Chapter 178

Sitting on a wall eating a candied apple I wondered idly I could get baking soda from this place. I had yet to find any place that sold it in the Land of Water. They could make pastries just fine without it, I knew moon cakes only used like four ingredients, and baking soda wasn't one of them. Still, if I wanted to make cookies the only recipes I knew required it.

Also, I was wondering if I could go under a henge and start making some bulk purchases or if that would skirt the line too much for Zabuza's liking. Honestly, it's not like I'd be the one making the purchase for the Land of Water, it'd be a representative of the Eastern Trading Company doing it. That's all. I mean, what's the point of being a ninja if you don't lie, cheat, and buy luxury goods in bulk for the discount?

Then there was of course the worry about, well, everything. But I was trying to keep that down. Mostly because since I was a girl, someone might actually come up and ask me questions if they thought I was upset and I didn't feel like lying. I mean, I could tell them I was worried about the slow process of the bureaucratic system, how many supplies I'll need to get back to my hometown, the logistics of planning a city, and my itching need to use a jutsu so I could get a bird's eye view of this city so I could sketch out some maps to compare its city plan to every other town I visit to find the most effective design possible.

That last one actually made me wonder if they had cartographers in this town. Maybe they did and I just hadn't seen them yet. I should definitely look into that.

Granted, that was all a side line to my biggest wonder, which was when whoever happened to be watching me would just get on with it.

This was the primary reason I was alone in the first place. Well, not just me. Everyone had split off in random directions to fit the pretense of being caught alone. When it came to making an approach you generally didn't approach groups, or even pairs, especially if you were planning on scamming or misleading someone. The isolation from a group made the person seem more vulnerable, like someone couldn't be dangerous if they were left alone.

Which of course was a civilian mindset. Or maybe I should call it what it was, a prey mindset. The rabbits hated being alone, one reason they were so easy to summon in groups. What were they waiting for? I couldn't exactly make it seem like I knew they were watching me. They were being careful, kind of? They were okay, I just happened to run on a level of suspicion that trumped the average girl my age.

I was about halfway through the apple when I stood and started heading back to the inn. I started humming a bit, trying to push my mind off of the person tailing me. It wasn't a stealthy tactic but it relaxed my muscles in a way that made it look more believable.

I wanna be the very best, that no one ever was.

I kept my eyes forward as I bit my apple and stepped lightly to the beat. I saw the shadow before the figure turned the corner. A tall silhouette, at least two people. Definitely not a shinobi, they would never put their back to a sunset to cast such a shadow. I pretended to be unaware.

To catch them is my real test, to train them is my cause.

They turned the corner sharply. I bit down a hiss as the pant leg hit my apple. Damn waste of food. I had to close my eyes to suppress my displeasure before I looked up to see the eyes of a tall broad man with a scar across his face. Jesus, did they get this guy from Thugs R Us? The freaking Yakuza was obvious.

"Well, well, what do we have here? Looks like the jo-chan here was a bit clumsy and ruined my pants with her sticky apple." The man said as he put a hand on my shoulder. I tensed up, mostly because I kind of wanted to tear his arm off for being so damn cliché. Where the heck did this man get his line?

When he kneeled down my apple went to the ground because it had stuck to his pants and I'd let it go. I watched it go to the ground though as I kept my mouth and eyes closed. How should I do this? What was appropriate, what did I want to do….

Okay, lets not do what I wanted to do.

It only took a few seconds for the hot pressure to push against my eyes. Stepping backwards, I reached up with my now empty hand and slapped him on the cheek.

"How dare you?!" I kept my voice high, "That was perfectly good food, you need to watch where you're going!"

I think he was shocked because he let go of my shoulder as I leaned down and picked up the apple. It was such a waste, sugar was so expensive back home. Honey was in short supply because the Sumire complex burned down. It still wasn't as big a deal as I was making, but this was supposed to be an escalation scene. Looking up at his face I saw him still holding the spot where I'd slapped him. Stepping back and out of his immediately reach, I pointed at him

"So what are you going to do to repay me? Another apple would be fine."

