You were carrying two sticks of dango, one for yourself and one as an apology for your clone. But as you stepped into your room in Danzo's underground base, the room was empty. In the corner, you notice black scorch marks and your clothes shredded around.
"I'm glad that's not me," you mumbled before biting on the ends of the dango sticks to free your hands. "Shadow Clone Jutsu" you called out.
You and your clone took the dango sticks out of your mouths.
"What happened?" You asked.
"Just an accident," he shrugged. "Do you think I can eat the dango copies?"
"Hmm, it would be a nice to get unlimited dango, so try." Why hadn't you thought about this before? Then you wouldn't have to mooch on Itachi or Shisui anymore.
The moment the clone bit his teeth into the ball, he and the dango disappeared in a puff of smoke.
That made sense. You put the dango on a piece of sealing paper you hoped was clean enough before recreating the clone.
"That was weird, it felt like I was eating myself," he said.
"Here," you handed him one or your real ones. "I'm sorry for forgetting about you, stuff happened,"
"It's okay, I got a lot of progress with the sealing stuff," he said between taking bites of his dango. "I managed to make a seal absorb several explosions, but it is quite unstable which was what happened there?" He said pointing to the wall. "I'm sorry about your clothes."
"It's okay, they'll provide me with more if I need it I think. So can you show me how you did it?"
The clone nodded and sat down on the desk and started drawing the normal explosion absorption seal, but the difference was clear. From the storage on the old seal, he had drawn another element that looked like was pulling whatever stored there into a much bigger container. "It works a few time before it starts glowing and releases its contents."
"Do you want me to help you, or do you want to work on this while I'm not here?" You asked him.
"You're better at this than me, so I'd like your help, but it would be fun to have some project to work on yes."
You nodded. "Maybe if we make something around the circle to stabilize it, or maybe another shape could work? Right now we're minimizing the surface of the circle compared to area, putting much more pressure on it."
"Oh, so what does that mean?" he asked.
This was simply physics or rather maths, but the clone wasn't you and hadn't had this kind of stuff in the academy, so you couldn't really blame him.
"Not sure how to explain this," you mumbled before picking up a kunai and gently poking yourself on the finger "Imagine a kunai, it's quite sharp and if you put a lot of pressure on a small area it hurts you."
"But if you spread it, it doesn't hurt, I think I get it now," he said. "So if I use a spiral it should work?"
"Probably, should we test?" You asked.
The clone nodded and grabbed a clean sheet of paper and drew the improved seal before putting it in the corner of the room. "You should stay on the other end in case something goes wrong," he suggested.
You nodded in response while the clone started firing one after another explosive tag while the seal absorbed everything. "It seems like is working, I didn't manage this many tags before it exploded the last time."
"Nice, we're a good team."
"What happens if it fills up," he mumbled.
"Are you sure this is a good idea?"
"We don't know before we try," the clone said while firing off some more tags, waiting a few seconds before each.
"I think it is stable now, it's not glowing ominously," he said and kept on firing off a few more before the seal gave in and caused a large explosion, kicking dust and pieces of dirt everywhere, though you were quick to cover your face with your hands. Your ears were ringing and you weren't sure if the room was shaking or just your balance was off due to the sound.
Your clone was unsurprisingly gone.
Though the clone's reckless behaviour wasn't without results. The fix to the shape helped a lot and you could store a lot more than expected. But it still had instability problems. You wouldn't want the entire seal to fail if there was no room left to store the explosion. But rather just fail to absorb the last explosion, or better, warn you long before it got full so you could do something about it.
Without warning a group of Root agents burst inside your door. "What's going on here?" One of them asked.
"I just had an accident," you replied. It was just now you saw the full extent of your failed attempt. A large dent in the ground and on the walls with cracks travelling along the ground, up the wall and on the ceiling. Your bed was also broken, but at least your desk and other tags were far enough from the blast to get away from it with nothing worse than a bit of dirt and sot on it.
"I think you should leave for today. Come back in a few days and your room will be put back in order again. Danzo will be informed of this," they said and dragged you outside. A prick on the back of your neck could be felt, a sign that your access to your room had currently been revoked.
How bad was it for this kind of reaction? You didn't think much of it before walking home again. It was getting late anyway. Hopefully, your sensei wouldn't be as tardy as Kakashi, hopefully, your sensei wasn't Kakashi, or else you'd defect.
