Interlude: Waterfall

The trees rushed past them at a rapid pace and the light thumping of sandals on wood rang out through the near empty forest as she and her team raced through the trees.

"C'mon Fuu! Don't lag behind!" The voice of Hiroshi-sensei rang out as they jumped from branch to branch, "According to Shibuki-sama, the disturbance occurred several days ago. They could be long gone by now, which means we've got to step on it if we want to catch their trail!"

"Oh please," Fuu shouted back, doing a small flip in between branches just for fun, "You and I both know Shibuki's just being paranoid! There's no way Konoha would try to start stuff with us, they're the friendly village!"

To her left came Haru's voice, the orange haired girl's tone filled with barely hidden annoyance as it always was when talking to Fuu, "That doesn't matter Fuu. We've got orders, we're expected to follow them."

"Yeah yeah." The mint haired girl grumbled quietly, "I swear it's like you think I'm stupid or something. At least when you're even willing to talk to me." She held back a sigh and focused on her tree hopping as she and her team made their way closer to the border.

They had been ordered by Shibuki to investigate the disturbance in the seals at the border that occurred a few days ago. Shibuki believed it could be some Konoha shinobi trying to test the borders and wanted them to investigate. Given that Taki and Konoha were on at least speaking terms with one another, it left a lot of room for spies and the like to try and make their way through the lax security at the border. But even then…

"There's no reason for Konoha to try and send spies across the border." Fuu thought as she and her team closed in on the border, the sound of rushing water from the river slowly making itself heard to her enhanced hearing. "Taki is much smaller than Konoha. If they wanted to invade, they'd just do it. Shibuki is being paranoid again."

"Even if he is just paranoid, he's still technically your Kage." The slightly high-pitched voice of her tenant and best friend rang out in her head, "He may be your friend Fuu, but even you can't refuse a direct order. It'd cause too much trouble with the council."

'I hate those old farts.' Fuu shook her head, "And I know Chomei. I just wish he'd send me on a more exciting mission! He still hasn't let me go anywhere outside of our country in months, not even to the Land of Grass! I mean come on! there's nothing there that could hurt me, especially with you by my side!"

For some reason, Shibuki had been extremely wary about sending her out of the Land of Waterfalls lately. This was despite the fact that Fuu often ran missions several countries away by herself. In her almost two years as a kunoichi, Fuu had yet to find a threat she couldn't simply defeat or escape.

Being the jinchuuriki of the Nanabi gave Fuu almost unparalleled movement ability thanks to her wings. Flight was an extremely uncommon ability in the shinobi world, and while there were stories of the Tsuchikage being able to achieve it using earth release, given that he was a Kage, Fuu felt that it was a little unfair to compare herself to him.

Some might say she was cocky but she begged to differ, Fuu's unorthodox fighting style had often led to her defeating her enemies before they could rally and attack her back.

Fuu knew she was strong. Even without the strengthening technique Chomei taught her, there were few ninja in the village who could defeat her. Hell, the only real reason she wasn't a jonin was that Shibuki wanted her to rise through the ranks like a normal shinobi. Not only that, but the council, being the old farts that they were, had been blocking her attempts to apply for the jonin exams at every turn, citing that she was 'too valuable an asset'.

Even without the rank though, she was probably the second or third strongest ninja in Takigakure and everyone knew it. So the fact that Shibuki had started to confine her to Waterfall really irked her.

"Chin up Fuu." Chomei attempted to cheer his host up, "Maybe something interesting will happen on this mission! You never know!"

