Chapter 123

Where Research Takes You: The Infiltration of the Land of Sound!

"There it is," declared Jiraiya. "The Land of Sound, and within its borders rests the Sound Village."

Standing upon a stout and bare tree branch jutting over the cliff's edge, Mimi examined the hilly terrain, appearing like a series of green camel humps protruding from the earth itself. Some humps were small, smooth and rolled for as far as the eye could see, becoming fields at times. Others were massive by comparison, peaking higher than the horizon.

Naruto, Sakura and the Toad Sage himself flanked her. Aoko sniffed the air from her head.

The breeze was bitter at their elevation. The early morning sun hadn't begun to cover them or the land beneath its blanket of warmth, slowly rising from behind the horizon while rays of light broke around hills, creating magnificent silhouettes like halos.

As was to be expected given its former name, there were paddy fields stretching across the horizon garbed in a mute raiment of early morning shadows. All Mimi could see was vast farm lands, rice fields, a few agriculture animals, hills and natural, well-traveled roads used by traders and travelers weaving through and wrapping around the hillsides.

Frankly, it appeared like any other Land, which was strange. She expected it to be rundown. Burgeoning with scumbags. Maybe even home to a massive golden statue erected higher than the mountains themselves in honor of the venomous snake they were sent to decapitate.

Instead, it was normal. Painfully ordinary by all descriptions. The flooded arable lands at the border, from a distance, appeared well-maintained. The farmers, already awake before the roosters could crow, were just tiny, indistinguishable bipedal creatures at a distance. But they were working in their fields on what was likely the last harvest before the winter set in.

Nothing seemed evil or out of place. Just regular folk living regular lives.

"From here on out we'll be in Orochimaru's territory," Master Jiraiya said, turning to look at them. "Keep your senses sharp, all of you."

Their mission to infiltrate the Land of Sound had officially begun.

Down off the mountain, the team walked along the road winding between a series of paddy fields set on terraces higher, level with and beneath the path. Few discussions were had. The members of Team Seven asked Jiraiya a question here and there, but nothing substantial. Nothing the Inuzuka bothered to listen to.

Otherwise Sakura and Naruto scanned the environment with alert eyes, looking for any sign of enemies. Aoko's head swiveled, nose sniffing the air and ears perked up. Mimi sniffed the air at regular intervals, but sensed safety at this distance.

The Land of Rice Paddies, although now known as the Land of Sound, wasn't a large Nation when compared to the Five Great Nations, or even with the likes of the Land of Tea. Geographically, however, it was similar in size to the Land of Grass; a small Nation in appearance on a map when squeezed together between larger Nations, but far larger while traversing on foot within its borders.

We're still so close to the border, Mimi analyzed. Orochimaru may be a bastard, but he isn't an idiot. Placing his Sound Village on the border would threaten its mere existence when Leaf shinobi can easily cross the border and destroy everything he's built. Master Jiraiya also seems at ease. No. We won't find any enemies this close to the border. We have some traveling to do before we're in the thick of trouble.

It still paid to be cautious. Vigilance kept shinobi alive. Even if Master Jiraiya walked with no inclination of danger, she had no doubt he was alert and prepared to act.

Farther down the road Naruto let his disappoint be known.

"You know, so far this infiltration mission has been a bit of a let down." He clasped his hands behind his head. "I expected Orochimaru's thugs to ambush us by now. Or for us to come across some dirty bandits threatening good honest people."

"Honestly, I was, too," Sakura agreed. "This Land isn't what I expected. I thought the Sound Village would be more harsh and rundown. Instead it's so pretty and peaceful."

"Well, that's because this isn't the Sound Village," Jiraiya explained patiently. "We're still technically in the Land of Rice Paddies. According to reports from the Crows, however, the farther we go in, the more of Orochimaru's corruption we'll find."

"Any idea why he chose this Land for his Village?" Mimi asked. "Obviously it was a good staging ground to gather shinobi and eventually deploy them on the Leaf. But this Land is small—smaller than the Land of Grass, anyway. And so far I haven't seen anything special about it. Rice fields are hardly unique to this Land."

"You're not wrong about that," Jiraiya nodded. "In truth, this Land isn't all that special. Before Orochimaru sank his fangs into it, this Land was like any other smaller Nation. It did well for its size. Agriculture, as you can see, is important to the economy here. Rice, especially.

"But the Daimyo is another one of those fools who is always seeking more. More power. More glory. More weapons. And more of his neighbors Lands. This drew Orochimaru like a bee to honey. He poured sweet words into the fools ear, promising to grant him all he sought. Together, naturally."

"He made similar promises to the Sand," Aoko said. "He is a cunning man."

"Yeah. A real snake charmer," Mimi replied. "When will these fools learn he cares only about advancing his own goals? Idiots."

"I'm afraid there are far too many greedy fools in this world," said Jiraiya. "Orochimaru only seeks to make himself stronger. He never had any intention of helping the Daimyo. Naturally, though, their greedy goals aligned just enough to profit them both."

"Hard to believe the Land of Fire's Daimyo hasn't made any retaliatory moves against the Land of Rice Paddies Daimyo."

"The fool claims he knew nothing of Orochimaru's plan to attack the Leaf, though he hasn't denounced Orochimaru, either. Without evidence of the pair plotting together, our Daimyo can't do much. In the end, it falls on the Leaf to eliminate a rogue shinobi. Our Daimyo is also… Hm, how to put it? Eccentric, might be best."

"If he's anything like his wife," Naruto grumbled beneath his breath, "we're lucky the Land of Fire hasn't fallen apart."

"You've met the Daimyo's wife?" Mimi asked, surprised. "That had to be a serious mission."

"Hardly," he scoffed. "She lost her dumb and mean cat—Tora. We had to recapture the stupid thing before our mission to the Land of Waves."

"After seeing how she squeezed the life out of her, I can't say I'm surprised Tora ran away," Sakura added. "The Daimyo's wife may be a bit too affectionate to her pet."

"And she reeked of old lady perfume! We all nearly suffocated!"

Mimi's nose scrunched unconsciously. That sounded like the worst kind of hell imaginable.

"Anyway, you may not be able to see Orochimaru's corruption all the way out here," Jiraiya said, crossing his arms, "but make no mistake, this is his territory now."

"Do we have any idea where the Sound Village is?"

"No. That's another reason we've been sent on this mission. We need to locate it. There may be useful information to acquire and any number of secret rooms. But that'll be for an Intel squad to discern, not you four. So don't worry about that part.

