Here is the next chapter. Sorry for the wait. Hope its okay.
Disclaimer: Naruto belongs to Masashi Kishimoto. The fanfic, however, belongs to me! ^_^
Chapter 4: Missions
"The trouble with illusions is that you don't realise you have them until they shatter."
I stared at the dog and the dog stared back at me. It was a medium sized breed with a scraggly black fur that needing scrubbing, and a lean look. To tell the truth, I didn't mind dogs, but this one was an exception. Not that I didn't like its colour, nor its gleaming black eyes, but its attitude reminded me too much of a certain emo boy who just left on a mission the day before. But before I could do anything, a flash of growling and snapping white fur leaped past me and onto the dog. Hmm… looks like Akamaru didn't like this dog either.
"Akamaru!" yelled Kiba from behind me. Soon the hooded wolf-boy was panting beside me and staring at the furious ball of white and black spinning and yapping.
"Mind controlling your dog, Kiba?" Hanaha said calmly. She was on the other side of me with Shino, while Aki-chan and Hinata was nowhere to be seen. Kiba sighed before yelling some orders at Akamaru, but his dog still did not listen. This time, I sighed. With a flick of my hand, I commanded the shadow beneath the two snarling dogs to wrap its black 'tentacles' around them. The shadow tentacles pulled both snapping dogs apart and lifted them into the air. With another flick of my hand, the stray was dropped into Hanaha's expecting arms and Akamaru onto a surprised Kiba's head.
"Come on, let's bring this dog back to its owner and be don with this lame mission," I said and began walking back towards the Hokage's office with Hana-chan. Kiba's team, excluding Hinata, tagged along silently. This was our eighth week with them; our fifth month as a genin and most of the teams in our batch has learnt about Yami (excluding Naruto, Sasuke, Hinata, Shikamaru and Choji. When I said 'most' I meant the senseis.) But surprisingly, Akamaru, who had sensed her first, seemed fine around her. I think that's what convinced Kiba that the jyuubi's temper was no more dangerous than an ordinary stray cat, which amused Yami to no end.
So far, I'd say Shikamaru's team was the best to spend time with. Ino was a nice person to chat with as long as you aren't into Sasuke, Choji had awesome snacks and Shikamaru was the perfect person to hang out with. After all, he too, used shadows as his favourite ninja technique, and our lazy personalities weren't very different. I couldn't wait to train with them again next week.
We found Kurenai-sensei waiting just outside the Hokage's building with Akirai and Hinata. Slackers. They entered the building with us, our sensei praising us for successfully completing this mission without her help, as we made our way to the Hokage's office. Upon reaching the office, we spotted someone else other than the Hokage in the room. It was a young woman (at least she looked young. Who knows how old she may really be) with long raven black hair, fair skin and indigo eyes, wearing a grey cloak.
"Ah. Just in time," said the Hokage when he saw us entering. "This will be your first C-rank mission: escort this lady to the Hidden Grass village." He must have noticed all our "What the heck" expressions and even sensei's surprised look, for he quickly explained the situation.
"This lady stopped by our village yesterday when her escort fell ill on their way to Hidden Grass village. She needs to meet someone in Hidden Grass village urgently; hence she would like to depart soon, leaving her escort in our care. I have the confidence that you will all do fine in it." At this, he gave me a meaningful look. After all, it was him who sent us away from Konoha to hide many years ago, which resulted in me nearly travelling the entire world before returning to Konoha. "Besides, the nameless team has completed a few C-rank missions before, their first one was with Kakashi." And there was also that. Plus, our first higher-than-D-rank mission with Kakashi was actually a B-rank mission in disguise.
We left almost immediately. Packing only the necessary weapons and first aid stuff, we took less than ten minutes to get ready. Food was not needed, as Hana-chan's flora would do the trick. Only Kiba packed some meat for Akamaru to eat. The Hokage waited for us at the gates with the lady introduced herself as Miryoku. We waved goodbye to the village and was about to leave when the Hokage pulled me away to talk to me in private.
"Just a little note, Chizuki. I would like to request that you do not use your shadows for this mission. It is advisable to continue doing so until the end of the Chuunin exams, unless you are in a life-and-death situation. I would like to keep Yami's existence from the other countries for a while more. It will be a good opportunity for you to develop some other techniques to use in combat as well," he said in an undertone to me.
"Eh? When are the Chuunin Exams?"
"In four months time. But I want you to be careful until then. By the way, how's the juubi?"
"Well, as of now, Yami's been pretty quiet today. It's probably the weather. It's been really hot and sunny these few days."
"Hmm. That's about it. I shall not delay your mission any longer. Good luck." He ended the conversation and left us. I proceeded to join the rest of my team and the other team.
"You know, I wish we had a name for our team, you know? Its kinda sad to be always referred to as the nameless team," said Aki-chan when I joined them. "So what did the old man say?"
"He told me not to reveal Yami's abilities during from now on until after the Chuunin Exams. And as for our team's name, its because we don't have a sensei."
