Chapter Thirty-Four: Tea Country
It had been three weeks since Yamato had become their new Jounin-Sensei and while the beginning was a bit awkward at time, Naruko and Haku had grown to like the silent but powerful shinobi. He could be very strict and didn't allow any goofing around during training but he was fair and taught them a lot already. He figured that both girls were mature enough to be treated as adults and thus he expected that they behaved themselves like one as well. That didn't mean they were all business like all the time but they kept the jokes until after training.
Yamato had discussed with them what kind of training he wanted them to do and had explained to them what the purpose was of each training so they understood why they needed to do so. For Haku, he advised her to first master her Suiton Ninjutsu with a source of water nearby. Haku said that she was already pretty good at using Suiton like that but Yamato told her that 'pretty good' wasn't enough. He wanted her to have perfect control of her Suiton jutsu before she moved on to trying to draw water out of the air like the Nidaime did. Also he wanted her to improve on her Fuuton element as well because the better her control over her separate elements, the better her Hyouton Jutsu would work. Focusing on one element was not preferred when it came to mastering your Kekkei Genkai. Haku had somewhat hesitantly agreed to follow his advice at first but she had to admit that after several weeks of hard training, she could feel the difference.
On Naruko's side she had complete the 'Leaf-Cutting' exercise again but now she had to stick leaves to several area's on her body. The purpose was to improve her chakra control and the control over her Fuuton element. She started out with five leaves at first but now she was up to about thirty leaves at once. Yamato wouldn't let her move on to the next exercise until she could cut fifty leaves at once. Like Haku, Naruko had been hesitant at first but she too could feel the difference already. Her Fuuton Jutsu had gotten a lot more powerful and controlled after these few weeks of training.
When it came to her Raiton element, Yamato asked the help of Hatake Kakashi as he had little or no knowledge about that element. Kakashi, who was only happy to help Naruko with her training, allowed her to train with him and Sasuke, who also had a Raiton affinity. That had been somewhat stressful until she had learned to ignore the Uchiha's whining about wanted more powerful techniques instead of improving on his skills. Naruko wisely kept all her Raiton Jutsu to herself and refused to demonstrate any of them if Sasuke was around with his Sharingan. She hadn't worked so hard to learn them, only to let him copy them from her. Kakashi was a bit unorthodox in his training but very effective; he didn't really teach them exercises to learn controlling the Raiton element but rather let them work on it by themselves unless they had questions. He gave them a few tips however on how he had mastered his element.
Other training consisted out of rigorous spars with Yamato where he didn't held anything back. He told them that while the purpose of sparring was not to injure them, he was taught that if you wanted to learn something, you needed to work hard for it. It would do them no good if he held back because then they wouldn't learn anything. That's why he wanted them to give it their hundred percent each and every spar. He told them to come at him with the intent to kill and he would do the same to them. If Naruko and Haku thought that Anko could be brutal, she was nothing compared to Yamato when he got serious. It was like he turned a button in his head and transformed into a completely different person.
In their personal time Naruko and Haku worked on their own little projects. Naruko had gotten some scrolls on Fuinjutsu from her godfather and she was learning a lot from them. She had learned to make storage seals and containment seals already and she was now working on the basic form of the Chakra-Restraining Seal that was used in Konoha's prison facility. It wasn't as powerful as that one in the prison but if performed perfectly it would even prevent a Jounin from accessing his Chakra for several hours. Problem was that the size and complexity of the seal made it unusable in battle, which was something Naruko regretted. Other than that she worked on her personal Raiton and Fuuton jutsu and she was close to mastering another Raiton Jutsu.
Haku had been given a few Medical Ninjutsu to learn from Yamato. They were the first aid Medical Ninjutsu that every ANBU needed to know and Haku had already mastered three of them. They were jutsu that helped mend bones, remove poison and stop excessive bleeding. She found that she liked learning those jutsu but she knew that she would never be a medic-nin because while having talent in the field, it wasn't nowhere near enough to be a Medic-Nin like Shizune or Tsunade. They were however crucial to know if someone on their team got hurt so Haku took that role upon her.
"Alright team, gather around." Yamato called the two girls to him.
"What's up Sensei?" Naruko asked wondering why he had interrupted their training.
"What would you girls say, if we took a mission today?" Yamato said knowing how they would react. They hadn't been complaining but he knew how much they itched to get a mission.
"We'd say 'finally'." Haku laughed.
"Well , you're in luck." Yamato smiled "We've been training very hard over the past few weeks and I believe we're ready to start taking missions. What do you think?"
"Let's do it Yamato-Sensei." Naruko said excited. "I can't wait to get started."
