(Fifteen Years Old)
Kazeshini yawned as she woke up. She had been sleeping against a massive plushy she had sown herself in boredom one day, and it was shaped like a chair with a back and arm rests, but it was still a tiger plushy that fit against the head of her futon.
Getting up and getting dressed was the next thing she did, not one to laze about when she knew being lazy could one day be her death in this bloody world. She walked outside and began her morning routine. She ran for half an hour with her weight seal increased again, and then did various other activities such as push-ups, sit-ups, crunches, squats, lunges, punching a log, kicking a log, and dozens of stretches that kept her flexible enough that she could do a forearm stand with her feet flat near her face and her entire body bent backwards.
After her morning workout, Kazeshini created a few mizu bunshins to do the chores around the house before getting something to eat herself. She was finally old enough to do the Uzumaki chains, since it was a dangerous technique that required a certain level of chakra and chakra density that only came with age. When a person ages, their chakra naturally becomes more dense which is another reason why very old shinobi, such as Sarutobi Hiruzen had been so dangerous, their chakra density and their experience.
She practiced using the chakra chains, which also required being an Uzumaki with the special Uzu chakra, for a little while before making more mizu clones to help around the house and then heading off to team practice.
Kazeshini stopped at the mission office, run by the clan head and elders, and received a mission scroll to complete with her team.
Itsui and Yuri were already sparring against each other while Hisane was currently on a mission. "Ohayogozaimasu, Itsui-kun, Yuri-kun."
"Ohayo!" Yuri and Itsui greeted back, stopping their spar to greet their teammate.
"I have some good news; our team has been chosen to partake in a mission to retrieve and artifact from the Yamatai clan. The artifact belonged to a noble family, before it was stolen. We were assigned the task of retrieving the item and bringing it back to our employer. The money given to the clan upon the completion of this mission is a large enough sum that the clan elders have pushed this on a team with higher qualifications than normal."
Yuri snorted, "We've been going on back to back missions lately to sabotage our enemy clans. This will be a break that I think is long overdue. I practically have only a single set of my kunoichi outfits that hasn't been stained by blood."
Itsui sighed but agreed with Yuri, though he wasn't often the one getting bloody since he stayed a lot as backup on such missions. He wasn't near as good at stealth as his two female teammates, but he was a better heavy hitter and tracker then both of them.
Kazeshini herself had been on twice the amount of missions compared to her teammates. Being an amazing saboteur had its good points, but she was more of an assassin. This meant that Kazeshini went on plenty of solo missions without her team. Kazeshini often hated those missions, but being so good at stealth and one hit kills meant that she was obviously a good assassin. It had all started at trying to hit fast and hard trying not to get hit since her small body couldn't take a hit when she was eight. Now she felt like she couldn't wash the blood off her hands and that they were forever stained.
Her paintings had shown this change in her psyche; where before she had drawn relaxing, natural and beautiful paintings, now she drew darker themes. Dead bodies lying bloodied by weaponry, skeletons, skulls, ravens, women from the celebration she remember during the Day of the Dead in her old world, sharks, thorn covered roses, gravesites, and other dark themes. Everything was still beautiful, with flowing lines and delicate detail, but the themes of her paintings had grown increasingly darker. Her paintings had fallen off the civilian market but the shinobi side had begun snapping them up as quick as Kazeshini could make them.
"I'll be waiting at the docks for you guys in an hour. Pack for two weeks." Kazeshini said before using shunshin to head back home, not waiting for any confirmation.
It took only a minute to grab two scrolls she kept prepared for her missions. She had a handful of scrolls labeled for different things such as a simple mission, weeklong mission, two week mission, month mission, and six month mission. These scrolls were filled with supplies to last the specified time plus a week extra just to be on the safe side for when missions go belly up. She grabbed the scroll labeled two weeks, and she grabbed her gear scroll which was filled with practically everything she might need or have use of on any type of mission she had ever been on.
From there, Kazeshini grabbed her armor and clothes that were to be worn on missions which consisted of her grey hakama top, black pants, actual leather boots since Kazeshini refused to wear shinobi sandals, black leather gloves, and a black facemask that came up past her nose to hide the lower half of her face. Her armor consisted of black leather bracers etched with fuinjutsu seals disguised as tiger stripes, black suneate (shin guards) that tied over her boots, black sode (Japanese shoulder guards) that fit tightly around each bicep, the sode were connected to metal pauldrons that fit tight to her shoulders, the pauldrons were connected to a thick armored collar that came up to her ears on either side of her neck, she also had armor around her torso that was finely decorated, and two kasazuri (plated armor) to guard on either side of her hips to her thighs.
