Chapter 28 - Shibuki
Hinata was ready bright and early in the morning they were supposed to start their escort mission. She had spent the previous night packing her bag, and was currently slipping out of the house quietly so as not to wake up Hanabi.
As she walked past the living room however, the lights turned on with a 'click' and Hinata turned to see an annoyed looking Hanabi sitting cross-legged on the couch, with her arms crossed against her chest.
"Really, oneesan? Sneaking out without saying goodbye?" Hanabi pouted.
"Aaha… Sorry Hanabi-chan, I didn't want to wake you.." Hinata laughed awkwardly and walked over to her little sister. "What are you doing up?"
"Uh-huh. You're going to be gone over a week. Of course I'd be awake to say bye!" Hanabi got off the couch to go hug Hinata. "I knew you'd try to pull something like this."
"Sorry, sorry. I won't do it again." Hinata apologized.
"Be careful ok? Make sure you come back safely!" Hanabi stepped back and looked at Hinata's bag. "Is that all you're taking? Are you sure you packed enough?"
"I'm fine Hanabi. Don't worry, ok?"
Hanabi squinted, looking Hinata over. "Fine." She eventually relented.
"Take care of otousan while I'm gone ok?" Hinata smiled.
"I will. Tell Kiba not to do anything stupid." Hanabi half-joked.
Hinata snickered. "I will, don't worry."
The two sisters hugged again before Hinata put on her shoes and left the house. She took a deep breath of the fresh morning air and ran off towards the edge of the village where the team would be waiting outside of the inn their client was staying at.
Hinata arrived about an hour later, running up to her shishou and Kiba. Apparently Shino hadn't arrived yet, but that was par for the course. It was difficult to get the guy to rush, but he wasn't ever actually late. Looking at the position of the morning sun, they still had a little while before the deadline.
"Good morning shishou! Kiba!" Hinata happily cheered as she arrived. She was both excited and nervous about the mission. She believed she pretty much knew what was in-store for them and wasn't quite sure if they were ready to fight other shinobi, but her shishou would be there and Hinata was eager to prove herself.
"Heya kid." Hayate greeted her, petting her head fondly when she stopped in front of him.
"It's too early for you to be this happy, Hinata-chan.." Kiba complained, but Akamaru happily squirmed out of his jacket and into Hianta's arms.
"Good morning to you too, Akamaru!" She giggled, holding the puppy.
Kiba just sighed at Akamaru. He was used to the two of them teaming up against him. He just didn't fight it anymore.
The three of them stood around making small talk as they waited for Shino to arrive, it was about 20 minutes later when he finally showed up.
Quietly arriving, Shino just nodded to them in greeting and the three genin turned towards Hayate to receive his pre-mission briefing.
"Alright, now that we're all here I just want to go over a few things with you." Hayate said, turning a bit serious. "This mission, while C-rank, is rather important for a few different reasons. The client, like I told you before, is the village head of Takigakure and is an important political figure. It's important that we not only get him home safely, but we don't do or say anything to embarrass Konohagakure."
The three of them had confident smiles and nodded in acknowledgement to Hayate's words.
"That means no running off without saying anything." Hayate looked at Hinata, who squirmed under his gaze. "No fighting amongst yourselves, and no being rude to the client." He looked pointedly at Kiba when he said the last part.
"Alright, alright, I got it.." Kiba said, sighing. He still didn't like the idea of the guy ever since Hayate mentioned he was a coward. "I'll reserve my judgment of him until later."
"Remember, when we are on a mission, our demeanor represents Konoha, and it's especially important when dealing with members of other villages that we make a good impression." Hayate warned them again. "Anything done or said on this mission could have political ramifications that you three, as genin, would not be able to handle."
"Got it." Shino said.
"You can count on us!" Hinata said enthusiastically.
Hayate sighed, walking past them towards the inn. "Alright, let's go get the client."