"Our first step is to reach the nearest town. That's where we'll begin gathering information. Every Land has a town where people gather together for rest and recreation."

Naruto groaned softly and looked to his comrades with an annoyed expression while his Master rambled on about the next town. He lowered his voice when he spoke.

"He says he plans to gather information. But he's up to his old tricks again. Sooner or later it always comes back to the ladies."

Unknowingly proving Naruto's point, Jiraiya let out a perverted laugh.

"Ha ha ha! Nothing like a town of pretty girls to take a man's mind off his troubles! So the first thing we have to do is find ourselves a town!"

"Oh brother," Sakura murmured.

"And I thought the Old Hag had bad vices," Mimi chuckled it off.

"Information does travel into dens of debauchery. It is only a matter of money. And if an old pervert can stay focused long enough to acquire it."

"Good point."

And while the adults play, we can do a little investigating of our own, Mimi thought.

They walked on towards the closest town.

Whatever the name of the town was before Orochimaru arrived in the Land of Rice Paddies had likely been forgotten.

A rotting wooden archway framed the road, greeting the shinobi like a muddy mat printed with the words Buzz Off!

Attached at its posts were the wooden planks of an unscalable fence encircling the town; unscalable because any added weight would have simply knocked it over. The planks were so worn down, rather than bother to replace them, the citizens of the town braced fence posts at angles along the fence-line to prevent it from falling over with the breeze.

It wasn't working well. The fence was wobbling noticeably.

The nameplate on the arch once depicting the name of the town was too dirty to read. Dirt and years of rain obscured and faded the characters; a few indistinguishable red lines were all that remained.

Beyond the archway, the town itself appeared worse than their rotted archway and fence. In fact, it looked abandoned. Signs for stores hung off buildings at awkward angles. Windows were boarded up, and even those boards were hanging off-set from wood rot. Canvas awnings hung outside of stores were torn, frayed and tattered.

A diamond in the rough this place was. A real vacation resort.

Scrunching her nose, Mimi struggled against the stench irradiating out of the town. It smelled of rot. Uncleanliness. Defecation. And somewhere beneath it, she caught a whiff of cheap fruity-scented perfume.

The town looked abandoned. But appearances were deceiving. She could smell the people hiding inside of the boarded up homes. Whether they were their owners or bandits remained to be seen.

"This…isn't much of a town," Naruto said at length, eyes wide.

"I think it's abandoned," said Sakura. "Or, it looks like it is. I can't imagine anyone living in here."

"It isn't abandoned," Mimi shook her head, wiggling her nose in discomfort. "I can smell people in there. Could be normal people. Could be bandits have taken over this place. Either way, I say we skip to the next town. This place reeks."

"Now now, don't be so hasty," Jiraiya disagreed, hands on his hips and a stupid grin on his face. He was sniffing the air. "Can't you smell it? There's perfume in the air!"

"Yeah. And it's cheap and gross."

"It's enough to make my nose burn. They've showered in it," Aoko added, burying her nose in Mimi's hair. "Why must men and women bathe in these scents? Less is more. Moderation is key. And it's courteous to those of us with enhanced senses of smell."

"I'm with you, Aoko."

"Let's not judge a book by its cover," Jiraiya ignored her, inhaling an even deeper breath. His grin didn't falter. Turning to Naruto, he reached his hand out. "Okay, kid! Hand it over!"

Naruto squinted and scowled. "No way!"

"You know how this works. Gathering information costs money!"

"While true, I believe there is something else he intends to spend his money on. It isn't information," rumbled Aoko, mildly perturbed.

The Inuzuka couldn't agree more. Vices, too, cost money. And his particular vice was at the end of the trail of cheap perfume.

"Then spend your own! I haven't been saving up my money so you can spend it on cheap perfume wearing ladies! You're the best-seller writer, right? Obviously you make plenty of money."

"Well, true," Jiraiya seemed to agree.

Then, without warning, he lifted Naruto up, spun him upside down and began to literally shake him like a personal piggybank. Naruto wailed. Mimi, Aoko and Sakura watched on, taken aback by the scene.

"But your Master also likes to spend his money on recreation. Since I'm going to train you to be an excellent shinobi the least you can do is help me when I'm in need. So cough it up!"

A green frog purse, bloated with money, fell from Naruto's pocket onto the dirt road.

Jiraiya brightened. "Ah ha! There's the purse I was looking for!"

"This hardly seems fair," Sakura whispered to Mimi. "He's basically robbing Naruto to pay for his so-called 'recreation'."

"I'd be worried if I were you," Mimi whispered back. "Lady Hokage is the legendary sucker, after all. Shizune often laments the debts she's accumulated over the years. If she's anything like Master Pervert here, she might start pinching you and Ino for money."

"Oh, no," Sakura grimaced. "I didn't even think about that."

"And Lady Hokage will shake a lot harder than Master Jiraiya."

Mimi snorted. Now there was an image she never wanted to let go of. Though cruel to Sakura and Ino, the mere idea of Tsunade Senju, Fifth Hokage, shaking them for money to pay off her debts was priceless.

Jiraiya opened the frog purse and began counting the money inside. His satisfaction was slowly fading. He seemed to recount the contents, and then recount them again for a third time.

On the ground, slightly disoriented, was Naruto. There was something in his eyes. Something clever.

"Heyyyyy…" Jiraiya frowned, pocketing the purse then squinting down at his student. "This is it? No way! Cough up the rest!"

Naruto grumbled and brushed off his outfit. "You cleaned me out already, Pervy Sage!" he growled. "I'm still recovering my money after the last time you did this. And I have expenses, too, you know! Food, bills, ninja gear, necessities. Not to mention charity!"

"Charity?!" Jiraiya balked at the mere idea of possible money he could steal going towards charity.

"Yeah, charity," he repeated with narrowed eyes. "There are people suffering in the Leaf, you know. People who are a lot worse off than me. I learned from Kakashi-sensei that Amari and him were donating a percentage of their pay to people in need, so I decided to chip in, too. So did Sasuke and Sakura."

The Toad Sage couldn't hear it, but Sakura's heart jumped at the mention of her name. He didn't hear her breath falter either, briefly as it was.

"Oh, you've got to be kidding me," groaned Jiraiya. "Of all the times to give to charity…Did he have to encourage you to do it when I need it most? Ugh. I suppose I'll have to look elsewhere."