"Alright, let's go see what missions are in today." Yamato said.
The trip to the tower didn't take very long for the trio and soon they were waiting to be called in the Mission Distribution room as Naruko called it. While they were waiting they saw other teams leave with a new mission in hand. Several teams they recognized, amongst them Team 8 and 10 to name a few. When it was finally their turn, they had been waiting for over half an hour.
"Ah, Team Yamato. Good to see, may I presume you deemed them ready for missions? The Sandaime said puffing his pipe.
"Yes Hokage-sama." Yamato nodded. "We've been training hard and our teamwork and coordination is just about flawless. I think we're ready."
"Excellent, I have just the mission for you." The Sandaime said rummaging through some scrolls. "Tell me what do you know of the 'Todori Burning Fire Race' in Tea Country?"
"Todori Burning Fire Race?" The trio said not knowing anything about it.
"It's a race that's held every four years." The Sandaime explained. "I don't know the specifics but I believe it's a tradition to remember a certain Todori who performed a ritual to appease a fierce storm that was destroying everything in its path. Now every four years people do the same road he did but they made it into a race."
"I'm guessing there's more to the story than that?" Yamato asked.
"Indeed there's more but I'm sure the person in charge will explain that much better than I can." The Sandaime chuckled. "You are to go to the village of Degarashi and meet up with Jirocho-oyabun. He's one of the town's leaders and will have more information for you. We were expecting some messengers from him but they sent word that they were ambushed by a shinobi."
"A shinobi attacked them?" Naruko asked. "That means that the stakes are a lot higher than just continuing a tradition."
"Quite right." Sarutobi nodded. "Be careful and don't let your guard down."
"Don't worry Hokage-sama; Naruko and Haku are more than strong enough to deal with one single shinobi." Yamato praised both girls. "I will make sure nothing happens to them."
"Very well, dismissed." The Sandaime nodded.
Once outside the tower, Yamato ordered to girls to inform Yuugao and Anko that they were leaving on a mission and to pack for several days. He didn't need to tell them what they needed to bring as both of them had done enough missions to know that already. He then told them to meet up in one hour at the front gate. The girls nodded and ran home to inform their sisters and pack.
One hour later Naruko, Haku and Yamato were on their way to Cha no Kuni which lay south of Hi no Kuni. It was a fair distance to travel even for a shinobi and would take about two days to get to the border of Hi no Kuni and Cha no Kuni. In order not to lose too much time, Yamato told them that they would travel at high speed as the race was stated to start in three days. If they traveled quickly they would have some time to check out the village and get familiarized with the course of the 'Todori Burning Fire' Race.
"Have you ever been to Cha no Kuni, Yamato-Sensei?" Haku asked curiously.
"I've been close to Cha no Kuni but have never entered the country." Yamato admitted. "As an ANBU I've travelled a lot across Hi no Kuni but we're not allowed to cross borders without good reason. If an ANBU from, let's say Konoha, got caught in Iwa territory for example without previous permission, it could cause a lot of problems."
"But Haku-chan and I crossed into Wave without problems." Naruko said.
"Ah but that's different." Yamato explained. "You were hired by a citizen of that country and thus had a legitimate reason to be there. ANBU however are Konoha's black ops and aren't hired to do any missions. ANBU takes care of things that could threaten Hi no Kuni or Konoha and act in the shadows, without orders outside of those from the Hokage."
"That's why ANBU is so mysterious and secret." Haku understood.
"Indeed." Yamato said. "For instance, when dealing with Gato's criminal organization, ANBU was ordered by the Hokage to strike him. Nobody outside of those already involved of the mission knows exactly what happened to him."
"Sounds pretty cool but rather dangerous." Naruko said.
"It can be very dangerous and sometimes suicidal in some events." Yamato nodded. "However, for a shinobi to become an ANBU is highly respected as they are the Elite of the Elite. Yuugao-sempai and Kakashi-sempai are highly respected for their time in ANBU."
"Kakashi-Sensei was ANBU once?" Naruko said surprised. "How the hell did that go with him always being late?"
"Kakashi-sempai was once ANBU commander and I trained under him." Yamato said. "He was one of the best commanders in the force and never lost one member of the squad he was responsible for; he's a great man with heavy and sad past."
"Don't get me wrong Yamato-Sensei." Naruko said quickly. "I think he's amazing and didn't mean anything bad with it. I was just wondering that's all."
"I know, don't worry." Yamato smiled.
