บท 7: Chapter 7
On the morning of our mission, I manage to arrive before everybody else – one hour earlier to be exact. And not because I wanted to! It's just – I was really nervous throughout the night and couldn't really sleep, and woke up, like, every other hour until it no longer made any sense to try to go back to sleep. So here I am, sitting up in a tree, trying to get at least a few more minutes of shuteye before our great journey officially begins. Or maybe even a couple of hours, should Kakashi not take this seriously and decide to be late again. Please, at least for the sake of our first escort mission, try to be punctual.
Sasuke is the first one to arrive. But except for a nod to acknowledge the other, both of us don't exchange any words. Next is Sakura. However, as expected, the moment she sees her dear Sasuke-kun, everything else simply vanishes from her sight. I actually pity the duck. That's animal cruelty right there. Somebody better be calling PETA on the pink banshee.
Surprisingly the next one to arrive is Kakashi, followed by Naruto and Tazuna. So the silverette could be punctual if he wanted to.
"Alright! We're off!" Naruto cheers and starts to look all around him, eyes filled with curiosity. He somehow reminds me of Marshmallow - my very first cat that I had rescued from the streets in my former world – back when she still had been just a tiny, little kitten. On the night when I had first brought her to my apartment, she was so curious and everything seemed to be new to her so she would run around and poke her nose into everything – she ended up getting her head stuck in a jar of strawberry jam; she had looked so incredibly silly, but cute – until she was completely spent and turned to sleeping for the following thirteen hours. Naruto, on the other hand, is not cute, though. He's obnoxious. And loud. And just typical Naruto.
"What are you so excited about?" Tazuna asks him annoyed.
"You see, I've never left the village before!" Naruto continues with his antics. The bridge builder turns to Kakashi and inquires, "Are you sure I'm gonna be alright with this brat?"
"I'm a Jōnin and I will be watching him, so everything will be fine, no worries." Our resident cyclops assures him.
"Hey, old man! Don't mock us ninja! I'm awesome you know! I'm a super-elite Shinobi who will one day become Hokage! You better remember my name, Uzumaki Naruto, believe it!" Naruto goes off on Tazuna who takes a gulp from his trusty bottle and eyes the blonde with ridicule. Why not scream a little bit louder? My eardrums are still intact, so try harder, would you.
"The Hokage is the top dog of your village, yes? You certainly don't look like you'll ever manage to achieve that position. The day that happens is when pigs learn how to fly." I wouldn't bet on that if I were you. I mean, there's a giant, nine-tailed fox, and talking toads and dogs – who is to say that there aren't any flying pigs hiding around somewhere.
"Argh! Shut up! I'll do whatever it takes to become Hokage and when that happens you'll have no other choice but to acknowledge me, believe it!" Naruto argues.
"I'll never acknowledge you, squirt... even if you manage to become Hokage," Tazuna says. This makes Naruto even angrier, shouting "I'll kill you!" at the old bridge builder. Kakashi has to hold him back. "I told you to stop threatening our client with murder, you moron!" He chides the idiot, who tries to free himself from our teacher's hold.
Tazuna then turns around and his eyes fall on me. He frowns. Whatcha lookin' at, huh?!
"And what's up with this brat? Is he some sort of cat demon? Or is he like those Shinobi from that dog clan? Ya think a weirdo like him will be of any use?" He asks slightly disgusted. Ex-fucking-cuse you, I don't like the look of that ugly mug of yours either, but do you hear me complaining? Should I tell him that I'm gay to make him flip the lid some more? Maybe he'll do something that I could use as an excuse to kill him... Yeah, nah, too much of a hassle. Let's just ignore him.
I can see the corner of Kakashi's eye twitch in irritation. Aww, is he getting angry for my sake?
"I can assure you that Shizuya is by no means a cat demon, nor will he be a hindrance to our mission. I would appreciate it if you'd curb your antagonistic remarks towards my students. Your life depends on them, you know." Oh, that wonderful, deep growl in his voice – Magnifique! But why does the look on his face seem so disconcerting now? Scary... Nevertheless, once we got that sorted out, we could finally commence with our mission.
During our travels, Sakura decides to talk to Tazuna.
"Your country is the Land of Waves, right?" She asks.
"What of it?" The old drunk grunts.
"Say, Kakashi-sensei, do they also have ninja there?" She turns to Kakashi.
