I have now given this story to my editor 21x. So for anyone holding out for this story, you will get your updates. Its been fun. I do not own Naruto.

Whiskers and Lightning Chapter 15

There was a sense of calm that floated through the air as the sun fell below the high rising peaks. A veil of shadow swept across the land. Omoi and Karui were woken and a run through of the plan started to be explained, "Omoi you and I will be moving up the left taking out any guards while Naruto and Karui take the right. They switch every half hour which should be plenty of time to have wiped out the camp", Samui had purposefully left out the word kill as even now she could sense the nervousness rolling off them.

The academy had somewhat prepared them for taking their first life specifically taking out students one at a time to talk to them about it. The teachers had all talked in depth of the ethics, but when it came down to it the teachers seemed to reinforce the same messages. Killing is fundamental in ninja life; you will kill to save the lives of your comrades but most of all the good of your village. There was also emphasis on guilt. Guilt was a tricky thing to explain to the students because there was no way around it. It was common for ninja to lose their resolve to guilt and in some cases end their own lives due to the amount they had accumulated over their career. Explaining to mere children that sometimes it's necessary to kill and that they shouldn't blame themselves, but to trust the raikage wouldn't let them on missions he didn't approve of was questionable in itself. It all started to feel like propaganda to them.

Naruto on the way to the camp had shared more about his past to his other team members. His aim was to hopefully crush the hesitation for when the time came. Now that he knew more about the camp though he found it easy to relate his past with the task at hand and wondered if the other members had as well. Their reactions to his story had been expected. Omoi looked down sadly and offered Naruto the opportunity to talk if he ever had something to get off his chest. Naruto found the boy to actually be quite intelligent, if you could get the boy to focus on something other than potentially dangerous outcomes.

Karui had held on to Naruto tightly holding back tears at the sheer sadness of his memory. He had to constantly reassure her that he was fine and that he had dealt with it a long time ago. It was nice for him to see and feel such open acts of concern towards himself. It was only made better that it was coming from her. She had started off rough around the edges, but had warmed up as he had made it past her defenses. Karui held a strong front but could be just as insecure as any girl once she let you see past her bravado. The carrot top couldn't believe how much closer they had all come in such a short time.

"After we each take out our marks we will precede forward. Omoi and I will take out the smaller tents and any wandering bandits while Karui and Naruto will clear out the big tent. Because their only bandits stealth shouldn't be hard to maintain and there are only twenty in the camp right now. Still be on guard and wary of traps as from this point on anything could happen. Either Naruto or I will use our signal flare if something goes wrong or we need assistance. We will rendezvous at the designated spot after. Are we clear?", Samui said.

This was an easy mission. They had the tactical advantages and she believed her young charges were more than capable of this task. All she could do now was hope she hadn't missed any factors or that something unlikely wouldn't happen. It was a shame Naruto hadn't taken a closer look at some of the bodies or he might have noticed the hitai-ate adorned on a few of them.

...

Team Samui moved silently towards the camp before splitting up behind a group of boulders. Naruto felt something akin to excitement as he approached his first target. The Kyuubi was also stirring at the sensations he could feel from Naruto as he stalked his first victim. Slowly unsheathing one of his blades the red head crept forward until he was right behind the man. The man was tall but by no means bulky. Quickly kicking him in the back of the knee the man was brought down onto one of them. Naruto's hand was already covering his mouth and he sunk the blade down next to his shoulder and right into the heart.

The muffled scream disappeared as quickly as it came and the boy started dragging the body out of sight behind some rocks. Karui was at first mortified at the sheer efficiency Naruto had shown with the kill, but then when the shock wore off she faced the reality that soon it would be her in the same position. After cleaning his blade and sheathing it he looked up only see the fear in her eyes as she looked at him. He knew what he was doing was right, but her frightened stare was off putting. Of all the people he never wanted her to give him that look. She was supposed to feel safe with him not be afraid. There was nothing he could do now though as they were on a mission and he couldn't stop now.

When she realised why he turned away so quickly she hugged him before whispering, "I'll get the next one", she talked big but they both knew that she had struggled just to get the courage to say it. He squeezed her tight before releasing and she took the lead. It was less than a minute later that they came across the last guard. This man was shorter but he was slightly overweight and didn't seem particularly attentive. Karui started making her way forward with a Kunai in hand instead of her long sword.

When she was a few steps from the man one of the rocks she was standing on crumbled under her weight slightly and made a crunching sound. The man was awoken from his thoughts and turned around reaching for his blade. Karui seeing the man starting to turn froze as adrenalin started to pump through her body. As soon as she saw his eyes widen she instinctively through the kunai without a thought.

