I'm such a naughty, naughty author. I've been trying to update once a week, but I'm failing miserably at that. I literally told myself all last week "you need to go update" and then I'd tell myself "I'll do it later" and now look where we're at. Over a week since an update. My baad.
I don't own Naruto.
Chapter Twenty-One – Easy Times
The next week I found myself in the Hokage Tower, standing before our Lady Hokage.
"You wished to see me, ma'am?" I asked politely, curious as to what I was doing here. I hadn't signed my team up for any missions yet, and as far as I had heard there had been no crisis recently.
"How is your stomach, Maia?" She asked, ignoring my question. I unconsciously laid a hand to rest where the wound had just finished healing at.
"It's fine, Hokage-sama. The wound is just about completely healed."
"Good, because you need to be in top shape for this next mission."
"Mission? I didn't put in a request for my team to begin a new mission." I protested.
"This is not a mission for your genin team to take part in, unless you're sure they're capable of taking on a B-rank mission." I looked at her, thinking of my team.
"Will I be performing this mission alone, then, if I cannot take my squad with me?" The woman before me shook her head.
"No. I was going to have you lead your old team if your current one can't take the heat." I'd been with my genin for seven and a half months now. They were pretty strong, and I was thinking of letting them try out for the next chuunin exam, which was in three months. Hanabi was great in her use of the Gentle Fist style coupled with the Byakugan, and the others were pretty talented too. Nobori was skilled in his use of poisons and could use my own genjutsu, Bloody Rose, much more efficiently than I ever could at his age. Daichi was using some pretty strong ninjutsus, and all of them were quite powerful in the area of taijutsu. They were quite fast and very strong, which was something I had drilled into them constantly.
"I believe that Team Maia is capable of a B-ranked mission, Lady Hokage." I said after a long moment.
"Very well then. You will leave tomorrow to the Land of Fire's Port City with Amarante Naruhito and her two five year old twins, Haruhi and Haruki. From there, you will escort her to her home in the Land of Waves, to her husband in Kirigakure."
"I don't understand. This is a simple escort mission – why is it B-ranked?"
"Lady Naruhito is the wife to one of the advisors to the Mizukage, and so she is a fine target for any assassins."
"Why is Lady Naruhito in the Land of Fire?" I asked, curiosity getting the better of me.
"She was visiting her family, who originated in our Lands." I nodded.
"Very well then. We shall meet her where? Here? Or at the gates?"
"You and your team shall meet the lady and her children here."
"Yes, Hokage-sama." I replied. "Is there anything else, my lady?"
"No, Maia. Be careful, and bring back your genin safe."
"Yes Lady Hokage." I told her, bowing slightly before exiting the room. I had to get back to my team, who I had left training alone when the summons reached me.
It didn't take long to reach them. I found Nobori making poisons in the shade of a tree, while Daichi and Hanabi were sparring.
"Freeze!" I called. Everyone stopped; Daichi, who had been about to throw a kunai, dropped the kunai to the ground while Hanabi lowered her hands to look at me with Byakugan-enhanced eyes. Nobori stilled his hands, looking up at me. I smiled. "We have a new mission, everyone."
"What is it?" Daichi asked, excitedly interrupting me. I raised a hand to silence him.
"It is a B-ranked mission. Hey!" I clapped my hands together as Daichi and Nobori cheered. Hanabi looked quite pleased as well, though she was much less vocal. They had all been dying to get a higher ranked mission than a simple D- or C-rank. "Be quiet you two. Now, our mission is to escort Lady Amarante Naruhito and her two five year olds Haruhi and Haruki. We are escorting her to her husband in Kirigakure, who is one of the Mizukage's advisors. You have the rest of the day to pack anything you think you will need for this trip. It will probably be a month or so before we return home, since we have to travel by boat part of the way as well. Nobori," I pointed at the boy. "I will carry your herbal supplies, along with vials. After this mission I will teach you how to make the seals that I make. You will need your own bowls and other such implements. Meet me in the Hokage Tower at nine a.m. sharp tomorrow! You are dismissed." The three left after Nobori had packed up. I would get my things together later – I still had a good couple of hours, and I had a store of kunais prepped already. Now that I was a jounin, missions were sprung on me without hardly any notice, and so I'd learned to be prepared well in advance. So, instead of going home, I headed to training ground 6, where Team Gai would be training. Indeed they were. Lee and Neji were sparring, while Tenten watched. I moved to stand next to her.
