Trying to sleep was hopeless. There was too much energy inside you, and the bright light of the day didn't make it any better. The noise outside the tent made it even harder to sleep. Raidou-sensei managed it somehow, at least he wasn't snoring. How did ninja with snoring issues deal with it, because it didn't seem like a good trait to have if you were trying to keep hidden or if your teammates were trying to sleep?
You stepped outside the tent to see Kabuto and Torune sparring.
"Shouldn't we be sleeping now?" You asked them.
They stepped away from each other and Kabuto began to answer you. "Exercise makes it easier to sleep."
"Yeah, that makes sense," you replied.
"I want to challenge you," Kabuto said.
"Why?"
"You struggle sleeping too, don't you? So why don't you get the energy out of the system?"
"I don't get tired easily, at least not from physical activity."
"But I'm tired of you. You've been nasty towards me since we met. I don't know why. You're nice to Torune and Raidou, what have I done to you? I want to fight you!"
You looked at him. He didn't seem that mad, but that could just be him being able to keep his facial expression in check.
So what should you do, did you really have any choice? As so often with everything else, you found it easier to just give in than fight it.
"Okay, what are the rules?"
"Only taijutsu, no other tricks or Jutsu," he explained.
You nodded.
Torune started counting down. "Three, Two, One, Go."
Kabuto just stood there in a defensive stance, waiting for you to strike.
One of you had to take the initiative, so you charged at him. A foot hit you right in your stomach and you crumbled to the ground, too fast for you to see. Itachi was fast too, but not this bad to deal with, even if you were unable to defeat Itachi. Was he going easy on you, or were you too used to Itachi's trick by now?
You got up again and waited for Kabuto to do his thing. But as more and more time passed, nothing happened. It felt like minutes and he simply just stood there, waiting for you to attack.
"Why are you not attacking!" You yelled at him.
"There are several reasons for that Sota. I want you to figure out why."
Why did everyone have to play games?
You began to run circles around Kabuto in the hope that it would help to make him more disoriented by forcing him to track your movements. Was there anything else you could use? The ground was flat and you were not allowed any tools. You had the dirt itself, while you were not going to pick up a scoop to throw it at him, kicking up dirt as you were moving would not be breaking any rules or go against the spirit of the spar.
You picked up the speed for a moment you give you a greater momentum before digging your foot into the ground to kick up a spray of dirt and swiftly charged at Kabuto again, keeping even closer attention to any counter moves this time.
As you saw him cover his face, you knew you had him. You could revenge your stomach by driving your fist into his. But alas, another foot kicked you in the ribs throwing you to the side.
"That's better Sota."
"I can do this all day long, I've had much worse thrown at me than this. Why can't you attack for once?"
"You're attacking me and I'm able to counter you every time, so why should I risk it by attacking first?"
He was right, but that didn't make it any less annoying. You wanted to cheat so much now. Explosions were out of the questions, but could you do something else...?
Maybe charging was the wrong move, what if you approached him slower?
You moved towards him with steady steps while holding your defensive stance, but faster than you could blink, you got thrown up in the air as soon as you got into his reach. With no time to adjust your bearings, you fell down again. Your foot hit the ground at an angle, making an unnatural sound in the process.
The air around you suddenly became different.
"What's going on?" You asked.
"Genjutsu, your leg is fine Sota, I wouldn't dare to injure you right before a mission, Raidou-sensei would have my neck."
"Didn't you say taijutsu only?"
"I had already cast it before I said it, so it doesn't count," he smiled.
"So what was the point if you were just going to cheat?"
"To show you that I'm not a danger, that you can trust me. I didn't attack you, I only responded when you attacked me. Please let us be friends."
"This entire gesture could be a lie," you said and casting a genjutsu in that manner was not a sign of trust.
He sighed, "Please sleep on it."
"Okay, I can do that."
No amount of sleep would make you trust that bastard.
"If only I can get myself to sleep," you turned around. "Where did Torune go?"
"He was asleep the entire time. I stayed awake to talk to you, as I guessed you wouldn't be able to sleep. But I can help you, all it takes is a simple genjutsu and you'll fall into a deep sleep if you allow me. What do you say?"
If he had some ulterior motives, he wouldn't need to ask you before casting any other genjutsu on it, so it didn't matter, and the help was needed now.
You nodded and with a quick move from Kabuto's hands, your eyes got heavy and your body gave in.
-x-
You felt a hand pushing on your side and your eyes shot open.
"Good evening Sota, it's time to go."
"Good morning sensei."
You began helping Raidou taking down the tent and gathered your things. Raidou handed each of you another bag to carry, you the smallest while he took the largest for himself.
When you arrived at the gate for Raidou to inform the guards about your departure, you could hear a voice calling out from the village.
"Sota, Sota, wait," you could hear Naruto yell.
You turned around and saw him run towards you.
"Why didn't you tell me that you were leaving bastard," he wasn't mad or anything. His face smiling.
