Double update today.
. . .
Tsuzumi collected Ami from her home early, hours before dawn, hours before they were even due to leave. The labour team weren't yet awake, let alone assembled and ready to walk. The extra hours proved useful in the end though, as Tsuzumi spent the time double checking Ami's supplies, and drilling her in the kind of protective formations, scout patterns, and watch rotations the guards would use as they protected the caravan team.
Ami had shaken off the last threads of weariness when they finally rounded the corner, and got their first glimpse of the large shinobi squad waiting patiently at the gate assembly point.
There were seven of them, eight with the addition of Tsuzumi, who explained they were broken down into two teams. Tsuzumi's team consisted of three duty chunin under Captain Bekko, who would handle the mundane protection and scouting needs of the expedition. There was also what Tsuzumi called the ninjutsu team, a group of duty chunin who knew a handful of elemental ninjutsu useful for more than just direct combat. It was their job to lend their techniques in support of the civilian labourers in repairing the road and overcoming other obstacles.
"Tsuzumi, at last," Captain Bekko shouted from the back of the assembled cart train. "Say goodbye to your daughter and get into formation,"
Ami felt an odd butterfly sensation in her chest, which she put down to nerves at the prospect of being banned from the mission.
"Ah-ha, Bekko-san, this is Ami, my cute genin student. I was intending to bring her with us," Tsuzumi said.
"Your student? Oh, you're the one with that arrangement. Well, that's out of the question, she'll have to stay behind." Captain Bekko was a middle aged chunin, with a large nose, and brown hair which rose up from his head in large spikes, like the foliage of an exotic bush. His mouth was set in a grimace, and from the creases along his cheeks, it looked like it was an expression he was used to.
"Ah-ha ha, I'm afraid Mitokado Homura-sama has made her my responsibility," Tsuzumi said, his smile becoming strained. "I was hoping she could just be officially part of the civilian labour team, but if you insist on informing Mitokado-sama of the change-"
"Ah, whatever!" Bekko said, and spat on the ground. "It's always politics around here these days. Fine, but if she interferes with the mission, I'm putting the complaint in both your files."
"Thanks, Captain!" Tsuzumi said with a grin. He placed his hand on Ami's head as they approached the caravan, and managed to ruffle her hair before she knocked it away.
And so they set off, and it was slow going. For the first few hours they found themselves having to stop every few miles, so that the labourers could dig up one of the large shrubs that had colonised the road, or rake down a ridge that had formed in the mud, or fill in a rut that would break the wheel of any cart that rolled in to it.
Ami initially took up a position by her sensei at the rear of the convoy, but he soon disabused her of the idea that she'd be enjoying a relaxed stroll through the woods.
"Carry this," Tsuzumi said, handing Ami a large bolt of cloth, wrapped in wax paper and canvas.
"But- there's space on the wagon," Ami said, outrage momentarily losing to confusion.
"It's training," her sensei explained curtly. Since the start of the mission, Tsuzumi had seemed more tense and serious than at any other time Ami had seen him. In place of his usual smile was an expression that was more like the ghost of a smile, or something that merely gave the impression of a smile.
Ami frowned, but didn't otherwise complain as she wrangled the bolt of cloth through the ties of her backpack, itself already heavy with her camping supplies. She sweated as she trudged along, eventually asking if she could train with something lighter - which would describe virtually every other item on the carts, save those she had no chance of lifting at all, like the large water barrels.
Tsuzumi relented, relieving Ami of the bolt for a half hour break, and used Ami's new patience, born of gratitude, to give her a lecture on long distance hiking, and escort missions in general.
"Avoid stepping on even small stones. Are your legs tired? Try altering your gait to use different muscles. Your gait? It's the style you walk. See- the Captain has a long, stiff gate, but the workers have a loose relaxed gate. If you henge into the appearance of someone, you must also adapt their gait." Tsuzumi's lectures were always quiet, dense, and peppered with brief questions. "You know, the back of the party is usually seen as the worst place to guard, because of the dust kicked up, and-"
"And the poop. I'd noticed sensei," Ami said, wilting.
