Naruto Fanfic: The Crimson Flash

Chapter 2: Mizu no Kuni part 1

2 years later

Sarutobi Hiruzen took a huge puff of smoke from his pipe as he looked outside towards Konoha from his tower. By the exterior look and feel, not much had changed in the hidden village in the last two years, however the Sandaime Hokage knew that a lot had changed. The Uchiha Massacre had been a diplomatic and military disaster for Konoha. No matter how much Danzo exclaimed that the Uchiha Massacre was a victory for the village, Koharu, Homura and he, himself knew that the otherwise was the truth.

The Sandaime sighed as he thought about what had transpired after the massacre. Suna had sent a formal letter of condolence. Kiri had sent a few words of delight at the end of a bloodline clan. Iwa and Kumo were neutral. Whilst they loved their bloodlines and held them dear to their hearts, they knew that the Uchiha clan massacre would deal a blow to the Konoha Shinobi Corps. The civilians had been outraged at the end of a prestigious clan. Riots had ensued for weeks after the massacre to kill Itachi. The various Shinobi clans all differed in their response to the massacre. Old enemies of the Uchiha clan such as the Kurama clan, Hyuga clan had sneered at the massacre whilst other clans such as Nara, Yamanaka, Akimichi had sent messages of condolences throughout the village.

On the personal level, Hiruzen knew that Itachi had surrendered himself to a half-life full of misery and torment, all just for his village. Hiruzen felt proud that Itachi bore such a great and passionate Will of Fire within him, however he mourned for the life he would lead. Little Sasuke Uchiha who was once the smiling face of the Uchiha clan had become so cold and held so much anger within him. Hiruzen knew that one day that anger would not continue to be bottled up and would explode on their faces, but for now there was nothing he could do. However, the two most affected by the massacre were Uzumaki Naruto and Hatake Kakashi. Kakashi had seen himself a potential to become a teacher like his sensei before him and had taught Itachi many tricks, and techniques. Seeing his techniques being used for such a horrendous act had left Kakashi guilt ridden. While Kakashi was scorned by the majority of the Uchiha clan because of his sharingan, Kushina had best of friends with Uchiha Mikoto, who was also the favorite older sister of Obito and through Kushina had developed a good relationship with Uchiha Mikoto. Her death also hit Kakashi deeply. His already huge wound from the deaths of Obito, Rin, Minato, Kushina were now made deeper by the massacre and the death of Mikoto and 'defection' of Itachi.

Naruto…Now Naruto was a whole another case. He had held Itachi and Shishui, especially Shishui, with such high regard and knew that till Shishui's last breath, he had been a hero of Konoha. He strove to become like him. Within three months of the massacre, Naruto had graduated from the academy, much to the disgust of the civilians and some shinobi at the prospect of the 'kyuubi child' being a prodigy. However unlike most genins, who would go to a Jonin sensei and team, Naruto's talents had been picked up by Ryu, the Anbu Commander. Ryu had demanded that Naruto be handed over to ANBU, and while Hiruzen had not wished for Naruto to joined ANBU; the horrors that the ANBU went through was well known; the boy himself wished to join ANBU and there was nothing Hiruzen could do to stop him from joining the ANBU. Ryu and after much convincing, Inu(Kakashi) had trained Naruto who had adopted the ANBU mask Kitsune and after about a year, Naruto started to take B-rank missions and the occasional A-rank.

Hiruzen let a large tendril of air escape his nasal cavity as he set his pipe down on his desk and turned back towards the paperwork. Like all Kage he found paperwork to be one of the most hated parts of being a Kage, however it was an important part of the job, and that meant that he could not just overlook the important papers.

However one particular report from a spy from Mizu no Kuni caught his eye.

X.X.X

Kitsune sat still in the Anbu headquarters lounge as he read through a tourism magazine about Hi no Kuni. The other anbu members simply walked past him or sat down on the main couch without giving him a side glance. To be fair, this was exactly as Naruto liked it, however the occasional conversation might have been a nice relieve. It had been a week since he and his team had returned after a B-rank mission in Akuma no Kuni (Land of Demons). The team had been given a week off after the mission. Speaking about his team he could see that all of them were currently at their home and either relaxing or socializing.