The words caught up with him and the man stood, trying to loom over me.

"You cheeky brat."

He tried to hit me, but I ran back. I was out of his immediate arm length, after all. He was a little smaller than Zabuza, certainly not as broad. He tried to lean forward to grab me, but I kept moving backwards. Not excessively fast, just, you know, as fast as a small girl could be. Ever tried catching small children? The answer is they are slippery unless you can corner them.

"You're the one who should be paying me back!" He said as he moved forward.

"Why? From a bit of sugar? That comes out with normal water. Are you stupid or something?" I said in a high voice. You'd think that sort of thing wouldn't get to a large physically strong male, you'd be wrong. At least in this case. He actually started chasing me. Whelp, this was already working in my favor. I just had to remember to stay slow enough he could actually keep up or reasonably grab me. That was the hardest part honestly, not like I had to explain my stamina to anyone, kids always had energy. Now somewhere public I could scream and, oh, there we go, it looks like my tail was acting now. The man stepped out and held out his hands placatingly, "Whoa, jo-san, what is…"

I immediately dodged around him as the other man ran forward. The man, looking back, had long flowy brown hair and simple clothing. He grabbed that man and held him back, "What do you think you're doing?"

"That girl…" I didn't stick around to hear the rest. I kept running, please, like people being chased stopped running cause it seemed they might be safe now. I turned a corner and went out of sight. Then I turned two more corners, walked into a crowded clothing stall, went between some racks and used a henge before walking out and looping back around to see the two men, standing off and chatting.

"-iery than I thought. She wasn't even scared." The man with the scar was sitting down against the wall.

"In retrospect, considering she travels with three other men, I guess we really shouldn't be surprised. Maybe she's the daughter of a wealthy merchant and they're bodyguards." The man with the wavy hair said.

"You sure we shouldn't have chased her?" The scarred man said.

"No point, she was headed towards the main area. Smart girl looking for the crowds for protection. Either that or one of the older men." The man with the wavy hair said, shaking his head, "Not the impression I was trying to make."

"Least it wasn't a bad one." He stated, standing up and taking a hand from the man with the wavy hair.

I walked away from them, heading back to the crowds before ducking around someplace to drop my henge and head back to the inn. So what was that? Maybe an attempt at white knighting? Or I guess wandering samurai-ing would be more appropriate. Wonder if this sort of thing worked on people who weren't jaded.

Maybe? I think it did in some stories?

Was this how normal people schemed? It seemed kind of hollow. Oh well, time to see what the others got roped into.

Suigetsu was the person they approached with an actual offer. Made sense, he seemed the most eager, also he was younger and more approachable than Zabuza. I mean, everyone was more approachable than Zabuza. A barracuda was more approachable than Zabuza. Still, he got a pitch and a location to go to late at night. As we walked through the darkened town I wondered a bit how suspicious this shit all looked.

Why did civilians think it was more mysterious or prudent to do stuff like this at night? All the really clever junk ninja did was in broad daylight. The only advantage nighttime gave was to break and enter if you wanted to get away. A secret transaction in a black market would have been better at the back of a normal shop.

The area we were walking to wasn't in the city proper. It was across the river and a bit further into the forest. The five of us knew where it was, it wasn't hard to find either. It looked like a testing ground, there were a couple of posts, but otherwise no one else was there. Sitting there in the circle I let out a sigh and pulled out a deck of cards. I handed it to Chojuro, who shuffled and started dealing them out.

Looking about the clearing I saw it was a new moon, so the night was only lit by the stars. The shadows being that much deeper and darker probably would have made it harder for normal people to notice someone approaching.

I heard the cursing first.

Soft and under the breath, like so much cursing usually is when someone is trying to be sneaky. The crunching followed, not the normal crunching of feet on grass, there was barely any grass around, the crunch of feet on trees. What most people don't know is you have to train yourself to be silent when you tree hop, it's a delicate art where you use your chakra to cushion your weight. Otherwise you get, well, the sound I was currently hearing. The sound of shoes and hands rubbing up against bark, making it obvious something larger than the average squirrel was moving through the trees.

