Zabuza's S.Adventures 32 (Patreon)

Zabuza’s S.Adventures
Chapter 32

-VB-

“You’re going to let your kid go on a journey? With an old guy?”

“Yes,” Kushina narrowed her eyes. “I hope you aren’t insinuating anything by calling Jiraiya ‘an old guy,’” she snapped before closing her eyes and massaging the bridge of her nose. “She needs to.”

“... If you say so,” he hummed. “Why are you telling me this?”

“Because I want you to be part of a decoy team. You will be working with a few other jounins to ‘escort’ my ‘daughter’ out of Konohagakure.”

He frowned. Why did she feel the need to have a group take a fake out of the village? He wrecked his brains a little. “It’s a distraction. A decoy. Someone’s after her.”

She nodded.

“Who?”

“Akatsuki. It is a group of powerful S-rank mercenaries and missing-ninjas who have allied with each other. Though we do not yet know the full scheme, we know that the first step of their plan involves stealing the bijuu from the Hidden Villages.”

Zabuza frowned. “What exactly do they think they can do?” he asked her. “Use it as a bargaining chip?”

“Probably, if not worse. Orochimaru used to be part of that group, so he knows that Naruko is the jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi. I am assuming that he must have told them at some point. Why else would they admit him into their group?”

“Makes sense,” he nodded slowly. “So you’re gathering a few people and making it seem like she’s being escorted elsewhere under one or another reason.”

“Yes. Officially, it will be leaked from my office that she is leaving Konohagakure and the Land of Fire for a mission to the ruins of Uzushiogakure for an excavation expedition for Uzumaki artifacts.”

Plausible enough.

“That leak would be for spies of all kind, hmm?”

“Yes. It will also help us find the holes in our security.”

“And I am supposed to be … what?”

“A bodyguard. Since her teacher is dead, I will be assigning her another one, though on a temporary basis; my little girl is already strong enough to pass for a chunin, but I am deliberately holding her promotion back for security reasons.”

“Have you told her about it?”

“I did. She isn’t as understanding as I had hoped, but I got her to go along with it.”

He nodded. “And I’m going to be a bodyguard. A bodyguard?”

“Yes. Since it is an expedition, she won’t be going alone and won’t even be that odd with a dozen others going, you included.”

“You expect me to keep dozen-plus people alive?”

“Guy is also going, so don’t you worry.”

Zabuza thought about that. Having a powerful taijutsu master like Guy would certainly make bodyguarding easier.

“And would the route the expedition will be taking be leaked as well?”

“Yes,” she hummed. “And then, mysteriously, the leader of the expedition would receive a clandestine message asking the entire group to come back before the group even leaves the Land of Fire. It would force the team back… and whoever is after my daughter would have to strike since they do not know if they will get another chance. And they will have to face me and many others I will have waiting in ambush.”

“A switch and bait. So all I have to do…”

“You are to prioritize my daughter’s safety above all else.”

“Understood.”

“Alright, you can go then. I have … half a dozen meetings before we can set the plan into motion. It’ll take at least a week before everything is set to go.”

He nodded and left. “Wish you luck.”

“Yeah. Thanks. Me too.”

-VB-

Waiting for the team to assemble took a while.

A week, to be exact, according to Kushina.

Plans had to be made, but he didn’t choose to be part of that; operational info-sec must be observed, and knowing when a counter-ambush might be pulled help since there was a possibility, however small, that he might be captured and interrogated.

In this day and age, the participant’s willingness to divulge information had very little to do with actual information extraction.

So he went back home and waited to be called to duty.

This also meant that, for a week, he finally got to spend some time with his elder son: Zuko.

He held the toddler up by his armpits, and the chubby potato sack stared at him half-sleepily and half-dazedly.

“Was I like you when I was a baby?” he asked himself before pulling Zuko back to his chest, rocking the baby, and gently pulling his hands over the baby’s face in an effort to put him to sleep.

Zuko was at the “reach for everything and put it into his mouth” phase. He wasn’t crawling yet, and Zabuza dreaded the day.

But he also dreaded the idea of not coming back home from a mission.

It would take a single kunai. A single jutsu.

And he would come back home no more.

He kept his arms and fingers from tightening around his son.

He needed to train, but for now, he was going to enjoy every single second he had with his children and women.