Chapitre 3: Yakumo-I
"Be careful dear," her mom said anxiously as she walked out of the house.
"Of course mom," she replied, and shunshined out of the spot. People in her clan still thought that she was a fragile little thing. It was fair enough, as she spent most of her life getting exhausted from menial physical tasks. It took a long and hard road to reach where she was right now.
As she flitted from rooftop to rooftop, she anxiously rubbed the nape of her neck, where her seal lay dormant. The seal was pretty much useless now since she had confronted the Ido within her quite a while ago and subsumed it. She had become more aggressive and acerbic as a result, but it was better than the alternative. Checking to see if the seal was present became a habit nonetheless. She could have asked Ichigo to remove it, but she liked the feeling of security that the seal provided her. She liked her mind under her control, thank you very much.
The seal was now an important asset of the Kurama clan. Whenever a member would be born with the capability to wield illusions up to her level, they would no longer be hampered by their second personality. It was a crippling issue that affected the clan's generational geniuses and caused the clan's standing to decline. Now they will be back on the rise again, thanks to Ichigo's seal.
She remembered the early days when she had trouble coping with the rest of her academy class. Lord Third had assigned the "genjutsu expert" Yuhi Kurenai as a response to her father's petitions. If things had gone as per plan, she would now have been like Lee, training under a specialist and focusing on bettering herself. But the sanctimonious bitch had told her to give up and had dared to seal up her powers when she refused to give up. It was a blessing that a proper fuinjutsu prodigy was her childhood friend, or else who knows what kind of a mess that stupid seal would have caused.
Now, at thirteen years old, she was a newly promoted tokubetsu jonin. She loved to rub that in the bitch's face whenever she saw her. Not suitable to be a ninja, was she? She'd show the red-eyed cow.
Their team was highly regarded due to the myriad rescue missions they had done. All three of them were initially just chunin under Ichigo's leadership, who was a tokubetsu jonin back then. Recently though, the three of them were promoted to tokubetsu jonin due to their rapid improvement, and a year of exceptional mission records. Ichigo had also become a jonin, and it had brought a lot of attention to their team. She liked it purely for the fact that her achievement was a slap on the face to the naysayers who said she would never be a proper kunoichi.
She arrived at her team's designated meeting point five minutes early and wasn't shocked to find Hana sitting there, giving belly rubs to her ninken. Upon sensing her arrival, the dark grey triplets yipped and ran towards her at once.
Yakumo laughed as she kneeled down and began petting the three dogs.
"Good morning, Yakumo," said Hana, as she got up from her spot and approached Yakumo.
"Morning to you too Hana," the dogs yipped once again and Yakumo laughed in response, "Of course, good morning to you three cuties as well."
"Do you know why we are being deployed so soon? We just got back from a mission yesterday," asked Hana.
"You have been a kunoichi way longer than I have been in the field, Hana. If you don't know, how would I know?" she responded with mirth, but she too was curious. Due to her frail body, she got tired easily. Back-to-back missions were more of a drag for her than the others. Of course, she had trained hard to reach chunin levels, but it still took a toll on her. Her genjutsu prowess had propelled her towards the tokubetsu jonin rank, but she still had a long way to go in terms of physical ability. If it weren't for this inherent weakness, she would have been shooting for a jonin rank just like her squad leader. Alas, she had to work thrice as hard as others to bring up her speed, strength, and stamina up to an acceptable level for her rank.
"Hello," an all too familiar voice said, as her infuriating teammate joined them with a minute to spare.
"Cutting it close aren't we?" she snarked at the smiling creep. She never liked him very much. Part of it was her competitive nature, as both of them used drawings as conduits. Another part of it was because Sai was a legitimate annoyance. He always did his best to infuriate her, and would only stop when Ichigo told him to stop.
"Well, the captain isn't here yet. I arrived a minute before the agreed time. Also, I do not require an early start due to a lack of stamina," he said without any inflection in his tone. His facial expression didn't change at all as well. One of these days, she was going to trap him in an illusion and convince his body that he no longer had a tongue.