Was someone drunk and trying to tree hop like the leaves?

That was the tamest thought that came to mind since even new genin could successfully navigate without making noise like that. I suppose since it was coming from at least a football field away it could be excused that maybe they thought no one could hear them. But even out of earshot, when there's literally nothing else around, sound travels.

Which was probably why they had a whispered argument, not sure what about, but they were definitely arguing. The irregular tones that they used certainly tipped me off. Let's see, a woman was arguing with an older man. She seemed to be raising her voice a bit, oh there was a cut in from another man, deeper voice. Wow, if I ever needed reminding about why ninjas used hand signals...

There was another thump, sounded like someone hitting wood, more than a foot. Maybe someone slipped? Or, given the arguing, was pushed. Were a bunch of people just standing in the tree arguing? I shrugged and held out my hand for a card to be taken. Suigetsu reached out, grabbed it and cursed silently as he'd gotten the old maid.

There was a rustling of air that made me look up. It started out small, leaves floating out from the trees, then rotating like they were dancing. The sound of air moving and swirling about as it formed a mini vortex before there was a slight pop and a flash of light. I dropped my cards and covered my eyes. Gods that was bright, were they trying to ruin my night vision?

Actually yeah, they probably were, because despite the wind I could hear hurried steps in the grass. Lowering my arm and blinking spots out of my eyes I looked at four people standing in the middle of the clearing. I didn't immediately recognize them in the darkness, but as me and everyone around me stood I looked over and the first person started speaking. He was tall with a narrow face, small beady eyes under a -I squinted in the darkness- was that a ninja headband on a beige cloth? I hadn't seen that before. He had light brown hair that was poorly split under the headband.

"So, these are the five shinobi who've come to our village." He said, his face splitting into a smirk as he moved forward, pointing out a long black sword with a red gem on it.

"Don't try and deny it." The younger boy with, oh hey, it was a blue haired boy, now that my eyes were adjusting I could see him properly, he had what looked like a dark blue pronged sword gripped tightly at his side. "We managed to ID Momochi Zabuza just a few hours ago."

A few hours ago? So after they already made the approach? Did that mean they were actually planning something else? The other figure, a woman with, oh definitely the shopkeeper, in each hand was a light blow short sword with a golden hilt. Oh, pretty, "You lot came in here pretending to be tourists, but you're here to steal our…"

"Time out." I said, cutting the last man off, who was the wavy haired man who tried to save me earlier, he also happened to be in armor with a face on it, my eyes were still adjusting though. Walking forward with my hand at my side and the others following behind silently I looked at them. "I think some assumptions have been made here, so let me be the first to say, one, no, we aren't here to steal anything. I think we've been rather forthcoming with our intentions to buy things and two, who the hell are you people? I mean, other than Kujaku, who I know sometimes works the till at the blacksmith shop."

I think my boldness startled them, or at least some of them. The thin faced man who spoke first started afterwards, "You're nothing but thieving shinobi, here to steal our secrets and our precious works because of how powerful they are. You definitely have heard of us, otherwise why would you be here?"

"Um, again, lot of assumptions there and you haven't answered my question, I mean, again I know who Kujaku is. She's a smith, by the way, did you make those swords? Because they're gorgeous, they really are. They look super sturdy, and how did you get them to be that color?" Walking closer to Kujaku she jumped back, swords at the ready.

She was still offput by my approach, "These, these," She held them up, her voice getting stronger, "These are the Weaknessless Soaring Short Swords, a pair of blades that allow me to use wind jutsu for minimal cost. A weapon of celestial power to be wielded by me, the celestial bird. That's, we're the Four Celestial Symbols, the shinobi of the Takumi village."

"Weaklessness Soaring Short Swords, eh," I made a face, "That's a mouthful, have you considered something simpler, like, you know those remind me a lot of Kiba, did you base them on Kiba? Maybe a name like that. Like, Tsubasa, that's thematic I think, it's much easier to say tha…."

"Enough!" The man with the longer face said. "You are being insolent, you tiny shinobi. We the celestials will..."

