Fandom Squad Shithead: A Naruto AU

[Pine]

"Oh," Haruki said. The disappointment in his tone was near palpable. They had been so lucky to see her as many times as they had, even going as far as to join him for breakfast after their last mission, it hadn't occurred to him that Matsuda was someone with such a tight schedule. If he had known that, he might have made better use of the time he'd had with her. There were a few things he had thought of that might get her attention and amuse her during their training, but he had passed those opportunities up, not wanting to risk repeating what had happened in the hotel cafe and getting the cold shoulder from her. For a brief moment, a knot twisted in his stomach. He tried not to think about it any longer.

He was about to leave his commentary at that, and he had already started to look away, but he still felt like his position with Katsuro was tenuous. He did not believe that he was truly calm, and he didn't want to risk coming off as rude or give any other reason to provoke his anger again.

Looking back at him, Haruki asked tentatively, "How did your training go, sensei?"

If he had to guess, it would've been a headache for Katsuro. He had been stuck with Tetsuo one on one for three weeks, and Haruki had heard enough to know about the events that had transpired that made this the case. He didn't expect to hear anything interesting from Katsuro, or really much of anything at all by asking this, but if he was lucky, he might get a story to embarrass Tetsuo with.

 

[Gilzar]

"Not as bad as you'd think. Once he started listening to me he improved fast." Katsuro replied to Haruki's inquiry.

It was the truth. In spite of butting heads constantly, Katsuro had to hand it to Tetsuo. He absorbed training and information like a sponge. The technical improvements he made in just three weeks would have taken most genin months to do. All that seemed to be holding the talented young genin back was his attitude. Tetsuo doesn't play well with others. Katsuro might have gotten him to a point where he was cooperative with the team, but it was obvious he didn't like it. If it wasn't for Tetsuo's attitude, the boy could have probably been a chunin by now.

Then there was Haruki. On a good day he had the skillset of an average genin. Most of the time though it was blatantly obvious that Haruki had more to learn than his teammates. Katsuro knew it was probably a frustrating position for Haruki to be in, especially given that Mizu and Tetsuo were advanced for genin.

"I'm not going to bullshit you. There are some skills you're behind on." Katsuro said, shifting the subject back to Haruki.

"As long as you're honest with me about what you're unsure of I can catch you up. I'm not trying to insult you. It's for your benefit. I've seen people die because they neglected the fundamentals, even before the war started."

 

[Pine]

Haruki stared at Katsuro in disbelief. Not as bad as he thought? Once he started listening? On their last mission, not a single person could open their mouth without Tetsuo combating them. He'd done it to Haruki, and he'd done it time and time again with Katsuro, even though he was a jonin and their sensei. Haruki had never seen someone his age so badly behaved. He couldn't believe that somehow, at some point within only the span of a month, Katsuro had gotten him to be cooperative. Haruki tried to picture what that would even look like, or what Katsuro must've done to finally break the brat, but his mind only drew blanks. It was unfathomable to him.

As floored as he was by that little bit of insight to Katsuro and Tetsuo's last few weeks of training, the thing that really upset him was hearing that Tetsuo had improved fast. Haruki slunk even further back in their bench seat, a sullen look on his face. He had thought he had been doing good work in his training with Matsuda. For whatever reason, he had expected that his teammates would stay close to the level they were at and all of the work he'd put in would have caught him up, or at least gotten him closer to where they were. He had already felt a chasm between himself and the rest of his squad, but just when he thought he had been bridging the gap, it had actually been growing wider.

Tetsuo had been training with Katsuro to improve his taijutsu. While it wasn't technically taijutsu to stamp on someone's foot, Tetsuo had definitely used physical force to try to silence him. Haruki could take this in stride in the past knowing Tetsuo was smaller than him, but now he couldn't help but feel like Katsuro had just been training him to be a more effective bully. In contrast, Haruki had just invested three weeks of his time in learning one jutsu that he hadn't even been able to complete. The more he ruminated on this, the worse he felt.

Almost as if reading his mind, Katsuro redirected the conversation back to his own need for improvement. He did believe him when he said he wasn't trying to insult him, and Haruki wasn't sure if that made it better or worse for him. However, whether Katsuro genuinely believed he get him caught up to the rest of his team or not, a doubt in the truth of that nestled in Haruki. So far, this claim had not been the case. Katsuro had left that job to Tetsuo and Mizu last time, and he didn't picture their sensei setting his other two students suddenly aside just to give him how much time he needed to even get close to leveling the playing field between them. With Katsuro's characteristic impatience and hot-temper, Haruki wasn't even sure that he wanted that.

Amid the brew of pessimism he was feeling with how this conversation was going, Katsuro somehow managed to make him feel even worse. It was something close to what he had felt when they had returned to Sando's estate after their fight with Genzo. Apprehension. Fear. When Katsuro was talking about knowing people that had died in the line of duty before the war, he was talking about people like him.

"Even genin?" Haruki asked, trying his best to not let his voice shake when he spoke. He knew enough to know that genin generally did not do missions that required combat, even if everything about their last mission proved contrary to that.

 

[Gilzar]

"I've been doing this a long-time kid. I've seen a lot of people die, even genin." Katsuro answered simply and honestly.

"When I was your age, a genin from my class died just a few months after graduation. His name was Sadow. He blew himself up using the wrong seal to try and diffuse his own explosive tag."

It was a story Katsuro didn't particularly care to tell; nobody from his age group did. Sadow's death was a tragic and sad event, but it was relevant to the point Katsuro was trying to make. The kid didn't know what he was doing and it ended up costing him his life. Most of the blame was rightfully placed on his instructor, who should have been more aware of his student's limitations. It was a mistake Katsuro didn't intend on making. Skirting by might have gotten Haruki through the academy, but it wasn't going to cut it in the real world.

"It was a simple mistake, but it cost him his life. Had he spent the time training with his equipment it wouldn't have happened."

As he let his words sink into his student, Katsuro reflected on their last mission. He told Haruki that if he wanted to quit when it was all over, he could. In spite of that, Haruki was still here. This was the life he wanted, and Katsuro wanted to remind him of it.

"You're not a lost cause, I've seen it. Last mission you made it through shit most of your class hasn't experienced. And I haven't forgotten what I told you in the Land of Birds. Since you're still here, I can tell you're serious about being a shinobi. So I'm going to do my part to catch you up. But you have to do your part and commit. This isn't something you can do part time."

 

[Pine]

He had not thought it possible to do, but Katsuro's tale of the unfortunate incident with his childhood classmate made Haruki's frown grow even deeper. One wrong seal and that had been it for the kid. No long, dramatic death to give a tearful speech to his loved ones. Something like that would be instantaneous in Haruki's mind. Dead, to a faulty use of his own equipment.

Most days at the academy, it had felt like a lot had been thrown at him at once. He had never been much of one for details and technical knowledge. Haruki knew this about himself. He would glean over most of it to get to the bottom of what he needed to do or say to get a passable grade on the exams, something that his parents wouldn't interrogate him on his studying habits about. They didn't need to know that nearly every time he would absorb what he needed from his notes the morning of then forget all of it the next day.

He had barely been at this a month. When he graduated, he never imagined he or any of the friends he graduated with to turn up as a corpse not even a year later. The thought of it now made his stomach twist.

Once again, the conversation brought the conversation back to him. The instant Katsuro asserted that he must be serious about being a shinobi, Haruki's eyes nearly bugged out of his skull. Katsuro may not have forgotten their conversation back in the Land of Birds, but he certainly had.

Haruki had meant to think it over. The intention was there. He had the foggiest recollection of reconsidering his life path when he'd first came back to the weapon shop he called a home, but he'd never completed the circuit on that train of thought. Then he'd spent every minute of that week hustling for time with his friends, buying whatever he wanted, and the series of times his parents had wanted to take him out to celebrate his first mission, or really any number of excuses they had to go out every night their schedules agreed. Then it had been time for training, and he wasn't about to question any of the reasons why he should or should not have been spending time alone with Miss Matsuda. Now he was here, a hiss from the train cart signaling they would soon be en route to his second mission.

Haruki sucked in his lips, turned his head to the window, cupped the side of his face so as to shield his expression from Katsuro and nodded. "Mhm!" he sounded with a pitched-up, not-very-convincing enthusiasm that he did not feel. At this point, he just wanted Katsuro to stop talking.

Thankfully, an announcer had come on the train's intercom, silencing most of the train's polite company, and since his initial tempestuous outburst, this seemed to include Katsuro.

It had been Haruki's intention to, once he had escaped the required dialogue between himself and his jonin-sensei, he would bombard Mizu's phone with an arsenal of spiteful texts in order to get her attention again, but his conversation with Katsuro had now completely taken the wind out of his sails, and instead of thinking about how angry he was with her, he was now thinking about the fragile state of being that was his own mortality.

He took a slow bite of his now too-chewy, too-gritty taiyaki and stared out the window. He would think on whether or not he could actually commit to what Katsuro wanted him to without ever coming to a conclusion. His mind was still addled from his lack of sleep the night before, and every time he tried to walk himself through his desires and concerns, he either got stuck in his own anxiety over what small thing he might possibly do to lead to an early death of his own, or he would forget what he was trying to consciously think through before he could even think all of it. He managed to finish his breakfast just in time before, slumped up against the train window, one hand draped over the wax paper wrapper in his lap, the much-needed fog of sleep overtook him. Intermittently, a soft snore would draw from his throat, and eventually, a dribble of drool would roll out of the corner of his mouth. He would not have a dream that he could remember.

- - - - -

Tetsuo would make good on his promise to switch seats the first stop that allowed him to, nearly twenty minutes into their trip. As the last of the passengers were straggling out of the back of the train cart to the line in front, Tetsuo reached down to grab his sack from under the bench seat without sparing his teammate a glance and moved to an unoccupied bench three rows up on the opposite side of the cart. There were available seats further up and away from Mizu in the cart, but for reasons he would not have been able to explain, he felt the need to grab a seat where he could remain in earshot of her. He watched further up the aisle to see if Haruki would try to come to the back of the cart, but whether Katsuro was forcing him to remain put or he had decided of his own accord, he made no such move. Good. His strategy to take the center of the bench also seemed to successfully deter others from trying to sidle into the seat with him. He had the seat and a clear view of the outdoors all to himself. Just as he had wanted.

His minor agitation towards Mizu had abated as time had passed, the two able to simply stay silent as the train carted them closer to their destination ahead, but this had not made sitting in such close quarters any less uncomfortable. He felt stuck staring at the ceiling, even as a crick began to form in his neck, and every now and then another passenger had felt bold enough to try staring at them again. That, and no how many times it happened, he could never completely ignore the awkward feeling that came from sitting next to someone he knew did not want him there. Now, distance put between himself and Mizu, and there being no reason any longer for any of the other passengers to pay any particular attention to him, Tetsuo was finally able to relax.

On their last mission, he had slept nearly the whole trip both to and from the Land of Birds. Barely any of the missions he had done with his last squad had been conducted outside of the Leaf Village, and certainly none of them had taken him so far away from his home that they had required transportation of any sort. In a sense, this felt like his first time getting to ride in a train. At the academy, his grades had averaged when it came to geography. It was one of those topics that felt largely inconsequential, so he didn't invest much time in studying or thinking about it. Now, as the train left their first stop in the Land of Fire, he slid closer to the window and watched the landscape with vested interest.