-x-
"What do to bring today," you mumbled to yourself. As a genin, you should be properly equipped. That meant putting on the sword because it could be useful. Fasten the kunai pouch and even some with explosive tags tied to it. You weren't supposed to have them here, but with all the intruders you'd had in the room, it would hurt to have some real firepower if someone actually dangerous tried breaking in. It would at least scare them because you were little keen on blowing up your own apartment since this one was made out of wood, much less durable than Danzo's dirt and rock walls.
After looking yourself in the mirror, double-checking that you looked decent, you left and made sure to lock the door. Not that it mattered since everyone seemed to have a knack for lockpicking around here.
You were finally there, outside the room was your new team was waiting. First impressions were never that important for you, but this was different. It wouldn't be good to get off with a bad start with a team you'd probably spend years together with. You took a deep breath before pushing down the door handle and opened the door.
And the look surprised you. That you didn't recognize the sensei was to be expected, but to see Kabuto and Torune sitting there along with him, that you hadn't expected.
But bugboy was supposed to be in Root, while Shi... what was his name? Was he even in your class… He was wearing sunglasses, right? But there was no one in your class with sunglasses. You tried visualizing your class, but your mind was blank. Had they switched places by the virtue of butterflies?
You couldn't be entirely sure if Torune wasn't spying on you for Danzo, but Danzo didn't need him for that either, he had enough people watching you other places.
"Come and join us Sota, we don't bite," your new sensei said.
"Oh sorry," you replied and sat on the desk opposite of them.
"I'm Namiashi Raidou, but you can call me Raidou-sensei. Will you introduce yourself, boys?"
"I'm Kabuto, I like studying medicine and I'm already a decent medic. I hope to pass the chuunin exam next time. I'm 14 already and feel I'm being slow, but I lose confidence when it matters."
No, you give up because you don't want to pass you evil bastard.
"Why do you look at me like that?" He asked.
"Sorry," you said to excuse yourself.
"I'm Aburame Torune, I like my bugs. I'm happy with being with my team, I just hope Hana could have stayed with us more."
Either he was a good actor, or he was nothing like the emotionless Danzo drone you knew him as.
"Inuzuka Hana became Chuunin in the last exam, I'm sure Kabuto could have a good chance too, but he quit before the last round," Raidou explained.
"I'll do better next time, I assume we won't join anyone this year?"
"Because of Sota? I'm not holding his age against him. There has been plenty of genin who've managed well with less than a year of experience."
"Thanks for the confidence sensei, but don't you think it's a bit rushed? I know Itachi didn't become a chuunin before he was 10."
"You're not Itachi, are you? His Sharingan can't match your potential."
Was he hinting towards the cat? Shouldn't your team know about her too then?
"If you're ready for the next exam here in Konoha, there is no need to wait a few years just because your friend waited. And getting promoted doesn't mean you have to leave the team, don't make yourself worst for that reason. Hana left because she wanted to."
"I see."
"Do you want to tell us about yourself?" Raidou asked.
"I'm Uzumaki Sota. I like hanging around my friends Uchiha Itachi and Shisui and for hobbies, fuuinjutsu and explosions I guess. Do you have any hobbies sensei?" You asked.
"I don't have time for hobbies."
"He likes knitting," Genma said from the window.
"What are you doing here?" Raidou asked.
"I just wanted to see if you're treating my senpai right," he winked at you.
"I've done this for a while now, I don't need your help."
"Raidou can be a bit stuck up most of the time, but he was much worse before he took on a team. So don't be afraid to joke a bit around sometimes, it's good for him."
"Get out, I'm trying to make a good first impression here," Raidou yelled and Genma leapt out of the window he came from.
"Sorry about that. Welcome to Team 4, Sota."
"Four…"
"You're not superstitious, are you? No one is allowed to die on my watch, the only one to die are our enemies."
"If you die I'll find a way to bring you back so sensei can scold you," Kabuto said smiling, hiding his bastard necromancer nature behind a joke
"Hey, why are you so angry at me, it was just a joke?" Kabuto asked.
"I'm sorry, nothing."
"It doesn't seem like nothing. We're a team now, you can tell me if I've done something wrong."
