Sorry I uploaded this late! I meant to get it up yesterday. Still, here's the beginning of the wave arc. Again, things are slowly veering off the cannon tracks and mid chunin exams, I expect them to be derailed. Hopefully including this chapter, I'll only need 3-4 chapters to conclude this arc. Chapter nine is also going up tonight once I give it a rough once over. Let me know what you think!
(Also to answer a reviewer, the current timeline for Kage is this.
-Born and raised in orphanage till the age of 3.5.
-Brought to Konoha at 3.5 Begins academy at an old 6. She also meets Shisui after school at the age of 6. Shortly after meeting Shisui, she turns 7, meaning she's fairly old for her class. (Shisui is 12 and a chunin at this point in time)
-Kage helps Shisui and deals the Uchiha massacre at 9.5, her third year in the academy. ( To make things make sense time wise, I have gone back and changed this from 8.5 in the previous version of the story because I can't add) (Shisui is 15 years old and now a jonin/in anbu)
- Kage graduate the academy at 12, again older then most of her classmates, as she's almost 13. (Shisui is now an anbu captain at 17.)
If you notice any discrepancies in the story based on this timeline, please let me know! i can look into whatever mistake I made and make the appropriate edits.)
~Line break~
Kakashi-sensei figured it out after 2 weeks. I'm shocked it took him that long. Maybe it didn't and he just appreciated the effort I had put in. Regardless, this still meant after two weeks I was forced into doing D-ranks with the rest of my team. And Sasuke wasn't speaking to me.
"When will the teme start talking to us again?" Naruto looked like a kicked puppy. I sighed.
"Once he's refilled his quota of words for the month." Naruto didn't respond, probably confused. "OKAY. Maybe we should've told him about using a shadow clone and a henge. I'M SORRY."
Sasuke looked up, "That's all I was asking for." I frowned at him.
"You didn't care about doing them at all until you found about me and Naruto."
"OF COURSE I CARE NOW; THIS IS YOUR FIRST D RANK AND THIS IS MY 32ND."
I sniffed. "I let Naruto keep my part of the payout minus the clan proceeds. No one gets a free ride on this team." (Kakashi hadn't said a word but I'm pretty sure he was finding this conversation ten times more interesting then his book. He hadn't turned a page in the last five minutes)"Besides. If you didn't want to do D ranks then you should've come up with a plan."
He scowled at me furious, before turning back to the fence we were supposed to be painting. Not willing to go back to work (Jeez D ranks were boring), I decided to drag this out a little longer. "After all, you can say that I was technically helping you. I mean you want to be a chunin so badly. Mission practice is the best way to move up the ranks. By not physically being here, I was being the best kind of teammate."
In a move that was purely Naruto, he flung his paintbrush at my head reaching in his pack for kunai. Naruto grabbed him in a bear hug, pinning his hands to his side. "DON'T DO IT EMO" A vein popped in his head. ('Oh dear, I really shouldn't have used that name in front of Naruto') "KAGE IS OUR TEAM MEMBER AND TEAM SEVEN IS GONNA BE THE BEST DATTEBAYO!"
"Naruto!" He looked at me, surprised I was snapping at him when he was coming to my defense. Wagging my paint brush at him (and spilling paint all over the street, his and Sasuke's shirts, the grass, everywhere) "What have I said about screaming in people's ears?"
He let go of Sasuke and ruined his head sheepishly. "Don't do it. Sorry, teme, wont happen again." Kakashi coughed.
"Ma, I think you guys are taking long enough on this D rank."
"I wouldn't know how long a D rank takes; I've never done one before." I said and laughed as Sasuke once again moved to attack me.
~Line break~
"And you're sure your team is ready for a C rank, Kakashi-san?" The hokage looked skeptical. I kept my face as innocent as possible. This is what I had been gunning for. If I could make our jonin-sensei fed up with D ranks, well then I'd never have to worry about them again. Besides the infighting had managed to bring together the team. (More Naruto and Sasuke then Sasuke and I, but I fuck it, I had achieved the impossible.) Ever since the bell test, we weren't exactly friendly all the time, but it turns out all of us could work together really well. Sasuke was actually willing to listen to my plans, which shocked me, and Naruto was willing to follow my lead even if that meant working with Sasuke. And like I said, the in fighting had managed to finally close the gap between Naruto and Sasuke (I think I managed to annoy Sasuke more then Naruto).