As time passed, the forest around them thinned out, eventually becoming a grassland with only scatterings of trees. The train steadily began to curve its trajectory, and soon it became plain to see why. Tetsuo leaned closer to peer down the cliff they now circled. It was a considerable drop to the bottom, where grasses covered the cliffside, eventually leading to a narrow river cutting through the center of what could only be described as a massive crater. The only wildlife he could make out from his vantage point was the occasional crane, either in or hovering by the water. As the train slowed, he finally spotted the landmark that told him exactly what they were passing. The hands of an enormous statue closed together in the Seal of Reconciliation. The rush of water tumbled through where the statues had cracked and smoothed some of the hands' details, but there was no mistaking it. Below them was the Valley of the End, a place he knew several historical battles had taken place. Ironically, a valley initially created in a fight combating the Nine-Tails demon.

Perhaps because it was a hot spot for tourism, this was where the border station between the Land of Fire and Land of Sound had been built. Tetsuo shifted in his seat, but when he looked further up the cart, he did not see Katsuro moving to leave the cart. Tetsuo fished his train ticket out of his pocket. This was not their stop. They still had a ways to go.

It would take well over another hour before they arrived at their destination. As the train left the border, left the valley, great hills began to rise. In them, terraces of land had been carved into unnaturally straight geometric shapes. Blocks of freshwater were broken apart by thin strips of grass. He knew, intuitively, this must've been constructed for agricultural purposes, even without seeing the farmers bent low in the water with their straw hats, but the nature of the crops cultivated here was not something he remembered off the top of his head. Something about the shape of the terraces enchanted him, and Tetsuo felt a compulsion to crouch down on one of those strips of land and dip his hands into the water. The train did not stop by any of the paddy fields, however, and they continued their journey deeper into the Land of Sound.

At one point, sometime after the farming land had dried to a more simple, rugged landscape, the train took them straight through a tunnel in one mountain. Tetsuo sat up straighter as the light was snuffed completely out. Just for a moment, a childish thrill thrummed through him. Something about being completely in the dark, inside of a mountain made his heart pound with excitement. Then the overhead lights of the train flickered on. Tetsuo settled his spine back against the bench, a little disappointed. He was forced to be contented with staring at the blurring rock face of the tunnel. After they exited the mountain, one bridge crossing a valley later, and they were at the station for the Sound Village.

Again, this would not be their stop. The vast majority of passengers got off at this point. Tetsuo noted that while the station seemed smaller than the one at home, there seemed to be just as much, if not more foot traffic, and if he was not mistaken, the fluorescent lights shining down seemed brighter here. As far as he could see, there was no one else left on their cart aside from a family that just boarded. Tetsuo would understand why when finally, the team arrived at their third and final stop in the Land of Sound.

They must have been somewhere close to the northernmost border of the Land of Sound. As the terrain had once again started to populate with evergreen trees, they remained moving in a relatively straight line. More and more tree-covered hills rose around them, until beyond the far end of the tracks he could see a great mountain range spanning miles. The tracks stopped here, just at the edge of a forest, because there was no where else to go.

 

[Gilzar]

It had looked like Haruki had seen a ghost. The boy's eyes were so wide with the unmistakable gaze of terror that even Katsuro caught onto it in his buzzed state. All Haruki responded to Katsuro with just a nod and unconvincing hum to confirm that they were in agreement. What followed the interruption of the intercom was silence. Haruki simply stared out the window, finishing his meal. A familiar frown returned to Katsuro's face. He expected the conversation to have gone on a little longer. At this point he wanted to lay out the things he wanted Haruki to work on in his spare time, but it seemed his student wasn't capable of that at this moment.

Most instructors might have regretted instilling such fear into their students. Some may have even attempted to walk back such statements to comfort their worries. Katsuro was not that kind of instructor, however. His students needed to know the risks of this line of work no matter how traumatizing it may have been. Death was an ever-looming threat in the life of a shinobi. It was a lesson he personally knew all too well. Someday, all three of his students would likely know it as well. In his eyes, the sooner they accepted it the better. This was something Haruki was going to have to deal with since he clearly wanted to still be a shinobi.

As time passed on, Haruki slept. Katsuro's towering had no issue looking over him and watching the scenery. The changing landscapes only further reminded him of death, but he couldn't ignore it. Years ago, he was fighting the Land of Lightning all across this terrain. From the forests where they held the line off of the start of the invasion, to the open plains of grass that served as the theatre of fighting in the middle years of the war, this region was tainted with blood. If one looked closely, the scars of battle could still be seen. But it was remarkable to Katsuro just how much of the landscape had been restored in just a few years after the fighting had finished.

Eventually the train ride brought them over the infamous valley of the end - yet another historical battle site. Many famous shinobi had left their mark on this symbol of conflict, carving its stone into the deep gnarled valley was now. Katsuro was one of them. In the final years of the war, during a risky yet vital counterattack by the Land of Fire, he found himself fighting for his life alongside Matsuda against one of the best shinobi he had ever fought deep within the chasm of the valley. He eyed an off-colored, oddly smooth cliff-face, downriver from the giant statues.

Had Haruki been awake, he might have been able to hear the tale. The kid did seem fond of Matsuda, after all. He might have told him why that cliff-face looked so out of place. A water user carved out that entire section of cliff, collapsing the entire overhanging rock face right down on top of them. To this day, he could still remember the shadow of the towering cliff plummeting towards them. Time seemingly froze as the he and his former rival narrowly escaped death, dashing just out of the way of being crushed. Mountains of water promptly swept them far down river. In his body he could still feel the sensation of drowning - of the air was hopelessly thrashed out of his body by the stampede of water. Katsuro would have died down there, had it not been for Matsuda pulling him out of the water just in time.

He took another swig of his whiskey as the valley finally left his view. The rest of the trip would be spent reflecting on other various memories of the war that haunted him, until finally the train had stopped at their destination. Upon arrival, he elbowed Haruki to make sure he was awake. Katsuro then rose out of their seat, grabbed their bags, and motioned for Tetsuo and Mizu to follow him as he stomped off of the train and onto the platform.

----------

Unsurprisingly, Mizu was pleased once Tetsuo vacated his seat and left for another. She watched him out of the corner of her eye until he found his seat. Once it was official that she was finally alone, Mizu let out a sigh, slumped her shoulders, and rolled back into her seat. Even though she'd have to put up with her team for however many days, at least she'd get to enjoy the rest of the trip by her lonesome. Much like the train ride to the land of birds, Mizu's attention was completely fixated on the ever-changing landscape.

It was the first time she had ever laid eyes upon these different landscapes. She had never seen mountains before, terraces, grasslands, or even pine forests. The very sight of them occupied her mind enough to forget about the events of this morning, if only for a moment. Mizu day-dreamed of hiking up the mountain the train tunneled through, of jumping down the terraces lining the steep hills, or racing through grasslands and pine trees with vastly her improved speed. Yet what really caught her attention was the valley of the end. In her studies both in and out of the academy, she had read a lot about this place. Much like Tetsuo, she knew all too well that the Nine-tailed fox was responsible for its creation. But she was more interested in all of the legendary Shinobi who had fought there throughout the past three centuries.

Seeing the valley with her own eyes felt akin to a religious pilgrimage. It elevated her mood enough that once the train finally reached the end of the line, she emerged from the train in a much calmer mood than when she first boarded it.

 

[Pine]

Haruki awoke with a jolt, flinching and sucking in spit in between the gap of his slack teeth. His eyes did not open properly at first it felt, as if one lid had gotten stuck someway somehow, but after a second of no bodily harm coming this way, he recalled that he had fallen asleep on a train and realized Katsuro must've woken him. A subtle pressure seemed to pinch his temples and sinuses. Through the fog of his just-woken-up state, he began to straighten in his seat. He frowned as he swiveled his head forward from the unnatural hook he'd anchored it against the window. There was the slight but unmistakable tug on the skin of spit that had dried and now stretched out. Without thinking, he swiped his thumb over the section of his jaw he'd felt this. Over top of the dried spit was a fresher trickle of drool. He sighed gently in exasperation. He only ever really drooled when he was sick with a fever or really tired. He must've been really tired.

Haruki rubbed his thumb on his shirt to get what he'd collected off, brought his shirt collar over his mouth to wipe away what remained, then finally crumpled the wrapper from his breakfast in his fist and rose out of his seat.

The family that had been sitting in the mid-section of the train shuffled by as Haruki leaned over and searched the seat for his bag. Tetsuo, too, would pass by with no more than a side-eye by the time he remembered Katsuro had stuffed his bag in the overhead cabin. With that came a reminder of everything that had happened in the station that had led him to being in this position — in the front of the train, squeezed between the wall of the train and his instructor.

He did not want to see Mizu. He felt an anxious pang to think about just how exactly she would look at him now. He didn't feel a sense of regret, per se, but he didn't want to start a fight either.

It was too late for him to cut in line before Mizu. Instead, he remained standing and touched his hand to the railing above, facing the window so he didn't have to look at her while she passed. Haruki kept his eyes trained on the floor as her footsteps went around and retreated down the steps of the train cart. He couldn't help but sneak a glance at her at the last second, but he was too late to get a read on her, her face already passing through the doorway. Haruki waited a just long enough to put some distance between them before grabbing his bag and making his exit.

As he stepped off of the cart, his feet landed on concrete flooring. The station was absent a wall, giving him a clear view of the outdoors. Strangely, even though it was bright with the morning sun, he could hear the patter of rain bouncing against the station's aluminum roof.

Somehow, this station was even smaller than the one they had seen at the Land of Birds' border. There was no one there waiting to board the train. In fact, at first glance, there appeared to be no one else at the station. There were ticket gates lining the station from side to side with a single booth at the very end. If one peered closely, they could see the silhouette of a man inside, obscured by the booth's tinted glass windows.

Had it not been for the family that exited before them, Tetsuo might not have realized the gates were self-automated. Tetsuo stood before one of them, squinting at what should've been a simple contraption. There were no buttons to press, just a ticket-sized slot, but then a second, ID-shaped slot right underneath. He had seen the family just before them get through without any trouble, but every time he stuck his ID in the gate, it whirred and spat the card right out. He tried again, positioning it at a slightly different angle, but again his ID was returned to him. He tried flipping it over. Same result.

Haruki, having very intentionally been looking anywhere but where Mizu was, saw Tetsuo struggling with the gate ahead of him. There were plenty of gates that Haruki could've picked to be far, far away from anyone from his team, and originally that had been his intention. However, in a spur of the moment decision, Haruki decided to extend an olive branch the other boy's way. After all, he didn't think he would be able to talk to Mizu again for a while, and no matter how crabby Tetsuo was, he didn't scare the living hell out of him like Katsuro did.

Haruki came up to the gate next to him. Tetsuo's face was scrunched up in annoyance, but Haruki knew by now this was just typical for him.

"You have to put your ticket in first."

"What?" Tetsuo said, more reflexively than anything as he turned his squinting eyes to Haruki.

"You have to put your ticket in first," he repeated himself. "See?" Haruki, after a moment of rifling through his sack for the required items, fed the ticket into the gate. The gate accepted with a gentle click, but the small light above the slots still showed red. He then inserted his ID. The gate made a whir, then after another click, returned the ID with a freshly pressed stamp on it, and flashed a green light as the gate gave an even louder click. Haruki returned his ID to his sack where he would no doubt need to sift through all of his things again to find it next time he needed.

Tetsuo watched Haruki incredulously as the other genin twisted his torso, unnecessarily, and stepped sideways through his gate. "That's stupid," he said. "Why the fuck does it matter which one goes in first?"

There was a slight, prideful grin on Haruki's face as he finally found something he had over his teammate. "It's probably so they know where you're going so they can stamp your ID. Maybe they also want to double check that you even have a ticket in the first place? But that's why they have the ticket slot on top. Because when you're just putting your ID in—"

Tetsuo cut him off. "Shut up. It was rhetorical."