You brought forth your best fake smile. "I just look angry when I'm not sometimes, you're good Kabuto."
"That sword Sota, you know to use it?" Raidou asked.
"A bit, had one duel that went badly, got stabbed in my stomach, so I've not used it since then."
"Do you want to learn?"
"No thanks, I'm just carrying it in case it will be useful for something. It's quite light so it doesn't matter."
"He was been trying to make us pick up a sword too, but so far he hasn't had any success. One of Hana's dogs wanted to learn though, but Sensei for some reason doesn't think swords and dogs were a good combination," Kabuto told you.
"The offer stands for all of you if you were to change your mind."
"I want to help people, not kill people sensei."
"You can't defeat threats by healing them Kabuto."
"I've my ninja way, you've your Sensei."
Raidou just sighed and shook his head.
It was time to crack one mystery. "Torune can I ask you something?"
He nodded.
"Do you have any other family than your father?"
He quickly turned his gaze towards the floor. "Not anymore," he mumbled.
"I'm sorry, they died?" Maybe a bit insensitive, no most definitely insensitive, but curiosity made the cat do stupid things.
"No, they're just gone."
That explanation perfectly fitted his cousin being in Root. So you didn't need to worry about Tororune working for Danzo, they had just switched spots. Kabuto, however... Didn't Danzo send him to spy in other villages? Or had Orochimaru gotten to him at this point?
Danzo's style was more the emotional drone, this wasn't that. He was an Orochimaru spy and you just needed to prove it.
"I guess this is all for today. You've got the rest of the day off, you'll meet at 6 am tomorrow at training ground 4." Raidou said and sent you off.
-x-
"Hi Sota, how was your team?" Itachi asked you as you were leaving the academy building.
"Fine, I guess," you replied.
"Mind if we take a walk while you tell me about them?"
"It's okay. I'm not sure how I feel, this boy Kabuto seems nice, too cheerful really, but I can't avoid thinking something is up with him."
"I guess you just need to keep a watch then, but be careful that you're not so sure of yourself that you see things that aren't there."
"I'm not so sure. And the other boy Torune seems fine too, I thought he was in Root, but he is apparently living with his father, so that doesn't make much sense."
"So why do you think he should be in Root Sota?"
"I just feel it, just like with the other stuff, but what if I'm wrong, what if I've gotten everything mixed up. No, his cousin is in Root instead. Danzo has been demanding kids for Root and Shibi was forced to give up his son."
"That makes sense, there is no big secret that Danzo has been recruiting clan kids. He even tried getting me for a while."
"He's not getting me," you said and looked up at him.
"Sasuke," Itachi exclaimed. "What happened?"
Turning your head back on the road you saw a halting and downtrodden Sasuke, his right side of his face was red and blue and you could see markings on his neck and arms, his hand was also bandaged from you stepping on it during the spar.
Saying that he looked horrible would be putting a nice spin on it.
"Father beat me because of you," Sasuke said, his voice was strained.
"Because of me?" Itachi replied, looking confused "I haven't done anything, have I?"
"I know you sabotaged me, you made me fail on purpose!" He yelled.
"I…" he tried getting words out but failed.
Itachi walked up to Sasuke and was reaching his hand out, but Sasuke hit it back with as much force that he could muster.
"Don't touch me!"
"I did it to protect you Sasuke, the world there is dangerous," Itachi pleaded.
"But not for Sota, you help him graduate," Sasuke argued back.
"He's better prepared."
"I would be prepared too if you spent time helping me instead of him all the time," he pointed at you.
"You're my brother I just want you to be safe."
"I'm not your brother anymore, you've replaced me with Sota and Shisui."
"Sasuke that's not true."
"You spend much more time with them than me."
"I've spent a lot of time with Sota helping him graduate. I'll spend more time with you from now on if you want?"
"I hate you!" Sasuke said, his eyes were getting teary.
"Sasuke, don't say that you don't mean it."
"I mean it. You tricked me, you made Father think I'm a failure. You're barely spending time with me. How can I trust you Itachi?"
"I don't know," Itachi mumbled. "I'll be better from now on, I promise, I promise."
"Don't come home I don't want to see you again," Sasuke said.
"Are you sure you want to go home now, with Father treating you like that?"