"New training!" Tsuzumi said cheerfully. "Henge into the Captain, and practice copying his gait."
"Hm!" Ami hummed enthusiastically, before pushing her fingers together in a seal. "Henge!"
Ami transformed into an older, lumpier version of the captain, wearing a teal flak-jacket rather than the standard chunin dark green. The henge was completely unconvincing, but she at least looked human, and Tsuzumi withheld criticism for the sake of the exercise.
The captain turned around at the sudden pop of chakra smoke, and his face darkened as he saw Ami.
"Tsuzumi!" The captain was agitated, but eventually grew to accept the girl walking beside him, even giving her tips. "No! Your stride is too stiff now," he snapped. "Make a clone so you can compare."
Ami's hands moved through hand seals, and a second lumpy captain joined the first. "Ahh! My henge is terrible!" she cried.
"They're dismal!" the captain agreed.
Ami refreshed the henge and summoned another clone, inspecting it for any improvement. She grunted and tried again. Soon a small army of misshapen captains were marching at the head of the convoy, the real one growing increasingly red-faced with every grotesque new parody of him.
"I never thought I'd start to hate the sight of my own face," he said. "Go and annoy your sensei for a change."
When Ami dropped back, her sensei decided it was time to carry the bolt again.
Their progress Eastward was steady, but slow. For most of the journey the largest problems were fallen trees, which each had to be cut into pieces and rolled out of the way. Then they came to the stream. At some point in the past, a stream had diverted from its previous path and cut clear across the road, cutting a furrow two feet deep, filled with rushing water, and turning the dirt road for meters either side to thick mud - dangerous to the animals, and impassable to the carts.
"Ninjutsu team!" the captain cried, and the four reserve ninja formed up before the band of heavy mud.
The first of the shinobi stepped forward, a man with overly large glasses, wearing a green combat helmet and an antique style of flak jacket. His hands flashed rapidly through hand seals, then held his hands out straight ahead, the fingertips slightly bent into an impression of claws. "Suiton: Filtration technique!"
Water droplets immediately began to form on the surface of the mud, and then began to fall upwards, like inverse rain. The chunin held the technique for several minutes, his stamina visibly flagging towards the end, but when he released the technique the mud was almost completely dry.
A second shinobi stepped forward, a broad-shouldered overweight man with a tiny, diamond shaped beard and a blue hat. He pushed his hands into a single seal, and then slapped them into the ground, shouting "Doton: Packed Earth!"
The ground reacted as if it had been trodden on by an invisible giant. The surface was crushed down several inches, compressing the dried mud to a dense, almost stone-like consistency.
"Did you learn about elemental ninjutsu in the academy?" Tsuzumi asked Ami quietly as the earth user performed several more techniques, drawing large ramparts from the packed earth, angled to form a short bridge over the crashing stream.
"Yeah-yeah," Ami said absently. "Fire, earth wind, all that," She was watching the display intently, and she jumped when the remaining two ninjutsu chunin shouted the name of a fire technique, and breathed out twin jets of blue flame onto the rough bridge-structure.
"Everyone has their own natural elemental affinity," Tsuzumi explained. "A shinobi is usually only able to master their natural element. They can learn from the others, but a foreign element is always harder to use."
Ami nodded along, remembering something like that from her academy classes. "What's my nature, Sensei?"
"There's a special kind of paper that will help you find out, but... it's expensive," Tsuzumi said. "Tonight I'll try and teach you one of each, and we'll guess."
Ami shrugged. At home she was used to doing things the cheap way, and the prospect of learning some impressive jutsu put butterflies in her stomach.
Ami wandered over to the traders after a brief stop for lunch and tried to engage them in conversation. Captain Bekko shot her a warning glance about bothering the merchants who were paying for the mission, but there was little to worry about, as they firmly refused to engage her in conversation, giving curt replies and turning their noses up at her. The day passed easily, despite the occasional burdens her sensei made her carry, and Ami almost did feel like she was on a relaxing hike.
