Fanart used was created by NovaLynne.
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.
Warning: Addressed at the end of chapter two.
Beta:
Am I hurting? Am I sad?
Should I stay or should I go?
I've forgotten how to tell, did I ever even know?
-Bad Apple
"Can you fly?" I wondered.
"No," Tsunade told me.
"Grandmother said there were some who could."
"Yes," Tsunade told me.
"Do you want to fly?"
"No."
"Why not?"
She smiled and pulled me close. "Because everything I need is on the ground, little sapling."
I closed my eyes.
Liar.
. . .
. .
.
The first day our team was finally all together again in winter, it was a happy day.
The roads were consecutively cleared and missions started up once again around the village. The war had reached a shaky quiet upon reaching winter, and outright fights were becoming less frequently. All villages had reached a sort of unspoken peace to regroup, lick wounds, and prepare to fight even harder come spring.
As such, some teams were allowed outside the village for missions once more.
Some teams, like us.
Obito was grinning as bright as can be, and was hopping from one foot to the other. "This is so awesome! My first mission outside the village. I'm going to do amazing."
"Well," Kakashi said slowly, "I suppose idiots have to have high hopes or they would have nothing."
"Oi!" Obito exclaimed, filled with mock indignation. "You don't have nothing but hope, Kakashi. Have more faith in yourself."
I giggled at Kakashi's petulant face. Minato smiled at the three of us. "Alright, you guys. Are you ready to head out? Did you guys pack everything you need?" Obito gestured to his decently filled backpack, while Kakashi and I patted our sealing scrolls strapped to the back of our lower backs. Minato gave a firm nod and said, "Good. We'll meet up with our client Ni~tsu no Hikaru." *
The Sun's Light? The Land of Fire's main capital, where the Daimyo stays.
Ni~tsu no Hikaru was a golden city constructed before even the Senju clan was founded. Its ancient walls had been rebuilt and built over countless times, and you could still find stone housings mixed in with modern ones. It was a wealthy city, for the most part, as long as you lived in the center. The outskirts of the city was essentially one big red light district. Oh sure, during the day it was lit up and beautiful—all smiles and purr-filled greetings because the guards were watching to greet guests; but, when night fell yazuka and other ilk prowled the streets.
Each of the capital cities in the countries were well known for having a disgusting underbelly. Unfortunately, our capital's underbelly seemed to prefer child slavery and abductions (although the Land of Water was particularly well known for its sex trade in children).
Disgusting world.
Disgusting humans.
Unlike me, Obito was oblivious to the notion of an underbelly and the very idea of being able to our country's capital seemed to send him over the moon.
Kakashi's nose crinkled underneath his dark scarf and we shared a look of equal annoyance.
"Stay close to us, okay, Obito-kun?" I leaned towards the young naïve boy, to which his cheeks turned a bit rosy (probably out of displeasure, as I was most certainly patronizing him). "We wouldn't want you to accidentally sell yourself... the poor buyer wouldn't know what he was getting into."
Obito just chuckled weakly, and looked away.
"How fast will we be moving?"
"Well," Minato said, glancing towards the snowy front gates, "I'd like to get there by noon, so we can have lunch with our client and go over the details, so let's keep a brisk pace."
"Understood," Kakashi said.
Minato tugged his bright, bright orange scarf around his neck (courtesy of one Kushina) before signaling for us to move.
(ง ⌣ ~ ⌣) ง
The city reeked.
I was so accustomed to the fresh air Konoha provided that the moment I smelled Ni~tsu no Hikaru, I inwardly cringed. Judging from Kakashi's minute reaction, I could tell he didn't particularly approve of the stench, either.
It didn't smell like a particularly bad stench. It didn't smell like bodily odor, or rotten corpses, or really anything specific. It just had this overbearing and overwhelmingly strong smell of something unpleasant. The words failed me to assign it a single name. It was like an entanglement of just bad smells all mixed into one big bad stench.
The city itself was bright, and filled with thousands of paper lanterns and loud voices laughing, bargaining, flirting, and jesting. The sun was barely setting behind us (as the city was nestled in the distant east) and set the city in a warm winter glow. Hardly any snow was seen on the ground (indeed, you could only the snow on the roofs, and even then only on some). There were beautiful women and men intermingled, exchanging looks, and caresses along the sides of the streets.
A handful were seen being a bit more intimate that made me feel a little tingly (which made me cringe as I realized puberty would be coming soon).
The three of us huddled close to our sensei, making sure our hitai-ates were clearly seen (yakuza and other unpleasant business tended to leave shinobi and kunoichi to their own devices, unless they wished an entire village sent down upon their heads like a blistering vengeance from hell).
I reached for Kakashi and Obito's hands, grabbing one in each. I knew they were capable shinobi, but some part of me worried for them nonetheless. Minato glanced back at each of us, assessing us before he began to silently move through the streets.
I took up the lead, pulling on both of their hands as I moved. I felt Obito's hand fidget while I gripped it in my bright orange mitten, while Kakashi's remained loose. He was used to having me drag him around from childhood, and as long as I let go of his hand when we met the client, he wouldn't complain too much.
I tried my best to memorize the streets that Minato lead us through, but I found that it was more difficult than I would have anticipated. With all the sound, stench, and general atmosphere, it felt all very intense.