When Jiraiya turned towards Sakura and Mimi, Naruto stuck his tongue out at his Master's back. Mimi stepped in front of Sakura and crossed her arms.

"Absolutely not," she put her foot down. "This place is shifty as it is. You're probably gonna get Goofball's money robbed by these people. Get robbed with what little you've got. We're not donating any of our money to your 'research'."

"Aw, come now," Jiraiya smiled smoothly. Like a toad covered in slime. "This isn't about my research. It's information gathering, like I said. Sooooo—"

The Toad Sage made the mistake of reaching his hand towards the Inuzuka. In a flash of movement, Aoko leapt through the air and sank her teeth into his hand.

"Yowwwwwwww!" he shrieked in agony.

Jiraiya, as expected, began whipping his hand about with Aoko on its end.

After a moment Aoko released her hold and landed on all-fours on the dirt road. Comically enraged and nursing a hand pulsing red, Jiraiya tried to chase the ninken, who raced around him, through his legs and jumped back into the arms of her companion.

There he met the slit pupils and wild grin of a fiery Inuzuka. Aoko growled from her arms, the hair on her back standing up.

"Aw, come now, Master Jiraiya." The Inuzuka spoke with an insidious growl in her throat. "You wouldn't want Lady Tsunade or Amari to hear you robbed Sakura of her hard-earned money for research, would you?" she dared.

The threat gave him pause. He grabbed at his hand, huffed childishly and turned his head away.

"Fine. Fine. It wouldn't be very gentlemanly of me to borrow money from girls."

Heh. Yeah. That's what you're worried about.

He unstrapped his pack and tossed it to Naruto, then pulled off his giant scroll and threw it into Sakura's hands, both of whom barely caught the sudden objects thrown into their arms.

"You three stay out of this. Head around the town and wait for me on the other side."

"Huh? What the heck for? We can investigate, too!" Naruto said.

Smiling, the Toad Sage turned towards the rotten arch and its weather-worn sign.

"It's too dangerous where I'm going. This is a job for grown-ups!"

Naruto stuck his tongue out again at his master's back.

"Yeah. Dangerous," Mimi said dryly, rolling her sapphire eyes and turning towards the forest that surrounded the outside of the town. "Sakura, Naruto, come on. No point staying here. Not unless you want to see old people drinking, flirting and groping each other."

"Who you calling—"

Mimi was already gone, leaping through the woods with Naruto and Sakura following close behind. They cut a path around the town and halted on the outskirts, at the peak of the hilly path overlooking the town. Next to the road rested a pile of stones, and on top of the pile was a larger egg-shaped stone with the girth of a punching bag at its widest point and a height matching Naruto's.

A word was carved into the egg-shaped stone, though it was far too worn down to read.

Two posts, one jutting straight out of the pile and positioned directly beside the egg rock and the other jutting out at an angle, were tied together and tied to the rock itself, on top of which was a green tiled decorative roof just large enough to sit on but not wide enough to shelter anything.

Naruto hopped onto the roof to sit. Sakura began adjusting the rope of the scroll to wear it. Mimi sat on a flat faced rock.

"Goofball, you have more money, don't you?" she asked after getting comfortable.

"Heh! Yeah I do!" Naruto grinned triumphantly. "I learned my lesson the last time he cleared me out. I carry Gama on me for spending cash, or for moments like these. The rest I keep stored secretly and safely where he won't find it."

"Is the charity real?"

"Not that I know of," he admitted. "But we all technically give money to the relief effort. Even you. Every time we complete a mission, a percentage of our funds goes towards helping people rebuild the Leaf, feeding the hungry, sheltering them, all that stuff."

Naruto scratched his cheek. "Well, that's how Granny explained it to me when I asked why we're doing so many D-rank missions."

"Ha! Tricked that old pervert with a technicality," laughed the Inuzuka. "Nice one, Goofball."

"Smart move, Naruto," Sakura complimented.

"To think he once launched at you head-on," Aoko teased, causing Mimi to snort.

"Had to get smart if I didn't want to end up broke every time he decided to do his research," Naruto said. "Information gathering my foot. He's just down there having fun."

"How long does this usually take?" asked Mimi.

"Depends on how long that money will last him, I'd bet."

Humming, Mimi left it be and decided to be patient. A rundown town like the one Jiraiya was within could be a haven for bandits for all they knew. What could start as his effort for entertainment could easily become a battle within a few minutes.

Minutes upon minutes passed. The situation in the town did not seem to change.

Mimi remained. Her eyes were narrowed at the dirt, her nose twitched. Aoko did not make a sound, but her hairs stood on end.

They were being watched. Adjacent to them, concealed in the bushes and woods, the individual shifted closer inch by inch, doing all they could not to disturb the bushes. Not to alert the four of them.

The scent was unfamiliar. Feminine. They were inching closer. Closer.

A bandit? A shinobi? A victim of Orochimaru's?

Scent and sound alone wasn't enough to draw a conclusion this time. If they possessed ninja tools, they did an excellent job at moving so they wouldn't make a sound. Ignorance made acting first dangerous. It could injure an innocent, or send them racing back through the woods to alert their master. Or, if she acted recklessly, it could blow their cover completely.

So she waited, patiently. Alert. Silent but not stiff. Subtly inching her hand closer to her ninja tool box, brushing her fingers along the cold metal ring at the end of the kunai's hilt.

Closer. Closer.

They stopped. In striking range. She could hear their muffled breaths, soft and controlled. Calm despite the heart thundering in their chest.

Silence. It lasted a handful of beats. Their eyes observed the Leaf shinobi. Examining the distance, perhaps? Or spying? Were they waiting to see what the intentions of the Leaf were?

The individual didn't keep her waiting long for an answer. There was a series of new sounds. The slight pop of a pouch unbuttoning, the quiet grind of metal rubbing against metal, a kunai drawing along the edges of a tool box.

Mimi's eyes sharpened. So, that's how it's gonna be, huh?

A strong gust blew harshly over the hill, rustling blades of grass, leaves and bushes, before falling utterly still and silent.

Mimi wrapped her fingers around the hilt of her kunai. The stranger's hand tightened around their hilt; their heart was pounding.

The taut rope of tension connecting them was severed in a single instant. The bushes shifted with unnatural movement, alerting Sakura and Naruto to the threat's location; their heads snapped towards it, bodies already reacting in preparation to evade an attack.

From the bushes three kunai ripped through the greenery on a direct path for Naruto. Their attacker, however, did not anticipate a counter.