"Morning, humans and doggies. Looks like you're all on time again," said their captain as he appeared next to them, right before she was about to lay in on the annoying prick.
He swept back his spiked pink hair as he yawned without a care in the world.
"Do you know why we are being called so soon?" She asked him.
"I have an idea. If I am correct, then it is something important. Although I would have loved to stay home for a while. Apparently, Sakura has been doing nothing other than D-ranks. I thought I would have some time to train her," he said with a scowl.
"First give her time to get through the reading material you all dumped on her," said Yakumo.
"Oh, she is blazing through them. Expect me to randomly show up with her for those genjutsu tips and tricks you promised," he said nonchalantly.
"That fast? You really should have pushed her to graduate early like me. We could even have been in the same team," said Yakumo as she scowled at Sai. She wondered how it would have been to have Sakura as a teammate instead of Sai. She was a year older than Sakura, but she never had many positive relationships with people her age.
"Ah, but she isn't a rebellious little girl like you Yakumo," he said with a drawl. Yakumo brushed it off as she knew that he was not taking a dig at her. She always had a chip on her shoulder and still does. She had a lot of people to prove wrong, so she took the opportunity to graduate early when it presented itself. She could understand what Ichigo was on about. He was training Sakura in a safe environment and getting her skills beyond the level of ordinary genin. That plan would have been hampered if she graduated early and spent a lot of time doing missions.
"Well, as long as she shows that she's the best out of the lot, it's enough, I suppose," she said reluctantly.
"My brother complains about always getting beaten up by her during sparring," said Hana with a smirk.
"Sounds like your brother is a bitch. Spends too much time with dogs?" said Sai with the same old creepy smile on his face. This ticked off Hana something fierce. Hana was the gentlest member of the team, but Sai always managed to get under her skin some way or the other. As the Haimaru triplets let out a synchronized growl, she took a long breath and centered herself.
"Let's get going Ichigo. I don't want to explain why our teammate is all banged up right before the start of a mission," she said.
"Right. Sai, play nice. I would have skinned you alive if you commented about my sister like that," said Ichigo, losing all playfulness.
"I apologize, Hana," Sai said, without a change in his fake expression. Looking at it, Yamuko once again wondered what happened to the boy to screw him up so much.
Hana nodded her head curtly and turned away from him.
"Alright, enough lollygagging, let's head out," Ichigo said and disappeared in a puff of smoke.
The three tokubetsu jonin began following their squad leader at once. In no time, they reached their destination. As they made their way into the building, Yakumo's mood plummeted as she came face to face with the stupid bitch that almost ruined her life.
"Hey Hana, you heading out already?" asked her brother. His little ninken barked a greeting which was returned by the Haimaru triplets.
Yakumo took a few seconds to observe the team that had been assigned to Kurenai. All prominent clan kids. She wondered who had the bright idea to entrust more clan kids to the person who almost crippled a clan heiress. But then again, Lord Third was okay with sealing her up due to the Ido. Not like his student who is known for fuinjutsu could have taken a look at her before doing that right?
As Hana talked to her brother, Yakumo kept glaring at Kurenai, who had the audacity to smile at her. Right then and there, she felt a boiling rage within her that rivaled the malevolence of the Ido that used to reside within her.
A hand clamped on her shoulder and snapped her out of her fugue state. She looked backward and saw Ichigo standing right next to her, shaking his head.
"Yakumo, control," he whispered in a voice too low to be heard by others. Although, she was sure that Hana and her brother heard him with their enhanced senses. She heard a whine from below and saw that the triplets had approached her. They headbutted her shin and wagged their tails. She smiled at the faithful dogs and ruffled their heads. Hana's dogs always managed to calm her down.
Sometimes she really hated the increased aggression that subsuming the Ido brought along.