Kakashi lied through his teeth. "I have every bit of confidence in my cute genin team." Hm, if I started wearing a mask to make lying easier, would that come across as suspicious? 'Probably.' I thought glumly.
"Are you…positive?" he asked again. Our missions were getting slightly infamous. Naruto and Sasuke straightened up and looked determined. I tried to match them but yawned. Sasuke shot me a glare.
"Ojii-san give me a good one! I want a real mission. Let's go save a princess!" Naruto, I was proud to say, had improved his indoor voice. Shisui had given me tips on how to help, in-between his lengthy missions, and it was really helping further my ADHD suspicion. The tips were vaguely similar to tips school-age AHDH children were given in my past life that Shisui had stumbled upon on his own.
"Do you think there are more people like you around?" I asked Naruto absentmindedly. Everyone stared at me. I blinked. I hadn't been paying attention to the conversation at all, but still the question stood… "Yea, I guess it was a stupid question. Of course there are. Probably hundreds in the academy alone." Everyone stared harder but I ignored them. My dream was to retire peacefully, but one of my short term goals was to rediscover adderal in this world. (Maybe the Nara research on solider pills would be some help.)
The hokage didn't look any more confident in our abilities, but before he could say something, a drunk man walked out from a side room. "This my escort team then? They look like brats."
"And you look drunk before 10 AM. Funny how appearances are deceiving sometimes." Naruto and Sasuke both smirked at my clap-back, but I could hear Kakashi face palm. Snatching up the mission scroll he said loudly over the Hokage's objections:
"Right, meet all of you at the gate tomorrow. 9 AM."
"12" Haggled Naruto. Sasuke Hnged in agreement. I shrugged. I wasn't arriving before 11 at the earliest so noon would work for me.
"Deal" our sensei agreed. As everyone went to split up I called out for the two to wait.
"We ought to meet up tonight and make sure we have proper supplies. You can both swing by the compound if you want." Sasuke sniffed at me. I sighed, "Or we can both swing by your apartment Sasuke." He Hnnged and Naruto shouted his acceptance (While I had fixed his indoor voice, something about the outdoors and sunlight just set the kid off). "Sasuke, if you see your cousin, ask him to hang around to help double-check our bags."
He Hnnged again, but I didn't catch the meaning of this one. Whatever. I'd planned to look for Shisui anyway today and I would just ask him in advance. While I now got along decently with Sasuke, he could still be a prick when it concerned Shisui. Directly after the massacre, Sasuke had clung to Shisui like a life line. In the weeks following however he had distanced himself from everyone, but especially Shisui. If they didn't share any apartment, Shisui would've been completely cut off from Sasuke's life by now. I wasn't sure clear on all the details, but I understood from Shisui that Sasuke blamed his cousin for being good enough to stop Itachi, and for being injured enough to be unable.
Besides the fact that I didn't know if Shisui actually was good enough to stop Itachi, I also secretly knew the real reason for the killing. Considering this, I found Sasuke's attitude pathetic. (I mean sure he had lost his whole family, but I had literally died once already and wasn't anywhere near as emo as him. Its all about perspective I guess. And coping. I think I cope pretty well, but I'm also a little bit of an an asshole so what do I know?).
It took me nearly an hour to find Shisui. Just when I was about to give up, I felt his chakra signature from behind me. He plopped his crossed arms on my head and leaned on me like a post.
"Brat! I've been looking everywhere for you." I looked up at him as best I could, a skeptical look on my face. "No really! I have a week long mission break! Starting this morning. Couldn't find you anywhere." I squirmed, freeing myself from under his arms (He had taken to leaning on me every chance he could get ever since his last growth spurt and while I didn't normally mind at the compound or in the woods, I was not going to set that precedent in public for someone like sensei or Naruto to see and copy) and turned my whole body to face him.
"Excellent timing. I'm hungry. Buy me food." I grabbed his hand and started pulling him down the street towards an Akimichi restaurant that I favored.
