Chapter 14: Chapter 14: Team Training Arc: Two
Disclaimer: I make no money from writing Naruto fanfiction. Naruto belongs to Kishimoto.
"And now after you apply foundation..." Kiho-baachan trails off as she takes in Muta's frown.
"Nara-san..."
She puts a finger over his lips. "Kiho-baachan."
His frown doesn't lighten when she withdraws her hand, but he does begin his statement again. "Kiho-baachan, I don't think I'm ever going to look like someone else." He gestures to his eyes. "The Aburame eyes are very ugly and distinctive."
Tokuma and I sit in silence watching the ongoing drama. It is fairly normal for Muta to take his glasses off now when it's just the team plus Sensei or Kiho-baachan, but he kept them on religiously when we were out and about in the village.
We didn't really know how to make him let go of it, and the protective eye wear seemed to be a clan thing as well.
Kiho-baachan picks up his glasses from the dresser where he'd left them as she lectured us about the art of makeup in infiltration and snaps them in half. "Your eyes are fine, They are not ugly and they will not be overly distinctive with the right amount of work." She sets the broken halves in his right hand and wraps his fingers around them. "Trust me."
He blinks and I can see him struggling. "I can't go outside like this."
I swing off my chair and sit on the floor in front of him. "That's a lie, Muta-kun. You look fine the way you are."
He swallows, hard. "I scare people like this."
My lips set into a mulish line as I stare back at him even as he tries to avert his eyes. "They don't deserve you anyway. We aren't scared of you." The civilians in this village deserve to rot in hell for some of the things they've done. Bully children because of what they look like, ostracizing a clan that protects them...I might be biased because someone had been openly happy to see Tou-san's funeral procession, but I wasn't stupid before, and I'm not stupid now.
"Yeah, why'd we be scared? You're our best friend." Tokuma comes to sit next to me and from behind Muta's line of sight, Kiho-baachan smiles.
"Thanks guys." Muta looks down at his glasses again and gapes. "They aren't broken."
Kiho-baachan giggles from behind him. "A genjutsu, Muta-kun." She sets a hand on his shoulder. "I wouldn't want to take away your options, but you do have to face the village sometime. Wearing glasses is fine, not wearing glasses is fine, but please don't think that learning how to apply a disguise the old fashioned way instead of henge isn't worth learning. You can do great things only if you let yourself dare to believe them."
Tokuma clambers onto her makeup stool next. "So if I can have contacts to cover my Byakugan is it possible to disguise the prominent vein bulging caused by activation if I apply enough makeup the right way?"
I squeeze Muta's hand as Kiho-baachan goes over the steps to disguise an active Byakugan on Tokuma's face. "We meant what we said, Muta-kun." I whisper.
"I know." He whispers back. "I'll think about it."
Two months later, we're in the middle of a three way brawl when Ensui-sensei pauses our fight with his shadow. I am frozen uncomfortably almost touching the ground behind me. Muta is in the middle of raising his hand to send out more kikaichu and Tokuma's in the middle of swinging a kunai where my head had been not a second ago.
"Come along, ducklings." Sensei drawls with his hands in his pockets. "This morning we have a mission and we're leaving at sundown." He unfreezes us and ambles off. We scramble to get out of our frozen position and follow him. Sensei could be remarkably fast if he wanted to be despite appearing to be moving deceptively slowly.
"Did he say we're running a mission and that we need to leave to go somewhere over night?" Tokuma's dragging his hand through Ni's fur as he says this, eyes wide with anticipation.
Muta snaps his glasses on, but then pauses with his fingers still on the bridge. He takes them off again and slips them into the pocket of his high collared jacket. "I believe that is indeed what En-sensei said."
Tokuma and I smile at each other. He's finally done it. Decided to face the village without thinking that people'll run away from him.
"Team Six reporting for their first C-rank mission, Hokage-sama." Ensui-sensei straightens in the presence of the Sandaime, who looks over us with great enthusiasm.