Team eight walked into the lobby of the inn. Hinata looked around and found who they were waiting for asleep in a chair hugging a bag. For a village head, he looked so relaxed and peaceful, considering he was asleep and letting his guard down in the middle of an inn lobby in an unfamiliar village.
"That's him..?" Kiba muttered under his breath to her.
"Mhm, I think so." Hinata whispered back.
"Great.." He responded, shaking his head.
Hayate walked up to him, tapping his shoulder to wake him up.
"Hiyah~!" The man bolted right up, wide eyed and letting out a shrill shriek. He looked around before realizing the situation he was in and cleared his throat.
"*Ahem* I assume you must be the guards that accepted the mission to escort me home?" He looked the group over, before turning to look at Hayate.
"You've gotta be kidding me…" Hinata barely heard Kiba say to himself.
Hinata stifled a giggle and responded to the man. "That's us! It's a pleasure to meet you! I'm Hinata, that's Kiba, and that's Shino. The man who woke you up is our team leader, and my shishou, Gekkō Hayate!"
"Oh, so polite!" The man smiled. "I'm sure you already know, but my name's Shibuki. I hope we all get along!"
"Alright, if there's nothing left for you to do here, I'd like to get moving as soon as possible." Hayate said to Shibuki.
"I'm ready when you are! Let's get a move on, I'm excited to get back home!" Shibuki cheerfully said, walking with the group towards the door and leaving the inn.
"So have you been here a while?" Hinata asked him as they walked.
"Hmm.. A couple of weeks.." Shibuki let out a sigh. "Normally I wouldn't want to be gone from my village for so long, but some things are unavoidable."
"Mm. I understand. I'm sure you have people back home you want to see, so we'll get you there safe and sound! Count on it!" Hinata smiled at him and thumped her chest.
Shibuki smiled at her display. "Alright, I'm in your hands." He laughed then, as if he thought of something funny.
"Hm? What's so funny?" Hinata turned her head, looking at him as they approached the gate.
"Nothing, sorry." He said, still smiling. "I wasn't laughing at you, I just thought what you said is familiar to how a friend of mine acts."
"Oh?" Hinata smiled. "Well if I remind you of them, they must be pretty awesome." She teased.
Shibuki just laughed, walking past her over to the guards with Hayate. They handed over their paperwork and waited while the guards checked them over. It took a bit longer than usual with a foreign shinobi in their group, but they didn't hassle him at all. Pretty soon the group was moving out at a relaxed pace, slightly faster than a civilian group would travel.
The group was traveling in a diamond formation, with Kiba on point, Shino to the left, Hinata to the right, and Hayate bringing up the rear. Shibuki was placed in the middle of the group, so he could be easily protected in case anything happened.
As they walked, Akamaru jumped out of Kiba's jacket again to walk alongside him, startling Shibuki.
"D-does it bite..?" Shibuki asked Hinata, looking warily at the puppy that had turned around to sniff him.
"He, not 'it'. And yes." Kiba said a bit sharply.
Seeing Shibuki's fearful reaction, Hinata snapped at Kiba. "Kiba!" She turned and picked up Akamaru for a moment to pet him. "Don't listen to Kiba, Shibuki-san. Akamaru doesn't bite if he isn't ordered too. He's a sweet boy, isn't that right Akamaru~?"
"Arf!" Akamaru wagged his tail as Hinata cooed over him, petting his ears. She put him down and he ran back over to Kiba to walk next to him.
"Disgraceful." Kiba muttered to Akamaru, looking down at him in disgust at his actions.
"Sorry." Shino said to Shibuki, sighing and shaking his head.
Shibuki just laughed and rubbed the back of his head. "It's ok, sorry, I can sometimes overreact.."
Hinata just chuckled a bit awkwardly. 'Gotta put up with it Hinata! We need to make a good impression, and he really isn't a bad guy. He seems really kind, actually.'
"So tell me about Takigakure, Shibuki-san! What's it like? I bet it's really beautiful. Is it really hidden in a waterfall?" Hinata looked over at Shibuki and asked excitedly.