Hayate (Okami) was probably with Yugao (Neko). Tenzo (Kuma) was probably relaxing in his home and Hana (Haundo) was probably in her clan compound with her family. Kakashi (Inu) was probably with Asuma, Gai and Kurenai. Naruto was about to get up when another anbu simply appeared in front of him and handed him a scroll before disappearing again. This was common practice within the anbu. The commander would simply order another anbu to give a scroll to a designated team. Naruto shook his head to regain his bearings before opening the small scroll.

Kitsune, your team, Team 50 has been called by the Hokage, Report to him sharply within 20 minutes. Your team Captain Inu will explain the new mission parameters to you alongside the Hokage.

-Ryu.

Naruto rubbed his eyes as he read the scroll. Well, a new mission was a new mission. His hand drifted towards his belt where his mask lay. He took it and looked at it. A kitsune, a fox…he chuckled. Well considering he was the Jinchuriki of the Kyubi no Yoko, was it a surprise that he took the mask of the fox when he joined anbu? He quickly lifted his headband up to reveal his hidden left eye with the sharingan tomoes swirling briefly, he adorned the mask. He checked himself.

"15 Kunai. Check. 25 shuriken. Check. 1 chokuto. Check. 100 meters of chakra wire. Check. Anbu gear. Check. Well lets go then." With that Naruto used the body flicker to go to the Hokage Tower.

Within a minute was kneeling before the Hokage, or Jiji as he called him in private alongside the other members of his team. Inu was the only one standing upright. The Hokage eyed them all once before speaking up. "Stand."

The four anbu operatives on the floor immediately stood upright as they looked at the attentively. The Sandaime stood up as he took out a file with the Seal of Tridents. The Seal of Tridents was the seal used on the most classified and secret documents of Konoha. If a file bearing the Seal of Tridents was required for this mission, then it was highly likely that this mission would not be an ordinary one. Well, at least ordinary by the standards of the ANBU.

The Sandaime immediately gave the file to Kuma and looked at the team once more. "This mission that is going to be assigned to you 5 is an S-rank mission and thus should be gone through with care and proper thinking."

Naruto could hear the inhaled air from his teammates. He couldn't blame them. This was going to be their team's first S-rank mission, and in the ANBU it was considered to be some kind of hallmark. Hiruzen looked over to the ANBU once more before speaking. "One of the spies planted in Mizu no Kuni was Hira Ishi, who would later on become the head Healer of the Kiri Healer Corps after the end of the Third Great Shinobi War. Apparently last month he conducted a health examine of the Yondaime Mizukage Yagura. The results were…interesting to say the least."

"It seems that the Yondaime Mizukage has been under a very strong genjutsu for the past 5 to 6 years during which not one health examination was taken according to Ishi. Ishi has reason to believe that the Kiri Civil War that the Yagura began is because of this genjutsu and not his own free will." Hiruzen said as he took a puff of smoke.

While the anbu gave no outward reaction, all of them were shaking with disbelief in the inside. Naruto himself was shaking with disbelief. Yagura of the Sanbi, believed to be the strongest Mizukage after the Shodai Mizukage, was under a genjutsu all along? And this genjutsu was the one which had instigated the Kiri Civil War to eliminate all bloodline clans living in Mizu no Kuni? Who could have been the one to control the genjutsu?

Hiruzen himself was very troubled by the news he received through the report. He knew that on the battlefield, Yagura could push him to his extreme even if he were in his prime. Yagura was already very dangerous when not using his bijuu's powers. He held a multitude of Suiton ninjutsu under his belt and used a crafty style of employing genjutsu alongside his suiton and staff. With his bijuu, he was undoubtedly one of the strongest ninja on the planet. To have omeone such as Yagura under a genjutsu….the thought was terrifying.

