Chapitre 29: Chapter 29: Black and Blue
'Taijutsu, huh.' Shin muttered, watching the two shinobi cross arms, legs, and everything else.
Tetsu's fight had been going on for a few minutes now, and it was clear that the rain-nin had more experience. He was finding openings more easily, he was faster, and his height advantage made it difficult to land a solid hit in return. It essentially turned into a boxing match, a boxing match he was losing badly.
His body was bruised and swollen all over, and he was bleeding from his right eyebrow and forehead. Tetsu realized he needed to switch up tactics if he wanted to win; his opponent was simply too much faster and more experienced to try and beat him at his own game.
Tetsu slipped two kunai into each hand, attaching an explosive tag to the outside ones. He tossed them in a fan, each one landing in a line running right to left between him and the enemy as Oya came rushing over. Tetsu rolled forward to the left, and when Oya went to follow him, Tetsu used earth release to shoot the explosive kunai from behind his opponent over his head. As Oya's leg was extending to land a powerful blow on Tetsu's chin, the kunai, now just over his head, detonated, flattening the rain-nin to the floor, and knocking Tetsu away. Once Tetsu was far enough away, he kept his bearings enough to detonate the other one, which the enemy shinobi landed near after the first explosion.
Seeing the poor guy get ping-ponged between explosive tags was enough to make the moderator end the match, if a little prematurely, and declare it a tie, given that Tetsu was beat up enough where he couldn't really walk anymore. Despite this, Team 4 definitely considered it their victory, and helped Tetsu over to the medical shinobi for treatment. Most of his wounds were superficial, and he was back to normal after 10 minutes or so, about when Kannin was able to use his legs after his extreme chakra exhaustion.
Hanzo leapt down, and addressed both shinobi teams, saying "1 win, 1 loss, and 1 draw. It seems we were evenly matched this time, Konoha."
Kannin looked at Hanzo and realized he must have been reminiscing over his previous battles in the Second War. It seemed like he might even miss them.
"For now, you should rest. Tomorrow, I'll have someone give you a proper tour of the village, and introduce some of the genin teams I intend to have go to Konoha."
Everyone nodded, tired and wet, without a word, except Kannin, who apologized to Hitori for destroying her clothes, and went to the hotel where they were told to stay.
-
That night, each member of Team 4 couldn't sleep easily, either out of pain, or from anxiety. Kannin was amazed at the prowess Warai showed with the Sharingan and Tetsu's sheer power and speed against his opponent. Warai and Tetsu lay in bed, replaying the wind slash Kannin performed against Hitori in their minds, still in awe of the power he managed to exert. Shin stared at the leaky ceiling wondering exactly what was going on his her kids' brains to make them train as hard as they did to become that strong. It had only been a little over a month since they seemed so green from the academy.
Eventually all four of them managed to get some sleep before their tour the next morning. When they did get up, Shin ordered Kannin to create a shadow clone to accompany her own clone to investigate Akatsuki while they were out. Disguising their clones as regular Ame shinobi, they left them to roam the city looking for clues.
After the four of them had gone through their morning routines, each marked by their own peculiarities (Warai liked to check to see if her Sharingan had changed each morning in a mirror), a very tired looking rain-nin greeted them in the hotel lobby. He had many eyebags and had a slight hunch in his back. Leading them into the rain, he handed each member of Team 4 an umbrella before embarking on a tour.
He showed them the training grounds, school, important shops, local delicacies, etc. The team was overall impressed with the cultural vitality of Amegakure, considering how it was faring economically due to the war.
All the while, Shin and Kannin were searching for the strange organization mentioned in the mission brief--what Kannin suspected would eventually become Akatsuki.
-
Looking for a secret organization in a shinobi village was like searching a glass bead in the ocean. It seemed like everyone they saw could be a member of Akatsuki, from the barkeeps to the old ladies. They tried to keep their snoopiness on the down-low, but they still received a number of scornful and confused looks from the locals.
While taking a rest in an alleyway, Kannin told Shin, "I don't know if we'll be able to find them, sensei."
Shin was a little frustrated. She thought she wasn't half bad at search missions, but these shinobi had eluded her totally. Not only did she not find a trace of them in the village, but they managed to put in her mind a certain paranoia. Everyone she looked at seemed a possible member of the organization.
"We have to keep looking, Kannin. We're only here for a few more days at most."
They argued for a few more minutes about where to look for them, and whether the the organization was actually located in Amegakure proper. They were so deep in conversation, that they didn't notice a figure emerging from deeper within the alleyway. Emerging from the shadows, they finally saw a silhouette in their periphery and quickly stopped talking. They turned over to look at their eavesdropper and saw a young man with spiky orange hair approach them.
"You mentioned a secret organization?"
État de l’alimentation hebdomadaire
-- Classement
Power Stone 
-- Power
stone