Fandom Squad Shithead: A Naruto AU

[Pine]

Haruki flushed in embarrassment. This was the second time he'd asked Katsuro something and gotten berated for it. It was day two and his sensei already thought he was an idiot.

He had only asked for a refresher, and he was being treated unfairly for it, he convinced himself. He'd panicked for a moment and forgotten. Haruki stopped where he was walking and tried to pay careful attention to Katsuro's demonstration, which seemed to be just the very basics, but he kept trying to think of reasons why he deserved being a genin and having a place in the squad.

The teachers at the academy had been much kinder than Katsuro, which he thought was more professional. They seemed mindful of how he didn't come from a shinobi family, and in fact had not picked up a shuriken until he enrolled at ten. They had praised him for how quickly he picked up on learning things like the clone jutsu, though now that he was thinking about it, he did remember getting chastised a lot for talking in class during lectures, and maybe not paying too much attention to other things...

By the end of the demonstration, Haruki realized with some despair that he'd only retained about half of that. He weeped internally, knowing there was absolutely no way he could ask Katsuro to repeat any of that.

Tetsuo looked like he had been paying attention and actually was following the conversation when he answered Katsuro's question. "We were starting to learn to stand on water when the squads changed." He followed this up with a heavy sigh from his nose. Tetsuo sounded annoyed, but Haruki wasn't sure what he could be annoyed by at that moment.

With alarmed, wide eyes, Haruki realized he'd just seem even more incompetent if he admitted he didn't know anything about that kind of chakra control.

"Oh, same," he lied, bobbing his head to nod back at Tetsuo. "I mean, not the squad thing. We were learning that. In my class, I mean. Walls, ceilings, water, all that."

Tetsuo looked at him with the same squinty eyes as he did yesterday, when he had been trying to tell Matsuda how much danger they had been in yesterday.

 

[Gilzar]

Mizu looked over at Haruki in a concerned, doubtful look. Much like Tetsuo, she had experience with doing this. Hisok had made sure to go over chakra control with her early on their training as to assure that she would never burn herself out early. She wasn't sure that Haruki really would have a background like this. From everything she had seen from Haruki, she had a hard time believing that he'd be that advanced in chakra control. Granted, she'd never really seen him fight, but from his lack of knowledge regarding most shinobi topics it just didn't sit right with her.

"I also have some experience." Mizu replied after Haruki. "My uncle taught me how to walk on walls and ceilings. Though water I haven't learned yet."

"Alright." Katsuro said. Much like Mizu he doubted that Haruki would know how to do it. "Well, walking over land mines is a lot like walking over water, but easier. But you don't really learn how to do it without learning how to walk on water first."

Just then Katsuro could hear the sounds of a small river up ahead, followed by the site of a small wooden bridge. This would be the perfect spot to demonstrate water walking for his students. Though they wouldn't have much time to practice it, they could at least get an idea of how difficult this would be to do. A way to dip their feet in the water, both metaphorically and figuratively.

Katsuro pointed to the river ahead. "I'll show you two who can't do this what water walking looks like up ahead."

After a minute or two of walking, the group reached a river. It was a small river, about 20 feet in width with a small current. The blue waters of it glistened in the sun, as falling leaves peacefully floated down. The atmosphere around the team for a first time seemed relaxing as their sensei lit a cigarette to ease his mind for a minute or two.

Katsuro walked to the shoreline. "Alright. Watch closely and I'll explain this the best I can."

"Actually...." He stopped, and turned back around to face his students. Unfortunately for Haruki, Katsuro still didn't buy into his claim. Now was the time for Haruki to prove him wrong. Stepping aside, he motioned for them to come closer to the water.

"You three would learn a lot better seeing someone else do this. Haruki, demonstrate for us how to do it."

 

[Pine]

Haruki blanched. He had been relieved that Katsuro hadn't questioned his claim and was going to go ahead and teach it to them anyway. But then Katsuro turned it around on him and made him the demonstrator!

Crud, crud! he thought, turning his panicked eyes from looking up at his tormentor and onto the sloshing water lapping at feet. Why did he have to say he knew how to walk on water? He could've knocked himself down a peg, just said he could walk up a tree, but instead he said he could walk on water already! It had just slipped out. Why hadn't he stopped himself? Haruki wanted desperately to cry.

He cleared his throat, then mustered a nervous smile back up at his sensei. "You know, not to question your authority or anything, because you know best, Katsuro-sensei, sir, but- do we really have the time for this? I'm sure our clients are waiting for us..."

Something in Katsuro's eyes told him their clients could afford to wait.

He chuckled, all nerves. "Right..."

Haruki swallowed thickly and pulled his bag over his head, plopping it down onto the ground next to Katsuro. Looking at his feet, he stepped away from his squad and closer to the shoreline in front of them.

He tried to calm himself down. He knew how to do this! He'd seen it done before in movies. Haruki thought about the scene in Strike!: Trouble At The Castle, where Ryouchi Ito had to rescue his lover, Princess Tomomi, from where the evil resurrected samurai had captured her and taken her to an isolated island. The necromancer, knowing Ryouchi would come after her, had stolen the oars to his boat, and he had to learn to walk on water to reach an island. (Though now that he was thinking about it, he had to money to easily buy some new oars.)

Haruki closed his eyes, took in a deep breath, and clapped his hands together into the proper hand seal.

He summoned the chakra in him, feeling the same energy blossom from in his stomach as when he performed the clone or transformation jutsu. It covered him like a blanket being pulled up, spreading warmth up his spine, through his arms, then down to the tips of his toes. In the movie, Ryouchi had thought of love, concentrated in his feet. The chakra had drained down from all other parts of his body, swirling at the balls of his feet.

When Ryouchi had stepped onto the water, the sea had turned to pink, and a shower of cherry blossoms had burst from his heels with every step.

Haruki waited to feel that same love down at the bottom of his feet.

And waited.

And waited.

He started to feel the chakra trickle more into his feet, tickling down his calf. Or maybe his leg was just falling asleep.

From further behind him, Tetsuo huffed in annoyance. "Why are we wasting our time?" he asked Katsuro pointedly. "He obviously lied. We're going to be here for hours at this rate."

Haruki's eyes opened then. He took a step forward onto the sand, feeling his foot humming with energy. He might actually be able to do this!

He pushed down his excitement, and looked out onto the water with an uncharacteristic seriousness. His face was stone cold, with such an unbreakable concentration, he wasn't even thinking about Tetsuo's comment, or the fact that he'd never even tried walking up a tree before.

His next step, and his foot was grazing the water's surface. There was a tension, where the water slipped forward down the stream, but it visibly gave some room for the energy pulsing from his sandal. Haruki's lips curled in a big, crazed smile.

He put his weight onto the water's surface to bring his other foot forward. Immediately, his foot sank in, and with a surprised yelp, Haruki fell face-forward into the water.

Water pushed and filled his mouth and nose. He was all flailing limbs when he jerked himself back to sit upright. He spit a mouthful of water and snorted, then let the rest of the water drain out from his nostrils. His light, feathery orange hair had flattened against his head now. He brushed his bangs out of his eyes and sat slumped forward in the warm water.

When he finally decided to get up and walk back out, he tried not to look at any of his teammates.

Tetsuo just had his arms crossed over his chest, looking at Katsuro expectantly.

 

[Gilzar]

Katsuro remained where he was, still smoking. As Haruki made his way out of the water, he just shook his head at his student. He didn't need to say anything, and as Haruki walked back not looking at anyone Katsuro figured he'd learned his lesson. Though it had taken more time then he would have liked, Katsuro at least knew where his team was with controlling their chakra. Tetsuo was probably the most skilled out of the three, and it showed in his ninjutsu capabilities. Even though it had happened yesterday, Katsuro hadn't forgotten about the ninjutsu Tetsuo cast at his clone. That was above what most genin were capable of. Following Tetsuo in chakra control was Mizu. Although Mizu kept hinting at it whenever she mentioned her uncle, Katsuro was already well aware of Hisoka's training for her. However, as each day passed he wondered just how much above genin knowledge the ANBU had taught her. Last obviously was Haruki. He'd never seen this kid do a jutsu, but from everything he'd observed he was at the tail end of the squad. This would have to be fixed.

"I don't give a damn if any of you think this is wasting time. This could save your life, and it's my job to train you."

Though it didn't look like it when he was tapping the ashes off the end of his cigarette, Katsuro focused his chakra into his feet. He had done this so much in his career as a ninja that it was like clockwork to him, and in less than a second he was good to go. Katsuro proceeded to walk on the water right next to Haruki, making it look easy.

"This isn't as easy as it looks. Even for you two." Katsuro said, pointing at Tetsuo and Mizu. "The focus of chakra you need to step over landmines is nearly identical to walking on water. Tonight, after we're done searching, we are going to practice this."

