Haku, stop reading these boring scrolls already."
"These are high level jutsus, Hanabi. How are they boring? Look at how they document the chakra usage, it's interesting to just read about it. I can't wait to try performing the jutsu already."
Neji watched on in silence at the side as he perused through the Hyuga jutsu library with Hinata beside him. Unknown to most, the byakugan actually allows the user to copy their opponent's jutsu to a certain extent, although it is not as efficient and effective as the sharingan. All the Hyugas need to do is to take note of the hand seals and memorise how the chakra flowed in their opponent's body before the jutsu was used. However, many high-level shinobis are fast with their hand seals and the byakugan's sense of slowed perception is not as pronounced as the Uchiha's sharingan, hence they don't really have a high success in copying high level jutsus. Still, over the years, the Hyugas had managed to copy a wide variety of jutsus from many sources ever since the start of their clan's founding, and their jutsu library is very impressive, even if many of their clansmen never got about to learn the jutsus here due to their inclination towards their clan's taijutsu style.
Haku is currently browsing through the scrolls documenting the copied Water jutsus, which were mainly copied from Kiri shinobis, and Hanabi is trying to distract Haku from it by playing and pulling at his hair even if she did not put much strength into it. They may not realise it, but the two of them are practically inseparable from each other and glued to each other at the hip. Anyone who spends time with Haku will realise that Hanabi is the only person that he truly cares about and anyone else is merely an afterthought. In Neji's opinion, Haku cares enough for him and Hinata, but it is largely because they are Hanabi's family. Haku doesn't give his trust easily, and it took some time for Haku to open up to him and Hinata even if they see each other on a daily basis. It took about three years for Haku to decide to add him and Hinata into the list of people he cares about, just right below Hanabi. Hiashi and his own father, Hizashi, is close to making their way there, but their stern demeanour isn't helping and they are often too busy with clan duties to take care of the four of them properly. Both his mother and the twins' had also passed on early, leaving them all without a mother figure.
When Neji first saw how distrustful of people Haku is, it makes him wonder how bad the bloodline purges are in Kiri for Haku to show such distrust in people. Hanabi probably earned his trust from their shared circumstances due to how they met and helped each other find their way to Konoha while trying to make sure they don't catch the eyes of foreign shinobis. They had experienced life-and-death situations together. Such bonds are not easily ignored, and they tend to bind people closely to one another if they survived the ordeal.
"Hakuuuuuuuuuu. Hakuuuuuuuuuuu. Hakuuuuuuuuuuuu."
"Stop whining, Hanabi." Haku said as he completely ignored Hanabi waving her hand frantically in front of his face. "I'm trying to concentrate here."
Hanabi may be the heiress of the clan alongside Hinata, and Hiashi had never declared who he wanted as his successor, but the way Hanabi carried herself is usually frowned upon by the main house as it is 'not the proper behaviour as an heiress of the clan'. Hanabi is usually stoic and reserved in public to uphold her image as an heiress, but she can be a talkative and rambunctious girl when she is alone with them. She is also having too much physical contact with Haku, a stranger and an outsider despite his adopted status, and such behaviour from women is also unacceptable in the eyes of the clan, who have strict and traditional views on how a woman should interact with a man who is not part of her family.
Neji had gotten himself into a genin team by now, and soon it will be his siblings' turn. Neji can be very exasperated by his team's antics, especially from those of his sensei and his mini-me, but he is glad nonetheless that they are his comrades. He can trust them with his life. He hopes that the three of them who he views as his siblings can also find people who they can place their trust to as well, especially Haku. He needs to be more trusting of people.
"Hakuuuuuuuuu. Hakuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu."
Neji silently wondered if Haku had secretly invented a jutsu to allow him to ignore Hanabi's antics altogether given how unbothered Haku is at Hanabi's actions. It's not hard to see that Hanabi is very fond of Haku, and that she probably had developed romantic feelings for him somewhere down the line ever since Haku was adopted into their clan. Neji isn't sure if Haku realised Hanabi's feelings for him, but he knows that Haku also cares for Hanabi in his own way although he is probably still a little broken to truly know what love is. Hanabi is trying her best to fix Haku with help from Hinata and him, and Neji thinks that it is working. It's just that it takes a long time for any visible effects to be seen. Ever since Haku introduced them to ice skating, Hanabi had mandated Haku to go ice skating at least once every week to take a break from training and also to socialise with other people or she will pester him non-stop otherwise. Their whole class had somehow gotten wind of the skating session, and everyone in their class loves it when it is time for the weekly skating session and practically invited themselves to the sessions, much to Haku's annoyance. Even the Hokage himself came a few times to try it out when he heard it from Sakura. Haku's hobby soon attracted all sorts of shinobis and some of them were very famous, like the Sandaime Hokage and even Kato Dan. The weekly meetup soon turned into a session where people from different clans and backgrounds will get together and it has improved clan relations in Konoha. The part of the Naka River where they use for ice skating was soon turned into a place to lounge about, courtesy of the Uchihas, who have jurisdiction over the area. Konoha's weather is too hot for ice skating most of the time, and hence Haku is usually needed to be around since he is the only one in Konoha capable of turning the river into ice even when it is the summer season. Neji knows that Haku don't really care about the 'fame' that comes about with the skating sessions since he is more concerned with secretly training himself in using his Ice Release while having fun and fulfilling Hanabi's demands, but many shinobis in Konoha are now aware of Haku and his potential. The fact that he can maintain the frozen skating rink for hours under the hot sun speaks volume of his improved mastery over his kekkei genkai. His control over water is even more outstanding.
