Chapitre 30: Chapter 30: Like Clockwork
Shin's nerves were on edge already. Despite being close to an elite shinobi, she hadn't sensed this orange haired man until just now. Thankfully, she and Kannin were diguised, so he wouldn't be able to trace them back to their hotel, but nonetheless it was concerning.
"Umm, yeah, we did." Shin managed to reply
The young man responded flatly, "Beat it. We're not accepting any new members."
"Oh we aren't looking to join, silly. We were wondering what kind of services you provided." Shin glanced down at Kannin to make sure he caught on, "Someone told us you offer a lot of different services, and we were wondering what rates you charge."
"Why'd you bring the kid?"
"...Well, his father died a few years back, and I couldn't leave him at home"
The orange haired man looked on skeptically, "...Sure. Well anyway, tell me what you want, and I can tell you if we would be able to do it."
Shin focused herself and asked sternly, pointing at Kannin, "Could you kill the man who murdered his father? What about rob him?"
The man thought for a moment, "We could do that, though he would need to be in the Village. We don't prefer outside work--it increases our rates significantly."
"Well what are your normal rates?"
The conversation continued for a while like this, Shin trying everything she could to get information as to where they could be, what they do and how they do it. Kannin just kind of stood there, letting Shin use him for garnering pity because of his dear dead dad.
As they were concluding, she continued, "Thanks so much, I'll have my people contact your people in the next few days to set things up officially." She paused, "Could I by any chance get your name?"
The orange haired man paused before answering, "Yahiko. My name's Yahiko." He reached out his hand, and he and Shin shook hands.
"Well, we better get going now, little Tatumi here still hasn't eaten lunch! Thanks again."
Shin grabbed Kannin's arm and quickly led him away to a spot where they could inconspicuously pop their clones.
-
On the other side of Amegakure, as the tour guide was just about wrapping up, Kannin and Shin's eyes went wide as they absorbed the information streaming into their heads from their clones. They looked at each other silently and nodded.
The next day went by smoothly, and all of them were fully healed from their battles. They were led back to Hanzo's office, where he introduced them to the genin team they were tasked to bring back to Konoha. They were a scrawny bunch, about Team 4's age. The oldest looking one had a gloomy looking expression beneath the black bangs covering his face, and two swords strapped to his back. He and Kannin both looked at each other's blades, and without a word understood who had the advantage. The tallest one had a gaunt and spindly look about him, with all black, long Ame garments, with nearly shaved clean head of brown hair. The smallest one looked very young, younger than Kannin, in fact. She had choppy yellow hair, and the sleeves of her shirt were longer than her arms.
Hanzo told them, "This is our very own Team 10. Please treat them well, and they will return the favor."
The two teams bowed to the other and exchanged pleasantries. They learned that the lanky one's name was Oharu, the little girl was called Nami, and the dual sword wielder was named Futatsu. They offered their own names, and thanked Hanzo for the hospitality.
They brought the other team to the edge of the village and readied to leave for home. They had only been gone for about two weeks, with travel time included, but Team 4 missed home quite dearly. The eternal rain in Amegakure made them long for the bright and sunny air of Konoha, and the Spring scents and gentle breezes.
Kannin again made a dome of wind around the group to block the rain, and they set out, this time having the Ame shinobi use water release to propel their boat--that's right, an actual real boat this time. With a properly hydrodynamic vessel and experienced water release users from Ame, they reached the shore of the giant lake in just a few hours.
The two teams didn't talk much on the journey there. Kannin didn't mind, though. He had done more talking with strangers than he ever intended to with those chunins the few nights previous, and just wanted a nice night's sleep without the constant, mind-numbing patter of rain berating his ears. The rain-nin were equally silent, Kannin guessed it was because they weren't so used to being outside Ame, but he didn't know for sure.
The increased party size slowed them down significantly, and by the time they were back in the Land of Fire, it had already been three weeks since they had left. Only about one of those had been spent under the incessant downpour of Amegakure. Rushing through the trees faster than before in anticipation of returning home, they arrived just short of a month since they left, Ame-nin in tow.
When they entered Konoha after showing their credentials, all 4 members of the team noticed something was wrong. All of them were in the village during the War, and they all had experienced first hand the gloom that choked the village then, and they recognized instantly that a similar, palpable sadness had gripped Konoha again.
They showed the Ame-nin to their lodgings, and left them for the tour guides and whatnot to handle later. Outside the hotel they dropped the rain-nin off at, Warai turned to Shin and asked in earnest,
"Harakaze-sensei, what happened while we were gone?"
Shin was equally confused and concerned, and all she managed to say in response was, "I don't know, Warai. But I'm going to find out as soon as I can."
État de l’alimentation hebdomadaire
-- Classement
Power Stone 
-- Power
stone