"Can you say that again, Tazuna-san?" Asuma asked, fixated on sketching the person in question.
"He was the coolest person I have ever met, kyaa~ Just when that masked kunoichi was about to kill me, he came and stopped the attack, he was so cool~!!!!"
"I...Didn't...ask you, Ino." Asuma facepalmed.
"But-But you need to know more about him so you can tell who he was, right?" Ino said with puppy eyes,
"You...Ugh." Asuma let out a helpless breath before just giving up, "Alright Ino, for the last time, tell me about Kai."
"Yes!" Ino let out an excited yelp, causing Shikamaru to groan.
Shikamaru, who was following the group from behind, was very annoyed by the recent events.
After he fell asleep, Kai came again. He picked up the bodies of the two missing-nin and asked Tazuna-san about someone called Gatō.
And looks like it was Gatō who commissioned those S-rank nins to kill Tazuna.
So, why did Kai ask about Gatō, what's his connection with them? Was all of this part of a much bigger plan? If yes, then for what?
Shikamaru found himself pinching the bridge of his nose as more and more questions popped up.
Lost in thought, Shikamaru didn't even notice when they entered the land of waves.
Tazuna had told them to stay at his house because they were his guests, so they headed towards his house. Though when he entered they were met with a startling surprise.
"Father, you're back! Did you have a safe trip?" Tsunami, Tazuna's daughter asked with concern.
"Yes, I was safe thanks to them. They are Konoha ninjas and they are here to help us stop Gatō's reign." Tazuna said as his mouth curved into a smile.
"...What?" Tsunami, upon hearing it, just tilted her head as if she was confused. Then she questioned, "Then what about the person that came before? He wasn't the ninja you hired?"
Tazuna raised his eyebrows, "What are you talking about?"
"Umm, not long ago, a black poncho-wearing ninja came to our house and asked me everything I knew about Gatō. He looked young, so I was reluctant to tell him, but he insisted so I told him where he lives.." Tsunami scratched the corner of her eye.
Shikamaru, who heard this, approached Tsunami and asked, "Miss, can you tell us where Gatō lives?"
"Oh, sure. If you follow that road for about an hour you should be able to get there. Though considering you're a ninja you will probably travel faster." Tsunami said to Shikamaru.
Shikamaru nodded and turned to Asuma, "Sensei, I think we should check out Gatō's place."
Asuma nodded and turned to look at Ino, "Ino, go check in on Chōji and see if Chōji really is in the treatment centre that ninja mentioned. Shikamaru, let's go."
"Wait...Why me?!" Asuma and Shikamaru nodded to each other and body flickered out of there, leaving behind a sad Ino who wouldn't be able to see Kai.
...
Crakle, Crakle. Creaaaaakk...Boom!
Asuma and Shikamaru were sweating profusely as they stood in front of a mansion.
Though they weren't sweating because they were nervous or anything; they were sweating because the mansion was on fire.
Add that to the fact that multiple thug members were lying on the ground, dead. Shikamaru was sure something big just happened here.
Swoosh!
All of a sudden, just like the first time, Kai appeared in the middle of Shikamaru's vision out of nowhere.
"Fancy meeting you here." Kai waved one of his hands. The burning mansion behind him made him look intimidating in the young Nara's eyes.
"Yeah. What are you doing here?" Shikamaru asked while trying to remain calm.
"Oh me? It's nothing much. I just heard this guy was a bad guy, and I was also flat-broke. So I stole what he stole from others and made sure that he can never steal again." Kai said, with a broad smile that was visible even with his mask on.
"Wha-" Shikamaru had an incredulous look on his face, but before he could even say anything, he heard Kai again, "But what are YOU guys doing here? Shouldn't you be with your slim friend now?"
"We are here on a mission," Shikamaru said with a straight face.
"Hmm, alright. You do you I guess." Kai said before disappearing again.
This confirmed it, Enkai was a missing-nin of sorts. His bound-free nature, his strength, and his demeanour all make it obvious. But who is he? How did he get so strong at such a young age?
And more importantly, perhaps most importantly, why did he go as far as to negotiate with Shikamaru with all this strength?
So far, Shikamaru was thinking that maybe Kai had some sort of moral code that's why he didn't just take whatever he wanted from them.
"But that's not the case." Shikamaru looked at the burning mansion; something wasn't adding up.
Then he looked towards Asuma and asked, "What should we do now, sensei?" only to find him in a trance, his hand now holding his customised knuckle-knife.
He approached Asuma and shook his arm, "Sensei, are you alright?"
Asuma flinched and said, "Ye-Yeah." Then he looked towards Shikamaru and asked with furrowed brows, "Shikamaru, are you sure that's Kai?"
"Yes." Shikamaru nodded.
