Hunting Fish: Two Sharks Swim Together

She who wandered alone, with few daring to challenge her or stand in her way, lest they bear the brunt of her wrath. Known as Kiri's Hell-Demon or Hell-hound, she was considered a chip of the old block, especially when one documented how close she mirrored him. For she was the niece of Zabuza Momochi, the so-called Demon of the Mist, though if you asked around, most would state that she was his daughter. However, the whisperings and gossip of Kiri did not matter to her at the moment, for she had more important quarry to focus on, the missing-nin of Kiri. It was one of her favorite tasks, viciously and silently hunting down those who had the balls or foolhardiness to leave the village while knowing perfectly well who would be coming after them.

She couldn't chase them just yet though, for she was waiting for her partner, an idea that piqued her interest yet irritated her a little. For on hand, the fact that someone was willing to partner with her implied that they where either sure of themselves or hadn't heard the rumors. On the other hand, she didn't believe that she needed help to bring back these missing-nin. After all, the Mizukage hadn't stated that they needed to be brought back in one piece, just that the nin had to be "dealt" with. She hefted up her sword, looking for all the world bored, an expression that for any passerby meant danger, for it was when she was bored that she became the most dangerous. "Maybe the partner got cold feet," she thought, grinning while revealing a set of sharpened teeth. What ever passerby was their vanished at the site of her grin. "I do hope they don't plan on taking all day though," she pondered aloud, putting down her sword once more.

"Loyalty is rare nowadays, wouldn't you say?"

A voice smooth as silk spoke out into the air. Almost from all around Aisaka, the voice echoed. The water vapor in front of her condensed, revealing a woman over a decade older than the reborn Demon.

Her aqua hair struck out against the sky, as it was darker it was brought into more focus. Her eyes met the Hell-Demon's, studying the woman in front of her. "I've heard many stories about you, Momochi. You've served Kirigakure well I've been told. Haven't worked with you before, but you don't scare me one bit. You're a loyal kunoichi just like me." Enen continued to look intently into Aisaka's eyes. "I know we'll do well together, bringing down those traitorous fish who have deserted."

Enen looked about, to see if anyone was around. All the basic directions were covered, and only after her routine check did she think it was safe. "I'm going to say this once, I would like to be your partner. And in order for this to work, I need to know if you can trust me. Your reputation tells me otherwise but I believe we can make this work. But if we can't, I can't go deeper into mission details. Also, I can tell if you lie so please don't. Let's promise to be truthful to each other, we'll need it later on."

"Hmph," was all Aisaka had to say to Enen long seemingly drawn out speech. For she was a kuniochi of action, not words. To her they were cheap, for shinobi weren't known for making pretty little speeches to other people. They were the weapons by which a village and a nation was able to consolidate their power and expand upon it. However, she did respect the fact that Enen wasn't cowering, if she had done so, Aisaka would have cut her down right there. The fact that she didn't proved to Aisaka that she might not be a pushover.

"Alright," Aisaka said finally, "I'll agree to the whole honesty thing, but don't you dare try to go on the 'let's be friends' train. If you do, I will leave you behind right now, for I don't care if you're the right-hand man of the Mizukage. For we are simply partners because we are on a mission to dispose of these little fish. Do you understand that Hōzuki?" For good measure Aisaka flashed her a smile, revealing shark-like teeth. With that, she picked up her sword once more.

"If that's what you want, for now sure," Enen said. That was the best she was going to get out of the girl and she wasn't going to push her. She had experienced that all too well with others and didn't wish to repeat the past. However even if she didn't want to be friends now, Enen would of lied to herself if she wasn't going to try to achieve this later. But the mission would come first.

"So we've tracked them here." Enen drew out a map of the lands. Her hand drifted to a northern Water Country Island. "It appears they're trying to align with some of the most capable pirates around. The Mizukage can't afford this to happen and allow them to continue Black Crown's growth in these parts. We'll have to infiltrate the pirates ranks and snuff out our traitor fish. But it's not going to be anything near easy."

Aisaka peered at the part of the map that Enen was pointing to. "Of course its not going to be easy, that doesn't mean that it won't be fun to do. Have they met up with the pirates yet or are they still in the process of traveling to the rendezvous point? If they are still traveling, how many days ahead of us are they? Also, if we are going to travel the infiltration route, assuming that those little fish already met the pirates and joined their ranks, how we will join up as well? After all, our reputations will precede us," she said to Enen.

"More importantly, how soon will we encounter the pirate presence? You point to a northern Water Country island, yet we do not how far their reach expands beyond that place. However, there is one question I have that outstrips the preceding, are we allowed to take out the pirates as well?" Aisaka's grin turned darker, more menacing at the thought of wiping out a significant amount of the pirates as well.

"It would be best to say that they've met up with the pirates. More sense of urgency that way." Enen replied. "The joining up process shouldn't be too hard. We'll need to be in disguise of course and not give away our true identities and our loyalty to the village. We can lie to the disgusting pirates all we want."