"All of the rest of your graduating class has taken at least one C-rank before now." Oh, well we have been genin for about six months already. The new fall term will be starting soon.
Sensei puts his hands behind his neck. "I wasn't looking for merchant guarding. Not for my team." The way he says my team makes us stand a little taller. We were Konoha's next tracking team in training, as Ensui-sensei had told us before. We would be great, or we would keep trying.
"Very well, although merchant guarding is a task that must be accomplished as well." The Sandaime hands over a mission scroll. "Bandits have stolen a priceless artifact from the Fire Daimyo's travelling party near the city of Furukanai. Team Six is given this mission as a search and retrieval."
"As the leader of Team Six, I accept the mission." Sensei takes the scroll from the Sandaime and passes it to Tokuma. "We leave at sunset. Read over the mission parameters and pack as you see fit for the journey. We should be out for at most a week."
"Yes, Sensei." We salute him and then turn and walk sedately to the door of the mission desk room before breaking out into war whoops and runs as soon as we were outside.
"So it says here that the bandits attacked the party outside of the city of Furukanai, and it is likely that they will be trying to sell the artifact on the black market inside the city." Tokuma scans the mission report as we sit at the kitchen table at my house. "Our goal is two fold, first, relocate the artifact before it can move outside the city, and second, to apprehend the bandits who stole it."
"We won't have too long to make sure the artifact doesn't get out of the city, how far away is Furukanai?" Muta has a single sheet of paper out as he scribbles down supplies that he thinks we'll need. "We have two hours until sundown, let's make them count."
San barks at him. "We can track the person easy."
I laugh and think back to the map of Fire Country. "Furukanai is a small city roughly a day's worth of civilian paced travel away from here." I make a face. "The Daimyo's wife probably wanted to ask where her hideous cat was again." I do the calculation in my head. "If we leave at sundown we should probably arrive at Furukanai sometime at midnight. Sensei by himself can probably make the trip in three hours at an easy pace."
"So if we start searching the city by dawn the next morning, we should be able to locate the artifact in a day or two." Tokuma finishes. "We are good enough to find tagged kunai in the flea market and a manure pile after all."
I shudder. "Don't remind sensei or else he'd probably make us do it again."
"So we should pack for a week with food rations, travel as light as possible, we'll need a set of kunai and shuriken each." Muta pauses and taps the end of his brush against the edge of the kitchen table. "And we'll need to be prepared for low level fighting if the bandits still have the artifact."
I nod. "Let's meet by the east gate, that's the fastest path to Furukanai."
By sundown each of us were standing at the gate with the lightest traveling pack that could still accommodate a week's worth of rations. I also accommodated for three large dogs who would in essence eat like the famished by tucking several hundred ryo, and a bottle of soldier pills in a side pocket of my pack. There simply isn't space to pack enough food for the Triplets at the speed we would have to go. We were still dressed in ninja gear, but the civilian disguises Kohi-baachan had created for us were safely tucked away. We were ready.
Sensei appears in a swirl of leaves from the trees behind us with no discernible pack of his own, just two scrolls hanging onto his waistband. "Everyone's here? Good."
Ichi barks. "Get on with it."
We nod to the gate guards and then hurtle towards the treeline.
In the six hours of straight running that we do through the Konoha treeline, we get more than enough practice with chakra control. Tree walking wasn't something that Sensei had officially taught us during our six months as genin, but we, being clan kids had learned at home. Unlike Team Seven, Team Six is actually prepared with the ninja basics. We didn't have flashy techniques like Great Fireball or Shadow Clones, but for our line of work, we didn't need them.
The academy three came as easily as breathing now. We were clan kids with the might of a living clan behind each of us. We were a cohesive team unit and had been since the Academy. We knew each other's habits and accepted and covered for each other's flaws.
In short, despite not being the powerhouse team, we are actually much better off.
