Hey guys! So uh, funny story. When I updated I accidentally clicked the wrong document. The little author's note thing that appeared was for my story Angel of Death. Yes, I fully intend to keep this going, and I have the next chapter typed up. Coincidentally the bit about being busy is true. With finals coming up I'll be updating biweekly instead of weekly for a bit, unless the stars align and I actually have free time.
Anyway, here's the real update!
Truth: They all cared about each other.
The village was understandably wary of them when they walked in covered in blood with Ayano carrying Yasushi over her shoulders. She quickly explained what had happened, saving Yasushi's dignity by saying he got knocked out. He woke up sometime during the explanation, smoothing everything over for them.
"Why didn't you tell them he fainted?" Kiyomi complained under her breath. Ayano sighed.
"I don't know, I'm a sap?"
The village was very glad to have them, especially seeing as they had already put a dent in the raiders. There was an old woman who'd offered to put them up for their visit. They were escorted to her home and shown their room. There were a few bruises and cuts to tend to, the worst being a thin cut along Sayuri's shoulders that stopped bleeding within minutes.
Surprisingly, they were not just left alone to lick their wounds. No, villagers kept showing up and bringing them food for dinner and meals the next day. The old woman very happily took all the food, because it meant she didn't have to cook for her guests.
"They weren't that tough, I don't know why everyone's so happy to see us," Miyako admitted as the seemingly last well-wisher left, leaving a casserole in her wake. "It wasn't that hard of a fight."
"I know," Kiyomi said thoughtfully. "It didn't seem to take that long, really."
"And Ayano took out most of them," Sayuri recalled.
Ayano's snort from the corner where she'd laid out her sleeping bag caught their attention.
"What?" Kiyomi asked blankly.
"Guys, those raiders have been kicking this village's butt for months. The only reason they've gotten away with it is because no one's stood up to them. They weren't particularly hard to fight, definitely not as bad as it would be if we were up against shinobi. But you girls are good. You're thirteen, and you just took out about four men twice your age each. Be proud," Ayano encouraged.
"She's right," Kiyomi said proudly. "We totally kicked their butts!"
"To Team 9!" Miyako cheered.
"Team 9!" Sayuri joined.
"Team 9!" Kiyomi chimed in. The three girls laughed.
"I'm glad they're finally gone though," Kiyomi said as she started stripping. The old woman had set up four tubs full of hot water along one wall of their room. "I'm so ready for a bath."
They were all bloody and dirty, and baths had been put off by politeness and protecting the village's reputation. They had to thank everyone who came and assure them that Konoha was glad to help. By the time they were free, the blood had dried and stiffened their clothes. All in all, they just felt gross.
"Heaven," Sayuri sighed as she slid into her bath. She ducked her head under the water and came up, swiping her hair out of her face and moaning in delight. The others climbed into their own tubs and started scrubbing. The water around them turned red and brown with dirt and as soon as they were clean they climbed out, changing into their spare clothes. They used the water to scrub the blood and dirt out of their clothes as best they could and Ayano took them out to hang on the clothes line. Hopefully they'd be dry by tomorrow and they could have relatively clean clothes every day.
The next morning they woke and ate breakfast with the old lady, whose name was Kaede.
"We are glad that you have stayed," the woman said as she poured them tea. "It would be dangerous for us now, especially after you killed Akihiro."
"Akihiro?" Kiyomi said blankly.
"He was the lieutenant of the band," the old woman said knowledgeably. "His older brother Ichiro is in charge of it."
Ayano groaned. "Awesome. So we killed the worst person possible."
Kaede shrugged. "Pretty much."
"Hey, you did it," Kiyomi said, pointing at Ayano, who sighed.
"Well, I didn't know."
"If she didn't I would have," Sayuri said honestly.
Ayano shook her head. "Alright ladies, no slacking off. We'll be training while we're here." That triggered groans all around.
"We just had our first real fight yesterday!" Kiyomi protested.
"Yeah, and your second real one might be coming up soon," Ayano countered.
"Can we at least finish breakfast first?" Miyako asked, gesturing to her only half-eaten plate.
Ayano held up her own plate. "Do I look done? Yeah, keep eating and I'll tell you what we're doing."
They were walking on water. Simple in theory. In practice, not so much. It was very similar to the tree-climbing exercise Satoru had put Sayuri through in the early days and Ayano had them do it too. This was an advance on that. The water rocked and moved under them, and was a liquid, so it became trickier to keep their chakra steady.