"Hinata." Hayate warned. "It's rude to ask a foreign shinobi for details about their village."
"It's alright, Hayate-san." Shibuki said, smiling. "It's extremely beautiful, and peaceful. It's as if it's untouched by the world, perfect and serene." He finished speaking in an almost wistful tone of voice. "The waters are crystal clear and refreshing. I'm excited to be going back."
"Ohh, it sounds great!" Hinata said, looking at him with sparkling eyes. "Are we going to get a chance to see it!?"
"Hinata." Hayate warned again.
Shibuki just laughed and shook his head at the excited girl. "Not this time, I think. Though, I can take you to the base of the waterfall! The water is just as I described, you'll see!"
"Mm. I'm looking forward to it!" Hinata nodded happily.
... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ...
Team seven was currently gathered at training ground seven, getting ready for their daily training session. Naruto and Sasuke were bickering a bit and Sakura was sitting on a bench, watching the morning clouds pass overhead.
"Agghhh! I can't take it anymore! Where is he!? He told us to meet here two hours ago!" Naruto finally snapped, shouting into the sky.
"He really should at least make an effort to get here on time…" Sakura said, sighing.
"Oh? You don't know how to start your training with me being here?" Kakashi asked, raising an eyebrow, appearing in the middle of the three genins without making any noise.
"Kakashi-sensei! Finally!" Naruto shouted. "What's your excuse this time? Did you have to help an elderly woman across the entire village, or did you have to walk a cat you don't own!?"
"Mahh.. Don't be like that." Kakashi rubbed the back of his head. "That old woman really had a lot of errands to run y'know?"
"Tch." Sasuke scoffed at the obvious lie.
"Well, it wasn't any of those reasons today, Naruto-kun." Kakashi said. "I actually picked up a few guests that are going to sit in on your training today."
"Guests?" Sakura asked, tilting her head. "Who?"
"That would be us!" Jiraiya appeared with a grin, alongside Tsunade and Shizune.
"Shishou! How come you're here!?" Naruto got excited and ran over to Jiraiya.
"Well, I figured that I should check and see how your training is coming along for one thing. Also, Tsunade-chan here wanted to meet you all." Jiraiya said in a cheerful manner.
"Tsunade!?" Sakura practically yelled. "As in legendary sannin Tsunade!?" She turned to look at the beautiful woman with awe in her eyes. "My name is Haruno Sakura, it's a pleasure to meet you. Please don't judge me based on the actions of that problem child." Sakura bowed politely to Tsunade.
"Hah!?" Naruto looked hurt and shocked by Sakura's words.
"Why did you want to meet us?" Sasuke turned to look at Tsunade.
"Hmm? I actually met a friend of yours a few days ago. She told me that I should stop by and meet you guys. She said I'd like what I see." Tsunade said, giving the group an appraising look over. She left out that Hinata had actually told her just to meet Naruto. She didn't see the point in specifying.
"A friend of ours?" Sasuke asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Hinata-chan." Tsunade told him. "I ran into her on her previous mission. She knew I was headed back to the village and said I should meet you all."
"Well, I'm Uzumaki Naruto! And I'm going to be the next Hokage!" Naruto said confidently, hooking a thumb back to point at his own chest.
Tsunade looked at him before snorting out in laughter. "You? Hokage?" She laughed harder.
"Don't look down on me y'know!? I'm the strongest genin of our year and Jiraiya's apprentice! I'll definitely be the next Hokage!" Naruto shouted angrily.
"You? Strongest? Don't make me laugh." Sasuke rebutted him.
"Hah!? You wanna fight?" Naruto shouted, rounding on Sasuke.
Sasuke snorted. "It's always a pleasure to put you in your place."
"Say that again!" Naruto said angrily, glaring at Sasuke.
"Mahh.. There will be time for this later, calm down you two." Kakashi told them.
"No." Tsunade said with a smirk. "Let them fight it out. I want to see what they have to back up their cocky attitudes."
