Naruto: Chapter 150- Upgrading the Pawns

The late morning sun baked the dry dirt of Training Ground 3.

Crack!

A solid wooden training post shuddered violently as Sasuke Uchiha drove his heel into it. Splinters flew into the air. He didn’t stop. He threw a rapid combination of strikes, his breathing heavy, sweat dripping from his chin. His Sharingan was active, the two tomoe spinning furiously, but it didn't matter.

He was angry. The memory of the Land of Snow played on a loop in his mind. The chakra-absorption armor had completely nullified his Fire Style and Chidori. Nadare Rouga had casually broken his ribs and humiliated him, exposing exactly how slow and reliant on his eyes he had become.

Crack! He kicked the post again, his knuckles white.

A few yards away, Sakura Haruno sat on the grass, hugging her knees to her chest. She watched Sasuke exhaust himself, her shoulders slumped. She had spent the entire Snow mission hiding behind cover or watching Kenji effortlessly dismantle heavily armed mercenaries. She felt completely, utterly useless.

High above them in the branches of an oak tree, Kakashi Hatake sat quietly, flipping the page of The Kunoichi's Forbidden Heat: Volume 2. He let out a soft sigh, genuinely engrossed in the incredibly detailed, highly explicit plot, taking a moment to appreciate the author’s absolute mastery of anatomy.

"Your form is sloppy, Uchiha. You're telegraphing that roundhouse a full second before you throw it."

Sasuke froze, his leg still raised in the air.

Kenji strolled into the clearing, his hands tucked casually into his pockets. He looked completely refreshed, radiating the kind of relaxed, arrogant energy that only came from a very productive, highly satisfying morning.

Sasuke slowly lowered his leg. He turned around, glaring daggers at Kenji. "Shut up. You were late."

"I was busy," Kenji replied smoothly. He didn't elaborate on what he was busy doing to the ANBU Captain in his backyard. He walked right up to the Uchiha.

Kenji pulled a heavy, tightly bound scroll from his inventory and tossed it directly at Sasuke’s chest.

Sasuke caught it, looking down at the thick parchment in confusion.

Kenji turned his attention to the pink-haired girl sitting in the grass. He pulled out a second scroll and casually dropped it right onto her lap.

Sakura flinched. "Kenji? What..."

"It’s a Chakra Scalpel manual," Kenji stated. "Medical ninjutsu. You have perfect chakra control, Sakura, but flawless control doesn't mean shit if you can't kill anything. That scroll teaches you how to focus chakra into a blade that can sever muscles and internal organs without breaking the skin."

Sakura stared at the scroll, completely stunned. A dark red blush spread across her cheeks as a confusing mix of anger at his bluntness and an overwhelming, desperate pride that he had actually noticed her potential swelled in her chest. She clutched the scroll tightly. "I... I won't disappoint you."

A soft thud echoed behind them as Kakashi dropped down from the oak tree, slipping his smut novel into his pouch. His lone visible eye curved upward in a lazy, amused smile.

"Well, well," Kakashi mused, crossing his arms. "Handing out elemental scrolls and medical manuals. You're feeling awfully generous today, Kenji. Are you trying to put me out of a job?"

Kakashi casually walked over to Sasuke and reached out, plucking the unrolled scroll from the Genin's hands. "Let's see what you're giving him..."

Kakashi unrolled the first few inches of the parchment.

His lazy smile vanished instantly. His lone eye widened, scanning the complex chakra formulas and the specific elemental seals written on the paper.

"This is Lightning Style - Swift Step," Kakashi said slowly, his voice dropping all traces of amusement. He looked up, locking his sharp gaze onto Kenji. "This is a highly classified Kumogakure movement technique. Care to explain where a Konoha Genin gets his hands on foreign village secrets, Kenji?"

"I have business contacts, Kakashi-sensei," Kenji replied casually, not missing a beat. "Mergers and acquisitions."

"Right," Kakashi pressed, his grip tightening on the scroll. "And I suppose these 'contacts' are the reason you're trying to take over my team's training?"