(A/N: Google image search- Armor Hatake by Kanzzzaki)
Her hitai-ate with the Uzu clan spiral went on her forehead, and her kunai pouch was tied securely around her right thigh. Her tanto was tied to the small of her back with her large supply scroll tied underneath. Her nodachi would have been carried over a shoulder, the weapon being too long to carry any other way lest it drag on the ground, but she had only just fleshed out the fuin seals that she would be placing on the blade so she wasn't carrying it with her on this mission. Instead, she was carrying a plain katana which she was well versed in using in a seal on the back of her left pauldron; therefore she would only have to reach back to her left shoulder to unseal her weapon. Finally, the trademark bright red hair of the Uzumaki clan had been tied up in a single tail high on her head.
Kazeshini smiled warmly to her mother as she left her room all decked out in her armor ready for her mission. "Ahh, haha-ue, I am delighted to say goodbye before I left for my mission, and I will be back within two weeks." Kazeshini gave a polite bow to her mother before give the older woman a gentle hug. Kazeshini made a few quick bunshins to clean up her forging oven while she left for her mission and shunshined to the docks where Itsui was waiting.
He was dressed in armor as well, though not anywhere near as form fitting around the shoulders and torso as Kazeshini plus his armor was bright red like the Uzumaki hair unlike Kazeshini's dark blacks and grey armor. Itsui also carried a katana at his side, well versed in using the weapon but it was not something he used for every confrontation since he was more of a ninjutsu specialist. His red hair was short with only a few strands falling over his forehead, and his eyes were the common Uzumaki violet.
"Hey Kazeshini-chan!" Itsui waved excitedly, reminding Kazeshini vividly of a puppy.
"Itsui, it has not even been half an hour since we last saw each other." Kazeshini spoke with a raised eyebrow. It took so long only because she took her time putting on her armor which was a common protection nearly all clans shared in this time of war.
"So? Jeez, you need to lighten up a bit!" Itsui smiled warmly while nagging on his teammate who he had always seen acting prim and proper. That was one thing that confused him about her. She was so prim and proper yet she had refused any sort of marriage contract where as both he and Yuri had been in marriage contracts. He had already married to a cute little Uzumaki girl just within the past year and Yuri was planning her wedding for next year.
Itsui had invited his team to the wedding and had been absolutely amazed that Kazeshini had actually shown up since practically the entire village knew that she hated clan gatherings. When asked, she had replied, "I hate wasting time, but you are my teammate and I also like dressing up for something I deem worthwhile."
From that point, they had gone beyond just teammates to actual friends since Itsui had always though Kazeshini too serious to have a close friendship with other than being a team member.
Yuri came in a shunshin ten minutes after Kazeshini wearing armor that was twice as complicated compared to Kazeshini's armor, but it was fancy and told of how much money she had spent to get it with its beautiful etchings and silk tied overlapping plates. Yuri had splurged on her armor, wanting to look good even when dressed for battle. "Hey guys, are we going now?"
Kazeshini nodded before leaping off the docks and to the sea which was churning lightly even in the protected cove. The cove protected the docks and ships from the churning whirlpools that guarded the entire island. She ran swiftly across the water, headed for the whirlpools around the island.
Itsui and Yuri leapt after her, running just as swiftly over open water, and they followed behind their team leader as they raced for the mainland.
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Chapter Twenty(Fifteen Years Old)
Kazeshini had led her team through the ever shifting maze of whirlpools and they stepped onto dry land exactly nine hours after leaving Uzu. Running straight would have only taken them four hours since Kazeshini assumed they traveled at high chunin or jounin speed, but the ever shifting maze of deadly whirlpools made the trip five hours longer.
It was a good thing that they were all Uzumaki's with the Uzumaki stamina or they would never make it without getting exhausted. Kazeshini had a slight headache from running through the whirlpools because these natural hazards weren't silent at all. Instead, they roared like beasts: loud enough to drown out a person yelling right next to you. A few hours of constant, ear numbing roaring would give anyone a headache, but Kazeshini only rested for a few minutes on the beach of the mainland before darting off with chakra aiding her speed.
Itsui and Yuri leapt after her, keeping just a bit behind her in a triangle formation.
They were all silent as they headed to their destination, mentally preparing for the mission though they each knew that it should be an easy in and out type mission.
The land was covered in forests and Kazeshini was well versed in hopping from tree to tree. The forest's branches were like a thousand different pathways all available for travel, you only had to pay attention to see it. She jumped quickly from branch to branch, around tree trunks, and using thinner branches to swing across gaps with her momentum alone.
Her armor was silent, as well oiled and taken care of as it was, Kazeshini was pleased to hear not even the soft scrape of leather on silk as she had added fuin seals of silence all over every single piece of her armor. She was silent as a wraith as she jumped through the trees, not even a mark of her chakra was left behind nor was there the scrape of a boot on a branch, not even a twig or leave was broken as she passed through as if she was a ghost.
They stopped for the night, sleeping in the trees since they had no need of a fire for warmth because their chakra could keep them warm enough. It was also a safety measure against having anyone nearby see their fire and come investigate, which always meant a fight was about to happen since the chances of meeting an allied clan member was rare when out in the field.
