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ـم 06 ـم

Arrival at Anbuku

Team three rose early to continue their journey to Anbuku. Tamuki-sensei was up first, drinking tea from a miniature set she'd brought with her – complete with a miniature clay kettle, stand and cylinder cup. Tojike wasn't someone who enjoyed getting up early, and neither were Manzu or Kawari by the looks of it. Their intensive training before sleep could've easily been why they were still tired. Tojike was rubbing the crust from his eyes, vision blurry – that must've been why for a second he could've sworn that Tamuki-sensei had turned and poured a flask of alcohol into her tea. It must've been a trick of the eye.

"Come on, you three! Get moving!" Tamuki ground her heel into the little fire she'd made to boil her tea. She took another sip from her steaming cup.

"Yes, ma'am." Kawari muttered to himself as he finished rolling up his sleeping bag. Manzu finished packing away the tent and Tojike zipped up his backpack, slinging it over his shoulders.

"If we dash from here we might make it to Anbuku before nightfall."

"Are we gonna run the whole way?" Tojike couldn't hide the distress in his voice. It wasn't proper distress, the Reibi made it hard for him to feel any emotion too strongly, but his words were touched by it.

"We don't want to have to work with Team Two, do we?" Tamuki raised an eyebrow.

Tojike frowned. She had a point. Neither of them wanted to work with that crazy Uchiha or his teammates. Tamuki skulled the last of her cup and packed it away.

She turned "Alright, let's go!" and blasted off her feet, out of the clearing and into the treetops.

"Sensei, wait up!" Manzu called, and followed after Kawari. Tojike focused chakra to his feet and chased after them.

That day's travelling was focussed. There was no more speeches or training sessions. Just as well, Tojike still felt sore from sparring with Kawari. Although that night, and even after waking, he'd felt so sensual and aroused. Something to do with the wildness of sleeping outside in the forest, the warmth and comfort of his sleeping bag, the relaxation after the physical exhaustion, and… Kawari. His strength and good looks. While they were jumping between branches Tojike glanced at his back.

The Senju was relentless, competing with Manzu and remaining in the lead for the most part. He was competitive. Body toned beneath the pale-green martial arts uniform. A flush formed on Tojike's face, his heart racing in a way that had nothing to do with the physical exertion. Then his foot slipped.

His amber eyes widened, Tojike quickly funnelling chakra to his hand as he crouched against a trunk. He propelled himself back up, bark scuffling down from his slip-up. He pushed off a few more branches and caught back up to the rear of his group.

"You alright, Tojike?" Kawari smirked.

"Y-yeah." He averted his eyes, too embarrassed to look at the other boy.

Even though Tamuki didn't give them any extra lessons, Tojike still thought about what she'd said throughout the silence of their travelling. Taijutsu… Tojike needed to become stronger at it. That could only be done with training, but Kawari did promise to help in exchange for genjutsu training. Ninjutsu… Tamuki-sensei wanted each of them to have one high-level ninjutsu to fall back on. Chakra control… Tojike had pretty good control, it was necessary for the subtleties of sensory manipulation. But he could always be better.

This was the stuff he needed to work on to become a stronger shinobi. But with this in mind, he still didn't dream of becoming as strong as either of his team-mates. When his negativity made the Zero-Tails start to uncoil itself he quickly shifted to a new train of thought.

The day dragged on, rest breaks were few and far between. They crossed a few more rivers, appropriate as they were heading in the direction of the Land of Rivers. Tojike was exhausted, but his team-mates fought to keep the tiredness from their faces. The sun was near the horizon when Tamuki dropped to the ground and landed. Her students followed, breathing loudly.

"We can walk from here." Tamuki said without turning, then strolled along the path at a leisurely pace.

The forest had begun to thin an hour ago, as the four walked the trees became thinner still. The grass was longer, though the trail was earthy and damp. The minutes went by as they walked, then ahead the trees cleared completely, revealing a beautiful sight.

Anbuku. The farming village beneath hills of rice fields. The great grassy mounds were irrigated, cut into steps to collect rainwater. A man and his donkey could be seen gathering crops. In town other farmers were hard at work. A few thin rivers carved across the fertile landscape, tall cliffs in the distance. Tojike had never seen a rural setting like this, so different to the Leaf village.

"Woah." Manzu spoke in awe. She was the one who wanted to see faraway places.

"Hard to believe we're still in the Land of Fire." Kawari remarked.