The trio travelled until nightfall and only stopped when it got too dark to travel any further. Seeing that they were in a non-populated area Yamato used his 'Mokuton: Shichuka no Jutsu' to create a small house where they could rest. Naruko and Haku were still awed by the Mokuton Kekkei Genkai and even after all these weeks it still amazed them.
Late in the morning the next day they finally reached the border of Hi no Kuni and passed without trouble. Weird enough there was little or no security at the border which Yamato explained was because Cha no Kuni had no Shinobi village and posed very little threat to Konoha and Hi no Kuni. Naruko argued that things could change very fast in the shinobi world and while Yamato agreed, he assured them that it had been this way for decades.
A few miles passed the border a small tea house appeared and the trio stopped to take a break and replenish their energy a bit. They had more than enough time to get to Degarashi village from here. The friendly old lady of the shop served them some drinks and food, all of which were excellent. While they were eating, they noticed a young boy sitting at the other end of the room. That wasn't so special but the weird part was that he was giving them the stink eye from the second they got inside. It was nothing they couldn't deal with however as not everyone was fond of shinobi and their ways. They just figured that the boy had some bad experience with shinobi and ignored him. Suddenly the boy got up and walked towards the exit but as he passed their table he stopped.
"Man, must be great being a shinobi of Konoha." The boy said glaring at them.
"Excuse me?" Naruko said already disliking the boy.
"You're sitting here without a care in the world when just months ago, your village was attacked." The boy answered. "Shouldn't you be training to protect your little village?"
"What's it to you?" Naruko challenged him.
"Ah, that's why I hate shinobi." The boy sighed with a dramatic look on his face. "Always retorting to violence. You know, you two are rather cute. Why don't you quit being a kunoichi and become my wives?"
"In your dreams." Naruko and Haku snorted.
"Oh well, guess not." The boy left.
"That was interesting." Yamato chuckled. "Didn't expect you two to be hit on during a mission."
"It's a curse being this cute, isn't it Haku-chan?" Naruko smiled at Haku who nodded while stifling a giggle.
"May we please have the bill?" Yamato asked politely at the elder lady, who nodded and handed him two bills.
"The young man said you were offering to pay for his meal as well." She explained when she saw him looking at the second bill.
"Why that little…." Naruko said angry before racing to the door trying to see if she could catch him. "He's gone!"
"No way, he can't be that fast." Haku said shocked. As the tea house was the only building around, they should be able to spot him running along the road.
"Well there's no helping it now." Yamato said paying both bills. "Let's just keep our eyes open for him. He's headed in our direction anyway so maybe we'll find him later."
"The nerve of some people." Naruko grumbled.
Later that day the trio arrived at their destination and quickly figured out that something was wrong. The village wasn't big but was large enough to be home to quite a number of people. The streets were lined with shops and people were busy doing their thing. What surprised them however was how expensive everything was. Naruko noticed also that people seemed to be afraid of something or someone and it reminded her of another village in Wave.
After asking for directions they found the home of Jirocho-oyabun and were quickly ushered inside to meet the man. While the house was much more spacious and showed them that the owner had some money, it wasn't anything there were expecting from a wealthy person. They followed their guide and were led inside big room, where a single man was waiting for them.
"Ah welcome, you must be the team from Konoha?" the man greeted them.
"Jirocho-oyabun, I presume?" Yamato said bowing to the man.
"Please, no need for formalities." The man smiled. "Take a seat and I'll explain why exactly I need your help."
"Thank you." Yamato said sitting down.
"You see, the 'Todori Burning Fire Race' is one of the oldest tradition of Cha no Kuni." Jirocho started his story. "It started years ago with a legend of a certain general Todori, who tried to appease a violent storm that had been going on for days. It ravaged the villages, destroyed crops and flooded our country with rain. People were getting desperate and thought it was the end of the world as they knew it. Then, out of nowhere came a man carrying two crystal jewels embodied with the sign of the Dragon and the Tiger. He set out on the sea with a small boat, through the storm and managed to bring them to shrine and offered the crystals to the Gods, begging them to stop the storm that was threatening our lands."
"What happened then?" Naruko asked curious.
"As if the Gods themselves had heard his prayers, the storm lifted and the skies cleared up." Jirocho smiled. "The man, who we only know as Todori, became a legend after that and to honor him and the Gods, every four years a race is held. The course of that race is the exact same track as Todori did during that stormy night. For a long time, this race was held in spirit of brotherhood and tradition but lately this changed."
"What changed?" Now Haku asked.
