Arc One, Chapter 4: The Ill-mannered Guests

Sora and his team had arrived for their first C-rank assignment. Aoi and Kaito were chatting amongst themselves quietly while Hayato idly spun his kunai in the air. Sora smirked at Hayato, noting how he didn't distance himself as far apart from his teammates as he did on the first day.

Sora walked to Naruto, expecting another wild "scene" occur because of the blond—when he realized that today Naruto was perfectly normal. Sora looked around for her;and the he spotted her, standing near Naruto with a clipboard in her hand, checking off things methodically. She had bright pink hair, glasses over her beautiful green eyes, and fair skin. She donned the Konohagakure jounin flak jacket, pants and some boots. She was a beauty, Sora remarked, almost as beautiful as he was handsome.

As if reading his thoughts, she glanced up in Sora's direction.

"Well," she said, "Are you just going to stand there, Mr. Prince?"

"Ah, and yet again you have yanked my breath away with your beauty," he knelt down on one knee, dramatically thrusting out his hand towards her and clutching his heart, "Oh, how my soul burns for—"

"Your group of genin are behind you." she reminded.

He turned towards them as they stared at him with exasperated expressions.

He sighed and got up.

"A cruel mistress, you are, Sakura. A cruel mistress indeed."

She smiled, but not at him, at the three genin that were coming up to the desk.

"I hear this is your first C-rank mission, isn't it?"

They nodded.

"I remember ours," she glanced at Naruto, and he smiled, scratching the back of his head.

Naruto grabbed the assignment from Sakura's hand.

"Oh, you guys are lucky! Your assignment is an escort mission. The clients are waiting at the village gates. You are to gaurd the Imada family. Bandits are loitered all around their path back to their village. You should expect some fighting." Naruto admitted, but then he looked at their expressions and quickly added, "But I'm sure you will be able to handle it."

"You heard him," Sora turned around, "Let's go!"

"Wait," Sakura said, and handed Sora a note. She then nodded, giving them permission to leave.

. . .

Kaito watched Sora from the corner of his eyes as they walked towards the village gate. When Sora read the note, something dark flashed across his eyes, but just as fast as it had came, it had left. Kaito could've sworn he had imagined it, but at the same time he was sure it was real.

As they neared the gate, they heard a loud clamor of voices and cheerful laughter. One man laughing wore a long-sleeved dark green shirt, matching pants, and a cotton tunic thrown over it. He had red hair and blue, sea eyes with tints of green. A boy who looked similar to the man sat under him, looking at the merchants with curiosity. One of the merchants was stroking the mane of one of the two horses who's reigns were connected to the carriage; both horses looked strong, both with smooth, brown skin and brown eyes.

A woman with long and luxurious, curly blond hair was talking to other women from the village, holding her hair in a demonstrative way. She wore a one-piece white cotton outfit, a black ribbon tied around her thin waist. They all wore brown sandals.

In a way, they all looked like shepherds, or peasants for that matter, but didn't act like it. Kaito couldn't help but smile when there was another round of laughter; it was contagious!

"Hi," Sora greeted the man, "We are Team 11, and we will be escorting you to your village."

"Nice to meet you! I'm Mamoru Imada. This is my son, Michio, and my lovely wife," he gestured to the blond woman over to the side, "Rika."

"I'm Sora Hayabusa, a pleasure to meet you. This is Kaito Koizumi, Hayato Maki, and Aoi Suzuki." He pointed at each of them as he said their name.

"Nice to meet each of you." He grinned. Around this time, Aoi had been called over by the lady named Rika; she blushed as Rika talked to her, though Kaito could not hear what was being said. "We're about ready to go. See ya, guys!" He called to the merchants, and they waved happily as Mamoru went and sat on the elevated perch of the carriage, taking up the reigns. Michio went over and got his mother, Aoi coming along with them.

Rika came and spoke to Sora.

"Do you mind if Aoi sits with us?"

"Sure!"

Aoi looked from him to the woman, and then sighed, getting into the carriage with Rika and Michio.

"Everybody ready?" Mamoru turned, looking at Sora. Sora shook his head. "Let's go, then!" He commanded the horses to begin trotting towards their village.

. . .

"You really are a beautiful girl." Rika told Aoi.

Aoi didn't want to be in here. She wanted to be out there, walking, chatting with her teammates. But she could be patient; she would wait for anything suspicious to come along and use that as an excuse to get out.

"Thank you," Aoi blushed, "You're pretty too."

"Oh, thank you. You know, I bet you have a lot of admirers. I know I did at your age. But alas, it was Mamoru who stole my heart." she looked forward at the red-haired man chatting with Sora as he directed the horses. Rika suddenly looked back at Aoi. "Do you have anyone you like?"

Aoi blushed harder, and she shook her head.

'How did we get on this topic? As if my mother doesn't ask enough.'

"A shame. A girl with your looks could attract any male you wish. But that doesn't mean you won't spark any jealousy in any of the girls. Watch out, because if there's one thing that I'm sure of, it's that jealousy is a strong emotion."

