Genin teams are usually structured of three Genin fresh from the academy and one Jounin sensei who would help them reach their full potential. It rarely ever happened that a team consisted of just two genin-mostly because whoever assigns the teams makes sure to not leave them as a two man cell. Namikaze Minato's team 7 seemed to be one of those very rare occasions.
His team consisted of Uchiha Obito and Nohara Rin. The Uchiha boy was somewhat of an outcast from his own clan based on his "non-Uchiha" personality and his lack of getting a hold of something naturally. Minato admired the boy's determination to prove himself and his inability to give up. His other cute little student was a kinouchi born into a civilian family. She was one of the top in her class but seemed to lack in physical strength. Although she tried to make up for it with putting all her effort during their training sessions and her talent in medical ninjutsu. She was a sweet girl and seemed to keep Obito from blowing his top when his hot headed temper got the best of him.
Overall, Minato loved his team and his little students. They all worked well together once his students understood that it' was all in the teamwork. Even so, their three man cell limited the amount of missions they could take on, seeing as many missions had the standard requirement of four man cells, and their sensei's overprotective nature didn't help either. War seemed to be inevitable for Konohagakure more and more these days. The Namikaze knew he couldn't keep them away for much longer, Konoha would need all of her shinobi in hand when the time came, but he would be damned if he didn't try to keep them safe for a little while longer.
/
"What are we going to do today, Sensei?" Rin asked, as she and Obito followed him towards the assignment room.
"We're not going to get another stupid D rank, right?" Obito said, fixing his goggles over his eyes. "We're ninja now Sensei! We should be doing real ninja missions!"
"I'm not entirely sure, Obito." Minato said. "Our team is one man shorter than the others but we've been completing a good amount of D-ranks. So I'm sure we could get a simple C-rank now."
"Alright!" Obito cheered.
"But, considering that we're running late, it's possible that all of the C-rank missions that our team is qualified to do have already been assigned."
Obito rubbed the back of his neck, an embarrassed blush on his cheeks alongside with an equally embarrassed grin. Rin rested her hand on Obito's elbow and gave him a smile, which made him blush for an entirely different reason.
"It's alright Obito-kun," Rin reassured him. "You should just try harder to make it on time."
"Yeah, sorry. I'll try my best, I promise."
/
A sharp knocking at his door informed the Sandaime Hokage that the next team he had called for had finally arrived.
"Come in." Hiruzen Sarutobi said gently, his voice still managing to carry an air that demanded respect and attention. He smiled as he watched the trio walk in, the famous 'Yellow Flash' and his two genin.
"Hai Hokage-sama." All three of them said simultaneously, bowing to him.
"You're here for your mission then, I take it?" Sarutobi asked, already eyeing a potential D rank the team could handle.
"Yes, that's correct."
"Wonderful. I have this special mission that I feel is just perfect for your team, a bit of masonry…" The older man had begun to explain, when he noticed with amusement the boy genin of the team develop a peculiar twitch. It almost seemed to be morphing into a sneer, before a flash of yellow far too quick for the eyes of the genin appeared and the young boy's head snapped forward for a moment, before returning back to its natural position, the would be sneer replaced with a face of begrudging acceptance. Hiruzen looked over at the Namikaze, whose stoic face didn't give away any indication that he had just slapped his genin into obedience.
A small smile tugged at the Hokage's lips as he pushed aside the D-rank mission, before he scooted back in his chair a bit to reach for his lowest drawer. Opening it up, he thumbed through a few before finding one he thought suitable.
"Actually, Namikaze-san, I think this mission would be more...appropriate. I believe it would be something that would give your team the chance to excel. There's a small village a fair distance away from the land's borders that has been sending requests for help with local mobsters. They've been terrorizing the village, and reports seem to indicate more organization than a standard band of thugs is capable of. Your team's job would consist of entirely eliminating this threat. I'll leave the decision of whether or not you'll be infiltrating their ranks, although you'll be surprised to learn that the village seems to be forming a small militia consisting of the men. Do with that what you will. Do you feel that your team is capable of handling this mission?"
Minato's brow furrowed as he dwelled on the mission. Personally, he wasn't certain Obito and Rin were ready for their mission which would almost certainly call for them to spill blood, but he knew that it was also his duty to prepare them for much worse in what would hopefully be much later in their careers. Torn about the decision, the answer finally came to him when he looked over to see both of his students staring at him intently, their eyes pleading to allow them the chance to prove themselves. With a reluctant sigh, the Yellow Flash gave in.
/
"Alright team let me go over the plan before we head out."
Minato and his team were standing before the village's gates in the early morning. They all had traded in their ninja gear for civilian clothing. Minato and Rin had no trouble finding clothes that didn't give out any signs that they were trained ninjas. Obito on the other hand had needed to go to the village's shopping square to buy new clothing considering that every single thing he already owned had his clan's emblem on them.
Minato kneeled in front of his students and brought out a map of the Fire Country.
"The village that we are going to is called Takuya village. It's a good three days away from Konoha so if we leave now we should be there by midafternoon on Wednesday. Takuya is quite small but it has a good agricultural based economy which would explain why recently they've been having trouble with this mobster group. Takuya's village council has been preparing to fight back against them."
"So why did they ask for help if they're already planning to start an uprising?" Rin asked.
"They asked for help as a precaution." Minato answered. "In case the mob group decides to bring in anyone with knowledge of ninjutsu. I doubt that will happen but it has been known to had happen before so they didn't want to take any chances."
"Once we arrive at Takuya we will be meeting with their council to be debriefed on what has happened the three days that we took to get there. Now remember," Minato looked up from the map and met his students' eyes, his own getting a glint of warning a parent would give to their troublesome child. "We are all supposed to be random travelers who are planning to stay and rest at Takuya so do not use any of your skills while we are there until they are absolutely necessary or until I find a good secluded area within the village for us to keep up with our training, alright?"