"No, there aren't any ninja in the Land of Waves." He answers. "But in other countries, despite differing cultures, there are hidden villages like ours." He then proceeds to explain to her about the major countries, their ninja villages, and other facts. I already knew some of it thanks to the anime, but it was interesting, nonetheless. During said explanation, I hear Tazuna say "Of course not" when Kakashi assured Sakura that there are no ninja battles in C-Rank missions. I could hear a slight vibration in the drunk man's voice as he said that - a sign of nervosity. That prick dares to lie to our faces. Both Kakashi and Sasuke seem to also notice this small detail. I let my eyes wander to Sakura and Naruto. They're both as inattentive as usual. It's a wonder how they managed to survive until this point.
It is after we crossed a small river that I notice two water puddles on the path, which is weird since it had not rained in a long time and the sun has been out and burning down on us all day long. Ah, those must be the puddles where the two enemy nin are hiding. I then look at Kakashi, who smiles at me. Of course, he has discovered them as well, what else would I expect from a Jōnin like him.
Only once we all had walked past the puddles, did our enemies decide to act. Within seconds, sharp chains wrap themselves around Kakashi, instantly shredding him to pieces. This shocks the rest of the group, with the exception of myself. Duh, as if those two morons, who couldn't even hide properly, could harm him. Besides, with my meager knowledge from the anime, Kakashi is going to live for quite a while.
"The first one." The two enemy ninja count and move on.
"K-Kakashi-sensei!" Naruto yells but freezes in fear when our adversaries appear right behind him.
"The second one." They count further, yet when they are about to attack the Blonde, Sasuke throws a shuriken that nails their chains to a tree, which he then secures with a kunai, halting their attack. However, before anybody could rejoice, the two enemy nin disconnect themselves from their chains. One of them quickly moves behind Sasuke and Naruto, his target clear - Tazuna – while the other one distracts the two aforementioned boys. Sakura quickly reacts and jumps in front of Tazuna with a kunai in her hand to protect our client. It's kinda sad how I'm being ignored by the enemy. Whelp, may as well use it in my favor then, so I quickly retract my chakra to become even more "invisible", before stealthily approaching the one that had gone for Tazuna since I'm sure that Sasuke wouldn't have any problems dealing with the other one. And my stealth technique must be goddamn good because even though Sakura is looking straight in my direction, she doesn't seem to be able to see me. Only when I activate Lightning Claw on my right hand, do I see her eyes widen in surprise, quickly turning shocked as she watches me plunge said lethal claws through the shinobi's chest, killing him instantly.
I don't know why I did that. It was pure instinct. My enemy had his back turned towards me, underestimating me, taunting me, daring me to do it. And so I did. I may not come from a feared clan like Sasuke or house a chakra beast inside of me like Naruto does, nor am I protected by plot armor like all of my teammates are, but nobody should ever dare to just ignore me like this.
I might not have originally been from this world, but after living here for more than a decade even I have learned to let go of my previous notions of what's good and bad. I wouldn't be able to survive here if I were to continuously cling to my old worldview. To the majority of people here, fighting and killing is a daily norm. Children grow up learning how to kill other human beings when they have barely even started to lose their baby teeth. They are officially seen as adults the moment they obtain the rank of Genin, which usually is around the age of twelve. Could you imagine trying to navigate a brutal world such as this with the naïve mindset of a sheltered person from Earth? It wouldn't work. And I've seen it all around me just how different the two worlds are. Heck, I've lived it. Hearing about people dying all around me every single day sure makes you hyperaware of your own mortality. It just seems so incredibly easy to die. And even though I never had to kill before, I know very well that that is an aspect I wouldn't be able to avoid if I truly wished to become a shinobi. For that very reason, I've trained my mind over the course of nearly five years to get rid of my fear of killing as well as to adjust my moral code to fit with the rest of this world. It was hard, and I've spent more nights awake due to nightmares than is probably healthy, but it had been necessary. And it worked.
Here I am, with my entire arm stuck in another human being's chest, blood dripping from my fingertips, drops of dark crimson splattered across my face and clothes, but I'm calm. For now, that is. Thinking of doing something and actually doing it are vastly different experiences. I'll probably have a breakdown later on, but right now, everything seems fine.
Because of my drastic action, the rest of the battlefield froze. Naruto and especially Sakura look absolutely terrified, while Sasuke watches on silently with a deep frown. My victim's partner immediately switches his target from Sasuke to me and tries to attack but is stopped midair by Kakashi.
"Ma~ looks like it's over." He drawls, drawing the gazes of everybody towards himself. The faces of the Genin brighten immediately.