Hanabi had given up at pulling Haku's hair by now and plopped herself down to sit beside Haku, leaning her head towards the scroll in an obstructive manner and forcing Haku to tilt his head in another direction to continue reading the scroll. The archaic clan elders will probably be jumping on their feet if they saw the close contact between Hanabi and Haku. This is not a 'proper' Hyuga behaviour, especially for her status as heiress, even if Neji knows that Hanabi never cared if she was declared as the next in-line or not.
"Hanabi, I can't read if you keep blocking me with your head."
"That's the whole point."
"Stop bugging me and go do something else."
"Go get a life and stop reading already."
Hinata shook her head at the sight in fond exasperation and she continued to read the scroll that explains about the technique and chakra control required for the more advanced techniques of the Gentle Fist. Despite being twins, Hinata and Hanabi have very different personalities, and sometimes Neji feels as if Hanabi is closer to Haku than to her own twin.
Hanabi purposely moved herself to sit in front of Haku in between him and his scroll, only for Haku to substitute himself with a nearby stool to escape Hanabi.
"Haku!"
"Stop chanting my name."
"Haku. Haku. Haku. HakuHakuHakuHakuHakuHakuHakuHakuHakuHaku-"
"Damn it, Hanabi. Stop chanting! It's annoying!"
"I will annoy you my whole life if I have to! Stop doing training stuffs already! You have been at it for three hours! Three hours! Today is a weekend! We should go out and have some fun!"
Neji allowed a small smile on his face. These are his siblings, blood-related or not, and being near them always bring him a sense of joy and peace despite how different they are in their personalities. He will do anything for them, just like he knows they will do anything for him as well, even if Haku tries to deny otherwise. Haku is not as cold as he appears to be. Beneath the cold and uncaring exterior is a kind heart, and Neji knows that the ice surrounding Haku's heart will melt one day. They just have to wait for Haku to come around.
They are siblings, and he will do anything for them.
This is the moment of truth. Today is the graduation day. Today is the day where we will be placed into genin teams, and I really hope that my presence didn't screw anything up.
"…Team 7: Uzumaki Naruto, Uchiha Sasuke, Haruno Sakura, your jonin leader will be Hatake Kakashi…"
Well, at least the members of that team didn't change, even if now there are two kunoichis on the team instead of one and the Kakashi of this world don't possess the sharingan, although he did lose an eye even before I met him. Naruto's family name is also the same as in canon, she took up her mother's clan name instead of her father's family name. In a shinobi village, there is a lot more power behind a clan name instead of a non-clan one, which should be the reason behind the decision.
I listened on as Iruka-sensei read off the list and found that the teams of the canon rookie twelve remains the same, surprisingly enough. However, neither my name or Hanabi's had been called out yet.
"…Team 13: Hyuga Hanabi, Yuki Haku, Shimura Sai, your jonin leader will be Uchiha Obito…"
I am in the same team as Hanabi? And also with Sai and Obito? God, this is a recipe for disaster. Sai is the most socially awkward person I have ever seen and I have seen Obito a few times in my lessons with Kushina-shishou and Minato-shishou when Obito happened to visit them together with Kakashi and Rin. Kushina and Minato had taken me on as an apprentice in Fuinjutsu a short while after I started my lessons with them, and so I have many opportunities to interact with the students of the Yellow Flash.
Obito is a trouble magnet and sometimes his antics can get out of hand without anyone keeping an eye out for him. Only Rin truly knows how to keep him in line since she is his girlfriend. I am still curious though, given what I knew about their relationship in canon, I wonder how Obito managed to ask Rin to go out with him. They were dating even before I got myself into Konoha.
After Iruka-sensei finished with listing out the teams, jonin instructors began to enter the classroom one after the other to pick up their new teams. I don't see Obito anywhere. He probably is late trying to help an old lady cross the road or to save a cat that is hiding up on top of a tree. Even Kakashi is already here and had picked up Team 7.
The only thing that didn't change about Kakashi is that this world's version of Kakashi is a huge fan of Icha Icha as well, but the author of the series this time, surprisingly, is the Sandaime instead of Jiraiya, who is already dead.
Our previous Hokage is a super perv. Go figure.
"Hi there, girly-kun."
Sai greeted me in what he thought is an endearing nickname as he moved to sit beside me and Hanabi. We are the only ones left in the classroom. Obito, I guess I should start calling him Obito-sensei now, is probably going to be very late.
"Sai, it is not nice to call Haku by that nickname."
"I can't think of a more suitable nickname for girly-kun, crackers-chan."
I sighed. Sai is hopeless. Sai had decided to call Hanabi 'crackers', as Hanabi's name means 'fireworks' and her temper and personality can be very similar to a firecracker: spontaneous, unexpected, and loud when ignited.
I glanced at Hanabi and Sai, who are now arguing about the nicknames. Hanabi's combat attire now consists of a sleeveless, blue V-neck shirt with mesh armour underneath, together with blue shorts and sandals. She also wore a beige colour jacket that is similar in design to Neji's over her shirt, but she left the zipper open instead of closing it up like what Neji preferred. Her hair had grew past her shoulders, but I know she has been contemplating on whether to cut it short or to grow it out.
"Let's just go and find our new sensei." I said as I stood up. "Knowing him, he will be at least two hours late if we wait for him to find us."
"Lead the way, girly-kun."
I swear, Sai. One day, I am going to castrate you for giving me this nickname.
No matter how we searched, we just can't seem to find Obito-sensei. Not even Hanabi's byakugan got a glimpse of him. Hanabi's range is not able to extend to the whole of Konoha yet, but it should be wide enough to at least catch a glimpse of Obito-sensei by now. We have been searching for an hour. Sai had also helped with his ink techniques to draw a large number of rats to search for Obito-sensei, but there are no results.
