Trigger warning: Sute briefly references pedophilia.
Chapter 41
Traveling to the Land of Bamboo was both surprisingly quiet and eventful at the same time.
Sute had done everything to make the trip as smooth as possible. Killing her ANBU team had been unfortunate, but a necessary measure to fake her own demise. No one in Kiri would be likely to see through the fake body she'd left behind, especially after all the research and experimentation she'd done with Kabuto's technique. Between that and the extensive damage to the body, there should be no reason for anyone to pursue her, meaning she could take her time traveling.
With her civilian disguise, few shinobi would give her more than a passing look. Some might be suspicious of a teenage girl traveling alone, but it didn't matter. Shinobi were rare along the trails she chose to use for travel, easy enough to avoid. Mostly she saw merchants and other weary travelers, usually heading in different directions from herself.
The one time someone did stop her, she told them she had been traveling with her father until he died and that she was returning to his village. Also, no, she would not open her overly large bag to show them what was inside! She was a single girl traveling alone with all the earthly belongings she and her father owned, of course the bag was very bulky! What, did they want to see her underwear? Or the box with her father's ashes? Did they have no respect for the dead?
(Later that night she opened the box to drop in a mouse for the small pile of mamushis nested inside. Between the seals keeping the box warm and the padding to keep them from being jostled too much, they were thankfully okay with the extended travel.)
Leisurely as the trip tended to be, posing as a civilian had its issues though. Civilians couldn't exactly run at high speeds, so she had to walk slowly from place to place, especially around more populated areas. Honestly, that part didn't bother her as much as she'd expected. Sute had spent her whole second life constantly working towards defecting, and now that she had, she decided to just enjoy the scenery for once in her damn life.
However, as a lone teenage girl, Sute also made an easy target for bandits.
Hence how she ended up in the current situation.
"You do realize I have literally nothing of value on me, right?" she asked as she faced down the horde of bandits. The lead one flashed an unsavory, sleazy-looking smirk that made her cringe, feeling revulsion pulse through her entire body.
"Oh, sweetheart, we don't care about money right now," he chuckled lowly, and Sute really wanted to just mokuton him to death. Was mokuton a verb? Screw it, it was now. She really wanted to make a giant twisting spire of wood burst from the ground and skewer him, the guy deserved to suffer as much as possible. She could already see a nearby tree ever so slightly start to bend towards him in response to her desire.
Alas, Sute couldn't do that right now. Not because she was physically unable to do so or anything like that, but because there were probably Leaf ninja nearby. She had noticed a while back a somewhat advanced chakra signature while doing her usual sensory check on the local root systems, and given their speed and the direction they'd been heading when she checked, they should be close enough to pick up on flashy ninjutsu altering the forest.
Poison, maybe? she wondered idly. Poison didn't require using chakra, and throwing some poison-coated senbon could be quite quiet. However, there were just enough bandits that she couldn't take them down all at once without at least one of them screaming. While her aim with projectiles had gotten significantly better under Ao's supervision, she couldn't hit six in the throat with one toss.
As she considered her options the lead bandit began approaching while the others hung back, watching with slimy-feeling leers. Sute stepped back reflexively, her eyes narrowing at the leader. "Sirs, you really shouldn't do this," she told him bluntly.
"Who's gonna stop us?" he asked, grinning to reveal several missing teeth. Sute couldn't help staring at the gaps, her mind briefly short-circuiting.
"Oh my gosh, this is straight out of a bad novel," she groaned, and the remark was enough to make him halt his advance in surprise.
"What?"
"Look at yourselves," she said, waving an arm at him with a disgusted grimace. "You're all filthy and covered in dirt with tattered clothes. You're missing a bunch of teeth, that guy's teeth look rotten," she pointed to one of the other bandits who scowled, flashing his black-smudged teeth in the process, "and you're ganging up on a lone girl who's not even marriageable age."
"The hell does marriage got to do with this?" one of the other bandits cajoled.
"Nothing, except you're all pedophiles," she deadpanned, and that made them all stare at her.
