(A/N) Let's go! When the pirates see them imagine the 'the risk I took was calculated but man am I bad at math.'
It was another day before the pirates caught up to them. Either they were fast or the pirates were slow. Minato couldn't tell which. Both probably.
Minato was on the back of the ship when the pirates finally managed to catch up, and as such he got to see the 'oh frick' face they made the second they spotted him and Yuudai.
The pirates started arguing, or at least he assumed that was what they were doing, it was kind of hard to tell, but they looked annoyed.
"They're probably arguing about whether it's worth it to attack us or not," Yuudai said, leaning towards Minato. "On one hand our ship isn't marked, which does beg the question as to whether we're a ship full of Uzushio jounin, or there's only us on board. They're trying to decide if the risk is worth it."
"The risk isn't worth it," Minato informed the ship, despite the fact they were in fact too far away to hear him.
"It never is for them, whether it's one Uzushio jounin or multiple. We can murder them all the same."
"Right. What now?"
"They'll either approach on their own or we'll lasso em and reel them in ourselves. They'll make up their mind soon. If they attack, we slaughter the attackers. If they don't, we'll negotiate."
Minato swallowed, watching the pirates come to a decision. The helm person signaled to the masts and the sails filled, driving the ship onward towards their ship.
Yuudai whistled three notes, low, high, lower than the first note. An answering whistle matched him. "Let's go then! You can go back to where Mitoko is, she's up at helm. The battle won't reach there."
Minato swallowed, but nodded and ran back to where the steps up to the helm were.
"So, what was their decision?" Mitoko asked, calmly watching the horizon in front of them.
"They're sailing at us," Minato replied, walking over to the back of the helm facing the pirates. They were officially steadily gaining.
Mitoko made a pleased growl noise. "Nice. I hate using the chains to drag ships towards us. So unprofessional.
"Unprofessional?" Minato asked, his voice cracking halfway through. He turned red, cursing the fact that was still happening.
"Well yeah, it's funnier to chase em down ourselves instead of reeling them in like they're captured fish. Unfortunately, when we're trying to go somewhere that doesn't usually get to happen. Oh well."
Minato made an agreement noise, not wanting his voice to crack again. The pirates caught up and a rope was thrown to loop the two ships together. He turned around in time to see Mitoko nod to the current sails people to allow the sails to go loose and lose the wind.
"RAAAGHH!" The pirates launched themselves across the gap to attack Yuudai. Yuudai threw something down, and a smoke cloud billowed out. Yuudai used the distraction to sneak backwards and the other jounin used the distraction to basically appear from the woodwork to get ready to fight some pirates.
"Pirates!" Kamiko shouted, grinning a bit too cheerfully. "Attack and die, or surrender and we will negotiate! Attack or stay on your ship. The choice is yours."
The smoke cleared and there were still pirates ready to attack. None left at the announcement, or at the reveal of so many Uzushio jounin ready to kill. Minato looked away and moved to stand next to Mitoko. Kushina was down there as well, while Tadaaki was in the hold with the medic again. Minato decided staying here was a fine option. Staying here and away from the battle.
"They'll make sure no pirates get anywhere," Mitoko said calmly. "Do not worry."
"I'm not," Minato said after a second. And he wasn't. There wasn't really a reason to be worried about the jounin and Kushina. They'd be fine.
A few minutes later and the fighting sounds stopped.
"Anyone else want a fight?" Kamiko shouted, not even out of breath.
Apparently, no one came forward, so she laughed and continued. "Well, come aboard then! We'll negotiate!"
Minato hesitantly peeked over that side, finding Minori and Kamiko calmly hosing down the deck with a jutsu. There weren't any bodies in sight, and Minato assumed they'd thrown them overboard or something.
A minute later and Riko was manning the helm while Mitoko negotiated with the pirate captain.
"I would apologize for my aggressive crewmembers, but…" she didn't finish her sentence, just glancing over the side of the ship. "I think you don't really care."
"It's quite alright," Mitoko replied graciously. "How attached are you to your piracy?"
The captain squinted at her suspiciously. "Why do you need to know?"
"We are traveling around to Kiri islands and stealing them," Mitoko replied. "They can always use assistance to rebuild while the islands themselves travel to Uzushio and before we can get our hands on them to organize the inhabitants."
"You want us to join an island, then join Uzushio when it reaches there," the captain said flatly.
"If you'd rather be slaughtered, you don't need to," Mitoko replied. "We will be sinking your ship. You can be on it if you wish."
The captain seemed to realize she was beat and huffed. "Alright then. We'll agree to these terms. Let us get our stuff from our ship before you destroy it and let us say goodbye."
"It won't happen until we reach the island," Mitoko assured her. "You can repurpose the wood and supplies to assist the villagers."
"Alright. Will you tow us along or are you planning to keep us behind you on a watch."
"If any of my jounin don't mind, you'll have supervision. Otherwise, it's annoying to keep another ship on a tether. Your ship is slower than ours and my jounin know the way. If it takes you a bit longer to reach the island then oh well."
The captain nodded agreement and stood up. "Thank you for showing us amnesty."
"We don't slaughter if we don't need to," Mitoko replied, offering her hand. The captain took it, shaking her hand respectfully. "Chizumi and Isao will join you if you don't mind."
Chizumi, who'd been sitting nearby, and Isao, sitting on the sails above them, gave thumbs up.
"Thank you." The captain repeated, heading for her own ship.
At least it had been resolved with little slaughter. And the captain had agreed to it and everything. A pretty good outcome probably.
(A/N) *shakes this story* I like you why won't you be written!