"Something's not right."
Sai gave a hum of agreement as we took a short break in the park at the centre of the village. Even if Obito-sensei is a jonin, we should have at least found a clue to his whereabouts by now if he is truly 'lost on the road of life' for being overly helpful. This means that he is actively hiding from us, he knows that we are searching for him.
"This is a test."
"Huh?" Hanabi said in a confused tone as she turned to look at me.
"Our new sensei is testing us to see if we have what it takes to locate him. There's no other reason why we cannot find any trace of him in the village unless he is out for a mission, which shouldn't be the case since he should be notified that he will be taking on a genin team prior to this. Even if it is an emergency mission, someone from the Hokage office would have informed us by now that our sensei is temporarily unavailable, so Obito-sensei must be purposely hiding from us."
"I think I have come up with a suitable nick-"
"Not now, Sai."
How are we going to search for Obito? How is he hiding from us? I don't think he is using Kamui since that will be overkill and we are only genins, so he must be hiding in a way that it allows us to find him if we give it enough thought. If tracking him doesn't work, then we need to flush him out or to bait him out of his hiding place. What will force him to come out?
"Let's go. I have somewhere in mind."
Sai and Hanabi didn't voice any disagreements as they followed me, they don't have any better ideas themselves.
I hope Obito isn't too pissed at what I'm planning to do.
Obito slammed open the door to his sensei's office in the Hokage tower.
"Minato-sensei! You called for an emergency mission?! I saw the messenger hawk!"
Obito watched as his sensei looked up from the pile of papers on his desk and greeted him with a smile.
"I am not the one looking for you." Minato pointed to another corner of the room where three brats are resting on a couch nearby. "They are."
Obito turned to look at who his sensei is pointing at and found the genin team that he was assigned to looking at him instead. Hanabi even had the audacity to wave cheekily at him.
"Hello, Obito-sensei. We figured that if we cannot track you down, we might as well let you come to us yourself. Minato-shishou was very helpful." Haku replied in a respectful tone, but there is no hiding the amusement in his eyes.
Obito scowled. These brats! They tricked him by roping in Minato-sensei!
"They had you there, Obito. Now, go and do some team bonding. I have work to do and I wish to knock off early today."
"Thank you for your help, Minato-shishou."
"You are welcomed, Haku-kun."
Obito's assigned genin team followed Obito as Obito led them to the training ground that was assigned to them for their use.
"Alright, you brats. That was smart of you." Obito said as he let the three genins sit down on the grass in the training field and make themselves comfortable. "I wanted to test your tracking skills, but I wasn't expecting you to do that. You guys need to brush up on your tracking skills, by the way. I was hiding underground near the academy most of the time."
"Well, that explains why my byakugan didn't catch you, or why Sai's drawings cannot find you. None of them can search underground."
Obito nodded in affirmation. While the byakugan gives the user a wide range of vision and is able to allow the user to see through objects, byakugan users usually don't extend their vision to underground. It is hard for them to move about without being able to see where their feet are moving to, and it is something anyone who knows this trait of the byakugan can exploit.
"We should have thought of it. I could have controlled the underground water to flush you out if we had a generic idea of your location."
"Anyways." Obito gave a clap and plastered on a mega-watt smile that would make Guy proud. "You guys passed. Even if you guys didn't manage to track me, you guys at least have the brain to trick me out of hiding and made the bait look real."
"So girly-kun was right. You were testing us."
"Can anyone tell me why I tested you three on tracking out of the many things I could have tested you on?"
There was a slight pause as the three of them pondered over his question.
"With Hanabi's dojutsu and Sai's drawings, we are pretty much able to search for anything so long as we have a clue on what we are searching for. I don't know where I fit in, but I think we make a pretty good search and rescue team. Sai is able to ferry many people with his drawings, he had done it before." Haku replied as he laid out his reasoning and Obito nodded. His reasoning made sense.
"We can also be an ambush and assassination team. My clan is known for being lethal assassins with the combination of our dojutsu and Gentle Fist, and Sai is one of the stealthiest in our class. Haku is no slouch in this area as well. Haku can be very fast while remaining silent."
"I didn't know you think so highly of me, crackers-chan."
"Shut up, Sai."
"Bingo!" Obito clapped his hands a few times. "You guys are absolutely right! What Hokage-sama is aiming for when he put you three together is to double as a search and rescue team and an ambush team with a slight inclination towards assassination. Well, given your skillsets, you guys can pretty much be anything, really. The three of you together makes a very well-rounded team. I am more of the idea of training you guys into a quick response team, to be able to handle any situation and to aid teams that are in need of help. From what I know, you guys are capable of travelling quickly, especially with Sai's ink birds. It's still a little too early to fit you guys into a fixed role, but at the very least, being a search and rescue team or an ambush team like Hokage-sama intended requires you guys to be adept at tracking and navigation, that's why I tested you guys on your tracking."
Obito cleared his throat before continuing.
"I wanted to test on your teamwork and combat skills as well, but your file states that you three are pretty high up there in terms of combat skills for genins, and the teamwork you displayed when trying to find me is also better than what I expected it to be. And with that-"
Obito made a hand sign, and a huge congratulatory banner complete with party poppers bursting out coloured streams of papers appeared out of nowhere.
"- I officially declare the birth of Team 13!"
"Not bad, Not bad at all."