"The Land of Fire is a big country." Tamuki replied and kept walking. "If you guys haven't travelled far from the Hidden Leaf it's no wonder this is so different to you."

The four made their way down the sloping track, looping up and over hills before weaving through to the heart of Anbuku. It wasn't a wealthy village, even without the Zero-Tails Tojike could see the weariness in the villagers they passed. Men, women and children in simple robes. Many casting glances at the visitors and whispering among themselves. With their ninja gear and headbands, and colourful clothes, the four were attracting a fair amount of attention. Tamuki took it in stride and ignored them.

"What's wrong with these people?" Kawari whispered.

"They don't look friendly…" Manzu replied.

"They're scared." Tojike answered automatically.

"How can you tell?" Kawari gave him a weird look.

Tojike bit his lip. To him, it was so obvious that these people were frightened that it'd been a rhetorical statement. The Zero-Tails was distracting him. It'd come fully alive, unwound itself completely from within Tojike, drinking up the fear and restlessness of this place. The black-haired boy didn't know how to respond to the question, he noticed that even Tamuki was eying him from in front.

"Ah…" Tojike tried to come up with something quick.

"Are you four ninjas?" A tall man blocked their path, his expression was tight and carried the same weariness of his fellow villagers.

"Yes." Tamuki answered him. "From the Hidden Leaf."

"So you've finally come to help us. You are here to stop those hoodlum bandits from raiding our village?" Many of the townsfolk had stopped their business and were listening in.

"I sincerely apologize for our delay." Tamuki began, surprising her students with her respectfulness. She even gave a short bow. "A few years ago, when the Nine-Tails attacked and our beloved Fourth Hokage sacrificed himself, the Hidden Leaf village sustained a lot of damage. Not only that, but it wasn't too many years after the Third Shinobi World War. To reconsolidate, ninja teams are forming later and missions are prioritised. Slowly, we're regaining our former security. Sorry again."

The man was silent, his lips a pained line. Their witnesses were also quietly grave.

"This gang… the Takegetsu Moon they call themselves… they killed my nephew. They tried to recruit him, and when he refused they…"

"I'm sorry for your loss." Tamuki's voice was dull yet comprehending.

"So long as you stop these criminals before they can take any more from us."

"We will. I promise you that." Tamuki answered for the onlookers. Then after a pause she moved around him and continued off, her students scurrying after.

Anbuku was not a large village. Soon they came to a stop outside a wide building that looked like village headquarters. The leader of Anbuku must live here, Tojike thought. Its outside was the same wooden planks as the rest of Anbuku, though the sliding doors and windows was rice-paper and bamboo. Before they could take the stairs, the door slid open and an old man with long limbs waved them over.

"Good, good. You're here. Please come in." he disappeared inside and they stepped up and into the building. It was old-styled with wide corridors, looked as if it was a rectangle surrounding one of those interior Zen gardens. In the corner was a little table with a tray of tea, cushions on the floor for them to kneel on. The inside was very bare.

"Tea but no food? I'm starving." Kawari complained. Tamuki stomped on his foot. "Ouch!"

"My apologies. We do not have much to spare." The old man knelt on his cushion and began pouring tea with a shaky hand. "There is food available in the town markets by your lodgings. I understand if you want to bathe and settle in here before… err, getting to work. If that's the case I can make this briefing quick."

"No. We can settle in after." Tamuki approached the man. "Tell us all we need to know."

They each knelt down with their tiny cups of tea, Tojike's had a crack through it. He watched Tamuki swirl her drink with suspicion. He remembered Uncle Enri, who was actually just a neighbour but came over for weekly games of mah-jong for as long as Tojike could remember. He had a flask of alcohol that he unashamedly added to his drinks, he was always a lot louder by the end of the night. Tojike's parents had never said anything whenever Uncle Enri would leave the room to pour from his flask. Maybe it was because they often won his money after the night's board games.

"Takegetsu Moon are a mob of thieves who started attacking our village three months ago. We fought at first, and they killed our young men, many of them know how to fight with weapons. It wasn't so bad at first, but now they come every week or so… It's terrible." The man's grip tightened on his drink, his head dipped in pain. "You can hear villagers screaming, that's how you know they're back. When we try to surrender our wares peacefully, they still trash the place. We are… completely vulnerable."

Overcome by emotion, the old man lowered his head in a deep bow "Please save our village. Make these criminals face justice."

"We will stop them." Tamuki assured him calmly. "You don't have to worry."