"I'm sorry, Shisui told you right?"
He nodded. "What are you going to do? Kick some bandit's ass, save some princess from evil missing-nin?"
"We won't be doing that kind of stuff like that kid."
"Oh," Naruto replied. "What will you be doing then?"
"Mission information is secret during the mission, Sota may or may not be allowed to tell you more when we're back, but right now, we cannot tell you anything."
"Can I tag along if you're not going to do any fighting? I've not been outside the village before and I'll..."
"No, you're too young and not a genin yet."
"I'm older than Sota," Naruto protested.
"You're not a ninja and not prepared. Things might go wrong and you'll be putting your friend and the rest of the team in danger if we've to protect you too."
Naruto's facial expression started to fade and his mask dropped. His voice went from happy and excited to quite mellow. "I'm worried about my friend, Sota seem to have a lot of bad luck and have gotten injured a lotta times. Family protect each other. What if he loses his leg or something because I wasn't there and he can't be a ninja anymore?"
"Naruto, I'll be fine. Sensei is strong and won't let anything bad happen to me. I'll come back in one piece, I'll promise."
"You better keep that promise or I'll kick your ass bastard! I'll be waiting here for you till you come back."
"That..." He would figure it out later that he couldn't wait here that long. "Goodbye Naruto."
You stepped through the gate for your first time. It was time to get going, it was time to run.
-x-
This was just like at the academy, just with much more interesting scenery and you were no longer the fastest. The others had to slow down to accommodate your short legs, but your stamina should ensure that you could keep your top speed for the entire journey.
You kept silent and just focused on the journey forward until you got a bit of deja-vu. You saw a couple of puddles of water in front of you, without hesitation you got some of the explosive kunai from your pouch and threw it at them.
The others saw what you were doing and was screeching to a halt, dirt and water were spraying in every direction.
"Sota, what are you doing?!" Raidou-sensei yelled.
"I... I thought there was an ambush. The rest of the road has been dry, so I feared someone was hiding there," you explained.
"And you thought I wouldn't have noticed if someone was ambushing us?"
"I thought you were testing us, maybe testing me, so I just had to act."
"Sota, I'm not sure if I explained this well enough earlier, but I don't play around on missions. I don't put you in harm's way for a test. I'm able to detect and deal with most ambush attempts before you can even notice them, I would never let you guys deal with it for yourself. If you think we've missed someone, warn us, not just throw explosives around. That being said, your response was good if there was a danger there. Though you're missing one important fact, I'll give you a chance to notice it yourself."
You looked around at the broken ground, trying to come up with something, but you were blank.
"I've no idea."
"Look above the puddles, see the branches and the tree. The shade makes it take longer for the water to evaporate, so even if the rest of the road had time to dry, these would still be wet from the previous rain."
"Oh." Yeah, that made perfect sense. Real-life wasn't anime. Things weren't going to go bad on this mission for the sake of tension. Why did a part of your brain still not take this seriously?
"Let me repair the road before we go," Raidou said and performed an earth Jutsu to fill in the holes you'd made.
"Sensei, do you think we could take a bit of a break? I'm a bit shaky," Torune asked.
"I don't see why not," Raidou replied and raised the ground into a makeshift bench for you to sit on.
You sat down and took a sip of your water.
"You need to practise more with those together with the team if you want to use them around us, you didn't do anything wrong now, but in a proper fight, unless you've control over your teammates and the teammates are aware of your attack, they might accidentally get into the blast zone when the tags explode."
"You're right I guess, you guys depends a lot on close-range attacks. While I don't have any tricks other than the explosives I make, I'm physically weaker than everyone else, while I've got the stamina to last, that wouldn't matter if people can overpower me before they get tired."
"
"I'm sure we can figure something out, you're still young. You could become a kind of ambusher for the team until you learn more. Do like you did today, open up with a strong enough attack and let us do the rest and just focus on defending yourself."
"I don't want to be useless, I want to help out the team in fights too."
"We'll take it slow early on right, I'll promise you that you'll be prepared for the Chuunin exam, while you might not win, I would hope that you could give Kabuto the push he needs to get promoted."
"Do you have any idea on any ninjutsu I could use in battle that doesn't endanger my team?" You asked him.
"Not at the moment, but I'll ask around when we come back. If you can figure out some kind of seal that affects everyone, but gives us the edge, that would be nice."
Thinking about it for a moment, it became obvious that any defensive seal could be useful, defend against an attack you were not using.
"I'll work on it sensei," you replied.
"Good, now do you think they've had long enough break?"
You took another sip of your water bottle before nodding.
"All right boys, we need to get going again," Raidou sensei called out.
-x-
After many more hours of running, you saw a tall tower in the distance.
"That's our first stop boys," Raidou said and pointed at the building.
It laid right off the road, fenced off by metal fencing. It looked more like it was to warn civilians rather than to keep anyone actually out.
"Be careful with the metal rods in the ground," Raidou said.
"What are they?" You asked.