He laughed and let me lead him, chattering away about his day and how glad he was to have a vacation finally (I silently agreed. The past few months I had hardly seen him for more then a day or two in a row. I had contented myself with them practice and meeting up with Sakura to practice our medical ninjutsu) Shisui didn't shut up till we were seated in a booth across from each other. "Yatta, and what have you been up to Kage-chan?"
He was so excitable. He was constantly moving, even seated, he couldn't hold back his energy, so he kept shaking his leg and fidgeting. With his restless energy and my lazy shuffle, I could at least understand why the pair of us got stared at when we were in the village together. His face was just so alight with energy, that one could almost completely ignore the slight scar that went across his face, right over his eye. Still, I just smiled at my best friend, "I have a mission tomorrow. I'll probably end up not being here for your whole vacation."
He deflated, pouting comically at me, before bouncing back again; "A mission outside the village? Where to and what are you doing?"
'That was a good question.' We hadn't exactly got a mission debriefing (or if we had, I wasn't paying attention) so I supposed I couldn't find out until we met at the gate tomorrow. I shrugged at Shisui in answer and moved to start eating. (there was no prompter service then an Akimichi staffed restaurant.)
He sweat dropped. "Do you know how long it is? Where it is? What kind of supplies you'll need to pack?" His voice was serious but his face was still teasing.I mean it was only a C rank. We were probably escorting that drunk guy.
I said as much aloud. Shisui snickered but let it go for a little bit. We chatted about nothing for a little bit longer before Shisui couldn't hold it in anymore and jumped up and grabbing my arm and tugging me upright. I started, looking at him agasht before turning back to my still half full plate— and his empty platter. (He ate so much and so quickly I wasn't sure how he wasn't fat by now. Must be all the running) He rolled his eyes at me, tossed some money on the table and dragged me out of the restaurant. I resisted only halfheartedly. (I was already basically full, but it was the principle of the matter. Don't separate me from food)
It wasn't till we had been walking for near 20 minutes and I was throughly lost before I bothered to ask Shisui where we were going. "Ah you'll see, we're already here." Quick grin at me before he moved forward and banged on an apartment door.
"Do you even know who lives here or are we just bothering some strange person?" I demanded to know.
"I resent being called strange." Called Kakashi from behind me. If it wasn't too much effort, I probably would've jumped. Shisui did. "Ma, Shisui-san what are you doing with my cute little genin?" Kakashi kept his face neutral but Shisui laughed and let go of my hand to rub his against the back of his head sheepishly.
"Ah guessing Kage-chan hasnt told you?" At Kakashi's flat look, he continued, "No, she probably wouldn't" (Of course I wouldnt. I was kind of miffed that Shisui was letting Kakashi know anything right now.) "This is my sparring partner!"
Kakashi actually froze before squinting at me with one eye. "This little shrimp… Who almost finds the effort of breathing to be too much work… is your partner that you leave headquarters to spar with." Shisui had the grace to look embarrassed. Well, that just wouldn't do.
"I find dying from not breathing to be more bothersome then the act of breathing itself." I informed sensei. "Besides, Shisui doesn't need to practice with me, I make him practice with him." Kakashi raised his one visible eyebrow and looked ready to say something but Shisui interrupted:
"Ah no it's fine Taicho, if you let her get to you, this'll go on for hours. I'm really here to find out about the mission parameters for your team tomorrow. Kage-chan, and I'm guessing my cousin as well, have no idea what to bring along." Kakashi eyed him for a second before reaching into one of his many pockets and tossed Shisui the mission scroll. While Shisui fumbled it, Sensei crouched next to me, and met my level gaze.
"We're going to have a team discussion about hiding ability levels. Before we leave the village we should know what each person is capable of; I expect all three of you to be honest." I shrugged. I had expected I wouldn't be able to hide my speed forever, after all I had taken my weights off for the bell test in anticipation. Besides, in order to work effectively as a team, we had to know each others abilities. Although, I might keep the healing a secret as it changed my position within the team hierarchy and it would be a pain in the ass to always have to heal stuff. Standing up again, Kakashi reached up for the scroll Shisui passed him and spoke again. "Meet you at the gates at 9 tomorrow."
"12" I reminded him urgently, already seeing through his plan. Shisui smacked the back of my head.
