It's the day after my lovely therapy session and once I entered ANBU HQ, I was told to report to training room five, which is in front of me right now.
Before i open the door however, I am interrupted by a voice approaching me.
"hey six, you got the same assignment as me?"
Turning around to see who it is, since I can't really recognise voices when the masks make us all sound the same.
"oh, hey hound, long time no see, and I guess so yeah."
That said I open the door and gesture for him to go in first.
Entering the hall, I see two ANBU already present, and when they notice us, which was immediately by the way, the bigger of the two starts talking, ๐ด๐ฆ๐ณ๐ช๐ฐ๐ถ๐ด๐ญ๐บ ๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ช๐ด ๐ฃ๐ถ๐ช๐ญ๐ต ๐ญ๐ช๐ฌ๐ฆ ๐ข ๐ต๐ข๐ฏ๐ฌ.
"you're finally here, now, to the point, we are a new team, and I am your new squad captain, bear, I am a combat specialist, next here is monkey, he is our tracking specialist, a sensor. now you two, introduce yourselves."
Saying so they both look expectantly at us, I gesture for Hound to go first.
"well, I'm hound, and I suppose I'm a combat specialist too"
And like that the attention is on me.
"my name is six, and I suppose I am a stealth specialist."
They seem satisfied at that, but I can't help and think that they aren't too happy to have me as a teammate, which I understand, I wouldn't be happy trusting a child with my life either.
"now, with the war still going strong, we already have an assignment, we are going to serve as reserve fighters, to help out where needed, we were all selected because the higher ups believed in our speed after all. now gather everything you will need, including supplies for a six day round trip, and meet at west gate eight in fifteen minutes."
Having said his piece Bear and Monkey disappear, leaving me and Hound alone.
"they left faster than your dad"
I'm sorry Hound, I couldn't help myself.
"fuck you"
Saying as much Hound disappears in a shunshin as I smile behind my mask, before also disappearing in a swirl of shunshin.
Even if Hound sounded annoyed, I know he found it funny, we forged ourselves a strange little relationship during my training.
Him and Vulture were the main culprits in the exercise of beating my ass, so I ended up saying some very mean things in my frustration, but unlike Vulture who just hit me harder, Hound reciprocated, and I know he enjoys our little game of insults.
Whilst thinking all this I had already returned to my room and grabbed some of my sealing scrolls, as well as visiting inventory and grabbing a scroll ready prepped with a weeks' worth of rations and when I actually arrived at the appointed gate, I see we're all waiting on Hound.
Not that we are left waiting for long, as he appears almost immediately after I did.
After a brief glance over us all, Bear nods and takes the lead, taking us straight towards Ame.
The first day passes without incident, we made camp in a nice clearing and continued our march at dawn, Bear did have to carry me for a bit when I started lagging behind, ๐'๐ฎ ๐ด๐ช๐น!, but eventually we were making camp for the second day.
Nothing happened then either, however on the ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ณ๐ฅ day.
We were running through the forest, as usual, when all of a sudden Monkey signalled us to stop, and when we did, he used signs to tell us,
๐๐ฏ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ, ๐ต๐ธ๐ฐ ๐ง๐ถ๐ญ๐ญ ๐ด๐ฒ๐ถ๐ข๐ฅ, ๐ต๐ธ๐ฐ ๐๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ช๐ฏ, ๐ง๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐๐ฉ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ช๐ฏ, ๐ฆ๐ข๐ด๐ต
And instantly we are on alert, and after thinking for a moment, if they are coming from our east then they probably came from the north, which would mean, Iwa-nin.
Thinking as much I sign it to my team.
๐ฆ๐ข๐ด๐ต, ๐ญ๐ช๐ฌ๐ฆ๐ญ๐บ ๐๐ธ๐ข-๐ฏ๐ช๐ฏ.
I don't have to tell them what that means, be prepared for earth jutsu, luckily we were traveling through the trees.
Bear turns to Monkey and begins signing,
๐ต๐ณ๐ข๐ซ๐ฆ๐ค๐ต๐ฐ๐ณ๐บ?
๐๐ฐ๐ต ๐ถ๐ด, ๐ด๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ด๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ญ๐ช๐ฌ๐ฆ๐ญ๐บ.
And with that response Bear seems to come to a decision.
๐๐ฉ๐ข๐ฏ๐จ๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ข๐ฏ๐ด, ๐ถ๐ด๐ฆ ๐ด๐ถ๐ณ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ช๐ด๐ฆ, ๐ฌ๐ช๐ญ๐ญ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฎ ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ.
Saying so we all change directions and start heading for the enemy, and I feel only slightly nervous as we approach, but the good kind of nervous, like when you've got butterflies in your stomach before you ask out a girl you like.
'๐๐ด ๐ช๐ต ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ช๐ณ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ถ๐ด๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ข๐ด ๐ข ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ข๐ณ๐ช๐ด๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฑ๐ข๐ณ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ข ๐ง๐ช๐จ๐ฉ๐ต ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ข๐ต๐ฉ?'
Unfortunately, I have no time to ponder these mysteries as we have arrived upon the enemy, and Bear turns to me.
๐ ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ต๐ข๐ฌ๐ฆ ๐ข ๐๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ง๐ช๐ณ๐ด๐ต.
I suppose it makes sense, use the stealth specialist to start the fight with a bang. How fun!
Smiling behind my mask I pick out my target, we follow for a short while as i wait for the perfect moment.
They aren't tree running, which makes sense with their earth specialty, still, we are in a forest, so eventually they will have to leave the ground to jump over a particularly large root, and-
๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ.