"They connect to the tower, so if anyone tries to attack it, someone can discharge a large amount of electricity and fry anyone standing near one of the spikes," Raidou-sensei explained.
"But they are everywhere," you pointed out.
"Exactly, wouldn't be a good trap if people could dodge them."
"I guess you're right."
It wasn't the only security measurement. The wall of the tower was laid with spikes, so no hope of climbing it from the ground, and you couldn't jump over them either. The last piece of defence you could see was a metal cage surrounding the base of the tower.
"What is your purpose here," A Konoha nin at the top of the tower yelled down at your team.
"We're Team 4 with supplies from Konoha," Raidou yelled back.
"Alright, you can enter."
Sensei guided you through the metal cage, as you went around the tower to get to the door, you noticed that you were walking on metal pipes with many small holes in them, it looked like something was flowing inside them. Oil perhaps? So if any attacker passed the lighting rods, they'll be burnt inside here before they could reach the door. Effective but brutal. Hopefully, they wouldn't activate it by a mistake. You hadn't brought with you any fire absorption seals, you definitely should for the next mission.
Raidou pushed a card inside a slot on the door, moments later it opened and you followed him in alongside Kabuto and Torune.
"You're earlier than we expected, got a new member I see," the Konoha-nin inside looked at you.
"Uzumaki Sota, nice to meet you," you said.
"I hadn't expected him to keep up as well as he did, so I apologize for being here too early."
"No need to apologize for that Raidou, life here is mostly boring. You're more likely to see action in a graveyard than here. And Sota, I'm Harada-san."
You nodded in approval.
"Dinner isn't ready yet, help me with the supplies Raidou will you. And kids, you can go to the common area, I assume you know very well where it is by now Kabuto?"
Kabuto nodded.
You handed your bag to Raidou and followed Kabuto up the stairs, but he held you back by the shirt.
"Just go up you two, I need to talk to Sota in private," Raidou said and turned to you when they were out of ears range. "Please be nicer to Kabuto, I expect all of you to behave on missions, and part of that involves keeping each others morale up. So whatever issue you have with him, bury it, and if you need to, pretend. Look at this as a bonus mission, make Kabuto think you're his friend and it's up to you if it's for real or not."
"Why do you want me to lie to him?" You asked.
"Go up and join them," he said, dodging the question.
When you got up into the hallway above, you couldn't see anyone and the doors were not revealing their content. And there were several more floors above, so you knew better than to try all of them for several reasons.
"Kabuto, Torune," you called out, hoping that one of them would hear you.
A few seconds later a door at the end of the corridor opened and you could see Torune's head poking out.
"In here," he said before quickly going back in.
As you entered the room, you saw him playing Shogi with Kabuto using what looked like a chess clock.
No wonder why he was in a hurry. With just a few seconds between each move, it was much faster than the calm pace between you and Shikamaru.
It was too quick for you to even follow their moves, the only proper sign of how it was going was Torune looking slightly more frustrated before he finally resigned.
"Do you know how to play?" Kabuto asked with a smile on his face.
"Yeah, I've played a couple of times with a classmate, but this is going too fast for me."
"So you're up for a few rounds then, I can set it up for you so you can play against Torune," he said and started to move the pieces back to their starting position.
"I just said it is too fast for me," you grumbled.
"That's fine, just use your time early on and don't worry about running out of time."
"But I'll lose," you retorted.
"This is just a game, you can lose and learn from your mistakes. It is good training, there is no use of being able to make perfect plans in a real battle, you need to think on the spot and make the best moves in the time available, even if it's not the best move. If you can make your opponent struggle to come up with a new plan, you'll quickly win," Kabuto explained. "And sometimes when the ninja here doesn't have a lot of time, being quick ensures that they'll get to finish most of their games."
"All Right, I'll play you Torune," you said.
He put a smile on his face and made his first move and pushed down on the clock.
Every second felt like a missed opportunity as you tried to think about how to open this. How much damage could you do in your first move anyway? So you followed your gut feeling and made your move.
Move after move, both your position on the board and the clock got weaker. You clutched your head as you tried coming up with something that could dig your out this situation.
"Relax Sota, being stressed out doesn't help you think clearer," Kabuto said.
"I know, I know," you replied. It was easier said than done.
"Just keep on going till you can relax."
"I'm trying," you mumbled back and you looked at the clock counting down to zero.
Kabuto was right, you couldn't act like this. It was how your difficult battles tended to end, you got more and more frustrated until you did something stupid and lost consciousness.
"Again?" You asked Torune.
He nodded back and you put back the pieces.
Before you could make your first move, he swiftly switched two pieces you had misplaced.
Okay Sota, this is the plan. Don't look at the clock, it doesn't exist, just move in a reasonable time. Control your breath, in and out at a steady pace.
This was much better and you played better, yes you played slower, but you just had to live with that. But now you were at least able to keep up with him and make traps for him.
It wouldn't last forever and soon the clock gave a small beep to alert you that your time had run out.