"You cant be late to your first C rank Kage-chan." Turning to Sensei, he said, "Don't worry she'll be there on time." Kakashi's answering smile was evil. I scowled at him. This was evil. Pure evil.
~linebreak~
I spent the rest of the evening with Shisui, relaxing in the peace of Konoha. We didn't do any strenuous training, just walked around the village and caught up after not seeing each other for so long. Shisui was interested in hearing how far I had progressed my Medical ninjutsu and about my teammates. I filled him in eagerly about all my progress with Sakura, explained how Sasuke and I had introduced Naruto to a different form of taijutsu then his current brawler form, and let him know about my most recent D-rank mishap. Eventually, I got back on the topic of Naruto, still frustrated at how much extra work Sasuke and I were having to do to bring the kid up to speed.
"It's like the instructors didn't even try. Some of the things we're showing him are from 2nd and 3rd year." I complained. It was true. "Thankfully, he's a quick study and Sasuke doesn't mind doing all the taijutsu stuff, so I just focus on all the information that he somehow managed to pass without learning. I've been showing him this stuff for a while, but I'm just now realizing that there are glaring gaps in his education. Did you know he had no idea what chakra is? Or what the point of a chakra control exercise is? And it's not like he just forgot. Naruto is actually fairly intelligent, probably more so then the average genin. I don't get it. It's like the instructors weren't even trying to prepare him to survive!" I burst out the last part angrily, in a very out of character rant for me. Shisui merely hummed. Turning to face him I narrowed my gazer a moment, before shrugging.
'I guess Shisui knows about demon boy too…' Information was what ninja traded in and it was always important to know what others were informed on. And this was one thing Shisui didn't seem to be telling.
~line break~
Packing for missions were a pain in the ass. Even with Shisui and mom overlooking my packing, there was still something to be said about the art of proper packing procedure. You never wanted to be unprepared on a mission, but you also didn't want to take to much and be hundred with what you had to carry. I'd tried to opt for the 'less is more' strategy, (3 outfits, a bed roll, a mess kit, bandages and antibiotics, a set of kunai and shuriken to replenish my packs if needed, a pill case filled with some of the more useful Nara researched pills, and about a weeks worth of standard issue Akimichi ration bars) I'd made liberal use of the two available sealing scrolls that we not in use in the house and my pack was light, neatly organized, and easy to carry.
Mom and Shisui disagreed. They'd let me pack in silence on my own to see what I would choose on my own and then, only after finishing packing everything had made me take it all apart and start over. Along with my items, I now had, an extra two sets of clothes (for a week and a half long mission, I found this excessive), a full medical kit, a standard set of Konoha antidotes, a detailed map and and even more detailed guidebook of the flora, fauna, and animal life of the region, a tent (which took up a whole sealing scroll, thus making my bag even heavier), a set of waterproof matches (my teammate was an Uchiha who could do fire jutsu, and even if he wasn't, I could use a kunai and a rock to make a fire), a candle (my night vision was excellent; there was literally no need for me to carry a candle), an excess of ration bars that made me seem worse then a doomsday prepper, and a deck of cards.
The only addition I could get behind was the pack of cards; It was probably going to be a boring mission after all, and this could help kill time. With that thought in mind, I grabbed a random book off my shelf as well. A quick jaunt over to Naruto's found him packing with Iruka-sensei, and I sullenly sent off Shisui to deal with his cousin alone, still annoyed at the extra weight I would now need to lug around in my pack. He stopped me however and pulled out a pack of new senbon.
"I know how you feel about kunai, so this might be something you want to look into. Anyway" He rubbed his head against his neck, forever awkward('ly adorable' I sighed to myself) " I'll see you tomorrow morning at the gates!"
I waved him off and studied the pack of senbon. Considering my unfortunate demise in past life, blades with blood on them could freak me out so this was a viable alternative. When I got home I tossed them on the top of my pack as well, and reluctantly grabbed a medical text to include on the trip. Senbon required extensive knowledge of the body, which I already had in spades, but also precise and accurate throws, so studying wouldn't hurt, it would just be a pain. 'Bothersome'
~Line break~
'The most horrible thing about this new life' I thought idly, ' is all the walking. I would kill for a horse. Or like a bike. Shit, can I invent a bike? Is that already a thing here?' We had been walking for 3 days out of a total of 4 to reach out destination and I was both bored out of my mind and sick of walking. At least the first day, we'd had steady conversation from Naruto's unending reserves of energy. The Uchiha grunted in all the right places and the bridge builder complained enough that we'd had what I considered a full blown discussion. It had tapered off to the dull silence and monotonous journey I was now suffering through on day 3.
