Chapter 4: A Rat Finds its Way Out
Tokuma smiled as the boy with the navy-blue hair and similar-colored eyes pulled himself up onto the fishmonger's house.
Playing the girl had been the right move. He hadn't expected her to be so easy to influence. Yet more proof that she didn't have what it took to be a ninja, let alone her pitiful chakra reserve.
Tokuma leaned against the chimney and watched the boy walk over to him. The look on the boy's face all but confirmed that he had won.
The boy gripped his tattered shirt by the hem, appearing to steady his resolve before making eye contact with Tokuma.
"I'll do it. I'll become a ninja of the leaf." The boy stated it like it was already a fact.
Tokuma smiled. "I never had a doubt."
The boy opened his mouth to say something else before Tokuma extended his arm and handed the boy a coin, silencing him before he could say more.
"The leaf ninja HQ is near the eastern gate. You know where that is, right?"
The boy nodded.
"Be at the HQ tomorrow at 9 am and show them this coin. They are already expecting you. There's a caravan leaving for the leaf village at 10 am. I've saved you a spot. The caravan will provide food and shelter."
The boy nodded in understanding and pocketed the coin.
As he turned to leave, Tokuma reached out and grabbed his shoulder. The boy looked up, meeting his eyes.
"Hey kid, good luck."
The boy gave a small smile and then continued on his way.
Tokuma's gaze turned back to the slums beneath him. He'd heard the locals talk about how nothing makes it out of the Tekan slums. That whatever is thrown in is swallowed up.
Tokuma turned back just in time to see the boy disappear over the ledge. Maybe, just maybe, something escapes. Every once in a while, the slums throw something back.
It was dark outside when Arashi made it back to the orphanage. Ayame was already in bed, curled up, face against the wall.
Arashi sighed and crawled into bed. He could tell she wasn't sleeping, so he turned toward her and whispered.
"I leave Tekan tomorrow at 10 am."
That got a response. He could see her shaking under the covers. But she didn't say anything. With a sad glance, he turned over to get some sleep. But just before he drifted off, he heard a small sob-soaked word.
"Good."
When Arashi wakes, Ayame is gone.
He grabs the small bed sheet and puts the few things he calls his own that can't fit in his pockets into the sheet. He then twists it and wraps it around his body, forming a makeshift satchel.
Without a second glance, he leaves the orphanage, not bothering to tell the caretaker. If the ninja hadn't already told her, then Ayame will.
It was easy to identify the ninja HQ at the eastern gate. It was the only building around that had the same symbol the ninja had on his headband. The man said they were expecting him, so Arashi just walked up, opened the door, and walked in.
It was busy.
To the left and right there were desks with ninja manning them. Each desk had a small line of people either asking questions or handing over payment.
Arashi squirted around the lines and grownup's legs until he saw who he assumed to be the clerk sitting at a round table opposite of the building's entrance.
No line.
As Arashi approached, the woman manning the desk put down her nail filler and raised an eyebrow. Unlike the only other ninja Arashi had conversed with, she wore her headband around her upper left arm instead of her forehead. She had brown hair pulled into a ponytail, with two matching tattoos on her cheeks. Arashi also thought he saw two rather sharp teeth peek out from under her upper lips. An observation that was immediately verified when she smiled at him. His head was just barely above the height of the desk, so as he got closer, she stood and leaned on the desk to get a better look.
"Well well well you wouldn't happen to be Tokuma's little pet, would you?"
Arashi frowned. He didn't recall anyone named Tokuma, but then Arashi suddenly paled. He just realized he hadn't even gotten the name of the man that persuaded him to abandon everything he knew and start a new life in a distant village. Stupid Arashi, very stupid.
Arashi cleared his throat, "would that be the guy with the milky eyes?"
The girl let out a hearty laugh, further exposing those sharp teeth.
"To think the Hyūga's precious eyes would be reduced down to a description like milky eyes! I'm so going to mess with him for the rest of my rotation."
When she calmed her laughing, she nodded answering his question, "Yes haha yes that would be Tokuma."
"He said to hand this to you when I got here." Arashi reached up and deposited the coin onto the table.
The girl reached out with one finger, which had a soft blue glow surrounding it, and touched the coin. Arashi watched surprised as the coin started vibrating. Seemingly satisfied, she handed the coin back to Arashi and then turned around and walked into the closed-off room behind her.
She came out moments later with an open vanilla folder reading the contents. "Let's see here. Name is Arashi, no last name. Parents are unknown. Age 7. Birthday July 18th. Navy blue hair and blue eyes. Height is 4ft. Weight is 45lbs. The rest is redacted. All that sound right?"
Arashi nodded, although he didn't even know his own weight. How did Tokuma find that out?
"Good, then you're all set. Take this folder and keep it safe. I advise putting it in that little satchel thing you got twisted around you. Once you get to the leaf, one of the ninjas in the caravan will tell you where to go. You will present that folder to the responsible Ninja in the leaf, and they will set you up."