"Thank you." He raised his bald head, gratefulness behind his moist eyes.

Tojike dug his hands into his knees, moved by the sadness of the village elder. Manzu and Kawari were also affected.

"You said these bandits fight with weapons." Tamuki continued after a moment. "Do any of them have ninja training?"

"I heard a rumour that their leader, Gumo, was a Genin who defected from the Hidden Valley village. That's the ninja village in the Land of Rivers. Apparently he became a rogue ninja and escaped here. He took over a mob, renamed it Takegetsu Moon and trained his underlings how to fight. Now they pillage small villages like ours. We tried to follow them to their hideout, somewhere past the cliffs, but we were unsuccessful. Our men were spotted and killed."

"A leader with Genin-level training and underlings who can fight with weapons." Tamuki surmised. "How many of them are there?"

"Fifteen come here to raid us, give or take, some of them on horseback. But every so often I see new faces. All up they could have twenty, or even thirty members in total."

"Thirty members…" Kawari murmured.

"We can handle fifteen, easy. In fact, I could do it by myself no trouble. We'll take out the men before they can damage your village or hurt anyone else, I promise you that. We'll let one of them escape and lead us back to their hideout. Then I'll stop the rest of them, and Gumo, and reclaim whatever they've stolen from you there."

"Thank you so much!" He bowed his head, overcome by emotion once more.

Tojike sat quietly while his sensei asked more probing questions. Trying to find out as much as she could about Takegetsu Moon. Afterwards she finished her tea and stood.

"It's best that me and my students lay low while we're here. The bandits might not attack if they know the Hidden Leaf has sent reinforcements. And we need them to attack for this plan to work. Try not to let many people know that we've arrived."

"Of course. I will fetch my grandson and he'll escort you to your lodgings." The old man cricked himself back up and the teens stood as well.

A tanned boy no older than Tojike led them down the dirt roads, his sleeves were torn and he wore rope around his forehead like a bandanna. He shot them looks when he thought they weren't paying attention, Tojike caught those eyes on him, wide with wonder before he quickly averted his gaze. At Kawari's protest they stopped at the markets for food. The fanciest place in all of Anbuku served slimy steamed dim sims. It looked like it'd been recently trashed by the bandits, the door itself had been repaired but was still hanging loose on a hinge.

Kawari and Manzu looked none too pleased at the basic food. It made Tojike's stomach growl however. His adoptive parents didn't make much money from their grocery shop, and they often served him food like that. Tamuki paid for their meal and carried their dim sims in a straw container. She gave one to the young boy after he'd led them to Anbuku's only inn, he marvelled at the food resting in his palm like a delicious plum. He did look rather skinny. The boy waved grandly as he left.

Their room was unfurnished. The same wooden planks; four beds, a round table with chairs. Tamuki dropped their food at the centre and they sat around it, grabbing for chopsticks and digging in.

"This isn't enough soy sauce for one person, let alone four." Manzu complained.

"This is how people live in outskirt villages, get used to it." Tamuki scolded. "If it were just me here I'd be eating carrot stew."

"How about next time we take a mission somewhere cool, like Tanzaku Town." Kawari joked, getting a stern look from the Jonin.

"Tamuki-sensei…" Tojike swallowed his mouthful. "the plan you told that old guy… do you think it'll be that easy?" The three watched their senior, Kawari chewing loudly as they waited.

"Things rarely go how you expect them to." She answered with her eyes closed, the black paint around them had mostly faded over their journey.

"If these guys are just regular crooks," Kawari pointed his chopsticks, his words muffled by the food in his mouth "Then this is just a C-rank mission, right?"

"Thirty adults, even if they're untrained, is a bit much for either of you on your own, in normal circumstances." Tamuki explained. "If you're not in the open it would be different. You could use your stealth training, you could set traps. Even in rural areas away from ninja villages, like here, there's no guarantee that your enemies have no experience in ninja arts."

"Too much for these guys maybe." Kawari puffed his chest out arrogantly. "But I-" his eyes bulged as he started a violent choking fit, banging the table with his hand.

"Gross." Manzu criticized with her forehead sternly pinched.

"You all need to be vigilant." Tamuki insisted darkly. "Or you'll die. If these thirty men turn out to be ninjas it's a whole other deal. It'd mean an A-rank mission, or higher."

Kawari recovered from his hacking fit, swallowing and slumping back in his chair with a feeble expression.

"Isn't that taking things a little far, Tamuki-sensei?" Tojike asked.