"He did it because of you, and he has apologized to me. He's going to teach me the fireball Jutsu soon."
"I was going to do that Sasuke," Itachi said.
"I don't want your help, you'll just make me do it wrong. I can make Father proud finally."
"I..."
"I'm going, leave me alone," Sasuke said and turned to you and looked straight in your eyes "I wish you had died."
After Sasuke had left, you turned to Itachi again. "What are you going to do?"
"I don't know, I think I want to stay somewhere else, give Sasuke some space I'm sure it will go over soon."
"You can stay with me if you want?"
"Thanks, but I think that would just make Sasuke angrier. Don't worry about me, I'll figure out something," Itachi said and gave you a strained smile. You could see subtle tears falling down Itachi's chins, he had tried hiding them but had failed in the last minute.
-x-
The rest of the way home was uneventful and you were happy to see that your door was locked today. No sneaky ninja hiding under your bed.
"Danzo!" You called out as you saw the man sitting on one of your kitchen chairs sipping tea. "What are you doing here?"
"I have a small task for you it is time you pay the village back for the help you've gotten."
"What kind of task?"
"I want you to make some copies of this seal for me," he said and unrolled a large seal on the table.
"An explosive tag?" You questioned.
"Yes."
"How many do you want?"
"A hundred would be sufficient."
"What are you going to do with all that, blow up a bridge?"
But as usual, Danzo had still not learnt that it was polite to laugh at people's jokes, even if they were bad. He just turned it over and revealed another seal on the backside. A backwards glue symbol was quite prominent in the middle.
"You see what this is?" He asked you.
"Yes, it's for sticking the seal onto a surface. And it's backwards because when it's applied on a surface, it's mirrored, so the seal itself needs to be a mirror, right?" You asked.
"You'll find a box of blank tags in your room along with some extra jars of ink. There is enough for some of your personal projects too. You have got a month."
"I was told to not come back for a few days," you said.
"That was a mistake on their part and has been corrected. Do a good job and there will be rewards, delay and there will be consequences," he said and put down the empty cup of tea before leaving your small apartment."
"What is the point of locks if everyone just breaks in anyways," you muttered when he was out of hearing distance.
Better get started, larger seals took more chakra out of you, even if drawing them was relatively quick by now. And you didn't know how much time and chakra you'd spend on missions and training, especially since Raidou-sensei didn't seem like the kind of guy who was going to waste much of his time on D-ranks.
On the way back to his base, a tabby cat started following you and after a while, it started rubbing against your feet. And you had to stop for a moment to not stumble in it.
"Meow," it said and started pawing up on your side.
"Hmm, I could perhaps bring you down, Danzo hasn't told me that it isn't allowed," you mumbled to yourself and bow down so the can could climb up on you.
"What's your name?" You asked the cat while scratching their ear.
"Meow," it responded.
"I'll call you Meow then, hang on now," you said before entering the base. You hoped the cat would follow through and not just get thrown off by the magics of the entrance.
There was no Root agent there to put up any objection about both the cat, or you coming back at this time so you just carried it into your room and it jumped down from your shoulder before lying down on one of your shelves.
You opted for not bringing out your clone again, he probably needed some rest after being violently blown apart and being alone was alone nice sometimes.
You picked up one of the boxes of paper tags and placed it on your desk. They were much bigger than what you were used to, comparable with A3 paper you'd reckoned. One thing was for sure was as you took a look at the ink jars he had brought in, there was plenty for this task.
Looking them gave you an idea, instead of storing explosions, fire or whatever you'd wished to defend yourself again on paper scribbles, you could perhaps use small jars of ink. The pressure might be a problem here to, but you could fill it gravel or sand to deal with that, and a metal or glass container would probably supply much more resistance than what an uncontained ink splat on paper would do.
But you needed a safer way to test things before that, and your clone needed rest or rather you didn't trust him to be here a week without supervision.
The first couple of seals went well, but after a while, the chakra drain was becoming apparent. Though you'd get better with age. You knew that your old classmates had barely any chakra now compared to when they became a genin. The question about when Sasuke would be able to fire off fireballs wasn't about skill, but have enough chakra to keep standing after one try.
You heard meowing and scratching at the door.
"I'm sorry I didn't have more time for you, I let you out," you told Meow. It was clearly a smart cat as they quickly jumped upon you as you talked to them.