"But it'll still be nice to be called something else other than 'nameless'," said Aki-chan, sighing.
"What are you gonna do if you can't use shadows?" asked Hanaha. Of course, she was the practical one. I took out a piece of chakra paper and folded it into a paper crane in two seconds, before letting it ride the wind.
"Someone taught me paper techniques some time ago. I've modified it a little, but I can use it fine. I'll use this chance to practice it, I suppose," I answered, thinking of the time when I travelled to different countries and met this woman who taught me the art. Unlike the three of us who've been to other countries before, be it on missions or before we became genins, it was Team Kurenai's first time out of the village. I'd say that Kiba and Akamaru were as excited as Naruto was when we went on our first mission out of the village. Moreover, if I'm not wrong, one of Hanaha's kin was from the Grass Village even though she was brought up in Iwa.
The atmosphere of the mission was very relaxed, with Hana-chan chatting amicably to Hinata who did most of the listening; Kiba, Akamaru and Akirai playing tag, plus Kurenai and Miryoku conversing animatedly. The only two silent ones amongst us were Shino and I. Who knew what goes on in his head, but as for me, well I must say, the clouds were really nice today: spread across the sky like a fluffy blanket and tinted grey in the far horizon. It wouldn't begin to rain until dusk fell.
Throughout the whole journey, I folded origami according to the shapes I seem to see in the clouds, be it a bird, a sheep or even a snail. There was a moment of chaos when Kiba and Hinata freaked out when I accidentally let loose a family of paper spiders that I had just folded, until Aki-chan set the whole lot of them (the spiders, not Kiba and Hinata) on fire. Chaos ceased, pandemonium ensued. What was at first a family of five harmless paper spiders turned into a family of five fiery burning spiders that produced flaming streams of spider silk. If there weren't a risk of the entire forest catching fire and going up in flames (not to mention the Hokage coming after our hides), I would have found the entire situation freakin' hilarious. So while I struggled to remember the technique to getting my origami to self-destruct, Akirai tried to extinguish her flames but to no avail. No matter what jutsu Kurenai-sensei tried on the spiders didn't work either. I swear the lady we were escorting, Miryoku-san, was laughing, but amidst all the smoking flames, I couldn't be sure.
Yami! Help me remember how to get the artwork to self-destruct!
... Self-destruct? Let's see... Paper Petals Scatter, lightning, wind and crane seal.
Thanks. She responded with an unintelligible grunt. I must say, her unusual silence was very welcomed. I focused back to the pandemonium and tried to find the spiders in the midst of stinging flames and smoke. There was a sudden burst of terror-filled scream, shriller than the shouts that filled the background. Ah. There they are.
"Hinata-chan! Hold still!" I yelled at the frightened kunoichi. Then aiming at the small dark shapes scuttling near her, I did the seals and performed the jutsu. The effect was instantaneous: the fire disappeared as the spiders were reduced to swirling shreds of smoking paper. Silence fell and everyone just stared at the smoking earth. Then...
"Sorry." I muttered, almost at the same time as Aki-chan. Now that was unexpected. Nearly everyone stared at her and she pouted sulkily. I grinned. Akirai actually said an apology? Not bad. Not bad at all.
We continued our journey in silence: Aki-chan was sulking; Shino was, well, Shino; Hinata was still in shock and Kiba was comforting her; Kurenai-sensei was walking ahead of us looking very exasperated; Miryoku-san seemed deep in thought. I was starting to feel kinda suspicious of the woman we were supposed to escort though. I thought, for a moment just now during the fire, that I sensed chakra surrounding her. And the chakra seemed familiar, yet unidentifiable. I considered asking Yami about it, but I decided to leave the grumpy demon alone.
It began to rain as we set up camp that night. Akirai had a hard time maintaining the fire, but Hana-chan had more success in sheltering us from the wind with a thick wall of plants surrounding us. Of course, preventing the plants from being reduced to smoldering ashes was another issue. Dinner was mainly fruits and very soon, the exhausted group fell sound asleep. There was no question who was to take the first watch or any consequent watches. That was my duty as the nocturnal person, not that I got any sleep during the day either.
The night was unpleasant, which was unusual. I tend to like the night and midday best, but it was raining and the leaves of Hana-chan's plants didn't provide much shelter from the rain. I wondered how the group managed to fall asleep so quickly when it was all wet and cold. The strange thing is, I don't mind rain unless it was at night. Even Yami didn't know what to make of that. After a while, I began to wonder if it were possible for my paper technique to work in the rain, and if I were to light it on fire, whether or not it will extinguish. So that night, I spent my time exploring this new technique that I never thought I might need to use years ago when I first learnt it. I somewhat wished that the Hokage could have informed me about not using shadows in advance, then I could have had some practice back in Konoha before using it on this mission. Well, as long as this C-rank mission remains a C-rank mission, everything should be all right... I hope…
Another chapter done! Next one will be up in a week's time. Hope u enjoyed this entry. Please review! XD