"We haven't sent anyone to Chomei's Guards since we joined the Hidden Leaf," says Shibi, after Torune asks him if he would be able to go and train with the Guards. "I do not even know where they are. If you want to join them, go and find them yourself."
"I will do that," says Torune, nodding. "I will ask Fu to come with me."
"Very good," says Shibi. "Let me know when you are ready to leave, and be sure to pack plenty of spare underwear."
"Yes sir," says Torune, and heads off to ask Fu to help him hunt down Chomei's Guards. Torune finds Fu exactly where he thought he'd find him: in their living room, teasing Shino and Sasuke.
"So are you two dating?" Fu is saying, tapping Sasuke's nose.
"...n-no…" says Sasuke, screwing up her face.
"That is because we are only children," chimes in Shino. "We are friends."
Torune grins. "Ask them again when they're teenagers," he tells Fu. "Shibi says I may go. Will you come with me?"
"Yeah, that sounds like fun," says Fu. "Later kiddies, we have to prepare for a mission."
"What mission?" asks Shino.
"I am going to find a group of people who might agree to train me," says Torune, patting Shino's head. He ensures only the gloved part of his hand touches Shino. "I will send a letter once I've found them, and if they agree to train me, I will stay with them."
"But you just got back from Root!" protests Shino.
"I know," says Torune. "I will visit as often as I can - but that's only if they agree to train me. If they don't agree to train me, I'll just come right back."
Shino just stares solemnly, but somewhat unhappily, at Torune.
Two days later, Torune and Fu wave goodbye to their families and head out to find Chomei's Guards. The sun shines brightly, and a breeze blows a flurry of leaves across their path as the two boys head out.
"See that?" says Fu, grinning and pointing to the leaves. "I've heard Lord Third say that if leaves blow around you when you leave for a mission, it means you will succeed."
The leaves follow them for days. A breeze blows wherever they walk during the day and sleep during the night. Following the half faded map in the Ancient Book, which the boys brought along, they leave the well trodden paths. Torune and Fu trek through jungles and ford rivers. They explore caves and climb mountains, they look for the landmarks shown on the map and find them. An oddly shaped mountain peak, a carved monument, a cave with pictographs painted inside.
Torune and Fu hold their torches high to look at the pictographs. They see a woman with three eyes and two babies. They see the same woman growing a tree and feeding people to it. They see her two babies grow into men, who fight her and save the people. They see the son with two eyes seal the woman into the moon and live there to guard it. The other son, who has three eyes, takes the tree and splits it into nine parts, each one a bijuu.
"Look how it ends," says Fu, pointing to the last painting, which shows nine separate picture, one for each bijuu. "I think the ten people with each bijuu are supposed to be their guards."
"Then the buildings must be the Temples described in the book," says Torune. "A pyramid of sand for the One Tail, a fancy woodland mansion for the Two Tails, the three tails looks like a cave complex hidden under a lake? It's hard to tell. Four Tails has a temple carved into the cliff behind a waterfall, Five Tails' Temple is beside a lake on a large grassy plain. That looks like a giant greenhouse filled with huge plants for the Six Tails. Seven Tails - this is the one we need to find - it looks like he has a village of treehouses deep in a forest. Eight Tails is on a rocky island out at sea, with a temple that looks like a biker gang would hang out there. Nine Tails has a Temple on a cliff between a forest and the sea."
"Wow," says Fu, staring up at the pictographs with his mouth hanging open. "We could use this to find all the bijuu guards if we needed to."
The two boys spend the night in the cave and talk deep into the night about what the story on the walls around them could possibly mean. When morning comes they leave to find their next landmark. However, where the landmark should be is a village surrounded by farmland.
Torune and Fu exchange worried glances.
"Well," says Fu, heading down the hill towards the forest. "Here goes."
"I suppose we can ask around," says Torune, following. "Someone might know where to find it."
The two boys ask around town, showing people the book and being careful not to let anyone touch Torune's bare skin. Most people just shake their heads and deny having seen such a thing. Finally, an old farmer gives them an answer. The old man scratches his head, then his bum, squints at the picture in the book and says, "Oh that ol' thing? I dug it up to make room for me cow shed over there." He jerks his thumb over his shoulder, indicating an impressive cow shed. "Had me a bonfire. Burned real well that thing there did."
