Chapter Eight

"Aren't the leaves lovely today?"

Neither Aoba nor Ken seemed to react to the news, at least not externally. But the innocuous phrase was actually a code they had set up at the beginning of the mission proper, one that meant Tomoko had sensed something in the trees.

"They seem particularly vibrant around here," she continued, the predetermined phrase meaning any chakra signatures she'd sensed were far larger than anyone untrained in the use of chakra. None of the three showed any sign of their suspicion, but they all internally tensed and prepared for a sneak attack.

Nothing happened for several minutes, until they reached a bend in the road that hugged the side of a river. Tomoko's eyes widened a moment before the water of the river rose up in a massive wave and crashed upon the caravan train, swallowing up the cries of the Aoki family and their half-dozen employees.

"Jeez, fool, I think we went a little overboard, huh?" Two figures dressed in linen shirts and baggy pants held up by sashes rode forward on small waves from further upstream. Both bore prominent sky blue bandanas over their hair, with the kanji for "tsunami" positioned over their forehead.

Before the second figure could answer, the water drained away to reveal three domes of rock that had protected the caravans. The domes' tops exploded to reveal three prepared shinobi. In perfect sync, Aoba and Tomoko each unsealed a Fuuma shuriken and hurled them at their targets, while Ken tossed a handful of kunai.

The rogue ninja dodged the projectiles and landed back on the water. "Missed," the second one taunted.

"So?" Tomoko asked, weaving hand seals. 'Fire Release: Majestic Flame Technique.' With a deep breath, Tomoko expelled the chakra kneaded in her belly into a cone of widening flames that arced down like the spray from a firehose. The ninja split up to avoid the flames, which settled on the surface of the water and continued to burn, like ignited oil. Tomoko kept up the technique and turned her head to fire it upriver, igniting the water that would slowly move downstream and forcing the enemy nin to fight on land.

No sooner had the two landed than Aoba finished his own seals and slammed his bloodied hand upon the ground, summoning a flock of crows that darted at the newcomers. The pair of ninja cried out in surprise as the birds viciously attacked them, scratching and pecking at any exposed flesh that they could.

Team TAK hardly had time to enjoy the satisfaction of a well-executed tactic before one of the earthen domes protecting the caravan burst and crumbled apart, accompanied by a faint scream of pain and surprise. Another ninja in a tsunami bandana lay some distance away from the unharmed caravan, his body smoking and twitching while the caravan glowed with lines of seal script and arcs of electricity.

"I gotta thank Yama for giving me that idea," Ken smiled. As he'd promised, he'd fortified the caravans with defensive seals, but he'd added an extra twist. He'd infused the seals with lightning chakra so that when they were triggered, the seals would release the lightning in a protective coating, something he'd worked on in his spare time after his spar with the monkey.

Unsealing their various weapons, Aoba and Tomoko went to engage the first two enemies, who had used the river water to blast away Aoba's crows, while Ken went to check the third one. Both ninjas, now covered with scratches and clearly enraged, produced a kusari-fundo — lengths of chain with weights on each end — and began to twirl them before engaging the Leaf ninjas.

One swung his chain at Tomoko, who held up her naginata to let the chain wrap around the shaft and tugged to jerk her opponent off-balance. She then stepped on the chain to trap it and expertly unwound her spear shaft before swinging the blade in a horizontal swipe. The enemy nin jumped over the blade, which left him unable to dodge Tomoko's follow-up of a two-handed upward swing of the shaft that cracked against his shins. She grinned at the nin's howl of pain and kicked him away before reengaging.

Aoba, on his part, decided to test his opponent out before attacking outright. He bobbed and wove to avoid the lashes from his opponent's weighted chain that he was using as a whip. After several dodges, he released a sharp whistle, which called his crows back into the fray. With them distracting the nin, who started waving his kusari-fundo to try and get rid of them, Aoba dove in with his kunai and slashed his opponent's flailing wrist, forcing him to drop the chain. A hard jab to the chin put the nin out like a light.

After securely tying up his downed opponent, Aoba turned to find Tomoko delivering a powerful uppercut to her own enemy's jaw. She checked his pulse to find him still alive and trussed him up as well, smirking at Aoba in triumph. Ken chose that moment to arrive with his black wakizashi, a disappointed frown on his lips.

"Damn, I was hoping to get a few swings in," he sighed.