Standing on the water, continuing to smoke, Katsuro also came up with another revelation. He recalled how rude Tetsuo was to Haruki just a few moments ago. While he was by no means one to criticize rudeness, the lack of respect among the three was growing more apparent by the hour. Tetsuo never had anything good to say to any of them, Mizu hadn't spoken to any of them since she got off the train, and Haruki didn't seem to chatty either. In order to fix this, he had an idea that would also improve Haruki's skill.

"Since Haruki doesn't know squat about this technique in general, Mizu and Tetsuo, you're gonna teach him the basics while I teach you the advanced. Maybe that way you three will start getting along."

After he was done speaking, Katsuro walked to shore and slung on his backback, and once again began the walk to the village. By his guess they had to be about halfway at this point.

 

[Pine]

Haruki watched with envy as Katsuro walked onto the river. He made it seem effortless. He didn't even make a hand seal for it. He looked just the same as if he had been walking up some stairs.

He looked down at his feet again, swiping the rest of his hair back that stuck to his head. Now that he was out of the river, the water made him feel uncomfortably chilled. Haruki balled his yellow shirt and wrung out the water and did the same with the black bands of his headband, but there was nothing he could do for his skin-tight black shorts, the mesh armor under his shirt, or the bandage wrapping the kunai pouch to his leg.

When Katsuro announced Tetsuo and Mizu were going to have to teach him, Tetsuo looked over at Mizu with an annoyed, bitter glance.

Katsuro started walking back up the path, and Haruki picked his bag up from off the ground to follow.

He dragged his feet behind to keep some distance from his squad. He heard his sandals slosh with wetness with every step.

Even with him obviously trying to stay away from everyone, Tetsuo fell back to walk in step with him anyway.

The smaller genin leaned forward meanly, making sure he got the redhead's attention. "Way to go, jackass," he hissed, hoping Katsuro wouldn't hear him. "Because of you, the rest of us are going to be dragged behind. If you didn't know how to do it, then why'd you say you did?"

Haruki didn't meet his eyes, try as Tetsuo might to shove his face in his own. He was beyond embarrassed, and his teammate being angry with him was getting to be too much to handle very quickly. He just shrugged his shoulders and looked at the damp, dark spots his sandals left on the path.

"What do you mean-" Tetsuo shrugged his own shoulders, mocking, angry. He looked back up the path, making sure that Katsuro wasn't getting ready to pounce him. He felt like he was giving one of his lectures to Soto, and the way Haruki was sulking didn't look too far off from how his sister shrunk away when he was mad.

Tetsuo sighed through his nose and shook his head to himself when Haruki didn't answer. He stepped back to give the other boy some space. "Do you even know how to run up a tree yet?"

"Not really," Haruki answered in a quiet voice.

Tetsuo did his best to only quietly groan. "Well, since you and Mizu are buddies anyway, she can show you." Like hell was he going to be stuck with babysitting duty.

Haruki looked at Tetsuo then, because it was the closest he'd come to Tetsuo saying something nice to him. He took this opportunity to ask him something he'd wanted to earlier in the day. "Why did you go back into the Hokage's office earlier? You knew you were going to get in trouble for it."

Tetsuo looked back up the path where a trail of smoke slithered up in the air. Now he was much less confident that Katsuro hadn't just been listening to every word they'd been saying. He looked back at Haruki. "I'll tell you later."

With that, he started walking faster, catching up to his usual pace and leaving Haruki's side.

 

[Gilzar]

Though she was more toward the front, she still could hear everything else that was being said. Mizu just continued to glare back toward Tetsuo and Haruki. He was so quick to criticize and pester everyone else around him, but the moment someone else called him out for a mistake, like running into the hokage's office he just dodges the question? When they were alone later, Mizu would hold him to that and get answers. For now though she had had enough of Tetsuo. Walking at a brisk pace, she continued to try and stay ahead of the other two, not wanting to deal with any more drama.

Meanwhile, Katsuro had heard everything that was being said behind him. He just didn't care. Long ago he'd learn that trouble students will keep arguing and bickering amongst one another no matter how hard he tried ot intervene. All that he could do was facilitate situations where they'd have to learn to respect one another. Between the three of them, Mizu and Haruki didn't worry him. Hell, if it wasn't for Mizu's jinchuriki, she probably wouldn't even be with them right now. Instead it was Tetsuo. The kid had already ruined his chances in one squad, and that was in the safety of the village. If he didn't learn how to play nice or at least respect other people, things could get bad out here.

Katsuro spent the next hour remaining silent. From what he heard, the others were likely doing hte same. anything else that was said as they traveled along the winding path had to have been spoken in a hushed tone, as Katsuro didn't hear it. Eventually, after about two hours of traveling, the four had finally arrived at their destination: Ansu Village. This village was a relatively small one, much much smaller than the village of Konoha. Perhaps to Haruki it would remind him of his old village in the mountains of the Land of Lightning, but to Mizu and likely Tetsuo, such small sights were an oddity. In comparison this village was the size of roughly 4 blocks of Konohagakure, and that was a polite comparison.

The village had a traditional build to it, with a hint of modern touch. Buildings were still made of wood and paper, but appeared to have many modern appliances and commodities in them. It was obvious that the Land of Birds did not have the modern commodities that the Land of Fire had. A small river, likely the very same river they had run into previously, ran right beside the town. Beside them were two large wheels being spun by the current. With the naked eye one could obviously see thick pairs of wires running from the generator buildings and into the power lines. Likely, this was there only source of power out here.

Katsuro pulled out a cigarette and lit it in his typical behavior. As they walked into the village, people began talking loudly and shouting to each other.

"Shinobi have arrived! Sando, the Shinobi from the Hidden Leaf Village have arrived!" one man shouted across the village. People all began attentive to the four outsiders walking to their village. Many stopped what they were doing to get a look at these new outsiders. Afterall, it wasn't everyday that htey saw Land of Fire ninjas in their village. While being stared at was strange, Katsuro kept his normal demeanor while smoking. Calmly, Katsuro raised his hand and signaled for the genin to stop. Mizu stopped, likely as weirded out by the other three.

"Is Sando Tekara around here?" Katsuro asked loudly. For a moment or so there was silence, then a man emerged from the corner nearby. He was completely bald, and looked to be in his early 50's. Slightly overweight and wrinkled, he just a simple tan robe.

"You four must be the Leaf Shinobi Mr. Tekara sent for." He remarked in a soft voice, bowing to the entire team.. "My name is Yoshiyo, I am but a humble servant for Mr. Tekara."

Katsuro blew out a cloud of smoke into the air. "I'm Katsuro Katashi. This is my team. We've been assigned to find Rei Tekara."

"I see. If you'll please follow me then, I will guide you to Tekara manor. We've been expecting you."

Yoshiyo began gestured for them to follow, and Katsuro signalled for his team to do the same. In spite of his age, Yoshiyo seemed to move with ease. His pace was much more relaxed than that of Katsuro's, in spite of the situation at hand. He led the four through the entire village to a small path leading up a hill laid out by finely cut cobblestone.

"Just up this path."

The walk was a good minute or two up a slope with the occasional flight of stairs. On the path, they passed several armed guards patrolling the area. Katsuro looked curiously at them, wondering just what the hell they were doing here.

"Why are there guards here and not down in the village?" He asked.

"Hmmmmm?" Yoshiyo peaked his head back. "Oh. Them. Those are not village guards, they are private security hired by Mr. Tekara himself."

"Why does Mr. Tekara need guards?" Katsuro asked. He had pictured this entire situation playing out differently.

"Just a precaution given recent events. Mr. Tekara will answer all of your questions in due time."

Following that statement the trail ended, and a gate emerged through the foliage. One guard stood in front of it, and shouted for the other side to open upon seeing Yoshiyo. The large gate creeked open, revealing the fine manner to the travel-weary team. Mizu stood there, blankly staring at what was in front of her in almost disbelief. Tekara manner heavily contrasted that of the village below it. While still maintaining a traditional look, the manor looked very modern, complete with outdoor lights, solar panels, and plenty of fountains and statues. Servants ran about the grounds, water flowers, carrying items, etc. Whoever owned this manner had to be ridiculously wealthy to afford this lavish life-style. Truly, Mizu had never set foot in a place like it.

Katsuro, unlike Mizu, wasn't so starstruck by the sight of this place. He'd seen nicer houses in better places. Yoshiyo began to walk through the grounds, and Katsuro once again motioned for them to follow. This time Yoshiyo lead them through the front yard and into the house through the front door. From there he proceeded to take them down several very well decorated hallways before they finally ended up in a courtyard. There, sitting alone in the courtyard was a single individual. Around him was a gorgeous garden, complete with a small pond and several large trees.

"Please wait here." Yoshiyo asked the group. After bowing to them, he walked to the lone individual in the courtyard. The individual turned to Yoshyo, and hung up his cellphone. Briefly he spoke with Yoshiyo, before Yoshiyo called out for the shinobi to come over. At this point, Katsuro was fed up with all of the formalities. They had a job to do, and he wanted to get on it before the sun set. Impatiently he marched over to the two of them.

