Chapter 28 First blood

It had been a couple of days and so far nothing much was going on which to Kakashi was just fine, he kept his genins busy with training and giving them pointers now and then on how to look for signs that people had been in the area. He also figured that he had what he needed from the balloon training, so he stopped that training for them. Sakura ended up being able to make a small hole but after all that effort left her too weak. He had expected as much from her at this point she could search control her chakra the best but she didn't have what it took to take the training any farther at least not without years of extra training to get her chakra up.

Sasuke and Naruto had done well with it, only just managed to make holes in them. Of course it took them longer than Sakura but they could do it a few times before they got tired. It was good since that meant both boys had the talent to take it up further although he wasn't sure about teaching them the full rasengan. Naruto he knew should have to learn it after all his was his legacy and given that Sasuke could have the sharingan when it was awakened and with that he could learn his own unique move.

But they still had a long way to go, he remembered how long it took himself to be able to break the balloon into pieces and not just make a small hole. It wasn't easy but this would help them later on when he started with a few other training techniques.

This was the first step for both moves and he had to admit he was glad at their progress, so after that he had them keep on learning on the scrolls he had. This turned out to be very interesting, Sakura had started to practice her genjustu on the boys. Apparently years with Naruto had rubbed off on her a bit and she had a slight side for being a prankster he wasn't sure what they saw but apparently the boys were staying away from the girl for the time being.

Naruto seemed to be having some trouble with the elemental thing but then Kakashi was just gave him the scrolls and although he took to the shadow clone jutsu using elemental moves took longer. Sasuke although he told to hold off until they either found a good body of water or they got home, he didn't like it of course but it was better than burning down the entire forested area and letting the bandits knowing where they were anyway.

So by now they were moving along the boarder and so far so good, they hadn't run into any trouble and whenever Naruto got twitchy without any excitement he would have Naruto fan out with shadow clones to scout the area for trouble or increased his training. Although that trick seemed to be losing its impact on him and the novelty of it was wearing it off. Plus Sasuke kept asking about the Sharingan and why he had it and how he could access his own, all in all Kakashi was getting a bit sick of things. What he hadn't known though was that their movements had been followed by the ninjas in the bandit group they were looking for.

The woman Sparrow was a specialist in spying and infiltration she had been quietly keeping her distance from them and sending out small messages to her leader on the movements. She was waiting for word from Scar on what to do hopefully they would soon because she was getting sick and tired of this. She was waiting in the trees before she felt a familiar presence and looked behind her shoulder. There was Bear there sitting on a branch behind her.

"What is the word?" she asked him.

"He says that we attack them when they reach the open area, the bandits will take care of the genin while we take care of the jonin," Bear told her.

She nodded with a smile she was glad to get things going, she couldn't wait for a decent fight being part of a band of bandits wasn't the life she wanted but when her home let that creature join their ranks she couldn't stand the place any longer. Although she thought joining another village would be preferable to this but they needed to prove their worth and sometimes a little money thrown the right way to grease the wheels could work as well. Which was why they even bothered to do this, they couldn't hire themselves out as ninjas as they were still being hunted anyway so this was the only option.

Sparrow removed her genjustu and left with Bear to plan the attack on the ninja team.

Meanwhile back with Konoha ninjas Naruto was getting bored, nothing happened and so far his first real mission was turning out to be a total waste of time. He hoped for some action sure he got to practice some new justus and he secretly was planning on continuing that training with the balloons that his dad showed him when they got back, but it was just so dull. How was he going to be Hokage if he couldn't test himself out for real?

By now they were just walking taking a break from jumping from tree to tree, Naruto looked to his right to see his dad reading his book as usual then he looked to his left. Sakura was studying her scroll most likely working on the genjustu in it, so far she was the only one that was getting anywhere in her own justus although he hated being put in them they just unnerved him for some reason and Sasuke seemed to particularly didn't seem comfortable by being placed in one for some reason.

