Chapter 10
Part 2\2 Rustling Leaves arc
The client, a solid middle-aged man with brown hair, shakes all four of their hands tightly as soon as they walk into the village.
Behind him stand a small crowd, and the boy they saved in the forest.
"You saved one of mine, thank you. Please, we're counting on you to restore our safety. I can't tell you how imperative it is to us." The client, a counsel to the head of the village, says in an impressive voice.
Iwabee finds him off, as a whole, but can't quite read the man and so dismisses it.
He lets Udon-Sensei deal with the polite talk and what not, and keeps his eyes on the edges of the village, for any possible danger.
His teammates both are on edge as well, practically radiating impulsiveness.
For once, Iwabee feels like Metal and he will be the careful ones, and Denki the one they'll need to keep in check.
Something almost wild comes over the computer genius; to not be a burden, or to prove himself.
Iwabee doesn't know which it is, but is intimately familiar with both of those emotions and can tell pretty easily where Denki's thoughts lie.
The boy (who is Iwabee's age) thanks them, and they're shown to their lodgings.
Udon-Sensei gathers them and strikes up a strategic plan for their mission.
"Alright, we'll pair up for this mission. I'll be with Iwabee, Metal and Denki you're together. Each pair gets a shift through the nights to guard the village and look out for any move the gang will make. Right now, however, you two –" he points to Metal and Denki "will guard the village as Iwabee comes with me."
"Where to, Sensei?" Iwabee asks.
"I need to do some snooping around. We're missing some information and I'm making sure nothing slips past us." Is the evasive reply.
Knowing Iwabee will be with him when whatever secret part of this mission occurs he doesn't press for details.
"Metal, here." Udon uses a basic healing jutsu on Metal's bruises, and Metal knows better than to object. They'll need to be at top form for the next attack.
"Food pills." Udon-Sensei orders and the three genin all take out one and chump it down.
"We'll be working through the night, likely, so you need to stay sharp and alert through the drowsiness." He explains.
Metal and Denki leave first, circling the village and protecting the civilians.
Udon-Sensei waits until evening turns to night, and the shadows are bigger, before giving the order and they too leave.
Very quickly Iwabee realizes that 'more information' equals burglary.
"It's not burglary." Udon-Sensei repeats dryly, ignoring Iwabee's incredulous scoff. "We're not going to steal anything, but it's our job to gather information – I won't keep explaining things to you if you keep rolling your eyes at me."
Iwabee shrugs, as Udon goes through papers on the client's desk.
Right, totally moral. Got it.
"Should I come back with a flashlight and ski masks?" Iwabee asks, eyebrow twitching.
"It's fine," Udon reaches for his tool bag. "I've got a flashlight."
Iwabee grumbles, mainly to pass the time.
Udon goes through all sorts of papers, at times mumbling to himself. "Strange, this is further back then we've… oh this one's the tax reports…"
Just as Iwabee's about to lose his mind with boredom, he senses somebody beyond the tent.
The tent seems to be a set up quarters for the client, right at the middle of the village. A lot of them seem to be living in tents, likely unable to afford even building small wooden houses.
"Someone's heading here." Iwabee readies himself, before he recognizes the other boy. "What are you doing here, Denki?" Iwabee hisses. "And where's your ski mask?!"
"I – " Denki pauses right at the opening of the tent, unsure. "What?"
"Ignore him. What is it Denki?" Udon-Sensei says with practiced calm.
"Sensei, Metal and I were circling around the village when that boy we saved today came running to us." Denki says, frowning. "He said some of the villagers are in trouble in the west side of the village, on the verge of the forest."
Udon watches his student carefully. "But?"
"I don't know. He said some of the criminals showed up, and started attacking them… But, I mean, something isn't right."
Denki waits until Udon nods to keep going.
"It's a bit of a coincidence that it's the same boy the criminals targeted earlier today, right? And these people, they barely have anything – this place has more tents than houses. Why would criminals stay around this place for so long? And this morning, they weren't trying to rob him, were they? It's like; they were trying to find out where something is. Something is definitely up. I thought you needed to know."
Udon-Sensei doesn't miss a beat. "What about Metal?"
"Well, we couldn't be sure if it's a trap or if there are actually people in danger right now, so we decided to separate. Metal went to make sure everybody's safe, and I went searching for you… Errmm, where are we? Whose stuff are you stealing?"
Udon-Sensei ignores that.
"I found paperwork stating this village has been gathering funds to be able to afford hiring us for longer than they've reported their criminals being here and causing problems." Udon-Sensei sniffs, pushing his glasses up.
"Why would they start saving money for help before they knew they needed it?" Iwabee asks, feeling a chill in his chest.
"I told you, shinobi always need to make sure they have all the facts. You're right Denki, something's up."
"What do we do now, Sensei?" Denki asks.
"Iwabee, you head out for Metal, in case he needs backup."
Iwabee nods, ready to sprint.
"Denki, we wait. This is the client's tent and he'll soon return to retire for the night. We'll confront him here, he should feel threatened in his own place and that should make it easier for us to get some answers."
Denki nods, and hides best he can in the shadows.
Iwabee is about to leave the tent when Udon's hand grabs his wrist.
"Wait, I think he's coming." His teacher whispers and the Leaf Ninja all take cover.
The tent's flap opens and the client marches inside, heading towards the desk with the scattered papers.
They're all out of place since Udon-Sensei didn't get a chance to put them back the way they were before.
"What the – HEY!" he screams, noticing Iwabee.
Damn it, my Jō is too big to hide!