With her enhanced sense of hearing Mimi sensed the trajectory and location of the enemy's kunai. She could see their sharp flight in her mind's eye despite her head and eyes still turning to face them.

Kunai equipped already, a quick movement was all it took to draw and throw the blade on an intercepting path.

The blade severed through the air, colliding against the bottom of the first blade it came into contact with, which was in the middle of the three blades at a slightly higher angle. The collision, speed and angling of the throw deflected the enemy kunai while simultaneously redirecting hers into the second blade farthest from the Inuzuka.

Two of the enemy blades deflected, spinning end over end towards the earth, was a good start. But the Inuzuka did not celebrate. Not yet.

As Naruto prepared to leap off the small green tile roof, out of the way of the final kunai, and Sakura knelt down low, minimizing her size while setting up to launch after their enemy, Mimi took action.

Springing up after throwing her kunai, she leapt through the air, caught the enemy's final blade as the other two were deflected, rotated her body around one full time and returned the kunai directly back to its sender. The blade whistled through the air, pierced through the bushes, and it was directly followed by the Inuzuka.

Their attacker, though struggling against a heart hammering in their chest, though staring with wide eyes the color of light plum as the blade and the fierce-featured Inuzuka flew towards them, had not taken complete leave of their senses or training.

They leapt out of the bushes, narrowly evading their own kunai and Mimi, somersaulting onto their feet on the dirt road.

Dirt ground beneath their feet as they slid and spun around to face the Leaf shinobi, a thin cloud of dust kicking up around them. But they were woefully outnumbered and out of their depth.

As their assailant finished their spin, a whip of wind rushed past their side, causing their eyes to widen and their head to turn, catching but a glimpse of pink hair. Then they were floating, flying up while their stomach plummeted.

A powerful kick took their legs out from underneath them. A blur of orange landed on top of them, smashing them into the earth.

Naruto mounted the assailant, pressing his forearm against their throat with a kunai leveled between their eyes. Sakura hovered above. Mimi strolled up with Aoko on her head.

"Looky what we've caught," she said menacingly. "Did you think you could ambush the four of us on your own and it wouldn't end this way?"

Their assailant said nothing. Whoever they were, they concealed their identity behind a blue full balaclava, at the top of which a ponytail of orange hair was pulled through. They wore a slate blue sleeveless zip-up flak jacket, a mesh long sleeve undershirt, moss green cargo shorts, cream-colored knee-high socks and grey shinobi sandals. Hanging off their belt was ninja tool box.

No snake patterns like the Sound shinobi we encountered in the Leaf, Mimi analyzed. The jacket, though. It's pretty close to their uniforms color.

The color of their jacket wasn't enough to claim they were a Sound shinobi, however.

Beyond their outfit, their assailant wasn't all that physically impressive. Their physique was athletic, but that was a nearly universal trait among shinobi. At a guess, by height alone, they were somewhere around Team Seven's age.

"Start talking," demanded Naruto in a growl. "Are you another one of Orochimaru's thugs? Are you one of Kasai's partners? Talk!"

The question caused their eyes to go wide, confusion prevalent. Their heart was racing. Their hand slid along the dirt, into their pouch. Sakura noticed. She quickly stepped on their elbow, pinning it down.

"Not so fast."

It was too late. A tan ball-shaped object with two streams of tape wrapped around its center rolled onto the road.

"Grenade!" Aoko barked.

"Sakura, get back!" Mimi yelled, snatching Naruto by his collar and yanking him off of the shinobi while jumping back.

An explosion of smoke enveloped the shinobi, concealing their getaway from the eyes of the Leaf ninjas, but not from the noses of Mimi or Aoko. As the smoke cleared, sharpened caltrops covering the width of the road became entirely visible.

"Had a feeling it'd be one of those," the Inuzuka murmured. "Sakura, be careful. Caltrops are everywhere now."

"Wait, if you knew it wasn't an explosive then why did we run?" Naruto asked.

"Clearly you've never been caught in a caltrop grenade before," she replied. Of all of ninja tools Tenten used while they trained, caltrop grenades were probably one of her least favorite. "It wouldn't have killed us or even severely wounded us. But it would've hurt like hell. Better to avoid minor injuries altogether when we still have the advantage."

I have your scent now. Let's see where you lead me.

The Inuzuka brought her hands together into the Clone Seal and created a Shadow Clone. With a slight lift of her chin, she ordered the Shadow Clone to follow the scent of the shinobi. The Shadow Clone dashed off into the woods.

"By the way their heart was beating, and how they reacted to your question," she continued, taking Naruto's hand and hefting him onto his feet, "I'd bet she isn't one of Orochimaru's thugs. Attacking us four on their own also shows how desperate they are. Could've waited to try to pick us off one by one, but they didn't. And they clearly don't have the power or skill to fight four on one."

"I wonder who they were then," Sakura said as she regrouped.

"Could be a bandit. Could be someone fighting against Orochimaru's shinobi and mistook us for his allies. Could be an agent of another Village hunting down Orochimaru for all we know.

"Regardless, there isn't anywhere they can go now that my Shadow Clone won't find them. She'll track that person wherever they go. Hopefully we'll have answers soon. In the meantime we'll—"

"Narutooooooooo!"

The wailing whine of Master Jiraiya directed their attention back towards the town, to the Toad Sage kicking up a dirt trail as he sprinted towards them like a pack of starving wolves were on his trail. Further behind him was another dirt trail, and by the shouts her ears were catching on the wind they weren't just following his lead in escape.

They were chasing him with violent intentions.

"Ahhh! Ahhhh! Ahhh! Ahhhh!" wailed the Toad Sage, arms pumping at his sides.

He dashed past them without stopping, weaving through the caltrops without stepping a on a single one.

"What in the world is going on?" Sakura asked, staring at the dust cloud chasing down Jiraiya.

"Pervy Sage, what have you done this time?!" Naruto demanded.

Jiraiya stopped, mostly. He ran in place, still pumping his arms despite not going anywhere.

"I'll tell you about it later! Right now let's just get out of here!"

"Are these guys bandits or Orochimaru's thugs? Either way I'll tear them a new one if it gets them off our trail."

"No!" Jiraiya boomed in panic. "Don't use jutsu on them! Don't even attack! They're nothing! No one! Just friends of some wicked women I met in a tavern!"

"Wicked women?" Mimi repeated, dumbfounded.

"You were at a bar?" Sakura asked in disbelief.