"Maybe you should hide under my jacket so no one sees you," you told the cat and grabbed your jacket from your chair.
The cat was ducking their head down as you left your room and walked the short bit through the tunnels towards the entrance. When you were outside you pulled down the zipper so the cat could get out if he wanted.
"I guess I should go home now too," you mumbled to yourself. "Do you want to follow me home?" You asked Meow, but it just ran away.
On the way back you heard shouting inside a bar.
"Why did you serve him sake, he's just a child!" Kakashi yelled.
"He was having a bad time, so we decided to cheer him up a bit, he was having a good time after he got some glasses inside him."
"I'll report this, and don't you dare try to bribe yourself out of this mess," Kakashi continued and left the building.
It was then you saw he was carrying Itachi on his back. His face was red and he could barely open his eyes.
"Mom," he said before he started vomiting on Kakashi's uniform. "I want mom."
It didn't look like he was aware of his environment at all.
"Are you taking him home?" You asked.
"I'm not bringing him to his father in this state, I'm taking him back to my place."
You began following after.
"Go home, Itachi needs some space and not you hanging around him," Kakashi said and picked up the speed.
There was no point arguing with Kakashi, he'd use force against you for less in the past. The plan was to go home, but perhaps you should tell Shisui first.
When you arrived at the gates of the Uchiha compound, the guards blocked the entrance for you.
"You're not allowed inside here, Fugaku's orders," one of them said.
"I need to talk to Shisui."
"That's not our problem," they replied.
"Be nice to him," Shisui said from the top of the wall and jumped down beside you.
"I need to talk to you about Itachi," you said.
"Alright, let's go somewhere more private," he said.
As you were talking Shisui whispered into your ear. "We're being watched, but going somewhere else means that only one person will listen in."
You nodded.
He finally stopped by a bench near an empty training ground and you sat down.
"Let me start," Shusui said. "Fugaku talked to me and Itachi earlier. He figured out that Itachi had sabotaged Sasuke's chances at the exam."
"Yeah, Itachi helped me counter Sasuke's tricks for the spar," you said.
"Itachi did much more than that. You might have found it strange that Sasuke started with the easier weapon during the target shooting, but this was because Itachi had told him that it was better to make sure to hit the first targets than to get greedy with the points.
"He made Sasuke shift focus from the other tests, and focus primarily on the spar as he overemphasised the importance of that task. So even if he were to defeat you there, his score elsewhere would be too low for him to graduate.
"It was a well-planned plan to make sure Sasuke would fail, and I think Fugaku has told Sasuke everything."
You nodded. "Yes, I and Itachi meet Sasuke. He was beaten up and was blaming everything on Itachi. Told Itachi that he hated him and that accused Itachi of replacing him as a brother."
"That bastard," Shisui grunted. "Itachi and Sasuke would be better off without him."
"Itachi couldn't handle it…" you said before pausing.
"Don't be afraid to tell anything about Itachi, he's being watched too. So that bastard won't learn anything new."
"He went to drink sake. I found out when I passed the bar and heard Kakashi shouting at someone inside there about them letting a child drink, before carrying him out. Itachi looked quite sick and Kakashi brought him home with him.
"I'm going to get him," Shisui said. "I don't trust Kakashi with him."
"Stop," you said and grabbed his jacket. "You're not making things better for Itachi, he needs rest, not you arguing with Kakashi"
"I guess you're right. He was Itachi's senpai for a while and helped him with much of what he knows today."
"Do you feel challenged?"
Shisui paused for a moment before outing a strong "No," before continuing. "There is more to the story. As you heard the other day, Fugaku things I and Itachi are up to something. That's why we're being watched. I and Itachi also being forbidden from going on missions together without anyone he trusts being with us. Have we fucked everything up?"
As long as you didn't say anything explicit you'd be okay right? Keep it vague and you'd be okay?
"I don't think so, we still have time. Nothing will happen before Sasuke is eight-years-old I think, but after that things are more uncertain."
"That gives us half a year then, that's good to hear. But about you, how was your first day with your team?"
"Fine, even if I don't trust one of my teammates, I hope it's not grounded in reality, but you can never be too careful and I hate it. He seems nice, but I feel it's just a cover so he can stab us in the back before we can react," you explained.
