"Ahh. Kagami you are... why do you have a Katana on your back?" The Hokage asked Kagami as entered the Missions Office.
Kagami had finally, after a week of training, added a katana to his normal combat repertoire. He had been training with it three hours a day every day for seven days, he was comfortable enough to use it in battle, even if it was not amazing yet. He was unpolished but fast and strong enough to be comfortable.
"I have been training with it, I seem to even have a talent for it."
The man nodded slowly. "Just be careful, those are no toys."
"I am aware." Turning, he saw a team of Ninja. A girl that looked like a panda, a boy with bushy brows and green clothes and a man that was his doppelganger but much bigger and stronger. "Hello, there."
No one gave him a look of disgust or hate, they all smiled at him even. "Hello, there my youthful friend!" The man said, loudly and deeply.
"Can you really use that blade?" The girl asked.
"Hello, to you to sir... and yes Ma'am I can. Kind of, I have only been training a week but thankfully the kunai close quarters training we have in the academy seems to have really helped give some more talent and skill in this sort of thing. It felt less awkward and uncomfortable."
The girl beamed. "I'm a weapons expert, I'd love to spar with you sometimes!"
"Same, I need someone to train with Kenjutsu... anyway, Lord Hokage, I presume that this is the team I will be on today?"
"Yes... and I have a C rank for you actually. It might be a bit early, but they were set to go on one for a few weeks but with Neji Hyuuga being forced into clan training, I had no choice but to have you join them." The man chuckled at Kagami's gaping. "Yes, I know you are surprised. It is a simple mission though. Every month we receive a transport of important herbs to our village. Poisons, healing herbs, and so on. It is actually very important for our village, you will be going to and retrieving these herbs, ensuring nothing is tampered with nor that we lose this supply. It is in Tea Country, just over the border by the sea."
"I can do that." He said, proud.
"It may turn into a B rank if you are attacked by ninja, are you prepared for that?" The Hokage asked.
He nodded. "My blade is not for looking pretty, it is for gutting my enemies if need be. I am not going to look for a fight, but I will happily finish one."
"Good, then you join up with Team Nine and go to it. They have done this mission a few times, they are familiar with it."
Guy turned to him. "Gather your supplies and met up with us at the gate in half an hour. I will be checking your supplies, so do not worry about messing up. This is the time for learning!"
Already liking Guy, Kagami happily went to his home to gather his supplies.
"""
"I have thirty shuriken in my thigh pouch, twenty kunai in my back pouch, Fifty senbon in my other thigh pouch, since I have been working very hard to master that. Three spools of ninja wire, five explosive tags and one first aid kid sealed in a scroll also in the back pouch. In my backpack I have a few scrolls that hold my clothes, tenth and more. I have three days' worth of ration bars and some basic toiletries." Kagami listed to Guy. " I also have my sword, obviously, and the things needed to take care of it since it is not sealed to maintain itself."
Guy beamed. "Then you are ready! You did very, very well. Clearly you prepared! It is good to have another weapons user like Tenten... oh and I forgot introductions. I am Might Guy, Taijutsu Master and Elite Jonin. This is Tenten, weapons expert and Rock Lee, taijutsu expert."
"YOSH! It is an honor to meet you!"
Stepping back, wide eyes, Kagami smiled. "You might be louder than my brother... but you seem strong, your aura is all sorts of potent and you are all muscly. I can see your weight too, I use the same kind myself. I took them off for this mission, so I am not impeded by them in battle."
Guy beamed. "Your youth is radiant my boy! You will go far with that attitude. Perhaps we can help with that. You see this mission will only take two days for us, we have you for as long as Neji is gone. You can train with us and we will help you grow as a ninja!"
Kagami beamed right back. "Thank you! I would be honored."