"What's the meaning of this!" the middle aged man demands.
"We've got some questions." Udon says emotionlessly, as Denki and Iwabee come closer as well.
"What do you think you're doing here?! You should be in the west - !"
"Yes, I've heard about that. Tell me, are you a prophet?"
The client blinks, taken aback by that. "What?!"
"Can you time travel?"
"I – the hell are you talking about?! That's ridiculous!"
"Then if you're neither of these things, how come you knew you'd have a problem, before you had it?" Udon calmly gestures to the paperwork.
"I have no idea what you mean! You just need to do your job -!"
"Are you hiding something? Is this what the criminals are really after? Is it illegal?"
The man's eyes panic, but after a moment it's masked by entitlement and anger.
"You best remember you work for me! Just do what I tell you and keep your nose out!"
"The Fire Police Center will be in charge of your investigation." Udon informs him. "I'm cancelling the contract you've negotiated with Konoha."
"Oh no you don't you useless oppressive ninja!" the man throws his fists in the air, and Iwabee sees him looking for an escape.
Iwabee marches to the villager with the full intent of knocking him out and chaining him up to take to the closest police center.
"AHHHHH!" The middle aged man pulls up one of his sleeves and reveals something silvery attached to his arm. The structure begins clicking, and lightening up.
"What on hell -?" Iwabee stares, not understanding.
Short arms wrap around Iwabee's waist and a leg kicks the back of his knees. Denki uses the imbalance he created to force Iwabee to fall to the ground with him.
The stream of power that shoots out of the weapon on the client's arm leaves nothing – the cloth of the tent, trees, rocks, and part of the hill that stood right behind where Iwabee was a moment ago, all disintegrate.
Udon-Sensei creates three shadow clones, and he begins doing what he can to get close enough to physically knock the older man out of commission.
Iwabee gets up to a sitting position, unable to look away from the damage the attack caused to their surroundings.
"I would've… died." He realizes, stunned.
Denki gets up too, letting go of Iwabee. "You wouldn't have died; I wouldn't have let you die." The shorter boy huffs. "However, if that power caught even a piece of you –" Denki warns.
In Iwabee's panicked state, he can only imagine one 'piece' of him that might have been compromised and immediately looks down.
It would've been a fatal fatality.
He feels Denki's elbow right in his ribs.
"Ow!"
"You're an idiot! C'mon let's help out Sensei!"
Both genin jump to their feet, just as Udon-Sensei's clone manages to tip the enemy off his feet. The man who hired them, falls on the ground unto his back, and in a panic starts trying to shoot at any one of the clones.
Iwabee falls on the man's legs, while Denki falls on his free arm.
Udon comes over and holds tightly unto the arm that has the device attached to it, making sure the man doesn't activate on them, at point zero range.
"Let me go! LET GO OF ME!" the man tries pushing against the boys, but he has the strength of a regular person.
"He's not even a shinobi, why's a non-shinobi causing this trouble, Sensei?" Iwabee demands.
"Denki, is it what I think it is?" Udon asks, tone grave and expression unreadable.
"Yes sir. But they wouldn't have gotten it from us or the Leaf – it's the same prototype Kara got their hands on three months ago."
"The one Konohamaro's team confronted?" Udon-Sensei says, narrowing his eyes. He turns to the man they have pinned to the floor. "Where did you get this? Was this mission a trap from the very start?"
The man's eyes gleam. "You're not getting anything out of me! You're no better than me, not anymore –!"
Without a warning Udon-Sensei whacks the man on the head, and he passes out.
"Alright, Denki do you know how to detach this thing from him, without unnecessary dangers?"
Denki examines the ninja-tech closely. "I think so Sensei."
"Good, do it. Iwabee, secure the prisoner as soon as Denki is done. I want both the weapon and the capture as safe to travel with as possible. We're taking him to Konoha with us."
"Yes sir!" Both genin reply.
"I'm going after Metal – he might be in trouble and he doesn't even know it. I'm leaving a clone with you to guard this place while you work." Udon makes a shadow clone and vanishes quickly.
"I'll stand guard outside." The clone says and leaves the tent, to be able to see if any more trouble approaches.
"Shit, Metal better be fine!" Iwabee snarls. "Or I'm taking off the 'piece' off this old fart!"
"Wahh Iwabee! Don't shake him or the device can go off!" Denki calls, paling.
Iwabee winces. "Sorry, sorry okay?! Sensei looked right serious, didn't he?"
"Of course he was!" Denki pushes his glasses up his nose, sweating as he does his best to safely take off the Techno-Nin from the unconscious civilian. "Why would a totally regular person have something like this?!"
"…You said something about that group Kara?" Iwabee recalls, frowning whilst binding the man's arms in a Rock Release ninjutsu.
"They stole weapons from The Scientific Ninja Tools Research Facility center. They armed a shinobi with it and Boruto's team had to fight him. Then that boy showed up –"
"I remember him! He ran off after a week or so from Lord Seventh, didn't he? Heard Boruto took it pretty bad." Iwabee tries to remember. "So this has something to do with those rogues then?"
"…Maybe. It's not the same." Denki grits his teeth, clicking and taking apart various pieces of the complicated looking device.
"How is this not the same?"
Denki replies with an ominous tone.
"It's a civilian this time."
okay next week we're back with Sarada -
Please be more respectful in the comments - some hate reviews popped up recently, and I'm really not planning to enable that. it's problematic erasing these things on this cite, so I'm half a mind of deleting this account and solely publishing on AO3
On a happier note - we're around half way through the fic! (at least part 1) so I'm excited!