"Hey Maia, what's up?" Tenten greeted, cheerfully.
"My team just accepted its first B-ranked mission. We're escorting the wife of an advisor to the Mizukage home. It's going to be loads of fun. Assassins, bandits, the occasional wild animal or two; my team was so excited, but I bet they won't be able to wait until it's over." Tenten laughed softly.
"I remember when we were like that. At least they'll put forth their all."
"That's true. I just thought I'd let you know, since it means I have to dump Ryu at your place again."
"Oh, don't worry, Mom doesn't mind. She loves the boy as if he were her own son. She's going to be quite disappointed when he becomes a genin and can stay home by himself."
"He's growing up. She'll understand."
"I hope so. She'd better not get all weepy and stuff. She can be so overdramatic sometimes." I laughed.
"Oh, you'll survive." I glanced up at the sun. "I do need to go pack, though. Tell the others my news, will you?" She nodded.
"Good luck and come back safe." She called after me, and I nodded dutifully before going home, where I found Ryu.
"You weren't on the training ground today." He said accusingly. I smiled at him.
"Sorry, sorry. I had to dismiss my team early today. We were assigned a B-rank mission today."
"Well, you weren't here either."
"I had to tell Team Gai, now didn't I?" I countered, my tone still gentle as I moved over to my poisons desk. I pulled my scrolls off my back and opened and unsealed the first, revealing a large bag. I opened it and pulled out the racks of tubes from within to examine them. There were nine racks of six tubes. Three copies of the main poisons I used: paralysis, deadly, sleeping, pain, delusions, dizziness, nausea, loss of equilibrium, and shaking. These were sealed with special corks that had brushes imposed on the other side. The cork wouldn't let anything seep out, and I could pull them out and use the brush from the inside to reapply poison to my kunais. The other three tubes on each rack were antidotes, which had a hypodermic needle covered by a cap on the end, instead of a cork-brush, so that I could use them easily. Happy with what I saw, I replaced each into the bag. I was tempted to bring the poison I'd learned from that Akatsuki goon, but I determined it was too horrid for this trip, though I did pack copies of the antidote, to be safe. I'd broken the poison's code two days after I'd returned to Konoha from Suna.
I resealed the large bag of poisons and antidotes away before unsealing the second scroll, which held my healing potions. There were ten potent healing potions that were sealed with corks and ten with hypodermics. Then, five of the lesser healing potions with corks, and five with hypodermics. None were cracked or broken in anyway, so I replaced them in their places. Since it was a pretty good sized bag for such few items, I also used this as a medical bag. I tucked in four large rolls of bandages, two on either side of each rack so that they would be evenly spaced. Then, a small sack of soldier pills and three holsters of weapons, one for kunais, one for shuriken, and one for senbon; all clean. I resealed this bag back into its place in the second scroll. I gave a cursory glance to by poison tools, just making sure they were clean and unbroken before replacing them. I pulled the fourth scroll out then and grimaced. I needed to restock a lot of the herbs, having relied on this scroll the most in Suna. I made a list – a long one – and set it on the table next to the scroll, which had been resealed. I finally moved to the fifth scroll, which held a little of everything I ever needed.
There was a single copy of each poison and antidote, including the one from the Akatsuki man, in a nice little rack. A single holster of the three weapons I use – senbon, kunai, and shuriken – along with another roll of bandages was next to a coil of wire. Finally, I placed some energy bars, soldier pills, and healing potions inside and sealed it off. I never really expected to use this scroll, but if the unlikely event where I was separated from my four other scrolls occurred, I wanted to be prepared. I replaced all my scrolls in the bag before calling out to Ryu to let him know I was going shopping for herbs. That took an hour, since I had to go to four different stores to get all the herbs, and then I needed to seal them. Finally I returned home, just as the sun was going down. I quickly went to my room to finish packing. I only needed to put clothes and food into the pack, so I had plenty of space, unlike what poor Nobori had. Well, I had to rough it like him too. I made tight bundles of clothes – one kimono top, one pair of pants, and a pair of sleeves each – to conserve as much space as possible. I made seven of these bundles, taking up most of the space in the pack. I filled the rest of the space with dried meat and fruit, little balls of noodles and herbs which made tasty stews, and energy bars.