"...Wait, what?" someone muttered, and Sute sighed.
"Typically, most countries only allow girls to marry at sixteen," she explained, speaking slowly and carefully as if talking to a child. "I am fifteen, thus below marriageable age. Therefore, by the standards of most countries, I am a minor, so you are all technically pedophiles. Or, more technically, ephebophiles, since I'm fifteen," she mused to herself, and then paused as she realized what she just said. "Okay, hold on, why the hell do I remember that word? When and where the hell did I even learn it in Japanese?"
"...What the actual fuck," someone whispered.
"I know, right?" Sute drawled before shaking her head. "Know what, doesn't matter where I picked it up. The point is, given your apparent interest in me, you're ephebophiles, which is technically a type of pedophile." She shot them very haughty and judging looks, crossing her arms with a disapproving frown. "Really. You're just ticking off all the 'bad cheesy bandit' tropes from bad novels."
For a moment none of the bandits spoke, just stared at her. "Hey," someone finally called. "Can we just kill her?"
"Let's do it," the lead bandit replied with a scowl, pulling out a cheap-looking dagger from the hilt on his back. Well, she'd succeeded in diverting his attention from his original goal, and more importantly bought some time.
More than enough for that Leaf ninja to be close enough to hear.
Sute uncrossed her arms as she took a step back, her face contorting with obvious fear. "Please, just leave me alone!" she yelled. "I-I mean it, don't come any closer!"
Maybe they weren't all idiots after all because she noticed one man look alarmed and wary at her sudden change in demeanor, but it was too late. At that moment a green blur crashed into one of the bandits and sent him flying into a nearby tree, making the others whirl around in shock. They turned just in time to see their companion slump against the tree, barely clinging to consciousness as he groaned painfully.
The newcomer quickly positioned himself between Sute and the bandits. "I've seen many scum, but this is particularly low," a deep voice boomed. "Attacking a young maiden all on her own is by far one of the most cowardly acts I've ever witnessed!" As he spoke Sute was glad she had a decent excuse to look shocked as she stared at his forest green suit and orange leg warmers, along with a familiar black bowl cut.
Of all the people for that chakra signature to belong to, she did not predict Maito Gai to show up.
He turned to glance over his shoulder, his trademark grin absent as he shot her a worried look. "Are you hurt, miss?"
"I-I'm fine, sir," Sute assured him with a quick nod, the brief stutter actually genuine for once. Seriously, thank goodness it was normal for a civilian to be stunned by a shinobi, because she was having trouble hiding her shock. "You arrived just in time, thank you!" Gai nodded at her gratitude and then flashed her that trademark grin, his teeth seeming to sparkle as he gave her a thumbs up.
"Good! Then please stand back, I'll finish off these ruffians quickly!" With that he spun around and charged at the bandits, who had just figured out they were in over their heads. Alas, that realization came too late, and within seconds his foot had connected with another man's stomach, sending him crashing into a different tree from the first.
Definite concussion, Sute idly noted as the guy's head bounced back against the trunk and knocked him out. Gai then spun on his heel to deliver a harsh kick to another man's side, sending him flying back with a pained shout and quiet crack. Fractured or broken rib.
In the same motion as the kick, Gai twisted his torso to the side so his hands could plant on the ground in a handstand. His legs swept through the air as he pushed off the ground and his heel came down on a fourth man's head, sending him forcefully toppling to the dirt. Considering he'd been standing and had his head basically shoved to the ground by a kick with the force of a sledgehammer, it was easily the most brutal takedown yet. Concussion, damage to the jaw, potential minor spinal damage, probably sprained ankles too.
By that point the two remaining bandits had long since realized they were in well over their heads and had turned to flee. Gai sprung to his feet and lunged after them, and for the grand finale he simultaneously delivered two chops to the backs of their heads. The men started crumpling to the ground with shouts of pain, but he rotated his palms to grab their heads from behind and slam them down with a loud, definitive crack. Definitely a broken nose at the bare minimum, probably lots of broken facial bones. Potential damage to the neck and spinal cords.