Kakashi sighed and shrugged. "Suit yourself."
Naruto and Sasuke ran away from the group and took their positions.
"You're going down!" Naruto shouted. "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"
Sasuke narrowed his eyes, activating his sharingan and keeping the two dozen Narutos in his line of sight.
Sakura just sighed as the sounds of fighting echoed throughout the training grounds.
"Oh?" Tsunade looked down at the pink-haired girl. "You could go and join them if you're feeling left out."
Sakura just smiled ruefully and shook her head. "I'm not either of their matches, I'd just embarrass myself. Besides, I have no intention of getting in the middle of their pissing match."
"Hmm." Tsunade just looked at Sakura a bit before turning back to watch the boys' match.
... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ...
Team eight had been traveling for an entire day when they decided to set up camp in the late afternoon. Hayate split up the job of setting up camp between the three of the genin and it didn't take long for a small campsite to be built at the base of the tall trees in the forest of Hi no Kuni. Kiba had caught some rabbits for them to cook, and they were currently sitting around a campfire.
"Here you go Shibuki-san!" Hinata took one of the cooked rabbits and handed it to Shibuki. "Watch out, it's hot."
"Ah, thank you Hinata-chan." Shibuki took the rabbit from her, blowing the steam off it.
"Shibuki-san, I heard that Takigakure is sending people to participate in the chūnin exams?" Hinata asked curiously.
"That's the plan, though I'm not exactly sure who I'm going to be sending yet." Shibuki nodded, eating some of the rabbit.
"Ah, we're going to be participating in it too!" Hinata said happily. She knew what could possibly happen ,but she couldn't help but be excited at the prospect of becoming a chūnin. Chūnins had more freedom and subsequently were respected more.
"Oh really? Aren't you all kind of young?" Shibuki asked, looking at her with a moderate amount of surprise.
"Hmph. Age doesn't matter if we have the skill to back it up!" Kiba proclaimed.
Shino nodded silently in agreement with Kiba's words.
"I think.." Hinata said thoughtfully. "A shinobi needs to be prepared for anything, because anything can happen while on missions. Even if we can't become chūnin this time, the experience is what matters most. Interacting with shinobi from other villages gives us a much needed insight towards other village's fighting styles. Also there's a bunch of shinobi out there I want to meet!"
Hinata thought about the shinobi from Suna that would be participating: Gaara, Kankurō, and Temari. She was really looking forward to meeting them. Even if they were enemies at first, she was confident it would only be a temporary thing.
"Hahh.." Kiba sighed. "She's always going on about becoming friends with shinobi from other villages. It's like she thinks the exams are a game."
"I do not." Hinata said, sticking her tongue out at him.
Shibuki laughed. "I was right, you really do remind me of Fū-chan."
"Fū-chan?" Shino asked, looking over at him.
"Mhm." Shibuki said, still chuckling. "I guess you could call her my apprentice, although she could be considered closer to being my little sister. I've taken care of her since she was really young."
"Sounds kinda like me and shishou. Say, shishou? Should I start calling you oniisan?" Hinata asked, looking over at Hayate with a teasing grin.
Hayate coughed, choking on the rabbit he was eating on the edge of the camp. "N-no."
Kiba doubled over laughing at Hayate's reaction. "What's the matter Hayate-oniisan?"
"Stop that." Hayate said, composing himself and glaring at Kiba.
Shino just quietly shook his head and asked Shibuki a question. "Is she our age then?"
"Mhm. She's been bugging me about the chūnin exams too. She wants to participate in order to meet people from other villages, which is why I laughed at what Hinata-chan said. Although I really think that she's just bored being cooped up in the village." Shibuki explained.
Hinata turned away from her flustered shishou and looked at Shibuki. "You should bring her!"
"I don't know… It's one of the things I was discussing with Shikaku-san. I'm just not sure if she's old enough yet to go so far away from the village. She's not exactly the most responsible." Shibuki said with a small smile.