An hour before dusk, the party broke from the road and began to make camp in a clearly beside it. The stream they'd bridged earlier in the day had meandered back towards the road, and now the beasts were tied beside it, watering themselves happily downstream from where the labour team were collecting water for their cooking fires. Ami ate a crude meal from her supplies, and as soon as she felt like enough time had passed approached Tsuzumi to bug him about the training he'd promised.
"Okay," Tsuzumi agreed readily, and led Ami to a place by one of the small camp fires near the perimeter of the camp. He tapped the grass with his foot to indicate where Ami should sit, then took up a position in front of her. "This isn't really a jutsu as such, kind of just a basic nature transformation exercise," Tsuzumi began, lifting his canteen and pouring it over the sleeve of his blue undershirt. "But it's useful in the field, so we call it the blissful drip technique. Its purpose is to restore your clothing to a dry state after you take a splash."
Tsuzumi pressed his hands through a series of slow seals, allowing Ami to see and remember each, before finally stating: "Suiton: Blissful Drip no jutsu," and holding out his hand. Tsuzumi's outstretched index finger began to drip, and the drip slowly grew to a slow trickle. He held the jutsu for a minute before offering his sleeve for Ami's inspection. She found it to be completely dry.
"Sensei, that's so lame," Ami said.
"Oh, I see. You've hurt my feelings," Tsuzumi said, turning on the spot to face away from the girl. When he spun back around he was holding a bucket, which he emptied over her, eliciting a shriek. "When you learn it, maybe you'll think differently."
Ami wordlessly spat a mouthful of water at her sensei.
"Sit, and cross your legs, and close your eyes," he said, pointing at a patch of dry ground closer to the fire. Ami moved to it from the now wet ground, mumbling under breath.
"I don't like mission-sensei," Ami groused.
"This technique requires the most chakra control of all three I'll show you, and since we don't know your affinity, that might make it the hardest for you."
"Hmph."
"First, Ram seal. Mould your chakra. Let it fill your hara," Tsuzumi said gently.
"I know how to make chakra, stupid!" Ami said, dripping unhappily.
"Don't embarrass me in front of the other chunin. Now, make the Dog seal. Concentrate on the thought of water while you hold it. Sloshing, flowing. Raindrops, lakes, ocean waves-"
"Sensei, I think I need to pee."
"This technique also redirects pee."
"That's gross, Sensei."
"Are you concentrating?"
Tsuzumi took a seat by the fire and pulled out a paper-wrapped bundle, which he opened to reveal a sandwich. "Hold the seal until you feel the chakra ripple," Tsuzumi said between bites. "That will let you know it's ready for water release. It might take a while."
Twenty five minutes later, Ami was still holding the seal with an expression of angry determination.
"I'm cold," she huffed, eyes still closed.
"You can take a break. Move closer to the fire, and try again."
Ami shuffled forward on her backside and began the process again. This time she focused on the dampness against her skin, the thought of a wet dog shaking from a swim, the shape of the seal, and let her muscles relax and become fluid. Several more minutes passed before Ami spoke up with shaky excitement.
"S-sensei! I think I did it!" she gasped, as the chakra took on a rippling sensation.
"Oh? The rest of the technique is where you need the control. Move the chakra around your body, like washing out your mouth. Swirl it around slowly."
A pinched expression appeared on Ami's face, and a moment later water droplets began spraying from her skin, like fleas leaping from a wet dog.
"You're letting too much leak. Keep it more contained. The water's soaked deep into your clothes, it likes it in there, you need to be slow and gentle to tempt it out."
The spray faded, and ripples of freely running liquid water began running over Ami's clothes.
"Oh, you got it. Now, roll it around. Your chakra is a broom, and you've got to sweep the water off your body. Go slowly so none is left behind, then when you've got it all, move the chakra to your finger and spray."