The smile on Haruki's face dissolved into a tiny frown, but complied nonetheless. He shouldn't have been surprised. It seemed as if in nearly every one of their interactions, all Tetsuo ever did was try to get him to stop talking. The brat had probably never shown gratitude once in his life, and he should've known better. Still, Haruki decided to wait, not only to see if any more troubleshooting would be necessary, but also because even though it meant dealing with Tetsuo's unpleasant attitude, sticking by him could make a small buffer between him and Mizu. Luckily, Tetsuo was able to pass through the gate with no further issues, so he didn't have to deal with what would've come if he had been proven wrong.

Tetsuo did not wait to see if Haruki would follow as he walked over to where Katsuro was. When he did follow, walking much closer by him than Haruki ever voluntarily stood, he eyed him with suspicion, but said nothing.

A single dirt path led the way out of the station. Without either consulting the man in the booth or a map of any sort, Katsuro likely knew from the other jonin-senseis in their village exactly where to go, even without having been on a mission for them himself. The path, which the family had already started their trek ahead on by foot, led to a small village that was about a twenty minute walk from the station. There, any team could stop by for some basic supplies and a warm meal, more than likely, but this was almost never needed for a mission issued by the Yoshida family. The estate had plenty of things, and due to this abundance, they were more than willing to provide on their own. Halfway down the path to the village, the dirt road would split. Hanging right would lead anyone down another twenty minute trek, and at the end of it would be the Yoshida residence.

Now on the other side of the gate, it was easier for the team to see that it was no more than a light shower outside. Tetsuo had packed the poncho he'd received, not owning a raincoat of his own, but the rain was light enough that it wouldn't bother him, and more than that, however the family they were going to actually was, he didn't want their first interaction to be them gushing about him using the gift they'd given him.

 

[Gilzar]

As Mizu promptly exited the train behind her sensei, she looked around the station wide eyed with surprise. From everything she had heard about their clients she had expected a train station of luxurious quality. Instead, it looked more baren than the station at the Land of Birds. There were fewer walls beneath its metal roof, and not a border guard in site. This was the Land of Sound? Everything she had read about the Sound Village boasted how advanced it was...yet this station in the same nation seemed to fill the bare minimum and nothing more.

A few misty droplets of rain hit her skin, in spite of the sun shining clearly above them. Mizu held her hand out gently to test if it was actually rain or her imagination. A few more hazy droplets cooled the surface of her palm, giving her the answer she needed. Promptly, she set her staff down and maneuvered her backpack to her front side. She unzipped the top and dug out the green poncho they had been given. The drizzle above them may have been light, but she figured in the rainforest that likely could change fast.

With poncho snugly fitting over her turtleneck, she grabbed her gear and followed the others to the gate. Unlike the man of birds, there were no border guards here. Just an automated system. By now Katsuro had made it through, and it was just Haruki and Tetsuo in front of them bickering back and forth as usual. If the two of them were on better terms, Mizu might have found some humor in Haruki knowing something Tetsuo didn't. Instead, she just stood there with an irritated look on her face. Once the two had finally gone through, Mizu inserted her ticket and then her ID. Once the gate clicked, she moved through to meet up with the rest of the team.

-----------

In spite of some banter, the group made it through the border without a hitch. They were now officially in the Land of Sound. Katsuro looked around, getting a feel for his surroundings. He had been in the Land of Sound near the end of the war, but not this location. So far, the rainforest was living up to its name as the rain lightly doused them. Mizu already had her poncho on, but the rest of the group didn't. In his head he debated about putting his on but shrugged it off. Right now the only thing he was going to dig out was a cigarette. His fingers dug through his vest, pulling out a single smoke and lighter. To get it properly lit he had to shield it from the rain with his free hand.

Once lit, Katsuro took a long, drawn out whiff. His head tingled from the nicotine as he exhaled through his mouth and nostrils.

"Listen up you three." Katsuro barked out. "I'm not going to put up with anymore bullshit this morning. The next one who starts an argument is going home with my foot up their ass, understood?"

Mizu begrudgingly nodded while eyeing Haruki.

"We're going straight to the mansion. Follow me."

Immediately Katsuro took point, leading the group down the single dirt path. He was told finding the mansion wouldn't be hard, just keep on the path away from the village and you couldn't miss it. When the time came, he headed right and continued down the path towards the mansion.

 

[Pine]

Haruki frowned uneasily. Katsuro's warning had addressed the group, but seeing as how none of his other teammates had been forced to sit next to him throughout the duration of the train ride, Haruki couldn't help but feel that the warning was aimed directly at him. Mutely, he nodded. He had no reason to give Katsuro anything other than the appearance of a model student in that moment.

Tetsuo, by contrast, felt certain the warning was for anyone but him in that moment. If Katsuro had taken a major issue with how he'd talked to Haruki at the ticket gate, he would've said something about it. For now, Tetsuo was still in that strange space of being the only one not in trouble. Even if he was, though, Tetsuo doubted the legitimacy of Katsuro's threat. After all, he'd heard this one before. Furthermore, he had no idea how he would send anyone home without having to purchase an extra ticket, and the grizzled veteran didn't seem like the type to abandon a mission altogether. The almost bored expression on his face may have gave away that he wasn't taking Katsuro seriously in that moment. He remained silent, nevertheless. There was no need to poke the proverbial bear.

As each genin acquiesced in their own different way, Haruki could see Mizu eyeing him in his periphery. He tried pretending that he didn't notice by staring with intent focus at Katsuro. He had a feeling if he looked at her now, he'd be met with a scornful glare. All of his frustrations from the morning had subsided. It still embarrassed him to think of how Mizu behaved in front of Taro, but the heat of the moment had long been snuffed out for him, first quashed by Katsuro's horror story, then sealed away with a nap. A small part of him had hoped this would also be true for Mizu, but evidently this was not the case.

As the team departed from the station and onto the dirt path, they soon caught sight of the small family, separated just far enough that the occasional conversation exchanges they had were difficult to pick the exact words they were saying out. Tetsuo fell into pace not too far behind Katsuro. Haruki stayed as far in the back as he felt he could go before he felt Katsuro would nag him to keep up. Not only was the silence between him and Mizu agonizingly uncomfortable, but he felt awkward, too, following the single family so close behind. Under any other circumstances, he may have made the best of it, and invented a scandalous story about the family and whispered false lip reads to a friend. Now, though, all he wanted to do was make himself as small as possible.

A couple of times, Haruki lagged far enough behind that Tetsuo turned his head to look at him with narrowed eyes. He wanted this mission done and over with as soon as humanly possible, and if Haruki decided to stop walking just because no one was giving him enough pity for his sulking, he was going to snap. Eventually, though, it seemed clear to him that this was not going to be the case, and stopped looking back to check on him.

As the fork in the road came up, the family continued straight towards the village ahead, leaving their silent shinobi companions behind to follow their own path towards the Yoshida estate.

Their journey in the Land of Sound thus far had been relatively quiet and sparse of any outstanding flora or fauna. While not unpleasantly so, it was noticeably warmer here than it was at the eve of Konoha's fall season. As they continued on towards their destination, fig and rosewood trees began to populate, then multiply. Eventually, the trees were so dense in number they began to blot out the sunlight, casting great shadows along their path. Without either of the boys even noticing it, a complex chorus of bird chirps had become a loud background noise. Once, Haruki looked at just the right time in just the right place to see the biggest set of eyes on the tiniest squirrel's face poking out of a hollow. He hitched a breath, stopping for just a moment, compelling it with his mind to come out of its trunk and be his cutest, best furry friend. Instead, after a beat, the squirrel twitched its nose and ducked out of view.

Letting out a small sigh, he kept walking.

The frequency of trees continued to climb until there was no more room for doubt that they were cutting directly through a forest. The trees around them took on more distinct characteristics. The roots of the fig trees became gnarled, stitching over a bed of twigs and fallen leaves in erratic patterns. Rubber trees joined their company, with their exotic composition of trunks that seemed to split in dozens of different directions. It was just at this time, near the half hour mark of travel that should've landed them at the Yoshida estate, the group began to hear a strange, distinct sound. At first, it almost sounded like the bizarre hollering of eccentric children. As they drew closer, however, it sounded more like yowling.

 

[Gilzar]

Mizu followed directly behind their sensei the entire walk. It didn't take a genius to figure out that Katsuro's speech was directed at her. Even behind those sunglasses of his, Mizu felt the weight of his stare. She was the one who caused a scene after all, justified or not. To her it was frustratingly unfair. All she did was stand up for herself, and now she was the problem on the team. Just thinking about it gave her a headache. All the hard work she did to prove she was the professional on the team, and now her instructor, the only person she respected on this team, was pissed at her.

She stood tall and attentive as she walk, trying to maintain the aura of professionalism she always tried to despite her frustrations. As she walked, she eyed the ever-changing scenery. This place once again had caught her by surprise. At first there weren't many trees, which seemed unusual for a place supposedly containing a rainforest. Slowly, more and more trees began to trickle into their surroundings. Mizu had never seen trees like these before. Most of them were thin, at various heights. They became so dense in numbers that their leaves blocked out the morning sun.

Birds chirped loudly all around them. Their constant chorus seemed louder than in the Land of Birds. By this point Mizu had come to the realization that they must have entered the rainforest, or at least the start of it. She looked back to Katsuro, intent to ask him a question. But he halted without warning.

Katsuro raised his hand and signaled the team to stop. Behind him, he could hear Mizu immediately stop walking. He glared back to make sure Tetsuo and Haruki did the same. There was a strange noise in the distance. At first it sounded like overzealous children. But as they traveled down the road, the noises grew more distinct...and disturbing. Something was in distress. Given that they were so close to the estate, Katsuro wasn't going to take any chances. They wouldn't be caught off guard if danger lurked ahead.

He turned back to his students.

"Something's wrong ahead." Katsuro whispered loudly, raising his finger in a shushing motion over his mouth.

"Single file formation. Five meters apart each." He quietly instructed, using appropriate hand gestures to help communicate subtly.

He stepped off of the road into the nearby woods and signaled his students to follow. The foliage was thick and dense; perfect for hiding a group of shinobi. Now concealed in the brush, Katsuro quietly began to follow the road. Hopefully he was just overreacting, but he wasn't about to chance an ambush.

Mizu promptly followed their sensei's orders. She slowly brought out her staff as she maintained the appropriate distance from Katsuro. Moving so slowly and quietly, she too could hear the yowling in the distance. It wasn't clear what was in distress, but it was enough to concern their sensei.

 

[Pine]

Haruki had his eyes down, hobbling down the road on one foot as he tried to pluck some sort of semi-moist moss-like plant that had somehow gotten caught between his toes, so he didn't notice the change in Katsuro at first. After he got it out and planted his foot back on the ground, however, he looked up and stopped immediately when he saw his sensei glaring at him.

Tetsuo had stopped the moment Katsuro did, casting him an inquisitive look. Even just in the beginning of the forest, they were already surrounded by an almost overwhelming number of things to stimulate their senses. It was steadily becoming more difficult to focus on any individual thing other than the dirt road, there were strange scents Tetsuo wasn't sure if he had ever smelled, the tactile sensation of the morning shower misting his face and hair, and all around them the ever growing cacophony of sounds that let them know that the forest was indeed alive. It took him a moment, but soon he was able to pick out what had exactly alerted Katsuro. An eerie, legato wailing, interspersed only with brief pauses. He could not tell if it was something human or not, but he knew it was coming from the direction they were heading.