In front of him was who he could only assume was Sando Tekara. Standing at about 5'10, Sando was a middle aged man with brown greying hair kept in a sharp-looking short haircut and a well-trimmed beard. For clothing, he was wearing an expensive looking suit and tie. His brown colored eyes looked over Katsuro and students for a moment or two before he finally spoke.

"Thank you all for coming such a long distance. My name is Sando Tekara, and I'm the one who commissioned you all to come here. I assume you know why you're here?" He asked, raising an eyebrow curiously to Katsuro.

"We all know why we're here." Katsuro bluntly remarked, tired of all of the formalities. "Let's just cut the bullshit and get to it. I'm Katsuro Katashi, the girl behind me is Mizu, the redhead is Haruki, and the short kid is Tetsuo. We're here to help find your daughter"

Sando stared for a moment in what appeared to be disbelief at Katsuro's remark before continuing.

"Fair enough. What do you need to know?"

"Give us an update on the situation in the last 24 hours, and anything else we need to know."

"Right." Sando stood for a moment, collecting his thoughts. Yoshiyo stood next to him, patiently waiting to help his boss in anyway that was needed.

"So, my daughter went out into the forest past the village below to pick some berries two days back. I haven't seen her since. When she didn't come back, I looked for her at the usual spot we go and didn't find anything. Since that time period I've had the local authorities, hunters, and everyone else that I can buy in the entire country and still she hasn't been found. No one seems to be able to pick up on any leads. Then, after another day passes I decide to get more serious and I reach out to hire shinobi. They've sent me you four."

He paused, looking over all of them together.

"Was kind of hoping they'd send me more than just this but I suppose you'll do....Though you keep that Jinchuriki away from me. That's right, I know what those markings are little girl!" He remarked, pointing to straight at Mizu. For a moment, Mizu stepped back in surprise. Her hands balled into a fist, and Mizu's face reddened from the remark that was just made toward her. Knowing she needed to keep her cool, and not wanting to end up like Tetsuo did this morning, she walked away for a moment to collect herself.

"Mizu is my student and she's here to help find your daughter." Katsuro replied sternly. "What's happened since you sent for us?"

"Nothing. I've been told the East and South Forest valleys have been searched over and they've found nothing. However, they could have easily missed something in all this rugged terrain. I'll have Yoshiyo take you down to where she was last seen so you can all begin your search. Is there any other questions you all have?"

"If you have questions, ask." Katsuro said to his genin, though he doubted Mizu would be the one to ask any questions.

 

[Pine]

Tetsuo had been itching with impatience by the time they finally arrived to Ansu Village. When he saw the first building, modestly built and with no wall or gate closing it in, he had almost thought it was an abandoned village they were passing through for a shortcut.

It became very apparent very soon that the village was lived in. Tetsuo and Haruki both slowed their walk when the first set of people shouted to announce their arrival, and the rest stopped to stare at them. A withered old woman walking a goat by a leather head harness caught Tetsuo's attention. He couldn't tell if she was staring back at him in awe or trepidation.

The boys both stopped when signaled to, and Tetsuo turned his disbelieving stare back at Katsuro when he loudly asked for their client.

Haruki, whose hair and clothes had finally dried at this point, smiled and waved sheepishly at the staring eyes, finding a little comfort in a young boy who waved back.

Tetsuo realized he shouldn't be surprised by Katsuro's behavior, considering the display he'd made in the train station just earlier that day. Maybe he had just expected him to be more subdued once they arrived at their destination. He supposed it was more efficient this way, and not even necessarily disrespectful, seeing as how it drew out a bald, mild-mannered man.

He was surprised again to find out this wasn't their client, but instead it was his servant. Tetsuo followed along quietly as Yoshiyo led the way, wondering what type of man even needed servants. Had they actually been commissioned by the lord of the land? He would have thought that if they were, that would've been mentioned somewhere in the mission scroll.

But when the full manor came into view, he was even more baffled.

Haruki's jaw gaped open in awe. "This is so cool," he whispered to his teammates. He had only dreamed of living so lavishly, but here their first client was, living out that dream.

Though Tetsuo was shocked, he was much less impressed by the sight. It didn't escape his attention how this was nothing like the older look of the village just at this manor's feet. He could almost swear the amount of land their client owned could swallow up the whole village. Even the Hokage and most revered families in Konoha didn't to seem to waste this much space on useless aesthetics (he wasn't even sure if it could be called a luxury with servants swarming the yard like ants). Though he wasn't entirely sure what Katsuro's point was asking why there were guards here and not in the village, Tetsuo was beginning to draw his own conclusions.

Going through the hall, Haruki lagged behind, ogling at pretentious family portraits and vases that looked like they'd shatter if you poked them. Tetsuo had to stop himself from yanking the other boy's sleeve to keep moving. Eventually, Haruki jogged to catch up to where they were entering the courtyard.

As if there was no limit to how much shock he was going to have to endure just starting this mission, Katsuro's first words to their client was to curtly tell him to get on with it. Tetsuo shot him a glare when he was introduced by his height, but again he said nothing.

Annoyance was plain on his face when this man, Sando Tekara, insinuated they were just passable. Had circumstances been any different, Tetsuo might have told him right then and there to find his own damn daughter, since he had the time to be lounging about on his phone instead of looking for her.

But what stumped him more than anything was when the man pointed an accusatory finger at Mizu, demanding them to keep her away from him.

It was jarring, seeing this man wrapped in quiet formalities to act borderline aggressive at the drop of a pen. Tetsuo cast a cautious stare in Mizu's direction, half expecting her to blow her lid. Sando Tekara was disgusted by her for being a Jinchuuriki, and yet his actions were something Tetsuo thought would downright provoke the beast. But Mizu didn't suddenly switch from being the anal girl he'd seen so far into some feral monster. It struck him as strange, seeing her face redden and her shrink away without a word. It was weird. She was weird.

Haruki was stunned also. He hadn't even been sure what the man was talking about until he pointed at Mizu. Katsuro had lectured him yesterday about what those marking were, but nothing could have prepared him for this reaction, least of all from their very client. He took a step back to follow her, but hesitated. He wasn't sure if Katsuro would just let him walk away, and he didn't want to get in trouble either like Tetsuo did this morning. He stayed at that midway point of uncertainty, but it was certain he had checked completely out of the conversation. He just frowned with concern at Mizu.

By contrast, Tetsuo was angry. He wasn't sure why exactly, other than he had decided he hated this guy's guts. Everything about him was revolting, from the drenched-in-cologne smell, to what seemed to him like an almost indifferent attitude to his daughter's disappearance (he should be much more distraught, he thought), to that pretentious nothing-is-good-enough-for-me attitude. He squinted his eyes at him. He'd rather be eating dirt than helping this prick out.

But this wasn't about their client. It was about the job he had to do, and a girl being missing, who he remember was not too much younger than his own sister.

He sighed through his nose to try to calm himself and hid his fists in his pockets. Tetsuo asked the only questions he thought were necessary. "Has something like this ever happened with your daughter? Do you have any pictures of her?" That was as polite as he could afford to be with this man right now.

 

[Gilzar]

"No, this has never happened to my daughter before. And yes, I do have pictures of her...one second. I keep them in my briefcase."

Sando made his way over to a small bench nearby with a briefcase leaned up against it, visibly limping on the way over. Putting the suitcase out on the bench, he popped its tabs open before taking out a picture of his daughter. Then, he clicked the suitcase shut, and reached under the bench to pull out a cane. Leaning heavily on the cane, he walked back over to the new gusts in his manner. He handed one photo to Tetsuo, one to Haruki, glared at Mizu as he passed by her and handed Katsuro two photos.

Katsuro just frowned, disgusted by the way this man was treating his student. Much like Tetsuo, if this man wasn't a client he likely would speak up. Seeing that he had an obligation however, he kept it shut and just handed Mizu a photo.

(Photo)

Spoiler

"The photo of my little angel is at a weird angle, but it gets everything you need to know. She has dark brown hair that's normally tied in some manner, fair skin like mine, and ash brown eyes just like mine. She's a little shorter than Tetsuo over there. When Ilast saw her she was wearing a light green dress with a white bonnet..." Sando thought to think for a moment. "Oh, yes! She also has a stuffed white rabbit she always carries at her side. I think she'd give up any toy over that rabbit. Is there anything else you need to know?"

Katsuro adjusted his glasses with the tips of his fingers. "Why all the guards? Shouldn't they be out looking for your daughter?"

"Hmmmm?" Sando asked for a second. "Oh, yes. You mean the ones along the gate and path. Lots of thieves would love to get into this manner, and I don't like unwelcome guest."

"Now then." Sando began to walk with his cane back toward the interior of his manor. "If there isn't anymore questions please follow Yoshiyo and he'll get you started. I would join but I'd only slow things down. I'm going to keep trying to get more resources at your disposal."