"Kabuto, I'm a bit confused. First, you say I need to play fast since I won't have any time to plan in the field, but now you tell me to take it slow. I lose anyway, so what's the point?"
"What happened your first game?"
"I lost," you replied.
"What more?"
"I ran out of time and was about to be crushed on the board."
"So what does that tell you?"
"That playing fast isn't working."
"And what happened the next game?"
"I lost because I was too slow. There is no winning."
"But you didn't lose on the board, with practice you'll speed up and learn better time management."
"You're right I guess."
"And there is something else I want to show you," he said and rearranged the pieces to a previous position.
"What was your plan here?"
"I had formed a threat against his position and was trying to attack him, but he managed to defend himself in the end."
"The threat of a move is often better than the move itself. By keeping the possibility open, Torune would have to take that into account for every move he made, so instead of attacking right away, you could try to improve your position until you're sure it works. And if the enemy isn't familiar with you, they'll just have to take your word that you're able to properly execute the plan and that you're not bluffing."
"How do I bluff in battle?"
"Pretend you're doing one thing while you're doing another. You don't need to be able to blow fireballs to make your enemy think you can. Make the hand signs, suck in air and blow out. When they realize that you're bluffing, they'll have dodged it like any normal fireball."
"It doesn't seem smart to rely on fake attacks?"
"Would you bet on your enemy not knowing the attack they're using against you?"
"No, because if I'm wrong I'll risk being roasted."
"Exactly, and you can even use it more than once as they don't know if you were bluffing about bluffing and the next time it's real. But if you know real attacks that can be used, you're better off using those while you've chakra."
"Thanks."
"Are you ready for food," you could hear Raidou ask from the doorway.
You nodded and helped Torune packing up the shogi board.
-x-
The dining hall was filled with people already, but there were four empty seats for you at the end of the table. Raidou must have reserved them for you.
"First time you're here?" an unknown ninja next you asked. You turned to him, short brown hair, brown eyes, quite nondescript.
You nodded.
"I'm Suzuki Haruki," he introduced himself.
"I'm Uzumaki Sota," you replied.
"Do you want to take a look at the top of the tower?"
"No thanks," you replied.
"No need to be shy or are you afraid of the height?"
"I'm not afraid," you calmly replied.
"I understand I was also afraid of heights when I was your age."
"I'm not afraid, I just don't care."
"So if you're chasing someone, all they need to do is to climb up a tree and their safe from you?"
"Even if I was afraid of height, that wouldn't be a problem. I could blow up the tree they're sitting in or shooting explosive kunai up into the branches. But if it will make you stop your childish teasing, I'll take a look."
"Aren't you a bit young to call anyone childish?"
"Aren't you a bit old to be childish?"
"Being a bit childish makes life much more fun. You should be excited about new experiences. But somehow you seem like a grumpy old person trapped in the body of a seven-year-old."
"Let me just finish eating, I need food after running all day. "
-x-
Suzuki was guiding you to the top. And there was quite a lot of steps to traverse, the disadvantage of your short legs was even more apparent now than normal. It would be much easier to just walk up the walls than this. Though the spikes on the outside stopped that plan.
There had to be a better way to deal with stairs. Would body flicker fling you up? You should ask Shisui to teach you when you got back.
How much could you even use it? With lots of chakra, how long could you keep it up? Truth to be told, you'd no idea how it worked, all you know was that it was not teleporting and it wasn't perfect or else people would use it all the time, and so far you couldn't remember seeing any use of it.
But with everything else bad, these stairs didn't last forever and you were soon at the top.
Views like this didn't usually excite you, but taking a look at the equipment up here wasn't too bad.
The outer edge of the tower was filled with several ballistas and the bolts were loaded with large explosive seals. So that was were Shisui had gotten the idea of firing tags with your bow.
"You want to try firing it?" Shizuki asked.
"Wouldn't it be a waste of resources?" You asked.
"We're supposed to test those regularly, make sure neither we or them get rusty. Sure we don't have a ton of tags but then we don't have a ton of actual targets to use them on either. Wait a minute, aren't you the kid who got blown up by Fugaku's son? You're still okay with explosions after what happened?"
"Yes, they are still fun and I might be a bit obsessed with them. And I might have scared my teammates earlier by blowing a puddle of water that I thought was enemy ninja"
"They'll get over it, surprises are ninja's worst enemy, but as with every other enemy you need to know how to deal with it."
"But if you're prepared for everything, is there anything left to be surprised by?"
"Exactly. The best way to keep yourself and others safe, is to make sure you don't have any enemies to begin with. Though you cannot be prepared for everything, and when you think you've prepared for everything the moon will wake up and reveal itself to be an Eldritch abomination."
"So if I prepare for the moon to wake up and try to kill us all, I'm set?"
"Don't worry Sota, the moon is just a piece of rock far far away."
If only you knew.
