.

Right now, we have just started to travel again after camp for the night, and expect to arrive in Konoha early afternoon today.

Last night, with the help of Itachi's genjutsu training, and a moment of inspiration, I finally was able to create and apply the first version of what I will call my pain seal.

It is basically a seal, that I tattooed on my left shoulder, that will stimulate my pain receptors, when I activate it. I had to experiment with it a little, to calibrate it to only mildly stimulate my pain receptors, don't want to experience a strong stimulation.

When I completed my seal, I discovered a few things. First is that at my current stage, I can't make an condition for the activation of the seal. However in the future, I should be able to do this, I just need to be much better at fuinjutsu. When I get there I can make the condition that if foreign chakra invades my body, it will activate the pain seal, protecting me from genjutsu. The other thing I found out, is that the seal will only work for me, at the current stage. I think this has something to do with the seal and the body have to synchronize. So the seal I made will only work for my body, and if I place it on another body it wont ever activate. I could create a different seal, with the same purpose, on someone else, but I would need to study the body intensely before the seal could work.

Anyway enough of that, back to the here and now. We are walking along the road to Konoha, making decent progress. Yuki told us, before we set out today, that he wanted both ninja teams at the front of the convoy. He said that since we are so close to Konoha now, there should be no bandit problems anymore. The rest of the convoy is following behind us. And as has been the case the entire travel, Ibiki is the last person in the convoy, acting as rearguard.

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After about an hour of travel, there is a sudden change and we see something that is unusual. So far there has been no other people traveling on the same road as us. I think if they see our large group, the choose to go a different way, or simply wait for us to pass. But here for the first time in a week, we see a single guy traveling on the road in the opposite direction from us. He seems to be heading away from Konoha, and we are heading towards Konoha.

While he is still to far away, to make out any real details. As he is walking towards us, I can start to make out details. He is wearing a thin black coat, with a large hoody, sandals and standard black jeans. The hood is pulled over his head, and he is looking down to the ground, thus making it impossible to see his face. His walk is unsteady, and several times he seems to be close to falling over, like he is stumbling.

I look towards Yuki, to see if he has any orders for us. Nothing. I assume he has made a threat assessment, and has deemed this guy not a danger. So we continue on as always.

As the guy is getting closer, I can see that we will collide with him, if we continue. He seems unaware of his surroundings. I think Yuki sees the same, and he motions for the entire convoy to halt. We then wait for the guy to walk over to us. He falls once on the way to us, but gets up and continues. When he is within talking distance, Yuki takes a step forwards and talks to the guy:

"Hello there friend, are you alright? Do you need assistance?" Yuki said, with his most diplomatic smile on his face.

"*Mumble mumble*" Is the answer from ???.

"I am sorry, I don't understand you. Could you speak up? Are you perhaps lost?" Yuki said

The man mumbles something again, but this time you could almost make out a word or two.

As the two seem to be communication, Shira pulls on my shirt, and asks me:

"That guy is strange. Do you think he is dangerous?" Shira said.

I look at Shira and answer her: "What do you mean? He seems harmless to me" I said, and was acting as assuring as I could. After a small pause I ask Shira: "Is there something that would make you think he is dangerous?"

"I don't know. I just have this feeling. And also I find it strange that I could not feel him approaching. In fact even my bugs could not feel him" Shira said to me.

That last part got me worried a bit, but I think nothing of it as my attention is drawn back to the conversation with Yuki and the strange man.

At this point Yuki is pretty upset, and frustrated with the guy, and he shouts at the guy:

"I don't know what you are saying! At least identify yourself" Yuki screamed

After a pause, the guy answered, with words and an action that would send chills down my spine.

The guy, for the first time since we noticed him, raises his head, and shows it to us. We can't see his face, as it is covered by a mask. A mask that would be recognized by any Naruto fan. The mask is orange with several horizontal black lines drawn over it. The mask covers the entire face, with one small exception. There is an opening over the right eye, from where a black eye looks out. It seems similar to Obito mask, that he would wear later in the show, but like an early version of it. The guy has long black hair, now somewhat visible under his hood. He says, with almost a childlike glee in his voice:

"You can just call me Tobi"

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I am shocked. What is he doing here? No one else here might know who this is, but I know that this Tobi is pretty much the strongest ninja in the world right now. The only reason, I can think of to why he is here, is either for Itachi or for the Fire Daimyo. However Itach is still to young, and has not done anything to merit Obito's notice. And I don't ever remember that Obito assassinated the Fire Daimyo, or that he even tried.