In unfamiliar territory on an open road, Tetsuo was not about to question Katsuro's decision to proceed with caution. He filed in after Mizu, maintaining the distance as instructed.

Haruki was the last to catch onto what exactly the big deal was, but Katsuro's instructions were clear enough that he could follow now that he had his attention. Without the verbal instructions accompanying his hand gestures, he may not have figured out what he was supposed to do. As it were, Haruki fell last in line. He still had no idea how to gauge how far apart five meters was exactly, but looking at the gap between the rest of his squad ahead gave him a pretty good idea.

As expected, the yowling grew only louder the closer they came. The sound and the road both led them in the direction of the estate. A suspenseful uneasiness began to work Haruki's nerves. He was at the back of the line and they were moving far too slow for his taste. He wouldn't know what it was until some mythological, malignant spirit swooped down from its perch in the canopy and bit Katsuro's head off. And yet, as he caught the first peek of the estate looming ahead through the treeline, something about the noise began to ring a dull familiarity within him.

Up ahead, Katsuro would be able to see the dark wooden construct of a mansion. The end of the road. It was difficult to tell for sure whether the square footage of the estate was larger than the Takara manor or not, but by appearance it seemed it. This estate, presumably belonging to the Yoshida family, as there was no other sign of civilization to be seen around them, was laid out in the shape of an inverted 'U', with a wide open courtyard the dirt path ran through and two wings of the residence flocking either side of it. Unlike the Takaras, there were no workers to be seen. In fact, there were very few signs that any amount of landscaping was done. Trees had been cleared from the path, but flowering vines stitched over the sides of the of the building and trickled over the path. The two-tiered fountain at the center of the courtyard was covered in a swath of moss and dirt. It appeared as if it hadn't been on in ages, and the only water to be seen in it was a shallow collection from the rain shower that had been dusting them since they got here.

What stood out as an oddity of the mansion was, from where they stood, the right wing of the building. A large, gaping hole had shattered one of its long windows and taken a chunk of the wall and roof with it. It was an injury to the building no less than ten feet in diameter. Surrounding the wing were steel beams and working platforms. There was evidence that work had been done, with unnatural support beams barely visible to seemingly support the building's structure from the inside, but like any maintenance in the courtyard, it must have been abandoned for some amount of time. Just as with the other side of the building, vines were creeping along the sides of the wing, with some beginning to snake their way in through the hole in the roof. While there was not a single construction worker in sight, it would've taken Katsuro no time at all to locate the source of the anguished wailing.

A cat paced listlessly about the courtyard. It was Siamese in appearance, with an off-white pelt mottled with dirt, bright blue eyes, and legs, face and eartips burned black in color. It appeared to be in relatively good health in spite of the dirt. It had only slimmed a little down from an average weight of its adult size, there were no apparent injuries to be seen from the treeline, and its gait showed no signs of slowing or stumbling. The Siamese turned a circle and cried, looking directly at the mansion. It paused its caterwauling only long enough to pad up to the defunct wing's wall and rub its side against it. Then it wailed again.

Even at his distance, at just the same time as Katsuro would have been able to take in the sight of this, it clicked with Haruki what that sound must have been. His eyes widened with realization. "Kitty," he said under his breath.

Without a second thought, Haruki broke formation, earning an annoyed scowl from Tetsuo as he scurried past to run up to Katsuro's side. For the time being, he didn't care what Mizu or Tetsuo might've thought, nor did it occur to him that his impulsive plow to the front might be seen as insubordinate. This may be his only chance to squeeze some joy out of what was otherwise shaping up to be a very long mission.

"Can I pet it?" he blurted, staring at Katsuro earnestly. Then he added, clapping his hands in prayer and putting on the most pleading face he could muster, "Pleeeeeeeeeease?"

 

[Gilzar]

Katsuro immediately raised his hand over Haruki's face to silence him.

"Quiet!" He whispered sharply at Haruki. "Something's not right. Stay here under cover."

This wasn't anything like Katsuro had anticipated. The Yoshida were a wealthy, well off family. From the stories he had heard, he figured it would be like the mansion he grew up in, or one like Takara manor. The last thing he was expecting was the estate to be so...unmaintained. Everything was overgrown, and the manor looked like it hadn't been properly maintained in years. A few signs of life were around He eyed the strange hole on the right side of the mansion. Just what did that? Yoshida manor looked more like a place he'd have to clear criminals out of than a lavish estate.

Then there was the cat. From the distance, it seemed to be relatively healthy. But something about it gave Katsuro a bad feeling. Animals like this were perfect so setting up an ambush. It stood out from the environment and would warrant investigation. Or maybe he was just overthinking it. He subtly eyed Mizu behind him. She was the entire reason they were out of the Land of Fire. The girl didn't know it, but she was probably the prime target of the Akatsuki. Katsuro had to ensure her safety, even if that meant being a little over-cautious.

Much like Katsuro, Mizu also was dumbfounded by the state of the Yoshida estate for much of the same reasons. It was odd that a family supposedly so wealthy would let their home fall apart this way. It almost looked like the place had been abandoned a few months ago, and nature was starting to reclaim its land.

"Mizu." Katsuro quietly called out.

"Make a shadow clone and walk it out into the courtyard. Let's see who's here."

"Yes, Katsuro Sensei." She hastily replied while making the appropriate hand signs. Shadow Clone Jutsu!

A perfect copy sprung up next to her. The clone walked out onto the cleared out path. As she moved into the center of the courtyard she stared at the massive fountain. It was beautiful, the way the moss and dirt contrasted against its smooth rock. This must have cost a fortune, so why had it simply been left to rot? Eagerly the clone looked around the courtyard one last time before finally calling out.

"Hello?"

 

[Pine]

Haruki frowned as Katsuro put his grown man hand over him and silenced him. He didn't outright say no, but it was obvious that something had put him on edge. Haruki did a quick once over of their surrounding and found nothing that seemed particularly wrong to him, at least not enough to warrant this degree of anxiety from their sensei. He gave Katsuro a look that told him he thought he was being weird, but he wasn't going to question his superior's orders. He cast a longing glance to the cat up ahead before slinking down to a crouch, resting his side between a tree trunk and Katsuro's leg even though he smelled like stale cigarettes even from down there.

Seeing Haruki not reprimanded but instead settling in next to Katsuro on spurred Tetsuo's annoyance further. With Haruki up front, now he was the last one in line, and he couldn't see shit from there. It was only because of Haruki's commentary that he knew they'd just been hearing a cat all along, and yet Katsuro had yet to lower his guard. Even after a month, Matsuda's obnoxious taunt for him to better pay attention to his surroundings still rang clearly in his head. From his vantage point, there wasn't anything for him to pay attention to, and one check over his shoulder confirmed this.

He would be damned if he was going to be the last one in their squad to know what was going on. As quietly as he could, Tetsuo crept through the undergrowth to hover close behind Katsuro and Haruki where he could actually see.

Up until that point, it seemed as though the cat's yowls had been loud enough to drown out their team's whispers. As Mizu's clone approached the courtyard, the Siamese snapped its head in her direction and ceased all its yammering. It stared at Mizu with wide, paranoid eyes as it laid its ears flat and crouched down, as though to make itself small until it had the opportunity to dart away.

As Mizu's clone surveyed the courtyard, she would find no particular oddities that seemed out of place. The dirt path that made up the vast majority of the courtyard was just that — dirt, with a trickling of leafy plants that hugged in from the path's edges. There also seemed to be no response to her call no matter how long she waited. The only life to be found within the courtyard was the cat, still waiting for something to distract the girl, and now that she was close enough to get a better look at it, she could see clearly a kaleidoscope of butterflies resting on the mansion's front doors, their wings snapped shut to show a hundred mimic-eyes staring back at her.

Although there was no response to her call, the other thing she could ascertain now was through the windows of the estate, the lights were on in all but the right wing. All the curtains were drawn, which had blotted out the light from the treeline, but now she could see the warm yellow hue of halogen bulbs outlining the curtains. Past that as well, although infrequent, she could see the occasional silhouette of someone passing by these windows, particularly in the center wing. None of them paused or otherwise seemed to take notice of the foreign shinobi outside. They simply passed by on their way to wherever they were going.

The more time passed, the more impatient Tetsuo became. The injury to the right wing was strange, but Katsuro was behaving as if they were expecting an ambush. He pursed his lips as he combed over the courtyard for the fourth or seventh time, and still he found no sign of any imminent danger. He started to convince himself that no matter what trap they might be walking into, it was something they'd be able to leave unscathed. After all, they had survived their mission in the Land of Birds, and he very much doubted the whole of a new criminal organization was waiting for them on the other side of the mansion's walls.

"That's not going to do shit. There's obviously no one around," he said. He was looking at the clone, but it was clear the comment was meant more for Katsuro than anyone else. "At least have her knock on the door."

After a pause, Tetsuo turned his glare back at the real Mizu, as though just remembering that she was still there.

 

[Gilzar]

Mizu leered at Tetsuo as he too broke formation in order to get a better vantage point. Was she the only one in this unit that actually obeyed orders?! The formation had completely broken, and now Mizu was left sitting behind her two idiot squamates as they gawked at the weird mansion. It wouldn't be hard to spot them hiding in the foliage now. Even Mizu's clone noticed Haruki and Tetsuo peering over Katsuro's shoulder. She too gave the boys a visibly annoyed look for disobeying Katsuro's orders.

Katsuro was also irritated with his students. It barely felt like a minute had passed and the two boys had broken formation and were breathing down his neck. Tetsuo's snotty remarks only made him angrier.

"Shut the fuck up and get back in formation you two, now!" Katsuro quietly barked out.

A tense minute of waiting passed. Katsuro eagerly stared out at the courtyard, watching Mizu like a hawk. By now, if someone was going to attack, they would have done something by now. Mizu's clone was all alone and their position had been revealed thanks to Tetsuo & Haruki. The veteran shinobi stood up, signaling they were done hiding. Katsuro immediately turned to Tetsuo and Haruki. Nostrils flared, he felt his heart pumping his rage through the rest of his body. Earlier in the day he hoped the train station would have been the end of it, but once again he was angered toward his students.

"Listen up you two!" He shouted at Tetsuo and Haurki.

"If that was actually an ambush, you two would have completely fucked us!" He shouted. "Breaking formation, talking out loud like this is a god-damn joke!"

"I don't care how stupid you think it is. When I give you an order you follow it. If you two dipshits ever manage to become jonin, then you can ignore me."

"The next one of you fuckers who disobeys my orders is going to carry my bag the rest of the trip."

With his enraged lecture over, Katsuro let out a sigh. As would the genin had become accustomed to by now, Katsuro pulled out his flask and proceeded to take a few swigs. He wiped his lips dry with his forearm, then stashed the metal container back in his flack jacket.

"Mizu, pop the clone. We're going to knock on the door."

With a nod, Mizu made the appropriate hand sign to dismiss the clone. In an instant the clone popped, leaving a plume of dusk in its wake. Though she was now hiding it beneath her annoyed expression, there was a small feeling of relief. Not from the false alarm of a potential ambush, but because the burden of being the troublemaker had been lifted from her shoulders. It wasn't even noon and the other two had found a way to anger Katsuro. Hopefully he was mad enough at them that he'd forget about what happened at the train station.

Katsuro walked the cleared path all the way up to the entrance. Upon arriving at the doors, he turned to face his three students.

"Now I'm going to say this, even though every time I do one of you idiots ignore it. You three will be on your best behavior in there. Nobody makes a scene. I don't give a fuck how bad they insult you. The village owes these rich pricks for their help in the war, so act professional. That's an order."