"Alright, we have a summons to fulfill. Nice to meet you Kurenai and team," said Ichigo as he motioned his team to keep moving.
"Tell mom when she's back from her mission. I'll leave behind a note after getting briefed anyway. But still… Akamaru, look after the idiot while I'm gone," she said and the ninken barked cheerfully in response while her brother protested the parting remark.
Right as they crossed them, Yakumo couldn't help but let a little bit of her spite show.
"Hey Hyuga, be a little careful yeah? Your teacher has a habit of making false promises and then giving up on you midway. Who knows, she might even seal up your eyes," she said as Ichigo rubbed the bridge of his nose. The shy Hyuga seemed startled for a second before she drew in further into herself.
"What?" shouted Hana's brother as he whirled around, an indignant expression on his face.
"Kiba, it's alright," Kurenai said and then turned around. She glanced at the Hyuga before returning her attention towards Yakumo, "I made a wrong call. I've apologized to you several times as well. I'd appreciate it if you didn't try to mislead my genin."
"Mislead? I'm just speaking the truth. I'm surprised they even gave you a team after what you did," she snarled as the rage came back to the fore once again.
"What else do you want me to do then?" snapped back Kurenai, finally losing her composure.
"I want you to shove your sanctimonious-" before she could continue, a gentle cough interrupted them. She could feel a minor genjutsu that amplified the sound so that they could all hear it amidst the brewing argument. They all turned towards the source to find a frowning Ichigo.
"Yakumo, Kurenai, I think it would be for the best if we didn't do this where any potential clients or superiors could listen," he said, tilting his head towards the door that lead to Lord Third's office.
"I understand. I'll meet you when you're back from the mission. We can't keep dancing around this forever Yakumo, it is not good for us," she said as her mask of professionalism slid back onto place, "For what it's worth, I really am sorry. I hope that you could find it in you to forgive me."
She then herded her team around and left the place quickly. Ichigo sighed and then turned towards her.
"Look, I know that it was messed up, but if you keep egging her on, it'll get ugly. Remember Yakumo, she was not the only one who made that call," he said, not wanting to air out the whole situation. Yakumo glanced at Sai and understood why Ichigo was so furtive right now. He had always been tight with information around Sai.
She thought back to the whole situation and knew that what he was saying was right. If they weren't childhood friends, then Ichigo would never have known about her powers being sealed up. Kurenai had gone ahead and gotten approval for sealing up her uncontrollable powers rather than train her up to control them. Lord Third trusted his jonin's capabilities too much.
"I know… It's just that seeing her with a team infuriates me," she groused.
"I understand, but we can't do anything about it. Moreover, did you get a proper look at her team? All prominent clan kids. They'll all specialize in their clan jutsu and nothing else. No offense to your brother Hana."
"Eh, I've tried getting him into iryojutsu, but the brat doesn't want to do anything other than punch and claw at his opponents," said Hana.
"So yeah, I bet you my sword that the so-called genjutsu mistress won't be imparting her specialty to any of them," he said as they walked towards the office.
"Heh, that's a sucker bet. Just you wait, I'll snatch that title from her soon enough," she smirked, "Sorry Ichigo. I should have kept my cool, especially after you warned me beforehand," she whispered right before they stepped in.
"It's alright," he replied nonchalantly.
As they lined up in front of the Hokage's bench, the man was looking at them with a smile on his face.
"Good morning," he said and picked up a scroll from his desk.
As they responded to his greeting he threw the scroll to Ichigo, who deftly caught it.
"Take a look at it and let me know if your team is up for the mission. I know that you just got back from your previous assignment, but needs must. I apologize for overworking you," he said.
"It's alright Lord Third," said Ichigo as his eyes flew over the words written in the scroll.
"While your team leader is gauging the mission parameters, please tell this old man how your training has been going on. Does anybody need any pointers?" asked The Professor with a bright smile.