"Shikamaru, let's go. We need to hurry back to Ino and Chōji." Then both of them flickered away.
...
Standing in front of a treatment centre in the land of waves, Asuma and Shikamaru rushed in.
The receptionist, who guided them to where Chōji was sleeping, was surprised at first, but one look at their Konaha headband was enough to calm her down.
Shrrrr
"Chōji, Ino!" Asuma slammed the door open, his concern for his students made his voice louder than it needed to.
"U-Ugh..." Chōji only let out an awkward grunt.
"Sensei?!" While Ino jumped up from her seat because of the abrupt scream.
Suddenly Ino and Chōji felt very self-conscious, but Asuma didn't care about any of that as he approached both of them and hugged Ino. He wanted to hug Chōji as well but couldn't because of how badly Chōji was hurt.
"I am sorry I couldn't protect you guys." Asuma's chest heaved down and he finally let out a deep breath.
Ino who got out of Asuma's hug looked at him and said softly, "It's okay, sensei. But what's all this about?"
"We met Kai." Instead of Asuma, it was Shikamaru who answered Ino.
"You did! Tell me more about him!" Ino said with starry eyes, as she looked at Shikamaru who was standing beside the door.
Shikamaru instead of answering just looked at Asuma; who, after pausing for a second, opened his mouth, "Ino, Shikamaru, I need you to get out of this room for a while. I need to check on Chōji to see if 'he' has put anything suspicious on Chōji."
He turned towards Chōji and asked, "Chōji, where are your belongings? I need to check those as well."
Ino, who was visibly confused, wanted to say a lot of things but couldn't say any of them as Asuma closed the door on them.
Though not before saying, "I will explain it after I am done checking up on Chōji."
...
Right now, Ino and Shikamaru are sitting beside each other right next to the lying Chōji. Asuma was also sitting there opposite to them.
Munch, Munch.
Shikamaru had a very serious look while Ino had starry eyes; because right as they entered, Shikamaru asked Asuma about Kai's real identity.
Munch, Munch.
Shikamaru knew that Asuma knew something about Kai that he wasn't telling them, and he needed to know that.
Asuma, who had a difficult expression, looked at Shikamaru and sighed. Then he took out a book from his belt and gave it to him saying, "Look at page number 92."
Shikamaru nodded and turned to that page.
Ino who peeked in to see the contents of the book let out an excited yelp when she saw Kai's picture, "Looks it's him! Let's see what's written here...Ehh? 'The Phantom Shinobi, Enkai'? A-Attempted assassination of the..fourth R-Raikage..??"
Ino, who started reading the page excitedly, felt her voice cracking the more she read.
By the time she was reading the last line, her eyes teared up as she looked at Asuma, "S-Sensei, will we be f-fine? He won't k-kill us, right?"
Asuma, who knew this was going to happen, stood up from his chair and started consoling her.
Unlike Ino, Shikamaru's reaction was much different. He had his eyes widened as if he had come to a sudden realisation.
From the moment he met Enkai, he knew something was amiss about him. While many questions spread in his mind as more and more time passed there was one question that was on top of all of them;
'Why did he negotiate with them, when he could have just killed them and taken whatever he wanted?'
Shikamaru believed he had finally found out the answer to that, 'It's because there was something about us that made even him, who can fight off against the raikage, feel threatened.'
Now the question was, who or what was that thing that made him cautious like that?
Shikamaru looked at Chōji who was loudly munching on some food, and shook his head.
He looked at Asuma and thought maybe he was scared of Asuma's background; 'The Hokage?' but then shook his head again.
Then he looked at Ino, perhaps he was romantically interested in her? Shikamaru again shook his head.
Finally, he looked at his palm and thought 'What about me?'
!!
Then a shiver of realisation passed through his body as he muttered, "The Nara Clan." It was the Nara Clan that he feared.
And he was right because, in the list of characters that Enkai fears the most, Shikamaru Nara and The Nara Clan had collectively the third spot.
______
Meanwhile, Enkai was standing in front of a cliff, with his head bowed down, and his iconic fedora hat pressing on his chest with his right hand.
He was paying his respects to the dead; he had just cremated Zabuza and Haku.
In the canon, he always felt bad for them. They were one of the many people in this world who had their lives ruined by fate, and he wanted to at least give them a proper cremation.
He stood there for a few minutes before turning around and walking away.
As he put on his fedora, he bit his other hand and summoned his Eagle whom he had named 'Garuda'.
Then he took off towards the Kirigakure – Village Hidden by Mist, where his real mission would begin.
To be honest, he never wanted to go to the land of waves, but he needed the executioner's blade for the next bit of his plan.
Add that to the fact that he was flat broke (thanks to a hungry chimaera digesting all of his money), he decided to earn some extra cash from a generous patron called Gatō.