With the air cleared on Katsuro's expectations, he turned back to the door and loudly pounded on it three times.

 

[Pine]

Haruki shrank back when Katsuro snapped at them, however quiet. Before, Katsuro had seemed tense and concerned. Now with Tetsuo's appearance, as was often the case, Katsuro was angry. Haruki had no desire to see how far he could be pushed, and now that he was officially in trouble with him again, he wanted to get as far away from Katsuro as he could. Gladly, the boy scurried back into formation, where he would safely get to crouch in the back of the line.

Tetsuo, on the other hand, only looked more annoyed. He scoffed quietly and with indignation, then shrugged his hands in a small, jerky motion. Katsuro obviously wasn't going to let up now though, so he walked back into formation, albeit not before rolling his eyes, and he clearly was not in a hurry.

He waited as, predictably, just like he said, nothing happened.

When Katsuro finally seemed to accept that there was no more point to waiting around, he stood and launched immediately into one of his lectures. The moment he started barking, the Siamese that had pinned itself to the yard seemed to no longer care about stealth and darted off somewhere around the other side of the wing.

If Haruki had been concerned about his sensei's fury before, all of his fears had now been confirmed, and worse. He hadn't meant to undermine Katsuro's authority. He had thought that they were just trying to check out what the weird sound was, and once they knew it had just been a cat, that it would be fine to move about just like they had been free to do before. He felt a little bad for his perceived disobedience, but more than that, it was another embarrassing instance of him missing out on something everyone else seemed to already understand. With no shortage of remorse, he nodded quietly in understanding. He would make sure that he would wait until he had clear instructions next time. He didn't want to spend any more of their mission in hot water with Katsuro than he already had been thus far.

As Katsuro railed on them, Tetsuo's lips pursed, but he said nothing. The more Katsuro talked about how he wouldn't have to take shit from him anymore when he became of rank, the more he wanted it. He imagined, in that moment, it would be very nice to be able to get Katsuro to shut up.

To begin with, he had not played any part in exposing them, he felt. The instant Haruki jumped in line to beg for something as stupid as petting a feral animal, their cover had been blown. If anything, Tetsuo had been going along with Katsuro's excessive caution by still keeping low and talking quietly even though there was nothing to be concerned about to begin with. Katsuro was too dense to see that, though, because he was all too eager to get his least favorite student back in trouble.

That was the part that angered Tetsuo more than anything about this. After several hours of not getting a stern word from Katsuro, and honestly a relatively peaceful last week or two of training one on one with him, now he was in trouble again just because Katsuro didn't want to admit that he had been wrong about there being any danger, or because he was trying to forcibly impose some sort of stupid lesson of obedience in a situation it wasn't even applicable to.

Their employer had no need to concern herself with him being ill-behaved. His family needed the money, after all, and with the exception of Sando, who was a special kind of unsavory character, he never had an issue with sucking it up around people who were going to pay him. In fact, Tetsuo decided as the group approached the mansion doors, he would be very well-behaved once they were inside.

The kaleidoscope of butterflies almost shimmered as they closed in, opening and shutting their wings in anticipation. Just as Katsuro stepped up onto the veranda, every one of them flapped open their wings to unveil their bright blue patterns atop, before their flock scattered around the team.

Katsuro knocked on the door to no immediate response. Seconds passed, the butterflies flying lazy loops behind them before all of them settled on another door on the left wing. Before too long, they heard movement on the other side of the doors and the mansion opened up to them.

They were greeted by a young woman in a frilly black maid's outfit, adorned with a matching headpiece on top. She blinked almost cartoonish, doe-like eyes at them before her gaze landed on their shinobi headbands and a look of realization came upon her. "Oh, you must be the shinobi Madame Yoshida hired. Let me go fetch her real quick." Either due to neglectfulness or forgetfulness, she neither invited them in nor closed the doors behind her as she turned around and hurried off. Tetsuo eyed the back of the woman as she pinched up the frill of her skirt, which was far too short to require this extra step for her to move around, and several times she landed her steps awkwardly in heels she did not seem used to wearing.

Unlike what they had seen outside of the mansion, the interior appeared meticulously maintained, just as one would expect from a family of the Yoshida's stature. The wooden floors were polished with a waxy sheen, and sections of it were covered in gaudy rugs that individually cost more than probably everything the squad had on their person combined. The entrance foyer led into three hallways decorated with all of the entry tables and expensive paintings required to keep them from either looking too bare or too low of socioeconomic status. Resting on these tables and storage units, which likely did not actually have anything inside of them, were delicately crafted statues, various ceramic and brass vases inappropriately constructed for the exotic plants they held, and other miscellaneous items.

After waiting a couple of minutes, the maid returned from down the center hall with another woman, taller only by what seemed to be even higher heels than what the maid had strapped on.

"Shinobi, this is Madame Yoshida," the maid introduced with a slight bow and arm gesture to indicate their employer.

In response, the woman waved her hand in a casual manner and smiled easily at them. "There's no need for such formalities. You may call me Jun. Please, come in." She ushered the shinobi into the entrance foyer, and the maid rounded the group to finally close the door behind them.

Haruki's eyes had flown wide, and his hand came up to cover his mouth. He couldn't tell for sure if the heat he felt when he touched his cheeks were just his imagination, but he knew he was blushing. Hard. Impossibly, this woman seemed just as beautiful as Matsuda, if not more.

Jun Yoshida, as she stood before them, had gray ombre hair that fell straight past her shoulders with two high pigtails overlaying them. Her face was framed with straight bangs, and her eyelashes were heavy with makeup, dusted with pink eyeshadow on top and winged eyeliner cutting through the corner of her eyes. She had a slim frame and smooth complexion that somehow simultaneously suggested both youth and age. She wore a long skirt with a side slit, showing one leg more than the other as her posture relaxed more to one side. All of them could clearly see her flat navel, as the shawl that draped her arms covered much more than her top actually did. The top in question was a pink, silk, strappy piece. It seemed much more a piece of lingerie than anything that was designed to be worn uncovered, because the strips of fabric were strapped in such a manner that every one of them could see the peaks of her buoyant pair of two...

"Melons?" she offered, holding out a glass tupperware filled with the cubed fruit.

Haruki swallowed his spit and nodded, throwing a cautious glance to Katsuro for permission before reaching in and taking one of the melon cubes.

Some were missing off the top, as if she had been eating out of it just before she came to greet them at the door. She had pressed-on long, acrylic red nails, and the tip of her thumbnail just barely touched the surface of one of the fruit. Even if he hadn't been still full from his breakfast, Tetsuo doubted he would have taken one of them. He nevertheless shook his head, politely, in rejection.

Tetsuo was surprised by their employer's appearance, but it elicited a vastly different reaction from him than Haruki's own. The woman looked like a whore. There was no other way he could have thought to put it, and there were hints of unnatural alterations done to her body. There wasn't a single stretch mark or bump of cellulite on her stomach or exposed thigh, and it was a little too soon for him to conclude, but her lips seemed a little fuller than what they should have been.

As she held the tupperware out, he noticed beneath her shawl's sleeve what looked like the beginning of an arm brace.

Curiously, he looked over at the rest of his team to gauge their reactions.

After a moment as everyone accepted or denied her offer, she blinked curiously at Mizu, then the rest of the group, frowning. "Did they only send one poncho over? Or did they not get the right sizes?"

 

[Gilzar]

By the time Katsuro was pounding on the mansion doors, Mizu had already painted a picture in her mind on what to expect. Judging from the disarray of the mansion's exterior, the inside likely wasn't much better. She imagined the interior would look similar to the crappy tenement her mother lived in: Rundown hallways littered with water stains and discolored paint. There would likely be hints of the buildings former glory scattered throughout its halls, like old photos or dusty statues. The current occupants probably wouldn't be much better. Just worn-out old rich people unable to escape the shadow of their former selves, unable to let go of the past. They probably didn't even have money anymore.

Once the doors opened however, Mizu was so stunned by what she saw that she had to take a step back. Inside, the mansion was so rich and pristine that she completely missed just how strange the maid's outfit was. It wasn't until the maid began to walk away that Mizu noticed her outfit was different than the worker's clothes she'd grown accustomed to at Takara manor. Instead of just simple drab clothes, the woman wore a stereotypical frilly black maid outfit. Mizu had seen similar outfits, but they were always in cartoons or those weird magazines. Never did she actually think real maids wore those. Come to think of it, even the woman's facial expressions matched those of a cartoon character.

The hallways Mizu walked through were just as nice, if not more extravagant than Takara manor before Genzo burned it down. This place was different though. It seemed like it had more history to it than Sando's mansion. Perhaps it was just because of the exterior, but it felt like this building had been around long before anyone currently walking its halls was born. As warm and enthralling as the sights of the mansion were, in the back of Mizu's head it was a cold reminder she had to work for a living. There would never be a day she lived in a place like this. Not in this life, anyway.

Mizu wouldn't have long to stew over her poverty though, because the Yoshida's had one last surprise to reveal. The moment Jun Yoshida came into sight past the bowing maid, she let out a gasp. Immediately the genin veiled her hand over her mouth to poorly hide her shock, not knowing that Haruki had done the same exact thing. She was gorgeous. Nothing like the old hag Mizu had originally pictured stewing over the past. Her hair was shaded in a vibrant hue of grey, a beautiful hair pattern Mizu had never seen before. It wonderfully complimented the tastefully pink eyeshadow, which seemed to have been perfectly applied. Even the outfit was clearly of high quality and complemented her young, slender appearance, although Mizu didn't notice just how revealing the outfit was until looking it over a few more times.

Once the initial shock had passed, Mizu curiously looked over to gauge her teammates reactions at being offered the melon slices. Immediately she spotted Haruki's red face practically drooling at the sight of Jun. Her eyes narrowed instinctively out of annoyance. Really? It was completely obvious he was enamored by the sight of Jun, was he even trying to hide it?

"I'm good, thank you though." Mizu replied professionally with a bow.

Katsuro meanwhile maintained his usual neutral, albeit somewhat annoyed expression. The woman's surprising beauty was pleasant to look at, no doubt. But it wasn't her looks that captured Katsuro's attention; it was her name. Jun Yoshida, this was the woman Kaito mentioned in their briefing. According to the temporary Hokage, Jun was the family member responsible for communicating with the village...which meant she was the sister-in-law of the mother that just passed away. A puzzled expression hid behind Katsuro's glasses. He had thought Jun would have been almost 20 years older.

Like Mizu and Tetsuo, Katsuro politely declined with a simple shake of his head. He looked over for a brief moment to see who would take the snack. Only Haruki accepted Jun's offer. He couldn't help but roll his eyes at the sight of Haruki's blushing face staring at their employer. Poor kid couldn't even hide it. Apart of Katsuro couldn't help but wonder if Jun was toying with them.

"Everything fits fine." Katsuro replied. "Once the rain intensifies the rest of us will wear them."

As he answered, he couldn't help but notice the same thing Haruki did: The woman had something like a brace on her arm, just beneath her sleeve. Behind the black of his sunglasses, he discreetly tried to get another look at what it could be.

"The leaf extends its condolences for the recent passing of Mrs. Yoshida, by the way."

 

[Pine]

Tetsuo, similar to Katsuro and Mizu, was unimpressed by Haruki's reaction. The idiot was just standing there, unable to speak and unable to take his eyes off of their employer. Haruki got on his nerves on the best of days, but now he had to worry about whether the pervert would be able to pay attention to anything that Jun was saying. There was no way that she didn't notice that she had reduced the pubescent boy to putty, but at least she didn't seem bothered by it.