"Are you sure you're not being a bit paranoid, you're far too young to succumb to paranoia, maybe it's the air you're breathing. Make sure to get plenty of fresh air. But if you get anything substantial on him, tell me and I can try to get something done. Fugaku won't let pettiness get between him and doing his job."
"I'll see if I figure something out."
"I'm also trying to get you for a mission together, but that won't happen before your first C-rank, so that can take a while."
"Not really, I don't think that Raidou-sensei will spend much time with D-ranks, so I'm sure it will be pretty soon."
"I think it might be a bit too early with C-ranks, you're not invincible, but Raidou-san is close to the Hokage, so you should be safe with him. But where is the bow I gave you?"
"It gets a bit crowded with the sword and everything else, and I've not started practising yet, I was waiting for you to show me stuff."
"I'll show you tomorrow, and don't worry, with a bit of an adjustment you can fit everything. You should be strong enough that your equipment won't weigh you down any, if not, the weight will just help you out. And more importantly, it will just make you more intimidating."
"Intimidating? I'm as intimidating as your cat."
"Hey, my cute little Sasuke is a fearsome beast," Shisui laughed. "Don't underestimate the signals you're sending. The contradiction between your cute appearance and being armed to the teeth makes the enemy unsure what to do, and in the moment of confusion, you strike."
"Thanks, I think I should go to bed now, I don't want to be tired for the team meeting tomorrow."
"Good night Sota, I'll show you my plan with the bow tomorrow. I'll find you myself you so don't have to worry about not being let into the compound"
"Good night," you said and took to the road home again hopefully for real this time.
-x-
The good thing about Raidou-sensei was that he was punctual. The moment the clock stroke 6 am, he was on his spot.
"I've got a mission for us, a simple C-rank doing some deliveries on the route to Suna. We will travel at sunset so we can go through the worst part of the desert at night. I hope you can keep up Sota, we're following a slower pace than I would normally, so it shouldn't be hard as long as you put in the effort. Now go and pack and bring your bag here so I can inspect it, I'll be back here in 3 hours so if there is something else you need to get done, you should have plenty of time," Sensei explained
"Sensei, I can use storage seals right?" You asked him.
"Yes, just make sure to organize them properly. I expect you to know where to find what," he said.
"What should I bring?"
"Prepare for the worst," he replied.
"But that doesn't tell me what to bring," you argued.
"Sota, you're not in the academy anymore. This isn't a test, if you miss something you'll be told so and you'll go get it afterwards. I'm here so you can learn from me, yes, but most importantly I'm here so you can fail safely and learn from your own experience. Go and pack now."
"Yes, Sensei," you said and ran back to your apartment.
What to bring, what to bring. Weapons of course, but what about the other necessities.
Water was a given. Then there was food, what food were you supposed to be bringing? If it was up to you, you'd bring dango, but could you store food safely inside them or would something weird happen to it.
But dango was not proper food. Would you be cooking? Was he expecting you to eat disgusting ration bars? Why couldn't Raidou give proper instructions, you wanted to butt your head into the wall.
How far was it to Suna? 2-3 days? If you stayed there a week. Cleanliness wasn't always possible on missions, but important both because your smell could be picked up by enemies or wild animals. And no one wanted to lose a fight because their dirty clothes itched at a bad moment. The norm was probably washing stuff on missions to avoid carrying too much. You'd been doing that as exercises in the academy. But you had no such carry limits. You could just put one set of clean clothes in separate sets and seal your dirty laundry.
Maybe you should ask him about the food when you meet again.
You also needed to gather some stuff at Danzo's underground lair.
On the way there you stopped by a store selling water bottles. The shelves were full of bottles and it was had to navigate through all the glass. But in the end, you found what you were looking for, a shelf of some larger bottles, it wouldn't be good to run out of water in the middle of the desert. If you bought something too small, Raidou would probably just make you buy a new one and that would be a waste of money.
"Do you need help kid?" the shopkeeper asked you.
"I'm looking for a water bottle for my first mission outside the village," you said.
The man took a look at your forehead protector. "You borrowed that from your brother?"
You frowned at him in annoyance and his eyes shifted towards the sword handle sticking up from your back. The more he looked at you the more his expression changed as he realized that you were a properly outfitted ninja.