"Was the third guy dead?" Tomoko asked. Ken nodded solemnly.

"Well then, perhaps we should investigate these two," Aoba noted. He knelt before the nin he had beaten and went through a combination of seals before removing the man's bandana and placing his palm on his forehead. Ken watched closely, eager to see the technique Aoba knew to scan memories while Tomoko expanded her chakra senses in case of an ambush. What no one expected was for a line of glowing sealing script to flare up along the nin's forehead.

Aoba grunted and cringed as his Mind Transmission picked up psychic feedback, jerking his hand away. But rather than fade away or retract, the seal script flared brighter. The man awoke with a start and a pained scream before coughing up blood and collapsing, dead as a post. Not a second later, the same happened to his partner.

"Well, that was weird," Tomoko noted.

Ken moved in and examined the dead nin, catching only a glimpse of the script before it finally faded away. He hissed in frustration, having picked up nothing useful, at least not from the script.

"Tomoko, is the area clear?" Ken asked. Tomoko formed a half-seal and focused to expand her sensory radius. After a few moments, she released a pent-up breath and nodded. "Yep, no chakra signatures within five hundred yards except for the clients."

"Good," Ken said, picking up a discarded bandana and examining it. "Because we need to have a word with them about these guys."

Further up the road, well beyond Tomoko's sensory range, a shadowy figure carefully suppressed their chakra from detection as they lowered the spyglass they'd used to examine the fight. They scoffed and shook their head. The loss of those men was nothing major, they'd been non-member cannon fodder who'd been a little good with water.

But the intel they'd gleaned for the figure could go a long way in acquiring their objective. With that decision, the figure bound up the road to rejoin their real team. They'd hit soon, after the paranoia from a coming attack had worn them down a bit.

"They're called rappa-nin," Ken began.

After smoothing the road with Earth Release, Team TAK had directed the caravan to keep moving until dark, their senses taut for any more surprises. Thankfully, nothing had happened. They'd circled the wagons as they had the past four nights — much longer than expected as the clients had decided to visit a village near the border with the Land of Rain to pick up a rare vintage fed by the wet landscape — and Ken set up a perimeter of shadow clones to keep everyone at ease. With the camp set up for the night, he'd gathered the Aoki family to discuss the situation.

"'Ruffian ninjas'?" Tomoko asked. "I've never heard of them."

"That's because they actively avoid the attention of the Great Nations," Ken explained, eyes on the bandana from earlier he held in his hand. "They're groups of low-level missing-nin that band together after deserting, usually under the leadership of a higher-level missing-nin. They avoid any countries where members are originally from and prey on the outskirts of the smaller nations. They usually act as mercenaries, but sometimes they get into organized crime as enforcers."

"That makes sense, the low-level thing," Aoba commented. "Those guys back there were about our age but didn't seem like they could have passed the Chunin Exams. I'm guessing you've had some run-ins with these types before?"

"I have," Ken affirmed. "I have three B-rank missions under my belt, and all of them were to hunt down gangs of rappa-nin who had gotten too bold for the local government's liking. None of them were more skilled than an average chunin, but that made them too much for non-shinobi law enforcement to handle, especially with smaller nations having so few of their own ninjas to spare."

"Wait, so why don't the smaller nations ask for help from the Great Five? Or even hire us to handle the problem?" Tomoko asked.

"To save face," Aoba deduced. "It's one thing for private clients to hire foreign ninjas, that happens all the time. But it's a severe sign of weakness for a small government to admit they can't handle their own affairs. It would be like hanging a fluorescent sign saying, 'Come take me over, I'm easy pickings.'"

"Pretty much," Ken nodded.

"And one of these ninja gangs has targeted our stock?" Itsuki asked. "I swear we didn't expect ninja interference!"

"It's fine," Tomoko assured them. "I mean, your fee will go up to a B-rank price, but we've handled the threat."

"So why should we pay more?" Kaito spat, his face red. "You admitted they were barely a challenge and that they're dead now. So the ninja threat is over."

"For now," Ken amended. "These gangs usually number in the lower dozens. The ones from earlier were probably no-talent dummies used to gauge our abilities. They'll be back with the real deal soon enough, probably before we get to the border." Kaito simply flipped Ken off before stomping to his family's wagon.

"So what would you recommend we do?" Sana asked.