One at a time, Sando limped his way up a small flight of stairs, leaning even more on his cane than usual. Mizu was half tempted to knock the cane out from under him, though her better judgement took over. For now she examined the photo, feeling a little sad. Such a cute little girl, it was a shame that she was lost in these woods. Hopefully they'd have her back in her home in no time....

Sando slid open his door, then halted for a moment. "By the way, until your search is concluded you'll be staying here on the grounds of the manor. I've already informed my gate-keeper you are allowed to walk the grounds freely. Consider it a gesture of good faith." The door then slid shut, and Sando couldn't be seen anymore.

"Well, let's get going." Yoshiyo said softly, walking off toward a different door than the one Sando just exited through. Katsuro followed once again, motioning his team to do the same. The route back was the very same one that they arrived with. Through the manner halls, through the front yard, past the gates, down the path, and back into the village. this time through the village people made less of a scene seeing them. There was still the occasional stare, but people still went about their normal business. Most people in the village were out looking for Rei at the moment, but there were still jobs that could not be put off in the village.

Yoshiyo guided them through the town center, then down a small dirt path leading downhill just south of the village. After about a ten minute walk, they arrived at a clearing where several berry bushes could be seen. He bowed once again, then pointed his arm toward the bushes.

"This is where Rei Takara was last seen. Unless you four have anymore questions, I'll leave you to it."

"Has this area been thoroughly searched yet?" Katsuro asked, peaking around the bushes.

"Yes, but not by any ninja." Yoshiyo replied.

"Hmm...." Katsuro began to rub his fingers between the hairs of his beard thinking. Standard procedure would point to search in areas that haven't been glossed over yet. However, unlike the people who wrote the standard procedure, Katsuro had no faith in these men who had looked over this area. Afterall, they weren't shinobi trained to pick up little objects.

"Alright. I want everyone to fan out and search this entire area. I want to cover 100 meters in diameter around this clearing. So we're all going to get in a line together, 25 meters apart each, and circle around this area. If you see anything of interest you shout my name. This is how we'll comb over this area. I'll take the farthest end that has to have the most ground covered. When this, take your time. It's not a fucking race."

Katsuro then walked out and into the treeline. "I'll take 75 meters." Mizu replied, following behind Katsuro.

 

[Pine]

Tetsuo frowned when Sando stood up. He felt a sudden bit of guilt for cursing him just moments ago for being at the manor.

He crushed that guilt like a bug.

How the hell was he supposed to know this guy was a cripple? And furthermore, that didn't change the fact that he'd made an ass of himself earlier, passive-aggressively suggesting they were some sort of leftover pickings he just had to settle with, and whatever the hell was going on with him acting like a child around Mizu. No, he was just being a spoiled brat in general. That's the word he was looking for: spoiled.

With his back turned into his suitcase, Tetsuo stared at his leg, trying to see if he could tell if the leg was broken, sprained, twisted, or something else like a neurological condition. It was difficult to tell. Even if the perfectly press-ironed slacks he had on didn't hide the shape of his leg, Tetsuo wouldn't even know what to look for.

He took the photo when it was handed to it, then side-eyed Sando when he passed Mizu, leering at her. He could hardly believe this grown-ass man snubbing her and not even handing her a photo.

Haruki frowned at him too, but then tried looking over the photo, as distracted as he felt. He was looking at a girl in a sunhat, but in the back of his mind, he was almost fantasizing comforting Mizu and how much adoration she'd have for him then. Tetsuo looked like he didn't even care, and Katsuro was Katsuro, so he had to wonder if she even had any outlet for being ostracized like this? He could be that outlet.

Sando went on to describe all of his daughter's features, as if the picture wasn't right in front of them. Tetsuo deadpanned, not trying to hide the "are you kidding me did you have to say this 7-year-old is barely shorter than me" expression that came over his face. He looked back down at the picture, trying to memorize the girl's features as best as he could as the man talked.

Katsuro asked again about the guards, and Tetsuo looked back up to eye him with suspicion. Now he understood why Katsuro was asking. It was pathetic, he thought, that he was more concerned about losing even a portion of his wealth than he was about finding his daughter.

If he wasn't certain about his justification for hating the man before, he was now.

Similar to Mizu, he found himself hoping that Mr. Tekara tripped and took a plummet down the staircase.

He scowled one final time as Sando slid the door open, confirmed they would be staying there, then retreated into his house. What an honor, he thought bitterly. If Yoshiyo hadn't been standing right there at their attendance again, he would've spat on the ground. He wished they could just stay at an inn of some sort, but thinking about it, he wasn't so sure if this village even had one.

Haruki's focus shifted from his fantasies of attention to delight at being able stay at the manor. As nostalgic as he was for the small village below, he couldn't help but think he'd feel like a prince staying in a huge manor like this. He wondered if the servants were also to their beck and call, and what kind of lavish buffet of a dinner that they'd be invited to. If he knew he would get to eat a rich man's meals, maybe he wouldn't have packed so much. He imagined a steamed lobster cracked open on a polished, oak table about a yard long, and servants presenting piles of mochi ice cream on a silver platter to sample from. His mouth had started watering just thinking of it. He found a part of himself hoping this search would take a very, very long time.

For the moment, and for the rest of the way to the clearing, Haruki forgot all about how poorly Mr. Tekara had treated Mizu.

Once at the clearing, Haruki dove straight into inspecting the bushes. He nodded a sagely nod to himself, wisely observing that some of the wineberries there, indeed, seemed to have been picked.

Tetsuo watched this happen, and quickly decided he didn't trust Haruki to even cover a 10 meter parameter correctly. "I'm doing 50," he said, then started following after Mizu.

Haruki had a sudden epiphany, while he had been gathering important clues at the scene of the crime, he hadn't registered any of what Katsuro had instructed. He hurried to follow behind Tetsuo, because that seemed to be the thing they were doing.

At least, that was what he thought, when suddenly Tetsuo spun around on him. "What are you doing?" he asked in an almost accusatory tone.

"What?" Haruki replied, frowning at him.

"Why are you still following me? It's easily been 25 meters now."

Haruki was starting to get embarrassed again, realizing he didn't guess at what they were doing quite right.

"Weren't you paying attention, or are you just that stupid?" Before Haruki could defend himself, Tetsuo made a big show of sighing noisily, then started talking again. "Look." Tetsuo reached to grab onto Haruki's shoulders and pushed him back to guide him to the approximate 25 meter mark. He pointed down the imaginary radius of Haruki's search area. "Circle around between this point and the clearing. I'm covering this area. We're looking for any shit that seems out of the ordinary or that could point us in the right direction. If you find something, tell Katsuro. Got it?"

He nodded.

Tetsuo looked at him like he didn't believe him. "You better." Then he turned to keep walking to his designated spot in the area.

 

[Gilzar]

"Will you two quit your bitching and start searching?" Katsuro shouted in the distance from afar. Even though he was far away from the two boys, he could still tell when they weren't being productive. The very thought of the amount of work they had to do today, and how much of that work would probably be set around making sure they were they did their job was already stressing Katsuro out.

Now out where he was designated to be, Katsuro began to walk in a circle around the clearing. He was looking for anything that could belong to Rei Takara. From footprints to pieces of clothing, or even the stuffed rabbit she carried everywhere, any bit would help piece together the clues of where she might be. Otherwise, without any leads, they'd just be aimlessly searching a giagantic haystack for a needle that they'd likely never run into.

Mizu searched through her 25 meters, pacing her head side to side just trying to find anything. This would be distraction she needed for now, as her mood was very sour. Between the Hokage's death, confusing treatment by Haruki, and now some rich prick picking on her, she felt like her head was going to explode. Never had she had such an intense migrane from stress. Even the day that she got pelted by the rock that formed the scar across her cheek, there was at least a break from all the stress.

Worried that she may miss something, Mizu decided to get an extra pair of eyes. Doing a quick hand sign, she made a shadow clone that would walk a few meters beside her, also looking for anything out of the ordinary. The woods were dense, but still could be navigated with enough patience.

 

[Pine]

Tetsuo rolled his eyes to himself. Katsuro didn't even know what was going on. Was he supposed to have just let Haruki do... whatever the fuck he was going to do?

He deliberately chose to ignore the fact he could've saved them both time by kindly asking if Haruki needed help, rather than berating him on his wits.

Keeping in mind his bitter resolve to pay close attention, Tetsuo took his time to thoroughly scan his designated area, looking even for the smallest thing. He should've asked if Rei wore any jewelry, he thought, inspecting a gape in the roots of a walnut tree, then up into its green foliage.

He looked over at Mizu to see if she was ahead or behind his pace. What he found were two Mizus, making some efficient progress across her larger area.