"You know, that's an awfully arrogant name." I said turning to face him, the others at my back. Walking forward through the layer of mist on the ground I looked up at the man, "Celestial? Like stars? But if she's the bird, oh, I see, um, like the Red Phoenix right? So that makes you," I turned around and looked at the others, "Let me guess, blue dragon," I pointed at the boy with the blue hair, then looked at the man, with the armor, "Black tortoise," Then I pointed at the man with the long face, "White tiger?"

"What, no! I'm the black tortoise, he's the white tiger. His armor has a tiger face on it." I looked at the man in armor.

Turning to look at him I frowned, confused, "Why would the White Tiger have armor and the Black Tortoise have a sword, shouldn't the black tortoise have armor, you know, like a shell? I mean thematically, it makes more sense. The wind jutsu makes sense for the red Phoenix, even if fire would also work, and I guess the blue sword does something dragony, but armor for the White Tiger? I sort of assume since from the original lore it's a tiger, it'd have good claws and such, not a…."

"What in the world would you know about anything!" The man roared at me, his patience running out as he slashed out his sword. A spout of fire surged out of it. I felt the rage before it fully bubbled and hit the deck, the fire going over my head and as I lay down on the moist grass and looked up. "You come in here to taunt us, pretend to be interested in our wares but ask for weapons that we were only banned from creating because of the jealousy of the other shinobi villages from the quality and craftsmanship that put their own to shame."

"Um, I wasn't pretending. Also, again, do tortoises suddenly breathe fire? Why do you have the fire blade?" I jumped up and looked at the others, "I mean, I'm not taunting you guys, look at my clothing," I pulled at my dress, "This is such good work, I love the fabric you guys make, it's so sturdy."

"We are not tailors!" The man roared as he held his sword out, "Those paltry crafts, those commoners tools, that is not who we are! Our village was founded by the great Seimei who created the most advanced weapons the world's ever 've practiced in silence and today we'll do a field run, using our weapons on you five as a warm up to our real goal. To catch a Shukako and use his power to revive our village and save it from its mediocre existence."

He held the sword up and looked down at me, then the other four who were just standing behind me. Mist swirling around my body, I looked at him, then the other three and pointed at him. "And you lot really think this will work?"

"What?" The boy with the blue hair said lifting his sword. "Of course it will work, once we prove we're a threat we'll…."

"Be killed." I said flatly, looking at the boy, "How long have you guys been at this? This training? These weapons, by the way, what do these do? I got the explanation from Kujaku, what's this one called?" I walked over to the boy, who unlike Kujaku smiled as he held out the weapon,

"The Garian sword," He held it out proudly, the individual blades moving outwards on wire, "A proper wielder can use it as easily as their arms, extending out to hit further targets with the blades."

"Oh! Neat." I said with a smile as I looked at it, "What's its range, can you hit one of the trees over there?" I said, pointing out. The boy smiled and lashed out, the tip of the prong extending and hitting the tree before pulling back, "Wow, that's such great craftsmanship, is it seal work?" I said, looking at the blades, "How do you distribute the chakra pro…."

I ducked down as another blaze of flame came at me from behind. The boy jumped back and bit out, "Hey!"

"Why are you telling her these things? We're going to kill her!" He said.

"But she…" The boy looked over at me as I stood up and turned to face the man.

"Why do you need to kill me, exactly? I haven't done anything to you guys. Hell, I haven't done anything to this village, except spend money, because the stuff here is amazing." I turned on him, "And these, these are AMAZING. How long did you guys work on these? It must have been years of prototyping, and trial and error, I mean look at…" I moved forward to examine the fire blade but it lit up and the man held it to my throat.

"Nothing but fancy and lies, you're just deceiving us, trying to find a moment to steal our secrets." He said.

"I don't want to steal anything." I said, "I want to buy things. How much by the way, fifty thousand ryo, five hundred thousand? I think that's about how much I have on me, but I can get more."