Obito murmured to himself as he watched his cute little genins sparring against his Shadow Clone. It has been two weeks since he passed them and got themselves officially registered as a genin team. His team of genins are all a bunch of little geniuses, unlike him when he was young. Obito have nothing much to teach them when it comes to combat skills. Hanabi is most likely going to be a taijutsu specialist like most of her clansmen are, and there's nothing much Obito can help her with in her taijutsu. Her clan is better suited in teaching her. Sai's battle style is also very unique, but Obito can't even sketch an egg properly, much less teach him how to fight with his ink techniques. The most he can do is to put Sai through more training like evasion training, taijutsu training, physical conditioning, tracking practices, and that's basically it. These are stuff that Sai can improve during his own time, Sai don't necessarily need him for these. Haku has a good mix of taijutsu and ninjutsu, even if it is obvious that he will be favouring ninjutsu in his battle style and eventually grow into a ninjutsu specialist like him in the future. Obito can teach him a few Water jutsus he copied thus far, but that's about the extent he can teach Haku. Haku is a natural at Water techniques and he came up with quite a number of jutsus of his own creation, some jutsus he had were reverse engineered after he heard the description and the theory behind it once, like the Water Prison Jutsu. Obito knew Haku prefers not using his bloodline unless necessary, and he had seen first hand how scary his Ice Release is. He was the one who first found and rescued him from the Kumo shinobi after all, he had saw the state of the other two Kumo shinobis Haku killed. One was impaled from below, the other was cut into half from the waist.
Haku would have been dead if he were to arrive just a second later. Haku had partially froze himself in ice together with the Kumo shinobi, and even Obito himself had a hard time trying to thaw and melt the ice to retrieve the unconscious Haku with his Fire jutsus without injuring him. In the end, he decided to warp Haku away with Kamui, leaving the medic nins to figure out how to safely thaw Haku out instead.
The only thing Obito can train them in now are team formations and how to fight as a team, along with teaching them advanced levels of tracking and evasion. By all rights, the lessons on tracking and evasion are usually reserved for chunins and higher, but if his cute little minions are able to digest and utilise what they learnt from his lessons at this stage of their career, he doesn't see why he shouldn't teach them.
For genins, the three of them work well together even during the first try in their team exercises. At least it was a lot better than his own team under the tutelage of Minato-sensei back when his team first got together. There were obvious kinks to be smoothened out for Team 13, but that was to be expected. Hanabi and Haku knew each other battle styles and preferences, and it is obvious that they know how to fight against and alongside each other. Again, not a surprise, since Haku lived with the Hyugas and Hiashi had adopted him into the clan, making Haku his pseudo-son. Haku and Hanabi must have trained and sparred with each other very frequently. The addition of Sai disrupted Haku's and Hanabi's momentum somewhat, but the duo adjusted to Sai's addition quickly enough for it not to be a big issue, even if their teamwork still can be improved.
There are many things that you can tell about a shinobi from the way they fight. Sai is calculative, and he likes to observe from the sidelines as his team mates figure out the extent of their opponent's abilities before going in for the kill, much like a snake. Sai will make a good assassin, and considering who his grandfather is, Obito isn't surprised. Hanabi is a little short-tempered and impatient and it reminded Obito a little of his younger self, but Hanabi controlled herself well enough in combat although it is a different story once she is out of combat. Hanabi is a little spoiled at how everyone in her family treats her like some sort of princess, and only Haku can control her the moment she gets into her 'princess-mode' or 'bossy-mode'. Hanabi prefers to be in the thick of things and decimate her foes with her taijutsu although she can be very cunning if the situation calls for it. Haku likes his battles to be short and decisive and won't hesitate to aim for the vitals to bring his foes down as quick as possible. He is capable of providing both short and long range support and is especially wicked with how accurate he throws those senbons of his. If he ran out of those, he will substitute the senbons with water needles or ice needles if he thinks it is necessary. Haku is unrealistically pragmatic and is the type to do first, ask questions later in combat. He had heard of that infamous stunt he did in the academy to his fellow classmates who insulted his mother, and there was a long period of time where many students in the academy were unwilling to interact with him after that. They fear and distrust him, and Haku doesn't trust most of them as well. Among his peers, the only people who truly earned his trust are Hanabi, Hinata, and Neji, and that is because he had been living with them since he came to Konoha.
And that is the worrying thing, although Haku is able to socialise with others normally, he has trust issues and doesn't gives his trust easily to anyone else. In his eyes, being on the same side doesn't necessarily equate to being your comrade. Haku needs evidence to show that whoever he is fighting together with won't stab him in the back before he can trust you to fight alongside him. The only person who he seems to care about is Hanabi, and by extension, Hanabi's twin sister and her cousin since they all grew up together. According to the files compiled by the academy instructors, some of his classmates from the academy had managed to earn a little of Haku's trust as well, so at least Haku isn't that much of a lone wolf as much as Obito had feared he would be.
Great. Hanabi has temper issues, Haku has trust issues, and Sai has social issues. His entire team has issues.
Hanabi's temper issue isn't that big of a problem since it is only a slight one. Sai's social awkwardness does not affect his performance out in the field. However, if Team 13 is to be a real shinobi team, then Haku's trust issues needs to be fixed or they will never achieve a higher level of teamwork. Obito is glad that the Hokage at least have the sense to place Haku with Hanabi to mitigate this problem somewhat, but Obito really have no clue on how to help Haku further than this. He could enlist the help of a Yamanaka to counsel Haku, but something is telling him that it will push Haku away more than it helps him the moment he sees a Yamanaka therapist walking his way. More bonding session for the team, perhaps? Maybe he should drop by and visit Minato-sensei later, he may have some ideas. Minato-sensei always have ideas.
"Water Release: Water Prison Jutsu!"