"You have to be prepared for every situation. We are ninja. This isn't a classroom. If Gumo were smart, he'd have paid off one of the villagers as a spy. If he has, and word reaches the bandits of our arrival, they might try to assassinate us in our sleep. Did any of you consider that?"

The three Genin stared at each other from across the table.

"Well no…" Tojike answered.

Tamuki popped another dim sim into her mouth, chewed quickly and swallowed. She stood up from the table.

"Get some rest soon. I'm going to do some reconnaissance. We'll have training early tomorrow morning."

They watched her turn and go, closing the door behind her. Kawari picked out another dim sim with his chopsticks and started eating more carefully.

"What training do you think she's going to make us do?" Tojike asked.

"Probably chakra control?" Manzu answered with a shrug.

The constant travel had worn them out, the three youths took turns washing themselves in the communal bathroom and then were unconscious not long after sundown. Tojike awoke in his bed early morning feeling well-rested. The mattresses didn't give much support, but they were comfortable enough. Tamuki clapped her hands at the end of their beds, as alert as if she'd been up for hours.

"Alright Team three! Rise and shine! We have work to do!"

Manzu rubbed her eye. Kawari groaned and collapsed. Tamuki kicked the leg of his bed before whirling to the door "Outside! Let's go!"

It was dawn, Tojike was still half-awake as he and the other two followed Tamuki downstairs, out of the inn, past the dirt roads and the gazes of curious onlookers. She waded through the grass, out toward the rice fields.

"Sensei!" Kawari called in dismay, the three bumbled after her at a distance. "What about breakfast?"

They got no response. After walking a while through the long grass, atop damp earth, they saw Tamuki-sensei standing with her hands on her hips before one of the wide rivers. Tojike looked over his shoulder, up the incline where town had been. He could just see a few overhanging rooftops in sight.

"Today's lesson is going to be on chakra control!" Tamuki announced.

"Told ya." Manzu murmured.

"All three of you are going to remain stationary atop running water, like I showed you the day we left the village. You are to practice here for one hour. If I'm not satisfied by your progress when I get back, you'll be out here for longer."

"Unfair." Kawari muttered.

"Less complaining and more training. Start!" Tamuki flickered and was gone. Tojike turned and saw a blur dashing back towards the village.

"Okay…" Kawari sighed and approached the water. "Let's do this. How hard could it- ah!" His foot slid across with the water and he fell forward with a splash. Tojike had to stifle his laugh.

"You're too overconfident." Manzu scolded. "That's why you keep embarrassing yourself."

"I bet I can do it better than you can!" He fired up, getting out of the water and pointing, instantly competitive.

"That's not the point!" Manzu snapped.

She had a natural temper, when roiled Manzu's anger was like a solid thing inside her. The Zero-Tails could feel it. And Kawari's competitiveness was stemming from that mysterious insecurity buried inside him. The two squabbled stubbornly until Tojike snapped out of his Reibi-trance and intervened.

"Guys, guys! Let's just try to get this training done, we might be able to help each other."

The other two stopped their arguing but turned away from each other. Training commenced and all three of them fell into the water many times as the morning wore on. There was definitely a trick to it, Tojike was catching on. Something about anchoring yourself in place with the directed chakra after steadily releasing the correct amount to hold your weight. Even after realising this Tojike was still unable to keep his feet from flying up from under him after a few seconds.

He would've shared this revelation with his comrades, but they still weren't speaking. Kawari looked very annoyed with himself as he struggled to push back to the surface with his hands. Manzu was more quietly frustrated as she tried to keep her balance atop the flowing water. Her anger seemed to be directed at the task itself.

Man I'm getting hungry, how long has it been? Tojike wondered with dismay. Another voice from within answered his thoughts.

I like the anger that is building here. It fuels my appetite.

Shut up! Tojike's command didn't hide his fear. He could hear the demon laughing in his mind. Ever since they left the village the Zero-Tails had been more alert than usual. Now it was tempted by the current discord. It was also eagerly waiting for the time when Tojike would face these bandits in the upcoming raid. It was dangerous, but Tojike didn't want to let the Third Hokage down. He wanted to be a useful ninja.

AN: Hey guys, it's been a while. I would've updated sooner but I got no reviews for my last chapter. As such, I don't see much point in updating if nobody gives feedback. It doesn't have to be much, heck even a single word would be something. Tell me what you want more of and I'll try to accommodate! Thanks yall!

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