Tetsuo swore internally. He'd forgotten she could make those damn shadow clones. All he had was the basic clone technique, which didn't do anything better than just make an afterimage of himself. He kicked at a taller patch of grass, trying to think if he had any tricks of his own that could make his search more productive. He couldn't think of anything, not if he wanted to be as thorough as he was now.

Meanwhile, Haruki was having his own set of troubles. First, the bag. Haruki had run back to the center of the clearing to drop his bag off, since it was big, bulky, heavy and just in general getting in the way, and now was trying to run back to his as-designated-by-Tetsuo starting point. Only trouble was, he was much less confident now of where it was.

He looked over at Tetsuo to ask, but decided against it. Tetsuo already thought he was an idiot, and there was something so intense about the way he was searching the forest floor, he thought Tetsuo might snap if he did anything to interrupt him.

So he went with his less-confident starting point and began his circle around.

Now the problem was knowing what he should even be looking for.

It was quickly becoming almost dizzyingly tedious zig-zagging back and forth between his spot and the clearing's center. Everything looked the same. Was he looking too hard? And if he did end up missing something, what would the others think? Maybe even worse, because it seemed much more possible now, Tetsuo and Mizu would finish way before him even though he now realized he had the smallest area to cover.

The only way to save himself this embarrassment now was to make sure he found something useful, preferably before any of the others did.

So when Haruki found a muddy imprint in the ground, he called out, "Katsuro-sensei, I think I found something!"

He readied himself to present the footprints of a hare with a sense of pride. In his head, she must have loved rabbits so much, considering the plush she carried with her all the time, that she almost certainly followed this hare and got lost. The problem with this theory was that the tracks were still extremely fresh, and Haruki might know this if he looked just a few meters to this left and saw the brown-furred hare that was grazing there.

 

[Gilzar]

The moment that he'd heard Haruki call out he found something, Katsuro dropped what he was doing and hastily walked over. Pushing branches aside, and stepping over branches fallen onto the ground, Katsuro came over to Haruki's side.

"What did you find?" He asked, before looking being presented the clue by Haruki. Katsuro looked down at the fresh rabbit print, and looked over to the hare just a few meters away. Katsuro breathed in deeply, saying nothing as he tried his best not to find the correct vocabulary to describe what he was feeling in frustration.

"Haruki." He finally muttered out. "You've surprised me, you know?"

Katsuro took a moment, then continued. "I used to think you had attention issues, especially after I had to explain traps to you. I'll admit though that I was wrong."

He turned to Haruki, looking him dead in the eye behind his glasses. "You don't have attention issues. You're just fucking incompetent!"

"Look over there!" Katsuro growled, pointing Haruki toward the rabbit. "That rabbit made those tracks. And even if they were old, it doesn't change the facts that they are FUCKING RABBIT TRACKS AND NOT LITTLE GIRL TRACKS! Do you see any signs of Rei Around these tracks? Because I sure as shit don't!" Katsuro shouted in frustration at Haruki.

The moment that Katsuro shouted, the rabbit took off into the brush in utter terror. It darted straight through the woods, running past Tetsuo before heading toward Mizu. Both Mizu's couldn't help but watch as the rabbit tried hopping its way around them, only to be blocked by a tree. In its panic, assuming it was being pursued by a predator of some kind, the rabbit did a quick 180 and bolted in the other direction, kicking aside a branch in its way and uncovering something bright right in front of Mizu.

Mizu's eyes flashed open in surprise at the object, which once uncovered from under the branch stood out from its surroundings. She hurried over to it, before finally getting a good look at it. It was a bright green piece of torn cloth, the same color as the dress Sando described his daughter to be wearing before she vanished! Immediately Mizu called out to the others.

"Hey! I found something! That hare kicked up a torn piece of cloth that looks like Rei's dress!"

Katsuro hurried over immediately, not wanting to waste any time. He grabbed the piece of cloth and examined it carefully. This matched the description of Rei's dress they were given just a little bit ago. It must have been concealed under that branch when the original search party came looking for her, otherwise nothing really could explain how this could be missed. Katsuro immediately scanned his head over the area, looking for anything else to go off of.

"This is the kind of stuff we're looking for. This is all we need for now."

Katsuro bent down onto one knee, and bit into his bare thumb into it bled. He then followed up with a series of handsigns

"Summoning Jutsu!"

Katsuro slammed his hand against the ground, causing a seal to form on the ground around his palm. Smoke then shot up around Katsuro, and blanketed around him. As it cleared, a large shadow could be seen next to next to Katsuro. When the smoke settled, it was very obvious what this shadow was: A polar bear.

Next to Katsuro, standing on all fours was a full grown polar bear, examining the area around it that it had just been summoned to. Tied around its midsection was a blue sash, with several pockets containing various gear stashed away on it. After looking around, the bear finally turned its head to Katsuro. It said nothing, only blinking as it seemingly waited for Katsuro to instruct it. Katsuro held the green piece of cloth over the bear's nose, and the gigantic arctic leaned in to smell the piece of cloth. The bear took in three big sniffs, before it slowly began to trot away in a specific direction.

"Follow him." Katsuro instructed.

He then turned to specifically face Tetsuo. "And don't make fun of him. He's sensitive."

Mizu watched in a mix of awe and disbelief at what had just happened. Did Katsuro Sensei really just summon a polar bear and....were they about to follow it to try and find Rei?

 

[Pine]

Haruki was all smiles when Katsuro walked over to him, said he was surprised. Finally, redemption. He'd found a valuable clue, and this discovery was going to launch him from the kid who lied and fell in the river to the one that uncovered the mystery of Rei's disappearance. It was a shame their mission had to be resolved so soon, but maybe Mr. Tekara would be so pleased with his work, he'd allow him to stay at least one night to celebrate the return of his daughter. He would invite Mizu to join him and let Tetsuo and Katsuro sleep outside. Except now he remembered the Mr. Tekara didn't seem to like Mizu much as all. If he had to be the only one to sleep inside the manor, then so be it. He'd still be the first to receive their sensei's official approval.

Except that wasn't at all what happened. Katsuro's deceptively small voice exploded into a rage. Startled, Haruki took a few steps back from him, visibly cowering in the face of his sensei's anger.

Then he felt stupid. Really stupid. Of course the rabbit tracks weren't an actual clue, but he'd been feeling overwhelmed by the forest and the fact that he wasn't sure if he'd recognize a genuine clue if he saw one. How could he have missed the hare that had been right over there? He thought he had been onto something, but now he realized he was looking for meaning in things that weren't even really there.

He was more one insult away from curling into a fetal position on the ground, trying to make himself as small as possible, when Mizu called their attention over to something actually helpful.

Katsuro turned his attention away, hurrying to where Mizu was, and Haruki immediately relaxed. His heart was still pounding in his chest, but he sighed with gratitude for the oncoming relief. Mizu may not have known it, but she just saved his life.

He followed then where Tetsuo and Katsuro were both hurrying to Mizu.

Tetuo raised his eyebrows in surprise where Mizu was holding the cloth. She'd said it had been kicked up, but from where?

He didn't get much of a chance to investigate that, because in the next second, his hair was billowing back from an eruption of smoke the blew up from the sign Katsuro made on the ground. He stared in disbelief. It was a bear. A polar bear, in the middle of a forest during the final heat of the summer. He rubbed his eyes just to make sure he was seeing things right. Logically, he understood how this had happened, but it was taking him a little while to adjust to the facts of the matter.

The bear puffed at the cloth, as loudly as a bear huffing a scent is, then turned to walk the other way through the forest.

Tetsuo blinked up at Katsuro telling them to follow the bear, then pulled a face when the jounin looked at him specifically to tell him to mind his manners. The bear was sensitive? He couldn't believe he was hearing it. Those words sounded foreign coming from Katsuro's lips.

"What do I have to make fun of a bear for, anyway?" he muttered to himself, before turning to walk after the bear.

He paused for just one moment as Haruki hesitantly started inching after the bear, not wanting to take the lead ahead of everyone else in the squad. Tetsuo grabbed his knife from the kunai pouch on his leg and slashed a mark into the nearest tree, then he continued walking.

He didn't think that they'd hit a dead end with a piece of the girl's dress, but he wanted to be able to come back to where Mizu found it just in case. A pit fell in his stomach, thinking now about how it had even gotten there. Parts of people's clothing don't just rip off by accident, for the most part. He wondered now if she ha just made some clumsy mistake with a branch, or if maybe there had been some sort of a scuffle. He didn't like it either way, and if he really needed to know more about that, then at least he'd known where to look. Unfortunately, he was thinking now the fabric could've just as easily gotten blown along in the wind, so maybe the spot he marked was meaningless.

He reviewed all these thoughts and more as they walked after the polar bear.

Haruki stopped where he was, still not wanting to follow the bear too closely. "Crap, I forgot my bag," he said to himself, then ran to the center of the clearing. He slung the heavy bag back over his neck and basically sprinted to catch up with the group.