"It's been going well, Lord Third. I have been improving my iryojutsu as of late. Mainly to bridge the gap in my knowledge," said Hana. Of course, Hana was exceptional with iryojutsu in the veterinary branch. Ever since she joined the team, she had been trying hard to improve herself when it came to healing humans as well. She was a good medic already, but as of late, she was reaching the same level of her veterinary skills.
"Excellent. Do let me know if you need any help. What about you Yakumo?" he asked her next.
"Umm, I have been working on nature transformation. Apart from that, taijutsu is a perpetual grind for me as you know," she said.
"Good good. Keep up the progress and you'll be promoted in no time," he said with a strained smile. She liked to imagine that he was feeling guilty for listening to the bitch and almost torpedoing her career.
He then looked expectantly at Sai, but the boy just kept staring back with an incessant fake smile on his face.
"What have you been working on, Sai?" he finally asked.
"My art, Lord Hokage," the boy replied without any elaboration.
"Hmm, alright. Keep it up," he responded after a moment of silence. She could see that he was exasperated with the boy, but that was nothing new.
"We can do it, Lord Third," said Ichigo as he rolled up the scroll. She caught sight of his expression and was curious about what the mission was. Ichigo only had that expression on his face when he was planning something nefarious.
"Perfect. Let me give you an overview of the mission. You can get the rest of the details from Ichigo. You were all briefed about the traitor we caught last week, correct?"
Once they gave him the affirmation, he continued, "The T&I Force has been hard at work trying to ferret some details out of the traitor. As a result, we know the location of a few bases that belong to Orochimaru."
She could hear Hana take a sharp breath upon hearing that. Yakumo herself had clenched her fist, knowing that they will be venturing out on a dangerous mission.
"I sent out a couple of teams to scout the location for any activity. We have a few targets now. Your team will go to one such target," he said.
"Mission parameters, Lord Hokage?" asked Yakumo.
"Infiltration and espionage. I chose your team for this specific purpose. You have a good track record in search and rescue missions. This is something similar, just with a different target. Orochimaru doesn't know that we are aware of these bases. I want this illusion of safety to prevail," he said nodding at Ichigo.
"It's our usual rescue strategy. The only difference will be that we won't be stealing anything or anyone. We will be making copies of the documents there on the sly, and leave the base undisturbed. As long as they don't think it to be compromised, we will keep getting more information from it," said Ichigo.
Yakumo's mind went on overdrive, imagining how the mission was supposed to proceed. Hana and the dogs will be mapping the location of the bogies from the ground while Sai will be doing the same from the air. Once the signal is given, she'll drown the whole place with her potent genjutsu and put them all to sleep. Ichigo will contain them with his suppression seals and place more unnoticeable seals around the place to monitor it. After that, all they would need to do would be to copy all the documents and leave. She would need to alter their memories, but that would be easy with her Kekkei Genkai.
The team composition inspired confidence in her that they could do this mission for sure.
"Any questions or any concerns?" asked the Hokage. When they all shook their head, he smiled in response and leaned back in his chair.
"Alright then Team Ichigo, you are on the clock as of now. Get the complete briefing from your squad leader and proceed."
They all bowed in response and left the office with haste. Yakumo double-checked her belongings as they practically flew towards the village gate. As Ichigo started giving them more information about the mission, Yakumo wondered what kinds of horrors she would see in that lunatic's base.
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A.N: For those wondering about Ichigo's appearance, take a look at the new cover picture of the fic.
Yakumo seems volatile because she frankly is. Kurenai's dismissal and subsequent betrayal shook her up something fierce. The whole subsuming the Ido thing was something inspired by the inner darkness thing that Bee and Naruto explored in that Waterfall of Truth. Ichigo's seal does something similar. It allows the Kurama clan members with the affliction to confront their malicious split personalities.
I am planning on releasing a bunch of extra chapters called the Shinobi Files. They are basically the files the village has about various characters. That would clear up a few things.
If you want to talk to me on discord, please find the invite in the auxiliary chapter.
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