With Madara's missions, and being left out of the war for months, it had allowed me to become accustomed to more isolated situations. While Konoha was a bustling village, I could easily avoid the worst of the traffic via rooftops, and I largely kept mostly to those I had to interact with on a daily basis. When it came to Madara's missions, of course I just simply assassinated those in the way and I preferred to do it quietly and quickly.
Here, though?
It was overwhelming. Being taught to be perfectly aware of your surroundings trained me to take detailed analysis over everything near me, and categorize it. It as one thing to do this on a battlefield with adrenaline coursing through your veins, and (occasionally) your life on the line. It was a whole new kind of battlefield with the city, though.
At most, I would have to account for twenty, maybe thirty, unknown subjects or enemies. Here, though?
Hundreds.
It was all unknown. It was foreign territory. I didn't know the layout of the city; escape routes; safety zones; hideouts; which buildings had explosives inside (you would be surprised how many people accidentally blow themselves up because of an ignorant katon); or even really what to do in an unsavory situation.
I had to trust in Minato to guide us through the city.
At least during the war I was near trees. I could escape if need be—but where were the trees in this filthy city? Nowhere.
Furthermore, I had teammates to account for. It would be irresponsible for me to just leave them should an unfortunate situation arise.
I could formulate all the plans I wanted to, try to think of possible solutions, but each plan became discarded when Minato turned a corner and a new layout was given.
Having to adapt every fifty steps or so was becoming increasingly irritating.
And slightly frightening.
I didn't like going into unknown situations in unfamiliar areas. I very much appreciated having a detailed plan, with a backup plan, and a backup, backup plan within another plan, or something similar. Madara provided these for me, and I knew I could have faith in them.
My faith here, though?
It rested entirely on my own ability... and that of my sensei and teammates.
I knew I was strong. I was confident I could make it out of my own. But did I have faith for the rest? I thought I had been training Obito fairly well, and Kakashi was competent, but...
There was always that unknown factor. The horrendous, terrible, unknown variable.
What a petrifying word.
Unknown.
Kakashi's hand squeezed mine rather tightly, and I had to restrain myself from startling. Instead, I glanced towards him and raised a small eyebrow. His eyes were flat, and face blank (the perfect shinobi mask for a mission), but I could feel a certain tension from his body language.
Concern.
My heart tightened and my stomach dropped, and I felt a surge of butterflies of embarrassment.
Were my thoughts becoming transparent?
Kakashi's hand pulled away from my own, and I realized that Minato had stopped outside a bustling restaurant. I released Obito's hand and pushed both of my hands in my pockets (trying to smother my blush still) while Minato stepped inside.
The three of us trailed behind him quietly, and I could feel the wonder practically oozing off of Obito as he took in the high-end classic restaurant. The serving girls were adorned in lush kimonos with painted faces. One of them bowed to greet Minato and our sensei stooped down and whispered in her ear.
She smiled angelically at all of us and turned away.
Minato cocked his head towards her and we followed her with Minato behind us.
She led us upstairs to what I assumed to be the VIP rooms, and into a private room with a balcony that overlooked the downstairs. A portly man sat on a mountain of rich red cushions, wearing nothing but the finest silks.
His face was sallow, though, and his eyes portrayed a level of greed I often saw in Madara's selected victims.
Will I kill you, portly man?
Will you scream for me when I do?
"Hello!" the man greeted enthusiastically. "Hello, hello, I'm so glad you could make it in time for dinner. Please, please help yourselves to whatever you would like. It is such an honor to have Konoha's very own hime come all this way to help someone like me."
I felt a rush of revulsion tingle down my spine, but I made sure to smile charmingly at the vermin. "Thank you for requesting me, Tomodaichi-sama."
The man positively beamed when I referred to him as a friend, his cheeks turning red and his eyes shining brightly. I knew in that instant that he really did request me specifically and that he hoped to garner some kind of positive relation with me.
I didn't recognize him, so I knew he was not someone of great importance and I was already dismissing him.
"I am Mitsu Masoto, I own a very large portion of farming land in this great country. Perhaps you have heard of it? Utsukushī?"
The name had me pause. Utsukushī was Konoha's largest provider for produce—perhaps the largest provider for the entire country's produce. Last I was aware though, Mitsu Moshu was the owner.
Feigning concern, I asked, "Did Moshu-sama pass away?"
Masoto's eyes gleamed. "Yes, unfortunately my father passed away a few days ago."
"We are terribly sorry for your loss, Mitsu-sama," Minato said quietly.
Masoto waved his hand in a dismissive gesture. "This is not why I requested you here. If I wanted sympathy I would listen to my wife. Come, come, come, have a seat. Please, do you enjoy yourselves at dinner. We can discuss the mission after you have all rested—it's not of great hurry."
Minato bowed lowly and Obito and Kakashi were quick to follow suit. Given my status, I made sure to maintain a shallower bow 'lest I would give the fat worm more power over me than he had.
Minato was the first to take a seat across Masoto, followed by Obito, then myself, then Kakashi. The four of us managed to stay rather closely packed on one side, giving wide berth to Masoto.
(ง ⌣ ~ ⌣) ง
"I understand you requested us for a search and retrieval mission," Minato began, after the dinner was finished.
Masoto slurped some more tea before clearing his throat. "My daughter has run away again."