Arashi nodded, wondering what 'set you up meant'. Things were starting to get a little overwhelming, a bit too real.
In as sure of a voice he could muster, "Thank you, miss ninja. Can you point me to where the caravan is?"
The woman giggled a little and smiled. "How cute. I'll do you one better; I'll walk you there myself. Oh, and my name is Kawaka Inuzuka."
Arashi blushed and followed Kawaka out, although just as he turned, he was pretty sure he heard a snore from under the desk. He just chalked it up to weird ninja stuff.
The eastern gate was just two blocks from the Leaf ninja building. Arashi had only been this way a couple of times. Orphans from the slums tended to get dirty looks the further they got from the slums, so Arashi avoided these areas. There wasn't any food this way anyway.
Kawaka led them through the gate and slightly left, where Arashi could now see the caravan getting organized off the path as to not impede entrance or exit to the city.
To say Sakumo Hatake was tired was an understatement. Ever since the second ninja war had started, the Third Hokage had been running him ragged. With the Hokage's three students all focused on the village hidden in the rain that left Sakumo and a couple of other high-profile jonin jumping between the land of wind and land of earth shoring up any Leaf lines that showed any weakness and providing leadership where needed. Sakumo hadn't gotten a decent break since the war started.
So, when he was told to run as the lead ninja for this caravan from Tekan to the leaf village, he immediately jumped on it, knowing this was the Hokage's way of giving him a small vacation.
Even though Tekan was close to the land of water and thus the village hidden in the mist, Sakumo wasn't worried. The mist village wasn't that active in the war. With Tekan being an important economic hub for the land of fire, the leaf village had set up a pretty robust patrol system along the trade route between the two villages.
Finally, Sakumo thought to himself. A nice, simple, straightforward mission with no immediate risk of decapitation, incineration, or laceration.
Sakumo pulled out the caravan manifest to review their cargo.
apples qty 10 crates
Iron ore qty 3 wagons
Textiles qty 2 wagons
Cattle qty 10
Ceramics qty 5 crates
Sheep qty 12
Children qty 1
Sakumo nodded and said to himself, "alright looks about what I expected… wait what? Children qty 1. What the fu.."
"Hey, Sakumo! Over here!"
Pulled from his confusion, Sakumo turned to acknowledge the call.
"Aww, Kawaka what do I owe the pleasure? Hopefully not any last-minute manifest changes?"
"no no no," Kawaka said amusingly. "Nothing like that. I'm just delivering you your last piece of cargo."
Sakumo's eyes were then drawn to the movement behind Kawaka's legs, where a boy with messy blue hair peaked out.
"That would explain the children qty 1 on the manifest," Sakumo uttered.
"Yup, he's been identified as a potential leaf ninja and is to be delivered to the leaf village safe and sound."
Sakumo noticed the boy frown at that line. Most likely reacting to the way Kawaka described him almost as a piece of hardware.
"Since when have we been actively recruiting from Tekan?" Sakumo asked.
"For about four months now. But no one has been identified until now. Little Arashi here is the first one!" Kawaka gave the boy a small pat on the back, pushing him forward.
The boy, now in front, looked up at Sakumo.
"Hello, Sakumo-san. Pleasure to meet you."
Sakumo scratched his head, "uuhh likewise kid, feel free to go grab a seat on the back of one of those wagons and make yourself comfortable."
With that, the boy nodded and made his way over to a wagon.
"Why are none of my missions simple?" Sakumo whined.
"Oh, common Sakumo, what's the fun in that!"
As Kawaka dismissed herself Sakumo set himself to verifying the last couple of things before setting out.
20 minutes later, they were ready to go. The entire manifest, including the kid, was accounted for. All the wagon drivers were present and Sakumo had organized the rest of the ninja detail into formation.
As the caravan started inching forward onto the main path, Sakumo made his way over to the kids' wagon to check up on him. But just as he was about to speak to the kid, someone beat him to it.
"Arashiii!"
Both Sakumo's and the boy's heads jerked toward the caller. A small girl with midnight black hair and purple eyes standing on top of the gate. She had her fists bunched up in the hem of her dirty, ragged shirt, tears dripping down her face.
"I better hear stories about you from the sailors! The slum boy who made it as a ninja!"
Sakumo turned to look at the boy. The resolve the boy had displayed previously was all but broken. The boy was trembling. Snot and tears falling from his face. Unable to put words together, all the boy could muster was to raise a thumbs up high to the girl.
That seemed to be enough for the girl and she twirled around and disappeared into the city.
"I'll do my best Ayame." The boy quietly muttered between whimpers.
Sakumo smiled softly and ruffled the boy's hair, trying to reassure him. He then turned and yelled out to the rest of the caravan.
"Alright, let's get going! We have 7 days of travel ahead of us, so let's not delay any further!"
Sakumo walked to his position at the front of the queue and set about trying to enjoy his version of ninja vacation.
Arc 1 end