Torune and Fu turn to each other in horrified dismay.
The farmer notices their expressions and says, "Now, now, there's no cause for panic. It was just an old broken post."
"Broken?" says Fu, even more horrified.
"That's right," says the farmer, scratching his bum again. "There was a bit broken off that looked like it was meant to be pointing somewhere."
"Where was it meant to be pointing?" asks Torune desperately.
"Couldn't tell ya even if I wanted to," says the farmer. "Say, why are you boys so set on this thingy?"
"Ah.." says Torune, hugging the book to his chest.
"It's sacred to his clan," says Fu. "Bummer. Now how are we supposed to find Chomei's Guards?"
"Chomei's Guards?" says the farmer, suddenly paying proper attention to the boys. "You boys stay away from them. Strange bug people they are. Live in trees and have strange powers. It's not ninjutsu, so it must be magic."
"Hear that, Torune?" says Fu, grinning. "They're strange bug people. You'll fit right in!"
"Where are they?" asks Torune, half begging. "We've come a long way to find them! Please tell us."
"Now, now," says the farmer, taking a step back. "I ain't telling you anything."
"Well, if he's not going to tell us, we'd better think of something else," says Fu, grabbing Torune by the gloved hand and dragging him away. He heads back towards the village, a determined expression on his face.
"Fu?" says Torune, confused. "What are you doing? We can't give up."
"We're not," says Fu, heading out of the village and dragging Torune up the hill they came down and back into the forest. "If he won't help us, then we will have to search the forest around here until we find Chomei's Guards." Fu releases Torune's hand and grins. "You didn't honestly think I'd give up, did you?"
Torune stares at Fu in astonishment. Finally, he says, "Well, maybe...But I'm glad I was wrong."
"Let's start searching, then," says Fu.
The two boys head into the forest and begin their search. They circle the entire village, just inside the tree line until they reach the side of the village where the old man's farm is.
"Let's start by searching around here," says Fu, looking at the map in the book. "Judging by the position of the marker in relation to the Temple on this map, the path we need to take should be on this side of the village."
"There's a river there," says Torune, pointing to it. "If we find that, we won't be too far away."
Torune and Shino head deeper into the forest, studying the map as they go. It is not a very detailed map, but it is all they have to go on. At around midday they reach the river, or at least, they think it is the river. The river on the map does not show a waterfall, but the one they reach has massive waterfall with dangerous rapids at the bottom. The two boys stand at the top of the waterfall and study their map. There is no waterfall on it anywhere.
"Maybe we are at a part of the river that is not on the map?" suggests Fu, tracing the line of the river with his finger. "If we are up here," he indicates an area off the map where the river might flow to, "or down here," he indicates another area off the map, "then it would explain why there is no waterfall on the map. The only problem is that we cannot tell which way the river flows based on the map, otherwise we would know right away where we are."
Torune studies the map. "Maybe we can figure it out, "he says. "See here, on the previous markers, it has directions in north, south, east and west. The map isn't 100% accurate and it's nowhere near to scale, but if we go off where we've been and where the direction took us before, that puts us about here." Torune point's to the second area off the map that Fu indicated. "And the river flows this way," Torune traces his finger down the line indicating the river on the map.
"You're right," says Fu. "That means we need to follow the river downstream." His stomach growls hungrily. "But first, lunch."
The two boys settle down in the grass with their lunch food, bought from the village while they were there. While they eat, they put the book away in Torune's bag to avoid getting food on it.
"This is one ant short of a picnic," jokes Fu while they are munching on the last scraps of their meal.
Torune hears a strange sound. He sits up a bit straighter. "Did you hear that?"
"Yes," says Fu, reaching for a kunai. "It came from over there."
The two boys turn towards whatever is coming towards them through the forest. After a few tense seconds, a giant black ant emerges from the undergrowth. It towers high above the boys, staring down at their picnic enviously.
"Haha," Torune laughs nervously. "There's our ant. Now it's a picnic."