So they walked on in silence as he didn't want to bother Sakura and Sasuke was usually the quiet one anyway and his dad was reading so he was left on his own just thinking. He was a bit disappointed in this for another reason he wanted to brag about his big adventure to all his friends. He really wanted to tell Hinata as well he had been looking forward to telling her all about this as well. He sighed thinking how Kiba would never let him live this down when he found out about just walking in the foods all this time and nothing to show for it.

'Stupid Kiba I just know he'll laugh his ass off at this, at least Shikamaru won't say anything or Choji and Shino would most likely shrug as well,' he thought, 'although I was hoping to impress Hinata a bit after all she's been my closet friend. Kind of wish she was here instead of Sasuke at least she's nice to hang out with plus she's the nicest person I know I just wish why she blushes and faints all the time. Maybe I should ask her family if she's sick or something?'

Meanwhile back in Konoha Hinata sneezed while trying to get into her Gentle Fist style stance in a training session with Kiba.

"Hey Hinata you catching a cold?" Kiba asked her as he froze a moment before attacking.

"N-no I don't think so," Hinata told him getting ready she wasn't however totally focused on her training. For the past few days she had been worried about Naruto ever since she heard he was on his first C Class mission she was worried something bad would happen. She just had a bad feeling about this for some reason and wished she was there with him he had spent so long protecting her that she wanted to do the same for him.

'Please be careful Naruto-Kun,' she silently prayed to him.

Back with Team 7 they were just reaching a clearing that Kakashi figured might be a good place for some training for the team while they were searching. He was however also thinking about how off this felt, they should have seen some kind of sign of a bandit camp but no fire pits, large tracks or smoke was scene which was odd as bandits usually weren't this careless. Plus something else was suddenly nagging him, it was too quiet in the field they were entering there were no bird noises and no other animal sounds and that could only mean one of two things. There was a predator around the area...or they had just entered into a trap.

He looked at his team and saw that they were too preoccupied to notice he would have to work on that.

"Everyone I want you on your guard," he said quietly to them.

"Huh what's up pop?" Naruto asked.

"What did I tell you about a ninja and his environment?" Kakashi asked him.

Naruto looked puzzled and then remembered one of the camping trips that he taught him all about ninjas and certain skills. He looked around the area and didn't see anything out of the ordinary and then he tried to listen and it all seemed quiet but then he noticed that it was way too quiet. Even a forest with nothing going on had the usual sounds in the background and they weren't here.

'Oh crap I can't believe I didn't notice this,' he thought and gave his dad a look. Both Hatakes gave a small nod. 'I wonder how many there will be? Oh well I'll just shadow clone and take them on!'

In the forest the bandits were already surrounding the group the ninja leaders told them to take out the kids although some of the men felt that fighting children was beneath even them but then again the ninjas had done a good job of leading them so any voices against this were quickly silenced by the majority. Now they only had to wait for the signal and they were to rush out and swam them, they were to keep the kids away from the adult.

A bird call was heard but it was the same one that the female ninja used, at one the men rushed out of the brushes and charged the kids.

"Everyone get into position, Naruto and Sasuke point, Sakura center with support!" Kakashi told them as he turned to face the others coming at him.

"Alright time for some action finally!" Naruto shouted out as he made his favourite seal and started to make shadow clones. The clones charged into the group of bandits as they were surprised to suddenly find a horde of blonde haired ninjas fighting them. Sasuke didn't want to be outdone so he decided to charge in as well, he jumped into a group of bandits and with his family style starting to take down bandits.

He used his kunai to block weapons and then using his feet and fist sent bandits flying back.

Sakura saw them and she didn't want to be left out as she smirked as she started to form hand seals to try out her new genjustu moves. "Distortion!"

The bandits that ran at the girl suddenly felt the world move under their feet as they were getting dizzy and found it hard to keep their balance. Sakura grinned at the effects as they were similar to being dizzy that was sent into their heads. For a ninja of some skill it wouldn't take much to break it but these weren't ninja. She ran forward and as they were trying to keep their footing she easily started to defeat them.