Aoi pondered what she meant, but she decided to change the topic.

"How old is Michio?" Aoi pointed at the boy who quickly had fallen asleep as soon as he sat down.

"Oh him? He's eight, at the moment. Soon he'll be nine."

"How soon?"

"In about two months."

"Oh," Aoi looked at the boy in the corner of the carriage, his peaceful sleeping face making her smile.

. . .

Kaito stretched his arms out in a long yawn. It was a nice day. Not to hot, and not to cold, but just perfect. There was a soft summer breeze traveling throughout the forest. Sora and Mamoru were laughing and enjoying each other's company. Meanwhile, Kaito was stuck with Hayato, who seemed like he would prefer it stay quiet.

But Kaito wasn't the type of person to stay quiet.

"So," Kaito tried striking up a conversation, "How's life?"

Hayato rose an eyebrow.

'At least he's willing to communicate.' He thought gladly. Maybe this could work.

Before Kaito could speak again, Sora called him over.

"Yes, sensei?"

"Could you pick that purple rock up over there for me?"

Kaito would've declined, but he owed Sora for the lesson. He reluctantly walked over to the tree—and stopped. He felt something, but was unsure what is was.

"Nevermind, Kaito!" Sora waved the genin back to his side. He smiled and ruffled Kaito's hair before saying, "You felt them, didn't you?"

Sora had said it so lowly that it was below a whisper, and Kaito had wondered why he had said it so low. Maybe so they wouldn't hear him?

"Soon." He said in the same whispery voice, then dismissed Kaito back to his teammate.

. . .

They road soon broke into four separate roads. They took the one on the near left, Sora and the client still chatting happily, despite what Sora had told Kaito. Was he just playing?

As they continued down the path, the bushes rustled more often. When a loud sound came from a large bush, two deers came running out. Kaito sighed with relief. He had thought that it was an attack.

Then there was a blinding glare.

Sora jumped in front of the horses and deflected two throwing knives. Hayato threw his bag on the carriage and got in a defensive stance.

"Protect the left side. I've got the right." He glared at the bushes.

Kaito nodded and went around to the other side of the halted carriage. Kaito was about to call for Aoi when two men burst out from the bushes, smiling wickedly with a knife gripped loosely in their hands.

"We'll let you live if you give us everything you have."

Kaito swallowed, making a gulping sound. The two bandits wasn't scaring him, it was behind them that was; the creeping, hungry stares of more attackers, waiting for their chance to strike.

"No thanks. I doubt I'd get paid if I let you have everything. Maybe a...shuriken!" He threw three shuriken at the guy on the left, two sinking into his shoulder. He fell to his knee, yelling "Kill him!" through gritted teeth.

The other man, now furious, charged at Kaito like a wild animal. Just as the man was about to stab him, Kaito substituted his bag with himself. Kaito jumped from the carriage onto to the confused looking man, slamming his fist into his face. The man got up and backed up, groaning angrily and rubbing his jaw.

"Attack!" He bellowed in rage. Bandits swarmed the carriage. Kaito barely had time to process what was happening until they were all on him. When he threw three punches to one face, another one appeared. A hard kick to the chest, and another bandit took his place. Was there no end to this?

"Kaito!" Hayato yelled from the roof of the carriage. "Distract them!"

"Gotcha!" he yelled over the screams.

"Water Style," he made the Dragon, Tiger, and Hare hand seals, "Wild Water Waves!"

He held one hand near his mouth as water gushed out his mouth, spraying the thieves with a large amount of intense water. One after the other, all of the enemies in front of Kaito got washed away. When Kaito had stopped, all enemies on his side were knocked out. Kaito looked up.

"How was that?" A wide grin was plastered on his face.

Either Hayato hadn't heard him or he didn't acknowledge him, because as the bandits began climbing the carriage, trying to reach Hayato, he had finished doing whatever he was trying to do. He threw a large net-like contraption made from kunai and wire on top of the bandits. He touched a thin strand of wire connected to the net, and all enemies that were touching the net froze.

"Sora!" His voice sound strained as he called for the struggling jounin. More bandits than Kaito had on his side were trying to get the front, the horses Kaito assumed, and five Sora's were dealing with more than twenty bandits. Somehow, though, Sora managed to spare a clone. The clone took over the wire as Hayato took out the remaining active bandits. Kaito ran to the front, aiding the clones.

. . .

Mamoru had crawled through the blanket—which being used as a sort of curtain—and into the carriage as the battles commenced. He picked up a large piece of wood and gripped firmly as if it were a bat. Michio was still asleep, now held tightly near Rika as she flinched at any sound or noise. Then there was a loud thump on the left side, rocking the carriage. Voices mumbled on the outside, and silently Rika scooted herself and her son to the right. It wouldn't be long before they—And then a sound like a tree breaking sounded in the small space, light pouring in from the outside.

A man with stubble on his face and crooked teeth peeked in and smiled mischievously.

"What have we here?" He grinned.

Mamoru charged at the man, raising the wood to strike. As he brought the board down, he suddenly stopped, a blade pointed at his throat.