All of this happened in under fifteen seconds. When the last two went down Gai turned to face her, grinning and flashing her a thumbs up. "The bandits have been eliminated! You're safe now, young lady!"
Sute just stared, feeling a creeping sense of awe and dread. Gai moved almost too fast to follow, and if not for her training Sute probably wouldn't have been able to keep track of him at all. Even with the opponents just being measly bandits, he hadn't held back—no, she suddenly realized, he had. After all, the bandits were still alive, even with all their injuries.
A chill ran down her spine as she surveyed the aftermath of the one-sided beatdown. This was the power of a taijutsu master. With how much he played comic relief in the anime and manga, she honestly forgot just how skilled Maito Gai would actually be.
If they fought, could Sute win? Five minutes ago she would have said yes, but after what she'd just witnessed...
She'd need to do something to slow his movements for starters, also find a way to guard all her vital points. With that speed he could easily strike her before she could even finish making hand seals, let alone whip out a weapon. If she went into the battle prepared to fight him, she might have a chance, but if they met randomly? If he were to attack her right now?
Mokuton, she thought numbly. Mokuton was the only solution to fight this guy. It probably wouldn't even be a conscious choice, Sute could tell from experience that her instinctive pull on the nearby trees would be triggered instantly the second he moved to attack her. After seeing his skill, he was just that good to trigger that fight or flight reflex which Sute had tried to suppress for so long.
As she continued to stare Gai's smile faded, his expression becoming more somber. "Ah, I suppose you must not be used to such violence," he murmured to himself, and she realized he'd construed her silence as being afraid of him rather than anything else. Which, wasn't totally wrong, but not quite in the way he believed. He stood straighter and dipped into a bow. "My apologies for being so brutal in front of a young maiden! I simply wished to subdue them as swiftly as possible."
"P-please, don't apologize!" Sute replied hastily, slipping into the "inexperienced and slightly timid civilian girl" persona with ease. "I mean it's a little scary, but I was also just so amazed! I couldn't see you move at all! I didn't know people could move that fast!" And terrifyingly, that last bit was actually true. At the very least, she didn't think they could move that fast without tapping into the Eight Gates or performing a shunshin.
Either way her response seemed to placate Gai, who straightened up with a relieved smile. "Ah, thank you very much! Don't expect to see many shinobi as fast as myself though. I have trained long and hard to reach this level," he added with a boisterous laugh, before turning to survey the bandits. "Now excuse me for a moment, miss, while I restrain these bandits."
Given all their injuries, Sute didn't think they'd need to be restrained at all. These guys wouldn't be going anywhere without severe pain for a while. Still, she quickly bobbed her head in assent, watching as Gai pulled out a spool of ninja wire to quickly restrain them. Funnily enough, tying them up took longer than actually taking them down, though given it took him less than fifteen seconds to do that...
Note to self, never piss off Gai, she solemnly told herself as he finished the last knot and turned to her. "Now then! Young lady, what has you here all alone? You should know this area is very dangerous. There's been a rise in bandit attacks recently."
"There have?" she asked, genuinely unaware, and Gai's expression became more serious as he nodded, crossing his arms with a thoughtful frown.
"Yes, we've gotten increased reports in the past few months. I can't disclose all the details of our investigations, but right now it's strongly advised that people don't travel alone near the borders to the Land of Rice Fields unless they have a shinobi escort or some form of training. There seems to be a rise in more malicious individuals crossing from there. A young lady traveling alone such as yourself is particularly at risk."
Sute frowned as she absorbed the information, absently glancing in the direction she knew that Rice Fields would be. Could it be Orochimaru had already started his efforts to take over the country, and created civil unrest that had people fleeing? Or had it started deteriorating on its own, and Orochimaru simply took advantage of it later? Either way, she had been right to avoid Rice Fields even if it meant crossing into Fire.