Meanwhile Kakashi had to doge a kunai that had been thrown at him and he was surprised to see the ninja weapon. They were only supposed to be bandits and not ninja but that would explain why the bandits were able to hide their tracks so well, they had professional help. He saw three figures drop down to him, one was a man with scars on his face as he wore an older looking ninja gear that had seen lots of use but little repair time. The other was a very large man with an equally large club weapon and finally what looked like a woman with long hair in robes and a large straw hat on her head.

'So they have missing ninjas helping them,' Kakashi guessed by their lack of head bands and their appearance. 'This complicates things the others seem to be focused on the bandits while the ninjas are after me. That's smart the kids don't stand a chance against three trained ninjas even if they are renegades.'

"Take him," Scar said as they all jumped to attack the Jonin.

Naruto was having a good time the bandits weren't expecting this team to be this good and they were making headway in beating them back. That is until he noticed that his dad was fighting against three people that didn't look or fight like bandits. "Crap guys look behind us!"

Sasuke looked and saw the ninjas and swore this wasn't in the mission briefing but at any rate he needed stronger opponents to test himself and with a vicious back hand to one of the last bandits in his area he saw that the bandits weren't much of a threat anymore. "I'm going to help you two keep it up."

Sasuke ran up to one of the ninja and threw several shuriken as him, the man was only lucky enough to had turned in his fighting Kakashi to notice and managed to twist his body enough to dodge them with only a couple giving him shallow cuts.

"Brat, Sparrow take care of this one," Scar said to her.

She nodded and ran to intercept the boy he was fast but she was faster. Sasuke was struggling with the woman as her strikes came in swiftly with knife like blows.

'Damn it I need to be faster,' Sasuke thought and grunted from a blow. He tried to use a flame justu on the woman but she was too fast as she just dodge them. Then she stopped and started to make hand seals but he couldn't see them. Her robe had long sleeves and so her hands were hidden from sight.

"Illusionary warriors jutsu," she said and suddenly there were copies of her all over the place.

He dodged as a few kunai were thrown at him but he knew that they were illusions and only a few were real so one that was coming from his sides and behind he ignored as he knew she was in front of him. But he felt the cuts as the kunai scrapped his skin. He was surprised at that he quickly turned around wondering if she had gotten behind him.

'How did she...she shouldn't have been able to get behind me that fast but those came at different angles too.' He thought as he dodged even more of them. Then he realized his problem he had been fighting this as though they were just clones, his spares with Naruto had been with shadow clones who were real bodies. Plus he was in a genjustu as well for all he knew the pain he felt wasn't totally real a few of the injuries could be real but he couldn't tell the real from the fake ones.

'I need to be faster or else I'm going to get killed!' he thought. He was focusing on his chakra trying to keep ahead although what he didn't noticed was that chakra was starting to build up behind his eyes. Suddenly the world shifted slightly for him, it was like he could see everything in a new light. It all looked the same but there was almost like a ghost image on the female ninjas. He also found himself being able to dodge faster as well. What he couldn't tell was that on the outside his eyes had changed into sharingan eyes, his left had two totems while his other only had one but they were giving him a much needed edge.

He also could see through her illusion as well, he could see the fakes and he ran towards the real ninja. She was surprised when he suddenly was able to see through her illusion she didn't understand how that was possible but she was caught off guard by some genin that had seen through it. Then she saw his eyes and she understood she had heard of those eyes and what it meant. She dropped her illusions and tried to fight him again but it wasn't the same this time around. He was blocking her attacks this time and as they fought she realized something else he was starting to copy her movements exactly and use her own moves against her.

"You little brat I'll kill you," she said and tried to use a kunai to stab him.