Not for the first time, I appreciate Ensui-sensei's genius at making us bond over trivial things like digging kunai out of manure and focusing making the fastest substitution and the foresight of whomever was in charge of team placements during our graduation to put three people who actually liked each other on a team. And also not for the first time I wondered what the council had been smoking when making team seven.
We arrive at the gates of Furukanai a little after midnight. There are a few of the Daimyo's guards waiting for us at the gates, not that gates would have stopped a team of determined shinobi, despite the shinobi in question being genin.
They show us to a seedy looking hotel room and we all crash into bed. There'd be time to start tracking the artifact at dawn.
The next morning Sensei tells us not to expect his help with our own mission as it turns out there are several things he needs to check on the orders of the Hokage that are above our clearance level.
"That's alright. We won't be facing anyone with serious combat skills or in danger of losing each other in a crowd." I tug at the loose hemline of my childish sundress and wish that it didn't have to be such a bright pink.
Sensei blows on the top layer of his morning tea, and gazes across the table at us. "I've no doubt that you all are perfectly capable of taking on bandits and even other genin. I don't think you're ready for anyone of higher capacity at your current skill level. All three of you working together might be able to take out a chunin, but I wouldn't bet on coming out in one piece with that fight."
We look at each other and nod. It's good to have a nice sharp dose of reality every now and then.
Sensei's not done though. "Thus, I expect you as my team to comport yourselves in a manner that means you understand your skill level. Don't jump into a fight that you can't win, and don't fight honorably. If you have an advantage, press it. If you must kill someone to finish the mission, kill them, but don't leave a single teammate behind unless you want to find yourself in a padded cell."
Ensui-sensei looks around at our stunned faces and smiles. "I handpicked each one of you for this team." Oh, so he was the one to arrange our rather above average dynamic. That's why it makes sense. "I don't expect to need to tell you this, but I also don't want you to get cocky and get yourselves killed."
"Don't worry, Sensei." Muta looks at Ensui-sensei through the brown colored contacts of his disguise. "We won't disappoint you."
"Good." Sensei drains his cup of tea in a single swallow, and vanishes out the door. A moment later, we're shuffled into the morning crowd, one dog to each child, and a few kikaichu clinging to Tokuma and me.
We meet again for lunch in a back alley, munching on ration bars which tasted like the freshest incarceration of evil, but didn't draw attention to ourselves and had no chance of being poisoned.
When he's done chewing, Tokuma brushes the crumbs from his black khaki pants and says. "I believe I spied the cat statuette that we've been sent to retrieve in the southwestern quadrant of the market."
I nod. "Are we sure that it's not a similar cat statuette?"
Ni scratches his ear and looks at me. "It smelt like the Daimyo's people when I got close enough to it."
He offers and I throw him a treat. "Good work."
Muta smiles as well. "When I passed by it for the second time today I made sure to mark it with one of my kikaichu. Even if someone buys it we'll still be able to track it because she knows to stay discrete."
We three of us exchange matching elated grins.
"Easier than manure." I say, and we all wince simultaneously. Oh why did I mention the manure?
"Easier than manure." The boys agree.
"Plan 5?" I ask. "Just a grab and run?"
Muta nods."It's probably the safest plan. We're just kids, and we don't have the kind of money to buy the thing outright."
"We'll meet up back at the hotel room." Tokuma says. "You grab and run, and we'll stall them for as long as possible."
We split up again, but this time, not too much heading for the stand with the cat statuette. As the fastest and smallest runner, I henged my dress into a dark gray, much less noticeable than the bright pink it had been before and brace myself.
Another two stalls and I'll have to snatch it off the table. Another one now. Muta's at five o'clock and Toku's at nine. Ten steps, now five, now two. NOW.
I grab the little statue off the table and take off running straight towards Ichi who'd been outfitted with a pouch strapped to his belly in the next alley over.
"Hey!" A man's voice, probably the stand vendor's sounds behind me. "Catch that thief!"
