章 58: New Mission

Standing there in front of his genin team, Hanzo started to feel something he hadn't experienced since he was a new genin: cold feet. The thing was, he had really begun to love being with his team. Between training them, going on missions, witnessing the bonds they had formed, and teasing them, everything he had done with them had carved out a special place in his heart.

Internally sighing, he committed himself to the situation. "I need to let them know about the situation before going on this mission; being unprepared is the worst thing you can be at this point in time."

Looking over his genin, his eyes firmed up, and he spoke in a clear voice, "Alright, listen up, guys. We have a new mission that we are supposed to leave for right away. The thing is, we've seen massive military activity from the Mist village recently, so we are expecting them to start coming at us with more aggression. This means that as we are going on this trip, we need to be very cautious of everything and everyone outside the village. If you're going to wander around, always take someone with you, or have all three of you go together."

Immediately, this darkened the team's mood. "Those watery bastards are trying to make a move on us again. So this really is the beginning of the second ninja war," I thought as internally I sighed at the feeling of inadequacy. Sure, I could take on a jonin and possibly win by myself at this point, but if there was a jonin plus another person of any rank, I don't think I would survive it.

"Well, I did everything I could've up to this point. Now it's time to earn my stripes in the field and become recognized as the strongest shinobi on the planet," I thought as I looked at our sensei standing as sturdy as a rock pillar.

Hanzo looked at his students and then thought back to the spy incident and internally smirked a little. "Well, they better be ready to meet a group of about six very pissed-off genius genin then."

"The reason for this amount of vigilance is because we are going to be on a mission lasting from one to two months to the Land of Noodles, and we also don't need to be losing our talented genin because of a stupid decision or one moment of relaxed guard," Hanzo said sternly, conveying his emotions clearly.

"So, what is this mission all about then, sensei?" Kiyoko asked, ready to get on the road.

Turning to look at Kiyoko, he continued, "During this mission, we are to create an alliance with the Otozoku Clan and try to persuade them to relocate to our village," Hanzo finished and looked at his genin in front of him.

Benimaru looked at their sensei with a questioning gaze. "So what's so special about them that we need to recruit them into the village? Isn't that kind of a risky move to bring in an outside clan considering what's happening in the world right now?"

Hanzo nodded while humming. "Well, the reason we are recruiting them into the village is because of the jutsus they use and have survived on. Throughout the warring states period, they survived primarily by being an isolated clan that used sound-based jutsu. That is the reason we are trying to recruit them, because of their sound jutsu." Hanzo sighed and rubbed his forehead. "As for the second part of your question; yes, it is a precarious move right now. But Lord Third wants us to do it, so it's not really any of our business to question it. He didn't rise to the Uzukage position for nothing, after all."

They nodded again, and it was Benimaru's turn to ask a question. "So why do we need their sound jutsu so badly? Surely we have enough firepower to go up against most of the ninja world one on one."

Hanzo smiled at that question and turned to Benimaru. "Well, that would be because we don't have any sound-based jutsu, nor do we have a starting point to try and develop our own jutsus within the R&D (research and development) department of the village. The more specific reason is that the Uzumaki clan would make great use of those sound jutsu interwoven into their seal jutsus. This combination would work especially well in the Guerrilla Ambush and Seal Division (GAS) that our village has."

That last part of his sentence piqued both mine and Benimaru's interest as we looked at our sensei. "What's that division?" we asked not so eloquently.

"Well, that division is one of our first and best lines of defense. If you take a quick look all around us, what do you see?"

Benimaru looked around him. "Uh, trees and mountains?"

"Exactly, we have a whole forest and mountain range at our disposal to work with. This geographical advantage works very well because we all grew up around here and know it like the back of our hands. What this division of the village does is set up seals and traps all over the island forests quickly and silently while the ambush squad ends up using these traps and the geography to their advantage."

It started to click in Benimaru's head the more Hanzo talked about this. "So it's an entire division that sticks to quick hit-and-run tactics to dwindle any enemy forces that may approach the village through the surrounding forests."

"Correct. Also, most of the people that make up that squad are from the Uzumaki and Mori clan for obvious reasons. Those being that Shiran's clan is amazing with seals, while the Mori clan essentially uses the wildlife around them to create an insurmountable environmental advantage that takes most ninjas by surprise. The thing with these squads is you have to be recommended by someone of jonin rank or someone currently in the GAS squad, and you need to be at least chunin rank to apply and make it into the division."

'Interesting. This is the first time that I've heard about this. Not even my dad mentioned anything about it,' Shiran thought to themselves.

"Anyway, the reason I'm telling you any of this is so you're all prepared for what we're about to face out there; it's truly a regretful thing that we have to send kids to that place. Anyway, like I said, we need to get them on our good side and hopefully negotiate a deal. With that being said, it could turn out to be a lost cause because of how much their clan adheres to isolationism. This will be a great mission for all of you guys to discover a little something about diplomacy in the shinobi world. Now, any questions before we head out?" Hanzo asked them, glancing at the sun that was just reaching its peak in the sky.

"Good, go get yourselves ready to go and meet me by the village gate." Nodding, they all split to get ready.

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(A/N: I already have a couple good ideas/tactics for the GAS squad but let me know if you guys come up with any, I would love to integrate some of your ideas into the story!)

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