Kakashi (thank god finally some different conversation) spoke up just when I thought I might kill myself and try for another reincarnation. "Now team… I think its important to have a measure of your skills; why don't we go over abilities, overall strengths and weaknesses, and anything you think the team needs to know."
Hmm I had been expecting this before we left Konoha, but Kakashi had shown up late (of course)and we'd left without any kind of discussion. Still, as a person who'd really like to survive, I figured the best thing I could do was be honest about my abilities. As someone that would be expected to make plans and strategies, the more I knew about my teammates abilities, the better the planning would go. It was only fair to be honest in return.
As such I surprised everyone by speaking first. " Ano, my abilities are my clans shadow jutsu, my speed, and my intelligence. My strengths include back up and team support. I am not a melee fighter and am overall better at coming up with plans and strategies." Here I eyed Naruto and Sasuke, still walking alongside me"that's kind of my families thing, so if I give a plan, its probably a good idea to at least here it out." Kakashi gave a hm of agreement, "I'm also very quick and have very good stamina. In terms of overall speed, I am at a high chunin, low jonin level."
This got humoring raised eyebrows from Kakashi, Sasuke, and Tazuna but I shrugged it off. Dad had told me that the most dangerous thing you could do when planning was to overestimate yourself— if anything I was underestimating myself. "My strength in my family jutsu is in the immobilizing technique, which leads to my weaknesses; I can do the shadow capture, but I am no where near proficient in the ability like the rest of my immediate family." Dad and Shika basically relied on just the shadow capture, while I used something akin to what I thought of as octopus tentacles. I could literally reach out with the shadows and grab people. However, tangible shadows could be cut and smacked back, Hence the speed aspect. I needed to be quick to be able to both change positions and to launch numerous shadows at once to maximize my ability.
I continued, "My weaknesses also include low chakra capacity, which I try to compensate for with high chakra control. After training my chakra control, I can confidently say I am within 95% utilization and conversion rate of chakra control. I also am not very physically strong, but speed I try to make up for that with speed. I may not hit hard, but if I hit before you're guards up, it hurts all the same." Here I paused. I was on the fence about whether or not to bring up my medical ninjutsu, and wasn't quite sure I was even good enough to bring it up. While I could do little things, it wouldn't make too big of a difference in an emergency. Still… More practice dummies…
"I also can do minimal" I stressed the word and repeated it, "minimal medical ninjutsu. So don't try to die, cause thats more work for me to fix."
I was met with silence. Even the bridge builder seems shocked by my minispeech. Finally Naruto broke the silence. "Wow, Kage-chan, I didn't know you could do so much. You didn't seem like you could in the academy, dattebayo." I shrugged.
"If they knew I could do a lot, they would've given me more work. I didn't want to bother with that." Kakashi coughed, but I was sure he was holding back a laugh. I let myself grin."But I told you guys because teammates should be able to trust each other right? And if you don't know what I can do, then how can you expect to rely on me?" Naruto gave a bright grin and Sasuke gave a quiet (but affirmative) Hng.
Naruto went next, but I was pretty steady on his abilities already. He tried to say he had no weaknesses, but I frowned at him until he relented and mentioned his lack of planning, loudness, and lack of ninjutsu. It wasn't all of his shortcomings, but it was better then nothing. Sasuke was even better, listing out numerous fire jutsu, his taijustu ability including the Uchiha style learned from his cousin, his wire techniques, and his genjutsu prowess. Apparently he was a quick study, even without yet having the sharingan. He shocked me when he announced one of his weakness to be his slightly "Standoffish nature". I literally applauded, ignoring Naruto's guffaw and Sensei's flat stare.
With all of our pieces said, I turned to sensei expectantly. Naruto and Sasuke joined me and Sensei just sighed. "If you're ever making plans and you need someone to do something, just assume I can do it alright?" He eye smiled at us but I frowned; that was no way to treat an unknown. An Unknown shouldn't be used as a catchall-jack of all trades. I met sensei's persistent smile and decided to shrug it off for now. We'd find out more about his ability the more we trained with him anyway.