There's a clatter and a crash behind me, and Muta's soft voice apologizing to the vendor, but I don't turn to look. I bolt down the alleyway and shove the figurine into Ichi's pouch before throwing myself onto his back and he takes off at a faster speed than I can manage even with chakra boosts. Behind me I hear Ni and San pick up Muta and Toku and take off in different directions.
I arrive back at the hotel room first, and release my henge so that my dress is again bright pink, I tug it over my head and start throwing on my regular tan shinobi gear.
Toku tumbles in soon after, and starts taking out his contacts and wiping off his Byakugan hiding makeup. "Muta's not here yet?"
"He took the longest route." I reply. "I think you would know better than me how it went down." I turn to look at him as he bandages his pants to his ankles. "Are there any pursuers?"
He grimaces. "No, but there was only one vendor and Muta got a pretty good hit on him to prevent him from chasing us. I can't believe that it would go off that easily though."
As he's talking Muta slides into the room with San. "You shouldn't expect any chasers. I got the vendor with kikaichu and the bandits seemed to have sold the statue to the man so they're probably long gone by this point."
"Still," I say as I toss him his high collared jacket and dark pants. "We should be careful." We camp next to the cat statuette for the rest of the afternoon while pretending to play a rowdy game of majong. As it turns out, it is that easy, because there are no authorities knocking our door down for theft.
Sensei comes back at not quite sunset. "I take it that you've succeeded then." He says from the doorway. We nod and point to Ichi who still has the pouch. Sensei looks around the room at our neatly packed bags and unmade beds. "Let's take this to the Daimyo and call it a day then." He pats each of us on the head as we pass him. "Good job today. Your mission was completed with minimum fuss and fanfare, and you coordinated very well."
Tokuma looks at him with suspicion. "You make it sound like you were there, Sensei. Did you really just watch us the whole time because you were afraid we'd mess something up?"
Sensei shakes his head. "There was a break for late lunch and I discovered a disturbing theft in the market that the law enforcement couldn't find the culprits for and I assumed that you had indeed planned and executed the maneuver to free our target."
The day after our mission, we sit down to breakfast at Mufu-an, which by this point is clearly Sensei's favorite tea house, though he did also seem to know at least one tea house in every city in Fire Country. "Now, since this is a standard C-Rank mission all you have to do is fill out one team mission report and call it a day." Sensei slides a mission report template across the table to us. "This is due as soon as possible, so I'd suggest turning it in in the next hour or two."
We'd learned how to write mission reports back in the Academy, and our report is really quite simple. Briefed on parameters. Traveled to destination. Scouted target area. Located target. Executed Team Six Plan 5b: The Grab and Run Theft. Reported back to central. Mission success. Details for Team Six Plan 5b attached.
After we filled out the mission report to Sensei's standards, we ambled over to the mission desk together to report a successful completion and draw our C-rank pay check.
"Ensui, stay behind please." The Hokage isn't manning the mission desk today, instead he seems to be waiting just for Team Six and specifically for Sensei. We filed our report and then turned around to leave. Whatever had to be discussed today is probably to do with Sensei's other mission directive that was above our clearance level.
"Does anyone want to come back to my house?" Toku asks. "Koma-niisan should be home today and he'd be willing to help with taijustu forms." He's whistling a cheery tune.
I suddenly replace myself with a potted plant down the street. "Of course I do!" Who would ever pass up more training with Koma-senpai? I turn to stick my tongue out at them. "Last one to Toku's has to dig through manure!"
With a growl, Toku and Muta both start substituting themselves for random items and we race off with the taste of victory still on our tongues. We had been successful, not wildly so, but good enough.
A.N. And we're off! Missions galore.
(Of course Team Six would have a Plan 5b, it's something a Nara would cook up for their rather structured missions.)
Thanks so much to Sis and Snidekick for reviewing! You make my day.
~Tavina
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