Hiruzen had suspicions about Tazuna's trickery. It was confirmed when a patrol of Anbu had picked up the Demon Brothers and an encrypted note from Kurenai. He didn't send a team after them. He had sent that team intentionally. Every Team 7 of the past had always been tempered by the fires of combat and the sorrows of loss, this one would be no different. The team had important village resources on it, but holding back said resources from growing only hurt Konoha.
If the team members struggled then they would succeed. Just as the Uchiha had found talent after his family died and the Uzumaki found drive from wanting to push out abuse. The Hyuuga had found her own drive as a result of her desire to protect. They may hate him for what he's done. But some day they will see that what he does is for both their own good and the good of the village.
Kurenai was a similar case. He had to force her away from the girl. Her talent was going to waste raising the child. She had stagnated for three years and only grown stronger once the redhead was out of her life. She would have already been S-rank if she didn't waste time raising a child that wasn't even her own. But of course those who he helped never saw it that way. They always saw him as trying to ruin their lives. Can't they tell he loves them as he does his own family. For every leaf on the great tree is connected by the mighty branches that hold them aloft. Just as those branches are supported by the trunk and the roots.
His thoughts turn to his eldest son. The boy had started to focus all his attention on his team. He had nothing left but them. He knew his son would be unable to resist the money Kurenai was sending Haruka. It's why he chose him to deliver it. Everything he did he did for Konoha. He had secured the strength of another team. Even if it meant sacrificing his own son. Yes they might hate him, but he was doing what was right for everybody. All was well in his vision of the leaf. The mighty tree would continue to stand strong.
***
The genin were gaping. This was the most impressive thing they had ever seen. The bridge was so large and went so far into the distance that they couldn't even see the end of it. It had just come into view from the tiny boat they were riding on. They turn towards Tazuna. He quietly says.
"I'm not a master bridge builder for nothing." They nod dumbly. Many sited the Hokage monument as being the most impressive thing in the Elemental Nations, mostly Konoha residents, but this outclassed it by far. This is the type of thing that would go down in history as a feat of human ingenuity. Suffice to say the kids were impressed.
The rest of the boat ride goes by in silence. Normally the group would make chatter but they are going out of their way to make sure they're as stealthy as possible. Hinata is still observing the surroundings with her Byakugan but so far she can't spot anything. It doesn't take long for them to arrive on shore.
It was misty on the small island. "Hinata does the mist have chakra?" They had been against missing nin from Kiri earlier so there was a fair chance that the mist might have been caused by another missing nin from Kiri.
"No Kurenai-sensei, this is normal mist." No matter how hard she looked at it she couldn't find even trace amounts of chakra so it had to be.
"It gets pretty misty in the spring here." Tazuna adds helpfully. Then he goes on to say, "It will probably clear up soon."
"I see." That's annoying, that makes it so much easier for their enemies to hide. She wasn't sure if there would be multiple or just the woman she was told about.
As they walk Hinata was noticing something increasingly odd. At first she thought it was her imagination, but now she was sure of it. "Kurenai there seems to be random traces of chakra that are increasing in regularity."
"Everyone be on your guard. We don't know what kind of Jutsu this is." She was tempted to have Hinata check but if it was some kind of trap Jutsu it could get the girl killed. So she had them continue as they are.
Haruka was having a weirdly hard time focusing on what's going on. Ever since they had landed on the island nation she had felt a weird pull to the north-east. It was strange she almost couldn't describe the feeling. It felt sort of like… Like that feeling she gets when she hasn't seen the Ichiraku family in a while and suddenly she found herself on their street. It felt kind of like… Home. But she had never been here in her life. Yet no matter how she tried to reason it out she felt this pull. She wondered if Kurenai-sensei would let her investigate it.
Hinata was getting increasingly worried. She was noticing more and more of these chakra traces. That had her worried but what worried her more was her girlfriend. The girl was getting more spaced out by the second and she was slowly but surely deviating from the group. Hinata checked Haru-chan's chakra system but found no irregularities in it so she's not under the influence of a Genjutsu. She didn't know what was going on and she didn't like it. "Tazuna-san how far are we from your house?"
"About an hour."
"Haruka!" Hinata hisses at the redhead. She had started to actually wander off. It seemed her words were enough to snap her out of her funk for the moment. The older girl looked at her confused and said, "Yeah, what?"
"What's going on? You were starting to wander off."
Haruka honestly hadn't noticed, she had just found herself moving towards the pull. "I don't know. I just feel this strange pull to the north-east." Kurenai looked at her. She knew her geography slightly better than the genin and knew what lay to the north-east. There were ruins to there on another island nearby. The ruins of the destroyed Uzumaki nation rest there. But how did her genin know about them? Konoha had stopped teaching about them in the academy as a result of the Sandaime's shame at not helping their allies. Some way to remember those who helped them.