Aoko buried her nose into Mimi's hair. "This man… This is Master Jiraiya, Legendary shinobi of the Leaf? One of the three Sannin? He is utterly incorrigible."

"Pervy Sage!" groaned Naruto.

"I oughta tear you a new one for being such a perverted fool!" Mimi cursed.

The angry mob was nearly upon them.

"Skip it!" Jiraiya yelled, still running in place. "This is meant to be a secret mission, remember?! We can't risk blowing our cover by using our ninja arts on them, so just run!"

And on that note, he turned tail and sprinted down the road.

"Grrrr! All right, you two, you heard that idiot. Run!" Mimi growled, taking off after the Toad Sage. "And when we lose these guys we'll take turns beating him to a pulp!"

"Fine by me!" said Sakura.

"I regret not biting him harder!" Aoko growled.

"Ughhhh! Naruto, you better not turn out anything like Master Jiraiya!"

"Aghhhhh! Why is my Master such an idiot!" Naruto wailed. "You're doing a real great job of keeping our mission a secret, Pervy Sage!"

"Less talk and more running! Run, run, runnnnnnn!" Jiraiya called over his shoulder.

Thoroughly pissed off, Mimi sped up her strides and, once in range, leapt onto the Master Pervert's shoulders, kicking off roughly to propel herself forward and knock him onto his ass. As he landed, Sakura hurdled over him, heel coincidentally cracking him in the forehead to knock him flat onto the dirt.

Naruto was less subtle. He jumped onto his Master's stomach and trampolined after his comrades. Jiraiya gasped and deflated like a popped balloon.

"Hurry up, Master Pervert!" Mimi yelled over her shoulder.

"Yeah, Pervy Sage! Pick up the pace!"

Dazed, Jiraiya had just enough sense to see the angry mob closing in on him. He let out a shrill wail, sprang to his feet and chased after the three young shinobi's trails.

"Why you little insolent brats! I'll get you back for this!"

"Ha! Good luck with that!" Mimi jeered over her shoulder.

"I dare him to try!" barked Aoko.

"Wait until Amari hears about this!" Sakura called.

"You wouldn't dare!"

"You bet she would!" Naruto called to his master. "And if she doesn't, I will! Now hurry up!"

"Wait! Wait! Narutooooooo!"

What a mission this has turned out to be, Mimi thought, rolling her eyes.

If there was a moral to this situation, the Inuzuka assumed it was never to hero worship anyone.

Or enter a sketchy tavern.

Their assailant never bothered to pause, breathe and examine their surroundings for any potential shadows tailing or hunting them; they trusted their smoke bomb and caltrops had effectively obstructed the young team, masking their escape entirely.

They failed to reflect on how their ambush was countered. They didn't question how Mimi managed to react at the exact same time, snuffing out their attempted attack like water poured on the fleeting embers of a campfire.

More accurately, they blamed it on a personal mistake—too loud, too rash—rather than analyzing the skillset and appearance of the team.

It should've been obvious. It should've taken one look at the Inuzuka and her ninken to comprehend how the events unfolded and why. Any experienced shinobi would've known they were being followed.

The Clan markings all Inuzuka's displayed on their faces proudly were common knowledge to all major shinobi Nations—a result of the previous wars, of course. Likewise, their wolfish ninkens held equal renown to their human companions.

The Inuzuka Clan's profound tracking abilities and their ninken were respected and feared by intelligent shinobi across the entire continent, as were their ferocious and unbreakable fighting spirits. Few had ever outrun an Inuzuka's hunt. Those who had were either elite shinobi possessing the ability to eliminate all signs of their presence, or just incredibly lucky the weather or environment worked against their hunter.

At the present moment, the masked shinobi had neither advantage.

It revealed their inexperience in stark detail to Mimi's Shadow Clone. At a guess, the individual was trained by a mercenary shinobi on the road, calling no Clan or Nation home, thus they were ignorant of a major Leaf Village Clan.

Or, another possibility, their Clan was wiped out by Orochimaru long before they could be taught the history of the Great Nations and their Clans. Now, reinforced by the brittle shield of ignorance and inexperience, they set off on a foolish one person war against the legendary shinobi.

Inexperience and ignorance were the only excuses for their failed ambush and failure to observe the Inuzuka tailing them. What else could it be? No shinobi at their level would risk a one against four battle while ignorant of their enemies combat ability. No one smart, anyway.

Maybe the Goofball, Broody and Kiba when they first graduated. They were foolish, arrogant and impulsive enough to be that idiotic.

Trailing at a safe distance behind their assailant, out of visual sight while pursing at a steady pace, Mimi left nothing to chance. Inexperienced or not, she hadn't the faintest idea where the target was going, how many allies they had or what manner of traps this dense forest possessed.

The terrain itself was nothing new—a forest like any other. But these hills, these trees, these paths were all foreign to her.

So she leapt from tree to tree, sniffing the air consistently. The scent was fresh. She ignored the scents of the animal inhabitants, watched the heads of a few squirrels shoot up from their scurrying on tree branches and on the forest floor, saw a doe grazing but kept her cautious pace.

Farther along a thin curtain of fog began to cover the forest floor, like the earth was exhaling warm clouds of condensation into the cold air. Except the breeze didn't whisk it away, and it was not warm at all. It hung beneath the tree canopy, still and obscuring, wisps curling around the trunks of trees. The air was possessed by a bitter chill.

The fog concealed the bent blades of grass, crushed by the shinobi who raced through no more than a minute prior. Visibility was lowering.

No matter. Her nose and ears were all she needed to guide her.

Deeper and deeper the assailant tread impulsively into the shapeless haze. Deeper and deeper they traveled into the forest.

The farther they went, the farther she trailed them, the more Mimi started to believe they were hunting for something or someone themself. They did not travel in a straight line. They didn't even seem to know where they were going.

She lost track of the consistent weaving and changing of direction, the constant pausing in the middle of the forest to look around for a divine sign or gut instinct to point them towards their destination.

More evidence the initial assault was meant for someone else. More evidence of this shinobi's inexperience.

The way their heart was beating before, Mimi pondered while pursuing, I can tell they haven't experienced real combat more than a handful of times, maybe less.

Of course the heart was always pulsing in the heat of battle, regardless of shinobi or experience. It was a natural bodily reaction to danger, to the prelude of engaging numerous foes in a life or death battle.