Tazuna was curious despite himself (Few civilians ever found themselves in an opportunity to hear about ninja's abilities) and focused more on asking us questions for the next few hours, interested in what exactly our skills entailed. I forgot sometimes that civilians wouldn't have any idea what terms like genjutsu and immobilization technique would mean. Naruto and Sasuke jumped eagerly in, even the stoic Uchiha was eager to brag about his techniques. Eventually however, the conversation turned back towards me:
"What do you do, girly?" I shrugged.
"Family stuff. Just what my dad's managed to teach me."
"What does the immobilization technique do exactly?" queried Sasuke stiffly. "I've only ever heard of the capture technique…" Naruto nodded along eagerly and I could tell Sensei was paying attention even with his book open.
I rewarded his using a full sentence with a sentence or two of my own. "The capture is one of the bases for our techniques. It freezes your target in place. However, it can be very hard to stop someone form just moving and is very hard to maintain." I explained for Naruto and Tazuna's benefit. "The next step is one of two different routes you can take from the capture, depending on what suits you. You can move onto the shadow mimic; instead of just freezing them in place, their movement mimic yours, like a shadow. This is easier to maintain control over, harder for an enemy to break out of and can be used on higher level opponents then your current skill level to great effect, but is more chakra intensive and slower. The other route you can take, the one I've chosen to go down, is the immobilization. I can use shadows like extra limbs, pulling from whatever shadows is near you to grab you and hold you in place. It effectively freezes the limb I'm holding."
"COOOOOOOOL" Naruto squealed. Sasuke frowned.
"Isn't that inherently better then the capture or the mimic? You're not stuck in one place and arn't limited by chakra with this technique."
I nodded my head in acknowledgment at Sasuke while Naruto pointed and jumped up and down in excitement at the point." Well the capture is a valuable family technique so everyone can do it. And the immobilization and mimic are just the first set of techniques we've been taught for each path. There are more we haven't yet been shown. But still, the immobilization has its perks for sure. It suits someone like me much better then the mimic route. For example, as someone who's very tiny, I don't have very much personal shadow to work with, limiting my range." Kakashi nodded, not even pretending to be interested in his book anymore. "However, there are many drawbacks to the immobilization form of the technique. Imagine for example that I froze your left arm. What would you do?" Everyone paused, so I explained, "Remember my shadows are physical, so they can be cut, physically blocked…"
"So if my left arm was caught… I would just cut the strand of shadow holding my left arm with my right arm…" Sasuke mulled it over while I nodded.
"Exactly. However, the quicker you move, the less chance your opponent has to capitalize on your attacks weak points. And if I can stop you for even a moment, it gives me a second to maybe throw some shuriken at you. Or to grab you in a shadow capture when your distracted. Maybe I can move quickly enough to get in range and use another shadow tendril on a different limb or try a less chakra intensive shadow mimic; while I'm not great at them, I can do them, the same way Shika can work with my techniques."
Everyone was quiet for a moment thinking that over while I also contemplated what I had said. It was without a doubt an impressive techniques, and I had tried to tailor my other skills to work within its constraints but saying them out loud made it feel very real. No one had ever laid out the two techniques pit falls for me before. Within the clan, there were many things you were expected to just get. Putting together information was just one of them. Lost in my thoughts I stepped over a puddle, still wondering about the weaknesses.
Naruto and Sasuke picked up conversation again, Naruto jealous that Sasuke and I had cool family techniques, while Sasuke was… was he comforting Naruto about not having a family? I mean sure he was callous about it but he didn't have to say anything to him so it was kind of nice that Emo kid was being supportive—
All of us whipped around as the puddle behind us burst outwards, revealing two ninja covered in chains, which one of them whipped towards us and then Kakashi was there, and the everything was moving fast but I watched Kakashi get crushed to pieces, but no that was a log, and Sasuke was moving to subdue the other ninja, while I backed up closer to the bridge builder, eyeing our surroundings. (Of course it was obvious in hindsight that there shouldn't be a puddle in the middle for the road when it hadn't rained in days, but hindsight was a bitch.)