Kazeshini and her team ate as they ran, too professional to stop like little kids on their first out of village mission, and they ran without pause to their destination save for sleep. They only really paused for sleep because running at night was tedious and unnecessary when not on a highly important mission that was on the level of ANBU mission, from what she still remembered of the classifications.
They swiftly traveled through what would be Land of Hot Water, Rice, Waterfall, and into Earth when they finally stopped just outside of the valley which their quarry was located. The civilian compound was right next to a ninja clan, Kazeshini suspected that the ninja clan protected the civilian one for the money and other goods that ninja couldn't get or make themselves. Kazeshini scowled and gave a hand signal to her teammates to back off.
She transformed into her mismatch bird form, only for two hours, and quickly scouted the civilian compound. The artifact that they needed was some old scroll with what was said to be scripture made by some very old and very famous monk. She spotted scroll, unrolled and carefully pinned up so the scripture could be viewed, right next to a whole group of other artifacts and items Kazeshini assumed had been stolen because nothing looked like it belonged together save for all the artifacts were expensive.
With quick wing beats, Kazeshini flew back to her team and transformed on a tree branch above their heads. They jumped in surprise when she suddenly jumped down to stand right next to them after her two hours of the transformation were over. "We will not be breaking in until dark. I shall create an illusion tag so the civilian will not notice their artifact is gone. I will also be stealing the other artifacts that I assume were stolen as well. Be prepared to leave after I've stolen all the artifacts and set the tag."
Yuri and Itsui nodded before jumping into the trees to nap until dark. They all dozed for the remaining time, alert but resting for the few hours until dark. They didn't move but to stretch once in a while so cramps couldn't set in, but they waited. Kazeshini was leaning against the trunk of the tree she was resting on, her legs outstretched on the tree branch that she had chosen to rest on. Itsui was resting on a branch a bit higher on the same tree, and Yuri was lying down on a wider branch lower in the tree.
It was nearing dark when three little kids, the oldest could be no older than ten, walked right under the tree that Kazeshini, Itsui and Yuri were resting on. Kazeshini hadn't even sensed them coming, she deduced they must be from the ninja clan who must have some sort of kekkei genkei. She wasn't the best sensor in the Uzumaki clan, but she was fairly decent with a range of just over a thousand meters. That meant that these kids, still in training, could hide their chakra well enough to escape her notice. It also didn't help that these three kids had been able to disguise their chakra to mimic the signature of the goats they were herding.
All three of the Uzumaki's froze, watching with baited breath as the three children horsed around uncaring to how close they were to their three potential killers. Kazeshini made a silent hand signal, telling her two teammates to hide carefully so the three little clan kids couldn't detect them.
She herself didn't move an inch, frozen like she was stone, and watched the three playing children carefully, right until one of them dared the other to climb the tree to find a birds nest.
With a signal, Kazeshini and her teammates had leapt from the tree to force each child to collapse unconscious without warning or chance of the children alerting any clan shinobi. However, it was not to be as Kazeshini looked to her two teammates having felt the flare of chakra that the youngest unknown boy, who was lying collapsed under Yuri, had given off in his fright. She hadn't been able to cause the boy to collapse unconscious and the boy had released a burst of chakra which would easily notify enemy shinobi.
"This mission must continue, we don't know what would happen to the scrolls if this clan knew we were here to steal them. However someone must have felt that flare and will come investigate. They will know something has happened so we hide these three and continue on with the mission and finish it now." Kazeshini unsealed a bit of rope and cloth before she tied up the child she had knocked unconscious and gagged the boy with the cloth. Her teammates followed her example in tying up and gagging their two victims and watched with raised eyebrows as she slung her child underneath a particularly large goat and tied the child firmly against the animal's belly.
The stink of the animal hid any scent the kid gave off and the long fur hid both the rope wrapped around the animal and the child on its belly. The goat gave a bleat in slight distress, not liking what was happening to it but calmed when it was released to roam back with the herd of other goats. Itsui and Yuri did the same thing with their children, and they were impressed with how hard it was to spot the children who were now hidden and constantly on the move.
No matter how strong of a kunoichi Kazeshini would be, she had an ironclad rule to never hurt unarmed children and even young shinobi or kunoichi in training could be off limits. No matter how many times she killed various men and women, many of whom she had no actual quarrel with, she would never harm a child. Strapping these unconscious children to the bellies of these goats would mean that they would be disguised and hidden.
Kazeshini led her two teammates to the other side of the two compounds and small village they were located in, and with the setting sun at their back, they ran across the open field for the civilian compound. They ran swiftly, without breaking any grass beneath their feet, and quickly made their way into the building where Kazeshini had spotted the old scriptures, written by that once famous monk. Yuri and Itsui quickly began sealing away everything that hadn't been nailed down while Kazeshini quickly began painting an illusion seal on the floor. Within only a few minutes, everything had been sealed away and Kazeshini had completed the seal.
She charged it with a bit of the nature chakra stored away in the seal on her belly before taking point to leave as swiftly as they had arrived.