"Our country isn't powerful nor do we wish to be but there are several powerful families and clans." Jirocho sighed. "Two of the most powerful are the Wasabi clan and the Wagarashi clan. As you might have guessed I'm the head of the Wasabi-clan. Though it shames me greatly to say this, there has been a long and powerful hatred between the Wasabi and the Wagarashi clan. It went so far that people from both clans started fighting each other in the streets, getting innocent people hurt. Numerous times have we tried to settle this peacefully but the Wagarashi clan consider themselves the rulers of this village and its surroundings."
"What does this have to do with the race?" Yamato questioned.
"In order to prevent that the fighting continued the Daimyo of Cha no Kuni made a rule." Jirocho continued. "Both the Wasabi and the Wagarashi would enter one runner in the race and the winner and the clan he represents would be granted control and certain privileges of the village until the next race." Jirocho's hands tightened in fists as he continued. "Four years ago, the Wagarashi clan cheated by disabling our runner early in the race and thus became the de facto leaders of our village."
"I can guess what happened next." Naruko sighed. "They abused their power didn't they?"
"Yes." Jirocho simply said. "Under their leadership, the taxes were raised to an unacceptable level causing many of the villagers to start having trouble paying. Those who were unable to pay were forced to work for the Wagarashi clan until their debts were paid off. Of course, each year they raised the taxes and more and more people started to get in trouble. It's become so bad that prices in the village have almost tripled, even for the most simplest of things."
"That explains that." Haku nodded to Naruko hinting at how she too had seen the high prices in the shops.
"The Wagarashi clan is filled with hateful and greedy people." Jirocho said angry. "They're bleeding our village dry and causing so much misery amongst it's villagers. Now that the race is once more upon us, we've all been hoping that this year we'll be able to win. I've found an runner, I have no doubt in him but I fear that once more they will try to sabotage him or worse. The Wagarashi will not give up their power without a struggle. Please help us protect our runner and our village." Jirocho said with teary eyes. "Our people have suffered enough."
"Say no more, Jirocho-jisan." Naruko exclaimed. "We'll protect your runner, won't we?"
"Of course, that's why you hired us." Yamato said while Haku nodded.
"Thank you." Jirocho said bowing deeply. "Thank you so much."
"No need to thank us yet, Jirocho-san." Yamato helped the man up.
"Please let me introduce you to our runner." Jirocho said calling for his assistant. "Please get me Idate."
"No need, I'm already here." A voice said before the door to the garden opened and a young man kneeled in front of it. "You needed me, Oyabun?"
"Ah Idate, yes come on in." Jirocho said happy. "I want you to meet the people who will protect you during the race."
"I don't need any protection….Ah crap." The boy said once he recognized the people in the room.
"YOU!" Naruko roared. "You've got some nerve."
"Oh, you know each other?" Jirocho said surprised. "That's good, that makes things easier."
Naruko said back down not wanting to make more of a scene but she glared at Idate with murder in her eyes. She didn't know why she was so angry at the guy, after all, that bill had not been that much but the guy just rubbed her wrong. Something about him seemed familiar but she dismissed that thought.
"Oyabun, why did you call for them?" Idate said turning to his leader. "There's no need for them to be here."
"Idate, you know what happened four years ago." Jirocho said. "Iwase will never be able to walk or run again thanks to what they did to him. I don't want that to happen to you."
"I won't fail." Idate said strongly. "They won't get me."
"You should listen to Jirocho-san." Yamato said. "We learned that your messengers were attacked by a shinobi before they even got to Konoha. That means that someone is desperate to keep the Wasabi clan from winning. They wanted to prevent you from hiring Konoha shinobi so that you would be without protection. I'm sure they will not stop trying to prevent you from competing."
"Whatever, just don't get in my way." Idate said bowing to Jirocho before leaving the room.
"Naruko, Haku, stay with him. I wouldn't put is past them to attack him before the race even starts." Yamato ordered. "Follow him but stay hidden."
"Hai." Naruko and Haku said before following Idate.
Naruko and Haku followed Idate from a distance as he wondered around in the village. While following him they observed the village from close by and they could tell that many of the villagers were unhappy. Once more they noticed how expensive things were, from the simplest toy to a mere bowl of rice at the small restaurant at the side of the road. Many of the shopkeepers called out to them hoping to sell anything and earn a little money. When they passed a small time bar they noticed someone being thrown out through the door into the street. As Idate had stopped to watch, Naruko and Haku stopped as well.
"Please, not my shop." The man on the ground begged. "It's all I have, please."
"You should have thought about that before you decided not to pay your taxes." Another man laughed as he destroyed the door completely.
"I tried but I just don't earn that much." The bar keeper said trying to stop the man from destroying anything else only to be hit in the face once more. "Please, have mercy."