"Now, was that smart?" He chuckled to himself and bobbed his head, signaling another thief to come in the carriage. The new thief took his knife and held it at the red-head's throat as the other thief came near Rika.

"Ahh," his breath smelled like rotten trash, and booze. Definitely a lot of booze. "Are you his wife?" He tried to touch her face and she flinched back, almost waking her son.

"You don't have to be his, you know," he whispered, causing her to cringe. Mamoru held himself back with obvious effort. "You could come with us. Be ours. Be mine. Just say that you're not married to him. Three little words: I'm. Not. Married." He grabbed her face in his hairy, dirty hand.

She took a deep breath.

"I'm not married." Mamoru looked as if his heart had gotten smashed into a million of pieces before his eyes. "Because," Rika went on, her voice changing, "I'm not old enough to get married."

The bandit rose an eyebrow, but soon he was on the floor, in an armlock. She twisted his arm and he howled in pain. A cloud of smoke engulfed Rika, and Aoi appeared in her place, her glare scary enough to frighten a herd of angry bulls.

The other thief now used Mamoru as a hostage, his knife held closer to Mamoru's throat as he hid behind him.

"Make any more moves and he gets it!" His voice shook uncontrollably.

Aoi tilted her head, and suddenly she had thrown a kunai directly at the hand of the villian. He screamed, letting go of Mamoru, and Aoi was on him; she slammed his head against a wall, tied his arms behind his back, and kicked him out of the carriage.

Rika climbed back to the rest of them from the back of the carriage, where their bags and boxes of clothes were. Mamoru ran and hugged her, as she did him. When he released her from their embrace, he looked at the guy on the ground.

"What about him." His voice was full of contained anger, and a hint of disgust.

"Don't worry, he passed out from all of the pain. What a wimp." She grabbed him by the collar and hurled him out of the van.

"I'm staying in here with you guys, so don't worry," she winked, "I won't let any harm come to any of you."

. . .

Sora observed Hayato as he took out the bandits that weren't in the trap. Though he knew Hayato was a great Shinobi, he didn't know he could do all of this. The jounin had left his clones, and now Kaito, to fight the many thieves. Even Sora had to admit, this wasn't what he was expecting. Sora flinched when he saw Hayato get cut on then arm. As he hesitated, they seemed to pounce on the genin. Then Kaito was there, knocking the muggers out, trying to get to his friend. Sora wanted so badly to help his students, but putting chakra in this net and his clones had him busy. He'd just have to wait until his clones were done fighting.

. . .

Kaito had finally reached Hayato in the mass of bodies and pulled him out; he had fresh bruises and new cuts along his body, but still didn't seem to be completely in it. Kaito drew him behind him and got into a defensive stance. There were, at least, six more stubborn bandits that wouldn't give up.

A figure fell from the sky, landing on top of one of them with a nasty crunch. He sweep kicked the one in front of him, and roundhouse kicked the two who tried to attack him. The other two fled as the jounin threw the four into the net.

"Sora! What took so long?"

"You try fighting twenty-six bandits while protecting two large horses. It sounds like taking candy from a baby, right? Well that baby has a nasty mom."

"Anyway, is that all of them?"

"Yes. Now all we've got is those two." He pointed at the two who ran. He threw eight kunai and turned the other way, four kunai landing in each of the men. Two clones went to go retrieve them.

"Now we have quite the lot of people to investigate." He glared at he men in the net.

As the two clones threw the two men into the net, the crackle of lightning burst in the air. A large bolt of lightning rained down from the sky, and onto the men; the light when it came down blinded Kaito's view, and only expanded when it came into contact with the net. He shielded his eyes from the light, and saw something move in the bolt. He was about to scream at it, but then it was gone, only a bunch of singed, unconscious bandits left in its wake.

"Is everyone alright?" Sora checked on everyone, and once they were confirmed unharmed, he went on.

"We have less bandits than before." Sora looked around cautiously, "And they shouldn't have been able to move."

"I saw them move," Kaito shook his head, "They must've escaped."

The wire that made the net was gone, only a black ground with unsigned lines to tell that it had once been there.

"Yeah," he shook his head, "They're working with someone, but we won't be able to find out who. We've got to keep going. And besides," he glanced at the bandits, "We won't be able to question them now, anyway. They'll be unconscious for a long while."

Aoi had gone outside so Hayato could rest, and Sora had taken the reigns so Mamoru could stay with his family. There hadn't been any other attacks, but that didn't stop them from having their guard up. The air seemed dryer, maybe even humid. There were less grass and trees, and secretly Aoi was grateful; she didn't want to fight any more thieves, especially with Hayato in that condition. He had lost a fair amount of chakra, and needed that time to rest.

"I heard you protected Hayato." Aoi smirked.

"No!" He denied quickly, "He just... hid behind me. Yeah, because who wouldn't? I am me after all."

"Hmm... I think that's an excuse—"

"Look, we're here!" He pointed at the village rising into view.

"Welcome, everyone," Sora announced comically, "To the Land of Coal!"