I stiffened, feeling Kakashi and Obito do the same on either side of me.
Minato's brow furrowed, but that was the only overt sign of annoyance on his part. "Mitsu-sama, I thought you said that this mission wasn't time sensitive. The more time your daughter has—"
Masoto waved his hands. "Yes, yes, yes, Shinobi-san. My daughter has run away twelve times before, you see. It's not uncommon for her to disappear for a month or so and return begging for forgiveness. Indeed, if the circumstances were not as they were, I would be more than happy to turn another blind eye to her rebellious nature, but you see I am in a bit of a bind. My daughter is pregnant, you see, yes?"
That had me frowning.
"It's not with a proper boy, of course," Masoto snorted, his fat lips stretching into an ugly sneer. "But with some tramp, who ran off the second he found out. My daughter, my silly stupid daughter, ran off when we told her she couldn't keep the baby. Why would she even want the bastard? She is purebred, and I am certainly not going to have my lineage carried on by some half-bred bastard because my slut of a daughter couldn't keep her legs crossed!
"We did our best to restrain her, but one of my servants foolishly took pity on her and stopped serving her the medicine to keep her sedated until the cretin could be removed. I know she couldn't have gotten too far from our estate in the city, she would likely still be feeling the effects of the medicine. Indeed, I know for a fact she has not left the city, hence why I am in no rush. You can understand why I would want her found and brought home by shinobi—you do such a thorough job and you're always so discrete.
"Won't you please be dears and bring her home to us so we can take care of her?"
I let the worm's words wash over me, let my emotions and bias rise up for a moment before I meticulously and systematically destroyed every last bit of them. It was so much easier than it would have been a couple years ago. I mean, really, comparing seeing rotting corpses of raped children on the frontline and retrieving a brat with (probably) daddy issues?
Easy.
Who gave a damn about some princess anyway? I had more important people—more valuable people to be concerned with.
Smilingly easily, I chirped, "Of course, Masato-sama! Our Kakashi is actually quite handy when it comes to tracking. I'm sure we'll return her to you soon enough."
Minato smiled at Masoto. "If you don't mind, Mitsu-sama, my team and I would like to rest for the night and prepare to find your daughter."
Masato beamed. "Of course, yes, yes, yes. Please, there is a lovely inn attached to this restaurant and I went ahead and reserved a couple rooms for you. I will be staying in the top floor suit When you find my daughter, just bring her back to my suit and your mission will be done."
We bowed our heads in acknowledgement, then left the filthy man. As soon as we stepped outside the room, Obito asked uneasily, while looking up at Minato, "When should we start looking for her?"
Minato hummed. "Well, we should probably catch a couple hours of sleep, then start the search at dawn. I don't want any of you running around this city at night. At five hundred hours we'll split up into two. I will search on my own, and try to find my own leads. I want the three of you to work together to try to find her on your own. Understood?"
"Understood!" we chorused.
Minato smiled, although it wasn't as bright as it normally would have been. "We won't get a lot of chances for 'normal' missions, so it's important to learn as much as we can from this one. Report back here tomorrow before sundown, regardless if you do or do not find her."
"Understood," we chorused once more.
(ง ⌣ ~ ⌣) ง
We all bunked together in one room, Minato grabbing the bed while the rest of us spread out our sleeping backs. Come morning, when it was time to wake up, Minato was already dressed and ready to go, and had a handful of things for Kakashi to use as scent-bases.
Once he determined that we were able to move out, Minato left and the three of us began our search.
Kakashi took point, and he leapt across the buildings, pausing frequently to re-sniff some old scarf.
"Why not summon Pakkun?" I asked him.
"The city would be too distracting for him," Kakashi admitted. "The only ones that could probably handle the city are Bull and Tono, but Bull isn't a tracker and Tono is getting ready to have her second litter. I should be able to find her as soon as I have a decent trail. It hasn't rained, and the snow fall has been very light here, so it's really just a matter of time."
Obito grinned, though it didn't seem like a happy grin. "So we'll find her soon?"
"Probably."
"Lead the way, then," I said, fingering my tessen.
It took a few more hours before Kakashi found a fresh enough trail for us to follow. He lost it multiple times, and we had to backtrack more than once, but in the end...
"This is it," Kakashi said firmly. "I know she's inside."
I leaned over the rooftop, trying to peer inside a warehouse. We were on the outskirts of the city, and the atmosphere had already dramatically shifted from the warmth, and coyness in the center, to the filthiness of the outskirts. I felt instinctually unsettled upon looking at the warehouse. It didn't look eerie or disturbed on its own, in fact it looked like a regular warehouse with normal-looking workers going in and out of it carrying boxes or scrolls. I couldn't quite explain it—just that I felt a strong urge to burn it to the ground and scatter the ashes.
It was wrong.
Madara had taught me to trust in my instincts. They were honed and groomed to his liking. I had faith in my instincts.
But, I knew I could not just do what they wanted me to do.
"Something's wrong there," Obito muttered, unconsciously hugging himself as he looked down at the warehouse.
Kakashi nodded slowly. "Yeah. Whatever's going on in there—whatever's really going on in there we have to be careful."
"Thankfully we have jurisdiction here, given that Konohagakure shinobi have the right to search any premise in this country."