Ami's eyes opened, she held up her hand to point at her sensei, and the slick second skin of water covering her hand fountained away in a spray of heavy droplets.
"Spray!" Ami laughed as the lukewarm water splashed into the man's face, dripping down over his sandwich.
Tsuzumi's usual smile became slanted.
"You're a good sensei!" Ami said, still flush with the effort of concentration and her proximity to the fire.
"Thanks, Ami-chan," Tsuzumi said, drying his face on his shirt.
"Is water my affinity?" Ami asked brightly.
"Huh? No way!" Tsuzumi scoffed. "That took you way too long."
"So if it took me too long, I must be the opposite? Fire?"
"It doesn't work like that. Your natural affinity is easy, and all the others are just as hard. You're just bad at nature manipulation."
Ami scowled. "Okay, what's next."
"Hm, it's getting late. You should definitely set up your tent now."
"Oh, come on!" Ami groused, but her sensei was already moving off to take his own advice, leaving her alone by the fire, with only the sound of crackling wood and the low murmurs of nearby conversations.
Ami spent several minutes getting tangled up in her tent, took a short break, and then began her second attempt, which was much more successful. She lay on her bedroll inside the tent and kicked off her sandals, enjoying the cosy feeling of being safe and warm, while also being out in the wilderness, far from home.
. . .
The following morning, after breaking camp and setting off on the road, Tsuzumi immediately resumed his instruction.
"Ah, since you took so long with water, we'll do the next nature manipulation while we travel," Tsuzumi said, from their new position flanking one of the carts. "Sit on the cart," he said, pointing at the closest cart, piled precariously with crates.
Ami jumped up to the highest crate, sat down, and crossed her legs.
"Good work. Now, form the Ram seal, feel your-"
"Yeah, yeah," Ami said, closing her eyes.
"You're so rude to your sensei," Tsuzumi said, feigning hurt. "I don't know if I should teach you this one, after all."
"I'm sorry sensei," Ami droned out unconvincingly.
"Hm, okay. Next make the Snake seal, and concentrate on earth. Dirt between your toes, digging in sand, falling on pebbles, being buried alive..."
"That's scary!" Ami complained, opening her eyes.
"Concentrate!"
Ami closed her eyes and concentrated. A moment later they flicked open.
"Ugh, I think I got it," she said, standing up.
"Huh? Already?" Tsuzumi asked.
The heavy set man from the ninjutsu squad turned slightly in interest.
"How do I get rid of it?" Ami groaned, clutching at her stomach. "It feels like I swallowed a brick."
"Oh?" the heavy-set chunin muttered.
"Jump down and send it to your feet," Tsuzumi instructed with a wave of his hand. "I guess maybe you're earth type."
Ami jumped down and squatted. A second later the ground beneath her writhed and twisted, pinching up into two spots of packed earth below her feet, which then cracked upwards into jagged pieces.
"Earthie!" the heavy set man yelled in a ridiculously deep voice. He leapt over to Ami, grabbed her in both hands and stuffed her under one arm. "I'm gonna talk to your student Tsuzumi, earthie to earthie. I gotta tell her some stuff before the earth haters sap her spirit."
"Ah-ha, but-" Tsuzumi began, but the man was already jumping away into the forest by the side of the road.
"Earth jutsu suck!" shouted one of the other ninjutsu nin, his tone light.
"Close your ears, little one!" the heavy-set man boomed as he disappeared between the trees.
"Ah- n- nothing dangerous!" Tsuzumi shouted after them, but they were already gone.
The caravan continued on for an hour without further sight of Ami or the chunin, but their speed was such that the missing pair couldn't possibly fall behind. The occasional sounds of explosions, followed by shrieking laughter and applause let the party keep track of them, and attested to their keeping pace.
"If this were a stealth mission..." the captain began darkly.
"I wouldn't have brought her, it's fine, it's fine," Tsuzumi waved dismissively.
