The left Hand of Kami

Chapter 11

Guess what? I'm alive! Now, undoubtedly, quite a few of you are pissed at me because I haven't updated in months, but I apologise. I am now in the third month of my senior year, and, me being the glutton for intellectual pain that I am, decided to take a full load of classes, even though i only had to take 5 at the most. My classes are as follows:

AP US History

Blue (Show choir ensemble)

Chemistry

Precalculus / Calc A

Concert Choir

Accounting

AP English Literature

Freight (choir ensemble)

DECA (Technical sales)

Cross Country (Runin' Rebels)

Itachi: You're simply making excuses. You've been sitting on your ass reading fanfics.

soulthief2: I have not! at least, not the entire time. I was trying to work on an original story, but I was having trouble with the beginning. I've got the middle and ending all worked out, but I am never satisfied with the hook.

Itachi: Maybe you're like F. Scott Fitzgerald. He was never truly satisfied with his work, he had dozens of drafts for a single story.

soulthief2: Yeah, well, the urge to work on it only hits me at certain times, like after I had seen Stardust. That movie gave me some great ideas.

Itachi: So you've been watching movies instead of writing!

soulthief2: Itachi, what are your views on children?

Itachi: Well, "id certainly like to have some someday. I'd name them after my favorite pocky flavors...

soulthief2: If you don't keep your gaping pie hole shut, I'm going to permanently remove any chance of you being able to procreate. Is that understood?

Itachi: Yes master...

soulthief2: Better. now, onto the story.

Disclaimer: Kishimoto-san has said that my offer, while incredibly generous, is not quite worth granting me ownership over naruto. So, all you lawyers peeking through the window at me can go away, before I grab my shotgun and start unloadin some good 'ol old west justice on your pale, vermin-like carcasses.

Naruto was not startled to learn that the Leaf/Sound war was still going on when he'd returned. He'd heard about it during his travels, and even had some missions where he was helping leaf-nins in their capturing of an enemy base, though he wasn't allowed to disclose his identity to any of them.

He was, however, shocked to note that nearly all of the Rookie 9had been promoted to chuunin, with Shikamaru and Neji reaching Jounin status. That was why, after having a few days rest, he found himself in the Hokage's tower facing a madly twitching Tsunade.

"Naruto, technically, you should have been made a chuunin after the Sound invasion, but our records were so screwed up around that time that we had no idea you actually deserved the vest until you had already left for your training mission. Here..."

She tossed him the signature green vest of the chuunin. "If you want, the jounin trials will be held here in a few months, and, as a chuunin, you don't need a team to participate in them. However, in the meantime, you'll be doing missions, mainly against the sound village. Judging by the skills you said you have, I'm putting you with a heavy assault team. Yur teammates are Tenten and Kiba, with Gai as your sensei. Take this." She handed him a scroll with the kanji for "A" on it. "That's your team's first mission. It's time sensitive, so make sure you hurry and complete it." Naruto nodded before leaving the tower.

On his way to the training grounds, he stopped by his apartment to change. Throwing his dirty clothes on the floor, he pulled on the standard jounin outfit, with his chuunin vest unfastened over that. Wrapping the bottom of his pants, he tucked them into the tops of his combat boots. grabbing his hitai-ate, he wrapped it around his upper right bicep, pulled on his custom gloves, and walked out his door, twirling Kitsune no giri twice before sheathing it.

five minutes later found him at the training grounds, where Gai and the rest of his team were staring at a map. "Gai-sensei!" The jumpsuit-clad man looked up as Naruto called him. "Ah! Naruto-kun, what brings you here?" Naruto dug the mission scroll from his pocket and tossed it to the jounin. "Tsunade-baa chan is having me join your assault team. This is our first mission, and it's time-sensitive."

Tenten sidled up to Naruto as gai read the mission. "Hey there." She purred. Naruto smiled, giving her a small hug and a quick kiss to the top of her head. "How you doing? I haven't seen you for a few days." tenten sighed. "I know. Gai-sensei has been working us a little hard these past few days, considering we're an assault team. He wants our strength and stamina to be superior to any other team's out there." Naruto chuckled.

"That's a pretty lofty goal, considering Lee's not on this team. Speaking of which, what kind of team is he on? I would have thought with his strength, he'd be on assault." Tenten shook her head. "He's working with Hinata and Shikamaru on what Lady Hokage refers to as 'aggressive reconaisance'. Basically, they scout for enemy movements and such, and, if its within their abilities, they destroy it. Hinata, with her bloodline, is good for recon, while Shikamaru can eliminate single targets quickly and effectively, and Lee can handle multiple opponents."

Naruto nodded, before turning his attention to Gai, who had closed up the mission scroll. "Alright my most youthful team, we have an a-ranked mission. Intelligence reports have come in about a new sound outpost near our borders. It is manned mainly by genin, with one or two chunin. Our mission is to destroy it, totally."

Naruto nodded, his face impassive. He had numerous missins like these during his training. Of course, he had progressed beyond them in ability, but sometimes it was nice getting a mission that didn't at least sound as if you had a better chance of dieing than not.

Kiba snorted. it didn't sound too hard. After all, he was probably tied for being the second strongest of the Rookie 9, Lee and him sharing an interesting rivalry. Naruto was, of course the strongest, a fact which never ceased to amuse him considering his former place as dead-last.

The four of them headed out quickly, setting a pace many would find brutal. Konoha was maybe 10 miles from the border they were headed to, so, it would take them a good hour to reach their objective. Naruto could have reached the target instantly, using Hiraishin, but he knew the reasons for teammates, and held back, despite the overwhlming desire to get it done as quickly as possible. It wa dangerous to think that way when you were a shinobi. Rushing things led to overlooking things, or making mistakes, both of which got people killed.

