Chapter 13: Hell Hath no Fury(3)

When Neko had woke up next to both Karasu and Saru in the small room the Resistance gave them for their stay in Mizu no Kuni, she had been slightly sore. The room was very small, just barely able to fit the three of them. She didn't know where Nezumi had spent the night but she wasn't too worried, the boy could take care of himself.

Her only real problem was when Saru's hand not so accidently landed on her body during the night, near her chest region. That pervert. She didn't mind sleeping next to Karasu, the young boy she knew to be an Uchiha – everyone knew who he was – was a perfect gentleman, allowing her to take the bedding with the most padding. Saru, however, was a different story altogether. She didn't like sharing a sleeping area with him at all.

She didn't need to be up so early, she had another hour before she needed to get up, but she was always an early bird. She liked to get up and train a little in kenjutsu, just like Hayate-kun had told her she should, even if she was in another country.

When she made it to the training grounds – Mei had shown her and the team the previous night – she wasn't at all surprised to see Nezumi – now clad in full ANBU gear – there before her. What did surprise her was that he wasn't alone. One Terumi Mei was currently sparring with her youngest comrade.

From what she could tell, it was taijutsu only, but like everything else the boy did, he was the dominant one. To the auburn-haired woman's credit, she was holding her own pretty well. She was keeping up at the very least. That just showed that the woman was as powerful as they said she was.

She went blow for blow with the blond, but Neko could tell that he was holding back, quite a lot, too. Mei obviously wasn't going all out either, but she was trying harder than the boy just to keep up. She could see the woman's playful smirk; she was enjoying the spar a little too much. What exactly happened while her kohai was gone during the night? She had the feeling that if he didn't have his mask on, she'd see the same playful look on Nezumi's face. Why were the two so chummy?

A right jab from Mei was blocked and then used against her to throw the woman to the ground. It was a clean and precise move, executed perfectly. What came after it was not so professional. The boy actually straddled the powerful kunoichi and bent down so that his mask was dangerously close to her face.

Words that Neko couldn't hear were passed between the two, causing the woman to actually blush, and then squirm out of his grasp. It was for naught though, his physical strength far surpassed hers, and she was firmly stuck. The temporary Ro-Han captain could hear the boy laugh before he let her out of his intimate hold.

She coughed to announce her presence, which she knew was not necessary, with the boy's sensory capabilities he knew where everyone in the whole base was, but she did it anyways. She knew he could feel her uncomfortableness with the whole extremely close contact that he was sharing with the leader of the Resistance, but she still thought it best to voice her opinion. He was ten for crying out loud.

Before she could open her mouth to say anything however, he glanced over his shoulder at her, giving her a silent warning that he knew she would receive.

I'll follow your orders, but do not forget who I am.

Message received. Neko's mouth firmly shut, not wanting to risk her command for something she really had no say in.

"Neko-taicho, Nezumi-senpai!" She heard Saru greet them as he walked into the training room. She had never been so grateful to see the perverted Nara in her life. "Looks like we all got up a little early then." He said, Karasu walking in shortly after the words left the monkey's mouth, giving everyone present a respectful nod of his head in greeting.

Nezumi gave Karasu a nod in greeting of his own. "It would seem so." The blonde replied, now standing at a proper distance from Mei. He had let Neko see their close and friendlier relationship only so that the team's captain knew everything that she needed to know.

He wasn't going to give her any details, not only because there wasn't really anything to give, but even if there was, it was none of her business. What he did in his private time was his and his alone to know. His age aside, he was considered an adult by shinobi standards, having become one the moment he was assigned to the ANBU. He didn't really want the others to know though. Karasu would most likely not care, but that was beside the point. He and the Uchiha liked to keep their private lives private.

Saru was the one he didn't want to find out. The man would never let him live it down, and he was positive the rest of Team Ro would know of his 'conquest,' which wasn't the truth, shortly after the Nara caught wind of it. He had no delusions that his team wouldn't believe he turned down someone like Mei, so he decided to keep it quiet.

"Well." Mei spoke up, picking up a towel and handing it to Nezumi. "I'm going to go wash off." She then took her own towel and wiped off the sweat from her brow. She bent down and whispered into the blond's ear, so that only he could hear her. "If you'd like to join me, you know where my room is." The woman was trying to mess with him again.