Chemically speaking, the engagement of the flight-or-flight system resulted in the release of a cocktail of hormones, which poured through the body with the same rage and speed of a roaring white-water rapid to increase the heart and respiratory rate and perspiration, energizing the body, focusing the individual while making them hyper-alert of their immediate surroundings and present situation.

However, for their heart rate to race so harshly before the battle even began inclined Mimi to trust her gut belief this shinobi was inexperienced in combat. Trained, certainly. But they hadn't witnessed the profound difference between sparring and real combat.

She had. All of her peers had.

The sensations were different. More intense. She'd never known the grisly aroma of sweat, blood, smoke, ash and death, nor the violent screams as an enemy convulsed in death throes before real combat; even the ring of blades clashing seemed sharper, more piercing in a life or death battle.

The rush of adrenaline couldn't be quantified. There was nothing else like it. Nothing she had experienced, anyway. Training, sparring, there was just a different feeling to them. It couldn't replicate the intensity of a real combat, the emotions, that realization in the back of your mind that you might die here. That a single mistake stood between you and an early death.

No. Nothing quite matched that.

They were afraid, whoever they were. Afraid and anxious. In spite of that they were determined to fight, determined to escape from being pinned down by the three young shinobi.

The Inuzuka wanted to know why. What was driving them? What were they trying to accomplish? Who were they working with? Where did their allegiances lie?

Who was beneath the mask?

If they weren't one of Orochimaru's goons, or in allegiance with him or the Sound Village, who were they and why were they ambushing random people? They were desperate, obviously. And desperate people made mistakes. Big ones.

But why? What motivated them? Banditry? Survival? A personal mission of some sort?

In the end, Mimi supposed, their motivations didn't really matter if they were her enemy. She wasn't out here to befriend a stranger. She was here with one mission: Find the Sound Village, find Kasai, then leave nothing left of either to be pieced together again.

She wouldn't even give Kasai a chance to speak or taunt or plead for mercy when the opportunity came.

Since this mission began… No, since she knelt on Hikari's rock healing Amari's battered, burned, lacerated, bloody and water-soaked body, that image of her fallen sister and the memories she witnessed of Kasai's initial betrayal persisted in trailing her every step.

She hadn't been there. She hadn't been there to gut him for all the pain he had caused, and the pain he went on to inflict on her sister that day.

It wasn't common knowledge, but Kasai had left another scar on Amari in their battle. The laceration across her back, the result of his sword unzipping the flesh, left behind a scar that cut at a mild diagonal from the top of right shoulder to her lower back. It had healed well, but… It was still a scar. Another mark of failure, for Amari and Mimi.

Without the existence of Medical Ninjutsu her odds of full recovery wouldn't have been zero, not really, but the percentage would've been so small that zero was still an accurate representation. Her shinobi career would've been over—the damage to her Achilles tendon was too severe.

Instead, thankfully, she was left nursing her body back to health, uncertain about her future. There was nothing Mimi could do to expedite her recovery. She couldn't snap her fingers or run a hand over her injury with Medical Ninjutsu and return her to normal. However, on this mission, she was being given an opportunity to right a wrong. To remove a burden from Amari's shoulders, permanently.

This was something she could do. Something she would do, no matter what.

Kasai had made it personal long ago for Amari. But now it was personal to her, too. He, the big fool, decided to make the fatal error of targeting an Inuzuka's family, an act which she wouldn't even bother to make him regret. She couldn't waste time dragging out his suffering.

I've seen what he's capable of, she thought, leaping to the trunk of a tree then pushing off to change directions again. It took all Amari had to stay alive and end the battle in a stalemate. I may have beaten her in the Exams, but I'm not stupid enough to believe I can just crush him without breaking a sweat. He has the First Hokage's kekkei genkai; Wood Style isn't something to play around with.

He couldn't be given a chance to retaliate, nor would she make the mistake of talking trash instead of killing him while the opportunity presented itself. When the time came, when she was finally face to face with him, she wouldn't play around. She'd go at him with full power.

Then eradicate the bastard on Amari's behalf.

This investigation would bring her closer to completing that mission, she hoped.

The density of the fog intensified. It felt unnatural. Visibility of the forest floor was isolated to the trunks of trees, and even then it was only the upper portion where she traveled. No grazing animals could be seen; they dared not to enter into this forbidden territory.

The motionless and foggy forest was silent as an abandoned gravestone. Cold. The whisper of the breeze bewitched the leaves into disturbing the silence through a rusting hiss, only to then return to a cursed silence.

They were getting closer. To what, Mimi couldn't say—not yet. But she felt it tingling at the nape of her neck, the primitive instinct of sensing danger. She smelled it in the air, the putrid stench of decomposed bodies carrying on the breeze from the direction her target was dashing towards.

Deeper into the fog-ridden forest they traveled. Finally the assailant hit a snag.

Mimi lurched to a stop on the trunk of a tree, chakra humming at the soles of her sandals and on her hands. She pressed herself flat against the tree trunk. In the dense fog, nothing could be seen. However, a moment ago she heard the distinct snap of a tripwire, followed by a volley of kunai unleashing through the forest.

The repeated thunks against the trunk of a tree signaled the assailant escaped unscathed. Temporarily. A moment of relief transformed into a cry of terrified surprise rather than agony, scattering birds from the silent canopies. Another trap had been triggered, which on sound alone seemed to string up their assailant by their ankles.

Mimi wanted to move in. To interrogate them while they were vulnerable. Unfortunate, this was as close as she could risk advancing. Three new scents surrounded the captured shinobi like lions surrounding a piece of meat hung from a tree. She'd officially entered enemy territory.

Shutting her eyes, Mimi listened intently to the discussion occurring at the sight of the trap. She heard the severing of the rope, the crash of a body against the forest floor; the three newcomers cut the assailant down. They spoke with no noise discipline. No caution. They were certain only the masked shinobi had entered their domain.

Unbeknownst to them, they provided key information to the "Leaf spies" invading their Land, including their allegiances, their identities and their master plan to ambush the Leaf shinobi.

She listened to their manipulation, their lies, and to the same superior arrogance she'd heard from Sakon and Ukon; it was grating, to say the least. They expressed the same old fealty to their so-called Lord Orochimaru.

Overall, the discussion lasted no more than a few minutes. When it reached its conclusion and the plan was set, the Sound shinobi and their newest addition departed in search of the Leaf shinobi.

Mimi held her position until she was certain the enemy shinobi moved off. Then, after sniffing the air, she quickly trekked towards the smell of death.