"Well, not any," Kakashi corrected.
I rolled my eyes. Legally any, but of course we tended to stay out of our Daimyo's way and anyone with his favor. Nothing good would ever come of angering our Daimyo.
"We shouldn't alert them, though," I said. "Obito, place a small genjutsu over us and the three of us will move in. We go in quietly, quickly, and decisively. Kakashi will take the lead to bring us to Orizumi. We grab her and we get out. No matter what we see, we do not respond. We do not act. Our mission comes first. Whatever else we find in there, we can report it to the proper authorities and let them deal with it. Do you understand, Obito?"
Obito paled. "But—"
"If there are people in there in need, leave them," I whispered vehemently. "They are not our comrades. They are not part of our mission parameters. If you go outside of our mission parameters you risk endangering your actual comrades and our mission. Do you want to place me and Kakashi in danger?"
"No!" Obito exclaimed, "But—"
"It's us or strangers. It's as simple as that."
Obito's eyes watered and he looked away and down. I allowed him time to collect himself before I signaled for us to move.
The moment the genjutsu was cast, Kakashi leapt down from the roof and we slipped into the warehouse.
There weren't very many workers there, most of them were milling around and laughing merrily. Kakashi deftly moved between the stacked packages and lead us to the far back right corner of the warehouse. There was a small door in the flooring, but it held no locks or any easily seen security seals.
Kakashi examined it a few times over before he glanced to me. Seals?
Zero seen, I signed back.
Kakashi nodded his head and lifted the door open and dropped down.
Down the basement we went. Down, down we went into the dark hole. Slowly painted walls faded into cracked concrete and the lighting dim as we traveled. We went down, at most, two stories into the ground. Upon reaching the bottom of the steps, I felt Obito's genjutsu waver and I reached out a hand to steady him.
He looked sick. He had never been to the frontlines, never seen the true horror of war, unlike me and Kakashi. To compare what that basement held to war... Well it was like comparing roadkill to a horrific crime scene. Both unpleasant, sure, but that basement was nowhere near the level of perverseness that the frontlines held.
There were numerous women chained to the walls, resting on a dirty mattresses. There were even a few children, and two young men. Each held a certain vacant gaze that made me positive they were under some kind of drug. None of them looked too banged up—some bruises, certainly, but no gashing wounds or oozing eye sockets.
There were some dried bloodstains scattered about, along with many rags. I did notice a rotting corpse in the far back corner that looked like it had been stomped to death.
All in all, could have been worse.
I glanced towards Obito, and saw a grimace on his face. I squeezed his shoulder and he looked over at me.
See target? He signed towards us.
Kakashi gestured to one of the women chained to the far right wall. The three of us quickly leapt towards her, and Obito released his genjutsu.
She had to be in her mid-twenties, with long black hair and glassy brown eyes. She wore ragged clothing, and had a handful of bruises covering her arms. There was a pool of dried blood where she sat, and it covered most of her inner thighs. Obito looked at me. "Are you going to examine her?"
"I could," I allowed, "but you need practical experience as well, Obito. You examine her."
Obito swallowed roughly before he dropped to one knee and began to tentatively poke at her. None of us were skilled enough to actually use medical ninjutsu, but we all had basic training in first aide (although I was pushing Obito for learning a bit more due to his more helpful nature). A minute ticked by before he looked up at Kakashi and me.
"Well?" Kakashi asked.
"She's under some heavy sedatives, and she has a broken rib, I think," Obito began hesitantly. "I, uh, I also think she might have had a miscarriage. Because of the, uh, blood, and, ah, where i-it's coming from."
"Or she was raped," I said bluntly. "She could have hemorrhaged if they used her an—"
Kakashi interrupted me, as Obito was slowly turning into an ashy white. "Can she be moved, Obito?"
No words could make it out of the shaky boy's mouth, so he simply nodded.
"Then let's grab her and go," Kakashi said brusquely. "We can report the rest of this to the authorities."
Obito rapidly shook his head. "No, wait, we can save them now. If we wait to go to the authorities, they could—they could—"
"Obito, we talked about this," I said sternly. "We cannot—"
"We can," Obito insisted. "Look, no one upstairs has a chakra level higher than a, ah, a, ah, Genin fresh out of the academy. I saw it with my Sharingan, I kn-know we can take them. We have to save these people!"
"That's not our mission," Kakashi said, shoving his hands in his pocket. "If we try to save this many people without all the information, we could seriously endanger our target and ourselves. This isn't Konoha, and these people aren't—"
"They're still people!" Obito yelled. "They still have family, friends, people that love and miss them. Y-You can't just, just turn away from these people who need help. You aren't some heartless monster, are you?!"
Kakashi and I exchanged long looks.
Monsters, maybe, but that's not the point. We have no idea who leads this group, what these people are specifically, and who exactly we're facing. Sure the thugs upstairs we could take without any fuss, but what if there are more nearby? More that are stronger than us?
Not to mention getting this many people out of here... It would be a huge liability. We would have to take them to the Samurai, and that's quite a ways away across the city. A city that we are not familiar with, but our enemies are. It's nothing but disadvantageous for us to do, and extremely risky. There's just no logical reason to even try. Just because we want to help, doesn't mean we should.
My gaze met Obito's, bright oranges eyes meeting determined Sharingan. "Then do something about it. You have five minutes."