Mizu, he hadn't expected anything vastly different from her usual bland way of handling any given situation.

With Katsuro, Tetsuo couldn't tell if he was relieved or disappointed that the man seemed indifferent to Jun's skimpy appearance. His face was stoic as ever, and perhaps even passively annoyed, like it always seemed to be at a minimum. On the one hand, whatever small modicum of respect he had managed to garner for Katsuro, whether he recognized it as that or not, would have been likely lost forever to him. On the other hand, he was still frustrated by the unwarranted lecture outside, and it would've been nice to find something that turned Katsuro into a blundering idiot.

He turned his attention back to the conversation at hand.

Whatever Jun had on her arm was difficult to identify from appearance alone, even upon second glance. Her arm was twisted as she held out the tupperware. Through the cover of the oblong shawl, only a smooth, black and gray elastic material was visible. Notably, however, the shawl did not rest evenly upon the other side of it. While not a huge bulge, the sleeve did seem to fall over a harder, solidly shaped surface. Katsuro would be able to catch only a glimpse of it as she unwound her forearm to rest back at her side — the underside of the brace-like garment had a black, hard plastic hexagon, with the side nearest her wrist leaving a narrow opening, as though something could be dispensed or extracted from it.

For the time being, whatever was on Jun's arm was no longer visible to them.

In response to Katsuro's condolences, Jun let out a small sigh and brushed an errant lock of hair from off of her shoulder. "It's a tragedy, isn't it? Madwoman runs off into the forest, hunted by some demons only she can see, and that's how she dies. Afraid, and completely alone. We never even found her body." Her tone sounded more tired than mournful as she spoke.

This short story was enough to take Haruki out of his reverie. He had expected the typical boring exchange that adults did with one another when they were talking about something sad, but Jun alluded to something much more frightening than he had anticipated would come from this conversation. It was also difficult for him to understand anything of what she actually meant, and he wasn't sure how to formulate his questions even if he was feeling brave enough to ask them.

After a brief pause, Jun began speaking again anyway. "Well, that was a few months back. We're trying to move on."

She looked at Katsuro, pausing again with a contemplative, slightly confused expression, seeming to think briefly over what she was going to say. "Do let us know if we need to dim the lights in here a bit. It'd be no trouble at all."

With that, she turned around and began to head back down the center hall, giving a small wave for them to follow. "You can leave your shoes there. Chizuru there will put them in a safe place until you're ready to depart," she said, presumably referring to the maid who was still standing by them, her hands clasped politely in front of her skirt. "Please, fill me in on what they told you about request. That way I know what gaps we still need to fill."

 

[Gilzar]

The horrific details of Lady Yoshida's demise rang through Mizu's head, stirring up an uneasy feeling within her. What a terrible way to go. Their briefing hadn't at all mentioned the horrific manner with which Jun's sister-in-law passed away. All alone in the dark forest, losing her mind. And to think they hadn't even found the body yet...it was enough to make her completely oblivious to the lack of sorrow in Jun's voice. Her imagination got the better of her until Jun signaled for them to take their shoes off.

Mizu frowned. Her shoes were filthy. Even before the muck of the dirt roads, the last three weeks of training had taken its toll on her footwear. The dark blue sandals were covered in various scrapes and stains. Gazing back, a small trail of dirt stuck out across once spotless floors. Now feeling guilty, she carefully removed her footwear and placed them near the wall. Hopefully nobody minded the smell. Now barefoot, she hastily moved to catch up with the group.

Behind the black tint of his sunglasses, Katsuro was also reflecting on the details of Lady Yoshida death. Neither Kaito nor the official scroll had mentioned it was a disappearance. To veteran shinobi, the details were more odd than disturbing. A few months was a short amount of time to declare someone dead without having a body. Most nations wouldn't declare someone dead so quickly. He couldn't help but wonder why she wasn't found? Such a powerful figure surely would have had a large search and rescue operation after them.

Before he could think any further, Jun gave him an odd look and commented on his glasses. Picking up on what he thought may have been a hint, Katsuro begrudgingly reached up and removed his sunglasses. He didn't particularly like removing his removing his sunglasses. They were a strange comfort to him. Without them, he felt exposed. But he knew how finicky the upper class could be. It was easier to just remove them than risk a potential misunderstanding. Now exposed, his light green eyes scanned around the room as they adjusted to the light levels within the manor.

He removed his shoes as requested, carelessly kicking them off to the side as he followed Jun.

"Our briefing said that we are to retrieve Hanging Monk flowers from the Pygmy Rainforest." Katsuro replied.

 

[Pine]

The woman in the silly maid outfit nodded and smiled as each of the genin gently slid their shinobi sandals off from their feet, Haruki neatly lining his next to Tetsuo's. When Katsuro unceremoniously kicked his off against the wall, however, the smile she had became tight-lipped and strained. She stared at him for a moment, but then stooped down to pick them up along with the others and ferry them off to someplace down another hall.

The two boys followed after Katsuro and Jun, Tetsuo briefly looking over his shoulder at the sound of Mizu's hurried footsteps behind them.

Jun was silent for a bit as they walked, as though expecting Katsuro to say more. She began fidgeting with her nails on her free hand, rubbing her fingertips together and letting the nails click against each other. When it became obvious that he wasn't going to say anything more, she turned to look at him with a slight, curious tilt to her head. "Is that all?"

 

[Gilzar]

A quizzical look overcame Katsuro's face as Jun questioned if that was all. Immediately he thought back to any details he may have potentially missed from the scroll he read from this morning, as well as his conversation with Kaito. All he could think of was that it was briefly mentioned that they might have to assist with some of the preparations for the birthday party, but that was all. Seemed like such a little detail to get fidgety about to Katsuro.

"The only other thing that was mentioned was that we may have to assist with some preparations for a birthday party." Katsuro let out an awkward pause. "Was there something else you were expecting us to do?"

 

[Pine]

Jun was quiet for a moment, her eyes still on Katsuro. Then, she clicked her tongue against the roof of her mouth, and her lips slid into a small smile that hovered somewhere between uncertainty and amusement. "Not exactly." She said this slowly, carefully, as if she was thinking about what to say next. After a moment she added, "In fact, I did not request any assistance from shinobi for the other birthday preparations. Although, if for some reason it did come to that, the help would be appreciated."

Tetsuo was confused by this, but only for a moment. He was the only other person to have looked at the scroll, alongside Katsuro, and he distinctly remembered the open call for assisting with the party as one of their objectives. Seeing Jun's confusion at this, he guessed that someone else must have been responsible for actually writing the request, or it had otherwise been adjusted somewhere in the submission process. He didn't know how it worked. It was a small relief to hear, though, that she didn't actually seem to expect them to take on the role of party planners. All they had to do was find these stupid flowers, then leave.

"I'll go ahead and give you the full rundown then," Jun said, turning her head to look back down the hall. "We'll go to my study. You can meet my husband there, and who knows? Maybe we'll even see Hanahime on the way." She looked over her shoulder for a brief moment to smile down at the genin trailing behind them.

Haruki gave a half-hearted smile back. If he had gotten over the tragic tale of the mother's death, now he had to reconcile with the revelation that Jun was actually married. For some reason, as pretty and young as Jun looked, he had assumed she would be unwed, not even dating anyone. That was how it usually was in movies. He felt a little silly thinking about it now, because of course any man would jump on the opportunity to marry someone like her. Even more embarrassingly, he had forgotten, somehow, that his sister had been engaged since she was barely eighteen. He didn't think about it too much, especially with how infrequently he seemed to see her now, but even his earliest memories of her had been with her fiancé close by. Hopefully, Jun didn't notice the disappointment he felt looking back at her.

Jun began to recapitulate the mission in her own words. "Hanging Monks are very special, and very rare. They're only known to grow in Hermit's Vow, which is a talus cave off of one of our country's northernmost mountains. If you weren't already aware, talus caves aren't like other caves that are made from erosion or volcanic activity. These are from when part of a valley collapses, and the boulders are just big enough to call it a cave." She flashed a small smile Katsuro's way following her little tongue-in-cheek joke, then looked back down the hallway as she continued. "I don't imagine a place like that will be easy to navigate, even for shinobi. Our field research never even takes us that far. Hence, why I've hired you all."

They reached the end of the hall. Jun twisted an antique looking handle and opened the door to what looked like a grand, spacious ballroom. The floor was almost completely bare. A lone grand piano was tucked away on a raised platform off on one side. Tables and chairs were pushed up against the room's circumference every which way. They were arranged haphazardly compared to how the rest of the mansion had looked up until that point, presumably in preparation for setting up the room for the party. The only other thing to be seen on the ground floor was another maid wearing the same frilly outfit as the last woman they had seen. This one stopped her mopping once the doors opened, and she watched the group, Jun at its helm, with attention and a polite smile.

Winding stairs connected up to a second, then third floor, which were visible to them through their waist-high railing. Here above, there was a little more activity. A maid here and there, dusting something or carrying another thing. Jun indicated up to the third floor. "If you end up needing to rest upon your return, our guest bedrooms are up there. We're expecting more company will be joining us over the coming days, but I made sure to reserve a bedroom for each of you. Each will have their own private shower, and there's a phone you can use to call for room assistance whenever you may need it." She looked at Katsuro, giving the same easy smile she did as when she first introduced herself. "Really, if any of you need anything, we're happy to provide it, so don't hesitate to ask."

As they continued walking across the length of the ballroom, the decadent chandeliers hanging all along the second layer's subfloor caught the lights of the room, winking at them and glinting off the varnished ballroom floor. Jun waited until they were able to get a better look at the second floor before speaking again. "And there's the girl of the hour. Say hi, Hanahime!" she said with a wave.

The second floor of the ballroom looked much more like a library than anything. Bookshelves carved paths in what appeared at a glance to be almost maze-like patterns. Each of them were stuffed end to end with hardcovers. In between some of the bookshelves were round tables, all of which were unoccupied save for one, stationed nearby the railing. There, a girl and a woman sat together, the girl staring at a book, and the woman staring at the girl.

The woman by the girl's side was in sharp contrast to Jun and all of her maids that they had seen thus far. She wore no makeup, no jewelry. From what any of them could see, she was dressed conservatively in plain, grayscale tones. Layers of white linen wrapped around her head, so that no more than her face and the beginning of her hairline was visible to them. The woman looked in Jun's direction, then turned to say something to the girl seated next to her that none of them could hear.

The girl at the table could have been none other than Hanahime Yoshida, the girl whose thirteenth birthday was coming up, and for which was the entire reason for their mission. She was thin, with knobby elbows, medium brown skin and a heart-shaped face. Her hair was black and thick, giving volume even with her long hair pulled back in a french braid that reached all the way to the small of her back. It was hard to tell at first, given the distance between them, but Tetsuo noticed her hair was not as smooth as Jun's, in a way that hair texture alone did not account for. Broken strands and dead ends gave her a subtle, almost frizzy look to her.

Even after Jun called to her and the woman spoke to her, Hanahime did not seem to react. The girl stared down at the book laid open before her with a gaze that seemed strangely unfocused. Her entire demeanor seemed melancholy, her head hanging down over the book and her arms tucked close by her side, not resting on the table. The woman whispered another thing to her, but still she did not move.

Jun did not seem at all surprised by this, as she just kept walking with the same laid-back smile. She reached the other end of the ballroom and rapped her knuckles against the door, waiting a moment before entering.

