Within an average-looking room, Gin and I entered. Closing the door shut, I found myself sighing in relief.
We have officially entered the southern area of the land of fire, the Nikko Inn town. Ensuring that there was no chase after us, we entered one particular inn that came into our sight.
Now, I found myself instantly collapsing on the bed, with no strength to spare. Gin, on the other hand, took a seat at one old-looking wooden chair, with a dark expression on his face.
Of course, he must be full of concerns right now. Unlike the petty assaults from the ninjas whose statuses only amounted to genin or chunin, we came across one of the seven swordsmen this time around.
Kirigakure really was preparing for the war, it seemed.
However, I didn't mind. Life under the chase was quite a harsh one to live, but I prefer being chased as a capable one than to survive as a scavenger off the street.
Instead of whining, my mind drifted off to the battle against Kurosuki Raiga. Raw strength, chakra reserve, versatile use of ninjutsu, high mastery over kenjutsu—the fight made me realize once again, that I still had a far way to go.
No words were spoken. With silence, I gazed up at the wooden ceiling above, full of thoughts.
'Mastery over three basic ninjutsu techniques. Honed kenjutsu skills, along with the high control over the fire affinity.'
My improvement over 3 years of training was based on the foundation. It took a long time just to bring up my physical capability from that of a frail 8-year-old's to my current self. Will you believe me if I told you that I now am able to run around the entire Nikko Inn town without any involvement of chakra?
It was thanks to this built-up strength that I managed to face Raiga off for a short amount of time.
'What should my future direction be? Fire melts steel, and if I want to further develop the use of fire affinity in swordsmanship, I need to think of a way to make that work—'
"Akashi." Gin said in a tired tone, "Stop thinking and take some rest. Do you think that I didn't notice?"
...Let's just go to sleep.
__________
The night has passed by, and I've woken up later than my usual time, meeting the bright sunlight straight at my face.
"You're awake." Gin, who already seemed ready to go, said in a monotone, "Get ready. I'm getting you a new sword."
"Good one?" I asked while putting on the cloak over myself.
"Decent one. Sometime or later, you're going to burn it anyway."
We walked out of the inn and walked down the street. Gin seemed to have some knowledge regarding this area, for there was no hesitation in his steps.
"Are we going to get some food as well?"
"Ramen."
"Something other than ramen, maybe? Freaking tired of that food."
"Use your own money then, punk."
Eventually, we stopped in front of one smithery located the north of the town, and entered casually.
It was hot inside. One buff sweaty man was repeatedly swinging his hammer at the blade that lied on an anvil, generating the loud clanging noises of metal.
"Welcome." The man, while busy slamming his hammer down, said without looking at us, "Feel free to look around. Everything costs the same here."
"Choose." Gin said to me, to which I responded by walking up to one particular sword that I've sighted from the start. Gin narrowed his eyes at it, before stating, "Well done."
I smirked while pointing my fist at him, causing him to raise his eyebrow, before meeting mine with his own.
...And I found my smile slowly dying down.
He paid the price, and we exited the hot smithery.
I immediately asked him seriously,
"Since when?"
Gin, who stood in front of me, stopped on his track.
"...So you figured, huh."
"Why must you do this way? I know that it's out of my selfish mind, but... couldn't have told me at least one thing?" I found myself muttering with my head casted down.
Back in the smithery, Gin's fist felt cold. Cold, in the hot smithery.
What was standing in front of me wasn't Gin, but his water clone. Gin probably deduced how problematic it was to have one of the seven swordsmen tailing after him, and decided to push me off for my safety.
"You are too young, Akashi. You shouldn't bother your time trying to get to know someone like me and—" The water-clone-Gin's eyes widened, before he suddenly burst into the water that sprayed everywhere.
On the ground where the clone previously stood, one drenched paper with a complex seal written, was lying by.
"Heh, since when did you get a stupidly expensive seal to begin with?"
It was probably a seal related to the preservation of a clone even at a very far distance away from an original.
But even that was unable to prevent the sudden destruction of the clone, meaning that... Gin was in a trouble.
I looked up at the sky and gazed at the pleasant blue, where the white clouds dwelled along with the brightly shining sun.
"You didn't say that the deal is off, Gin," I whispered, "Meaning that I still am your responsibility."
There was no way that those from Konoha engaged in combat against Gin. We arrived here just yesterday, and the flow of information couldn't be that fast for the ones who just finished the world-scale war; Gin wasn't someone of interest to that village anyway.
He probably is fighting those from Kiri again. Outside of the border I speculate, because fighting in the land of fire will alert Konoha.
'Southward direction to the land of tea perhaps? Westward, back to the land of waves?'
Think, Akashi. Why did we come to the Nikko Inn town in the first place, located right before the eastern border of the land of fire, connected to the land of water—
Come to think of it, he had this habit of staring off to the horizon in trance periodically. And I've noticed that since the time in the land of rivers, his eyes were headed to the east, where the land of water lied. Did he miss his home? No, it wasn't that kind of look. It was something akin to... guilt.
And before I knew, my body moved on its own. I began to rush in the eastward direction, at my utmost speed.
What was I feeling right now? Why was I being so irrational, acting on my emotion? Running with a visible panic on my face, I couldn't understand myself.
Instead, I could only think, 'Until he says that the deal is off, it isn't over.'
You better be alive, Gin.