And then just like that it was over. Sasuke had subdued the two, while Kakashi revealed himself from the woods. Naruto was quiet, eyeing a scratch on his hand he had received in the fight. I guess he hadn't faced any real action before, so this was eyeopening for him. I could admit that I had at least seen Itachi, and as frightful as that situation was, there were very few things that I could claim scared me after that ('just bloody knives but thats no big deal not like you're a ninja or anything' my stupidly sarcastic brain supplied).
After a brief interlude where Sasuke, Naruto and Kakashi talked while I watched Tazuna, Sensei pulled aside Tazuna to ask him a question. He informed us that he had lied and told us about the real situation and suddenly we had a completely different mission parameters. He pleased with us to help him for his countries sake. Kakashi looked to us.
"Of course we'll continue on, Dattebayo!"
Sasuke Hnnged and smirked, "We're this far already, we might as well."
"Just like that? Absolutely not." Everyone stared at me, Tazuna looking shocked, but resigned. Kakashi frowned (I think) and Naruto began to shout at me. I raised my hand in resignation, "Listen, I get it out I'm being outvoted, and I'll happily continue on the mission; We all need experience and this is for a good cause so I can see why you want to continue, but before you blindly agree to continuing on a mission, recognize that two agreed" I pointed to Sasuke and Naruto, "before even asking me if I was packed for an extended mission. We can't just leave him at the bridge. He'd be dead before nightfall. Which means we need to stay till completion which is what? Another 2 weeks? A month?" Tazuna nodded uncomfortably. "We're possibly facing chunin and higher level missing nin, a drug lord running a country from the shadows, and we may not even have enough supplies of food to last."
Here Tazuna tried to speak up, probably to offer hospitably, but I cut him off as well. "You just got finished telling us that your country is in the middle of an economic recession. Food is probably scarce, and while I am sure that you would try, I'm not quite sure you realize how much food you'd need to supply. I eat less food then everyone here and after a day of difficult training, I require about 20,000 calories a day. My teammates are probably about 25,000-30,000 with sensei ranging anywhere from what? 35,000 to 45,000 a day?" He nodded. "Thats about two and a half times what a civilian requires. Sure we can sustain on less, but less food means less concentration, less power, overall stunted ability. Considering that even if we avoid training, cutting drastically down on our required intake, before fighting anyone of a high level, say high chunin, to jonin level, we'd need a decent amount of food or energy. If you couldn't afford the mission, you can't afford to feed us for an extended amount of time, especially because we can't avoid training for weeks at a time and still be fit to fight in case of trouble."
I finished my lecture slightly out of breath. Naruto looked lost but seemed to realize that whatever I was saying held some truth. Sasuke seemed to understand and seemed pained, but agreed with me. Kakashi kept up his frown but also seemed to agree because he didn't argue with me.
"With that said, I'd appreciate if we discussed the pros and cons next time. Maybe tossed out what supplies we have available, just like we spoke about what skills we had at our disposal earlier. Now, thanks to my mom's neuroses, I have enough ration bars to feed all of us comfortably for about a month, considering that half of one each will do us three fine and one bar will sort Kakashi—"
"EHHH? So we can make it?" Naruto looked annoyed, "Why didn't you just say so, dattebayo?"
I frowned at him. "You both made a decision without checking supplies or thinking about consequences. I was not going to blindly agree. This is called a learning experience Naruto. Next time, if something like this happens again, hopefully we all stop and think it through before just saying yes." Kakashi ruffled my hair.
"Kage-chan is right. Those were all valid points. It's good that she over packed in this case" I scowled. (I was never going to tell mom or Shisui that they were right) "And I admit that it's been awhile that I've had to factor in genin who wouldn't have packed for food in this case. Most genin and chunin wouldn't actually have bothered to bring as much as Kage has." He admitted. "Still, now that Kage-chan agrees" He paused to look at me for affirmation, which I gave with a sharp nod of my head, "We'll continue on with the mission. Tazuna-san, I'm sure you can understand why we were hesitant?"
Tazuna nodded his head. "I understand." he replied gruffly. "Just…Thank you for continuing. I appreciate this. My whole country will appreciate this…"
"Maa, well let's camp for the night; we'll be near enough Tazuna's home by tomorrow."