"Hai sensei!" Obito and Rin both nodded their understanding.
"Good, let's go."
/
"Seriously Minato-sensei, I am going to starve if we don't stop to eat something soon." Obito whined, rubbing his growling tummy.
"I have to agree with Obito sensei," Rin said. "We should stop for lunch."
It's been three days since they had left for Takuya and they weren't very far from the village so Minato agreed that it was a good time to stop for food. They followed a sign that showed them the way to a small family owned restaurant that was meant to serve hungry travelers.
"Welcome to Kawasaki's Restaurant," A teenage girl greeted them once they entered. "You can sit where ever you want and I'll be there to collect your orders soon."
After they had ordered and received their food (both Minato and Obito had ordered a bowl of ramen while Rin had gone for a plate of Chicken Katsu) Minato felt that it was a good time to inform his students about a little detail about Takuya village.
"Do you two remember your history classes from the Academy?" Minato asked, blowing at his noodles to cool them down a bit.
"A little, why?" Obito said, a little muffled considering he was talking with a full mouth of noodles.
"Obito!" Rin scolded. "Don't talk with your mouth full!"
"Well do you two remember when our village practiced slavery?"
"Yes," Rin answered. "Our village practiced it for a while until the Shodai Hokage put an end to it once he was chosen as Hokage."
"That's right, Rin." Minato said, letting Rin know he was proud of her for remembering that with a smile.
"But what does that have to do with anything?" Obito asked, confused on the random trivia question about their village.
"Well unlike our village, the Takuya village still practice the act of slavery." Minato informed them. "In fact, most of their population consists of slaves."
"What?" Obito exclaimed loudly, some of the noodles that he was chewing flying out of his mouth. He swallowed what was left in his mouth and quickly apologized so that he could continue to loudly express his confusion. "But I thought Rin said that slavery was outlawed? Why is Takuya still practicing it?"
"Well slavery is outlawed in most places within the Fire Country," The oldest ninja said. "But a few do still practice it, for example Takuya village. In the Fire Country every village is able to choose between either allowing slavery and or abolishing slavery in their village law in order to avoid conflict among the country in fear that it could split it in half."
"But isn't that wrong?" Rin asked, a small frown settled on her lips. "I mean, they're people too. Is it not wrong that they are deprived of their freedom to do whatever they want with their lives?"
"Well in our eyes and the eyes of our village it is wrong," Minato said to his female student. "But in the eyes of Takuya village it's a perfectly normal thing and even if we had laws on our side it's nearly impossible to change someone's beliefs and morals."
"That still doesn't mean it's right though," Obito said glaring into his bowl of ramen, his tone in voice a lot more serious then it usually is.
"I agree," Minato said, calmly to his usually hyperactive student. "It's not. But our mission is not to go to their village and to try to change their views. So please do not say anything about the matter that could cause conflict."
His students both remained silent, Obito still glaring into his food while Rin pursed her lips together to show her dislike about the matter. But all in all, they understood what their sensei was talking about and what he meant about staying quite. So they both spoke their understanding.
"Hai sensei."
After they quickly finished their meals and payed in silence. They continued their way towards Takuya village and arrived there right before midafternoon. At the gates of Takuya stood a man who had a strong build, black hair with touches of gray at his roots which made his green eyes seem to shine a lot brighter, and was around Minato's height.
"Ryusaki-sama?" Minato asked once he and his team stood in front of the man.
"Yes!" The man exclaimed. "I am Ryusaki Michio, and you all must be the team they sent to help us."
"Yes we are, I am Namikaze Minato and these are my students Nohara Rin and Uchiha Obito." Minato said, placing a hand on top of his students' heads to emphasize which was which.
"Nice to meet you Ryusaki-sama." Both Rin and Obito greeted,
"We were told that you would be debriefing us about the situation further once we got here." Minato said.
"Ah yes," Ryusaki said. "You'll be informed at my home were the rest of the council are waiting and it is also where you and your students will be staying. Follow me."
As the team of 3 followed the leader of the village along the streets they were able to see that what Minato-sensei had said about Takuya's practices of slavery to be true. As people passed by them it was clear to them which was a villager and which was a slave.
The villagers were dressed in normal clothing and seemed to live their lives peacefully. Awhile you could clearly see that some slaves wore worn out rags as clothing, others wore chains around their feet and others had the enigma of their masters branded onto their skins. They walked the streets with clouded eyes and tired movements. The sight made a knot form within all of Team 7's stomachs.
"We're here," Ryusaki said, opening the door to a two story house. The inside of the house was averagely spaced as any other house but its furniture made sure to show the position of power the owner had in the village.
"I'll have one of my house slaves show you to your rooms so you can get settled in and then I can you, Namikaze-san, over to the debriefing." Ryusaki reached for a gold bell that sat on one of shelves of the book case that was in the living room and rang it. The bell sent a loud chime throughout the bottom floor. "The young ones can go ahead and rest while we're catching you up to date, Namikaze-san."
"Thank you, Ryusaki-sama." Minato-sensei said a little unenthusiastically.
"You called, sir?" a monotone voice behind Ryusaki said.
Who Team 7 saw stand behind the Takuya village leader broke all their hearts.
It was a boy. A boy who seemed no older than Rin and Obito. He had silver hair that defied gravity and half lidded grey eyes. He was dressed in the same worn out rags that the other slaves wore but the only difference was the dirty green scarf that covered the bottom half of his face.
"Ah yes, Kakashi." Ryusaki greeted the boy with a smile. "Could you show our guests to their rooms?"
"Yes, sir." The boy, Kakashi said. He turned on his heel and started to walk forward. "Please, follow me."