I need to dispel so we can prepare for an ambush, the Shadow Clone thought, but if there are traps and scouts in this area, I might be right on top of the Sound Village. Or some facility where Orochimaru runs experiments if the smell of death is anything to go by.

"Information," she recalled Ibiki's lesson, "it can be the most valuable weapon in battle. How well you gather information will determine if a mission is a failure or successful."

Already she possessed pertinent information on an incoming ambush. If she could locate their enemy's base, or a hidden lab of some type, then that'd bring them one step closer to finishing off the Snake Sannin and Kasai, all without lives in danger.

The putrid stench guided her through the canopy and fog to its origin like old sailors following the stars.

Finally, Mimi halted on the branch of a tree. Her sapphire eyes went wide, as wide as the ocean was wet.

"What…the hell is this?"

The bewitched leaves hissed again with the breeze. The fog thinned. The pale ribbons drifted over large pieces of displaced and cracked stone, once forming the walls and floors of the decommissioned facility she found. And at the center of the carnage was a massive tree, the base and circumference of which was no smaller than an average-sized house.

The unnatural tree appeared to have sprouted suddenly, without warning, within seconds rather than over years. For the branches were sharpened like blades, barren of life, twisting and coiling around themselves, calling to mind the image of the hand of death itself protruding out of the pits of hell into the world to claim new souls. And mangled at their ends, hanging helplessly impaled by the tree branches, were corpses.

Dozens upon dozens of corpses.

Scavenger birds had feasted on them already. The leftovers hung grotesquely from the branches. Splattered over the grass. The kunoichi grimaced at the scene.

Looming over the fog and corpses, gathered in a numberless flock along the branches and wheeling above the tree of death, were crows. Their choir of ominous caws was chilling.

These crows, Mimi examined, weren't apart of the Crows of the Leaf; no Leaf headbands were worn by these avian creatures. Seeing them all here, though, it made her understand why crows were synonymous with ill omens.

The mangled corpses were barely identifiable. Branches impaled them through their torsos, through their legs and heads. They constricted around limbs, breaking them, twisting them at terrible angles like tangled up marionettes. A few, she realized with a sickening feeling, were bisected or had a limb or several amputated. One of the suspended corpses was headless.

Male. Female. Tall. Short. Adults. Teenagers, maybe. It was impossible to tell by their emaciated and broken bodies. That was all she could identify at a distance.

Unfortunately she didn't see Orochimaru or Kabuto's body among the carnage. However, the corpses did wear matching uniforms—grey inmate uniforms, to be precise.

Prisoners. Likely Orochimaru's, slain by Kasai for one reason or another. Probably the entertainment of his master. She wondered if they even had a chance to fight back, or if Kasai unleashed his jutsu while they were still in their cells.

Disturbed, Mimi clinically detached herself from it and leapt down to investigate the debris for further clues. Around the trunk she found gaps where grass, dirt and roots were meant to be, and by peering through them she learned the prison facility and tree trunk expanded deeper into the earth.

From the surface, the depths of the facility were shrouded in utter darkness. Nothing was discernible. She couldn't make heads or tails of what awaited her deeper below, other than death—the stench refused to be abated.

Determined to acquire further Intel, the Inuzuka slipped through the branches and delved into the darkness. Her eyes adjusted to it after a few moments, allowing her to better navigate the sprawling and monstrous tree rooted seemingly in hell itself.

The facility had been vast. Now the tree consumed every conceivable space, adorning its branches with more corpses. More grotesque scenes of mutilation and death.

On several occasions she had to squeeze through tight gaps. She crawled on her belly through a small opening, hopped down to a larger twisting pair of roots and shimmied between another gap. Her body got stuck once, much to her annoyance. But after contorting her arm painfully to squeeze through it, she made it to the other side.

And was met face to face with another corpse.

Startled, the Inuzuka cursed, violently. The pale and blood-stained corpse was cocooned in a prison of sharp branches, remorselessly crushed and impaled until dead. She'd remember the stench and sight of a branch shooting out of their mouth for a long time.

Deeper within Mimi received an answer to whether or not the inmates had a chance to fight upon seeing collapsed cells with limbs and bodies hanging limply and broken at gut twisting angles beneath the rubble.

"Like I needed another reason to hate these bastards," Mimi muttered. "Goddamn, this place reeks."

Hopping down onto a vast set of mangled roots above the viewing balcony of what was once an arena, now consumed by the trunk of the tree Kasai had sprouted, the Inuzuka took in the scene of the carnage, attempting to locate anything of importance.

Most of the prison was broken or closed off by cave-ins. Elsewhere impenetrable bundles of branches blockaded hallways completely. She couldn't risk breaking them apart; the tree was all that was holding together what remained of the facility.

"Was it a test? Or just a spurt of rage from the man-child?" she wondered, trying to envision the events that led to this based on the physical evidence surrounding her in this cavern.

Somewhere above the crows caw carried down and echoed around the prison.

"Dearest Amaririsu is quite the treasure, isn't she? Look at what she's done to you. I wonder if you'll survive long enough to fight her again. Or if you have any use to me now."

The memory of those taunting words coaxed a bitter growl out of Kasai. But then, as he observed the frightened experimental lab rats of the old Snake Skin, how they cowered beneath the vehement hatred and killing intent pulsing off of him, the growl twisted into an amused and cruel huff. That same huff descended into maniacal laughter that echoed all over the chamber.

The cretins stared openly. Fearful. Confused.

A treasure, huh! Ha! Hahaha! We'll see how much of a treasure she is when my dear old friend is dead at my feet! We'll see how much of a treasure she is when I rip those eyes out of her skull while she's still breathing!

We'll see how much of a treasure she is when I destroy everything she has ever loved!

He silently glared with all of his hatred, all of his twisted malice at the lab rats around him too scared to move. Too afraid to lunge in for the kill despite their freedom being on the line.

Look at what she's done to me. Look! Look at the hatred in my eyes, you worthless worms. Look at this suffering I've endured! And understand the power it has given me.

You want to see if I have any use to you, Snake Skin. He grinned a frightening and insidious grin. A grin consumed by his twisted soul. Fine!

Kasai clapped his hands together.

Now it's time for all of you to tremble before the second coming of the God of Shinobi himself!

Wood Style: Deep Forest Emergence!

Mimi could almost hear the petrified screams of all the prisoners as the tree sprouted into existence, see their terrified faces as the walls began to crumble around them. She could almost hear their final cries of agony as they were buried in stone.