That is all the time, I get to think before the guy calling himself Tobi says:

"Genjutsu: Illusionary Paralysis" Tobi says, while looking at us all

Immediately, I can feel my body locking up. It is the same for anyone else in the convoy. Oh yea, this it Obito, and not someone else. Who else can casually cast a genjutsu on 60 people, including 6 genin, a chunin and a jonin. At least at this point in time, there are only a few others that can do that.

"Don't worry, I am only here for the Fire Daimyo. I have no interest in anyone one else here." Tobi says, while trying to sound as childish as possible.

He takes a step forward, and walks past us, toward the carriage.

As he passes by the guards and is almost at his destination, suddenly behind him, there is a large bang. A rocket is flying into the sky, and a large red flare is illuminating the sky, visible for miles. This is an emergency flare, to signal for help from Konoha. Tobi is surprised and turns around:

"Ohh seems like not everyone here are trash ninja" He says, with a playful tone.

Standing close to the rest of us, is Itachi holding a still smoking launcher in his hands.

"Don't think I will fall for such low level genjutsu" Itachi says.

"Interesting. I guess I have a bit of time to play around with you, before someone else shows up" Tobi says.

Itachi and Tobi starts throws kunai at each other, dodging out of the way, and throwing more kunai at each other. Itachi is at an disadvantage, as he has to dodge the kunai, and protect the paralyzed people around him, at the same time. After about a minute of this Tobi says:

"Impressive, someone of your age with these skills. But lets see how good you are in taijutsu." Tobi says trying to act cute, before he sprints full speed towards Itachi.

The both engage in taijutsu. Tobi is clearly toying with Itachi. Itachi has far shorter reach, he is only 8 years old, and Tobi is much more similar with the same taijutsu Itachi is using. The exchange blow for blow, but the damage only has an effect on Itachi.

While they are fighting, I am trying to mold chakra while paralyzed. If I can mold a tiny bit of chakra, I can active my pain seal, and get out of this genjutsu.

It takes me about two minutes, but I finally active my pain seal. I try to stand still and get an overview of the situation, before Tobi knows I am free.

Itachi and Tobi is still engaging in taijutsu, but Itachi is clearly approaching his limit. I decide there is no way we can take him out on our own. We need more help. I am standing very close to Shira, so I slowly move towards her, while still trying to look like I am paralyzed. When I arrive there, I start to pour my chakra into Shira to dispel the genjutsu. Before being able to dispel the genjutsu I have to duck. Several kunai fly through the air, where my head was a moment ago.

"Do you really think I wouldn't see you moving around. Must say trying to act like you were still in the genjutsu after you broke it, pretty clever. But not good enough against me" Tobi sings the last part. And no he is not a good singer.

"Damn" I say. Well now I only have 2 options. Run away or engage. While I never liked the Fire Daiymo, I can't fail my first B rank mission. And there should be ninja from Konoha arriving soon. I can just try to stall for time with Itachi helping. I sigh and gather chakra at my feet.

A short sprint later, I engage Tobi together with Itach.

"Hahaha, nice choice. With the two of you here, you are sure to defeat me" Tobi says, clearly mocking us.

Both Itachi and me are engaging him, and try to stay at a 180º angle around him. This should keep him the most off balance, while having to defend from two sides at once.

I swing a right hook at him, to which he ducks down, and counters with a leg sweep. Both Itachi and myself jump at this.

"Got ya, in the air you are unable to dodge" Tobi says, before throwing throwing a fist at me. I am pretty sure that fist is imbued with plenty of chakra, and if it hits me in the head, I am dead.

"I really can hold back here, can I?" I ask myself, and use the second, before the first arrives, to do a jutsu:

"Fuinjutsu: Adamantine sealing chains" I yell. You know justu are stronger when you yell out their names.

A 4 meter long chain sprouts from my belly. The chain wraps around Tobi's fist, and I use his fist as leverage to move myself away from his hit.

"Oh hohoho, that is a very interesting technique. Who taught you that?" Tobi says.

I choice to not answer him, just scowling.

We continue our fight, but it is becoming clear that Itachi is at his limit. I motion for him to retreat and provide support from a distance.

He does so, and now it is just me and Tobi.

"Lets see how well you use that chain of yours" Tobi say, and jumps back. He then throws a shuriken at me while whispering:

"Shuriken shadow clone jutsu"

Suddenly there are hundreds of shuriken flying towards me. To late I notice that Tobi has placed himself so, that the convoy is directly behind me, so if I dodge the shuriken they will hit the others.