"They're not for sale! You wouldn't have us sell our inte…"

"What about the blueprints? You have to have some blueprints, or the rejects? I have someone back at home who would love to study them. I would love to study them actually. Or we could trade, I've made a working prototype that allows someone to recharge batteries from lightning by using just a bike hooked to a…"

"Stop your lies!" The thin faced man screamed as he kicked me away from the others and into the clearing. I let it happen this time and lay there, looking up. Blinking at the others I opened my mouth but he interrupted me. "You are nothing but a lying shinobi, just like the rest of them, trying to spare your life at our hands. It won't work though. You won't get any more information out of us so you can steal our weapons."

"I don't want to steal your weapons." I said as I coughed a bit. The others surrounded me, one grabbing my one good arm to help me up. "I don't want to fight you. For goodness sake, why do you even want to fight?"

"We have to, for our plan, we need real experience." He said, "And you'll provide it."

He pointed his flaming sword out and looked to his companions. There was a mixed reaction from the other three. The man in the armor looked down at me with a scowl that didn't quite reach his eyes. The boy held his blade at the ready, Kujaku held the swords, her grip tight as she looked at me and I blinked as I looked at them, then the other man, then Kujaku, "You haven't killed before, have you?"

"What?" The woman looked surprised, and moved back, "What do you…"

"You haven't." I looked up at the boy, "You haven't either, you wouldn't be this excited if you had." I looked from him to the men, "You two have, but you," I looked at the man in the armor, "You're the only one in a defensive piece, you don't like it, do you? But you think it's necessa…"

The man with the flaming sword lunged forward with his sword, seeking to impale me. The sword pierced through, the flame going through to the other side. I think it startled him, and them, that I didn't seem to dodge. The sword went through my midsection, burning away, "You have though, but you've discarded it, your conscience, you've convinced yourself this is necessary or learned to justify it somehow."

"Hurry up and die!" The flame on the sword grew brighter, and brighter, catching and lighting up, burning away the figure on the end of the sword, from the end to the tips until nothing but ash remained.

They just stood there, staring, the other three at the man with the flaming sword who had just murdered a little girl. I noted this very simply, despite their training, they were in fact very new to this. Because they hadn't noticed, the others were gone, or the simile of them were, faded away, just like they hadn't noticed the mist pouring into the clearing as we talked.

They didn't notice it getting thicker and almost indistinct as the water in the air increased, and they didn't react, as the ice suddenly appeared around them, the first knocking the flaming sword away while the rest encased the rest of them in a prison.

Just as they hadn't noticed, because of my bunshin that I had been alone in the clearing, all along, talking to them while the others prepped. Putting down water seals, building up the mist so the water in the air was enough for Haku to seal them so easily or how simply I kept them in the same general area so we could capture them all at once with my speech.

Honestly, I wasn't lying to them, I wanted to buy the swords. I wanted to just do honest business, I didn't want to fight. Because there was no real fight at all here.

Because they were just a fallacy of shinobi, what they thought shinobi were was based on war stories and chunin exams. A real shinobi never just goes into a meeting like this without a plan, especially when the possibility of an ambush is present. A real shinobi didn't just show off their weapons and announced their intentions to a target. It was something despite our training Zabuza was trying to push into our head. Preparation, escape routes, counter ambushes, because in all honesty...

Real shinobi don't fight if we don't have to. We train to fight because being strong means you can end a battle before it begins.

Fortunately for them, I was with other people strong enough to do that today. Because those were such beautiful weapons and I'd have hated to have killed their creators because I was too weak to fend them off otherwise.

Remember if you get confused, Leaf is slang for Konoha ninja. It's the same for most villages, the descriptor of what they're hidden in being the shorthand for what a ninja is from them. There's a few exceptions, Sand Dogs, or Suna Inus is a derogatory term used by the Yakuza in Wind. I'm sure there were derogatory yakuza terms for Kiri nin, you know, before Kiri basically killed all of them, very efficiently, and fiercely. I'll be honest I'm not sure they'll try moving again after Ume engineered a public execution of their last attempt.

This story is an adaption of the last filler that happens in the animated show proper before Naruto leaves.

Sort of, it's set before that happens clearly.

Again I'm trying to keep a good pace here. Reviews are always nice especially for my modivation.