"If Ken's analysis is correct, they will be waiting for us to stumble into another ambush," Aoba reasoned. "They'll most likely be watching all of the roads that cross the border, so an alternate route wouldn't do any good. And we can't move too fast or else threaten your wares." The couple nodded in agreement with that last part.

"I would suggest we simply go on as we have been. If we can't avoid these rappa-nin, then we can only fight them. Tomko, will Yama be willing to help us?" Tomoko smiled and nodded. "Then with the seals protecting the caravans, we should be able to keep them at bay, at least until we can get to the border and meet up with the Taki nin for backup."

The Aokis thought it over and nodded in turn. "We will also see about further cushioning the wares, just in case it comes down to fleeing," Itsuki said.

"Sounds good," Tomoko chirped. "I'll take the first watch with Yama. Ken, you take the second with your clones, and Aoba can work the last with his crows."

Aoba nodded taciturnly. "I agree. Everyone else, get some rest. The next few days are going to be rough." With that, the merchants and their workers returned to their caravans while the ninja set up their tents. As Tomoko hopped into a tree to summon Yama and keep an eye out, Aoba approached Ken.

"Ken, if I may have a word?" The redhead-turned-brunette only nodded. "You claimed that these rappa-nin groups avoid the Great Nations with fervor. If that is the case, this group must have a great motivation for whatever they want. Far too much for a wine collection, no matter how diverse."

"You think there's something the clients haven't told us about?" Ken asked.

"The elder Aokis are clean," Aoba said, relying on his famed intuition. "But something about the boy rubs me the wrong way, especially with how he exploded earlier. It seemed too … calculated, fake. Whatever is happening, I think he is somehow involved."

"What will you do?" Ken asked.

"For now, just as I said. We keep going until we finish the mission. I have a feeling that whatever he is hiding will reveal itself soon enough." With that, he left Ken to rest up for his own watch. As Ken climbed into his tent to do the same, he sighed heavily.

Why couldn't C-ranks be uncomplicated, just once?

"Reporting in, sensei."

Hiruzen smirked and tapped his pipe as he looked back to find his only on-duty student sitting in the curve of his office window. Jiraiya shrugged and hopped down to take his place before his teacher and commander.

"Welcome home, Jiraiya. I wasn't expecting you for a few more weeks," Hiruzen noted.

"I found a gap in my appointments," Jiraiya explained, referring to his frequent meetings with the informants that made up his international spy network. Said network required constant tending for him to be up-to-date on the events of the shinobi world, and it was the main reason he had been unable to take care of little Naruto. "And since the kid's birthday is coming up, I thought I should be here to make sure things don't get out of hand."

While it was true that no villager had ever physically harmed the young Uzumaki, the only child of Jiraiya's favorite student, there had been a few close-calls with those with deep grudges against the Fox and one or three to many bowls of sake. But Jiraiya had made a point to make sure his semi-annual scheduled reports to Konoha during the festival to make sure nothing unfortunate happened. At least to the boy.

"As it turns out, that may not be as large a problem as in previous years," Hiruzen commented lightly, filling his pipe back up and working on some of his paperwork with half a mind.

Jiraiya's eyebrows shot up under his "Oil" headband. "Have the people seriously started to accept him?" That would be amazing! And, frankly, a complete turnaround from last year.

"No, though there has been a bit of progress on that front. I recently declassified Naruto's status."

"I told you that law was a bad idea," Jiraiya smirked. And he had … every single time he'd reported in for the last eight years.

"That you did, but that isn't the most impressive piece of news. Naruto now has a most devoted caretaker." The Third paused, secretly savoring a bit of theatrics. "A blood caretaker."

Jiraiya stepped back as if he'd been slapped. A family member? Minato's family — at least those that hadn't been killed in the Fox's rampage — had moved away after he'd died facing the Fox, unable to stay in a village with such horrific memories of the loss of their pride and joy; utterly unaware that Naruto was their family. So if it hadn't been a Namikaze …

"An Uzumaki is here in the village?!" Jiraiya asked, practically shouting.

"Yes," Hiruzen smiled, both at the idea and at the look on his student's face. "Young Ken arrived here a few weeks ago after wandering his entire life with a recently-passed relative. He came here with little hope of family and I introduced them. They are now the shared future of a once-powerful clan."

There were several moments of silence as Jiraiya tried to wrap his head around this revelation.

"Jiraiya?" Hiruzen prompted, having an inkling of the lines Jiraiya's thoughts were roaming along. Best to help him along. "I would have thought you'd be pleased."