 

[Gilzar]

The polar bear continued along the forest, sniffing its nose through the air as it trotted forward. As it walked, Katsuro talked to it and filled it in on the situation. Occasionally it would stop, raise its snout high in the air, and adjust its body to face the scent accordingly. It would then proceed to move in that direction, sniffing in the air as it continued to move. Katsuro followed right behind him, keeping an eye out for anything out of the ordinary that might give them clues as to either what happened or where the girl could be. For a moment he looked back behind him, to see how everyone was doing. Mizu seemed to be doing just fine, and so was Tetsuo. Haruki however was lagging behind. It was easy to see, even from this angle that Haruki had over packed. Moving through all of this dense brush, up and down hills, and constantly dodging tree branches was eventually going to wear down on Haruki. While Katsuro wanted to scold him for overpacking, some lessons were best learned on their own. If Mizu and Tetsuo could learn to pack light, then so could he.

"Polar bears are some of the best trackers in the wild." Katsuro explained as they followed the bear. "On the Tundra, they can track prey scents that are days old for miles on end. Toshio here is no ordinary bear though. He channels chakra through his nose to strengthen his senses further. It may be slow at times, but he is precise. I guarantee this is the exact path that the girl walked just a few days ago."

Katsuro's summoning led them along, going very slow in some areas and at a moderate speed in others. Overall though, this was a slow process. They'd been at it for about 45 minutes now, due to the bear's constant stopping and adjusting. In spite of how long it was taking, Katsuro did not say a word. The hot sun was beating down at them now, as it was well into the afternoon. Mizu wiped the bead of sweat traveling down her forehead, and took a large swig of water out of her canteen. The group had reached an interesting part of the forest where they were now on top of a ridge-like hill, overlooking several interesting land features below. In front, down a steep slope with jagged rocks peeking out, were several large clearings in the forest. They seemed to be just a quarter mile ahead or so. Down on their left seemed to be the reminants of what once served as a quarry, forming into an almost bowl shape in the land around it. It had completely become overrun with forest, but its rock walls and deep incline were still visible from where they were now.

Toshio, the Polar Bear stopped moving, and once again examined the air. Only this time, it was taking longer than usual. The bear's head shifted left toward the quarry, and then right toward the clearings. He did this again several times before looking toward Katsuro.

"The trail splits here." The bear Toshio said in a deep, grumbling voice.

Mizu blinked a few times in almost disbelief. Did the bear just talk?!

"What do you mean?" Katsuro asked impatiently.

"Her scent goes down into that old quarry down there...but it also goes straight ahead. Likely she went one way, then doubled back and went another. If her scent wasn't so old I could tell you which way, but they're both trials are pretty similar in smell right now."

For a moment or so, Katsuro stood silently, rubbing his hand on the back of his mohawk. Why would a little girl lost in the forest be moving around this much? It didn't make much since to him that a little girl would go one way, then come back and go another way. He had several theories at the moment as to what might of happened, but they didn't have time to speculate. It was already the afternoon and he wanted to cover as much ground as they could before sundown.

"Alright. Mizu, Tetsuo, and Haruki. You three are going to head down into that quarry and search it. I'm going to follow Toshio down this slope and see what we can find."

Katsuro quickly reached into his pocket and checked his cellphone. He visibly looked displeased upon seeing it, as there was very poor reception this deep in the woods.

"We'll rendezvous here in three hours. Be on your guard at all times and grab any objects of that look out of place for Toshio. If you find the girl...."

Katusro quickly reached into his backpack and pulled out a signal flare, tossing it to Tetsuo. "Shoot this in the air. I should be able to see it from wherever I'm at since these things shoot pretty high in the air....".

"Watch your asses out there." Katsuro said, before him and Toshio began to make their way down the steep slope, eventually leaving sight of the three genin.

Mizu looked to both Tetsuo and Haruki as soon as Katsuro left. She didn't know why, but the thought of them searching that quarry alone sent the uneasy feeling of butterflies through her stomach.

"Well. Guess we should get going then?" Mizu asked, as she slowly began to make her way toward the quarry.

 

[Pine]

"Yeah," Tetsuo agreed, then started walking towards the quarry. He walked just fast enough to get ahead of Mizu, clearly intending on taking the lead. It was a huge relief to him that Katsuro had taken the bear with him. Forty-five minutes of stop and go traffic through a forest had really pushed the limits of his patience. Any more of that and he would've said something to upset the bear.

He kept the flare held securely in his fist. He would never admit it, but it made him feel powerful. Tetsuo had expected Katsuro would have handed it off to Mizu, especially after this morning, but instead the jounin had trusted it in his care. He had trusted him to be the one to signal if they found the girl. It was a simple task, being able to light a flare, but it was an important one marking a conclusion to their mission. It was an unspoken symbol of leadership, and Tetsuo fully intended to take that mantle. Any weariness he may have felt from the hours of walking to the village, back into the forest, and now down into the quarry had all been replaced by a rush of an almost adrenaline-like energy.

Tetsuo had to remind himself to focus on their objective. This was serious. A girl's been missing in a forest for days now. Part of her dress had been ripped off where she'd last been seen, and now she'd backtracked along two different paths. Something weird was going on, he felt sure of it.

Haruki was, as Katsuro had predicted, beginning to exhaust. Having to navigate the lower-hanging branches through the forest earlier had him bobbing and weaving enough to make him dizzy in this heat. "Three hours is such a long time," he said to no one in particular. "Do you think it'll really take us that long? My feet are starting to hurt."

"You shouldn't have packed so much shit," Tetsuo replied, not even looking back behind him to respond.

Haruki sighed loudly. He should have known he wouldn't be getting any pity from Tetsuo. He tried to look back at the positives. With just his fellow genin, he didn't have to worry about how mad their instructor was with him. Or maybe Katsuro had forgiven him, considering how he'd unveiled their first clue to finding this girl all on his own (disregarding the hare, Katsuro's enraged voice that startled the hare off, and Mizu who had actually found the fabric). Either way, he was excited to finally just be able to work with his teammates on something.

He started talking again. "So Katsuro-sensei can summon bears. That's pretty cool. I didn't know bears could talk."

"That's a summoned animal. They're different," Tetsuo explained with impatience.

"I always wished I could talk to animals," he continued, hopping onto a larger rock. He balanced with both arms spread out, then skipped back down onto the rocky path. "It's kind of weird though, don't you think? I would've thought he'd want to use a dog or-"

Tetsuo decided to put a stop to this. He wasn't going to keep repeating shit that Katsuro had already said. "Haruki, this is a mission. If you don't shut up and focus, I swear to God I'm going to leave your ass behind."

Haruki frowned. Tetsuo was absolutely no fun at all. He was really making this whole thing way duller than it needed to be.

He tried focusing, seeing if there was anything of importance on the path. Rocks, rocks, and more rocks. There was nothing exciting here.

He sidled up to where Mizu was an whispered, "Do you think Katsuro would let me pet the bear? Its fur looked so soft and thick."

 

[Gilzar]

"No. I don't think that Katsuro-Sensei let you do that. Summoning's aren't pets. They're contractual agreements bound by the blood of the user. That's at least what my uncle always told me." Mizu replied bluntly, not really whispering. She was still mildly irritated with Haruki for the way he behaved on the train. Boys are so confusing. One moment he was all cold shoulder with her and now he was back trying to gossip with her.

Mizu didn't argue much when Tetsuo took the lead in front. Less pressure on her, and plus he had more experience as a genin so he might even know what he's doing. He was being a little pushy so far, but that's the same way that Katsuro lead the group so it really wasn't that different. Though earlier, Haruki had asked a question that was on her mind. Tetsuo seemed bothered by something, and Mizu was trying to pick up on just what it could be. She had some thoughts, but she didn't really know Tetsuo so she wouldn't stretch out on a limb to try and guess what it was.

Figuring that she should at least try and get on some level of communication with the three of them all together, Mizu struck the question a quarter of the way down the hill. She swallowed her pride for a moment, ready for this to backfire on her. While she despised Tetsuo's guts, and Haruki confused her, maybe she could at least get a few things off of her chest.

"What do you guys think of Soruto Uzumaki being dead?" She asked curiously, hoping it would spark at least some kind of pleasant discussion.

 

[Pine]

Haruki frowned, backing himself up a little from Mizu now. It was less what she said, though it was also disappointing news, and more how she made no effort to match his tone. He cast a glance forward forward to Tetsuo who, if he didn't hear him before, he definitely had heard Mizu now. He didn't turn around and yell at them, though, and just kept walking ahead.

He sulked a little behind them now. It was one part him wanting to look pitiful, another part that he was starting to get really tired carrying his bag anyway. Beads of sweats were forming at his neck and slithering down the divet of his back. Haruki swung the bag around to lay on his other side, but that didn't really do much to ease the soreness he was starting to feel in his shoulders and back.

To his surprise, Mizu started the conversation again just a little further down the hill.