Haku released a stream of water from his mouth and they quickly surrounded Obito's Shadow Clone in a sphere of pressurised water, trapping the clone. Hanabi and Sai had shepherd the clone to where they want it to be and it allowed Haku to go in for the finishing move.
Well, they did it. They definitely could be better at capturing his clone though, but that's what he is here for. He is their sensei now and he is here to teach them.
"Good job, my little minions!" Obito gave a clap as he dispelled his Shadow Clone and the memories came flooding in. "How about a mission before we call it a day?"
"No. More. Tora. Or I will kill you, sensei."
"Aww, my cute little nabi-chan, how did you know which mission I am going to send you guys on? Your byakugan can see the future?"
Hanabi looked like she wanted to pummel him this instant, but Haku placed a hand on her shoulder and prevented her from attempting to murder him. Sai just looked unaffected at whatever is going on around him.
"Well, let's go catch ourselves a cat, shall we?"
D rank missions are boring. I don't see a point in hiring ninjas to things like grocery shopping, walking dogs, painting fences, finding lost pets, etcetera etcetera, but at least they are easy money to earn.
Other than the Tora mission, that thing is a menace. I swear that the cat must be a spawn of the devil and that it must be a descendant of some sort of summon animal. No way is a regular pet that quick and crafty.
Obito-sensei had said that D rank missions are equally important as the higher-ranking ones, that they helped build a positive image of Konoha shinobis to her civilians, that it is through D rank missions that genin teams built up their teamwork. Yeah, right. I don't think even he is convinced by this explanation, and that he probably regurgitated what was told to him by his sensei, which was told to him by his sensei's sensei, which was told to him sensei's sensei's sensei.
In other words, bullshit.
Obito-sensei had very helpfully showed me a few rare Water jutsus that he had encountered before which I learned with vigour. Obito-sensei is not that proficient in Water jutsus although he knows enough to use a few if he really needs it. His chakra nature is more inclined towards Fire and Earth jutsus. He also knows that none of our team will be good enough in genjutsu, and so he taught us how to identify and break genjutsus instead, and that is the extent he taught us about the subject on genjutsu. Hanabi is the best at spotting and breaking genjutsus thanks to her byakugan, but Sai and I are not bad at it either.
After Obito-sensei is satisfied that the three of us are up to snuff with our combat techniques and after the three of us had complained to him about the slew of D rank missions, including Sai, who also had enough of doing chores, Obito-sensei decided to acquiesce to our request to take on a C rank mission.
Thus, that's how the four of us found ourselves outside Konoha's walls and moving towards the small civilian village that we are tasked to help out with their bandit problem.
I had never ventured outside Konoha's walls ever since I found myself in Konoha, and I don't think things have changed back in the Land of Water. I'm not sure if the bloodline purges are still ongoing in Kiri or whether the rebellion had started, but I'm glad that I'm no longer there even if I hate getting myself stuck in Konoha as a shinobi. I had grown to accept my circumstance, but there's still a small part within me that secretly hopes for a shinobi-free life even if my rational mind told me otherwise.
Hanabi and Sai are also excited to go out of the village's walls as well although Hanabi was a little apprehensive at first due to her kidnapping experience, but her curiosity won over her trepidation in the end. Hanabi can be a little uncontrollable at times whenever she is excited. Upon learning that we will embarking on our first C rank mission, Hiashi just reminded Hanabi and I to be careful and told me to help keep an eye on Hanabi, which I will, even if he did not say anything about it.
We assumed a diamond formation as we travelled, with Hanabi taking point and Sai and I at the side. Obito-sensei brings up the rear and we made small talk with each other to stave off the boredom. Soon, it became a conversation of Sai trying to find a suitable nickname for Obito-sensei, he still hadn't managed to come up with a satisfactory nickname to describe sensei even if it has already been weeks since we were a team.
"Come on, Sai. Give me a cool nickname."
Sai brought a hand to his chin in a thinking pose, and I have no doubt that he is legitimately thinking really hard on a suitable nickname for Obito-sensei.
"How about..."
"Sensei, I see the village up ahead."
Hanabi deactivated her byakugan and it took us another two minutes before we saw our destination.
"Alright, time to find our client, and then we are taking out the bandits."
It only took us minutes to find our client. The client is the chief of the village, a middle-aged man in his forties and he circled out the area on our map where the bandits are known to be sighted.
"Alright, check your radio sets. All good? Then spread out and let's being searching."
"Roger."
"Affirmative."
"Yes, sensei."
I went towards the east side while the other three of them spread out in other directions as we tree-hopped silently to search for clues on the bandits' hideout. Half an hour later, I stumbled onto the bandit camp that is partially hidden among the rocks and trees near a small hill. As per protocol, I sent the rest of my team a signal through the radio set for them to converge on my location before we take them out together. For now, all I need to do is to stay hidden up on the tree and wait for my team's arrival.
"Mffph! Mffph!"
I turned towards the strange sound that caught my attention and saw a few bandits returning to camp with a girl, about fifteen years of age, tied up and gagged as they dragged her along the ground.
"Hey boss! Look who we got here!"
"Ain't that a cutie?"
"Who's going at it first? Hahaha!"
"The boss, of course. Hey boss! You want her?"
Scums. The whole lot of them. Where are my team? They need to hurry!
"Eh, you guys can have some fun first. I stayed up late to settle a deal last night, I'm too tired."
There were whoops of cheer from the remaining bandits and after a game of rock, paper, scissors, the winner proceeded to drag the girl towards an isolated corner which is out of sight of the bandits' camp. I don't need to be a genius to figure out what they are going to do to her.