"Not today," he gripped her wrist and threw her over his head he heard her land and grunt and turned to quickly prepare for her counter attack. But she was just laying there motionless and for a moment he thought that she was faking but he didn't see any movements not even slight breathing. He slowly moved towards her and turned her onto her back and was surprised to see that she had landed badly and onto her kunai. It was deep in her chest and her eyes were lifeless, it was just bad luck she had landed like that but it was still strange.

He had thought about killing his search brother for years but this was his first kill, yes she had tried to kill him but it felt strange he wasn't sure how to feel about this as he looked down at her.

Meanwhile Sakura was finishing up her own battles her new genjustu was proving to be very handy thing for her but she lost her focus on her surroundings and missed one of the bandits getting back up, he had only been stunned and saw the search pink haired girl. He got up and threw a punch at the back of her head, she hadn't seen it coming and her head exploded in pain as she staggered forward then she felt a hit to her kidneys and felt herself being thrown to the ground. There were stars in her vision and suddenly she felt a hand on her neck squeezing her throat.

"You little search pink haired bitch, I'm going to kill you for that," the man said as his hands gripped her neck.

Sakura was starting to panic from the lack of air and the pain in her neck she knew that if she didn't do something anything she was going to die. One of her hands went for her weapons pouch on her thigh and grabbed the first thing she could, she grabbed a kunai and stabbed the man in the side. He cried out in pain but his hands stayed where they were she just kept stabbing him she felt the warmth on her hands but ignored it.

Then when the world was going dark she suddenly could breath again she gasped for breath and started to cough. She rolled to her side and when she could steady herself she looked around and froze, she could see the man there ugly wounds on his side there was a lot of blood too and that's when she looked at the warmth on her skin. She had his blood all over her hand and forearm she had never thought about killing someone and she had just did it on instinct. She felt very sick at the moment and started to throw up her last meal on the ground.

Kakashi had been fighting the large ninja and he had to admit the man had some power, with that huge club of his if he connected then Kakashi knew he would be in having a bad day. Luckily he was faster than the large man to keep himself from getting hit by him but it wasn't easy as the man was like a juggernaut, he just kept on coming.

"I'm going to enjoy this you have any idea how much money is on your head Kakashi?" Bear asked him swinging his large club in a downward arc.

"Ah so you know of me huh?" Kakashi said before jumping aside from the blow that left the earth damaged in its blow. "Well sorry if I don't know who you are but I don't have time to deal with this."

He pulled up his headband to reveal his sharingan eye as he dodged the man again.

Kakashi jumped up high and started to make hand seals as he finished he blew out a ball of fire at the ninja. Bear quickly countered by creating an earth barrier that covered him in a dome came out of the ground. He maybe have been from the Cloud village which was good with lightning but he had picked up on a few earth style moves here and there over the years.

"That was pathetic," he muttered to himself getting ready to move when he heard the sounds of birds chirping at first he thought it was Sparrow but there were too many bird noises and he knew she couldn't do more than one at a time. That pause was just enough for Kakashi to get ready for his one original jutsu.

"Chidori!" Kakashi's voice was heard as the lightning blade came through the stone and sank into the large man's chest. He shouted out in surprise and pain feeling his chest on fire from the attack, he tried to move but his body felt heavy and he felt himself fall onto the ground. Kakashi looked down at the ninja with the hole in his chest and he could see the man had stopped breathing. With that out of the way he had to make sure the others were okay.

Naruto didn't know how it happened but he was fighting some ninja with nasty scars on his face. After finishing up with the last of the bandits he saw his dad getting double teamed well he wasn't going to stand for that. So he charged ahead to attack the man with the scars on him.

When he got there he started off with using his shadow clones to start things off with as usual with him. He tried to keep ahead of the man but the man was way too good and he was wishing he got those new justus down before this fight when he got out of this he would make plans to learn those two before he left the village again. He could have used his exploding clones but he was too close to his dad for that. He was grabbed by the ninja and suddenly found himself thrown into the woods while his clones kept on fighting. He would have been okay too if he hadn't had the rotten luck of being thrown into a thorn bush.