"And how would you even prepare to kill off an Eldritch Abomination, the moon might look small, but it is much bigger than anything else you've seen."
Without Matatabi, Akatsuki would be no way to revive the 10-tails. That's how you prepare. Though that was easier said than done.
"I'll make sure that the moon can't wake up," you answered.
"Enough about non-existing threats. Get your hands on the handles and start moving it around. It can be a bit heavy for you, but you should be able to move it around."
You nodded and got a grip. It was a bit of a struggle to get it into motion, but you got it moving.
"What should I aim for?" You asked.
"You see the other holes in the grass over there?" He asked pointed to a piece of land that by the look of it had been hit a lot in the past.
You nodded.
"Just aim around there."
You turned around the handles and slowly got it into position.
"How do I fire?"
"Just press hard on the lever down on the floor," Suzuki suggested.
You stepped on it, but nothing happened.
"Try harder."
It didn't help. You could stand on it and it wouldn't budge.
"I forgot that children are light as feathers. Let me help you."
He pushed it down with ease and the large bolt flew through the air and as soon as it had dug into the ground it exploded throwing dirt up into the air.
Explosions would never stop cheering you up.
"How do you make sure the bolts explode when they hit the ground?" You asked.
"Uhh, I've no idea. We just get them shipped from Konoha, all I need to know is that we can fire them and they go boom when they hit the target."
"Can I take a look at one?"
"Ah, you make your own seals, yeah I remember Genma bragging about how good of a teacher he is."
"I quickly moved on from him, so can I take a look?"
"Sure I don't see the harm," he replied.
You picked up the stack of blank paper and a brush from your bag and started studying the seal.
It wasn't very complex as you quickly noticed with everything divided into four clear parts. First, it detected if he was moving quickly which feed into a part which could detect if the seal had stopped moving before sending the signal into the explosive part blowing it up. And of course, a primer in the start to prevent it from going off in transit.
You carefully copied it down, leaving out the explosive part as including it was just an unnecessary risk till you were able to study it closer.
"Thanks for the help, I was unsure how to deal with it, as trying to time myself before throwing was too unreliable."
"You're welcome. I hope I'll never become your enemy in the future because at the pace you seem to improve you'll outrank me in a couple of years."
"Are you a Chuunin or Jounin?" You asked.
"I'm a Chuunin, most of us are with one or two jounin commanding the place. Genin are only here for short visits like your team. It's not a bad place to be stationed when you get promoted, we're not just watching out for threats in the area, we also distribute supplies some of the supplies we get from Konoha to the nearby towers and do small missions in the area.
"The fire in the middle here isn't just to keep us warm. Our secondary purpose is to relay signals between the borderlands and the village. See the glow in the distance," he said and pointed to a faint glow in the horizon.
"Yeah."
"We've powder we use to flare up the fire in different colours. Apart from a few instances, I can't tell you, we just relay things without having any idea what is being said. So if anyone captures this place, they'll get nothing useful from intercepting the communication and we've some trickery that prevents you from seeing the fire from the ground. But that won't happen even in war times. It's the paradox of fortifications like this. We've got the most firepower but will use the least as the enemy will just go for a target further away. But we can at least provide a safe haven for nearby friendly ninja if a problem occurs and along with patrols, it makes this road quite safe.
"Aren't you telling me a bit much, aren't some of this sensitive information?"
"Not really, even a mediocre spy would quickly figure out this on their own and it is not like we rely too much on any of this to stay secret. So I see nothing wrong teaching you how things work out here. You seem like a smart kid, so I know you won't be foolish enough to try to use any of this to attack us."
"I'll promise that I'll leave you alone then if I ever decide to leave and turn on the village. But if you'll think you'll get beaten by a seven-year-old, you might try to up the defence."
"Thanks, now I can sleep safely at night," he laughed.
"I think I'm started to get sleepy," you yawned.
"I'll follow down to where you'll be sleeping."
-x-
As you were laying there in your bed, your thoughts went back to Kabuto. There was simply no way to prove he was not a spy. Yes, he was friendly, nice and helpful. But so was Kabuto during the Chuunin exam. So if he was an Orochimaru spy, how he acted now was exactly how he'd act.
If Orochimaru would have the chance to recruit a Jinchuuriki he'd take it. Especially since in his eyes, you were an easily influenced seven-year-old boy. So why not task Kabuto to recruit you. It wasn't like he was in any hurry either, so there was no reason to suspect any funny behaviour from him in the near future, just slow play over time. Originally Kabuto spent many years in Konoha before his betrayal was out in the open with him casting the big feathery Genjutsu during Sasuke and Gaara's fight.
But if this was the plan, Orochimaru would be wrong. You were not an easily influenced seven-year-old. There was nothing Kabuto or anything anyone else could say to make you go against the village and leave. Sure, you didn't have any inherent loyalty to the village, but it was still your home, you were stupid enough to become a ninja and you had friends here you wanted to protect. So you were committed to sticking to it and where would you even go? You'd be chased down in an instant to retrieve the two-tails.