Just as Jun had retreated out of view from the second floor platform, Hanahime's head turned slowly, gaze lazily roaming across the ballroom, as though she was still spaced out. Tetsuo and Haruki had both already given up on any kind of reaction coming from her, lowering their heads and looking ahead to the study they were about to enter. Both of them missed the moment where Hanahime's eyes fell on Mizu, and suddenly, her focus sharpened. Her eyes widened, at first barely perceptible from beneath her heavy lids, then more the longer she locked her gaze onto Mizu. The previously spaced out, apathetic Hanahime was looking at her with the unmistakable lucidity of one singular emotion: pure, abject fear.

- - - - -

The study was infinitely smaller in scale than the ballroom their squad just came from. There was a single office desk setup in the center of the room, and short bookshelves crammed against the walls, stuffed with folders and files spilling over with papers. There was a glass cabinet in the back of the study. On each of its shelves were various scientific rewards, all backlit in the form of trophies, certificates and medals. They clustered together with a label for which year they were awarded between each grouping. There were several empty spaces along the bottom shelf, set aside to give room for awards from years to come. Notably, however, there were none to be seen above their current year.

It would've been a cramped room for just the five of them, but the room had one other occupant. Sitting behind the desk, bespectacled and scrawling over one of several scattered sheets of paper, was the man who must've been Jun's aforementioned husband. Jun rounded the table to be on the other side of him and set her hand on his shoulder. He was silent for just a moment, jotting something down with haste before he looked up. When he did and his eyes met Katsuro's, he gave an almost relieved smile. He removed his glasses from his face, folding them and setting them down on the desk. "Pardon my manners, I was just finishing a little something up here."

Ballpoint pen still in hand, he lowered his arms below the desk and pulled them back. The genin could now plainly see the wheelchair he had been seated in. With some practiced maneuvering, the man pulled out from his desk at an arcing angle, then pushed himself forward so as to be seated just to the right of the desk. "I'm Retsushi Yoshida." He leaned forward and stretched his hand out to shake with each other them.

Retsushi Yoshida was a man that appeared to be somewhere near his mid-forties, and he bore a resemblance much closer to his niece, Hanahime, than Jun did. Retsushi had the same shade of medium brown skin and the same black hair, albeit his hair had thinned significantly, with much of his hairline having receded and the back of his scalp visible through the spaces of his hair. He was dressed sharply in a navy suit, with a dark yellow handkerchief stuffed into his breast pocket that matched his tie.

"I don't believe we were ever given your names," he said inquisitively, looking between Jun and their company of shinobi.

Jun's eyes widened a bit, presumably with the realization that she had never asked, then looked at them frowning.

 

[Gilzar]

Some may have found Jun's pleasantries and little tour of the house entertaining, but not Katsuro. They were being fucked with; he knew it. All he had heard about this family was how they liked to make leaf shinobi do stupid, tedious things. Clearly this was no different. He had a hard time believing the miscommunication about their objectives was unintentional. Jun was in charge of the family's communications with the village after all. This was all one big charade with the goal clearly being to waste as much of their time as possible. As much as he wanted to call out his thoughts to Jun however, he couldn't. Kaito would be furious. For now, he just had to stand there and deal with this family's bullshit.

In order to avoid Jun noticing Katsuro's growing annoyance, he decided to take a step back just behind his genin and follow from the back of the group. From behind the group he keened in on their hostess' words as she described where to find monk flowers, the task they were actually familiar with. From Jun's description, it seemed that finding these plants were going to be harder than he had originally anticipated. Finding these flowers depended entirely upon locating the cave. In order to do that, they'd have to brave the harsh conditions of the rainforest and navigate a mountain. Katsuro would be a fool to underestimate just how difficult this would be.

Mizu also understood the difficulties their task presented. Navigating the thick woods of the Land of Birds of tricky enough. Now they'd be navigating rougher terrain under wet conditions. Then they'd have to find the cave itself. Hopefully there would be some kind of path they could follow. Otherwise, finding such a small landmark essentially locating a needle in a haystack.

Daunting as the task may have been, its intimidation didn't last long. The sheer extravagance of the mansion Jun was leading them through made her completely forget about the task at hand. First their little tour led them through a spectacular ballroom that was as grand as it was spacious. To Mizu this didn't seem like a place for a birthday party, it looked like a place for a royal banquet fit for a daimyo. In her head she romanticized what spectacular evenings had been spent in this room. Beyond the ballroom, the library on the next floor would also capture Mizu's marvel. An entire maze of bookshelves, filled to the brim with volumes of literature. Plus, their own private rooms and showers. This was the type of building Mizu dreamed about.

Before Mizu could daydream anymore, Jun introduced themto the birthday girl herself: Hanahime, studying with what Mizu could only assume was a tutor. The girl's appearance was a surprise for Mizu. She seemed...normal. Mizu was imagining some spoiled brat who dressed lavishly like Taro. But nothing about Hanahime came off that way. To Mizu she just looked like a bored student studying.

Jun enthusiastically tried to get Hanahime's attention, but to no avail. There was a strange dead look in the girl's eyes, completely unfocused on the world around her. She seemed to pay no attention to them as Jun lead the group across the room. That was until Mizu entered her sight. Out of the corner of her vision Mizu could see the girl's eyes lock onto her. Knowing she had Hanahime's attention, Mizu gave a friendly smile and a wave to the girl. What she received in return was a reaction Mizu was sadly all too familiar with: Fear. Hanahime's once impassive gaze was now looked upon Mizu with an unmistakable terror.

Mizu froze, trapped by Hanahime's gaze. Mouth slightly agape, a sting raced through her stomach, followed by a feeling of emptiness in its absence. Unable to control her limbs, her hand slowly dropped to her side. Her gaze lowered to the ground, and she anxiously bit her lip. She was a monster. The world never let her forget it, especially today. First Taro, then the strangers on the train, and now Hanahime. It was starting to become too much for one day.

Looks like this were all too common in the leaf. It was to the point that she thought she'd grown used to it. Yet there was something about this girl's gaze that cut into her like daggers. They were complete strangers, yet Mizu horrified her. In her head, she debated about saying something to ease the girl's fear. But before she could, she was interrupted.

A firm, yet gentle hand gripped her shoulder. "Come on kid. Let's go." Katsuro said quietly, nudging Mizu forward as he walked beside her.

Her attention was immediately brought back to the group. Jun and everyone else were moving on without them. Hastily she began marching forward as quickly as quickly as she could, head shamefully looking down at the floor. Mizu paid little attention to the rest of the walk. All that stuck out to her was that Katsuro remained at her side until she had finally regained her senses in the study.

Now they were finally in the study, and Jun's husband was in front of them. He introduced himself as Retushi Yoshida, and he bore a striking resemblance to Hanahime. Much to the surprise of both Katsuro and Mizu, he was bound to a wheelchair. No wonder neither of them could get to the cave, Katsuro thought to himself. Rainforests weren't known to be wheelchair accessible. In spite of his disability, he was still dapperly dressed. Now that they were all together, it was time for introductions.

"I'm Katsuro Katashi. I'll let my students introduce themselves." Katsuro said.

Having just pieced herself together, Mizu quickly bowed and stood in attention. "Mizu Kimura!"

 

[Pine]

Haruki had been anxious for a chance to speak since the moment he laid eyes on Jun. It was a little disappointing he had been asked by her husband, not her, to give his name, but he could bear it. There was still a way to throw flattery her way, even if he was not speaking directly to her. Haruki grabbed hold of Retsushi's hand and stooped his back into a low bow. "Haruki Okabe, sir," he said, trying his best to emulate a militant brevity in his cadence. When he straightened his back, he looked first at Retsushi, then at Jun, where his eyes really wanted to be. "It's a lovely home you have."

"Thank you, young man," Retsushi responded, sounding earnest in his gratitude.

Tetsuo narrowed his eyes in Haruki's direction. Haruki never talked like that, and he didn't remember him paying the same flattery Sando's way when they had been staying at the Takara's residence. Kissass. He scoffed under his breath and rolled his eyes back to their employers.

Much like Katsuro, Tetsuo was not going to bother with any grand gestures to introduce himself. "Tetsuo Ayane," he said plainly, then reached to take the man's hand and shake it. With that simply contact, him leaning forward, Retsushi extending his arm out towards him, Tetsuo caught a whiff of the man's powerful scent he had been just far enough to miss before. It was a musky blend of tuberose, leather, and notes of other fragrances that were far too expensive for him to identify. This cologne was heavily applied so as to cover up the heady sour of alcohol beneath. In that brief moment, Retsushi's gaze locked on him, his warm brown eyes focusing on Tetsuo with an intensity that he had not used with anyone else. It was a look he did not like, like Retsushi knew something about him that he didn't even know about himself.

Startled, Tetsuo nearly jerked his hand away. He furrowed his brow and gave Retsushi a once-over, looking at him strangely. But before he could linger on what had just happened any longer, Jun began to address the group again, and Retsushi was looking away.

She rubbed her forehead with her free hand and smiled sheepishly. "It completely slipped my mind to ask for your names. My apologies. This is really embarrassing."

Haruki shook his head emphatically, silently pleading for her to not feel bad on their behalf.

Jun finally stretched her arm out to set the tupperware of mangoes down on a nearby bookshelf, pushing aside a glass case displaying a wooden cigarette holder to make room for it. "I was just filling them in on the mission details, dear," she explained.

Retsushi nodded in admittance, twirling the pen he still had between his fingers with surprising dexterity.

She turned her back to crouch down before a filing cabinet and slide it open. She sifted through the files with expert fingers, and after a moment, withdrew a crisp, yellowing piece of parchment, tucked away safely inside a plastic sleeve. She closed the cabinet drawer and stood. She kept her head down as she took her time rounding the table, pinching the corners of the sleeve to open it up, then reached into it. By the time she stood before the desk, she had delicately plucked something out from the sleeve. "This," she said, sliding back to seat herself on the desk, crossing her legs and leaning back with her parchment-holding hand as she held the object adjacent to her cheek, "is a Hanging Lady."

Jun looked to the pressed flower she held up, cupping it between her pinched fingers and spinning it slowly. "It's near identical to the Hanging Monk flower, and they're very common in the Pygmy Rainforest. In fact, you very well may have seen a few of them on the way here."

Haruki had, in fact, seen several of those on their way to the mansion. He didn't think too much about them at the time, given how there had been so much to ogle at in the encroaching forest as it was, but it was a flower that stuck out in its own right. He had seen them hanging in clusters from vines that wound around tree branches. The flower itself fit into the size of his palm. It had white petals with wild, crimson filaments that frayed off from the flower's center. It was harder to tell with the flattened version that Jun held, but Haruki remember, almost as strange to him as the tentacle-like filaments that sprouted from them, was the prominent bulb that stuck out from the center. While the rest of the flower was mostly flat, save for the petals that curled inwards towards their end, the strange bulb nearly added an inch to its length.

"There are two key differences between the Hanging Monk and the Hanging Lady. The first," she said, turning the flower so as to show the squad its backside, "is that the Hanging Lady has an epicalyx." Jun pinched between her fingers one part of a small, secondary, leafy layer at the very end of the flower's backside. "Whereas the Hanging Monk,"—she then pressed the secondary leafy layer down so as to completely conceal it from view—"only has a calyx." She straightened herself to sit upright so that she could drag her nail along the primary green layer that actually cupped the petals of the flower. "They both grow on hanging vines, so this will be your visual indicator that you've found the right one. That and, of course, locating it within Hermit's Vow."

Retsushi had been watching Jun's demonstration with a half-attentive, almost bored expression, as though he knew all of this already, but was pretending to listen for the sake of proper etiquette. The pen that had up until that point been expertly dancing between his fingers suddenly shot across the room, having slipped out from between his fingers and hurtled its way into the opposite corner of the room nearest to Katsuro. Retsushi frowned, staring at where the pen went but said nothing.