Nothing hurt more than all those little thorns at a fast speed cutting into him. Thankfully they weren't deep as he pulled himself out. "Ow, ow, ow, ow! Damn it I'm really getting pissed off with this guy...huh?"

He saw some tattered cloth on his face and pulled it, "That bastard! He ruined my mask!"

"Don't worry kid you'll not live to worry about it," Scar said looking down at the boy as the boy turned to face him the scared man suddenly looked at him in shock. With the mask gone he could see the strange marks on the boy's cheeks and with the blue eyes and yellow hair he knew who the boy was. It was the same boy from years earlier the one that had given him all those scars and ruined his career.

"You...of all the people I never thought I'd get the chance to face you again you little monster," Scar/Akira said to him growing the words out with as much hatred as was possible.

"What you saying that you know me or something?" Naruto shouted out as he threw a few kunai but the man just side stepped them glaring hatred at the boy.

"What's the matter boy don't you recognize your own handy work? You're the one that gave me these scars!"

Naruto looked at him frozen for a moment he was trying to remember where he could have done something like that but he couldn't remember anyone he had some something like that. His face looked like an animal attacked it anyway.

"Let me refresh your memory demon you remember the Hyuga girl?"

With that Naruto's eyes widened at the sudden memory of the night he had found Hinata being kidnapped. He could barely remember that night but a few things stuck out and looking at the man he thought he could see a bit of the man he met years ago but it had been so long and he had been so young back then.

'I know I hurt that guy but...I did that to him? How could I do...was it the Fox?'

"You ruined my life that night I know what you are or at least that you're not human. I saw the monster that you are that night I can't believe that the village let something like you live. All because of you I failed in my mission to get that girl."

"Why the hell did you try and take Hinata-chan anyway?" Naruto said angrily clenching his fist.

"Simple my village wanted her bloodline ability she was to be taken to Cloud and she would have been used to breed a new Hyuga line in our village and if I couldn't get her then I was prepared to just take her eyes. I'm sure that she could have survived even if blinded for the rest of her life but she most likely would have died from the pain and trauma anyway."

Naruto's teeth clenched at that, he never did find out why she had been taken but the thought of Hinata being taken and used like that filled him with rage and the thought of someone taking her eyes like that made him even more angry.

"That's it get angry boy I want to see that power again," Scar told him getting himself ready. He had waited years for this and last time he had been surprised but this time he knew what to expect and besides an angry opponent made mistakes as well so he might as well see just how far he could push the boy before he slit his throat.

He quickly moved forward faster than Naruto expected, the boy tried to fight off the man but his fighting skills weren't up to the man's level. He tried to throw punches and kicks but only ended up with them being countered and then he was hit hard in return. But no matter how many times Naruto was kicked down he never gave up he just got up and tried to go at it with more force. He created several shadow clones as he used them to try and overwhelm the man.

Scar only smirked as he started to make hand seals, "Lightning Storm!"

He shot out his hands as bolts of lightning shot out they arced and raced all over the place and his clones were hit and dispersed from the damage, the real Naruto got hit in the chest with one bolt. He felt his body stiffen as his nerves all flared up and he yelled out in pain as he was sent into a tree. He groaned trying to clear his head knowing that the man would attack him again but he had trouble feeling his body.

"Don't worry it's not permanent but you won't be able to move for a few seconds anyway more than enough time. Pity I expected more from a freak like you but I guess the last time was a fluke." Akira grinned as he slowly pulled out a kunai he wanted to enjoy this moment. He wanted the boy to suffer for everything that had happened to him since that night.

"And don't worry about your team I recognized at least two of them. The boy with that symbol on his shirt must be the last Uchiha I heard about. I'll have to make quick work or you boy to make sure they don't kill him with him I could make a deal to get back into Cloud. To have the mighty Sharingan in our possession would be something that my Kage would overlook my past actions for plus that was Kakashi Hatake out there wasn't it? There's many that would pay for the bounty on his head."

