Mrs. Haruno did not look happy as she sat at the breakfast table. Her husband had already left for work and so she was left to express their mutual concerns.
"Why do you have to leave the village so soon?" She asked unhappily. "You were gone for an entire month and now you're leaving again? And for a week this time? And why are you going outside the village? Isn't it still too soon for that? I mean you're barely out of the academy. Shouldn't you be doing things inside the village for awhile longer?"
Sakura looked at her mom and did her best not to roll her eyes or sound too impatient. "Mom Naruto and I are ninja now. This is what ninja do, they go on missions for the village! It's not like I can just tell the Hokage it's inconvenient. 'A ninja must embrace his duty without qualm or question. That a duty is placed before him is reason enough.' Twenty first rule of shinobi conduct." She said proudly.
"What if it's dangerous though?"
Naruto laughed around a mouthful of rice. "Like this could be more dangerous than training with that psycho."
"What was that?" Haruno Mai asked nervously.
"Well… ow!" Naruto's explanation was cut off by a swift kick to his ankle and a dangerous look from his girlfriend. "Ah, nothing." He said and rubbed his bruised ankle. Sakura could be surprisingly strong when she was mad.
"There's really nothing to worry about mom." Sakura assured her. "This is nothing but a simple security mission for a festival. it's to give us a little experience. I'm sure it's completely safe."
"If you're providing security then there must be some danger," her mother pointed out.
Now Sakura did roll her eyes. "Mom, it's a festival for some village in Fire country. How dangerous could it possibly be?"
"Anyway Haruno-san I'll be there and I'll definitely won't let anything happen to Sakura-chan." Naruto told her proudly.
Hearing that Sakura frowned ever so slightly. Teammates were supposed to protect each other. The way he'd said that hinted that he thought she needed him to watch over her.
Well there's no denying I'm the weakest in the team. She wasn't happy with that. All through the academy she'd been considered one of the best kunoichi. She intended to work very hard with the genjutsu scrolls she'd received and become a strong. She had no intention of being the weak link on her team.
"Anyway mom our sensei will be there and she's really strong. I'm sure we'll be just fine."
"I suppose," her mother sighed. "But there'll be other missions won't there? Will those be more dangerous?"
Naruto and Sakura shared a look. They both loved Haruno Mai, but the fact was she and Sakura's father were both civilians. There was no getting around the fact that as ninja Naruto and Sakura both accepted certain facts that they never really would.
"First rule," Sakura said and Naruto nodded his head.
"First rule?" Her mother raised a pink eyebrow.
"The very first thing we were taught at the academy, the first rule of shinobi conduct. 'A ninja must always be prepared to give and accept death.'"
Her mother looked very unhappy to hear that while both she and Naruto accepted it was fact of life.
XXX
They'd both had to purchase brand new camping equipment yesterday. They had theirs slung over their backs as they headed toward the wide open gate that led out of the village and into the wider world. Shino was already at the gate with his own equipment patiently waiting.
Naruto's eyes were locked on the road that spread out before him. In his mind's eye endless adventures were out there. New places, new people, incredible battles that was where the road would lead him.
"This is my first time leaving the village," he said.
"Me too," Sakura replied. she sent him an eager smile. "Kind of exciting isn't it?"
He bobbed his head up and down. "Yeah, this is probably the best part about being a ninja, getting to travel and go places."
"Well that's true," an amused voice said from behind him. "Just remember not all those places will be ones you want to visit."
Both of them jumped about to find an amused Anko standing behind them. She had in her hands four small brown paper bags.
"Here," she said and shoved one into each of their hands. She then handed one to Shino as well.
All three of her students looked at the unexpected gifts suspiciously.
"What are these?" Naruto asked nervously.
In reply she opened her own bag and pulled out a stick of dango. "From now on any time we leave the village I'll buy each of you something from my favorite restaurant. When we come back I'll treat all of you to a meal."
They were all surprised by this unexpected kindness.
"Thank you sensei," Sakura said. "That's really nice of you."