"Wh-What?"
"You have five minutes to come up with a damn good plan to escort all these people to the Samurai—to the City Guard. We do not know how many enemies there are. We do not know which group these people are affiliated with. We do not know the layout of the city. We do not know how long these people will be under the sedatives, or if they will wake up mid-way through and start panicking. We do not know anything.
"You want to be Hokage, right? Prove yourself, then. Because Kakashi and I can't see a safe way to do this without needlessly endangering our client. How are you even going to transport these people? They can't even walk. Well, Obito? What's your answer?"
Obito's mouth opened and closed repeatedly, and then he abruptly shut his eyes and screwed up his face in thought.
I counted the seconds. I made it to two-hundred and ten before his eyes snapped open. "I know what we can do."
"Well?" I asked.
"You can make the mokuton clones to carry them all, right?"
"I could," I responded levelly.
"I'll create an aoe genjutsu to cover all of us! We'll travel through the rooftops."
"No," Kakashi denied flatly. "You can barely keep up the genjutsu over just the three of us.
"I can do it," Obito insisted. "I know I can. Just—just trust me, okay? I won't let you guys down, I swear. I swear on my promise to becoming Hokage, I won't fail."
Kakashi and Obito stared at each other for several moments, while I internally sighed.
I could just knock him out and Kakashi and I could sneak out with our target.
But he would never forgive me and working with him would be wasted effort.
In fact, all my effort thus far to train him would be a complete waste if he became unable, or unwilling to work with me. All for what? Because we didn't stop natural selection from happening to some idiotic trash that got caught?
Not. Worth.
But, if we allowed him to try—and he failed—then he wouldn't have anything against us. Moreover, he'd probably be more inclined to listen when Kakashi and I tell him not to do something. If the situation looks bad enough, I'll just throw the vermin at whoever is chasing us like meat shields, grab Obito and transport the hell away.
I let out a put-upon sigh. "Alright, Obito. Kakashi, you alright to try this?"
Kakashi shifted his stance, crossing his arms over his chest and narrowing his eyes thoughtfully. Silence fell upon our group once more, excluding the occasional moan from the inebriated prisoners. After around two minutes, he finally spoke. "Our priority is our mission. We are not jeopardizing it for these people. Therefore, I will take our target and return her to our client. I think it would be best if you two waited until I returned for Minato-sensei, but I understand that time could be a crucial component to the success of this... detour."
Obito's eyes lit up and his mouth slowly opened in disbelief. "Wh—Wait you mean...?! I won't let you down! I swear! Oni-hime and I will save all this people, no doubt about it. We may even get them to safety before you reach the client."
Kakashi stared at Obito evenly, his arms still folded across his chest. There was an unrecognizable underlining tension in his posture and gaze that left me feeling a little confusion. Obito seemed to sense it, however, because his back straightened and his Sharingans hardened into a new kind of resolve. An unspoken conversation happened between those two, one that threw me for a loop.
"I won't let anything happen," Obito promised quietly.
Kakashi gave a slow nod. "I'll trust you enough, then." He then reached towards me and grabbed my shoulder and squeezed it. "Stay safe. I'll find you guys with Sensei."
I cocked my head, still feeling a little befuddled from the previous silent conversation. Obito stopped down and grabbed at one of the chains in the wall that held the girl prisoner. He held the chain up to his mouth before breathing out a short line of fire that slowly melted it. He repeated the process for the other three chains that held her, and then Kakashi stooped down and slammed the palm of his hand on the ground.
In a puff of smoke, Bull appeared, looking massive as ever. I summoned some rope from my scroll pack and Kakashi and I safely tied her to the back of Bull.
The three of us exchanged quiet glances, and then Kakashi and Bull were heading away, off to complete the mission.
Obito took a deep breath, and then summoned two clones. The three of them set about to burning off the chains, and as soon as each individual was freed, I made two wooden clones per person and got ready to carry them. All in all, there were roughly twenty three people that had to be rescued, and it was a fairly large group.
Aoe genjutsus (Area of Effect Genjutsu) were weak and very basic genjutsus. They weren't used often because a shinobi worth his salt could see through it without missing a beat. For civilians and inexperienced mercenaries, though, it was more than enough. Given the chakra levels (and while I was certainly not a sensor, I could most certainly feel the difference of refined chakra versus clumsy chakra, especially so short range) of the idiots above, an aoe should be more than enough to leave the warehouse. Traveling the streets, though, would be another story.
The city was a bustling place, and undoubtedly we would run into fellow shinobi and certainly not all of them would be friendly, or neutral.
When I voiced this out loud, Obito paused long enough to turn to me and say, "We aren't going to travel on the streets in the open, hime. That'd be just stupid."
My eyes widened. "What do you mean?"
"We're going to take the sewer system, of course."
"Do you even know the sewer system?"
"Well," Obito drawled out, "not really, but we just need to get to the center of the city, yeah? Once there, we can leave the people in the sewer with your clones, and the two of us can go grab some samurai and they can take care of the rest."
"I suppose that's true," I allowed, "but how are we going to navigate the sewer system?"
"That history textbook you gave me—the one about the revolution between the farmers and the shogun, do you remember it?"
"You do?"
