TangentOne: What the hell are you doing?
TangentTwo: *Munch* Eating, why?
TangentOne: Because that looks like a dead carcass wrapped in bacon.
TangentTwo: Yeah, it's a baby calf. I like 'em crispy! *Munch*
TangentOne: I have no words.
TangentTwo: Good! Guess you'll have no issues reading this bill then, huh? *Grins*
TangentOne: *Reads aloud* Four hundred million ryo for... the escorts. Almighty fucking help me.
September rolls around, a month and a half later from when Kanae was gifted a tent. Kiyoshi had made progress in teaching Kanae, in that she finally had begun to listen intently. Before it was more of a reluctant acceptance, now she seems eager. At least on the outside. Kanae had another breakthrough with the seals and had finished both books she had been given. Since then, she's been studying the inner workings of more complex seal locks, hoping to gain insight on whatever the men needed.
Kojiro packed his tent when he awoke, finally having a night of peace from his nightmares. Once packed, he kicks Kiyoshi's tent, to find him missing. He looked inside to find a kunai on the bedroll.
There's no whorehouse around here… Kojiro muses before flexing his sensing ability.
As he does so, Kanae flies past him as if kicked in the stomach. She hits a tree at the back of the clearing with the crack of a bone and slumps to the ground. Kojiro instantly reacts, entering heaven path and searching for the assailant. Kiyoshi strolls into the camp leisurely, with no care for anything in the world but his whistling. Kojiro sighs and exits heaven path as Kiyoshi passes him with a jovial wave.
"Morning brother, you must be careful, there's news of flying bodies about." Kiyoshi jokes, still walking toward Kanae.
"Right, well, I hope she's not pissed you off." Kojiro answers, beginning to pack up Kiyoshi's tent.
"Quite the opposite, she finally agreed to spare with me." Kiyoshi says jovially.
"Oh right, and you think kicking her that hard will teach her anything?" Kojiro asks with a 'tsk' at the retreating form.
"Worked for you didn't it?" Kiyoshi winks. "Though I didn't kick her that hard, she had most of the offense."
"Right then, make sure she stays alive. Suna's vault won't open itself." Kojiro quips.
Kiyoshi strolls over to the moaning Kanae and clicks his tongue.
"Even Kojiro could take that hit, and that was when he was seven." Kiyoshi points out to Kanae, laughing slightly.
He watches as she holds her side, waiting for her to get back up onto her feet to continue the spar. Instead, she just groans in pain and clasps her side every time she breathes.
"Help… me… will you?" She gasps out trying to sound sassy.
"Fine, but only this once." Kiyoshi mutters, picking her up into his arms.
Kojiro whistles at his brother finally packed their tents and erased the campsite from history. Everything except Kanae's tent.
"You carrying her the whole way to Suna? I expect not, she has to pack her things. You never helped me like that when I had a broken rib." Kojiro chastises.
"Just put the tent down, I'll buy you whatever you want later." Kiyoshi offers.
"If we get the rod, I won't need your money. Besides, she's your responsibility, you are packing her tent." Kojiro smiles, sealing the tents he's packed away, and picking up the two genin husks over his shoulders.
"Sometimes I wonder why I haven't killed you." Kiyoshi mutters, putting Kanae down and begins to pack her tent and seals.
"Because you love me?" Kojiro reminds him.
"Note to self, Kojiro is never getting laid, and when he next sleeps, his manhood will leave him." Kiyoshi mutters to himself.
"His scars… stop him getting laid already…" Kanae manages out.
"I really like you, you know that right?" Kiyoshi says playfully.
Koijro looks between the two quickly before shrugging and taking off towards the Suna border. He wasn't using Heaven path, so they'd catch up quickly enough.
"I know… I'm perfect..." Kanae mutters out, still struggling with her broken rib.
"Well fuck you, would be nice to reciprocate the fucking gesture." Kiyoshi shouts at her jovially, finishing his packing.
He then enters heaven path and seals away all he's packed and picks up Kanae in his arms again. Then Kiyoshi launches forward, stressing her broken rib and making her groan in pain. He catches his brother quickly, who enters heaven path upon seeing him approach and they head towards the Suna border at a breakneck speed.