"Do you think you can ignore it for now, I can't have you distracted while we're on a mission." It would endanger both the girls own life and the lives of everyone else on the team.
"I think so, but could we check it out when everything is said and done here?"
"I'll think about it." She would, but that's not the kind of thing she can consider when there is apparently increasing amounts of chakra from some other ninja here.
What the hell! No who the hell is that?! A woman suddenly appeared next to Haru-chan. Hinata didn't even have time to register she had entered her range before she was already there. The woman spoke before Hinata could even get a word out. "I think you should let her go." Her voice sounded distinctly bored and kind of monotone.
All the ninja whirl to look at the new voice. What they find is a tall woman, slightly taller than Kurenai, with light blue hair and a piercing through her bottom lip. She seemed to have an Origami flower in her hair. Perhaps most striking were her orange eyes that seemed to carry in them a distinctive melancholy. She had placed a hand on Haruka's shoulder. She wore an odd cloak. It was black and had red clouds scattered across it.
Kurenai quickly fell into an aggressive stance as did Sasuke and Hinata. Haruka, for her part, was just looking at the woman confused. Surely if she wanted her dead she would be already. "Who are you?"
"I'm Konan."
That wasn't really helpful. "Yes, but who are you?" She said emphasizing the who.
"I guess you could call me the leader of Amegakure. Well, one of the leaders."
"Last I heard Hanzo the Salamander was still the leader."
"We got rid of him years ago. And now that we're done rebuilding we're ready to enter back into the ninja world." Kurenai was immediately alarmed. Hanzo was one of the most powerful ninja to ever live. He was strong enough to take on all three Sannin at the height of their power and win. Hell he's the one who gave them their title. He is one of four, technically three, ninja in the history of the Elemental Nations to achieve the rank of SS. So if this woman had a hand in his downfall then she was at least S-rank. And what's more she's managed to avoid being put in any bingo book. She's dangerous, possibly the most dangerous kunoichi in the world, even more so than Senju Tsunade or the Mizukage.
"So why exactly are you here?"
"I was hired by Gato to kill him." She says pointing at the bridge builder. Haruka looks up at her and bluntly asks.
"Can you not?"
"Sure." It's not like she cared about Gato's goals this was just a job. It's no sweat off her back if the bridge builder gets to live. Of course she'd leave it for the people here to figure out their oppressor was dead. "If that is what you want, Haruka."
This woman was a threat that needed to be dealt with now! It's one thing to simply meet another nin on a mission. That happens all the time. But this woman knew Haruka's name without them having said it. But she needs confirmation. "Hinata did you see this woman when you called Haruka's name."
"No." The white eyed girl just connected the dots. The range of her Byakugan far out classed the range someone can hear whispers, not only that but she had only said Haru-chan not Haruka. So if this woman knew who Haruka is before hand that means she had been keeping tabs on her.
"That's what I was afraid of." The woman was watching them curiously. She wondered what they would do. She has no intention of harming the girl, but they don't know that and for all they know she might kill the girl here and now if they make any sudden moves. After several long seconds of them not moving she sighed and said, "There's no reason to be afraid, I'm not going to hurt her." Of course they didn't buy it. It probably didn't help that she hadn't moved at all and still kept a hand on Haruka's shoulder. "If I release her, are you going to attack me?"
"That depends will you willing come to Konoha's T&I department?"
All at once the chakra traces start to move. "I see, I guess we're fighting then." Hinata screams out.
"Everyone get down!" The three members of the team hit the deck with Sasuke pulling Tazuna down. Then out of seemingly nowhere thousands of white shuriken rip out of the ground all around them and fly overhead. They instantly disperse all of the mist that had gathered. Of course none of them went anywhere near Konan or Haruka. The redhead had gone completely still. She wasn't just going to sit by and let her teammates fight alone, even if she wasn't getting any bad feelings from the older woman. Slowly but surely her bangs begin to lift and red appears around her eyes. She drives an elbow backwards into the woman's sternum. The woman leaped away before the hit could connect.
"Sorry Konan-san, I've got nothing against you personally but you attacked my friends and my girlfriend so it looks like we've gotta fight." Konan shrugs. So long as the girl doesn't seem to hate her then she doesn't care.
"Well know that after this battle I have no intention of being your enemy." It was actually the exact opposite, she wanted to be the girls ally. "But I suppose this is as good a chance as any to test you."
"Why are you testing me?"
"You'll find out soon enough." Haruka shrugs accepting that answer.
Kurenai-sensei suddenly lunges forward pulling her sword from her scrolls. Konan mirrors her by forging a white sword out of nowhere. The woman seemed to be able to match Kurenai-sensei step for step, swing for swing. Where Kurenai-sensei had the skill the woman seemed to have the raw speed to make up for it. Haruka looks at one of the discarded shuriken and picks it up. It's made of… Paper? That's odd. So then is the sword also made of paper? That's an odd jutsu. She doesn't spend much longer pondering the nature of Konan's Jutsu as she begins to cast Nise no Kankaku: Hyaku Saku Hana (False Senses: One Hundred Blooming Flowers), she and her teammates are quickly obscured by the flowers.