Obito blushed and scratched the back of his head sheepishly. "You made such a big deal about knowing this stuff, and I—I didn't want to let you down after all you've done for me, so I try really hard to remember all the things from the books. It takes a couple tries, I'll admit, but... I just don't want feel like I failed you."
My stomach flip-flopped pleasantly and my cheeks warmed before I could control my reaction. Surprisingly, my reaction caused Obito's face to turn a brighter shade of red and turn away and start coughing. I did my best to quickly squash down those emotions, and succeeded about a minute later.
Obito returned to freeing the victims and once everyone was free, and in the arms of my clones, we gathered the group as tightly together as we could. Obito placed a wavering aoe over us, and we ran up the stairs of the warehouse.
There was a tense moment at the top of the stairs when a group of workers were by the stairs.
In the back of my mind, I wondered why there weren't any guards placed, or why we didn't find any powerful shinobi.
Or hell... why there weren't any locks or seals (that I saw) on the door. It just seemed too easy. I knew people grew complacent when they felt confident (such as people with security systems forgetting to lock a silly window because they thought they were safe), but really... just drugs and chains?
Still, I didn't sense any over threat (otherwise I would have vetoed Obito regardless), and I knew we could move pretty fast so it shouldn't take more than ten minutes or so of top-speed running to reach the "safe zone."
Once outside, it didn't take us long to find a manhole cover and Obito grimaced as his he had to struggle to keep the genjutsu up. The cover was down a small alleyway, so it wasn't a busy street thankfully, and as soon as everyone was inside the sewer he could drop the genjutsu.
I was the last one to drop into the sewer, and just as I was about to pull the manhole cover over me, I felt an intense wave of killing intent. I barely had time to throw myself into the sewers and away from the hole before a long sharp blade pierced through where I had just been.
I flipped through the air and landed on my feet, my posture shifting into a prepared stance while Obito ran towards me.
Two unknown men dropped down into the sewer hole, both in a kind of uniform. It was a dark blue yukata with the crest of a cosmos flower on the black obi. Each of the unknown males had mask—one was black with a blue cosmos flower covering its right eye, while another was white with an orange cosmos flower covering its left eye.
I quickly assessed at the blue flower individual was the one who wielded the longer-than-usual sword, given that the scabbard was strapped to his side. The orange flower one wielded two cleavers that he currently held out.
Their chakra felt refined, and tight, like Minato-sensei's and I knew in that moment that they were Jōnin level, at the very least.
For a brief moment, I felt nervous (and most definitely angry at Obito), but I steeled myself in the next heartbeat. I became resigned to the upcoming fight.
"Gone for only an hour and our merchandise has already been plundered," Blue drawled.
"By brats, of all things," Orange grunted, gripping his cleavers tightly. "Return the slaves and we'll end your lives quickly, and painlessly. Make it hard on us... well, virgins always go for the highest."
Obito's face flushed with rage and I pulled out my tessen. "Leave, Obi. The hostages are a liability here if we fight. I will meet up with you later."
"I can't—"
"You made your choice," I retorted coldly. "I warned you of the consequences, now follow through with what you chose. You chose them, over our mission, over the safety of our team. Keep to your word and don't fail. Leave. Now."
"That's not f—"
I channeled some of my own killing intent on him, and he quieted. Thinking he would leave then, I returned my focus to the two enemy Jōnin.
And Obito did something unexpected.
One Shadow clone came into existence and the real Obito came by my side and said, "I won't ever leave comrade behind. The clones can make it there. You and I will take these bastards on!"
Obito would just be a—
"... so I try really hard to remember all the things from the books. It takes a couple tries, I'll admit, but... I just don't want feel like I failed you."
I gripped my tessen in my hand, and I felt a surge of—of—of something. Of something I did not want to acknowledge, because I just, I just, I just wasn't ready to. I wasn't ready to admit emotions that I didn't have full control of because I needed to be able to control how I felt. If I couldn't control that—if I couldn't manage myself, then what good was I?
I would be a failure—a waste of time and energy spent—and—
Okay, I knew I was going to have to face those emotions eventually. They were biologically part of growing up, and there just was no safe way to emotionally, and physically castrate oneself without hugely disadvantageous side effects.
That didn't mean I was just going to accept what was happening.
Nope.
No, no, no, nono. No.
But, because this was a battlefield and that moment was really not the time to get into those things, I put that aside, straightened my back and hissed out, "Fine."
Blue leapt towards me, his sword swinging down upon me and my right arm raised up, transforming into wood as he brought it down. The sword became embedded halfway through my arm and my eyes narrowed.
His right hand shot out and grabbed my left shoulder, lightning chakra flaring to life and I felt and overwhelming burning sensation crawl throughout my body, and my heart was beating way too fast. In the same instant I raised my left arm and grew out my right arm so my tessen slammed into his right elbow, forcing it to bow. My left hand grabbed the end of my tessen and pumping my arms with chakra I flipped him to the ground.
He instantly substituted himself with a nearby rock and I took the moment to calm my heartbeat.
I felt a fire lit up behind me and I knew Obito was engaged against the cleaver man.
I swung out my tessen with my wooden arm and spikes shot out from my arm towards Blue. Blue leapt up into the air, dodging them with relative ease and made quick cross motions in the air with his sword. Lightning was left in his sword's wake and the jutsu shot towards me faster than even Sensō could move.