"I'm not doing your job, Sensei. I'm outsourcing today," Kenji smirked. "You read too much smut. The Uchiha needs raw combat instincts, not just lectures. He needs to get beaten into the dirt by someone who actually wants to kill him."

Kakashi narrowed his eye. "And you know someone willing to do that?"

"You'll meet them in a second." Kenji turned his attention back to Sasuke. "That scroll Kakashi-sensei is holding channels lightning chakra directly into your legs to drastically increase kinetic speed and reaction time. Stop being slow, Uchiha. It's embarrassing to watch. If you want to actually be useful the next time we run into an S-Rank freak, start running."

Sasuke snatched the scroll back from Kakashi’s hand. His pride screamed at him to refuse a handout from his rival, but his absolute, burning desperation for power won out. He didn't argue. He just shoved the scroll into his weapon pouch and gave Kenji a sharp, fiercely competitive nod.

Before Kakashi could interrogate him any further, Kenji bit the thumb of his right hand, drawing a bead of blood. He rapidly wove three hand signs and slammed his palm directly into the dirt.

Jutsu: Master's Call.

A massive, violently thick plume of white smoke erupted in the center of the clearing, accompanied by the heavy, booming sound of displaced air. A sudden, suffocating wave of dense, freezing chakra washed over the training ground.

Sasuke instantly drew a kunai, stepping back. Sakura scrambled to her feet with a shriek. Kakashi’s hand shot up to the edge of his headband, ready to reveal his Sharingan.

As the smoke cleared, two figures stepped out into the sunlight.

The first was a massive, heavily muscled man wearing an expensive pinstripe business suit jacket over his bare, bandaged chest. Resting casually on his shoulder was the terrifying, blood-stained mass of the Kubikiribōchō.

Zabuza Momochi glared around the clearing. He looked absolutely furious.

"I was in the middle of a hostile shipping takeover in the Land of Wave, you little shit!" Zabuza roared, pointing his massive sword directly at Kenji. "I had the Gato Corporation remnants cornered in a boardroom! Why the hell did you summon me?!"

Standing calmly beside the raging Demon of the Mist was Haku. The ice-user was dressed in a pristine, tailored kimono, looking completely unbothered by the sudden teleportation.

Haku bowed flawlessly, ignoring Zabuza's screaming. "Good morning, Kenji-sama. It is a pleasure to see you again. The Midnight Gardner Agency's quarterly profits are up twenty percent."

Silence fell over the training ground.

Sasuke’s kunai slipped slightly in his sweaty grip. His eyes were wide with pure shock. "The Demon of the Mist... he died on the bridge! I saw him die!"

Sakura was trembling, hiding behind Kakashi. "They're supposed to be dead!"

Kakashi froze, his hand still hovering over his headband. His eye twitched as he stared at the two A-Rank missing-nin standing casually in the middle of Konoha. He slowly turned his head to look at Kenji.

"Ocean currents," Kakashi said dryly, his voice flat. "Physics. Buoyancy. The circle of life."

"I told you they washed away, Kakashi-sensei," Kenji grinned innocently. "I just didn't tell you they washed ashore into my private employment."

Kakashi let out a long, heavy sigh, massaging the bridge of his nose. "I knew you stole that giant sword."

Kenji ignored him, waving a hand at the furious swordsman. He pointed directly at Sasuke.

"Zabuza. The emo kid thinks he's hot shit because he has red eyes. Beat the predictability out of him."

Zabuza stopped yelling. He lowered the massive executioner’s blade, his terrifying, bloodthirsty gaze locking onto Sasuke. A dark, sadistic grin slowly split across the missing-nin's scarred face. He cracked his knuckles, the soul-binding contract forcing his anger to perfectly align with Kenji's orders.

"An Uchiha brat?" Zabuza chuckled, a thick, suffocating aura of Killing Intent suddenly flooding the clearing. "Alright... Master. I've been needing to blow off some corporate stress anyway."