"The civil war in Kiri has affected Hi no Kuni badly. Refugees flood in. The result of sea battles come up onto our shores and our trade efficiency to the east across the ocean has been reduced because of going around the short route through Mizu no Kuni which adds about 25 days of travel to the merchant ships. Their navy has also come very close to breaching our waters. This overall has caused a Refugee, Economic and Trade Crisis that cannot be allowed to stand. Is that understood?" He continued speaking after he saw the anbu operatives nod. "Your objectives in this mission is pretty straightforward. Infiltrate Kiri. Meet up with Ishi and the Rebel faction. Then infiltrate the Mizukage Mansion and free Yagura of the genjutsu. After that the mission can have various diverging paths. Should he stop the war, we can be able to create and foster a new bright era of friendship between our villages and save the bloodline clans of Mizu no Kuni. Or….well, if he doesn't do that, then your mission will be to extract the Sanbi into something else, then assassinate him and install the leader of the Rebel faction onto the seat of the Mizukage."

The anbu operatives nodded once more. Hiruzen sighed as he pinched his eyebrows before saying "You have one hour before your team leaves."

With that the six man team disappeared into the wind.

X.X.X

For the past three days Team 50 had been travelling through Hi no Kuni. They were headed towards the east coast. Or in particular, the city of Faiapoto, a major port city in the eastern coast of Hi no Kuni and also one of the major bases of His Hokage's Royal Navy (HHRN). The mission was a S-rank mission and the adrenaline was present in all of them, even within Kuma and Inu, who had taken multitudes of S-rank missions before. After a few minites the city of Faiapoto finally came into view. Inu looked at his team and gestured the military port. His team nodded. They all disappeared and reappeared in front of the military dockyard as the Konoha ninja stationed there immediately stopped them.

"What is your purpose here?"

Inu simply handed him a scroll. The ninja quickly opened the scroll and skimmed through the scroll. The ninja hummed and nodded as he kept the scroll in his pocket and looked at the team. "Very well, you six need transport into Mizu no Kuni as order by Hokage-sama. It would be pretty bad for diplomatic relations if a Konoha warship entered Kiri waters, so the best bet would be to send you in via civilian ships. However because of the war, ships come in, not go out. You would have to go through the Refugee Inc. ships. I will arrange them to take you. The next ship leaves in approximately two hours. Meet me here then."

Inu nodded as he looked at his team and said "We will go over the mission once again and plan. These two hours must be our planning time, because once we are inside Mizu no Kuni we will get no luxury of free time."

The ninja nodded as he ushered them inside the building. He promptly left to arrange their presence on the ship. Inu quickly took out a map of Mizu no Kuni and laid it on the table. Some border shores like that of the shores of kaminari no kuni and Hi no kuni were shown in the map as well. Inu pointed at the small dot that represented Faiapoto. "We are over here. The ship voyage that we will enter in two hours according to that man is heading towards the main isle of Mizu no Kuni, Oki. It will dock at the capital of Mizu no Kuni, Miyako. The voyage will last for approximately about 11 hours. From Miyako, Kirigakure is two days on shinobi footing. From there we will do as Hokage-sama ordered us."

"Fine. However the island will be sprawling with Kiri ninja and rebel faction shinobi. What do we do about them?" Neko asked as she pushed her purple hair out of her mask. Inu looked at Kuma who nodded. "We will use restraining force at first however if it becomes necessary we will use fatal force on the Kiri ninja. We will however use simple restraining force if rebel shinobi attack us, because we are technically allied to them at the moment."

Neko nodded as she received her answer. Haundo shifted in her seat as she asked "How are we to enter the village? Because of the civil war, Kiri ANBU will be at high alert at all times."

Kuma nodded at the question. "A valid question. Ishi will meet up with us at the village of Soba which is two hours away from Kirigakure. He will be our ticket into Kirigakure no Sato."

"Very well. That leaves the Mizugakure Mansion. We cannot rule out the possibility of the one casting the genjutsu to not be there. If it comes to it, there will be a battle, which will draw in the Kiri shinobi. What are we going to do about such a possible scenario?" Okami asked while twirling a kunai in his hand.

"The possibility, like you said is high." Inu nodded. "We will also meet the rebel faction head in Sabo. We will organize an assault of the village with a signal if such a scenario arises."

"How are we to break the genjutsu? If what we know is true, well this genjutsu was able to subjugate a kage who is known to be strong against genjutsu. We already know its going to be one hard genjutsu to crack." Naruto voiced up.

Inu looked at him and nodded again. "Indeed. To break the genjutsu, it is highly probable that we will have to use our…..eye talents shall we say Kitsune."