"You're making me uncomfortable," you said.
"Oh sorry, I was just joking with you, I pull that one on every young ninja, never works really. Don't worry I'll help you and even give you a discount. Now, where are you going if you're allowed to tell?"
"I'm going to Suna, so I expect I need a lot of water."
"Yes and no. You've plenty of times to refill your bottles before entering the land of wind, and since I'll assume you'll be going at night. But the water there is crazy-expensive especially for foreigners, you should bring your own. It is just not a disaster if you run out. Just don't let yourself be tricked by the seasons. Suna a hot hellhole all year round, just because its cold here doesn't mean it's colder there."
You nodded.
"As long as you can carry it comfortably you can never get enough, but I suggest about four litres of water for you. But none of that nonsense, you were considering earlier. Carrying one big bottle is just asking for trouble. Its harder to carry around and if something goes wrong you lose all your water," he said and went back to his counter getting a bag to put your stuff in before leading you around the store.
"Seven of these should be decent," he said and put some matt glass jars into the bag. "These shouldn't shiny too much in the sun. Now you just need a couple of drinking bottles."
He leads you to two strange-looking bottles with a screw-top on both the bottom and the top.
"They're made to be easy to fill and easy to drink from. You screw off the bottom when you want to fill them, just make sure to close the top first and make sure you close the bottom properly after filling it, you know it when you got it."
"Thanks," you replied.
"If it's too heavy to carry, just fill it up less. And don't worry too much about breaking them. They should even handle being thrown at spiky rocks, but that doesn't mean you should test your luck."
You nodded and followed him to the counter so you could pay.
After getting some more things you needed, you finally arrived at your underground room, as you had plenty of time, there was something you wanted to try.
You took a long strip of paper and dug a small hole on one end and started drawing a storage seal around it. If everything went to plan, you should be able to seal kunai inside it and have it be hooked in the hole when releasing it again.
A quick attempt later and the plan worked, the kunai was hanging nicely at the end. The only thing that missed now was putting an explosion seal on the other end. This way you could store your explosive kunai much easier. You made a handful before stocking your bag with different other explosive tags, along with the other stuff you had packed and made sure to write descriptive labels on the back of all the storage seals and grabbed another handful from your drawer for the jars you had bought.
How well does the water from the sink taste down here? There was only one way to find out and that was to take a sip.
Not so bad, you reasoned and started filling up your bottles. Though would the water go bad till you reached Suna? You'd just look and see what the rest of the team did about it.
-x-
Soon after you'd left Danzo's base Shisui approached you. "Hi Sota, are you ready with your bow today?"
"Yes," you turned around in a little swirl to show it on your back.
"Good, follow me," he said.
As you were walking, there was one thing you had to ask. "Have you talked to Itachi today?"
"He was still sleeping when I went over. Kakashi is considering taking him out on a mission. Not anything hard, just something he can use as an excuse for a vacation."
It didn't take long before you arrived at the training ground. Based on the length of the area and the targets on the end, it looked like it was for long-distance accuracy.
"I want you to throw your kunai as far as you can,"
You nodded and got into a proper stance, you knew you need to throw it on an angle, doing it at full power was a bit tricky but you tried your best.
"That was pathetic," you mumbled as you saw it not even going half the distance of the field.
"Sota, you're missing the point, now we're going to do the same with your bow."
You unhooked it from your back and grabbed an arrow from your bag and began trying to shoot.
Clumsy was a good way to describe your attempt.
"Let me help you."
He guided your hands to the correct spot on the bow and guided the other was you thread the end of the arrow onto the bowstring. Now push forward your left arm while pulling back your right, but don't let loose yet.
You nodded and pulled the bow.
"Now aim halfway up for the maximum distance," he said and guided your arm up in a 45-degree angle.
"Lastly, pull back as far as you can before releasing it."
You let go of the string and the arrow shoot forwards into the air much farther than your kunai throw.
This was fun.
"Do you see what you can do with this?" Shisui asked.
You shook your head. "It won't be easy to aim at my enemy this way."
"You don't need to be very accurate, instead of putting explosive tags on kunai, put it on your arrows. The enemy won't see it coming."