Fuu smiled slightly at her best friend's attempt, "Thanks for trying to cheer me up Lucky Seven. But I've got a feeling this one's gonna be as boring as all the others."

~~~

As they approached the massive river that made up the border between the Land of Waterfall and Fire, Hiroshi held up a closed fist, motioning for them to stop. They did so, landing on the trees to his sides as they looked to him for orders.

"Alright, here's the plan," the man began, "Haru, you're with me. We're going to form a perimeter and work our way inward, hopefully we'll find some sign of what set off the seals."

He looked toward Fuu, "I want you to fly into the air and keep an eye out for anything that looks out of place, ninja tools, kunai, stuff like that. Come back if you find anything interesting."

The mint haired girl held a hand to her forehead in a mock salute before channeling Chomei's chakra into her lower back. From under the tan skin unfurled a large pair of yellowish insectoid wings which immediately began buzzing lowly as they built up momentum.

As she began slowly gaining altitude, Fuu was forced to look back to Hiroshi as he called out to her, "And Fuu!" He yelled, "Come back immediately if you find any signs of enemy shinobi! Don't go off on your own again!"

Fuu waved her hand dismissively, "Yeah yeah, I got you." He went to say something else but the buzzing of her wings grew louder as she increased her speed. She looked back down at her sensei, grinning mischievously as she saw his lips moving as he spoke at her. "Sorry sensei! It's too loud up here! I can't hear what you're saying!"

"FUU!"

The jinchuuriki giggled loudly as she soared through the air. She flew higher and higher until the trees shrunk to bushes and the river looked like a stream. She stopped ascending and just hovered there, sighing happily and taking in the fresh air that was prevalent at such a high altitude.

"He's not gonna be happy when you come back down you know?" Chomei spoke in her head. Fuu simply leaned back, wings buzzing faster as they adjusted to her sudden change in posture, she put her hands behind her head as she gazed up at the clouds.

"He'll be fine. It's not like I don't do this all the time."

"True enough I guess." The bijuu hummed. Through their link, Fuu could hear Chomei shift slightly, "Still, don't you think you should at least try to look for something? Just in case."

The tan girl groaned, "I guess so…" She grumbled, taking her hands out from behind her head and flipping around to face the ground. She channeled chakra to her eyes, sharpening her sight and scanning the forest below.

"I still think this is stupid." She muttered to her best friend as she moved her gaze back and forth, "The seals were disturbed like two days ago. There's no way whoever did it hasn't already cleaned…up…"

There, a few yards away from the river bank, partially hidden in the bushes, was a body. From her high altitude, Fuu couldn't tell if they were alive or dead but it didn't really matter. It was still something worth investigating.

"You were saying?" Chomei asked smugly, buzzing his wings in amusement.

"Oh hush." Fuu snarked back as she began to lower herself toward the body.

The soft buzzing of her wings dissipated as she lowered herself to the ground a few feet away from the bushes. She pulled out a kunai, warily making her way closer to the body.

It was unneeded however, as Fuu noticed when she got closer. The body, a girl around her age, was unconscious, eyes closed in a pained grimace and chest moving up and down in a steady rhythm.

Fuu stowed the kunai back in her tool pouch and crouched down to further inspect the other girl. She had dark raven hair cut short around her face and her skin was extremely pale, further accentuating the dark bags under her closed eyes. She was dressed in dark grey armor, an oddity for a shinobi, with a large dual headed axe attached to her back.

Speaking of her back, Fuu nearly recoiled in surprise as she caught sight of the symbol there. A large red and white fan, separated into two sections by a curving gap in the middle.

"An Uchiha?" She muttered incredulously, "What the heck is an Uchiha doing here by herself?"

"Maybe she was with her team and they got separated?" Chomei postulated, "She might have run into something she couldn't handle and escaped into the river."

Fuu hummed, taking in the unconscious kunoichi's ragged appearance. Her armor was cracked in several places around her chest, indicating it had received a heavy blow or three. Her lips were extremely chapped meaning she was probably dehydrated and streaks of dried blood ran from under her eyelids.

She was also missing an arm, but given that her armor seemed specifically modified to account for that, Fuu had a feeling it was an old wound. She felt a small pang in her chest as she realized that a kunoichi her age had already sustained an injury that would end most ninja's careers.

In her intact hand, she was holding a small black and silver tanto. The short blade's silver length gleamed with seals that Fuu couldn't make heads or tails of and yet she couldn't help but feel the weapon was…incomplete somehow.

Fuu reached out to grab the weapon to take a closer look, only to freeze as the Uchiha's eyes shot open the moment the mint haired girl's hand got near her weapon. The Uchiha's eyes darted from Fuu's hand to her face and then her headband on her arm before her eyes narrowed, irises swirling from black to red.

They held their gaze for a moment before the black haired girl snarled and sprung to her feet, tanto thrusting forward at Fuu's unprotected stomach as the girl yelped in surprise.

*Thunk*

Fuu sighed in relief as the tanto sant half an inch deep into a dark grey piece of chitin that had appeared on her stomach. She smirked at the Uchiha's bewildered gaze and reared an arm back, channeling Chomei's chakra and encasing it in another piece of chitinous armor and bringing it down toward the top of the girl's head.

The Uchiha was saved from a shattered skull as her eyes suddenly rolled into the back of her head, crimson irises fading to black once more as she lost consciousness, falling back with a thud onto the forest floor.

Fuu stared at the body of the once again unconscious girl in surprise, "What the heck was that?!"

"I don't think she was conscious of where she was." Chomei chimed in as Fuu stopped channeling his chakra, "Judging by her chakra stores, she's running on less than fumes. Her attack was most likely instinctual."

Fuu sighed, bringing a hand behind her head and running it through her hair

She brought her gaze back up to the girl's face only to stop as her eyes caught something and she froze. There on the Uchiha's neck, was a strip of metal any shinobi knew to look out for.

Whereas there would usually be a pristine insignia carved into the metal to denote a ninja's allegiance, the Uchiha's had been marred by a kunai slash in a clearly intentional way, indicating a severing of ties to her home village.

The Uchiha was a missing nin.

"So what?" Chomei asked, confused, "You've fought missing nin before. What makes this one so special?"

"Because she's an Uchiha." She emphasized.

"So?"

"Any other ninja would be normal, but an Uchiha going missing nin?" She muttered warily, "That's almost unheard of. They've got an almost fanatical devotion to their clan. For one to desert without the rest…"

She shook her head, putting it in the back of her mind for now, and stood, looking around. She still had a mission to complete.

"I should probably report back to Hiroshi now huh." Fuu muttered, "Think I should bring her with me?"

"Probably a good idea." Chomei agreed, "This situation just got a lot more complicated, it'd be hard to explain."

"Right." she sighed, this was going to be a pain wasn't it?

"Oh hey," Chomei interjected happily, "Maybe she has a bounty! Imagine how much a rogue Uchiha would net us! You might actually be able to afford a new apartment!"

Fuu sighed again as she hefted the unconscious girl onto her shoulders, taking care not to touch the weapon that was still held in a white knuckle grip.

"Let's hope so. I have a feeling she's gonna be more trouble than she's worth."

"Well look on the bright side, at least the mission isn't boring anymore!"

Fuu laughed, leaping into the air on her wings and making her way back to her team, "I guess that's true."