Wondering about it wouldn't change anything right now. She turned back to Gai and dipped into a slight bow. "Thank you for informing me, sir. I had no idea, so I'll have to be more careful."
"Why are you traveling alone?" Gai asked, not unkindly. "Now that I look at you, you're actually quite young. I usually see girls your age in caravans or the safety of villages rather than on the road." Sute straightened out of her bow, mouth pulling into a small frown.
"I know it's odd. I spent most of my life traveling with my father after my mother died, but... he recently passed." She averted her gaze as she spoke, showing the proper amount of sadness. "He originally traveled from another country after his own parents died, and my mother's relatives disowned her after their marriage, so I don't know them. I am currently going to his native village to return his ashes, and hopefully find some of his relatives to take me in."
When she raised her head she expected Gai to have a sympathetic look on his face, just like the last person she'd told the story to. What she did not expect were the tears streaming down his cheeks as his face scrunched up and wobbled with emotion. Once again, Sute was reminded that for all the terrifying skill he just displayed, he was still a major source of comic relief in canon.
"Such tragedy... To be orphaned at a young age and left all alone, with no knowledge of your family but still wishing to return your father to them...!" He sniffled and rubbed his face with his arm, and then pumped a fist into the air. "Yosh! It's decided! I, Maito Gai, shall be more than happy to escort you to your father's village!"
...Wait, what?
As it turned out, convincing an overly emotional man-child who could snap your neck before you could even blink that you'd be fine on your own was near impossible.
It had taken close to three hours for Sute to finally realize and accept this, and she had to try not to sulk as she trailed behind the eagerly marching jounin. Gai had been far too enthusiastic about the prospect of escorting her, and Sute ultimately had no choice but to accept her companion's presence.
"Kanade-san, the sun will go down soon," Gai commented, using the false name she'd given him as he glanced back at her. "There's a town not far from here. Should we find an inn there, or are you comfortable with camping?"
"An inn would be lovely, thank you," Sute replied with a polite smile while she internally screamed. She would not camp with the man and risk him waking her up and triggering a reflexive attack. Something told her Gai was an absolute morning person. Sute wasn't not a morning person, but his high energy would definitely freak her out first thing after waking up.
"Yosh, then it's decided!" Gai declared, pumping a fist into the air. "We'll pick up our pace until we reach the next town and seek shelter for the night!" He turned forward and Sute let her smile fall into a disgruntled scowl, trudging after him reluctantly. He kept up a constant stream of lighthearted chatter the whole way, Sute pasting on a smile every time he looked at her and replying cheerfully and politely.
It's just until we reach the borders to Bamboo, she reminded herself. That had been the agreement they'd made. When she'd explained that her journey would take her to Bamboo, he had been disappointed because his own mission meant that would be out of the way. Which raised the question about what the hell his mission was, since it apparently gave him enough time to escort a random girl to another country's borders, but she didn't really care.
For now, she was stuck with him, keeping up the façade of Kanade the innocent orphan traveler who needed a big, strong man to protect her. Surprisingly, she didn't mind the last part so much since it was kinda nice to have someone to scare off the bandits before they could even attack for once. Sute could handle herself perfectly fine, but after the fifth time bandits try to spring an attack, it just gets really annoying.
Still, she'd prefer to not have to feel constantly on guard around him.
"Kanade-san," Gai said, cutting into her thoughts. "You said you've been traveling for your entire life, yes?"
"As long as I can remember," Sute confirmed with a shy smile, and Gai hummed.
"Traveling during war must have been difficult, then," he mused to himself, and Sute felt her smile become just a little more genuine. Though he said it with her cover story in mind, he had no idea how true those words rang. Her earliest memories were of traversing battlefields alone, scavenging corpses for supplies and sitting beside people so they wouldn't be alone as they died.
"It was certainly a less than peaceful childhood," she said quietly. "I saw a lot of violence as a child, some of my oldest memories were of walking past fresh battlefields. My father could only protect me so much."
