Zabuza's S.Adventures 33 (Patreon)

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Zabuza’s S.Adventures
Chapter 33

-VB-

Zabuza met Uzumaki Naruko long after their farewell at the Land of Waves.

Sure, they might be of the same village, but both sides had their works and issues. For him, it was starting a family. For her, it was being a Jinchuuriki.

“... I can’t believe mom got you to act as a decoy for me,” the brat puffed in exasperation.

“What? You think I can’t do the job?” he asked her flatly.

“No! No, no. It’s, umm, just awkward.”

He raised an eyebrow. “What’s there to be awkward about?” he asked again.

“Just … a lot of things changed when I ran into you, and a lot of things are changing just as I won’t be seeing you and the rest of the village for a long time.”

“... I’m sorry, but I already have a wife and two mistresses.”

She did a spit-take. “Sick bastard! That’s not what I’m talking about!”

He laughed.

“Quiet. The meeting will be starting soon.”

Zabuza looked forward and saw one of a less familiar jounin in a seat in front of him. Shrugging, he let it go because the meeting was indeed about to start.

-VB-

Asuma didn’t consider himself a strategician.

He did, however, consider himself a tactician.

“How would having a larger bait group work in successfully luring out our enemies?” he asked when the jounin commander and the Hokage asked the jounins to speak their thoughts on the campaign. “I believe that having a smaller team with a strong leader would be more beneficial than having one strong and one moderate team leader to guide two teams.”

“Explain your reasoning, Jounin Sarutobi,” Hokage asked him.

“Hai. The plan currently employs Jounin Momoichi as the main team leader of the bait team. However, the second leader, Jounin Tahatake, does no possess the strength necessary to keep an S-rank at bay.”

“Thank you for saying that, Asuma-san,” the freckled and shorted Jounin Mahatake chipped in. “I agree with him here. My specialty may be ninjutsu, but I am horrible when it comes to defending objectives.”

Hokage raised an eyebrow. “This is coming from the man with one of the highest success ratios for escort missions?”

Tahatake nodded. “That’s because I knew the environment and my enemies thanks to our village’s information network and my own scouting. However, we will be fighting S-rank missing-nin and mercenaries. We don’t even know which one will show up because the information, as you have put it Hokage-sama, is unavailable. Now, I am all for fighting and being underestimated gives me a better chance than most, but against S-ranks, I can’t hold my ground.”

Jounin Commander Nara Shikaku hummed.

Asuma, who knew the more in-depth information on the operation, knew that the commander and the Hokage was not revealing the fact that Uzumaki Naruko would not actually be traveling with them, but rather Yuhi Kurenai, his girlfriend.

Now, he hated the fact that she was being used as a bait, but as the premier illusion mistress, there was no one better to fool their enemy.

Besides, he would be but only a single summoning scroll away from helping her.

The commander was probably thinking about how to reply, or merely showing himself to be thinking when in actuality letting the time pass to make himself look as if he’s thinking.

No one quite knew what went on inside the Nara’s head.

The commander shared what looked like a planned glance with the Hokage, who nodded.

“Very well, then. We shall decrease the size of the bait squad. To compensate, we will have Jounin Yuhi take the place of one of the disguised genins.”

This was also a bait within a bait. If there was a spy among them (as horrible as that thought was, intrigue was the norm for the hidden ninja villages), then this information would make its way to the enemy, whom even he did not know about.

‘But then again, anyone willing to attack Konohagakure for its jinchuuriki is not smart or a sane,’ he thought to himself.

-VB-

Naruko stared blankly as the jounins and select chunins allowed into the meeting filed out.

Then she turned to Momoichi again.

She admitted that she found herself surprised when she learned about how he had become a loyal, if indirectly, ninja of Konohagakure. It was clear that he had little loyalty to the core ideas about the village itself but rather what its people could do for him and his growing family.

Which was a rumor mill on its own. Two students-turned-mistresses and a prisoner?

Sure, it got all sorts of people talking, but it was their business.

Hell, it wasn’t even the biggest scandal.

The biggest one was how loud Gai and Mei got.

She shuddered.

“So!” she spoke up, trying in vain to get that memory out of her head.

Zabuza turned to look at her. “What?”

She grinned. “Get some of those guys for me, yeah? I can’t be there to kick their ass.”

He snorted. He snorted!

“What?” she hissed.

“Go and get better so you can do it yourself.”

“Exactly!”

“Because you are too weak for a jinchuuriki.”

Urk.

She glared at him as he smirked at her.

“Let me put it this way. If you can’t master that power within the year, then you’ll be dragging the rest of the village down with you,” he added.

She knew that. He didn’t need to say it.

“I know.”

“Then get better.”

She will.

And she was going to show this arrogant bastard. Just wait and see! When she came back from her training, she was going to kick his ass!

“Uh huh.”

She blinked.

“... I said that out loud.”

“Yes. Yes, you did.”

Urk.