Chapter 22: Land of Rivers Pt.1.
The briefing in the Hokage's office played over and over inside my head as we ran full speed on the familiar road to the south west. Team eight had ran that road towards the Land of Rivers more times than we could all count or even cared to keep track of. As an infiltration oriented team, the country where tradesmen from all over the world congregated to do business and 'mingle', was somewhat of a must have in our insiders repertoire.
We were to make contact with and aid a Konoha comrade with the recovery of contact of theirs that had gone missing two days prior. The person was supposed to be the best insider our comrade had, and supposedly had no reason or tendency to disappear. If he had gone off of his own free will, our spy's mission had been compromised and needed to be ended without leaving any loose ends behind. If, however, his contact had been taken, he needed to be recovered and we had to make sure his kidnappers had not taken what they wanted from him.
The Hokage had refused to give the entire team all of the information, so now, we only shared the common knowledge of our destination: Kawa no Kuni. The Intel was compartmentalized in such a way that Akira-sensei held the name of our spy, Hotaka knew the route we were to take, Takahiro had the location of the safe house we would be using as a rendezvous point, and I had been told which escape route we were to use should things go south.
It was both a strong point and a liability that no member of our team had the entire picture, but it was a necessary precaution. Our comrade was after something big, and we could not compromise his mission were one of us to be captured. What did seem odd was that he had requested a genin team for the task that, to me at least, seemed like was over the limit of our capacity. I figured it was for the sake of remaining unsuspected were the enemy keeping an eye on the newcomers in town. A genin team would most likely be on a C Rank mission or simply out on a training trip. No one would suspect snot nosed brats came to aid I the retrieval of an informant.
It made sense, but this spy had to be either very powerful and confident in their skill to employ a genin team, or they were straight out stupid. I hoped for all our sakes this person knew what they were doing, because even if we were more capable than most genin, there was only so much we would be able to do. Either way, we were still going on that mission, so there was something we didn't know about that was clearly pivotal to this mission's success.
We all settled into our on-the-field routine when Hotaka deemed our camping site safe enough for the night. He was usually the one to choose our place to rest when we were out ever since Sensei had discovered he had a natural ability when it came to finding the safest, most guarded places within our surroundings. Takahiro would then set up the perimeter and secure it while Sensei and I set up camp and Hota stood watch.
The night was still, warm enough not to need any extra clothing yet cold enough not to make anyone uncomfortable. It was pleasant, the sounds of the forest around us signaling how very alive it was even when the sun went down. There was no fire, we had no need for warmth, and our ration bars did not need cooking. We sat in the dark, Taka reorganizing his tools, Akira-sensei sleeping with his head on his companion's fur, Hota keeping watch, and I sharpening and cleaning my blades. Taka and I would go to sleep once we were done, and Hotaka would keep watch until it was somebody else's turn.
We barely spoke, we didn't need to. This had become such second nature over the years that there was no need for question or other verbal exchanges. We never spoke while making camp in the field, it disturbed whoever was on watch and we didn't want anyone creeping up on us.
Morning though, was completely different. A fire was made and water was boiled. All of us would have tea, except for the unlucky soul that had had middle watch, they always had coffee. We made small talk as we planned for the day's trip and set emergency codes and procedures beforehand, in case of an ambush. We refilled canteens and packed our belongings in between meaningless conversations. Mornings on the field were always my favorite, they felt like home.
But we were still on the field and our guards were all up despite how unfazed we all looked about it. this was the life we had chosen for ourselves, and being able to grow into the shinobi we wanted to become alongside each other was something none of us would have traded for anything in the world. Yes, there was the risk of death, but if it meant that I would get to protect the people I loved the most, then it was a price I was glad to pay.
The run to our destination took a day and a half, and at noon on the second day, we arrived at the gates of the Capital of the Land of Rivers. Caravans went into and out of the gates without a care in the world and no one to stop them for documentation. Some were guarded by mercenaries, others by shinobi of different villages, very few were unsupervised. All along the main dirt road, were not only carts and temporary shops, but also people selling their goods on mats, tents, even inside their coats. The few permanent buildings around were inns, pubs and one or two brothels. The architecture for each one was different and their color schemes clashed horribly with one another, even when the paint faded with time and the heat of the sun. People were dressed in all sorts of clothes, hats, and footwear, and every hairstyle was different from the next one.
No one spared us a second glance, but we did not escape any of the eyes present either. This was a place for trade, for commerce, for the exchange of goods that might bring profit, whatever the goods might be. This was a place for greed, corruption and lust; and we were here to become a part of it.