"Neither is Kiba, yet here we are." Shino said, causing Hinata to choke on her rabbit laughing.
"Hey!" Kiba said indignantly.
When Hinata had managed to get her laughter under control, she turned to face Shibuki again. "You can come with her! We'll show you both around the village; it will be a lot of fun!" 'And hopefully we can change her fate of getting captured by the Akatsuki.' Hinata thought to herself.
"I'll think about it." Shibuki promised.
"Mm!" Hinata nodded.
They continued to chat around the campfire until it started to get late. Hinata took the first watch and sat in the branches of a tree, hidden from sight, as she watched over the surrounding area with her byakugan.
'I didn't think I'd get a chance to actually meet Fū. I thought Gaara would be the only jinchūriki I'd actually be able to meet before everything starts to happen with the Akatsuki. This is a golden opportunity!' She thought to herself as she kept watch. Every jinchūriki she could keep out of their hands, would be a huge victory.
... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ...
The group continued traveling and it only took about four days before they finally crossed the border into Taki no Kuni. The forest that they had been traveling through became thicker and the trees grew closer together, forming a thick canopy that blocked out the sun except for a few lucky rays that managed to reach the floor of the jungle. The air was very humid in the jungle and it felt like it could rain at any moment.
The group slowed down to halt as they crossed the bored, taking in the new environment they found themselves in.
"Look at it!" Hinata said in excitement, spreading her arms wide. "Amazing!"
Kiba whistled slowly, looking at the massive trees ahead that dwarfed the trees from their own forest.
"I wonder what species of insect live here?" Shino said to himself, crouching to flip over a few leaves.
Shibuki watched their varied reactions in amusement as they entered his home country. He was getting excited as well. He had been away much longer this time, and he knew that Fū would be having a hard time without him there. She had been ostracized by the villagers her whole life and he was her only friend. She had begged him to take her with him, but he just didn't think he could take that risk. It was just too dangerous outside of the village!
'We're professionals I swear…' Hayate thought to himself as he watched the three excited genins.
"Alright group, we're in Taki no Kuni now, reform the formation. Shino, I want you to form a constant moving perimeter with your insects as we move forward." Hayate gave out orders and the others complied right away, getting serious.
"Hinata, switch to point and use your byakugan. Kiba, you're on the right. I don't want anything sneaking up on us." Hayate said, as Kiba and Hinata swapped positions. "We're almost to our destination, I know you're all excited but let's not let anything happen due to carelessness. You can enjoy the scenery on our way back home."
The group set forward once more into the thick jungle. They had to hold back their excitement at being out of Hi no Kuni for the first time, but they were all determined to finish their mission.
... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ...
"Hahh.. Hahh.." Naruto panted, trying to catch his breath as he stared across the field from Sasuke.
The two of them had just finished a particularly intense spar with no clear winner. They had been determined to fight until there was a clea victor, but had been stopped by Kakashi before that could happen. Naruto had numbers and stamina, but Sasuke was a lot better in taijutsu and ninjutsu, which along with his sharingan had proved to be a powerful defense against the army of shadow clones.
'These are fresh genin?' Tsunade was rather surprised at their display. She didn't doubt that the apprentice of Jiraiya and a jinchūriki could be weak, but she wasn't expecting Naruto to be able to command that many shadow clones. The Uchiha brat also surprised her with the display of finesse he showed when using his ninjutsu at the perfect times to counteract his disadvantages.
Tsunade glanced down again at the girl next to her that acted like she wasn't surprised in the least by this outcome. 'Poor girl, if they really are this far ahead of her, this can't be helping her sense of self worth as a kunoichi.'
"Not bad!" Jiraiya grinned at the two of them. "I see you haven't slacked on your training!"
"Of course we haven't!" Naruto shouted back, somehow finding the energy to respond as if he wasn't exhausted.