The violent noises didn't continue for too long, and soon the bearded chunin was bouncing back out of the trees carrying Ami. The girl was covered in a fine layer of soil, her hair was littered with clumps of earth, and her hands were covered in a layer of dirt which seemed to flow and follow the shape of her hands unerringly as she held them up and wiggled her fingers.
"Look sensei! Muddy hands technique!"
One of the other ninjutsu-specialist chunin snorted.
"That's Earth Gauntlets technique!" the heavy-set chunin bellowed, resuming his position. "You gotta respect the earth techniques! Though, uh, I guess you gotta work on your chakra a lot before you get it."
Ami bowed to the man. "Yes, cool-sensei."
"Wh-why aren't I 'cool-sensei'?" Tsuzumi complained.
"Eh, you're just the sensei. You don't need a name."
"I have such a rude student."
A little later that day, Okei returned early from his scout rotation, with news of a small clearing, and a stranger up ahead. The figure appeared alone, and unarmed. Not deeming him a threat, the caravan continued. As they drew parallel to the opening in the trees, they came to a halt, the captain peering into the clearing warily.
Sitting in clearing on a low, flat stone was a figure dressed in a red robe with a maroon sash, clothes most commonly worn by monks. His long sleeves completely engulfed his hands, and he wore a conical reed hat pulled low over his face.
"Tsuzumi, go check it out," the captain snapped quietly.
Tsuzumi walked forward without another word and approached the figure. The distance was only a few dozen meters, and Ami could just make out the conversation.
"Ah-ha, nice day isn't it?" Tsuzumi asked conversationally.
The figure remained silent for several uncomfortable seconds, before a voice lilted out from beneath the hat in high, gentle tones. "There are no good days. There are no bad days. Good, and bad, these are only figments of our minds, and vexing ones at that."
Tsuzumi turned a perplexed glance back at captain Bekko, who simply shrugged.
"Even the difference between day and night does not really exist," the voice continued, "yet we spend our days in fear of the night, and our nights longing for the day."
"Ah-ha ha-ha," Tsuzumi chuckled out awkwardly. "I'm Tsuzumi, what's your name, Monk-san?"
"The word people foolishly call me, is Koka," the figure said, though he didn't look up.
"What brings you out here, Koka-san?" Tsuzumi asked with a smile.
"Sometimes I come here to meditate," he replied, sharply. "And you. Why are you here?"
"Ah- as you can see, we're a trade caravan," Tsuzumi said, gesturing at the carts and animals.
"The road to trade is the road back to dissatisfaction," the man said disapprovingly. "The broken road is the path to peace. The broken wheel. The broken back. You should go back the way you came."
"But lots of people are relying on us, Koka-san," Tsuzumi argued pleasantly. "When we make our trades, everyone will be enriched."
"You are walking nightmares, and you aim to bring your nightmare to my restful dreamers." The old man's voice was no longer gentle, but bitter, his tone aggressive, though still he made no movement. "My people have finally found peace. Please, do not make noise in their gentle night."
Becoming uneasy, Tsuzumi tensed, and took a half step towards the figure. "Uh, could you remove your hat, Koka-san?"
"No," the man said, making no move to touch his hat.
"Ah-ha, but Koka-san, I haven't even seen your face," Tsuzumi said, his hand inching towards the edge of the hat. The old man made no move to avoid or stop him, and with the tip of his finger, Tsuzumi flicked the lip of the hat up.
Underneath the hat was a featureless dummy made of woven reeds.
Tsuzumi jumped back, formed a hand seal, and flickered through the air back to the caravan, taking a defensive stance as he landed and scanned the tree line.
"A clone?" the captain asked, moving up beside Tsuzumi and drawing a kunai.
Ami drew a kunai of her own, letting the chakra sustaining the mud gloves fade and fall away.
"Ah, it could be, could be," Tsuzumi said. "There was no chakra cloud."
"Okei and Hayase, Iwana and Saisu, perimeter scout," the captain barked. "Tsuzumi and Yajirobee, with me. Daikoku and Ami, guard the caravan."