I gritted my teeth in frustration. Obito-sensei had given strict orders not to engage until the entire team is here unless our cover has been blown. On the other hand, if I waited for my team to arrive, it might be too late for the girl.
For some reason, the predicament of this girl reminded me of the time when Hanabi and I ran into the Kumo shinobis. The Kumo shinobis were planning to kidnap her back to Kumo to rape her as well, and the thought of it makes my blood boil.
Is this what I will be seeing if Hanabi and I failed to reach Konoha and Kumo succeeded in their plans?
The bandit had dragged his captive and disappeared out of sight in the short moment when I was contemplating on my next decision.
Screw it, I'm saving her.
I silently made my way to where that bandit had disappeared to through the treetops and found the bandit, pants already down and trying to pull down the long skirt of the girl who is struggling in his grasp, and for a brief moment, I had the illusion that the girl lying down there could have been Hanabi.
I will kill that piece of trash.
I dropped down from the treetops and before the bandit could turn around, I took out a senbon and used it to pierce a major artery in his neck. He dropped down gurgling in his own blood and he was dead within seconds. Easy. It's still so easy to take a life even if the last time I had done it was so long ago. Why do I still find it so easy? What is wrong with me? The me from my previous life can't even look at a chicken getting slaughtered without feeling queasy.
"Keep quiet." I whispered to the frightened girl as I put a finger to my lips in the universal gesture for silence. "I am a shinobi of Konohagakure, I'm here to help."
I cut open the ropes tying the girl with a small blade of ice I conjured and freed her.
"We need to wait in silence until my team arrives, can you do that?"
The girl nodded quietly and I can taste the fear in her simply by crouching beside her. She's scared.
"Oi, Bashi, are you done?"
Crap, one of them is getting closer and closer to our location. What should I do? Even if I henge into the bandit I killed to impersonate him, his corpse is still bleeding and lying right there, I don't have time to hide it and I don't know any Earth style jutsu to bury it!
"Bashi?"
Damn it, this mission just went FUBAR.
I fished out a few senbons from my weapons pouch and hid in a corner. The bandit calling out for Bashi appeared seconds later and he saw Bashi's corpse, but I got him before he could get another word out and killed him silently in the same way I killed Bashi. Everything should have turned out alright.
The only thing I didn't account for is that the girl I saved gave a shocked gasp at the sight of me killing the second bandit. From what I can hear where most of the bandits are supposedly congregated, the noise of their movements suggests that the entire bandit camp had heard her and they are now moving towards our location. I don't know how and why they linked the gasp to a possible infiltration, but I guess the lack of the sounds of the girl screaming as she got herself raped might have been a huge clue that something is wrong too. The camp isn't very big to begin with, and the gasp from the girl could be easily heard given how loud it was. I could take the girl and hightail out of here, but that would mean that the bandits will know that the location of their hideout has been compromised and they will escape from here, which means that our team would have failed the mission.
I should have just let the girl remained tied up.
I tapped onto my radio set as I gave the stink eye to the girl, who had just realised what she had done.
"Sensei? This is Haku."
"Haku? What is it?"
"Change of plans, my cover has been blown, I have to act now. You guys better hurry."
"What? Haku, you-"
Whatever Obito-sensei tried to tell me was cut off as I dropped the connection. I am not a true sensor, but I am able to have a rough feel of the chakra levels of those around me if I stretched my chakra senses enough. To my relief, none of the bandits' chakra were abnormally large for a civilian, suggesting that none of them were ex-shinobis.
"Water Release: Water Clone Jutsu"
I spat out a large glob of water and it split into four Water Clones, who immediately took off quietly in different directions to enact my plan. I have the element of surprise while the bandits have the numerical advantage. This could go either way, I don't know how good my skills truly are in the real world since I never had the chance to test it out other than with the kids in the academy, but I think that handling the group of bandits on my own shouldn't be an issue.
There was a loud cry from the bandits' camp and I knew that my plan has started. I took a peek from where I was and saw two of my clones killing a few of the bandits. My clones probably have about a tenth of my power at most, so I wasn't expecting them to kill too many of them. The other two clones had jumped out as well, and they circled around the bandit group, keeping them within an invisible enclosure and grouping them together for me.
Perfect.
I emerged as I went through the hand seals for one of my favourite techniques that I had managed to reverse engineer based on what I know from the manga series and the scrolls in the Hyuga library. This technique is usually used for trapping an individual, but if I expand on the size, trapping an entire group of bandits shouldn't be an issue.
"Water Release: Water Prison Jutsu!"
I sprayed a huge amount of water from my mouth which quickly encompassed the group of bandits in a pressurised sphere of water. Some of the bandits tried to get out before the Water Prison is formed, but my clones threw them back in there. Before long, the entire group is struggling within the Water Prison as they tried to move but failing to do so, the pressure within the sphere is too huge for them to move even a single limb.
It wasn't long before the entire group fell unconscious in the water due to the lack of oxygen. Some of them might have drowned and died, but I don't really care even if they do. I released the technique and my clones dispelled themselves. Maintaining all of them at once is a little chakra intensive, and while my chakra reserves are larger than the average shinobi my age, I don't have an abundance of them either. I prefer to save my chakra whenever I can.
The rustling of leaves got me on alert and I automatically went into a defensive stance as a few figures emerged. Two men and a woman appeared and from their attire, all of them are Kiri shinobis. What are they doing here?
"State your purpose in the Land of Fire, Kiri shinobis."
It is not rare for a shinobi to be in foreign soil to complete a mission for their clients, but usually they need to register themselves at the border patrol of the country that they are completing their mission on and obtain a pass to be there. They also need to show proof that they are not there to commit any acts that may harm the country that they are visiting.