The kunai had gone straight into the man's throat. Blood started pouring out and gurgling noises could be heard as the man tried to breath before he collapsed to the ground. Suddenly another kunai appeared in his forehead as Naruto had not wanted Karui to suffer the sight of her first kill struggling in pain. It would be haunting enough without the graphic sight of the man clinging to life with such a severe wound. Once again Naruto hid the body before coming back giving his best attempt at a reassuring smile. He could see the distress in her eyes at what had happened and kissed her ignoring the taste of the man's blood on her lip.

There were small dots of blood on her from where she had sprayed before the man collapsed. She suddenly relaxed in his arms and he was happy that he could provide this small bit of comfort when he was needed. He however had to cut their moment short and broke the kiss before starting to move towards the main tent.

With Samui and Omoi it was going just as well. After taking out the two guards they had started entering the smaller and scattered tents. Omoi was handling his kill pretty well. It had been a quick and clean severing of the spinal cord instantly killing the man. He had put it in the back of his mind so he could think on it at a more appropriate time. Samui was proud of how her team was doing on their first C rank mission from what she could tell. She couldn't wait to report how well they did to the raikage when this was over. Her thoughts were stopped dead in their tracks as she walked into the next tent.

There were locked chests, weapons, ryo and a few bloody Kumo hitai-ate. This sent alarm bells off in her head immediately. These were supposed to be nothing more than bandits and it was very unlikely they had managed to get the drop on trained ninja. Even genin would have a jonin sensei with them. That could only mean one thing. Suddenly the feel of youki appeared and she heard a loud roar coming from the main tent. She found herself running in the direction of it when a man slammed through the side of the tent quickly followed by Naruto who proceeded to use chakra arms to lift him into the air before slamming him on the ground repetitively.

A few minutes earlier with Naruto and Karui

Entering the tent they quickly and quietly started dispatching the occupants in the room when a voice suddenly spoke. By this point there was only the one man left who was on a bed lying on his side not facing them, "How did you find my work outside?", was all he said in a cheery yet polite tone. Naruto was disgusted, how could this man talk about all these murders as if they were art? Images of the piles of bodies outside filled his mind and he felt the almost warm sensation of fury start spreading through his limbs. It wasn't the Kyuubi though.

Suddenly the man turned over and the two genin jumped back at the sudden movement ready to defend, "Oh they sent mere children, how disappointing. Perhaps a fitting end, being killed by the new generation of killers", the man seemed to muse out loud. He looked around the age of forty with short black hair. As he slowly stood he was very slender looking and had strange blood red eyes.

"A man can live his life following orders with no recognition, but as soon as you kill enough people you can get known throughout the nation in days. I used to think killers were stupid. Messed up people taking out their pain on the world. No it's these so called "maniacs" who had it right. Immortality through death, brilliant", the man had spoken as if in realisation. Naruto had had enough, "Shut up! You will pay everything you have done! These were innocent people what right did you have to take their lives away?", Naruto said trying to get a hold on his emotions. This thing in front of him made him sick and all he wanted to do was charge in. Karui was here though so he couldn't afford to be reckless.

The man before him just smiled, "I have lived many years, perhaps longer than I should have, but for all the years I served the raikage I never got thanked. Never a "good job" or a "nice going". The men you just slew however could recognise my art. As to what right I have to kill these people? When did a painter have to earn his right to paint, or a writer have to earn his right to write? We all leave our marks on the world. As much as I liked the idea of dying by the hand of the next generation I think I'll add you to my collection instead", the man said before disappearing. Naruto could track the man, but with his weights on and without the Kyuubi's chakra he couldn't stop him from reaching Karui first. Time slowed as he saw the kunai heading for Karui's side. It was like torture watching it approaching her side with nothing he could do about it.

Karui suddenly found herself in immense pain and moving through the air before colliding into something behind her. As soon as Naruto had caught her he lowered her to the ground. Both looked into each others eyes as she realised what had just happened. Tears of both pain and sadness started to roll down her cheek. Just as her and Naruto were getting close it seemed life had decided to pull her away. Each of Naruto's tears could be felt on her face and the warm red liquid was now dripping from his hands as did his best to patch up the wound whilst applying pressure. Naruto noticed her trying to speak and leant down, "I guess that date w-will have to wait", she managed out in struggled breaths. Something in Naruto started to break. Seeing the girl he had gotten close with looking so defeated hurt him more than a kunai could.