Everyone leapt away at once, and Ami jumped up onto the tallest stack of crates, looking around alertly. Moments later she was joined by the heavy earth-specialist.
Ami saw the captain and his retinue head carefully towards the dummy, moving in staggered sprints, keeping watch for traps or ambushes. There turned out to be no traps, and when the three of them inspected and then dismantled the dummy, her tension broke, and she finally relaxed her white-knuckled grip on the kunai.
The dummy turned out to be just an ordinary scarecrow, wrapped in old clothes. The encounter had offered no threat at all, but left them all with a vague feeling of unease which persisted until that night, when they stopped to make camp.
Ami felt shaken as she set up her tent by one of the camp's flickering cooking fires, but not so shaken as to forget her sensei's promise.
"Jutsu!" she said firmly, standing before her sensei.
"Ah, not now Ami-chan," Tsuzumi said. His smile was absent completely, and he seemed troubled.
"But this was going to be the easy one," Ami whined.
Tsuzumi frowned, an alien expression on his gentle face. "You don't have to be a brat about it."
Ami bit back a smart response, then paused. "Are you worried about the scarecrow, Sensei?"
Tsuzumi turned to her and smiled unconvincingly. "Mm. A little. It's unusual. The mission wasn't meant to have ninja involved."
"But he wasn't dangerous, eh Sensei? It's fine, fine!" she said, patting his arm. "Why don't we learn a jutsu to take our minds off him."
Tsuzumi smiled, his eyes crinkling. He paused to think and compose himself.
"Okay! This technique is called..." Tsuzumi's hands moved through seals, faster than before, but Ami was still able to track Ram, Dragon, Snake, then he slapped the earth as he said, "Doton: Open Pit technique."
The ground shook and fell away from Tsuzumi's hand, opening a circular hole a foot wide and about as deep.
Without waiting for instruction, Ami made the seals, gathered a small mass of earth chakra, and slapped it into the ground, propelling it as deep as she could.
Like with her sensei's technique, a hole opened, though hers was barely three inches wide. Though the firelight didn't reach all the way to the bottom of the hole, she could tell it was at least two feet deep, and probably more.
"You sent it too deep," Tsuzumi said, peering down the hole. "And that's not enough chakra."
Ami glared and performed the technique again, this time opening a pit two feet across and almost as deep. She yelped as the spot where she sat began to cave downwards, but the hole stopped expanding, and she ended up sitting on the edge with her feet dangling down.
"Good, but if you're going to open a big one, give the chakra some forward momentum, or you'll fall in!" Tsuzumi said.
Ami stared down into the shallow pit. "So, why did we make a hole, Sensei?"
"Ah- this is a E-rank technique, most often used as a way of quickly digging a latrine."
"Y-you taught me a poop jutsu!" Ami pointed accusingly.
"It can also be used like this," Tsuzumi said, flashing through more hand seals, this time too fast and unfamiliar for Ami to pick them apart. The air above his small open pit shimmered, and then the false image of a solid dirt surface faded into view, covering the edges, and concealing the hole.
"Huh. Sneaky pit," Ami said, passing her hand into the ground over the hole, watching as it moved unopposed through the illusion.
"With a larger hole, you can create a crude trap. Also if cast in muddy ground, filtered water will be left at the bottom of the pit, that can be useful if you have no clean water source."
Ami wandered away wordlessly and began creating pits of various sizes, at increasing distances from her.
"A-Ami! Don't do it under any trees okay!" Tsuzumi shouted after all.
A beat passed. "Heh heh heh. Okay, Sensei."
"And try to learn it without saying the technique name!"
No trees fell that night, and Tsuzumi kept a careful watch over his student until she returned, her chakra depleted, and her hair and clothes covered in dirt. Ami fell asleep content that night, feeling at east in the presence of so many workers and guards, but the chunin squads were uneasy, and debated with each other in low voices until the fires died down.