The moment the Jonin leaves the ground, I am moving as fast as I can without shunshin, tanto in hand aiming for his neck.
Unfortunately, he notices me at the last moment,
well,
I say unfortunately, but really it was unfortunate for him, because the last moment was not enough time for him to do anything but watch his death approach.
And approach it did, with one clean cut he is decapitated, a fountain of blood that I still have trouble accepting as a thing that happens spurting from where his head was.
Before I even stop to think, I'm already moving away, and as I hear the ground collapse behind me, I know I made the right choice.
'๐๐ถ๐ด๐ต ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ค๐ข๐ถ๐ด๐ฆ ๐ ๐ค๐ข๐ฏ ๐ค๐ข๐ต๐ค๐ฉ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฎ ๐ฐ๐ง๐ง ๐จ๐ถ๐ข๐ณ๐ฅ, ๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ฆ๐ด๐ฏ'๐ต ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐บ ๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฏ'๐ต ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ง๐ฆ๐ด๐ด๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ข๐ญ ๐ฏ๐ช๐ฏ๐ซ๐ข'
As I spin around to face my opponent, I see the other Jonin right in front of me kunai posed to strike my throat.
๐๐ฎ ๐ ๐จ๐ฐ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฅ๐ช๐ฆ? ๐๐ฐ ๐ด๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฏ?
But before death reaches me, Bear barrels into the enemy nin, taking him away, leaving Monkey fighting three Chunin, whilst Hound takes the other.
I take a moment to feel my heart beating, ๐ง๐ข๐ด๐ต, the adrenaline in my veins, and the fact that ๐บ๐ฆ๐ด, I am still alive.
In fact.
~๐๐ฉ๐ฉ๐ฏ๐ฏ ๐'๐ท๐ฆ ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ง๐ฆ๐ญ๐ต ๐ข๐ค๐ง๐ ๐ข๐ญ๐ช๐ท๐ฆ~
Not wanting to lose this blissful feeling I engage in the hunt, I trust Hound enough to handle one Chunin, but I don't know Monkey, and he's clearly not as strong as Bear is.
Blending back into the surroundings, I circle around where Monkey is fighting, watching as the very earth fights against him, trying to trap and crush him, or impale him on spikes.
Honestly its rather entrancing to watch, these guys are clearly very used to working together.
Heh.
That probably means this was a tight nit group. Right?
I think I just had a devious plan, I was looking for a chance to strike after all, and looking at the head in my hands, I think I've found my opening.
I feel the blood in my veins ๐ต๐ฉ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฃ๐ฃ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ at the thought of such a cruel tactic and ๐ ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ท๐ฆ ๐ช๐ต~.
Taking aim, I throw the head of their squad leader somewhere that would be in full view of all three of them.
And once they notice the projectile the fight is over, Monkey takes advantage of their lapse in concentration and sticks a kunai in the throat of one of the chunin, while I also use a kunai this time, jamming it right into the back of another of the chunin's necks.
I don't stay to see what happens with the last chunin, ๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ฏ'๐ต ๐ญ๐ข๐ด๐ต ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐จ, instead I go to check in on my other teammates.
Hound seems to have the advantage, so I decide to check on Bear before offering help, however before I can do so, the man in question appears behind the chunin like a wraith, grabs his head and twists it with a sickening ๐ค๐ณ๐ข๐ค๐ฌ that just makes my blood even more excited.
That done Monkey shows up and bear speaks.
"sit-rep"
Monkey speaks up.
"all enemies eliminated, no one is in my range"
Bear seems satisfied and nods his head.
"good, pack up and let's go."
Monkey immediately starts moving but me and Hound just sort of stand there, not sure what were supposed to do.
Bear actually doesn't seem to mind explaining, I think we must have impressed him enough that he won't see us as a burden, even when he literally had to carry me.
Well, I say ๐ธ๐ฆ but let's be real for a moment, he never had a problem with hound, and again its completely understandable, I am only like 130cm (or 4'3"), I wouldn't trust me at first either.
The explanation was basically how it's important to seal corpses and bring them back to the village, allies to be buried and enemies to learn secrets or for whatever R&D get up to.
It doesn't really affect us though, because only monkey is carrying the scrolls, since our mission is to participate in a big battle, there will be other people to collect the dead.
After Monkey is done, we return to our original course, double speed thanks to the distraction delaying us,
Which of course meant Bear had to carry me again.
๐ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ๐บ ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฌ ๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ฎ๐บ ๐ด๐ต๐ข๐ฎ๐ช๐ฏ๐ข.
As I'm bemoaning my fate of being a literal burden, the adrenaline starts to fade and I'm suddenly really tired, ๐๐ฆ๐ข๐ณ ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ฏ'๐ต ๐ฎ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ช๐ง ๐ ๐ต๐ข๐ฌ๐ฆ ๐ข ๐ฏ๐ข๐ฑ, ๐ธ๐ช๐ญ๐ญ ๐ฉ๐ฆ?
In the end it didn't matter if he minded.
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________
A/N: He~llo! Dear readers!
If you want to support me and my ability to pay rent, then I created a ko-fi so please consider donating! even just a pound, of course only if you're financially stable please
https://ko-fi.com/bored_works
So, Hana's first fight!
I know it was probably rather anticlimactic but, what can i say? he is an assassin. if he's engaging his enemies head on when he doesn't have to then he's doing it wrong.
The problem writing a rouge type character is that if they're doing their job right then there shouldn't be any intense fights, just them showing up and killing their target and leaving.
Also im sorry if his stamina issues seem to have come out of nowhere, but he is a child.