And now her thoughts trailed to her first life, to her father's repeated warnings to never go to their basement as a young child and the lessons in martial arts and self defense from an early age. It had not been war, but her first childhood had been painted with bloodshed of a different kind, the type that left one just as numb to violence and the horrors man could commit. She still couldn't determine which was more horrific. They were just different shades of awful.
"I myself wasn't much older than you during the war," Gai commented. "I suppose you at least never saw the front lines, but you must have still seen some horrific things."
"This is an oddly heavy topic," Sute remarked. "No offense, shinobi-san, but you don't seem the type to get so serious. Being so grim doesn't seem to suit you." Gai seemed to startle at that, and then flashed her one of his grins over his shoulder.
"I suppose not. I didn't mean to bring up such a heavy topic anyway, it just suddenly crossed my mind when I asked about your travels." He turned forward, continuing more casually, "I meant to ask about your father's village. You said you've never been there?"
"I have not," Sute replied, shaking her head. "I've heard about it of course, but I don't know much about it. He was not the type to talk about the past."
"I see. And what of his family? You said his parents died, but you believe he has other relatives there, yes? Did he tell you about them?"
"Bits and pieces. His family wasn't exactly large," and that wasn't even a lie, "and from what I know most died long ago. The few that still live are scattered refugees."
"Refugees?" Gai echoed curiously, and she nodded.
"Yes. Years ago, even before the last war, our family's original home country was devastated by a brutal attack on our village, and most of our relatives died. The survivors scattered around the world." Sute saw no reason to make up some elaborate story, the truth worked perfectly fine there as long as she didn't get into specifics. "My father's family settled in that village when he was young but he never quite got over the wanderlust of his childhood, hence why we traveled. I'm told I should have a cousin there, though, so I'm hoping he will take me in."
"I hope so too," Gai agreed. "But if he doesn't, do you have any backup plans?"
"I have some other ideas, yes," she replied with a smile. Sute didn't know if this cousin Shiromi mentioned would take her in, especially given how the woman had spoken of him. Honestly though? She didn't really plan to give him a choice. If he opened his doors to her and provided shelter, then great.
If not, she could literally grow herself a house.
Well, not a full house. As it turned out, she couldn't just magically spawn a fully formed house without knowing how it was constructed. Yamato made it look so easy in the anime, but all she could do was make a rough hut-like thing. After several hours analyzing architecture books though, Sute felt she could at least make herself a decent single-room abode.
It would be simple, but it would work well until she could have a local carpenter construct a proper house. After all, it wouldn't be hard to gain approval from the rest of the village once she offered her services.
"I've learned a lot about herbs and medicine over the years," she commented. "I believe I can probably find myself an apprenticeship if I'm truly desperate." She could take an apprentice, and probably convince someone to shelter her in exchange for her teachings until construction of a clinic was completed. Then she could run some quick missions to get funds to commission a greenhouse. So if this "Rei" didn't like her, Sute had plenty of options.
"I'm glad you have other options," Gai said. "Medicine is a very respectable and youthful career! Still, I hope your relative does take you in. You're very young to be left alone in the world on your own."
"I'll be fine," Sute assured him with a smile. "My father made sure I'd be able to fend for myself, no matter what."
And there was a truth to those words no one would ever understand.
Note relating to the trigger warning at the top: I actually learned the term "ephebophile" from a manga called "Cage of Eden", and Sute did too. So no one has to search it up, it's specifically referring to the 15 to 19 age range. Strongly debated on cutting it out since the topic is so sensitive, but... It's within Sute's character to mention it in that situation, so. Sorry?
Sorry once again for the long wait! Time just keeps flying, and also, I've been having MAJOR block issues with the chapters after this one. Sute's cousin Rei is so against meeting her, it's apparently bled into reality. He doesn't want to make accepting her easy.
But a heads up: I made a Discord server called "Village Hidden in the Tea Leaves". It's meant to be a general Naruto fanfiction Discord server, but has channels for my two big fics! The invite link ends in FFmag9kQjf. I hope you all enjoy it!