They ran in relative silence, the only sound being the wind that rushed through their ears, and the occasional rustle of leaves. quickly enough, though, they reached their destination.

Apparently the sound didn't care much for the quality of their forward outposts. The compound was little more than a camp with a perimeter wall of spiked fending. Naruto narrowed his eyes, pupils dilating to slits as his vision telescoped to scan the area. "I count 24 sound genin, 8 chunin, and two jounin. However, one jounin appears to be turning in to sleep. Most likely they have watch rotations." He paused for a few seconds before continuing, "yeah, they're on rotations. four of the chuunin and half of the genin just went to their respective tents. The perimeter is being monitored by the genin, while the upper-level shinobi are staying more towards the center. If we move quickly, we might be able to get into those tents and kill those guys in their sleep."

Gai nodded at the plan. "Tenten, you handle the genin tent, Kiba, you take the chunin. Naruto, you have the Jounin tent. Send out a chakra pulse when your task is done, then meet in the center of the camp to finish off the rest. I'll join you when I feel the pulses. Now, move!"

Naruto grinned. Doing a quick series of handseals, he fell through the ground like it was water, reappearing inside the camp just outside of the jounin tent. Looking to his left and right, he confirmed that both Kiba and Tenten were at their objectives, before cutting a hole through the material of the tent and entering it. He froze when he did.

The jounin wasn't asleep, though he was unarmed. All the same, naruto would have preferred to just simply have cut his throat while the man was sleeping. Now he was going to have to make sure the man didn't make any noise.

Silently, he creeped up behind the jounin, rubber soled boots completely noiseless in the dirt of the tent floor. He stopped when he was at the Jounin's back. Taking a slow, measured breath, he darted his left hand out, gripping the jounin's windpipe and squeezing tightly. The man wheezed, but it wasn't nearly loud enough to cay outside the tent. Setting his jaw, naruto increased the pressure he was exerting, until the sound of crunching cartilage filled the tent. The nin sagged, but still seemed to be alive. Frowning, Naruto drew a kunai, before stabbing it into the nin's head at the base of the skull. This time the nin was truly dead.

Gently lowering the body to the ground, Naruto let out a faint pulse of chakra as he divested the corpse of any weapons and items of monetary or strategic value. He was almost done when he felt two other chakra pulses. Grinning, he left the tent and charged the center of the outpost.

The sound nins didn't know what hit them. Naruto was there first, carving two genin in half with one cut, and caving the skullin of another with a booted heel. A flash of silver flew past him, and three more nins were eviscerated, as the now-crimson wires returned to Tenten. The four chunin were crushed all together when Kiba's Gatsuuga hit them dead on. Finally, Gai arrived, legs wrapped around the neck of the jounin, before he twisted and flipped, snapping the nin's neck.

Gai flashed them all a huge smile. "Well done, my youthful team! Now, let us demolish these fortifications, and we shall be on our way!" A quick katon jutsu later, and the entire outpost was in flames, the light illuminating the four figures that made their way back to Konoha.

Tsunade grinned at the mission report. "Excellent work, everyone. No doubt those losses put at least a dent in Orochimaru's forward forces. You have one day's leave before recieving your next mission. Dismissed."

Tenten and Naruto headed home together. The sun had begun to set in Konoha, turning the sky into a beautiful montage of oranges, purples, and pinks. Tenten sighed, as she put her head wearily on her boyfriend's shoulder. She had yet to inform naruto of the bet she had made with Ino, over who got got to be with him, and, truth be told, she was nervous as to what his reaction might be. Granted, most men would be thrilled to be dating two of konoha's most beautiful Kunoichi, but Naruto was not like most men.

She shook herself mentally. Those were thoughts for another time. Right now, she just wanted to focus on how nice it felt to be laying her head on Naruto's shoulder, and how good he smelled, the faint smell of metal, mixed with a tiny bit of sweat. She loved it. Not to mention, she was extremely tired, and wanted to rest her eyes for a bit...

Naruto sighed as Tenten practically collapsed on him, falling asleep as she walked. Shaking his head, he picked her up gently and made his way to his apartment, jumping through an open window that had a genjutsu on it so that it appeared to be closed. Carefully, he laid his girlfriend on his bed, and was turning to make his way to his couch, seeing as he was tired as well, but was foiled when a pair of thin arms wrapped around his waist. Looking back, he saw a still-sleeping Tenten, clutching him firmly like a giant teddy bear.

Shaking his head, he carefully removed his jacket so as to not wake her up, as well as his gloves and boots, leaving him in his pants and a black muscle shirt. Praying that he wouldn't get smacked for this later, he gently slid in next to Tenten. Closing his eyes, he smiled as his super-charged nose caught her scent: a bit of jasmine, along with some other flower he couldn't identify. As he lay there, she moved her arms from his waist up to his chest, pulling him in tightly against her. He tried valiantly to ignore the soft cushions he could feel pressing against his back.

"mmm...Ashiteru Naruto." She rested her head in the crook of his shoulder, subconsciously trying to hold him to her, so that he might never disappear again. That had been her worst nightmare, when naruto had been gone on his training trip. The nightmares would always start off pleasant, but then, naruto would always have to leave, either by summons, or just plain going shopping. But, he never showed up again. Two of her worst nightmares were where she waited by the window for him, slowly withering away to nothing, and that he disappeared in the morning for a mission, but never came back.

"Don't...leave... Naruto-kun." Naruto smiled softly, resting his chin on Tenten's head. "I won't Tenten. I promise. Ashiteru."

I know its shorter than you're used to, but I was trying to get back in the groove. Anyways, i have no idea when the next chapter will be out, as everything is really chaotic right now, but i can tell you it won't take months to update again.