"We are just here to retrieve a stolen item." One of the men pointed to a small box lying in the middle of the clearing where the bandits were resting earlier. "We will take it and then we will go."
"Show your pass."
The other male shinobi practically ignored me as he attempted to walk past me to get to the box, only for me to throw a senbon at him to force him to back off.
"Look at that, it seems that not all Konoha nins are tree huggers after all. They can be vicious too."
"Jun, let's just complete the mission and go." The kunoichi of the group reasoned.
"I take it that you guys came here illegally then. As a shinobi of Konoha, I have the right to detain any foreign shinobis trespassing on our soil, you should know that."
Trespassing on foreign soil without a pass is a crime that is punishable by the victim country. According to the peace agreement drafted up at the end of the third war, I have the right to kill the three Kiri nins if needed, assuming I am able to do so. Of course, I am sure that many villages sent their shinobis into foreign land without an approved pass, including Konoha. But as the saying goes, if you want to do it, don't get caught. However, these Kiri shinobis blatantly announced their presence to me without a pass (can't they just appear after I leave?), and I have a duty as a shinobi of Konoha to detain and stop them the moment I saw them.
"You think rules ever stopped us Kiri nins? What can you do to us anyway?"
"I thought that you guys would have been too busy killing each other off back in your country to even be anywhere else."
That comment of mine immediately earned a scowl from the guy named Jun as he launched a few kunais at me, only for me to block them with my senbon. To be honest, I have no idea why I decided to use senbons when I first started to learn using weapons, even till now. It might be my knowledge of canon influencing me, but using senbons just felt right to me, that senbons is the weapon best suited for me.
"Gan, Jun, we need to move. There are shinobis on their way here, probably friends of the kid's."
The two men cursed as they moved as one to get to the box. I threw a few senbons to force them to dodge and delay them, and quickly went through hand seals.
"Water Release: Water Shockwave!"
I spit out a huge amount of water from my mouth as it took the form of a vortex of water before it exploded from the top in a wave. From what Obito-sensei told me, this jutsu was a favourite of the Niidame Hokage as it allowed him to create huge amounts of water with a reasonably low amount of chakra. Chakra wise, this jutsu is cost effective.
The three Kiri shinobi split up from my attack and I went in for my next move.
"Thousand Flying Water Needles of Death!"
This is a jutsu that I remembered canon me used in the manga, although I have never seen any scrolls documenting this jutsu so I created it myself. For now, I will just claim it as my own creation.
The water I spat out quickly turned into countless sharp water needles and they flew at the three Kiri nins from all angles, who either blocked the attack or dodged it somehow. From this alone, I can tell that the three of them are probably chunin or maybe jonin in strength. I'm screwed. Obito-sensei better hurry or I might be reduced to a corpse the next time we meet.
The one named Gan drew out a cleaver-like blade that he strapped on his back and slashed at me, the speed of it was so fast that I barely had time to dodge. I was one of the fastest in the academy, and even I am having problems dodging his attacks.
"Sorry kid, I don't have anything against you, but we have a mission to finish. Water Release: Water Dragon Jutsu!"
Gan's companion, Jun, used the water I spat out to send a roaring water dragon at me. Fuck, why couldn't they be genins? Why must they be jonin level?!
No choice. Time to go all out.
I distanced myself from Gan, who had successfully forced me to be in the path of Jun's attack. I raised a single hand in the direction of the water dragon and called upon the cursed power that took the life of the person who I once called my father.
"Freeze."
The huge water dragon was stopped in its tracks and I now see the three Kiri shinobis looking at me in shock, but it disappeared as quickly as it came.
"Delicate feminine features, pale skin, the ability to control water and freeze them. You are from the Yuki clan. You are from Kiri." Gan said as his blade remained pointed in my direction. What he said wasn't a question, it was a statement. They now know that I originally hailed from the Land of Water.
"Gan, Kiri needs him. The boy shouldn't be in Konoha, it's not where he should belong."
"There's a jonin level target approaching with two genin level targets, we need to hurry! The amount of chakra the jonin have is unreal!"
The woman must be a sensor, shit.
"The two of you get this boy back to Kiri, I will hold the jonin off. We need to bring this boy home. His powers are invaluable to overthrow Yagura."
"Mei would no doubt love the pretty boy too." Jun mused.
Hello? I am standing right here! At least ask for my opinion when I am the person in question!
I wanted to use my radio set to warn Obito-sensei about Gan, who took off to intercept him, but the kunoichi threw a few kunais that broke the radio set as I was too slow in getting out of the way. On hindsight, I should have used it earlier to warn them about the appearance of the three Kiri shinobi. Big oversight on my part.
Obito-sensei is good, but I am not sure if he can take on Gan while he is keeping an eye on Hanabi and Sai at the same time. He will be forced to be on the defensive if Gan decides to aim for Hanabi or Sai instead. I need to end my battle fast, or to see if I can sneak off and regroup with my team so that we can escape back to the village together and call for reinforcements. We are not suited to face a group of three jonin level opponents.
Jun and the kunoichi rushed in to take me on, and I know that they are trying to take me back to Kiri alive. That gives me some advantage since I know they don't want me dead, although I have no idea on how far I should push my luck.
I jumped back to rush through another set of hand seals, this technique takes up a lot of chakra and it's my best bet to overwhelm them to find a chance to get out of here. I don't have masterful use of this technique yet unlike canon me, since I don't have any references or notes about this technique other than watching it through the TV once in my previous life, and I don't have a teacher who is a master of Water jutsus like Zabuza to teach me anything, so I created it from scratch. There are still many flaws in this imperfect technique, but it should be enough to get me out of here.