"Problem sleeping again Sota?" Kabuto asked. Where did he come from? He wasn't sleeping next to you.
What should you say...
"Do you want help? I can cast the genjutsu on you again."
Again, if he wanted to do something nefarious, he didn't need your consent, so you just nodded.
A big yawn later and you were out.
-x-
Next morning Kabuto woke you up. "Good morning Sota."
"Good morning Buto," you said half asleep.
"We should take a bath before breakfast, they've quite nice baths here" he suggested.
"Will Raidou and Torune join us?"
"Torune is too shy and Raidou likes to take his baths in private if he can. Rumours have it that he has a thing for rubber ducks and no one has been able to disprove it yet."
"So just us two…"
"Anything wrong?"
How did you feel about it? You didn't like this. This was not the way to convince you that he was not a spy.
"It will make you feel nice, we'll have a lot of running today too, you must be sore?"
"I don't feel sore, my body heals fast. But I guess I might need a bath, so I'll join you."
"Get your towel and a change of clothes and I'll show the way."
-x-
The water was nice and hot, so it was worth coming down here. You still didn't like being here along with Kabuto who sat across of you.
"Is there anything bothering since you're struggling to sleep?" He asked.
"No," it was none of his business at the moment.
"Are you still living at the orphanage?"
"No."
"You're not very talkative, I'm not making you uncomfortable am I?"
Surely he knew what he was doing.
"It's just that there isn't much to say about, I don't remember anything from before a year ago. I don't remember anything from any orphanage."
"Oh. Have you thought about visiting it again? I'm sure sensei can help you track it down."
"What is the point of going back to a place I don't remember and feel no connection to?"
"Maybe it will help you remember? Maybe you've some friends there that miss you?"
Something in you broke down or at least that would explain why you were crying with your face buried in your knees.
"Sota…"
You blocked out his voice and flailed your arms around for a moment. How could you cope with this when you didn't even know what was wrong?
You weren't able to fully understand what was going on around you, just that the water disappeared around you and you gradually got dryer and then clothed.
All you could feel right now was the desire to lie down and not wake up again.
-x-
"Sota, are you better now?" you heard sensei's voice asking.
You sat yourself up in the bed and turned to him. "Yeah, just a bit hungry"
The bad feeling was gone and you still had no idea what had felt so wrong. Last time something like that had happened was with the thunderstorm, was there some sort of connection here?
You could smell the smell of hot soup.
"I brought some food for you, you've slept past breakfast. We may be a bit late to Suna, but don't worry about it. Do you need help eating?"
"I can eat on my own," you replied and grabbed the bowl.
"Just so you know, Kabuto didn't tell me much of details. So if you want me to know, you can tell me when you're ready."
"It's nothing."
"All right. Should I get more soup for you or anything else you want?"
There was still some soup left, but you were not hungry for more of it, so you handed it to Raidou. You wanted something sweet.
"I'm not hungry for soup, but do you have dango?"
"I'm sorry. You know what, when we're back in Konoha I'll buy you some."
"Thanks, sensei."
"Are you ready to go or do you need more time?" Raidou asked.
"We're already late, so we cannot delay things further," you said.
"I'm not leaving without knowing that my team is okay, this mission isn't that time-sensitive, we can afford to be a day late if so needed."
"It doesn't affect me. I react to memories I no longer have. As if there is someone else inside me that is breaking down and taking me with them."
"Then I'll trust your judgement, your stuff is already packed so don't worry about that. I'll go fetch Kabuto and Torune."
How was Itachi doing right now? He was strong, he'd deal with this and you could just hope things were okay between him and Sasuke when you arrived back home. Their bond was too strong to be broken by what had happened. Itachi would help Sasuke out with the training and he would shoot fireballs in no time and without any graduation exam for Sasuke, he wouldn't be worried about his brother getting hurt by graduating too early. Everything would go back to how it should be.
Yeah, that was the right way to think about matters. Your mood was back up, and you felt you could conquer the world right now. You grabbed your bag and headed outside where the rest of the team was waiting for you.
Another day of running was ahead of you and it didn't matter right now, you were going to push through it like it was nothing.
-x-
You could feel the climate getting warmer and warmed as you approached the border.
Raidou slowed down as you approached the river.
"This is the last chance to fill up your water bottles before we enter the desert, so make sure to fill up."
The bottle salesman might have sold you a bit too much, as there was plenty of water left even though you hadn't refilled them since leaving Konoha. He seemed nice and helping. But of course, it was just a ploy. He advised you against some of his own products, which meant that he was purposefully stocked up goods he didn't intend to sell in order to seem more helping. Danzo would be proud of that sneakiness.
"Sota, do you know how to run in the sand?" Raidou asked.
"Uhh."
"You know how to walk on water, trees?" You could hear the worry in his voice.
"Yeah, I can do both."