Jiraiya blinked rapidly as if coming out of a trance. "Oh, I am, sensei. Excited! Very excited! Naruto has someone that ... will care for him."

Hiruzen lifted an eyebrow at the faint pause in Jiraiya's words. "You're suspicious," he said — a statement, not a question. "That's understandable. I know how much you cared for Minato. He was like the son you'd never had. And it is natural that you would be protective of his son, who is also your godson. And before you ask, yes I am very certain that Ken is an Uzumaki. Several blood and chakra tests confirmed as much. And he has taken good care of the boy in the weeks since."

Jiraiya let out a breath, that part of his concerns abated. The Uzumaki as a whole had treasured family with little regard for distance in relation. No matter how far they were related, a genuine Uzumaki would care for Naruto as a true clansman, or cousin.

"But that doesn't mean that Naruto wouldn't care to meet his godfather," Hiruzen pointed out. In truth, he'd been supportive of the notion of Jiraiya taking responsibility for Naruto. Of course, that would have meant relocating permanently to the village, as the jonin council would never have approved letting the new jinchuriki leave the village for so long, no matter how powerful Jiraiya was. And staying for good would mean the dissolution of Jiraiya's spy network, an invaluable resource that had taken years to cultivate.

"I'm no good with kids, sensei," Jiraiya deflected, as he had every time Hiruzen brought up him meeting Naruto. "Maybe in a couple more years." He crossed his arms as he thought a bit. "Though I would like to meet this 'Ken' fellow. Maybe give him some tips on training. He is training Naruto, right?" Jiraiya had made his opinion on the current state of the Academy clear on several occasions, citing that it had severely decayed since his own tenure and the kids were capable of much more. Which was a rather bold statement from someone who was "no good with kids".

"He is training Naruto, in the basics of all things," Hiruzen said with a smile. The Professor was a firm believer in the old phrases "basics are for battle" and "a strong foundation allows for a stronger house." One only had to look at the man before him to see the fruits of such a philosophy. "But I'm sure he would welcome some insight from one of the Sannin."

"Wonderful. So when can I meet him?"

Hiruzen explained about Ken's escort mission, one that would last a few more days according to Yamashiro's nightly messages delivered by crow. Which meant Jiraiya would have to stay in the village for a bit longer if he wanted to meet him.

"Fine, I'll roam the outlying towns and tap some of my sources for local shenanigans. Now, as for what I've heard recently-"

Tomoko kept her breathing even and her focus on her hearing and chakra senses, carefully open to any signs of a night attack. She trusted her teammates' conclusions that these rappa-nin would wait to attack, but it was always possible for them to try and blindside them while the group was presumably still recovering. Besides, bandits might be roaming the woods, and they'd be just as much of a nuisance as rappa-nin.

To her back was Yama, who was also listening for intruders. With the threat of these ruffians, he'd been more than willing to aid his summoner. He breathed deeply to catch any trace of an enemy's scent … and smirked at a familiar one drawing nearer. "I believe that is my cue," Yama rumbled. "Good night, little one." With that, Yama disappeared in a puff of smoke, leaving Tomoko surprised at his sudden departure.

Surprise that rapidly turned into exasperation when Ken, still in his brunette disguise even at night, landed on the other side of the clients' wine caravan.

"Hey, how are you feeling?" Ken greeted.

"A bit strung out, but not too tired. I usually stay up later than this anyway," she smirked. Ken rolled his eyes and conjured a shadow clone, which then conjured nine more. With a collective salute, the clones scattered into the surrounding trees. Ken leaned back and settled onto the caravan, hands behind his head as he gazed at the moon.

"You know, that's really clever," Tomoko noted, drawing a leg up to wrap her arms around her shin. "Conjuring one clone that has half of your chakra, then having it divide further so you keep as much as you can. Did you come up with that yourself?"

"I dunno," Ken shrugged. "I mean, I did come up with it myself, but who knows if someone else figured it out before that." He smiled. "And thank you for the compliment," he added.

Tomoko smiled back and cast her gaze across the trees surrounding the clearing. "You're teaching me that when we get back, by the way," she said.

"Are you sure you can handle it?" he asked. "That technique is reserved for jonin or a reason. And I haven't checked to see if you have even remotely high enough chakra levels."

"Checked?" Tomoko glanced at him. "You're a sensor, too?" He hadn't mentioned that.