I set the pack by the door. I saw Ryu's there too, already packed and ready to go for Tenten's house. I heard noises in the kitchen, and I knew without looking he was in there cooking. Tenten's mom had taught him that, for which I was quite grateful. Some days when I was in Konoha I couldn't take time to cook and he'd saved me the trouble. So, with the problem of dinner off my chest, I went back to the poison desk again. I pulled my gloves off my hands and carefully pulled out all the senbons from their positions to place different ones in. These were more recently poisoned, and so I wanted the fresher batch with me. That done, I switched out all of my poisoned kunais as well. I ended with thirteen paralysis kunai, ten sleep kunai, seven dizziness kunai, and then five of both the nausea and shaking kunai in my first holster. The second holster took ten of each of the pain kunai, delusion kunai, and the equilibrium loss kunai. Finally, I replaced the senbon in the hidden compartment up my arm. With a nudge from my chakra, these razor sharp needles would slide down my arm and land between my fingers, where I could either throw them or stab with them. They were all poisoned, and depending on which arm I used depended on the poison. I used only paralysis and sleeping poisons with my senbons, so that I didn't need to guess at what poison was in the system of whomever was hit with them. The enemy still had time to throw the needles at someone else before the poison made them fall, so it was easier and safer this way.
By the time I was done, Ryu had served and eaten half of his dinner. My food was still warm, and we had a quite, companionable dinner.
"Don't forget to train while I'm gone. You can always go to training ground 6. Tenten, Neji, or Lee will watch over you. Keep your grades up and don't annoy Tenten's mom."
"I will. Of course. Yes, Maia." He responded, and I grinned at him.
"Alright, go get some sleep. I'll see you again in awhile, alright?" I messed up his hair, and he grimaced, batting my hand away playfully.
"Hey, cut it out! I'm going, I'm going!" I watched as he went to the bathroom, sighing as a morbid thought entered my head. Well, it always entered my head whenever I was going to leave the village on a mission. I always wondered if it would be the last time I'd see the people here, and then I'd wonder what would happen to Ryu if I were to perish in the field. I then shook my head and forced happier thoughts into my head. Once Ryu was safely in bed, I followed suit and was soon asleep.
The next day I got dressed in my usual attire. Then, I added my hidden senbons to my wrists, pulled my gloves on, and then brushed my hair before braiding it with the spiked cord. I added a second one into my pack, in case this one broke. After eating a quick breakfast of eggs and toast, I shouldered my pack, tied my hitai-ate to my thigh, strapped the scrolls onto my back, and grabbed both of my kunai holsters with one hand, grabbing my fifth scroll with the other. I tucked the scroll into the holster with the more deadly and painful poisons, before placing that holster further along my waist than the other, so that when I went for a weapon, the first thing I grabbed wasn't something that would kill. I left, locking the door behind me, and rushed to the Hokage tower. It was later than I thought.
For all my rushing, I still arrived five minutes before nine. My students all stood there ready with their packs. I smiled at them before knocking on the door. When we were called in, I ushered them in before following after them to close the door.
"Team Maia, welcome. Lady Naruhito and her children have just arrived. Shizune will be bringing them here in a moment. You are to protect these three with your lives. If they don't return home to the Land of Water safely, our village will be placed in a compromising situation. Do you understand?"
"Yes, Hokage-sama!" My three students replied. I nodded solemnly, turning as the doorknob shook, announcing that people were entering. It was Shizune with the woman and her children.
"Team Maia, please meet Lady Amaranth Naruhito and her children Lady Haruhi Naruhito and Lord Haruka Naruhito. Lady Amaranth, these shinobi will escort you to your home."
"It is a pleasure to meet you all." The woman said gracefully. She was dressed in a sensible kimono for travelling. It was split up the sides so that she could run if she needed to, and her sandals were strong enough for a long period of walking. The two children were in shorts and shirts. They'd probably end up being carried most of the way, which was fine with me. It was easier to protect something you were carrying.
"I am glad to make your acquaintance, My Lady." I replied, bowing slightly to her.