An hour passed in relative silence and the Land of Wind's desert peers over the horizon. However, something was off, and Kojiro and Kiyoshi stop abruptly. A large pond was on the grassy side, one that shouldn't be there. As soon as they stop just in front of the body of water, it explodes into near a hundred shinobi. The water disappears as the shinobi form. Stood at the front of the group was a face Kojiro knew well, Asuka.
"Hello, Shishou." Asuka says, twirling a Kunai.
"You're not getting your fucking money back, it's with the whores now." Kiyoshi states, holding Kanae much more protectively than before.
"Hasegawa Asuka, Mei actually trained you to be a Hunter-nin, huh?" Kojiro asks.
"Can I gut her now?" Kiyoshi asks with a smirk.
"You can gut the rest, she's mine." Kojiro says back, staying in heaven path.
Kiyoshi shifts the small Kunoichi to one arm and draws Kubikiribōchō, shifting to hell path.
"Mei-sama trained me personally. My first mission is to bring you two back." Asuka replies, flicking her kunai up and grabbing its handle.
"I knew you had potential, but hunter-nin this quick? Impressive." Kojiro replies, dropping the genin to the ground.
He draws his tanto and ninjato and forms the heaven path stance. Once ready, Asuka launches forward, assaulting Kojiro's defenses effortlessly. She never lands a hit, but she keeps him on the defensive. Soon enough she starts making flesh wounds in Kojiro's body, marking him with streaks of red. Kiyoshi watches the rest of the still shinobi, making sure no one interrupts this fight.
Kojiro continues up his failing defense, barely stopping a slice to his throat. Then he steps back once and begins to be pushed back to better defend himself. The attacks from Asuka speed up, getting harder to block for Kojiro, and eventually, she lands a debilitating strike on his throat, making that Kojiro dissipate in water. She turns back around to find Kojiro staring down at her with a malicious grin.
"Did you really think you were winning?" Kojiro says, earning him another assault from Asuka.
The first strike in that assault was knocked back with the back of his palm, electing not to use his blade. He body flickers behind her and in one swift strike, cuts both tendons in the back of her knees. She falls to the ground, helpless, and he cuts the achilles tendon next, effectively crippling her.
"Stay here for a bit, will you? I've got a few other opponents who are more capable, I hope." Kojiro says the last two words, setting off Kiyoshi who kept a hold of Kanae the whole time he slaughtered the hunter-nin.
Kojiro jolted forward and hit each shinobi in a zig-zag pattern. Each shinobi his blade touched was crippled in some fashion, the loss of the use of their arms, the use of their leg, their hands and some lost their lives. Kojiro effectively crippled thirty shinobi before the rest were able to react, jumping back to avoid his blade. The ones Kiyoshi had targeted lay in pools of blood, piss, shit and intestines. Kojiro turns to his brother with a glint in his eye and a smirk on his lips.
"You can have the rest, brother. Asuka needs my attention." Kojiro says, sheathing his blade and walking back to the crippled ex-apprentice.
"This is why I keep you alive, brother." Kiyoshi states, launching himself as the remaining hunter-nin.
Kojiro stood above Asuka, somewhat sad with the way this turned out. Her eyes were pleading him not to kill her, she had so much to live for.
"Do you know who killed Gozou?" Kojiro asks the prone figure, sitting down on his haunches.
"No… why?" She returns, eyes beginning to glisten with tears.
"I did, and I promise you, it felt great." Kojiro replies, shattering his ex-student.
"How could you!" She roars, swinging her arms just short of him, tears falling freely.
"Because I could, and I wanted to." Kojiro answers solemnly, not quite regretting his next action.
Kojiro flipped his tanto around, holding it in a reverse grip.
"He was so kind to everyone! All he wanted was to help Kiri!" She continues, stopping her useless arm swinging.
"I actually liked you, Asuka. As much as it may not have felt like it, those two weeks, it's true. It pains me to do this, but you force my hand." Kojiro says just as the groaning of the other Hunter-nin died down.
"Then don't do it… let me go back to Kiri… let me go back and grieve my father." Asuka pleads.
"You can grieve with him, wherever he is." Kojiro promises, jutting his blade down into the small of her neck, severing the spinal cord.
Kojiro stood and looked at the battlefield, his brother and Kanae were covered in blood, a small intestine was playing the role of a hat on Kiyoshi's head. He strode over to the two, finding that Kiyoshi was checking over his charge.