Jun looked with mild surprise at the sudden distraction when the pen clicked against the wall. She paused for a brief moment, but then seemed to decide to continue with what she had to say. "It is very important that you check to verify that these are Hanging Monk flowers and not Hanging Ladies, because the other difference between them is that the Hanging Lady is extremely toxic."

Retsushi finally leaned forward and, looking in Katsuro's direction, then pointing where the pen was, said, "Excuse me, young man. Would you mind getting that for me?"

The pen had, unfortunately, landed in a very annoying spot. After ricocheting off the back wall behind the shinobi, it landed in a narrow space beneath a standing cabinet on their left side, but still just wide enough for a grown man to stick his arm underneath.

Jun puffed a gentle sigh through her nose, but remained silent as she waited for the pen issue to be resolved.

 

[Gilzar]

At first Jun's botany lesson seemed trivial to Katsuro. It would take a bit of inspection to differentiate between the two flowers, but he wasn't too concerned. That was of course until Jun mentioned that the Hanging Lady flower was extremely toxic. Immediately Katsuro's annoyed expression locked up, subtly shocked by the news. After he properly processed the news, he immediately looked back over the flowers to ensure that he had the differences down. The Hanging Lady Flower had a leaf layer behind its flower, while the Hanging Monk didn't. Wouldn't be too hard to remember.

Mizu wasn't about to risk forgetting the differences between the flowers to memory. She slid her backpack in front of her and promptly pulled out a waterproof notebook and pen from a side pocket. Setting her backpack on the ground, she walked up Jun and jotted the notes down. The Hanging Lady had an epicalyx at the top of the pedicel, right below the calyx. Inversely, Hanging Monk Flowers wouldn't have this extra layer. As an extra precaution, Mizu quickly made a sketch of the Hanging Lady with as much detail as possible. This way they'd have an accurate reference should the need arise.

As Mizu tucked her notebook away, Retushi's pen came soaring by. Her gaze shifted up from her backpack to her Sensei.

There was an awkward silence in the air following Retsushi's request for the pen. Katsuro glared with his usual stoically annoyed face toward the handicapped man. Really? In his mind this was no innocent little action. It was just another way for this spoiled family to toy with him. Every instinct within him told him to simply deny the request. But once again, he remembered the stern voice of Kaito reminding him just how important it was to stay in this family's good graces.

With a sigh, the large jonin laid down flat on the floor and reached through the narrow space beneath the cabinet. The gap was small and awkward for Katsuro to put his arm through. Luckily the pen was just close enough for him to get a hold of. With the pen in hand, Katsuro stood back up and set the pen back on Retsushi's desk.

"How do we get to this cave, and Is there anything else we need to know about the assignment?" Katsuro asked. "I'd like to get my team out into the Rainforest to cover as much ground as we can before nightfall."

 

[Pine]

The unchanged, annoyed glance from Katsuro did not seem to be lost on Retsushi, because the careless twinkle in his eyes seemed to dim. The corners of his lips turned downward, and he looked away while Katsuro laid his body on the floor and reached for the pen. Notably, Katsuro did not hand the pen back to him, and instead set it on his desk. Whether it was truly out of the man's reach or not, Retsushi let out a gentle sigh, barely gave a nod of thanks, leaned back in his chair and folded his hands in his lap, seeming to check out of their meeting.

Jun had noticed Mizu's acute attention to her explanation of the two flowers, and while they waited for Katsuro to get the pen, she had leaned forward and stretched her arm through the two boys in front to offer Mizu to hold and more closely inspect the Hanging Lady she held.

Tetsuo had looked over his shoulder to see what the ruffling and scratching was behind him, only to see Mizu taking elaborate notes on what he thought was an extremely simple thing to learn. He nearly rolled his eyes again, but then he looked over and saw Haruki, and remembered that some people needed reminders more than others. Even with a pen flying in front of his face, the other boy had barely taken his eyes off of Jun. Tetsuo glared at him and reached across the pinch the back of Haruki's arm.

Haruki jerked his arm away and snapped his head at Tetsuo. "Ow!" he whisper-shouted, giving him an offended what-did-you-do-that-for look. One look at Tetsuo's mean stare made him think it was a better idea to keep his arm as far away from the smaller boy, so he kept a hold of his arm and shrugged his shoulder away from him.

Pay attention, Tetsuo wordlessly mouthed to him.

Haruki looked at Jun, then back at him with an indignant look. I am, he mouthed back, annoyed and offended.

Tetsuo shook his head and rolled his eyes away. Yeah, he was paying attention alright. It was useless to try to get Haruki to focus on what he actually needed to pay attention to though.

With the pen retrieved and the conversation being redirected from the distraction to the assignment at hand, Jun leaned back against the table and drummed her nails once against its mahogany surface. "Yes, I think it's a good idea for you to get started sooner rather than later as well. Not that I'm in a rush to be rid of you, but there is supposed to be a bad storm tomorrow night, and I would rather you not get caught in it if it can be helped."

Jun slid off of the table and walked around it to a standing cabinet that was adjacent to the award case. "Most of your journey to Hermit's Vow will be rather easy. The elephants that reside within the forest have carved a path over the centuries that will take you most of the way to the mountain range. It will be a little less clear-cut from that point forward, once you reach the end of the path, but luckily, I have a map." She opened the cabinet and grabbed from a stack of papers wedged between a cabinet wall and some drawers a moderately-sized map, made of a similar parchment as from where she had gotten the pressed Hanging Lady from. She opened one of the drawers and pulled out another plastic sleeve for the map to be slid into, before coming back around and handing the map to Katsuro directly. "It's a little dated, but this should give you a rough idea of where you'll find this cave."

The map was cut off to depict the northern edge of the forest. Its attention was much more focused on the horizontal mountain range that hugged up against the coast. The bottom half of the map did show part of a path leading up to it, presumably the one Jun had been talking to them about before. A little further north off the path and they would reach the second highest mountain, which split off to the west side where a valley cut through it. She tapped her nail to this area, where of the different caves that were marked on the map, was a note for Hermit's Vow.

"I'm afraid I'm not too familiar with all the tricks you shinobi can do, otherwise I'd give a specific suggestion on what to do from there. You seem experienced though, so I'm sure if you keep west and do whatever it is you do, you'll find it eventually. Keep that map with you."

Jun walked back to the desk and leaned against it, folding one arm across her chest and cupping her temple with her free hand. "I know this is a lot of trouble for one little flower, but I hope you all can understand where we're coming from on this. My sister-in-law's death has been hard for everyone, Hanahime most of all. A girl her age should be worrying about what dress she'd like to wear, not how to process the grief of her mother's passing. I'd like this birthday to be special for her. This is the best way I can figure how." Jun looked away, towards the bookshelf she had set the tupperware down on earlier. She walked over and propped open the glass display case, where the cigarette holder was. "She's obsessed with plants. It's damn near the only thing you can get her to talk about, if you want to actually have a normal conversation with her."

She retrieved the holder and grabbed a pack of cigarettes from one of the smaller desk drawers. She bumped the pack with her knuckles and plucked the cigarette that stuck out. After replacing the pack inside the desk and fitting the cigarette into the holder, she bit down on the holder and leaned over in her Retsushi's direction. Although he had seemed idle and inattentive in their conversation, he did seem to notice the cue and respond to it. He fished a lighter from out of one of his jacket pockets and ran his thumb over the gear until it sparked. He held the small flame to the butt until it lit up, then killed the fire and replaced the lighter in his pocket.

Jun took a long drag as she straightened back up, then let the smoke pour from her lips in a sigh. "The Hanging Monk is her favorite flower, and it just so happens to be the biggest pain in the ass to collect. But, if you bake them right, they give your pastries an almost... caramel kind of flavor. Wouldn't you say so, dear?"

She looked over to Retsushi, who gave a non-committal nod.

Tetsuo scrunched his nose but said nothing. There was a different stench to the cigarette Jun was smoking than the ones Katsuro constantly burned through, but they were in an enclosed space right now, and it was still a stink nevertheless. He also didn't see the point in going through all the trouble to hire a squad of shinobi, traverse a rainforest all just to get this one special flower. If they were surrounded by an imitation flower and the flavor of the flower wasn't anything special, then they could've just gathered a bunch of Hanging Ladies to show Hanahime, pretended they were Hanging Monks, then make the dessert with the same basic ingredient it was going to taste like anyway. He doubted she would know the difference.

Haruki, meanwhile, had been completely taken by the story of Jun going out of her way to make sure her niece had a great birthday. To him, it was an extremely thoughtful and creative way to use something that clearly meant a lot to Hanahime during a really hard time in her life. Any birthday he'd ever had, his parents and friends seemed to scrap together any celebration at the last minute. The first year after they had moved to Konoha, he was pretty sure they were going to forget his birthday altogether if he himself hadn't brought it up. Jun had obviously put a lot of thought into this. He couldn't remember exactly when or if anyone had said when Hanahime's birthday actually was, but these were preparations being made at least a few days in advance, and she was reaching out for the help of allied nations just to make sure even the smallest details were done perfectly. She was selfless, and she was elegant as she did it all. The cigarette holder gave her an almost regal appearance. Somehow, the tobacco smoke smelled sweeter when it was coming from her.

Privately, Haruki wondered if there was a way for him to stay at the pristine mansion to help with birthday preparations while the rest of his squad followed elephants and trudged through mud for the sake of flower-picking.

"Since I will be busy with preparations and entertaining guests, I might not see you immediately when you get back," she continued, tapping the holder over an antique ashtray sitting on the corner of the desk. "I don't think either of these matters should be of any concern to you, since you should be leaving pretty shortly after resting from your return, but these are things I tell all my staff, so I want you to be aware of them too, just in case."

Jun waved her hand vaguely to her left. "I'm sure you all saw the little hole in our roof when you got here. Until we can get that and the other damages patched, the east wing is unsafe, and I cannot in good conscience permit anyone entry. The doors will be locked anyway, so don't worry about getting lost and accidentally stumbling in there. The other thing you should know..."

She paused, looking down thoughtfully as she took another drag, then blew it out slowly. "As I vaguely mentioned before, Hanahime is not doing well. Ever since she lost her mother, she's been ailed by the same sickness that took her. She's been hearing and seeing things that aren't really there, and she's started having these... fits of paranoid delusions, ranting about morbid things like how someone or something is out to get her, if it isn't just utter nonsense altogether."

This caught Tetsuo's attention. What she was describing reminded him of the man they'd found in that house, the one who had abducted Rei and kept her trapped and starved for days. He remembered how that man had completely lost his mind, shrieking at them about some other girl he mistook Rei for, then babbled about the old couple he'd killed until whatever he was saying had become utterly incoherent. Now that he thought about it, the vacancy he'd seen in Hanahime's eyes reminded him of the same out-of-touch look he'd seen in that man's wide, shaking eyes. Tetsuo's expression darkened a little thinking about this, and an unpleasant feeling he couldn't quite identify settled in his gut.

Jun continued. "She's a danger to herself, and she's already tried to run off once. She's a flight risk. For that reason, I have someone in attendance with her at all times. So if she somehow gets the slip on someone and you see her without an adult nearby or in a place she oughtn't be, please let one of our staff know immediately. There's no reason that you should have to deal with her, and like I mentioned before, room assistance is just a call away."

She paused for a moment to let everything she said sink in, then asked, "Any questions for me?"

As she waited for someone to speak, she took another deep, long drag from her cigarette.