"Think nothing of it," she said as she ate one of her dumplings. "After all chances are one of you will buy it on one of these missions. I'd hate for you not to at least have a decent last meal."
The three of them grimaced.
"Sensei," Shino said in a monotone. "Your rationale leaves something to be desired."
"Whatever," Naruto replied. "Free food is still free food."
Chuckling she led them out through the gate. "All right come along you three, it's be a shame if we weren't there on time to keep this festival from running wild."
XXX
They made good time and were half way to their destination when they made camp for the night.
"Now even though we're still in our home country you never take anything for granted and you never relax your guard." Anko told them once they made camp. "We'll keep watch exactly as we would if we were in hostile country and once we get there I'll expect all of you to remember it is a mission and not a holiday. I'll let you have some free time to enjoy your selves but while you're on duty remember you represent the Hokage the village and me. Don't do anything I'll have to explain to the Hokage or I swear you'll regret it."
She flashed them that too friendly smile that made them nervous.
"Got it?"
"Yes sensei," they all chorused.
XXX
Though Hikedo was designated a village, it was actually a prosperous small town of about 60,000. It was the capitol of its prefecture. Entering the village it was easy to see the preparations people were making. Streets were being swept clean and everywhere, on every door and window, people were displaying flowers or green branches. In the middle of the village there was a large open air market place that was crowded with stalls offering different games and tasty foods.
All the people were smiling and in a fine mood.
Naruto at first felt a little weird because the people here weren't glaring at him or ignoring him. When he stopped to think about it he realized that made sense. The people here didn't know who he was. To them he was just a kid with some weird scars. Having people outside his small circle smile at him and treat him the way they treated his teammates was definitely strange.
When you grow up being treated a certain way you just accept that's how things are, and how they are meant to be. He'd learned to simply accept that most people hated him and was just grateful for Sakura, her family, the old man, Ayame, Teuchi and a few others. Without them he thought he might have grown up hating Konoha.
Entering the village Anko had asked the local residents where she might find the mayor and had been directed to the open air market. There they found him. The mayor was a middle aged man with a wide belly dressed in plain work clothes. When they first saw him he had a hammer in his hand and was helping put a stand up.
"We don't worry much about formality here," mayor Binya told them. "Thank you for coming to provide security." He glanced at Naruto, Sakura, and Shino worriedly. "I, uh, had expected your team to be made up of adults."
"You get what you pat for," Anko told him with a smirk. "Don't worry about it, despite being kids they're my team, they can definitely handle themselves."
Hearing her praise them they puffed out their chests a bit.
"Anyway I'm an elite Jonin. I promise you we can handle things during your festival. We'll take care of crowd control and see to it no one causes trouble."
"Crowd control?" Binya blinked at him. "Our own police force can take care of that. That's not why you were hired."
Anko looked surprised. "The request was for security during the three days and nights of your festival wasn't it?"
"No, you are here to provide security for the next three days. But not for the festival."
Anko frowned bat him. "I'm not a big fan of mysteries, why don't you explain just what my team and I are doing here then?"
The mayor looked around nervously. "Please come with me."
XXX
Binya took them out of the village proper and into the nearby woods. About a couple miles from Hikedo they came to a modest wooden house with a small garden. He led them up the stone walkway and opened the door.
Inside was a room empty of any furnishing but a small mat. Hanging on the walls were portraits symbolizing various kami and earth spirits. Kneeling on the mat, and apparently deep in meditation, was a young girl of perhaps eight or nine. She was dressed in a white tunic and loose red pants of a priestess. Her long black hair was tied in a pony tail that ran halfway down her back. She remained where she was kneeling with her eyes closed, not noticing the opening of the door or the five sets of eyes that here watching her from it.
"Her name is Shizuku; she is our Priestess of the Spring." Binya whispered. "Your job is to protect her."
Anko sent him a questioning look. "You went through the expense and trouble of hiring a squad of ninja just to look after one little girl?"
Binya quietly slid the door shut again. "That was because for the next three days she will be in great danger."