"She alright?" Kojiro asks.
"Well, apart from constantly freaking out because of the gallons of blood she's covered in, yeah she's fucking dandy." Kiyoshi laughs.
"Great, I'm sure one of these fucks has a first-aid kit. Get her rib patched up, I'll grab the two other genin." Kojiro leaves the two behind and walks to the genin.
"How the fuck do you patch a person up?" Kiyoshi asks, he's not known to use first aid.
"Well unless you want me as the one looking at her tits, figure it out," Kojiro answers, looking at the two dead genin at his feet, the Hunter-nin got to them. "These two are dead."
"Fucking cunt." Kiyoshi places Kanae onto the ground and tries to figure out how to patch her up.
Kojiro sighs and picks up a first aid kit, then walks to his brother holding out a roll of gauze.
"Take this, and wrap it around her chest tightly at the broken ribs position, the whole width, not top to bottom." Kojiro explains. "That should hold it until her chakra heals it up fully."
"Got it, I think." Kiyoshi responds, following his brother's instructions.
Kanae grunts in pain, but never opens her eyes. The sight around her was more painful than her ribs, and she didn't want to see it. She found the pressure ease up on her lung as the gauze wrapped the bone tighter to its break, effectively setting it.
"Good job, now you can set a broken rib." Kojiro comments praisingly.
"Kojiro, would you mind holding your arm up a second?" Kiyoshi asks.
"Nah, I enjoy my bones in the correct state. I've never had a broken one before, and I intend on keeping it that way." He replies, taking off into the desert.
Kiyoshi picks up Kanae and moves her towards a less bloody area before setting her back down. He then grabs a seal, and Kanae opens her eyes to look at what he's doing. He pushes chakra into the seal, revealing his monstrous cloak from Kumo. Then he throws it at her.
"Put it on." Kiyoshi orders.
Kanae quickly wraps herself in the cloak, and to Kiyoshi, it looks like a baby in a bundle. He laughs loudly, much to her chagrin.
"What's so funny?" She asks, still pained but feeling better.
"You look like a fucking baby!" Kiyoshi roars with laughter.
Kanae's cheeks turn bright red and she eyes him maliciously.
"Well sorry! People from Konoha aren't giants like you Kiri folk!" She exclaims.
"I'd rather be a giant then a Konoha coward." Kiyoshi replies swiftly, not wanting to lose a banter battle with her.
"You know, not all Konoha shinobi are weak." Kanae points out.
"When one is strong enough to kill me, then I'll change my opinion on it." Kiyoshi offers.
"I bet the Hokage could kill you." She answers, thinking she's won.
"I'd love to see him try. Would be a great morning workout before I fight some really strong, like the Raikage." Kiyoshi states.
"You're just saying that because he's old! You know what they say about old Shinobi, right? They're old for a reason." Kanae replies.
"You know what, when we next go to Konoha, I'll kill him and prove it. I'll even take on ANBU at the same time." Kiyoshi promises, no hint of a lie or fear in his tone.
Kanae doesn't have a response, so she tightens the cloak around her. Kiyoshi accepts her concession of defeat and picks her back up bridal style. He then shifts to heaven path and shoots after his brother.
The three stop when Suna comes into view, the giant walls of the village barring any intrusion except through the main gate. Kiyoshi sets his charge on the ground and looks towards Kojiro, who seems deep in thought.
"So slaughter?" Kiyoshi asks, no real expectations.
"No." Kojiro denies for the thousandth time.
"So, seeing as you won't let my fun, we tunneling in?" Kiyoshi offers a good plan for a change.
"Well, we could tunnel into Suna, or we could scale the walls. Either way, I'm thinking we'll need to tunnel into the vault room anyway." Kojiro gives a choice.
"As much fun as scaling the wall would be, it's smarter to tunnel from outside of Suna. They may be dumb fucks but they would notice a huge fucking hole in the dirt." Kiyoshi points out, much to Kanae's surprise.
"Wait, you're not just muscle?" Kanae quips.
"You do know I'll still happily kill you, right?" Kiyoshi questions, glaring at her.
"Yeah, yeah, I know. You remind me once a week." Kanae points out nonchalantly.
"Well if you keep sassing me, you'll wake up with a tent full of dead bodies." Kiyoshi promises.
