Author's Note
I'm really sorry for the delay in posting guys. Had a whole lot of things going wrong at home in a single week so I wasn't able to write at all.
Fair warning, this chapter is a lot shorter than the rest of this story. Hope you guys enjoy this, because there's a surprise new addition to the Hidden Leaf Village coming. They'll all be shocked, especially Naruto.
After their joint mission, Team 1 was given a week of rest. During that time, his team met up every morning to train.
They had afternoons free however. Hatorama used that time to explore the village and meet the various clans and shinobi in the village.
Nearly all were welcoming. The only people whos feelings weren't warmly disposed to me to me were the Hyuga. That's to be expected though.
As morbid as it is, the loss of the Uchiha made the Hyuga undisputedly, the most influential clan in the village. Then I came along and now all eyes are on me.
There's nothing I can do about that though. These issues circulate around in my mind until our week of rest is over and we're summoned to the Hokage Tower for a new mission.
As we enter the Missions Room, we find the Hokage sitting there. Shuffling through papers and puffing on his pipe. He looks up as we enter.
" Ah, Team 1, just the shinobi I'm looking for. You are being assigned a B rank mission. Off the west coast of The Land of Fire. "
" Or rather, I should rephrase that. You see, your mission will take you far from land. You are tasked with locating a stolen ship. It was captured by pirates. "
" The captain and his crew barely escaped with their lives. They were found crammed on a small boat just off our coast. "
" Your mission therefore is to eliminate the pirates if you can and seize the goods they stole and return it. I'll provide you with a detailed inventory on a scroll. "
" Now listen to me very carefully. The waters this took place in, is very near to the territorial waters of the Land of Lightning. I don't need to tell you to be on your guard. "
" Hatorama, your mother tells me that in the event that you are in over your head or you are at risk of being killed or captured, you know what to do? "
I nod my head in agreement. He tosses a scroll at sensei then and dismissed us. Once we're outside, she gives us an hour to pack for a mission and meet at the gates.
Unlike my teammates, I don't rush home. I have fully stocked supply scrolls waiting in my bedroom. Thus twenty minutes later, I've left home with everything I need and am sitting by a dango stand, stuffing my face with the sweet treats.
At the alloted time, we're all gathered at the gate. Sensei briefly explains the route that we're going to take and then we're off.
Traveling is monotonous. We've been a team for only a comparatively short time, but we've learnt the habits of each other well by now.
Thus, nothing really surprising happens as we travel. We've set a fast pace, so nearing dusk the next day, we've reached the port city we were headed towards.
Unfortunately, we came just a bit too late. The last ship that was heading in the direction we need to go, left an hour before we arrived.
That annoys sensei. There's nothing we can do about it however. Left with no choice, we book two rooms for the night in a modest hotel.
That done, we set out to look for a place to eat. After much grumbling, we finally settled on having sushi. Yakumo grumbles a bit at the choice, but eventually acquiesced.
At sensei's insistence, we have dango for dessert. Because I gorged myself on it yesterday, I'm not so keen, but I settle for having two skewers of them.
We head back to the hotel then. Sensei dismisses us then and tells us to be awake by seven in the morning. Each of our rooms has its own shower, so once we're back, I get into the shower and stay in it for about twenty minutes.
This is the last shower that we're going to have for awhile, so I might as well enjoy it. When I leave the bathroom I see Sai sketching.
I don't say anything though. I crawl into my futon and fall asleep not long after. My dreams are filled with half seen phantoms and when I wake up the next morning, I barely feel rested.
I shrug it off however. There's no time for anything but a splash of water on my face and the chance to brush my teeth.
We rush out of the hotel early in the morning. I sent water clones out the moment I woke up. They went to buy us breakfast.
As we approach the docks, they hand over a few boxes to us and then they dispel into small puddles. I groan internally as I see the ship we're going to travel on.
It looks like a piece of junk. Unfortunately, we don't have a choice. Being so close to the Land of Lightning, we have to keep a low profile.
Running into Hidden Cloud shinobi at this juncture would be disastrous. Sensei greets the captain and after exchanging some words, she leads us below deck.
We enter the mess and immediately sit down. We scarf our breakfast down. Once done, we take turns changing in the room that's assigned to the four of us.
We'll be traveling in disguise for the trip. That means wearing the same type of clothes as the crew and no headbands.
We all know though, that such a superficial disguise won't fool any sensory type ninja. Luckily they're rare, still, it's best not to court trouble.