"Danger?" Anko parroted. "From what exactly? Just how rowdy do your festivals get?"
Binya nodded solemnly. "I am afraid someone is going to try and murder her."
"Murder?" Sakura gasped.
Anko motioned her to be silent. She was starting to look interested. "Has someone made a threat against her life?"
"You could say that, during each of the last seven festivals our Priestess of the Spring has been found brutally killed. And all of them were children around Shizuku's age."
"Seven murders?" Anko asked.
Binya nodded.
"Do you have any suspects?"
"The entire village," the mayor said sadly.
Anko looked at him stonily. "You're going to have to explain that."
"Hikedo is a very old village with many old customs." The mayor looked down in shame. "Among them the custom of human sacrifice. In ancient times a pure and innocent child would be offered up to the spirits of the earth. A boon you might say, her life and blood in return for bountiful harvests and peace within our lands."
"A lot of places used to practice that, but the custom fell out of favor hundreds of years ago." Anko pointed out.
"The same was true here… until seven years ago. The land had suffered four years of bad crops. Drought, flood, hail, early frost, one natural disaster after another was slowly ruining the local farms and farmers. Then seven years ago during the Festival of Spring Renewal our priestess went missing. Each year one girl is selected to act as our Priestess of the Spring. She is brought here to live separate from her family for that time and to devote herself to prayer and meditation. She performs the ritual ceremonies of the festival and then is returned to her family and a new priestess is chosen. But seven years ago our priestess disappeared on the second night of the festival." He shook his head sadly. "She was eventually found in the woods with her throat cut."
"Let me guess," Anko said coldly. "You had a bountiful harvest that fall."
Twitching the mayor nodded. "No one knows who is responsible, or how many people are involved. The people here don't talk about it."
"So basically it's one vast conspiracy?"
"More or less," Binya admitted.
"I can't believe people can still be that barbaric in this day and age." Sakura said.
"Not everyone feels that way!" Binya said. "Most people here are disgusted by the murders, but it's impossible to tell who feels differently. Last year I had my entire police force guarding this place around the clock. But the priestess was still found dead, poisoned. It was impossible to tell when it was done or if it was done with the aid of people on the police force. But it was a possibility."
"So you suspect some of your police are part of the conspiracy?" Anko asked.
"That's right," Binya said. "That's why I decided to send for you. Only people from outside the village can be trusted to really protect her. The custom is that the sacrifice must be made during the time of the festival. Once it's over she will no longer be the priestess and so be safe."
"In that case why don't we just take her away somewhere for the next three days?"
But the mayor shook his head. "The priestess has to be the one to begin and conclude the festival and perform other ceremonies during it. If she isn't here the festival can't take place and the entire village would erupt."
"That's disgusting," Naruto said quietly. "You people are just disgusting. Murdering kids just to try and help yourselves? I can't think of anything worse."
Sakura and Shino both nodded their agreement.
"We don't all feel that way!" the mayor insisted. "Most of the people who live here are decent upstanding citizens."
"Which apparently hasn't kept them from turning a blind eye and keeping their mouths shut." Anko noted. "Seven murders and police involvement in at least one of them? Sounds to me like a pretty big conspiracy. Someone must know something but no one's come forward have they?"
Binya could only shake his head.
"All right, I think I've heard everything I need to." She looked at her students "Team five!"
The three of them snapped to immediate attention and gave her their complete undivided attention.
"Our mission objective has been updated. For the next three days and nights our duty is to protect the girl in there from all harm! No one touches her! No one cuts a hair from her body or spills a drop of her blood while we're here! I expect you to give your lives if necessary to protect her! Got it?"
"Yes sensei!" They shouted back.
Anko turned back to the mayor and gave him a very wide very friendly smile. "Pleases let everyone in your village know that from this moment until the end of your festival your little priestess is under my protection and the protection of my squad and that anyone who tries to do her harm is dead meat."
The mayor nodded and felt oddly nervous looking at that smiling face.