"Alright, shut up you two. One of you is bad enough…" Kojiro comments, flipping through a few hand seals.
When he finished, he submerged into the sand, finding earth jutsu just as easy as it used to be. Even better, he found it much easier than normal due to the earth already being broken down in the form of sand. He 'swam' towards Suna's walls underground, using his sensing ability to lead him towards the population. Kiyoshi watched as his brother disappeared from sight before turning to Kanae.
"What nature releases do you know?" Kiyoshi queries.
"Water… I'm just a genin you know." Kanae replies.
"When I was a genin, I knew three, and you say Konoha-nin aren't cowards." Kiyoshi replies, disappointed.
"Knowing one release, and being a coward, are not synonymous." Kanae retorts, standing on her own feet for the first time today.
"Oh, now you can walk. Making me fucking carry you." Kiyoshi says then mutters to himself.
"I thought you liked carrying pretty girls." Kanae replies with a wink.
"Who said you were pretty? I've seen prettier shits, namely mine, they're golden." Kiyoshi retorts, laughing to himself.
Kanae pouts and waits for him to stop laughing before replying.
"Well, am I coming with you into Suna? Figured you needed me for something." She returns, pouting still.
"Yes you are, so shut up." Kiyoshi voices.
Much to her dissatisfaction, Kiyoshi picks her up again, keeping her wrapped in the cloak. Then he throws her onto his shoulder so he can use his hands for the jutsu. He shifts through them quickly, disappearing with Kanae under the sand which fills itself above him, not a hole to be recognized. He follows Kojiro's chakra signal, making sure to keep oxygen flowing through the sand down to their tunnel.
Eventually, he catches up to Kojiro, who had stopped and created a small room under sandstone. The room was not tall enough for any of them to stand, and barely fit them as they squatted.
"Took you long enough, what the fuck were you talking about?" Kojiro asks.
"He doesn't think I'm pretty." Kanae says simply.
Kojiro studies the girl, then looks back to Kiyoshi.
"Sometimes you can be right, brother." Kojiro agrees.
Kiyoshi begins laughing, starting small. As the reality of the joke sinks in, and the pout of his charge's face in his periphery settle, he starts to roar laughing. When he finally settled down, Kanae had turned pink, and Kojiro was smiling.
"You two suck sometimes." Kanae says.
"Only sometimes?" Kojiro asks quizzically.
"Only sometimes." She affirms.
Kojiro shrugs and turns back to Kiyoshi.
"The vault seems like a blackout under the village, there are other underground buildings, but the only one I can't tell anything about would likely be the vault. I can't tell if it's hollow or just a foundation, but it seems too far down for the latter, and I can sense four more in a room in front. I can't promise it's the vault, but from the Raikage's explanation, this would be the likely bet." Kojiro explains.
"Wait, we're on a mission for the Raikage?" Kanae asks dumbfounded.
"We are, you're along for the ride. We already told you that, anyway." Kojiro explains.
"You did? I must not have been listening." Kanae replies.
"An S-rank for your first mission, she's doing better than you Kojiro." Kiyoshi jokes.
"I highly doubt this is her first mission." Kojiro points out, and Kanae nods in agreement.
"Her first mission that fucking matters, Konoha missions a baby could finish." Kiyoshi returns, laughing harder.
"Well, my first mission was painting a fence." Kanae answers.
"See what I fucking mean!" Kiyoshi bellows with laughter.
"Yeah, the missions in Kiri, even for the genin, are generally hunter missions. Genin go out to hunt hides and things like that, learning essential trade skills. Fucking lazy ass baby pampering Konoha has you painting?" Kojiro answers with a question, dumbfounded.
"It teaches us to move our limbs better." Kanae replies, trying to defend her village.
"I fucking heard it all now!" Kiyoshi topples over, even in the confined space he finds room.
Kojiro just spits and shakes his head.
"That's a waste. It took you three months to learn lock and key seals, and they have you painting fences. Fuck's sake," Kojiro continues, running through more hand seals. "We'd best get going, I hate being this far from water."
"True, not being around water fucking sucks." Kiyoshi agrees through abated laughs before calming down completely.
Kojiro finishes the jutsu and launches through the sand, and Kiyoshi throws Kanae back over his shoulder and follows Kojiro with his own jutsu.