Nezumi smirked under his mask. "Sounds wonderful." He whispered back, enjoying her surprised pause. "I'll meet you there in a few minutes." He added, feeling both her shock and excitement. He was looking right at her, but his face mask was blocking his mischievous smirk. It took her a few moments, but she finally realized that he wasn't being serious.

Damn, he had gotten her good that time. He was obviously more skilled in the art of subtle, or maybe not so subtle, teasing. It was a good thing she liked the boy. If any other man tried to speak to her the way he now did she would have melted his face off with her Yoton. Or so she told herself. Denial was something she didn't have much experience with. She, deep down, knew that she could never harm the boy, even if she wanted to. He was on a different level than anyone she had ever seen before.

Mei gave the blonde a look that said he won this round and walked away; making sure to sway her hips more than necessary, which both Nezumi and Neko didn't miss. "That woman is Hot with a capital H." Apparently Saru didn't miss it either.

Karasu chuckled lightly. The Uchiha knew who that little display of provocative walking was for. It didn't surprise him either; Nezumi was just the kind of person that people of all ages liked, in more ways than one.

"Let us spar for the remaining time we have." Neko said, getting the attention of the three males she had under her command at the moment. "We don't want to dull our senses." That little remark forced Nezumi to remember Mei's offer last night. He really wished he was older and more prepared. Ah well, there would always be plenty fish in the sea later. And who knows, when he did age a little more, he might just get the offer for sex from the auburn-haired woman again.

A monster could dream, despite popular beliefs.

After the hour of training, the Konoha ANBU team found themselves in the large room they first entered upon their arrival to Mizu no Kuni. Sitting on one side of the large meeting table was Terumi Mei and Ao, on the other was Neko and Nezumi. Both Karasu and Saru were standing, letting their Senpai's sit as a sign of their seniority. It was strange to most of the Resistance, they all knew that Nezumi was the youngest, yet the boy had seniority over two older operatives.

Word had already spread around the Resistance in the short time Nezumi had returned from Black Harbor of his actions. A lone boy had crushed the Kiri prison with ease, and that very boy was a Konoha-nin sent with three others to assist them with their cause. The people finally had another hero – Mei being their first – to look up to. Hope was slowly returning to the hearts of the Resistance, and it had been no more than sixteen hours since the ANBU arrived.

After Mei had seriously considered Saru's plan, she had concluded that it was brilliant and simple. It wouldn't have worked however if everything he said that needed to fall in place didn't happen, or the super powerful blond wasn't with them. Fortunately, and rather amazingly, everything that the monkey-masked agent had said was necessary, did in fact occur.

Mei was beginning to believe that all of Konoha's shinobi were in some way terrifying. The strategic thought process of the operative who came off as a pervert was absolutely mind blowing. The fact that his plan was incredibly simple and completely ingenious at the same time made the woman's head hurt.

The plan was as follows: have Nezumi and Karasu attack several of Yagura's bases on every island physically possible in the span of a week. And, like Saru knew his Senpai would do at Black Harbor, allow three or four Kiri loyalists return to the Mizukage to report what was happening. Once word had reached Kiri and its forces that children were responsible for the fall of so many outposts, not only would it lower morale, it would get the attention of the man they were sent to kill.

Once Yagura was given so many reports of mere children destroying his forces slowly, he would be forced to intervene personally, falling right into the trap that was laid out for him. Once he was in Nezumi's sight, he would soon be gone from this world.

It was simple. It was elementary. It was, in Saru's words, "untroublesome."

Nezumi said he didn't spam the word, not that it was banned from his vocabulary.

It would also allow the Resistance ample time to prepare for what was to come after the weeklong havoc spree. The destruction of the weapons factory would commence a few days afterward, and with that, added to all of the other chaos caused by the young ANBU agents, the Resistance would take their first real step in winning the war.

Mei was overjoyed. Mizu no Kuni was so close to freedom and equality for all her people she could practically taste it. It was only a matter of time now, and not much of it. She really needed to find a proper way of thanking Konoha for sending her the knight in shining armor that went by the codename Nezumi.

"So, we all know what our assignments are, right?" Mei asked, getting nods from all present. "Good." Her voice was low but everyone could hear her with clarity. "Let's send our enemies straight to hell." She finished with a smirk that Nezumi knew all too well.

She had found her inner monster.

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