Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto in any way and make no claim on its copyright or any characters from the series. Original characters are my own property.
Author's Notes: Well, it's been a while. Things have been busy, but to make up for it I have not one but two chapters today. One's really short, but the other is decidedly not so. Hope people enjoy.
Thanks to all reviewers!
Other Gifts Continues
The Tsuchikage, being the leader of a ninja village, was a busy and prestigious man, and so he had the luxury of possessing a receptionist. Or so non-ninja thought. In actuality he possessed two, a nice smiling girl who sat behind a desk in front of headquarters and took civilian requests and a cold eyed chunin veteran whose ostensible position was door guard, but who handled appointments by ninja. The meeting policies were likewise different. Civilian leaders, unless daimyo, inevitably met with a stone bushin in a mock-up of the Tsuchikage's office at the other end of the building, only ninja could arrange to meet with the actual leader face to face. Even with that, and the general slowness of the village in winter, Suzumebachi was still forced to wait almost an hour before the chunin told her she could head on up. She knew she would never see anyone walk out, so it was impossible to tell if the Tsuchikage had actually had another appointment, had pressing business, or had just been making her wait.
She knocked clearly, but without deliberate demand, on the Tsuchikage's door, and then waited patiently for a raspy reply.
"Enter," the old voice muttered, scarcely audible through the reinforced door, plated internally with strong metals capable of stopping the strongest sword stroke.
Suzumebachi entered hesitantly, but stood firm once she crossed the threshold. The Tsuchikage sat behind his desk, various stacks of reports kept in neat piles all about, but he was not reading any at present. He looked up as Suzumebachi shut the door behind her. "Well, so the little wasp has come to see me," he commented lightly as his raspy voice could manage. "Your training progress has been acceptable to date, what is it you need to see me for?"
The comment struck Suzumebachi like a blow, and she froze. Only now did she recall the Tsuchikage's promise to check on her progress at intervals, and she recognized he must have been watching her secretly, either through spies or more likely some clandestine jutsu. It made her queasy to recognize this monitoring. Chul'To's oversight was intimidating in its own right, but Suzumebachi could face that. She did not know, standing there, if she had the strength to withstand the Tsuchikage's expectations. Still, she determined to try.
"My cousin Kuroari wishes me to accompany her on a mission," Suzumebachi said frankly. "I wished to ask you if it was acceptable to a period of time away from my training to accomplish this."
"Missions serve as a form of training in their own right, perhaps the very best," the Tsuchikage answered. "So long as you spend your time with equivalent intensity the means are not truly important. Besides, it will be good to observe your progress in a real situation. You may go. However," he paused and put his hands together slowly, flexing the old bones. "Each time a mission comes up in the future, so long as you are still training, you should consult me as you have today. Do not assume the decision will always be the same."
Recognizing this as a tacit acknowledgement of her making the right choice in clearing the request directly instead of simply signing up with Kuroari, Suzumebachi nodded. "I understand."
"Good, you are dismissed."
She bowed carefully and left.
A blast of wind stirred snow through Suzumebachi's hair when she exited headquarters, ripping heat from her skin. Shivering, she acknowledged that it was becoming truly cold. Doubt settled deep in her here, wondering at that cold. She was a creature of warm places, a wasp, and did not welcome the cold. Everyone raised in Iwa village had the gear to survive a winter, but it was not in everyone to revel in the chill, and to go north presented a dark foreboding. The hypothermia rule, foolish though it might seem, had been instituted at the cost of lives, and had saved them. Ninja of warmer realms might forget it, but the blasting mountain winds served up an annual lesson to the ninja of stone that, for all their powers, they could not overmaster nature.
The rest of the day would be devoted to preparation, as Suzumebachi and Kuroari requisitioned winter field gear, and proceeded to proof it further, not daring to trust any work but their own. They planned their route with care, and made sure they had additional food and fuel, and knew the locations of the critical caches hidden throughout the mountains. It would be late into the night before they decided they were ready.
Both ninja ended the evening with a long shower, reveling in warmth that would soon be gone.