The area was too wide for me to safely dodge, so I raised my left hand up and summoned a thick tree from the ground to shield me. The first jutsu demolished half of my tree and I shot out from the right side of the tree as the second jutsu destroyed it. I opened my fan used it to shield my face as a pin-point lightning strike, no bigger than a needle, raced to me. It deflected the attack well enough and, anticipating the oncoming attack, I brought my tessen diagonally down.
Blue's sword was caught up by the force of my tessen and Blue's eyes widened briefly in surprise that I anticipated his movement. The sword was forced to slide by me on my left side while Blue was brought closer to me. He raised his left hand in preparation to attack my vulnerable right side (as I had used my right hand to deflect the sword and my left hand was currently gripping onto his left forearm), but I was as step ahead of him.
Using speed garnered from adrenaline and years of practice, I closed my tessen and swung horizontally straight towards his vulnerable neck channeling charka, just as his left fist slammed against my throat, collapsing my airway.
My chakra tessen sliced neatly through his neck and off his head went and I dropped to the ground, choking.
My right finger transformed into a hollow stick and I jammed into my airway below my neck, right before it connected into my lungs. My left hand scrambled to grab my pack, while my head spun and I summoned the emergency kit. I grabbed the breath seal (a seal used to get air into the lungs and pumping when airway is blocked—shinobi came up with that seal before insulin was even considered for allergy attacks). I attacked it to my makeshift straw and felt immediate relief when it began sucking in air and filling up my lungs.
Although it was still a pretty unpleasant sensation to be breathing while not breathing.
I looked around and found a battered up Obito clutching a bleeding arm while panting. Orange was hovering over him, burn marks covering his entire left arm (which was still bleeding profusely).
I slapped my hands on the ground and a wooden dome surrounded myself and Obito. I fluctuated my chakra pumped my needle jutsu with about half of what I had left. I heard the sound of thousands of needles digging into the concrete of the sewer around us, but not much else.
When I lowered the dome, I was relieved to find that Orange hadn't quite escaped.
It was a nasty jutsu, but a damn effective one. I couldn't have used it previously (unfortunately) with the Blue constantly so close to me, and the vermin we had rescued. I couldn't, yet, make domes big enough for more than two or three people (the domes required the most of my chakra for that jutsu, as it required three layers. The first layer, the innermost layer, being the connecting layer. It was the layer that my chakra was latched onto and allowed me to remotely control it. The second layer being the defensible layer which required a good chunk to prevent it from being smashed into splinters so easily. And lastly, the third layer which required a large portion of my chakra as I had to provide chakra for each individual needle spike, connect them all together so they appeared as part of the wall, then provide the trigger chakra.
I didn't have mastery over the jutsu, either, so I didn't have complete refined chakra control over it. At the moment it took roughly half of my stores to safely execute. I knew in time I could probably pop it out like Naruto's shadow clones, but for the moment...
Obito shot towards me, his eyes wide and watery. "Hime!"
I waved my hand dismissively. I signed, Certain dead?
He faltered, his eyes still watering before he swallowed roughly and went to check the bodies. While he was doing that I summoned forth two corpse storage scrolls, and wrote Blue and Orange on each of them. Obito turned around, and said, "Cleaver guy doesn't have a pulse."
I staggered over—ah this breathing thing is not giving me enough air, this sucks—to Blue and spitefully crushed his lungs. I then picked up his head and stored it inside the first scroll. I made my way to Orange and cut off his mangled head and store it inside the second scroll.
Leave now, I signed.
"I can carry you," Obito offered, swallowing roughly. "I—I'm just—I'm sor—"
Made, choice. I dismissed, already turning away and wobbling down the sewers.
"Then I'll take responsibility," Obito shouted behind me, then he charged at me, and deftly picked me up. "You can't walk like that—we—we have to hurry and find sensei."
I shrugged. Hurry.
Obito nodded his head in response and then he broke out into a sprint.
(ง ⌣ ~ ⌣) ง
We made it to the surface roughly ten minutes later (and my clones were destroyed earlier when they reached the Samurai and explained the situation). I had no idea what happened to the vermin after that, nor did I give a damn.
As soon as we broke through to the surface, Minato and Kakashi were immediately upon us in a flash of gold.
Obito set me down, looking shame-faced as soon as Kakashi's gaze caught his.
I felt rather light-headed and I glanced over towards Kakashi's pale face.
When I saw Kakashi's eyes, and his tense posture, I just—I felt—nononononononononononono. Not another one. Not both! Goddamn you hormones!
My stomach clenched tightly and I felt a little woozy and I had an unbelievably strong urge to reach and grab onto his hand like I did frequently when we were smaller, and oh he actually looked kind of nice and—No. No. No.
Kakashi reached out and gripped my shoulder tightly, dark eyes looking me up and down while I battled my hormones in an uphill battle for control over my own body.
I didn't win.
I blushed and looked away from his gaze, rolling my shoulder out of his grip.
This is just wrong. Body, please keep up with my mental maturity at the very least.
Minato turned me around to face him, his eyes resting on the emergency seal and the straw poking out of my neck. His lips were pursed. "Kakashi and I have already sorted out the mission. We're leaving for Konoha now. How long will the seal last?"
Two, I signed.