"Leave them alone," Naruto growled out trying to get up.

"As for the search pink one she's nothing special but I know of some slavers that like them young so I can at least make some money off of her that way if she lives that is."

Naruto felt the blood rushing to his ears pounding against them thinking about that, he could see his father dead on the ground, Sasuke put into some cage and Sakura being tied up and dragged off. They were his father, his family his team and he wouldn't let this man destroy it. He felt the anger rise up and with it something else he wasn't sure what it was a warm feeling like a fire inside of him but he felt stronger with it. So he let it burn and grow within him, he could start to feel his body again and he looked up enraged at the scarred man.

Scar saw the boy's eyes turn into that familiar red, those red eyes that once haunted his nightmares, "That's it show me the true monster that you are!" He lunged forth trying to stab the boy but he was a lot quicker than before and managed to move out of the way. He quickly turned to see the boy on all fours like some kind of wild animal.

"Let's finish this boy, only one of us is leaving here alive this time!" Scar yelled out as both fighters started to move towards each other.

The others had just finished up dealing with the enemy, the bandits that could still run did leaving their comrades behind them but Kakashi let them go they weren't in any shape to chase them down and besides without the ninja leaders and the bulk of their forces they weren't much of a threat anymore. He scanned the area and took stock of things he saw Sakura looked a bit pale and a little shaky when he saw the blood on her he knew she must have just killed. He looked to see Sasuke with some blood as well but he seemed to be handling things better but he wasn't sure if that was a good thing or not.

He looked around but suddenly noticed that Naruto wasn't with them, "Has anyone seen Naruto?"

Both genin looked at each other and then around and Kakashi got worried there was one ninja not accounted for. He was about to call them to start searching when they felt it, that same dark charka that Kakashi had felt before years ago. He looked to see where it was coming from and there was the sounds of battle going on. He was worried that maybe Naruto's seal had weakened or something but whatever it was Naruto was in danger.

He quickly ordered his team to start off in that direction looking for Naruto.

They ran into the forest looking for Naruto , although Sakura and Sasuke were wondering where that powerful chakra from coming from, they could feel it and it felt evil to them, then just as suddenly as it appeared the evil chakra was gone.

They broke off to search in different directions Sakura was worried for her friend and teammate after feeling that strange chakra just remembering it gave her chills and she was wondering what that missing nin had done to him and if that ninja had been the one to use that chakra.

"Naruto where are you? Are you okay?" she called out and began searching.

She quickly found the site of a battle, the trees and bushes and even the earth was damaged. She quickly looked around and nearly missed a bit of blonde hair sticking out from behind a tree.

"Naruto!" She yelled out running over to him she hoped that he was okay but what she didn't expect was the site she found. She froze in shock and horror at the scene, there was Naruto sitting by a tree looking at his hands they were covered in blood as well he had blood over his clothing too. His mask was ripped to shreds and she could see his face for the first time but she could see the haunted look on his face.

"N-Naruto are, are you okay?" she gently asked him but he didn't even react and then she saw the body of the ninja he had been fighting. She had already thrown up her stomach contents after her own first kill but this was much worse. The man's stomach was opened up like he had been eviscerated there was so much blood and all sorts of things from inside the man all over the place. She turned around and quickly fell to her knees covering her mouth as she started to dry heave.

"Naruto, Sakura are you over here?" Sasuke asked as he jumped onto the scene and he too froze at the site of Naruto's kill. He looked at the genin who looked shell shocked and he couldn't believe that Naruto had brutally killed a man like that he never knew that Naruto could be like that and from the looks of it Naruto didn't know it either.

When Kakashi got on the scene he knew that he had to help all his genin pick up the pieces the first kill was always the hardest and by the looks of it this day would live forever in them. He wished that they didn't have to experience such horror at a young age but he himself had seen this kind of death not much older than them. He would have to deal with them carefully and from the looks of it his son needed him more than ever now.

Next up Chapter 29: Aftermath