Naruto nodded as his left eye twitched slightly. Even after two years, the eye that had been given to him by Shishui seemed like a dream to him. He hadn't used the eyes for real combat in a long time. There had been some a-rank missions in which he had to use the eye, however a subtle genjutsu made the sharingan eye look like his normal eye, so the truth of his eye had never got out to anyone except his team, the Hokage and Dr. Yakushi at the hospital. He sighed as he placed his hands back on his lap leaping over the thoughts of either Shishui or his shraingan eye.

Yugao craned her neck slightly as she saw the shinobi who left them in the building come towards them. The shinobi entered the room they were residing in and said "Well, it seems you are in luck. A ship sails for Miyako in exactly ten minutes. Chop, chop, its time to go and complete a mission."

X.X.X

2 days later

Team 50 of the Konoha ANBU were currently sitting in a table in a pub in the village of Sabo, waiting for their spy to come in with the head of the rebel faction of the Kiri Civil War. All of the Konoha ANBU in their civilian disguises sat stiffly. This was a problem of spies universally. You could never tell if they were truly on your side and there was a possibility that Ishi would bring down the full wrath of the Mizukage down upon them.

However their fears seemed without cause as a middle-aged person with brown hair, dark black eyes and a slight lean posture came upto them and sat down on one of the chairs surrounding their table. They all sat quietly as soon a woman in her mid-twenties with auburn red hair and green eyes strode in alongside a swordsman with a zanbatou slung across his back and a feminine looking boy wearing a kimono. All three sat down on the remaining three chairs surrounding their table. Inu spoke first. "So, it seems that you upheld the vow, Ishi."

"I did, ANBU-san." Ishi replied curtly as his eyes swept from each anbu to the other. The auburn haired woman spoke up next. "I am Terumi Mei, the clan leader of the Terumi Clan and also the leader of the Rebel Faction of the Kirigakure Civil War. The swordsman beside me is Momochi Zabuza, and the boy next to him his Yuki Haku. They are two of my 4 most trusted confidants."

"Two of your four? Where are the other two?" Neko asked curiously.

"At the frontlines." Mei replied succinctly.

"Well, as much as this cold atmosphere is somewhat amusing, we must now start planning. Ishi, what is your plan on sneaking us into Kirigakure?" Inu asked lightly as he twirled with a senbon in his hand.

Ishi coughed to clear his throat before answering the question. "Well, during the founding era of Kirigakure, a multitude of underground tunnels were madeto make flood water pass harmlessly under the village. However, since then, the tide of the ocean and the sea has changed and floods come into the tunnels maybe once or twice a decade, causing the tunnels to be unguarded and unsupervised. From there I can lead you into the heart of the village."

Inu raised an eyebrow. "The tunnels connect into Kirigakure?"

"Yes. There are some viaducts and tunnels that connect into Kiri." Ishi replied shortly.

Inu nodded before looking at Mei. "There is a very probable scenario that open hostilities will begin in our mission and we need the help of the rebel faction. I ask of you to stage an assault on some parts of the village to distract the shinobi."

Mei nodded as she looked at Zabuza. Zabuza nodded as he asked "What is the signal that you are going to use on such a scenario?"

"A cawing a few hundred crows." Kakashi replied tersely as he looked at the official missing-nin. Zabuza nodded as he motioned Haku who nodded back in return and disappeared. "She has simply gone to ready our forces."

Ishi sighed as he stood up and said "Well that concludes this small meeting of ours. Zabuza-san, Mei-san you can return to your base and start readying up the assault. Now I believe it is my duty to lead you into the heart of Kirigakure no Sato."

X.X.X

Soon they were normal civilians walking down the main lane in Kirigakure no Sato. Team 50 looked distinctly like normal civilians of Mizu no Kuni and not one civilian bat their eyelids at them. However what they needed to be careful was of the shinobi. All of the ANBU were ruthlessly suppressing their chakra so that they could appear like that of a civilian if a sensor ninja picked them up. Ishi had long ago left them and had gone back to Kiri hospital so that his disappearance would not look suspicious (he had been absent for a long period of time).

After a few minutes they stopped.

They were right in front of the Mansion of Water, the abode of the Mizukage.

END OF CHAPTER