"Ice Release: Demonic Mirroring Ice Crystals!"
Numerous mirrors made of ice rose from the damp ground and surrounded my opponents in a dome. I entered into one of the mirrors and my reflection appeared in every mirror.
"Sorry guys, I don't have anything against you, but I really don't want to go back to Kiri."
After I returned Jun's words back to him and the kunoichi, I unleashed a rain of senbons down on the two jonins who stood back to back and expertly deflected my senbons. I am still unable to go from mirror to mirror at light speed unlike what canon me managed to do. I am good enough to jump from mirror to mirror without being caught, but jumping out of the mirrors to ambush the two jonins before going back in again is a bad idea since I have no idea what they are capable of. They might be able to match my speed. Hence, adopting the wait-and-see approach is the best thing I can do for now.
With a single hand seal from my left hand, ice spears erupted from the ground beneath the two jonins and it forced them to separate from each other. There are a few senbons that found their mark and embedded themselves in them although they did no real damage. I should have coated my senbons with poisons or paralytics.
"Why won't you want to go back to Kiri?" The kunoichi shouted while avoiding and deflecting my attacks. "It's your home!"
"Kiri has been nothing but cruel to me, why will I want to go back there?" I retorted as I kept up my attacks. I'm glad that I had brought along a lot of senbons for this mission. Being overprepared is always better than being underprepared. "You guys want me for my kekkei genkai anyway, you just see me as a tool."
"And Konoha doesn't?"
I kept quiet. The kunoichi had a point, I am a tool to Konoha as well. I didn't have a choice when I chose to stay in Konoha. Do I truly belong there? Even after all these years, I don't think I have truly felt that I belonged in this world or Konoha. Sometimes I still dream of my past life, even if most of it is a vague, blurry mess now. I can't even remember my previous name. The only person who kept me sane and grounded in reality was Hanabi with all her incessant bugging and chattering and being an annoying presence in general. I know that I am not in the best state of mind ever since I was forced to kill my father after witnessing my mother's murder. Hanabi's presence reminded me that I am still here in this world, and even if the whole world was against me, I have her. She had full confidence in me, and I know I can trust her to watch my back in desperate situations. She knows me better than anyone else, even myself. She is always on my side.
She will be heartbroken if I left her for Kiri, or if I got myself captured by Kiri. For some reason, I hate seeing her cry. I still remembered how she cried as she ran for help while I tried to stop the remaining Kumo jonin from getting to her, and I hated it, even if I still don't know why I feel that way.
I need to get out of here.
"Ice Release: Ice Prison."
Numerous ice pillars sprouted from the ground and the two jonins are forced to dodge. I gave a wave of my hand, and the pillars then move to converge on them in an effort to crush them.
The kunoichi managed to dodge the pillars and senbons and tried to get out of the dome of mirrors, but I rose another pillar to block her exit.
"Found you."
The kunoichi gathered a large amount of lightning chakra in her fist and jumped towards the mirror that I was hiding in. How did she find me?!
I quickly moved out of the mirror I was in to jump into the next one in case the kunoichi is really capable of breaking my mirrors with her bare hands like what Tsunade did once. I had asked for her help in testing the durability of my mirrors using Kushina-shishou's connection to the Sannin. The fact that Kiri Kunoichi uses lightning-based techniques is bad news as well. My mirrors may be nigh indestructible against physical attacks, but it does not protect me from getting zapped by lightning. I haven't perfect it to that extent yet.
Jun moved himself to block my way the moment I'm out of the mirror. Damn it, I really need to work on the mirrors if I ever get back to Konoha. The speed at which I jump from mirror to mirror too. That needs work as well.
I mentally commanded the mirrors to break down into ice spears and rain down on both jonins. The mirrors are useless now since the kunoichi had managed to flush me out.
I quickly draw out some water from the air to write a seal on the ground with my finger using the water as a medium. The seal is not going to be stable since I used water instead of chakra conducive ink and I wrote it into the ground instead of writing on a scroll, but it should work.
The ground exploded around me, with only a two-meter radius around me untouched by the blast. The explosion was designed in a twenty by twenty meter area with me in the center, which should be big enough to include the area where the two jonins are and also exclude the area where I left the civilian girl at. If she's smart enough, she should have gotten away by now among all the chaos. I'm glad my impromptu seal worked out, I need to thank Kushina-shishou and Minato-shishou after this.
Assuming I managed to get back to Konoha in one piece.
Somehow, Jun managed to get to me through the explosion and engaged me in a taijutsu fight, an area of the shinobi arts which I am not the best at. I dodged and weaved through his attack and tried to see if I can gain some distance, but he is not giving me any chance.
The unnatural flicker of light around me caught my attention and I realised that something is wrong. The kunoichi stood at a far end behind Jun, hands in a seal as her form starts to blur and disappear.
Genjutsu
"Kai!"
I dispelled the genjutsu and it was just in time as Jun's fist came soaring at where my head once was. I ducked and rolled out of the way before throwing more senbons at him, but he used a kunai to block it. The kunoichi lashed out at my location with a water whip which I managed to get away except that she had managed to nail me on my left shoulder and drew blood.
It hurts like hell too.
There was a sudden blow to my neck from behind and I fell forward, only to see the kunoichi behind me when I turned my head slightly. The figure of the kunoichi that used the water whip vanished.
A double layered genjutsu?!
I fell onto the ground and felt myself fading into unconsciousness.
I really hope that Hanabi doesn't cry when she learnt of my disappearance.