Kawa no Kuni was home to all underground information networks, as well as trade agreements. This was where any infiltration agent who is worth their title come came to strike deals and keep in touch with informants. The Land of Rivers was sort of a no man's land, and so, one did not come on official business wearing a hitai-ate. Once you made an impression here, that was who you'd be, and no one wanted their reputation here to reflect badly on their village. So hitai-ates and uniforms were replaced by street wear and bare foreheads. The world's eyes and ears were in this city, it was both thrilling and fearsome what a slip of the tongue could do in this metropolis of a campsite.
The first time we had set foot in the city, Takahiro's purse had been pick pocketed, Hotaka had overused his Byakugan when he'd got lost, and I had almost been put to work in a brothel. We'd grown from the many visits that had followed and now strode through the tents like we had been born there. Purses safely in secret pockets, weapons hidden against under armor, and a sharp awareness of our surroundings made us a part of this place as any local.
Sensei and Kosuke lead the way, the great dog was not much of a rarity here since many shinobi came to the city with what others assumed to be summons, and Kosuke was no different. The five of us made an unusual group, two redheads, two brunettes, a giant dog and a wide variety of skin tones and irises could only mean we were either shinobi or orphans who had stuck to a man that had been a little too generous. Orphans were pests to tradesmen, they begged too much and brought no profit, so orphans had no allegiance to them.
That is where Konohagakure came in.
We chose a select few who showed promise and taught them how to survive the city. In exchange, they gave us every bit of information we needed and stayed loyal to those who had not turned their backs on them. It was cruel, but compassion was a weapon Konoha had learnt to use over the generations. As they grew up, orphans started to realize what really happened, but still chose to remain loyal even if what they mistook for kindness was simply convenience. Orphans were approached by genin teams in order for them to be able to form a solid bond of trust with someone their age.
As time went by and infiltration teams kept constant contact with their "friends in Land of Rivers" the bond strengthened and reliable sources of information and loyal camaraderie were formed. It was messed up to exploit people in need like this, but we were shinobi, and we either a good one or a deceased one.
We had all paired ourselves with an orphan and had trained together every time we had been in town in the last two years. Granted, we hadn't been there in almost eight months, so none of them had met Sumiko yet. They had been told that there might come a day when one of us didn't return, but I doubted they expected this. They were smart enough to understand and if I knew Doyun well enough, he'd find the situation very amusing if anything else.
Doyun was a boy my age who had been brought as a slave from a place far from the five nations where not even shinobi dare venture and few tradesmen had been crazy enough to visit. His owner had left him for dead in the forest right outside the city with pneumonia one of the coldest winters the land had experienced. Hotaka had sensed his dying chakrs as we approached the gates on our third visit to the Land of Rivers. We had to stay ther the entire winter to heal and train him when I refused to choose someone else as my contact. Sensei had not been pleased, he had hoped I at least chose someone who could speak our language, but Doyun had proved to be a fast learner. Even when I told him why it was that I had been training with him, he refused to believe it had been something other than compassion. He was dense, stubborn, a fool and a bit of a trouble maker, but he was good and loyal and a friend.
Danno and Emiko had soon followed, and in less than a year, we had made our most valuable connections outside Konohagakure. Danno had been dropped into an orphanage the second he had been born, since his mother had been a prostitute and his father a client in one of the capital's brothels. Hotaka had watched as he organized a group of children into separate groups and told them where they should beg, which streets to avoid and tents to keep away from and even which people to approach.
Emiko however had been a chamber maid at an inn. The owner had her work in ungodly conditions ever since she had been able to walk and exploited her every available hour. It had kept her off the streets, but up until the day Taka found her, her boss still beat her to a pulp whenever he felt like letting off some steam. My friend had seen him do it and threatened to kill him before he took Emiko out of there and found her a job at a bar owned by an old lady no one dared defy.
With Doyun and Danno keeping an eye on the streets and Emiko keeping an ear out for drunken slips of the tongue at the bar, we had our own little spy network all over the city. The three of them made a team of their own, making use of the knowledge we'd given them and using I to expand the reach of their own information network. Emiko had taken under her wing a little boy who now refilled sake glasses and kept an ear out. Danno had his little group of beggars to report to him, and Doyun was in charge of foreigners with his natural ability for languages.
We might have been young, but we were good. Akira Sensei would not train lousy infiltrators, would have no mediocre spies on his team. He trusted our judgment like we trusted his teachings and experience. He wanted us to build our own empire and would not intervene, and, so far, we hadn't disappointed.
Our team of spies had been training on their own, growing, testing their limits to see the extent of their own abilities. Each time we came back they had a new bunch of scrolls for us to indulge in, and each time we were both surprised and proud of their results.
This time was no different as we walked into the bar and were greeted by two smiles, a grin and a voice deeper than I remember.
"Well who is this beautiful redhead and where is Akane? She owes me a date."