After a three-hour walk over the sea between the Land of Fire and the Land of Waves, Tachibana and the rest of Team Seven were about to scale a cliff along with Maruboshi who was leading their mission.
Tazuna was on Tachibana's back and was worried about what they were doing.
Maruboshi and Kakashi had worked last night to create a simple plan to rescue Tazuna's family. The plan involved infiltrating the village undetected while Kakashi and the ANBU distracted the several guards from Kumogakure.
With Maruboshi and the rest of Team Seven ready to intercept any attacks, Tachibana was supposed to follow Kakashi's directions to rescue Tazuna's family.
While Tachibana would go to rescue his family, Tazuna would reach a meeting point he had set up with his closest friends so that they could instigate a timely rebellion to take back control of the Land of Waves from the faction currently in charge.
It was a three-pronged plan whose parts were deeply intertwined for a sure chance at success. But because of its simplicity, everyone had chosen to go through with it.
Having scaled the cliff, Tachibana gave one last glance at Maruboshi and Team Seven before giving his last piece of advice, "Good Luck."
He felt very uncomfortable seeing Maruboshi to what would likely be his death, but over the last few days, he'd already come to terms with not being able to do something against fate.
'If only more people were like Beyonders. Using their head to understand that fate is not a thing to be trifled with.'
"You don't need to worry about me. I'll be fine." Maruboshi explained as he gave Tachibana's head one last ruffle before leaving with Team Seven.
With Tazuna on his back, Tachibana began to follow Kakashi's directions to reach the bunker where Tazuna's family was being kept.
Eventually, as they arrived at a crossroads in the forest, Tachibana let Tazuna down and spoke to him, "This is where Kakashi-sensei said you'll leave. Am I right?"
Tazuna looked around and once his eyes landed on the faraway bridge he nodded quickly, Tachibana was about to leave after his nod but stopped when Tazuna held his hand.
Tazuna's eyes turned delicate looking at Tachibana nervously, "Please keep my family safe. Especially, my grandson, he's the last part of my son that I have alive."
With a forced smile, Tachibana nodded and explained, "I'm sure I'll be able to keep them safe. I've already divined the possibility of danger and didn't notice any problems."
The words seemed to have calmed Tazuna a little since he nodded before letting go of Tachibana's hand so that he could vanish away into the forest.
Away from Tazuna, Tachibana looked at the small bunker in the distance.
'I volunteered to safeguard Tazuna's family so I could avoid all the action. I just hope nothing goes wrong at the last second.'
There were two shinobi guarding it but they were only genin. Even then Tachibana didn't take the situation lightly.
He quickly activated spirit vision to check for any hidden enemies, and once he didn't find any he sneaked around until he was on a thick branch right above the bunker.
His ability to be light on his feet like a clown helped him avoid making any noises while walking on the tree and his sharp intuition as a seer helped him choose the right branches that would not creek under his weight.
'Why are there only three people here?'
'I can see the lady… she appears to be resting…'
'But what about the grandson?'
'Did he die? Was he killed already?'
Pulling out a kunai, Tachibana stood on guard while soundlessly standing upside down from the branch of the tree.
The genin hadn't discovered Tachibana's presence until now and were busy admiring the scenery or drawing random things into the dirt with their toes.
Tachibana soundlessly dropped down with his hands extended as he lodged two kunai into the heads of the guarding genin shinobi.
The genin died even before they could realise what had happened and Tachibana then moved to open the bunker door using a key that was on one of the genins.
They had nothing special on their bodies apart from a few kunai and shuriken but he took all of it.
The heavy door of the bunker opened slowly with a loud *groan* after some effort on Tachibana's part and in it was a woman who was quite scared of him.
"Calm down Tsunami-san. I'm here from Konoha, on behalf of Tazuna. We're here to save you and your son. May I take you to a safe boat that is just offshore?"
The lady looked surprised for a few seconds but she quickly calmed down and moved to the other bed in the room, she shook the small mass on the bed but it wouldn't move.
"Inari! Now's not the time to play! We need to leave! Quick!!"
But the little boy just wouldn't move, suddenly however when Tsunami tried to drag the little boy and wake him up she found herself clutching a bundle of blanket.
"Inari?"
The boy wasn't in the bed in the first place.
He'd escaped using a vent on the wall.
"INARIIII!!!!!!!"
Tachibana quickly calmed down the panicking woman before she could run out of the Bunker and go searching for him.
"Tsunami-san! Please hold on. I will take you to the boat offshore first to keep you safe. I'll return for Inari after th-"
"-But Inari could be doing anything! It could be dangerous for him! What if he got caught in some trap!? What if Shinobi from Kumo discovered him!!??"
"Please try and understand me Tsunami-san, I promise to go after your boy as soon as you're safe. I'm sure you don't want him to return to you dead, do you? Please let me take you to safety and I'll make sure to bring him back. I promise."
Tachibana looked into Tsunami's eyes and held her hand firmly to induce a semblance of peace and confidence into her.
Tsunami nodded and Tachibana quickly guided her to the secret boat that Kakashi had hidden in a storage seal behind large rocks on the beach.
"Please remain calm Tsunami-san, I will return with Inari as soon as possible."
"Please find him!" Tsunami pleaded.
Tachibana nodded and asked her, "Tsunami-san do you have on you anything that belonged to Inari? I can use it for my summoned dogs who can help track him down."
Tsunami thought for a few seconds before she nodded and explained, "In the bunker, you'll find a muffler. It used to belong to his father but since he's passed away, Inari wears them almost always."
Tachibana went back to the bunker and located the mufflers before using them to find Inari using divination.
Tachibana picked up a broken branch and held it casually before using cogitation to enter a dream-like state in which he mumbled the sentence-
"Where did the boy who wears these mufflers go after escaping from the bunker using the vent?"
-seven times.
Letting the stick fall, Tachibana noted the direction it fell in.
'The bridge…'
'What a troublesome kid.'
'I need to meet up with Team Seven anyway…this will make a good excuse for why I didn't return to the battlefield as quickly as possible.'
'Inari-kun, I hope you remain a troublesome kid for a little longer.'
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A/N : Thank you for reading.