Unfortunately, it was politics, more or less, so it didn't interest him quite as much as trying to strategize ways he to dig his hands into a polar bear's pelt. Still, a conversation topic was a conversation topic. "I think it's sad. Really sad," he said, angling his feet so as not to slip down a particularly steep part of the crater. "I mean, the war just ended, but all the Kages died anyway. The Hokage really helped my family out letting us stay in the village. I wouldn't be here now if it weren't for him."

Tetsuo wanted to be annoyed that the conversation was steering far from their mission objective, but Mizu just so happened to talk about the thing that's been on his mind all day. He couldn't even be mad that it was Mizu making the conversation. Now that he thought about it, she hadn't really done anything to be annoying yet today. He thought it was a little weird how she used his full name though, instead of just his first name or title...

Something clicked in his head just as he was about to answer. "Wait," he said, halting in his tracks. When he'd first heard of and seen Mizu, not only was it sneers about her carrying the demon fox in her, but there had also been whispers of her being the bastard child of the Hokage. He remembered a long time ago asking his dad about it, but his father had dismissed the accusations, saying Soruto was a respectable, righteous man, and a great leader at that. Of course he wouldn't do such a thing.

But that had been years ago, and Tetsuo had taken his father's judgments face values, never really thinking about it again. He was thinking about it now, though, and about how Mizu had said nothing regarding the topic until just now.

He looked at her then. "Was Soruto really your dad?"

 

[Gilzar]

Tetsuo stopped in his tracks, causing Mizu to do the same. What followed next completely took Mizu by surprise, and the look on her face reflected this. She was directly asked if Soruto was her father, and had never happened before. The topic was normally so Taboo in the village that most people avoided teh topic all together. If anyone ever asked about it, usually it was extremely indirect so that such a question could be denied if an accusation was thrown. Now that Soruto was dead, perhaps it didn't matter anymore. While the question made Mizu uncomfortable, she knew that she needed to be honest.

"Yes." She responded, gazing over to the side to avoid getting emotional about his recent death. "He's technically my dad."

The conversation made her think about her history as the unwanted offspring of such a respected shinobi. Really, the only memory she ever had of Soruto was the day he sealed the nine-tails inside of her....but even that day itself was vague. Soruto really played no part in her life other than just as some giant shadow that she was cast under, always looming over her as the people of the village whispered and gossiped about her. Though she didn't have blonde hair, Mizu had many Uzumaki traits in her. Most notably was her eyes. Big and blue, just like Soruto's. Her skin may have been slightly darker, and her hair a medium shade of brown, but if anyone ever doubted her heritage, plenty of people would always point to her eyes.

 

[Pine]

Tetsuo didn't know what answer he had been expecting. He couldn't even tell if he was surprised or not. He guessed he was stunned, since he was silent for that moment, and realizing he needed to rewire a big part of everything he thought he understood. Standing there, staring at Mizu, who had turned her head away from him, he started seeing the features of resemblance in her.

"Oh," he finally said. This changed a lot of things. For Mizu, it wasn't just the loss of a leader and a role model, like it was for him. It was the loss of a family member. It didn't matter how estranged the two may have been. Blood was blood, there were no technicalities about it, in his mind. Tetsuo wasn't about to do the mental gymnastics of trying to guess and understand how the esteemed Hokage of their village ended up with a daughter that was cast down to possibly the lowest social standing in their village. All he needed to know was that her father was gone, and in a way, that was something he related to.

"I'm sorry for your loss," he eventually said. There was no hint of maliciousness in his tone, no sarcasm. It may have been a little stiff and awkward, but he was sincere.

Before he could start thinking about his own father, missing in action, Tetsuo began slowly walking back down the quarry.

The entire time, Haruki had stood there, jaw dropped and hand clapped over his mouth in shock. He couldn't believe it, he had no idea! And how did Tetsuo know this? He couldn't even process all the implications between that short exchange, let alone did he have the native context of growing up there.

"No way," Haruki said in disbelief, starting to follow Tetsuo back down their path. "I had no idea your dad was the Hokage. Wow, what was that like? I can't even-"

Tetsuo cut him off. "Shut it, Haruki," he said, sounding angry now.

He didn't know anything exactly about where Haruki was from, and what he was saying before might have been the first hint at it that he'd gotten, but by this point it was so blatantly obvious that Haruki didn't have a clue about the weight of these topics it would have for him and Mizu. He was done hearing whatever dumb shit he had to say about it.

Haruki pouted his lips, beginning to really feel hurt by how much he was being cut off, and how much Tetsuo (and Katsuro, to some extent) were acting like he had nothing worthwhile to say. He crossed his arms over his chest and mumbled to himself, "I was just asking."

Tetsuo ignored him, and finally gave some thought to what he wanted to say to answer Mizu's question. "I don't like it. Something feels off. That Kaito guy completely avoided my questions, and Katsuro is over here acting like he doesn't know anything. That's bullshit. Five Kages don't just die and no one know where or how the fuck it happened. They're acting like nothing happened and everything's the same, but it's not, not at all. They're hiding something and I don't know what or why. All I know is we can't trust them for shit about what they say right now."

 

[Gilzar]

Mizu was taken back by Tetsuo's reaction, and how he actually apologized for her loss. She couldn't help but blush in embarrassment, still looking away to avoid eye contact. The last thing she wanted to look like was weak in front of these two boys. Yet of all the reactions she thought she'd get from Tetsuo, she didn't think it would be this one. Wholeheartedly, she was expecting for him to call her a liar or just not care. That wasn't the case though, and she actually felt a bit of empathy coming off of this usually unbearable person. Though, Mizu wondered just how aware her was of her relationship with her father.

"Thank you." She replied simply, not wanting to delve any deeper on the topic. That was until Haruki started jabbing her with questions reguarding what it would be like to have a Hokage as a father growing up. Unlike Tetsuo, there was no mystery around Haruki's knowledge of her relationship with her father, Haruki didn't know. Reluctantly, she began to think up of a response, dreading the to have explain her family situation to him. Yet once again, Tetsuo did something she didn't see coming. He told Haruki to can it at the right time, like he was looking out for her in some way. Once again, Mizu found herself blind sided by Tetsuo. Was he sticking up for her, or was he just annoyed with Haruki?

Mizu started following Tetsuo again, choosing not to answer Haruki's question. If he really wanted to know what it was like growing up with a kage as a parent, he could go ask the Uzumaki kid who they graduated with. He could answer that question better than Mizu could. For now, she shifted her focus back to Tetsuo, as he finally answered Mizu's original question. Now she finally understood why Tetsuo was making such a scene earlier in the day. He felt that information was being withheld from them. Now that he mentioned it...in hindsight they weren't being very detailed with their answers.

"Now that you mention it something does feel off. I'm also getting the feeling they're hiding something from us." Mizu responded, glancing up at how far they had to go. Right now they were a little over halfway to the old quarry. "Do you think they actually know who could have done it?"

 

[Pine]

Tetsuo shook his head in response. "I don't know," he admitted. After a thoughtful pause, he said, "But you'd think they'd at least have a clue, wouldn't they?"

Haruki piped up again, because possibly the only thing worse than Tetsuo's constant berating was being left out of the conversation. "Does it really matter who did it?"

At this point, Tetsuo couldn't tell if Haruki was even asking something stupid, or if he was just fed up with him talking. "It makes a big difference, idiot. If we don't know who did it, we don't know why they did it and if they plan on stopping there."

He started cycling again through all the different reasons of why someone would do this and the consequences of those actions. It was something he'd had a lot of time to think about during their walk to Ansu Village, and he decided to let it all out right then. "It doesn't seem like this was an attack from one country. If it was, you'd think that at least one of the Kages would still be alive. Unless whoever did this didn't like their own leader. Maybe there's someone who isn't happy with the treaty, though I'm not sure if the death of the Kages would even do anything to change that. If whoever did this doesn't even belong to a country, then they might be even more dangerous, because there's nothing to hold them back, and who knows what their actual target is, if they even have any."

Tetsuo looked over his shoulder to turn a mean eye to Haruki then. He had forgotten for a second how the redhead couldn't seem to keep his mouth shut. Whether or not he meant to, Tetsuo was sure that he'd spill any secrets to Katsuro in a second's notice.

"What?" Haruki frowned at him, and started to feel a little defensive. What could he possibly be mad at now?

But instead of answering, Tetsuo looked back to their path down the quarry. He slung his bag over onto his chest to finally put the flare in for safekeeping. He supposed, at least for now, there wasn't anything that could be said to Katsuro that really needed to be kept secret. He didn't have a plan for anything they could do to get more information right now, especially with them all the way out in the Land of Birds, far away from home. He would remember to be more careful with what he says around him, though, if he could remember.

"All I know is that whatever could take out five Kages all in one day is not something that should be fucked with, and it makes us look weak. Not even that, we are weakened." He returned back to Mizu's query. "Wherever this happened and however they died should be a big fucking clue. Who was left alive, even. That's shit that they have to know." He zipped up his bag and swung it back on, adjusting the strap on his shoulder. "If they do know who did it, they sure as shit won't tell us. I don't know why they're lying to us but it pisses me off."