With a sigh of relief, he continued. "Good, it is almost like water walking, just easier. You want to spread out your chakra when kicking off and landing, but other than that, you don't need to worry about balance too much. The important part is to avoid having your feet dig into the sand. Got it?"
You nodded. It sounded easy enough, but that was also your thoughts the first time you tried tree walking.
"I don't want to stop in the middle of the desert, so if you need a break, now is the time."
It looked like Torune was in the mood for a break, so you took a sip of water before dropping to the ground.
What this how life would be from now on? Lots of running from place to place? Though in a few years, you'd probably look back at this as relaxing. Konoha wouldn't want you as a glorified currier forever. Be it for your sealing abilities or the cat.
Torune laid down next to you, but he didn't say anything.
"Is this all you do, running from place to place?" You asked him. "I heard rumours about Raidou-sensei preferring missions with more fighting."
"Not with us, but I know he takes missions on the side while we've time off to train or rest. We did a lot of search and rescue with Hana. But without her tracking abilities, I guess we'll do less of it from now on."
"Your bugs can't be used to track people?"
"No, they're too small for that. They're mostly useful for hurting people, but I don't like using them for that. So I hope Sensei won't take any missions requiring that."
"Oh."
"But it doesn't mean we're not useful here. If we're getting attacked, I'm prepared to do my part, even if it means someone getting hurt," Torune said.
"I know, I just think I'll get bored doing this for years. I kind of wish for action, even if I don't want to hurt people either. Some people need to be taken down, but not sure if they deserve to be blown up."
You were in a bit of a pickle. You were encouraged from several sources to be a dangerous force. If those puddles of water actually had demon brothers in them, they might very well be dead now. So when you said you didn't want to hurt people, who were speaking? The upstanding you that knew that potentially killing people weren't the way to live life. Or Sota who had been raised to think about things quite differently and was heavily influenced by your actions. You were giving him all sorts of deadly tools and expect him no not use them? Or did you just blame these tendencies on Sota, while you were the real problem? One thing was for certain, some of the explosives tags in your bag would kill someone one day, and it would be all your fault.
"Life will find a way. You should find someone who can teach you. I would help, but most of what I know involves bugs."
"You're right I guess. Water could be useful but I'm not sure if I've got an affinity for it."
Water would be very easy to put in seals, but could you use them for anything useful once sealed?
"You should ask sensei if he can test it?"
"I'll probably have fire," you said. With Matatabi's blue fire, it made the most sense.
"Alright boys, ready to get going again?" Raidou asked. Not a long break, but if the others were okay with his impatience, so were you.
You nodded and got up, it was time to face the desert.
-x-
The run through the sand was a lot less bad than expected. The air was dry but without the sun. The sandy landscape was rather a bit chilly which helped cool you down from all the running. It was just in the last hour or so you started to feel it. But Raidou made sure you drank more than enough water to keep yourself hydrated.
The entrance to Suna was much more majestic in real life than in the anime. The sun shining through the gap in the cliffside. Raidou-sensei had slowed down, probably as a sign of non-aggression or something before slowly approached the guards.
"State your name and purpose," one of the Suna guards demanded.
"I'm Namiashi Raidou and this is Team 4, Uzumaki Sota, Kabuto and Aburame Torune. We're here with deliveries from Konoha," Sensei explained as gestured towards each of you. "Just some letters and documents." He patted his bag for emphasis.
"Wait here and I'll take a look," the guard said and went back to the guard booth and checked his papers before heading back towards you.
"Everything seems to be in order. You need to be out again within 24 hours, cause no trouble," he said and stepped out of your way.
The cliff walls were quite menacing as you walked through them.
"Sensei, how many traps are there in here?" You asked.
"Plenty to kill us several times, but Suna isn't our enemy, you've nothing to worry about as long as we don't get on their bad side," he replied.
That was reassuring.
While the city inside was decently sized, it didn't help you feel a bit locked in as the cliffs encompassed you in every direction, partially putting the village in the shadow of the sun.
"I'm sure you're tired, we'll get to the inn and get some food and then you can sleep. I'll handle the deliveries."
"That sounds nice," you said.
"I didn't know you could get tired Sota, you have the hardest time keeping up and it looks like you're in the best shape of us," Kabuto said.
"You make me feel a bit uncomfortable," you replied.
You didn't know why just compliments like that felt a bit weird sometimes. With too high expectations, all you can do is to fail.
"Oh, sorry, I didn't mean it that way. We should hurry to the inn before it gets too hot outside."
-x-
Getting some proper food was nice. A local dish you didn't catch the name of, but it both smelled and tasted nice. None of you said much during the meal and when the last piece of food had gone down, you could finally go to bed.
You all had to share a room, but it was at least nice and chill as the sun had yet to warm up the room.
"I'll go and deliver the documents, just go to bed, no need to wait for me," Raidou said and left.
Hours and hours of running in the last days did make sleep easy today, so you didn't need any help from Kabuto. It probably didn't hurt that you'd no worries on your mind for the moment.