"Kakashi-sensei!" Sakura exclaims happily. To which Kakashi lifts one hand and gives a lazy "Yo".
"Huh? Then what was that before?" Naruto asks in confusion as he looks at the spot where our teacher had previously 'perished', only to see a bunch of logs lying around. These brats really should have a bit more trust in the silverette's skills.
"Sorry Naruto that I didn't help you out sooner. You got hurt. I didn't expect you to freeze up like that." Kakashi apologizes to the blonde, who doesn't take it all too well. How that kid manages to change his mood at the flip of a switch I will never know. But man is he easy to rile up.
"Anyway, good job Sasuke. You too, Sakura," our teacher praises them and then turns to Naruto who just stands there silently, observing him, "I'm sure you'll do better next time, Naruto," he encourages the blonde, getting a very loud "I will, believe it!". Then it is my turn. "Shizuya, thank you as well. Though you probably didn't have to kill him," Kakashi says to me, to which I avert my eyes. Maybe I really should've thought things through beforehand. What if he dislikes me now? Not that I wouldn't understand it, I did murder the guy without as much as a second thought, after all.
"Hey, look at me, Shizuya," I hear him say softly before I feel his hands on my shoulders. I comply and my eyes meet his lone one. There is no disgust there, nor anger or disappointment, instead, I see pity and sadness. "True, you could've done things differently, yet you didn't do anything wrong either. They were enemies who came at us with the intention to kill. You only did your best to protect your client and teammates, right?" I nod. He doesn't need to know that I just got pissed at getting ignored. And wanted to prove to myself that I would be able to kill if necessary. Yup, let's not tell him that. Kakashi then pats me on my head before he turns towards Naruto who was unloading his frustration upon Sasuke after having been called a scaredy-cat by him.
"Naruto, these guys' claws have poison on them. You gotta get rid of it." He tells the blonde, who instantly gets frightened and yells "What?!". Why does he always have to be so loud? Kakashi isn't even that far away from him.
"You two are Chūnin from Kiri, and you certainly weren't after me or my team, so tell me: Why are you after Tazuna?" The silverette stares at the man before him whose eyes widened slightly at the old drunk's name.
"First, tell me how you were able to guess our movements." The Chūnin asks Kakashi who proceeds to tell him about the puddle that had been totally out of place since it hadn't rained in days. Tazuna then inquires why Kakashi had not said anything and let us face the danger on our own, but our teacher simply points out that it had been necessary in order to find out who their target was. The old drunk starts to visibly sweat at this.
"So, who sent you?"
"The one who hired us is called Gatō. He wanted us to kill the bridge builder Tazuna." The Kiri nin explains.
"I see... I know who he is" Kakashi says before turning to the old drunk. "Now, Tazuna-san, why did you lie? As you yourself have pointed out before, these kids are not yet strong enough to face the dangers of combat against true ninja. They could've gotten seriously injured, or even worse, died because of you. So why didn't you file this mission at a higher rank where you would've gotten an escort appropriate for your level of danger?" Oh, he is angry judging by the way he glares at the drunk old man. Having that lone eye stare daggers at you with that amount of fury... no wonder Tazuna is trying to avoid eye contact. I wouldn't be able to look into that dark orb either.
But eventually, the bridge builder caves in. What follows is a sob story about Gatō's tyranny and the bad state of his village. In the end, Kakashi asks the rest of us whether we would like to continue on with this mission or rather retreat. Naruto, that stubborn idiot, naturally could not say 'No', spurning us on to keep going no matter the possible danger.
I personally didn't care much about it. Though, I do worry a little about the other three, especially that blond knucklehead. Zabuza is close to Kakashi's level, and the other one – the one who's said to be a dude yet looks like a chick – is also fairly strong. Much stronger than us fresh graduates anyway. Should I try and be the voice of reason instead? Nah, everything turns out fine in the anime, so there's no need to bother. I'd just be nerfing the main cast if I were to rob them of this opportunity to get stronger.
As such, our group of six continues onward until we reach the sea. There a man is waiting for us to take us to the Land of Waves by boat. We are told to remain quiet since we don't want to get caught. However, Naruto being Naruto, of course, has to loudly make his wonder at the enormous size of the bridge known. If looks could kill, the ferryman would have murdered him a hundred times over. The blonde can be rather oblivious towards the situations he finds himself in, and while I think it's funny sometimes, particularly when he gets scolded, I don't want to get dragged into his troubles.
We travel by boat for quite some time before arriving at our destination. From there, we would need to continue on foot. This is going to be boring. But it won't be for too long.
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