Obito's face whitened. "We won't make it back to Konoha in two hours!"
"Yes, we will," Minato reassured him. "And besides, I know Kakashi and I have more of those seals in our packs. Everyone gather around, I'm going to transport us to the hospital. I'll take care of hime, Kakashi and Obito I want you to give an oral report to the Hokage on your little... detour, as well as the mission."
I cocked my head then handed Kakashi the two storage scrolls that had their heads. Bounty, mine, please?
"I'll see if they have a bounty for you," Kakashi promised.
I beamed at him. I wasn't hurting for money, but it certainly added to my prestige if I collected in on powerful shinobi bounties.
As soon as that was taken care of, Minato gathered all of us around and in a flash of blinding yellow light and (oh what a dizzying sensation) a pop, we (the children of the team at least) collapsed on the first floor of the hospital.
I fell back on my bum, the room spinning around me and I felt ready to throw up, which would likely be very painful if I did. My ears were ringing and it took several moments before I could gather myself enough to take note of my surroundings.
By the time I did so, I already had a gushing nurse lift me up onto a gurney with a plethora of concerned onlookers questioning What happened to hime? Is Senju-hime okay? Oh, no, Senju-sama!
I looked around for my team, and found a doubled-over Obito clutching his gut, with a seething Kakashi glaring at him, and Minato stepping in between.
Then a doctor I vaguely recognized came over to me and knocked me out.
(ง ⌣ ~ ⌣) ง
When I awoke, it was very late on in the night and I felt immensely groggy. I reflexively swallowed, and I was relieved to find that while it was very sore (like swallowing sand with severe strep throat sore), I once again had a repaired airway and esophagus. I sat up in the bed and rubbed at my bandaged throat, taking note that my room was already filled with flowers, get-well cards, and a couple cute stuffed animals (a dog and bat).
I even noticed that my favorite plush bat was resting in my lap and I immediately grabbed it and gave it a good squeeze.
My stomach growled and I threw back the covers of my hospital bed (which made me a bit woozy—probably just aftereffects from a long surgery) and opened my window. I took a brief moment to change into clean clothes that had been left for me. Thankfully whoever left me the clothes (likely Kushina) also left me my pouch that had some money in it.
Now changed and feeling particularly hungry, I hopped out of the third story, walked down the wall and headed off to find any restaurant with something soft to eat.
It was still bitterly cold, unfortunately which made it painful to breathe, but there was just no way in hell I was eating the tofu hospital food. Yes, it really was tofu. Tofu and tofu only. Healthy or not, bland tofu just did not taste good.
Roughly fifteen minutes of looking and I finally found an open bar. I hopped inside, garnering some looks of recognition, and wandered up to the bar.
Once you had a hitai-ate you were legally an adult, regardless of biological age. Konoha's outlook on alcohol and other substance was this: old enough to die for us, old enough to do whatever the hell you want.
The bar owner I actually did recognize, mostly from his signature. He was one of Grandma's regular guards, and he occasionally dropped my training sessions and Kushina's house to check up on me (without being seen, of course, like many of Grandma's old guards). He was in his late forties, early fifties, with marred face, but attractive green eyes and a gruff way about him.
"Shouldn't you be in the hospital?" Shinta grunted at me, watching me carefully.
I waved my hand dismissively, then patted my stomach.
"Tofu is good for you, though," he pointed out. My eyes narrowed and he chuckled. "Alright. Some food, and then I'm taking you back to the hospital. Wouldn't want our little hime getting worse."
I stuck my tongue out at him in a completely childish fashion. I felt vaguely affectionate towards the man. Anyone who reminded me of happier days with Grandmother tended to hold my affection, especially someone who had served her for almost all his life.
Shinta moved away from me, and tended to other customers around the bar. It was a rather quiet night, but given shinobi hours, a bar was almost always filled regardless of the time. Soon enough I found both seats beside me taken by fellow shinobi and kunoichi who had either gotten home from a bad mission, back from road maintenance duty (and boy were they unhappy about that), or just having a bad day.
Shinta brought over a luke-warm egg soup, and luke-warm herbal tea. While I didn't enjoy luke-warm meals, I knew that they couldn't be too warm because of my raw throat. Even with just drinking very soft and mostly liquids, my throat ached something fierce. It was nice to fill up, though, and I appreciated his mindfulness.
I placed some money on the counter and Shinta spoke a few quick words with a couple shinobi. He then came out from behind the bar, ruffled the top of my head and walked out of the war.
Taking the hint, I followed after him.
"Must have been a hell of a mission to get the drop on you," Shinta commented.
I shook my head. Faster.
"The enemy was just faster than you?" Shinta mused, looking mildly impressed. "I suppose it happens.
Had, defensive, all time. High risk, finish.
Shinta nodded, scratching his right cheek. "Yeah, when you face someone faster than you, you have to play defensive. Any kind of offense would be risky. Surprised, though. From what I remember during the war you could still—"
Teammate, hostages.
"Ah," Shinta muttered. "Yeah, I suppose your attacks are rather... explosive to those around."
I nodded my head.
Shinta made a hmph noise and we traveled back to the hospital in relative silence. When we got there, he patted the top of my head again before he left.
I climbed up to my hospital room, shut the window (and locked it, of course), climbed into bed and fell asleep.