It takes Konan less than half a second to break the Genjutsu but in that time she found Kurenai's sword being forced through her gut. Kurenai looks pleased only to realize the woman wasn't actually bleeding. She exploded into a mass of paper, some of which had become active explosive tags and other becoming shuriken. Kurenai is able to avoid the explosions and most of the shuriken but she does suffer a few shallow cuts and minor burns spread across her arms and legs, which she had used to block. The remaining paper reforms into Konan once more, who looked no worse for wear.
"That was an Excellent Genjutsu, Haruka. I'm sure in time you'll be quite the master." Of course she was S-rank for a reason and something so low level would never be a threat to her. But it was enough to pull one over on people similar to the redhead's strength. The redhead dashes towards her in a burst of speed. The girl was certainly fast for her age. If Konan had to guess she was probably mid chunin in terms of speed. Well faster when she's using this odd technique that seemed to change her hair and makeup. Konan easily blocks the kick that the small girl sends her way. She's forced to deflect a strike from an angry Hyuuga. She may be extremely resistant to things like swords but a Jyuken would still hurt.
The two girls jump back at the same time as a searingly hot fireball comes at her. She raises a single hand and a wall of paper moves to block the fire. She quickly finds her arms and body bound against a tree. Mokuton? No their sensei is known for her mastery of Genjutsu. She is freed from said Genjutsu when a Jyuken strike connects with her arm, disabling it. Those strikes did hurt, even if the white eyed girl is only a genin. She manages to jump back in time to avoid having her shoulder dislocated by a well placed ax kick from her redheaded target.
The girl could certainly be better but she had talent waiting to truly be brought to the surface. The jonin seemed to have picked up on Konan's newfound weak spot and had made a valiant attempt at cutting her arm off before she can use it again. But she was more than capable of of deflecting the other woman's sword strikes with her own. Konan had to dodge again as it seemed the genin weren't going to let the grown ups fight alone. It's unfortunate too as it put her right in the path of the red eyed woman's sword. It went straight through her arm and she bit back a wince.
Luckily it didn't cut off her arm and really it was fairly salvageable. It will just hurt like hell for the next few weeks. She can't stay like this. Once more she creates a storm of shuriken however, seeing as the Jonin would be able to dodge she aims them towards the genin.
"Haru-chan, Sasuke get down!" The two trust the white eyed girl and hit the ground. Hinata jumps above them and performs a now perfected Kaiten, successfully deflecting the entirety of the barrage from hitting her and her teammates. Well Konan certainly hadn't been expecting that. Though Kurenai didn't seem to either as she had started to move to help her two genin. Konan recovers from the surprise slightly faster and her sword goes through the other woman's dominant shoulder.
"It's over you can't fight like this. I have no interest in killing you so I suggest we stop here." Konan leaps away from the woman and disperses her sword. She gestures to the injured woman.
Hinata immediately rushes forward and starts to apply some of her healing salves. Once that's done she wraps the shoulder. It's only first aid but it should at least staunch the bleeding. When they make it to Tazuna's house she can do more.
"So did I pass your test?" Haruka was curious, even if she was still a little wary.
"Yes. So now then let me ask you, something in return. Do you truly care about Konoha?"
Haruka shrugs. "Not really." She answered honestly, she wanted to know where the woman was going with this.
"I thought as much, so let me ask you another question. Do you wish to be free of the abuse wrought upon you?"
"I'm already free, I have been since the day I passed my genin exam."
"But are you really? You still serve under a leader who would sacrifice you. And who you can't object to due to his absolute authority. So are you really free?"
"I guess not when you put it like that. Where are you going with this?"
Konan smiles and walks right up to Haruka. She extended a hand and said, "Would you like to come with me to Ame? To a better life, free of pain?" Hinata's breath hitches and she turns to look at her girlfriend. She had to know how the girl would answer.
Haruka looks at the ground for several moments in thought. It was a tempting offer, almost too good to be true. "How do I know this isn't some trick?"
"You can't. That's the truth of trusting others in the world of ninja. You can never know if you will be betrayed. So all I can give you is my word. I know who you are and what you hold. And I know you are destined for greatness. If you come with me you will never again face scorn for your burden. Never again will you be sacrificed for the sake of another. So, Haruka, would you come with me?" Konan's voice was full of passion and earnestness. It was actually a little bit jarring compared to her earlier monotone and boredom. But it made for a convincing speech and once more Haruka found herself weighing her options. She looks up at the woman and takes a deep breath.
"I…"