-x-
"Wake up everyone," Raidou called out to wake you from your sleep.
"I don't want to stay here more than I need to, but there is something I need to do before leaving and it would be beneficial if you could help take a bit of attention away from me in case they've someone watching us. I shouldn't have too much of a problem without it, but it never hurts stacking the odds a bit in our favour."
"What do you want us to do sensei?" Kabuto asked.
"Get dressed and wander around the village for a bit. Come back within an hour and go separate ways. And Sota, you don't need to go further away from the inn than what you feel comfortable with. It's not like they're going to pay too much attention to you anyway."
By the looks of it, Torune didn't look too happy with it, but he raised no objections.
You put on your clothes, got your bag and fastened your weapons. Kabuto was already out the door. It looked like Torune was deliberately taking it slow.
"It will be fine Torune, you're not doing anything bad so there is nothing to fear."
It didn't look like it helped him any, his head seemed to have fallen lower. The fact that he was older and more experienced than you may have made him think he should have managed this task better.
"This is not the place for me. Dry and dead, my bugs hate this place. I don't like being alone with strangers. I'm not feeling well right now. Being around you the last days made me..." he didn't finish that sentence, but it was clear that he was talking about his cousin.
"Stay here, I don't think sensei would mind. See you later, " you said and left him for himself.
-x-
You had one person in mind right now, one other redhead. Were you going to do something incredibly stupid? Yes. But there was no one reading your mind right now, so there was no one to stop you or yell at you to not do it.
You'd made a decision. To see if you could become an early friend of Gaara before things got too bad and before the raccoon could poison his mind too much. But you were no Naruto, so a friendship might be a bit too much to ask for, but maybe you could be a friendly face. That when he revisited the village in about five years he'll recognize you, perhaps second-guessing the orders he'd be given. Maybe you could use this to reason with him later on?
But where could you find him? You walked down a road to look for someone you could ask for help. Your target was a middle-aged man, maybe if he'd children of his own, he'd be friendly enough to help.
You walked up to him. "Excuse me, this is my first time in Suna and I'm not very familiar with this place and I kind of lost my team, is there somewhere I shouldn't go?"
"Where did you find that headband?" The man asked looking at your forehead.
"It's mine, I earned it by graduating in Konoha."
"You know it's a serious offence to impersonate ninja, be it foreign or Suna ninja?"
"I'm a ninja," you tried not to get too worked up. You turned around to show him your weapons, as you wouldn't have those kinds of weapons if you were just a kid playing ninja. "Why do you doubt me." He had a bit of a concern on your face. It was clear that he was just worried about you getting in trouble, so better not get too annoyed at him.
"You're tiny, I've seen no ninja that small, though I guess size could deceive, you're the same size," the man stopped himself.
"I'm sorry, you see that tall building over there," he said and pointed to a round tower in the distance," don't go near it, especially now at night and you should be safe.
"Thanks, sir," you replied.
"Do you want me to help you find your team?" He asked.
"That won't be necessary," you said and walked away.
You needed some kind nickname or reputation so people would start to respect and not think of you as a little kid who was playing ninja with a stolen headband.
What options were there? Sota of the Sharingan? Itachi wouldn't end up in a situation where he'd give up any of this eyes to anyone but Sasuke. And Shisui would never give up his to you, you were too close to Danzo for the moment for that to be a thinkable option and Danzo would definitely take them from you.
Sota of the Red Sand, that was not one for you. There was not much sand near Konoha and you weren't going to spill a lot of blood.
Sota of the Body Flicker. Sorry Shisui, but that name is just underwhelming.
Demon of the Hidden Leaf. It would definitely ensure that people didn't mess with you, but you had already graduated so you weren't likely to kill your entire class at age nine. And you didn't want to be associated with that kind of things.
No, you'd probably be "Wonderkid Sota who ended up being quite average in the end."
After a short detour, so the man didn't notice that you were heading towards the place he just told you to avoid, you turned towards the tower, you wanted to see Gaara. Though you weren't sure if you could do anything for him at the moment
People didn't pay you much attention as you walked through the streets, just as Raidou had predicted. You hoped no Suna ANBU would pick up your plan and why would they?
For every step you took towards the tower, your body got tenser and tenser. No one had stopped you yet and you were finally at the foot of the tower.
This really was a stupid idea and you were going to regret it. The sensible voice in you would yell at you to run back to the inn and check on Torune. The stupid part of you who had guided you so far in the world told you to hurry up and climb the tower.
Every step you took up the steep walls you wondered what was wrong with you. As you climbed over the ledge, you were meet with an empty roof. Of course there was no one up here.
This was the right place right, it wasn't bait to see if you were going where you weren't supposed to go? But even then, why would Gaara be out here right at this moment? No, people weren't going to be somewhere just because you wanted to meet them.
It was time to turn back for real now, you turned around and moved towards the ledge when you could hear footsteps behind you.
"Are you here to kill me?" A soft chilling voice asked you.