"Not as such. But my clan had a technique that serves a similar function, at least at a short range. My grandfather said a few times that those who were genuine sensor-types could combine it with the sensory technique to vastly expand the range."

"And what vaunted technique is that?" Tomoko asked.

"The Mind's Eye of the Kagura. By focusing our chakra we can open our mind's eye and literally see chakra, like a dojutsu. We can see its color, judge its potency, and determine its amount. Granted, it's not as overpowered as a sharingan or byakugan, but it really has its uses."

Tomoko blinked a few times as she processed the uses of such a technique. "So look at mine," she said.

Ken sat up in surprise. "Seriously?" he asked.

"Sure. I mean, we're teammates, right?" Tomoko reasoned. "It would be a good idea for you to know my limits to the best of your ability." She repositioned herself to be sitting on her knees. "Plus if you don't, I'm going to bug you about it non-stop. So it's really in your best interest, here."

Ken wondered for a moment if she was joking, then grimaced and decided she definitely was not. "Alright," he settled onto his knees as well, "you asked for it."

Ken formed a half-seal and focused to open his mind's eye, taking a few moments. As the technique took effect, he took a close look at Tomoko. His breath escaped at the sight of her chakra. To his mind's eye, her chakra shone bright yellow, like the petals of a sunflower. It was somehow soothing …

Ken shook his head just a bit and got back to the matter at hand. Aside from the color, her chakra was clearly very potent, and her reserves were well above average, too. Not as high as an Uzumaki, but comparable. Which meant she was fine to use the Shadow Clone Technique as long as she kept her limits in mind.

Ken let his mind's eye close and blinked his physical eyes open. "I stand corrected. You've got enough chakra to split between a good three clones and still be ready to fight." With that, he gestured for her to come nearer and whispered the details of executing the technique, which was remarkably simple for a B-rank. Especially given her experience with the shuriken derivative.

"Okay, let me give it a try," she said, standing up and rubbing her hands together. She formed the unique seal for the technique and focused her chakra. 'Shadow Clone Technique!' With a burst of smoke, two doppelgangers appeared and high-fived. "Oh yeah!" Tomoko cheered before clapping her hands to her mouth. It was past midnight — people were trying to sleep! No sooner had she quieted down than Tomoko fell to one knee.

"Tomoko?" Ken asked, suddenly worried; as were her clones. They all backed off as she waved them away, dispelling her clones while she was at it.

"I'm okay. Just took me by surprise, the sudden drain on my chakra." She stood up and shook herself out, trying to acclimate to the sensation. Man, that was weird. No technique in her arsenal could use up chakra quite like that.

"Yeah, that's why it's a jonin technique. But when they disperse, their chakra returns to you. Not to mention anything they've experienced." He smirked. "Using the technique, especially in battle, requires immense self-discipline." Ken chuckled as Tomoko puffed up her cheeks in a pout.

"Remind me, which one of us is the ranking officer here?" she asked, crossing her arms.

"Hopefully the one mature enough not to pull rank over a bit of teasing," Ken replied.

Tomoko smiled and rolled her eyes. "Well, this particular chunin just made the decision to get some sleep for tomorrow. Don't let the camp burn down before Aoba wakes up." She pointed at him. "That's an order."

"Yes ma'am," Ken saluted before settling down and producing a scroll of experimental seal formulae.

As Tomoko hopped off the cart and made her way back to the tents, Ken's smile faded and he focused on his work, confident in his shadow clones to pick up any disturbances for the next few hours. All the while, Aoba's words about this "Tsunami" gang being motivated — and the fleeting image of the seals that had disposed of their members — swirled in the back of his mind as he continued his work. And as he drew up diagrams and designs of sealing matrices and arrays, he couldn't help but wonder what the completion of this mission would entail.

I hope you all liked this because there is more to come.

*The term rappa-nin is of my own invention. It was a term historically used to refer to ninja, meaning "ruffian". So these are literally "ruffian ninja".

*The idea of smaller nations avoiding asking larger ones for help just makes sense to me. Given the militaristic mindsets of most nations, that is not just paranoia - it's well-founded concern.

*The idea of Jiraiya being against the secrecy of the Nine-Tails from the start is borrowed from the marvelous AU fic "Son of the Sannin". Check it out - it's amazing!

Thank you for reading! If you liked it, leave a review! They always make me happy.