By the time all of us have changed clothes, we can feel the motions of water as the ship begins its journey. Sensei tells us that the captain would prefer it if we're below deck during the morning.
It's to give them the opportunity to work unimpeded. That means that we have a few hours of nothing to do. Luckily, we're shinobi, so there's always a form of training.
I do chakra control exercises, consisting of spinning senbon on my fingers. Sai draws and Yakumo contents herself with playing around with genjutsu. Sensei reads a book. I snort softly and she grins at us tauntingly.
Hours later, after a brief lunch, we head on up to the deck. There are only a few of the crew up here and they gawk at us, but we ignore them, focused as we are on the horizon.
The skies are clear and there's nothing but ocean in every direction. I walk towards the bow and allow my thoughts to wander.
This is a strange mission. I can't see how we're going to find these pirates. There's no way that they're in the area they attacked the merchants by, on a regular basis.
Near any of the major powers, that would be too dangerous. Not worth the risk of going against trained shinobi.
Then again, it's very possible that some of the pirates are shinobi themselves. With all the chaos in the Land of Water, many of their ninja have gone rogue.
It wouldn't surprise me to find rogue Hidden Mist shinobi working as pirates. They would have the skillsets for it. I'll need to be on my guard.
Luckily, I'm a sensor myself. A commotion breaks me out of my thoughts. When I turn to see what it is, I roll my eyes. It's Sai. From the sounds of it, he insulted one of the crewmembers.
Sensei and Yakumo both ignore it. Well used to Sai's antics by now. After a moment, I return to my contemplation of the water.
We end up staying out on deck until sundown. It's very beautiful. The best I've ever seen. After that, we go below again and eat our evening meal. It's udon this time.
Once finished, we head to our shared cabin. There we all climb into our bunks and settle down. I don't feel like speaking or reading anything, so I crawl under the covers and go to sleep.
This is our routine for the next five days. Boring repetition. The only thing of interest to any of us are the sea creatures that we see.
Dolphins, whales and sharks to name just a few. Having only read about them, all of us Genin, even Sai, are fascinated by them.
The whales are especially impressive. It's more their shape that interests me however. Unlike Yakumo and Sai, I've actually seen something bigger than the whales.
It's hard to judge accurately, but I'd estimate that Katsuyu is larger. Not that I could know for sure. She's a slug, so summoning her in the middle of the ocean is probably a bad idea.
Not too mention that it would give away too much of my abilities. I've no doubt that Danzo knows I can summon, but I've only ever used small fragments of Katsuyu.
I smile faintly. Nobody but my mother has ever seen Katsuyu's true size. Even the giant form she takes when summoned by my mother, is but a fragment of her true size.
When I'm fully matured, or close to it, I'll have the chakra capacity to summon her in her entirety. I can't wait actually.
The trouble starts on the sixth day. We're woken up earlier than usual, by the rocking of the ship. Violently.
Thinking we're under attack, we rush on up to the deck, only to gape. Heavy rain hits us as soon as we're out in the open.
Massive waves are all around us. The sky nearly black, only the occasional flickers of lightning in the air to provide a bit of light. The wind is so strong, we have to use chakra to stick to the deck.
We don't gawk for long however. Sensei sends us back inside and she heads off to speak to the captain.
Once we're in our room, I make a single handsign. All the water soaked into our clothes and on our body immediately lifts off. I evaporate it with my chakra. They nod gratefully at me and then we dress fully, ship rocking all the way.
We rush above again, but the two of them are frozen by the sight of a giant wave headed our way. I can hear the cries of the crew and sensei cursing.
Without hesitation I race towards the bow of the ship and go through three handsigns. Water Style Exploding Shockwave.
For a moment, it looks like I'm too late as the wave touches the bow, but then it splits open and our ship passes through. I grit my teeth. That was an expensive technique.
The captain exclaims in amazement behind me. I pay him no mind. We're far from safe just yet. It's proven throughout the day.
I've had to use the jutsu six times in total. My enormous chakra capacity does have limits however. Keeping the waves from overcoming the ship has strained my reserves.
Fortunately by nighttime, the seas have calmed somewhat. I'm out as soon as my head touches the pillow. I don't wake even once.
When I wake up the next morning however, I learn of the disaster that has struck.
During the night, the ship was pushed off course and now it's been beached on volcanic island.
Gazing at it with my team, I'm troubled. I can feel the chakra signatures of many animals on the island. Summoning animals, which make no sense. More troubling is the chakra signature I feel deeper on the island. One that feels strangely familiar.