"Please. For this trip, call me Amaranth. We'll be in close quarters, and all this My Lady nonsense will get very tiresome." I grinned to myself. She was quite sensible indeed!
"As you wish, Amaranth." I replied graciously. "My name is Maia, and I am the leader of this squad. My teammates are Nobori Sasaki," He bowed slightly. "Daichi Nakamura," He too, bowed. "and Hanabi Hyuuga." She went to curtsy, realized she wasn't in a kimono, and smoothly changed into a bow.
"Now that you are all introduced, I believe it is time to be on your way. Team Maia, you are dismissed." Lady Tsunade ordered.
"Yes, Lady Hokage." We chimed, and then I ushered everyone out of the room. We exited and headed towards the gates, where we found a small wagon with their things. It was drawn by a single horse, who looked strong enough to carry more than the small wagon. Good. We may need to run.
"First things first." I said decisively, leading the horse to the side, so that we didn't block the gate. "Amaranth, please fill this bag with a change or two of clothes for yourself and your children, and then fill the extra space with as much food as you possibly can." I handed her the saddle bag from the horse. It sat behind a light pad that served as the saddle. If worst came to worst, we could throw Amaranth upon the saddle and unhitch the horse so that it could run while the rest of us carried ourselves and the children. Once the woman was finished, I firmly attached the bag to its appropriate place.
"Can you ride a horse, Amaranth?" I asked her.
"A little." She admitted, looking at the horse.
"Hmm…" I assessed our group. "If there is the need for you to ride the horse, Daichi will ride with you." All shinobi had basic training with all animals. "He's the best with animals of those among us. He will keep you in the saddle and the horse moving away from enemies, which is all he'll need to do. We'll find you, no matter where the horse goes. The rest of us will carry the children away." Amaranth looked stricken. "This is only for the worst case scenario. We probably won't need to ditch the wagon. I just want you to be prepared." She nodded slowly. I looked at my children. "All of us, except for Hanabi, will take a turn at driving this wagon. Hanabi is our best lookout, and I will be putting her skills to the best use." I looked to Amaranth. "I would rather you and your children were not within the wagon there. There is only one way to get out, and if it were to catch fire or explode, everyone within would be trapped. Your children are welcome to be carried or ride next to the person driving, however." The wagon was indeed a rolling deathtrap, but it was all we had. "Now, there is one last thing before we leave." I pulled out radios from my pocket. "We're on wavelength two. Keep these on at all times, in case we get separated, alright?"
"Yes, Maia-sensei." I smiled.
"Good. Let's get our passports, and we'll head out." The guard handed my team the passports. We were heading out of country, so we definitely needed them. Amaranth and her children already had theirs. Daichi took his place as the first driver, and we headed out. Amaranth and her children elected to walk for this first part. Hanabi walked behind the wagon, so that she could easily see around it. Nobori was to the left, and I was on the right, next to our companions. Around noon we stopped for a quick lunch, where Nobori and Daichi switched places. Since Nobori was within earshot, I struck up a quick conversation with him.
"How many of each poison did you bring with you?" I asked him curiously.
"I have fifteen of each of them, along with five clean ones." I nodded.
"Good. Depending on how this goes, I may pass out some different poisons to you." Nobori looked mildly concerned. I'd never offered to give the others poisons, and even for him I'd only taught him two that he had to make himself. I smiled.
"At difficult times I gave my old team poisons. Mind, I didn't have the variety I have now, but I did share. Teammates share what they have, and I will definitely share whatever I can to give you an edge over the others."
"Really? You trusted the others with poisons?"
"Of course. If you can't trust your teammates, you can't trust anyone. I taught them, as I taught you, what to look for and how to use them to get the maximum use out of them. The mission that ended in my adoption of Ryu, I gave my teammates more poisons than I ended up using myself." Nobori nodded. I stepped back to walk next to Amaranth. We had a conversation on the economical differences between our two countries, but that was it. As it reached three, the children tired and we stopped the wagon so that they could climb up. I took my turn at driving at that time as well. The two fell asleep on me, one on either side, and I made sure to steady them so that they didn't fall off. That night I set up a watch schedule and assigned chores over dinner. The three we were protecting stayed near the fire, while we stayed just outside of that area, so we could watch them best. It was the only peaceful day of the mission.