"Tell you what, old man." Another man came out the bar with a struggling girl in his arms. "We'll leave you alone in exchange for your lovely daughter here."
"Papa, help." The young woman cried.
"Mariko! No please, not my daughter." The man jumped up quickly and tried to reach his daughter.
"She'll make a decent earning in one of our whore houses, don't you think boys?" the second man called out to the men inside the bar who all agreed. "Don't worry old man, when she paid off your debts she'll be let free."
"Hey boss, do you think we could have some fun with her first?" one of the men said looking at the young girl.
"That's for the boss to decide." The man said holding the girl. "But I'm sure we'll be rewarded for bringing in such a beauty."
"I can't wait." The man said and tried to reach for the girl's breasts.
Next thing he knew, pain erupted from his jaw and he was send flying across the street. Everyone froze at the sight of two girls standing in front of the dozen men, both with furious looks on their faces. Before the men could move, one of the girls shot forward and grabbed the arm that was holding the bar keeper's daughter and twisted it violently, almost to the point of breaking the arm. He screamed in pain and let go of the girl, who raced back to her father.
"Who are you?" the man said struggling to say those three words.
"What the hell do you think you're doing?" Naruko asked the man as she twisted the arm a bit further making him howl in pain.
"Don't you know who we are?"One of the men's follower yelled outraged pulling a knife out of his robes but instantly let dropped it when he felt a freezing cold blade touch his neck.
"We don't care who you are." Haku said coldly. "We won't let you harm these people any further."
"You girls don't know who you're messing with." The man that Naruko was holding. "We're from the Wagarashi-clan and we're the leaders of the village. To go against us it suicide."
"Guys like you don't scare us." Naruko said shrugging.
"You'll pay for this." The man said. "Attack!"
As one the men in the bar rose from their seats and started taking out weapons before charging Naruko and Haku who simply disposed of the men they were holding by knocking them out. While they were outnumbered three to one, Naruko and Haku made short work of the thugs and made sure that they would think twice before attacking a shinobi again. They watched as the Wagarashi clan members ran out the village to safety.
"Are you okay, sir?" Haku asked the man.
"Yes, thank you." The man said, obviously still in shock. "How can I ever repay you?"
"There's no need for that." Naruko assured the man.
"Thank you helping us." The daughter said. "I don't know what would have happened if you hadn't come to our rescue."
"Those bastards won't bother you again." Naruko smiled. "Why is nobody opposing these men? Surely, there's something you can do to stop them?"
"It's not that we don't want to but every time someone opposed them, they strike back hard." One of the villager said. "Remember to old man, Watanabe?" he asked the crowd. "He tried to fight them and they took his wife and daughter. They haven't been seen since; God only knows what happened to them."
"We can only hope that the Wasabi clan wins this edition of the race." Another shopkeeper said solemnly. "If only they hadn't lost last time."
"They didn't lose." A woman yelled. "Their runner was attacked during the race and couldn't run anymore. The Wagarashi clan cheated their way to the victory and they'll do it again this time."
"Don't worry, we're here to protect the runner of the Wasabi clan." Naruko said trying to calm down the crowd.
"We won't let them cheat this time." Haku smiled as the crowd seemed to cheer up immediately. "So please hold on just a little longer. Everything will be over soon."
The crowd cheered at hearing that and started thanking both girls. Naruko and Haku noticed Idate glaring at them but ignored him for the time being. They knew that they probably shouldn't have interfered or at least not this publically but they weren't about to let a young girl be condemned to a life of misery and pain like that. When Idate moved on, the girls bid their goodbye's and know ran to follow Idate, not caring that he could see them. Their cover was blown anyway.
"Idate-san, please wait." Haku called out when they caught up with him.
"Do you have to follow me around like that?" Idate said annoyed. "Just leave me be."
"Sorry, no can do." Naruko said. "Our mission is to protect you from any danger so might as well get used to us being around."
"That's why I hate shinobi." Idate said before he started walking away. "Never caring about others, only doing what you want and using violence as an answer to everything."
"This is going to be a long mission." Naruko sighed. "How are we supposed to protect someone who doesn't want to be protected."
Haku nodded in frustration but followed Naruko as she started following Idate once more. For the rest of the day, they followed him around as he wondered around the village and the port of Degarashi village. Once it became dark, he returned to the clan house and Naruko and Haku went to find Yamato to explain what happened. He was a bit angry at them for causing a public disturbance but he did say that it was the right thing to do and that he would have done the same in their situation. They discussed a bit more about how they would go about protecting Idate before getting to bed as well. Tomorrow was the day the race started so they would need to be well rested and fit to protect their client's runner.