There isn't anything here for me to find now, the Inuzuka thought, preparing to dispel herself.

As she turned to examine the area one last time, a glint of light shimmering off of something metallic caught her eye. Curious, she worked her way through the chaotic cluster of branches, climbing through and vaulting over those obstructing her path.

It was at a prison cell, sealed shut by a heavy steel door with a square window blockaded by bars, where she found the source.

A small, shiny bracelet with four amber gems dangling off it.

A bracelet stained by dry blood. Dark and suffocating the glimmers of silver.

A bracelet worn around a child's wrist.

Mimi inhaled sharply. Her heart stopped. Then, with heavy feet and a terrible churning in her stomach, she stepped closer, as if there was something she could still do to save them. As if the rest of their body hadn't been buried in rubble.

As if she couldn't see with her own eyes that the child—the girl—was already dead. That their final act was trying to reach out the door in a plea for mercy from monsters who would never show it.

Hands trembling, she grasped the limp and cold hand gently between hers, heart bleeding and aching tightly in her chest. They were a stranger to Mimi. A nameless, faceless girl she'd never known, nor ever would know.

Yet it hurt. It hurt so bad to know this person, this child, who had once been alive with hopes and dreams of their own, spent their final days and moments traumatized and terrified as death caved in around them. Forgotten. Alone.

Nameless and faceless.

"I'm…sorry. So sorry," she whispered to the silent dead, voice trembling with emotion. "I know we're strangers. I know you had a name of your own, one I'll never learn, so I hope you don't mind me giving you one. I'll…I'll call you Amber. And I want you to know Amber that you won't be some nameless and faceless victim forgotten by the world. Because I'm gonna remember you. And I'm gonna kill the people responsible for this.

"It won't bring you back, I know. It isn't right that your life ended so soon. That it ended in this dark and lonely cell. But it's all I can do now."

She squeezed Amber's hand once then unclasped the bracelet from her wrist. After a failed attempt to clasp it around her own wrist—too small, too much trembling—the Inuzuka settled on stuffing it into her flak jacket pocket.

There was no chance she could dispel herself now. No. This bracelet had to reach her original. More than that, the Shadow Clone of Mimi could not bring herself to dispel from existence, the grief and building rage far too much to ignore.

Hands clutching into fists, breathing growing erratic, a vicious growl rumbling in her throat, the feelings awoken within her heart bubbled and boiled over.

How many more, she wondered. How many more children had died here at the hands of Kasai's jutsu? How many children were murdered by Orochimaru and his puppets? All in the name of…what exactly?

Experiments? The Sound Village? Knowledge? Secrets? Sadistic entertainment? A temper-tantrum?

Then and there she decided a debt of blood was owed. Someone had to pay it. Someone had to be made to suffer! And she knew exactly who it would be.

Mimi Inuzuka's rage was unleashed with a violent roar. The scream reverberated around the walls, thrummed in her ears, her head and thundered against her chest. Raw emotion pumped viciously through her body.

Crimson chakra suddenly ignited like a cloak made from hellfire. The Inuzuka leapt with a roar towards the ceiling, throwing herself into a Tunneling Fang.

The rapid raging red tornado drilled through the branches, shattered the stone and tunneled straight out into the foggy forest once more with an explosion of dirt. The cawing of the crows and flapping of wings chorused over the forest, startled from their perch by the rage-induced Inuzuka.

Mimi landed and tore off through the forest on all-fours, growling like a rabid beast.

Right on the trail of the three Sound shinobi.

I will tear you all apart, you child murdering bastards!

Review Response to NarutoFan: I'm happy you enjoyed the details about the reconstruction efforts and maintaining eyes on the other Villages. It's tough being a Hokage.

True, we haven't seen Amari and Haku interact physically since the Land of Waves, and that was a very long time ago. We'll have to see how it all plays out as the story progresses. There will be more chances for them to interact in the future, in person, that I can promise.

Tsunade definitely has her hands full, and having a Wood Style user with a vendetta against Amari on her doorstep along with her former teammate, in addition to a potential war barreling towards her, has given her significant motivation to eliminate one of the issues at hand. As for the team, this chapter has at least been more comedic at their expense, but as the ending proved the mission is taking a serious turn. In a way, it's a good thing Amari isn't there right now. The guilt she would feel at what Mimi witnessed would tear her apart inside.

I'm happy you are enjoying the diversity of all the characters and their skills. I've been doing my best to give all the characters individuality so they're all unique in some manner. From personality, to their history to their skills that they're working on evolving and other traits. Also brings me joy to know people love these characters, whether they're from the original series or ones I created, as much as I do.

As for Aimi, don't worry, we'll get to see more on her throughout the story beyond working alongside Itachi in the Akatsuki. Amari's memories, for instance, is one way I'll show off more of Aimi pre-massacre. And since I tend to show Shisui's perspective through Amari's flashbacks as well, we'll also see things Amari didn't see that he did. I'll probably also show more pre-massacre life Aimi from Itachi's perspective and perhaps even her own perspective. There will also definitely be more chances to see her fight in the future, including witnessing what her Mangekyo Sharingan can do.

I liked that Sakura was able to grow, too, despite not having a special Clan or tailed-beast. I wish there would've been a little more of it, and I wish the other characters could have grown, too. I wish they'd all been given a chance to shine and grow, in skills and maturity, but overall, faults and all, I love the Naruto series.

I'm looking forward to growing them all in this fanfic. I just hope I can pull it off how it works in my head.

We'll have to see if Sasuke remembers how to use his Mangekyo Sharingan. I have every intention of Naruto learning more than the Rasengan, so there is that to look forward to. I never really thought about the possibility of Sakura learning Sage Mode from the Slugs, but it's definitely something I'll be thinking about as I go forward. As for Amari and Sage Mode, I have considered it. I haven't made a decision on it because I don't know where she'll be in terms of power by the Pain Arc, for instance, since that's when we really got to see it in action. I want to try to balance the power, and I don't know if Sage Mode will be too much for her if she's grown a lot in that time. She is a descendent of Madara Uchiha, after all, and her father was called his Reincarnation of him. With everything ahead of her, war and such, she might not need it due to the experiences and how it grows her, in which case I would consider someone else. Again, I haven't made any decision on it yet. I'm still thinking about it.

There's no need to apologize for rambling. Thank you for reading this story and for taking the time to review. I'm always happy to respond and hear from anyone who is loving it and looking forward to more. I hope you continue to enjoy the story as it goes forward.

Thank you for the review!