"As for the killing of pirates, we should secure the runaways first beforehand," She replied. "Can't sabotage the mission before it's done. But afterwards, I suppose we can. Why miss an opportunity to deal a blow to the pirate trade, you know? However the hardest part of this mission is going to be finding the runaways once we're in the pirate ranks."

"Hmm...works for me then," Aisaka said, getting up. "Shall we be off while the day is still young?" Her appearance shifted, growing taller while appearing older to the tune of a 25 year old. Her eyes changed from blue to a shade of forest green, and her hair went from orange to a shade of chestnut brown before extending to the middle of her back. Her face changed as well, become softer, more feminine in its appearance. Last but not least, her teeth became normal, losing their shark-like consistency but maintaining their whiteness. "Well, what do you think?" Aisaka said, her voice changing to better match her appearance.

She stowed her sword away in a scroll before attaching that scroll to her hip. On the outside she looked for all intents and purposes bored while waiting for Enen to gather herself together. However, she was thinking about the pirates she was going to meet, and whether or not they would be worth her time in a fight.

"I can see that your chakra control is nice Aisaka," Enen admitted, looking at her transformation. "But we're going to need more than looks to pull this off."

Liquefying herself, Enen's whole form began to take a new shape. Employing Sōsuimyaku, she took the shape of another woman, tall and blond. Her skin darkened and other subtle changes continued, Enen's transformation was complete with the installation of new ruby eyes.

Examining her new figure as she solidified, she turned to address the Hell-Demon. "We now need to draft a fallacy, a story and sets of personalities that allow us entrance into the pirate trade's heartland."

It was nightfall. The two kuniochi sat on a boat as they traveled to the northern confines of the Land of Water. Aisaka yawned hugely, her eyes still adjusting to the lack of light. According to the coordinates that were drawn up, they still had a little while to go before they reached their destination, something that irked Aisaka slightly. She was not the type to stand or sit still, so the fact that she was waiting to do her favorite thing made her just a little tense.

Aisaka inhaled, breathing in the cool night air to help relax some of the tension that she felt. Part of her still couldn't get over the fact that she chose this appearance, but she knew it was necessary for the sake of some diversion. She couldn't go in looking all rough and tough especially when her reputation depicted her as so. Otherwise, her and Enen wouldn't be able to infiltrate at all, and instead be left trying to come up with a plan B. She got up and paced the deck, mentally preparing herself for what she might end up facing.

It was going to be an interesting day tomorrow.

We'll be there soon.

Looking towards the stars, she mulled her thoughts over. Shifting her gaze, she then saw how they reflected in her watery form, a sight to see. She glowed with a dim but apparent light, she was shining with a powerful glow.

"You seem to be the splitting image of Zabuza, from what Mei tells me and what I've seen. Not sure if you're going to pace the ship all night or take it down and rest. I'm sure the rower will get us there fine. But like I said, you're probably going to pace the ship all night. You seem to be every wary, just like your uncle."

With that statement, her mind wandered to her own relatives, such as Gengetsu. Thinking about them, she hoped that she was creating legacy for them that they would be proud of, as she was journeying to protect the village her ancestor led.

"Meh, its just a habit of mine," responded Aisaka when Enen commented on her pacing the deck. She yawned before stopping and settling back down. "Its what happens when you are a legacy of a person like him. Too often people have tried to use me for the power I inherited from him," Aisaka sighed, her green eyes troubled.

She changed the subject, "How long till landfall? Because I have party to crash. Personally, I'm looking for to looting the ship. How about you?" Aisaka idly tossed the scroll back and forth between her hands. Her thoughts wandered back to when her mother first told her of the lineage that she bore. It was something that had scared her and fascinated her, especially when she decided to put it to the test and accidentally eliminated a genin class and their instructors. However, she had no time to be sentimental, for there was a job to do.

"Shouldn't be more than 2-3 hours. Shorter than we've been on the ship at least," Enen replied, still in her thoughts. She grazed the ship deck with her hands, almost getting a feel of where she was in the world. "What I'm looking forward to..."

She looked out towards the ocean where the island was nearing. "Is bringing my goal one step closer. Being one step closer to unifying the waters, and keep the waves from splitting even more." She said broadly about her goal. "I want to get closer to stopping the pirates and the rogues. So that way Kirigakure and the Water Country are closer to being at peace." Saying that kinda made what Aisaka said seem petty, but Enen was all for protecting Kirigakure. It was why she was on the ship in the first place.

"I'm going to get some rest before we get there. Time to woo some pirates."

Aisaka snickered, "Good night, try think of an alias while you're at it,". With Enen out for the night it was just Aisaka and the person rowing. Because she was too energized to sleep, she decided to pace the deck once more, before finally settling down to watch the moon in the night sky and the gentle waves below. Now to think of a fake alias, going through available names as well as her current surroundings. As she went through names, she slowly felt her eyes closing, and before she knew it, she was out, getting some much needed shut eye.

"We're here," the rower said, shaking her awake. Aisaka noted that is was still relatively dark outside, though the sky was slowly lightening. "Time to wake up sleeping beauty," she said, walking over and nudging Enen awake, "We have a big day today,"