"That's cruel and …"
"Badass. Sometimes ambushes are the way to go. Better them than us right. Though I hope it will be some time till you'll be using this, the missions your sensei likes to take often requires giving his enemies an early retirement. He is a responsible person, so you don't need to worry about getting seriously injured or killed. There are other people in your life you should a lot more worried about,"
"A voice in my head tells me that I should run and get far away from him and the village. But I need to get stronger, I cannot run. Everything is fine for the moment, he doesn't seem intent at hurting me again as long as I play nice I think. I got a task from him yesterday, nothing bad at all, a bit tedious maybe but good practise"
"Sota, he's conditioning you. He starts with innocent tasks you might even enjoy, and before you know it, you've your sword deep inside a noble somewhere in enemy territory. You should tell the Hokage, tell him to help you get out."
"I'm fine. I made a friend down there, they'll watch over me. They've already covered for me when it comes to my fear of thunder and provided me with food when they weren't supposed to. They're taking a risk on my behalf and the least I can do is putting some trust in them."
"I'll concede for now, but please seek help before it is too late, deal?"
"Deal"
-x-
There wasn't much time left, but you arrived on time. Kabuto and Torune were whispering something to each other.
"Hi," you waved to them.
They quickly moved away from each other. It looked like they had been talking about you while waiting. Probably not good things, not that you blamed them.
You needed to be more friendly with Torune, there was no reason not to. He seemed like a good kid. The next years would be miserable without any friends on the team.
"Torune, have you been to Suna before?" You asked him.
"Yes, I have."
"So how is it there?"
"Dry and hot, my bugs hate it there, I wish we didn't have to go," he said.
His black outfit could impossible help much under the sun. It was a wonder how Kakuro manage to live his entire life there with his black outfit.
"Sometimes you have to do things you don't want do to Torune, you just need to figure out how to deal with it, it's a learning experience like everything else. And Sota, black clothing isn't as bad as you think it is, it is quite good at expelling the heat."
"Huh?" you exclaimed.
"Sota, I can read your face and how you're looking at his clothes. But that black mask for yours is not good Torune, its too thin and close to your head. I say this every time we're going to Suna and every time you complain not being able to stand the heat."
"But I like it sensei and it hides my eyes nicely. It is you guys that are weird and show of your eyes for everyone to see."
"Alongside Sota's eyes, no one would pay much attention to mine and Sensei's eyes," Kabuto said and turn to you with a smile "Not that there's anything wrong with them of course. They suit you."
What's up with him trying to be nice to you after you clear dismissal attitude.
"Thanks." You just had to give in. Maybe Kabuto would be less pushy if you just stopped pushing back on his friendliness and more importantly if you wanted to befriend Torune, being visible an ass towards Kabuto might not be the best idea.
"Now let me check your bags to see if you've packed properly. Sota you're first."
You showed him the bag with the seals.
"Open them up," Raidou told you.
"Is that really necessary, it says on the seals what's in them."
"How do I know you've put what you say it is inside them? Or that you've not done anything else wrong?"
"I guess you've got a point," you said and started revealing the content of your seals. "I wasn't sure about the food, so I've not gotten anything yet."
"Don't worry about that, I'll provide that for our missions unless I say otherwise. But you haven't brought any snacks I've seen, why is that?"
"I didn't know if it was proper. But why didn't you tell me to not bring food so I didn't have to think about it?"
"You need to trust your team and don't worry if you make a mistake. I told you this earlier. And for your other question, morale is quite important on missions. If you've got a bad time, maybe not have had enough sleep, the weather might be crap, you're not going to fight as effectively. Keeping some snack on you to improve your mood will make you fight better and make sure your team doesn't die. I might have gotten a reputation for being too serious and too much of a buzzkill, but I'm not stupid.
"Now we're going to set up camp. Kabuto, take the lead," he ordered.
"Why set up a camp here in the middle of the village, we've not gone anywhere?"
"Have you done this before?"
You shook your head.
"Exactly, now go and help your team set up the tents."
The tents were easy to set up and Kabuto was pretty decent at giving you and Torune instructions.
"Good work everyone. Torune and Kabuto, I checked your bags, everything is in order. Now we'll stay here till sunset. Try to get some sleep, we'll be running all night. Sota, you'll be sharing tents with me."
This felt silly, but you just had to listen to your sensei. It wasn't easy to get to sleep as you weren't that tired, but you just had to try.