 

[Gilzar]

Mizu quieted down, thinking about Tetsuo's words. As much as she took most things he said with a grain of salt, she couldn't argue with everything he'd said so far. She then remembered something that her uncle told her when they were training once, about how during times of crisis the village would withhold information from the public in order not to cause a panic. Perhaps this was the same reason? Mizu decided to spread that knowledge. She also decided to maybe make a case to defend Haruki a bit. While he was a strange one, he certainly didn't deserve to be treated like this all the time.

"Haruki hasn't spent as much time in the village as us, so he's probably just not used to shinobi politics." Mizu chimed in, trying to ease some of the strain off of Haruki. "My uncle always told me that during major crises, the upper Shinobi ranks will keep information from the public to not cause panic. Then, gradually overtime they give out more and more so that people won't freak out. Maybe it's just like that?"

As they traveled down the path, more and more signs that this was once a quarry became apparent. Old, rusted equipment could be seen lying around the path. From hammers, to pickaxes, and even some old explosive containers. It looks like whoever once ran this operation just up and left decades ago. Even large equipment, such as cranes and big generators remained where they were, rusting and decaying over time. It wasn't much longer before the trio reached the floor of the quarry. This place had been abandoned for so long that a small forest was present inside of it, complete with a lake on the north end of the quarry. All around them, except for the small path they came in was now surrounded by smooth cliffs, carved out precisely by hand over many years. It was a very pretty sight, and Mizu wondered why such a place was shut down.

Then in the distance, Mizu thought she heard something, stopping her dead in her tracks. Her eyes traveled around, skimming the area for anything out of the ordinary. Just when she started walking again, her ears caught the sound of it again. Once more, Mizu stopped where she was. This time, she took time to pick out just what it was she was hearing...voices? Oddly enough Mizu was hearing voices in the distance...and they were coming this way.

"Guys, I think someone's coming this way?" Mizu said, unsure of what to do. But at that point, two figures could already be seen making their way toward the trio, likely going to the path they just came down from. Though they were visible, their characteristics couldn't be made out because too much foliage was in the way.

"What have we here?" A voice called out from the brush.

"What are you three doing here?" A different voice called out. This one was deeper than the first.

 

[Pine]

Haruki's eyes lit up, and he turned to Mizu, looking almost watery-eyed in relief. He felt understood beyond a way he understood himself. He had begun doubting himself, thinking maybe he was stupid, but then she offered a perfectly good explanation for him being out of the loop. They'd been here their whole lives! He hadn't even thought it was possible for him to be a shinobi until a few years ago. He didn't grow up with concern for shinobi affairs, until the war broke out.

He nodded along with great exaggeration, agreeing with what she said. It made sense to him, not wanting to cause any panic. But as she said this, he remembered how he went home and immediately told his dad, who was "part of the public." Oops.

Tetsuo wrinkled his nose in response. He knew she was probably right on both accounts. If he stopped to think about it, he would know he was being harsh on Haruki. But with every thing he did and ever word he spoke, all he saw was the redhead acting peppy and ignorant, like some sort of shounen trope.

Then it did seem most likely they were holding back with what they knew... but it still felt wrong to him. They weren't being told they couldn't share that information, they were lying and saying they didn't know. And besides the lying, he felt cheated. What gave them the right to decide who gets to know and who doesn't? This was news that affected everyone in the village.

He might have said something like that too, but they were almost to the center of the quarry with no other sign of the girl so far, so he needed to start thinking about what they were going to do next anyway.

Tetsuo slowed his steps when they reached the pit of the quarry. It had taken a second to spot the rusted metal of machinery, wrapped beneath a cloak of vines. He looked up to trace the hook of a crane, wondering why, as pretty as the scenery was, the machinery was left to rot like this.

He stopped seconds after Mizu stopped. Haruki bumped softly into him with a quiet, "Oof," before taking a step back.

Then Tetsuo heard the same noise, gradually becoming more distinct as voices.

Haruki inched his way to hide behind Mizu, cringing as a spike of anxiety hit him. He hadn't expected to run into anyone in this place. It looked like this place had not been touched by humans for decades. Katsuro's lecture from earlier in the day started playing over in his head. Criminals.

"Oh man," he whimpered softly into Mizu's back when the voices talked to them. His hands tightened around the strap of his bag. Those weren't good guy phrases. Those were bad guy phrases. They were so screwed, he thought to himself, at a loss of what to do.

It took Tetsuo, too, a moment to think of what to do. His gut sent all kinds of bad signals, and he swore to himself, knowing he should have noticed the voices sooner. Instead of hiding in some tree, waiting for them to pass, they were completely exposed. At first, he thought it would be better not to say anything. Give them no crucial information about themselves. But then he thought if they were just petty thieves, they might know better than to try to mess with a group of shinobi. Or if they were directly connected to the girl's disappearance, that was something he needed to know one way or another. There was the small possibility that these were just civilians from the village, but with the way they talked, he seriously doubted it.

His right hand glided over his hip to stick his pinky finger in his pouch, ready to grab some tools if necessary.

When he spoke, he made sure to project as much confidence as he could muster in his voice. "We're looking for Rei Tekara," he announced to the woods. "We're shinobi from the Hidden Leaf hired to find her. Do you know where she is?"

 

[Gilzar]

The two men finally stepped out beyond the brush, revealing themselves to the genin. Both were grown adults with swords strapped to their side. The first one to come out was much younger than the other one. He was a lighter build, with fair skin, and stood at about 6 feet in hiegh. On his head he bore a bandana, with long brown hair running down the sides of his head. He wore a sleeveless tan shirt, with very loose fitting, wide pants tied to his waste with a thin rope. His feet just simply had wooden sandals. His accomplice looked older, with a medium build standing around 5'10 feet, and tan skin. Unlike his counterpart, he was completely bald with visible scarring all across his head, and a tribal like tattoo crawled up the left side of his neck, barely touching his jaw. For clothing, he wore a loose fitting blue robe with loose fitting black pants beneath it as well.

"That's funny." The bald one said, as he slowly began to draw out his katana. Obviously from the way these two carried themselves they were ronin, samurais without masters. "We're looking for her too."

"Wait, they just said they're shinobi." The younger outlaw said. "Just look at their headbands. You sure this is a good idea?"

The bald one completely unsheathed his katana, and readied himself in a stance. "Genzo said to get rid of anyone else looking for the girl."

The skinnier one's face irked, before he sighed. "Would rather deal with these three kids than him any day..."

He then suddenly turned, and drew out his katana at a surprisingly quick speed, lunging toward Tetsuo with a single slash of his blade. He wanted to try and get rid of him quick.

Meanwhile, the bald one ran around his comrade, circling over straight toward Mizu and Haruki. Mizu realized what was going on, and quickly sprung into action. Heart pounding, and adrenaline pumping through her veins, she whipped out her staff and immediately took a defensive stance. Just in time too, as she quickly found the silver streak of her opponents sword slashing down at her. Tilting her staff to the horizontal position, and raising it over her head she blocked the blade. It's impact rattled through her bones, sending her the message that this wasn't sparring. This was a real fight, that was a killing blow. As the bandit's blade recoiled, Mizu quickly flung a spacer-kick into his torso to push him back, before she backed up next to Haruki, bending herself lower and positioning her pole to face the bandit.

Though she would have liked more time, the bald one was unrelenting in his assault. He was charging straight for the two of them, readying his blade for another swipe at them.

 

[Pine]

It took a crucial split second for Tetsuo's attention to shift from the bald man, whose sword had already been drawn, to the taller man who had actually lunged at him.

He kicked his feet against the ground, pushing himself into the air, back and away from the strike. The tip of the blade nicked the front of his shirt, splitting a short gash in the fabric. He took a sharp inhale when he noticed this. His body understood immediately that these men intended to kill them.

Without thinking, he grabbed a smoke bomb his pinky had been grazing in his pouch and launched it at the ronin's feet. This was his second mistake, he quickly realized, as the bomb hissed and spewed a cloud of smoke around both the samurai and his comrades. Tetsuo, standing just in the outskirts of the smoke cloud, tried to reorient himself. They knew something about the girl. They needed to apprehend and question them.

He flanked to the opposite side as the bald man, using the footwork he'd be taught to move as quiet as he knew how to. He grabbed a kunai from his holster and held fast to it for some defense while he thought of what to do.

Haruki, meanwhile, was nearly paralyzed with shock and fear. He hitched a breath when the man's katana struck down on Mizu's pole. The clash of metal on metal rung thick in his ears. His heart was racing and his muscles adrenalized with energy he didn't know what to do with. He felt his body with shaking with the reverberation of the katana's blade, and right now, the only thing his body allowed him to do was crouch behind Mizu and pray that staff would protect them both.