This was supposed to be a C rank mission. I couldn't help her when she needed me. Why did this have to happen now? Why did this have to happen at all? IT'S NOT FAIR! Naruto was raging in his mind. As he sat over her he felt as if he was holding sand and all he could do was watch it slip through his grasp no matter how hard he tried to hold onto it.

Naruto couldn't think as he saw her suddenly slip into unconsciousness. That was until he heard the laughter from the man who had done this, "Art", was all he said before his laughter abruptly stopped. Two tails had appeared behind Naruto and the red malevolent started bubbling around him, "You, YOU WILL PAY. AAAAAAAAAAARRRRGGGGGGGGHHHHH HHHHHHHHHHH", the Kyuubi influenced boy yelled out.

A solid chakra fist hit the man before he could tell what was happening which was quickly followed by being slammed to the ground. To his credit the man held his consciousness up to the third time he was thrown into the rock. Only the thought of giving him to the Torture and information unit back in Kumo stopped him from killing the man outright. When the tails receded Naruto noticed the other two members standing close by.

It didn't matter though. What did matter was seeing how Karui was doing and it took him seconds to reach her again. There was so much blood on the ground. Naruto started to panic as he quickly brought her to Samui as delicately as he could. Samui's heart broke at the look on his face. He was so distressed that he couldn't keep still and tears continued to fall even as Samui checked the wound.

Samui immediately gave her a blood pill before starting the mystical palm jutsu. Naruto felt helpless as he watched on as the now dull and lifeless body slowly started to look better, "I'm not a medic but I managed to stabilize her for now. We need to go very soon so pick up everything we need because we will be heading out ASAP", Samui said.

Omoi headed back to camp to start packing up while Naruto started making a stretcher out of the tents and other equipment. When Naruto returned with the make-shift stretcher Karui was lifted onto the stretcher while Samui told Naruto his little patch job may have saved her life. That and the man had seemed to have missed anywhere vital. This made Naruto feel much better, but then why had the man not killed her? Was it an attempt to make him use lethal force?

After Omoi came back with everything they headed out keeping a modest pace. It would be another four days ahead of them before they could get Karui medical treatment. Naruto was angry at himself for letting it happen. He knew he couldn't have done anything, but this was not something he was going to let happen twice.

The trip back was mostly in silence, but because of the injured member they had to stick to traversing the valleys. Karui was had improved along the journey but only slightly and had even woken up. Samui had made her rest though knowing it would benefit her a whole lot more than her staying awake. The pain was evident for the few moments she did wake and it only further strengthened Naruto's resolve to increase in strength.

...

Upon arrival at the village she was immediately taken to the hospital and seen to. The damage was easily mended and she wouldn't have to stay for more than a few weeks. Naruto stayed with her as she slept. He didn't plan on leaving her side until the nurses forced him to leave her.

Omoi had taken the prisoner they had captured on the mission to the raikage's building and was promptly taken off his hands by a chunin. After that he went to join Naruto to check on Karui's condition.

With Samui she had left shortly after Karui was admitted to the hospital knowing she had a report to make. She was sent in on arrival and was asked to sit by A, "I hear you brought back a prisoner from your C rank mission. One Doka Midufo B rank nukenin. What happened?", asked the raikage gruffly.

"After we had started eliminating the bandits the team split off and we were all taking out our objectives. Naruto and Karui were almost finished clearing out the main tent when Doka revealed himself. Apparently he has been killing people from the surrounding lands and even a few of our ninja. I found some Kumo hitai-ate, but I'm sure there are probably more around that area. Doka attacked Karui before Naruto could stop him. After that Naruto unleashed two tails and attacked the man to unconsciousness, but he did keep him alive in case you would like to try getting some information from him. Karui had a potentially lethal injury and we were forced to retreat before we could get a good look around", Samui told the raikage.

After a small moment of thought A decided that was all he wanted to know for now. Samui was dismissed and a cleanup squad called in for briefing. If they were lucky he would now be able to identify some of the ninja that were M.I.A.

Some time had passed and Naruto was forced out of the hospital room along with Omoi. They weren't worried anymore but did want to be there for when she awoke. They lived in different directions and despite this Naruto walked with Omoi anyway. With the current drama subsided Omoi had remembered his first kill, but after the mission he felt things had been put in perspective. It wasn't that Omoi enjoyed killing he had just learned to tolerate it.

Arriving home himself Naruto went straight to bed too exhausted to do anything but sleep. Unconsciousness would be his sweet release and bring him even closer to seeing Karui again. With the pleasant thought in mind Naruto drifted off.

...

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