Tsunade looked back over and watched Jiraiya interacting with his apprentice. The kid, Naruto, really did have a decent amount of skill. He seemed to be a good kid as well, a little headstrong and annoying, but he was lively and had the same grin on his face that Jiraiya had.
Naruto was already asking Jiraiya to teach him a new ninjutsu since he was here and Jiraiya was trying to think of something to teach him, eventually pulling out a few water balloons and tossing them over to him. They headed off to a different part of the grounds to train.
Kakashi was going over mistakes Sasuke had made during the fight and wanted to test him to see how his talent was with lightning based ninjutsu. Tsunade couldn't hear what they were saying, but she saw Kakashi demonstrate his chidori in front of a wide eyed Sasuke.
"Are you ok with this?" Tsunade asked, looking down at Sakura out of the corner of her eye. Shizune was biting the bottom of her lip looking at the girl as well. She'd been around her shishou long enough to see that Tsunade had taken in interest in the girl.
"Ok with what..?" Sakura looked up at Tsunade, tilting her head.
"Tch. Don't give me that. Are you ok with being weak!?" Tsunade asked her more aggressively. "Your teammates are getting further and further ahead of you, and you're here sitting on a bench watching them."
Sakura smiled a bit sadly. "Naruto has that insane red chakra, and Sasuke has the sharingan, not to mention he's.. well he's Sasuke.. " She blushed a bit as she said that, but it quickly vanished, replaced by a melancholy. "I can't get on the same level as them, but I'm content to support them on the side.."
"And when they die because they have to protect a weak teammate? Will you support them by digging their graves?" Tsunade asked her.
"Huh..?" Sakura looked up at her with wide eyes.
"You seem to be misunderstanding something so I'm going to fill you in." Tsunade said, staring into Sakura's eyes. "If you want to support two monsters like those kids, you can't be anything less than a monster yourself."
Sakura looked stunned as she listened to Tsunade.
"It was the same for me you know? I was on a team with two monsters that went by the name of Jiraiya and Orochimaru. I supported them with my iryō ninjutsu, but that didn't mean I was any weaker than them. If you tell yourself 'It's ok if I'm weak, I'm just the support', you're not only doing your team a disservice but also yourself." Tsunade said, gripping her hand into a fist.
"But I can't -" Sakura started to say, but Tsunade cut her off.
"Can't what? Become strong like them? Strong like me? Have you asked anyone for help? Naruto has Jiraiya guiding him and Sasuke has Kakashi that's teaching him the ropes, even if he hasn't taken him as an official apprentice yet, it looks like it's only a matter of time." Tsunade watched the girl stare at her own feet.
Tsunade waited a moment, but seeing that Sakura wasn't going to speak, she snorted and shouted at Shizune. "Shizune! We're leaving. I've seen all that I needed to."
"Yes, shishou." Shizune said, giving Sakura one last look before following Tsunade.
Sakura looked up, biting her lip, tears in the corners of her eyes. She watched Tsunade walking away and glanced over at Sasuke that was now practicing hand seals of a new ninjutsu. Sakura didn't know what she should be doing right now, but she knew she should be doing something, anything…
"Tsunade-sama…" She spoke out in a small voice.
Tsunade kept walking, not turning around, with Shizune following her lead.
"Tsunade-sama." Sakura called out again a little more forcefully.
Tsunade ignored the girl. If she wasn't going to be confident in her actions, then she wasn't going to waste her time on a genin who was resigned to being mediocre.
"Tsunade-sama!" Sakura stood up and shouted, wiping the tears from her eyes.
Tsunade finally stopped walking and turned her head to look at the girl. Even Kakashi and Sasuke paused what they were doing to look over.
"Help me become stronger." Sakura started, a little weakly at first, but soon gained more confidence. "Help me become stronger, so that I can support them!"
"Hoh?" Tsunade smirked.
Shizune just smiled slightly at the scene.
"Fine then brat. Follow me." Tsunade turned around without waiting for an answer and walked off, with Shizune, and now Sakura, following close behind her.