Gritting my teeth, I use all of my concentration to block the hundreds of shuriken flying in the air.

I manage to get them all, but when I hear a crack behind me, I know Tobi was using the shuriken as a distraction.

First first Tobi is flying out of the ground, and hits me in my stomach, sending me into the air, and flying back a few meters landing on my stomach. Holy crap that hurts. I think I broke a few ribs.

I spit out blood. I have no choice here. I got to gamble a bit. I need to get close to Tobi. I turn towards Tobi and say:

"Your punch is weak. Is that really all you got?" I said this while smiling at Tobi. And sadly that is the best taunt I can think of right now.

Tobi narrows his one eye, seems like I actually hit a nerve there. He says nothing, but flickers towards me, and is ready to give me another punch in my back.

"Any last worlds child?" Tobi says.

Heh, why do they always ask for this.

"Yea, did you know that my chain can absorb chakra?" I said with a smile looking up at him.

My chain has stabbed the ground, and is now diving through the ground towards Tobi's arm. Before he can retreat it, my chain wraps around his arm. With a silent prayer to whoever will listen I think: "I really hope this works".

"Fuinjutsu: Adamantine sealing chains - chakra absorption" I say, man I really need a better name for that.

I immediately see a reaction in Tobi. Must mean it works. He tried to get his arm back, but is only dragging me with him. He then tries a different approach:

"Let go of my arm, or I will start to kill everyone in you group" Tobi says.

I see that he is holding up his other arm, with 5 kunai. Each of the kunai see to have an explosive seal at the handle.

As I don't answer him, he starts to make a motion to throw the kunai. To my horror I can see his is aiming for Yuki, Tenma, Shinko, Yugao and Shira.

At this point I am almost out of chakra. Having my chain active for so long has drained most of it, however to avoid the worst, even if I have to push past my limit, I will stop him.

I muster all the chakra I have left, and all my mental strength:

"Adamantine sealing chain - second chain" I yell.

To me relief, another chain forms, and grabs hold of his other hand.

"No you don't you bastard" I say.

"Ha ha kid, you are something else. I am terrified of what you will become when you get older." Tobi said looking down at me on the floor. He then continued: "However let me show you the cruelty of this world."

A short pause later, and Tobi said:

"Kamui"

As he said this, my chains were no longer holding onto him. And he just finished his motion of his hand. 5 kunai flew from his hand, towards 5 immobile ninja.

The last thing I saw before blacking out to chakra exhaustion, was the kunai impacting and exploding.

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*3rd POV*

*Time jump back a few moments*

As Tobi was making motion to throw kunai at the immobile ninja. Itachi was already on the move. He would never make it, but he was still going to try. Fortunately Anya was somehow able to buy a few more moments, for Itachi to arrive at the immobile ninja. Itachi would not be able to save all of them, so he made a logical choice. Yuki was a jonin, so he had the highest chance of surviving an explosion. Shira and Tenma were both standing to far apart, and was also both fairly strong. Their chance to survive would be better than others. Shinko and Yugao were both close together and Shinko was the medic, he had to protect her at all costs.

Itachi had to make a choice who to save, and he chose to save as many as he could. A moment before the kunai with explosive detonated, Itachi arrived and took both Yugao and Shinko with him and jumped away from the explosion.

As the dust settled the only thing that could be heard was Tobi trying to act cute and childish:

"Boom boom, big bada boom. Ha ha" Tobi was shouting to no one.

Itachi was jumping towards the explosion sites, to asses the damage. He arrived at where Tenma had been. What he saw there, made him stop up and pause.

In the crater, Tenma was in the middle. Or rather Tenma's body was. With just a casual glance it was clear to see that Tenma was dead. Itachi was still for a moment, not betraying to the outside world, the storm of emotions that was raging inside him.

After a moment a primal scream was heard, as Itachi let his fury, hate and grief over his friends death, be known to the world.

A curious thing then started to happen. The completely black eyes of Itachi started to turn red. Fastly his eyes were completely red, with one tomoe clearly visible. Exhausted by the emotion and the fighting Itachi feel to his knees and blacked out.

Tobi on the other hand, had also lost quite a bit of chakra in that fight. Not least to the chakra absorption of the young ninja kid at his feet. He was moving towards the carriage to finish what he was there for. However he suddenly turned his attention to somewhere further away.

"Kakashi? He is approaching fast. I am not ready to met with him yet. I need to get out of here right away" Tobi said, before he disappeared into a swirling space time whole.

A few moments later several Konoha Anbu arrived at the scene. In front was an Anbu captain, with white hair.