"""
The journey to Tea Country had gone without problems. Konoha and Fire Country were on friendly terms with Tea Country, so when they changed to visible travel after passing the border, they weren't stopped by the Tea Country military. They reached the harbor of Tea Country around six in the evening. Guy showed them a nice Inn to eat at, and after that, he would show them a place where they could put up their tents. It was a nice place, in a clearing just outside of town. It was so typically used that the hand-off of supplies was sent right there directly instead of the port, partially for safety reasons as well.
Guy, rushed off before they passed out to evaluate the supplies. It was a task that had to be performed by at least a chunin he said, as the supplies were extremely important. He couldn't even bring them, that was how important it was. You had to be trained specifically in that field to even look at them. Most ninja received that extra training as some point after becoming Chunin, Guy said it was a three day course.
They had a nice, night, no training thankfully ( Kagami was very tired from the overstimulation of so many new places) and all seemed well. He personally prepared dinner, being a great cook from years of not trusting local restaurants to not poison or overcharge him.
Around seven in the morning they were greeted by the head merchant who coordinated the shipments for Konoha.
"Ah, good morning. It is nice to see you, Guy, Tenten, Lee! It has been a few months."
Guy, standing tall nodded. "It has been. Kagami, this is Marakomo Takamishi, the head merchant that has been supplying Konoha with the goods we are going to transport for decades."
Guy, you inspected the goods yesterday, was everything in order?"
"Yes, like always everything we ordered is there in top quality, Marakomo," Kakashi answered.
"Okay, are your students trained in sealing things in scrolls?" Mr Takamishi asked.
Guy looked at Kagami who nodded. " Yes, they all are!"
Guy coordinated where they got to work and after one hour all the crates and boxes were safely sealed away and the scrolls in the genins' backpacks.
"It was nice seeing you again, Guy! " Mr Takamishi said when they were ready to leave.
"Likewise, Marakomo."
"Goodbye," Guy said.
"Goodbye." The three genin also said.
Guy led his team out of the village and once they were outside he increased their traveling speed to low running speed. They would speed things up once they were out of Tea Country. Team Nine reached the gates of Konoha without interruption late in the afternoon. Guy signed them in and led them to the Hospital for immediate delivery. Kagami immediately recoiled as they entered the hospital, the hateful glares were a stark reminder of his place in the world. He hadn't noticed the lack of hateful glares in Tea country but now the hateful glares were a thousand times worse.
Guy did something bold and glared right back. "Is there a problem?" He uttered, his tone low. The nurse handling their delivery actually recoiled. "He is a ninja of the Leaf, you will treat him as such." The lady nodded before everything was pulled away. Guy leaned down to him. "I will not allow people to mistreat you, not everyone is like them."
"I appreciate that, sir." And he did deeply, but as before with Shibi he could not help but think. 'Where was this before, when I was little and needed it more.'
Tenten asked. "Why did they look at you like that?"
Sighing, Kagami turned to her. " It's complicated but I can say that is genuinely not my fault. People are ignorant and no one has corrected them. Not even the Hokage." He did not mean to disrespect the Hokage so openly, but damn it this was tiring. A lifetime of hate had worn down on his soul and he was immensely tired of it. "There is still daylight, we can train if you'd like?" If there was one thing he learned, it was that Lee and Guy loved to train. They were loudly declaring about the stuff they did every five minutes and boy was it tiring but he liked it too. They were hard workers and he could respect that.
"YOSH! LET'S GO!" Lee declared and within moments they were gone, rushing to a distant training ground at super speeds to kick ass...
He would go home covered in bruises that night but he learned a lot just from watching Lee train. The boy was seriously dedicated and he could not help but implement his style into everything. The boy even offered to have him train with him and Guy starting at five even when he was no longer a part of their team. If his raw speed and strength was anything indication, Kagami knew he would get very, very strong and damn it he loved it!
"We have to train in your kenjutsu!" Tenten said and he had even more hope.
Life might finally be turning around... or so he hoped.
Chapter end, tell me what you think in the reviews.
This was a fun chapter, and I loved writing it. I love Team Guy.
Love, your Ninja Overlord,
Mika.