"You're sure this is possible," Kiyomi asked, looking at the lazy water of the river that wound through the village. Downstream a few housewives were chatting on the bank while their children frolicked in the water. In response, Ayano stepped out onto the water, strolling casually along the top of it.
"Okay, I so want to do that," Kiyomi said enviously.
"Try it," Ayano invited. "I gave you the theory over breakfast. Let's see what you can do before lunch."
'What they could do' right off the bat was revealed to be 'sink.' They each stepped off the bank and their feet slid right through the surface.
Miyako was the one with the best chakra control out of all of them. She was the first to get a foot stable, followed by Sayuri and Kiyomi. Sayuri's odd way of walking, putting down first her toe and then her heel, proved to be an advantage here. As soon as she stabilized one foot, she set down the toe of her other foot and did it in halves. Kiyomi was pretty good, as she had the best balance. She had fewer instances of losing her balance, followed by her concentration, and then splashing into the water.
By lunch, they were all soaked, and they stretched out on the bank to dry off a little and eat the meal Kaede had packed for them, talking about some of the most dramatic falls of the day.
"And you looked like a pinwheel!" Kiyomi giggled as Miyako blushed.
"I was trying to keep my balance," she explained.
"I think the best was when Sayuri yelped. I didn't even know you could make that noise," Kiyomi chuckled.
"What about your fall? You just suddenly dropped," Sayuri countered.
"My failure was stealthy," Kiyomi grinned mischievously.
"You all looked completely hilarious," Ayano chuckled.
Even she was wet. At one point all three of them had lost their balance and gone under within seconds of each other. While under the water, Kiyomi had gestured to Ayano, standing easily on the water a short distance away. Miyako and Sayuri couldn't resist. They'd reached up and yanked Ayano down into the water with them. She'd thought it was a great joke and congratulated them on getting her as they all surfaced.
"Hey," said a small voice. They all looked up. The children who had been playing downstream were now standing by them, their mothers a short distance away. "'re you the ninja ladies?" asked a young boy with both of his front teeth missing. Behind him, a girl with her black hair in pigtails and a slightly chunky boy were looking on eagerly.
"Female ninja are called kunoichi," Sayuri corrected out of habit.
"K'nochi?" the boy repeated, stumbling over the word and his lack of teeth.
"Close enough," Miyako chuckled.
"What're ya doin' on the water?" asked the boy.
"We're learning to walk on it," Kiyomi explained.
"You can do that?" asked one of the mothers in surprise. Ayano nodded. "I see," she said faintly.
"Improves chakra control," Ayano said with a shrug.
"Could you teach us?" the girl asked hopefully.
"Sorry, we can't," Miyako apologized. The children were far too young and didn't have anywhere near the chakra or control needed to have a prayer of succeeding. Their faces fell and Miyako winced.
"It's a super-secret ninja thing," Sayuri said, covering for her.
"We'd get in deep trouble if we told," Kiyomi jumped in.
"Can you show us anything?" the pudgy boy asked hopefully.
"Uh, sure?" Miyako stood up, pulled out a kunai, and casually nailed an apple dangling from one of the fruit trees that grew along the bank. It fell. The girl scurried over and picked the apple up by the handle of the kunai, looking at it in awe.
"You hit it!" she said, holding up the kunai and apple as proof.
"How'd you do that?" the first boy asked in awe.
"Lots of practice," Miyako explained.
"Here, I can do something," Kiyomi said, standing up. She stood and faced out over the water. "Fireball jutsu!" Fire flew from her lips, lighting up the river. Sayuri stood beside her and did the same, the fire from both attacks mixing and forming a huge fireball.
"Whoa!" the children cheered as the flames died.
"That was super awesome!" the pudgy boy cried.
"How come you don't burn your mouths?" the little girl asked in confusion.
They were a bit young to understand the idea of chakra, so Kiyomi just winked and held up a finger to her lips. "That's another ninja secret."
"You guys have lots of secrets," the girl frowned. She put her hands on her hips and stomped her foot. "I wanna be a ninja and learn 'em!"
The three genin chuckled along with the mothers at that.
"Come here," Sayuri invited, getting down on her knees in front of the little girl. She held up a fist and pointed to her palm. "Hit right here, as hard as you can, okay?"
"Okay!" The girl took a clumsy stance and raised her fists, looking determined. She hauled her little fist back and punched Sayuri's hand. Sayuri moved her hand back and jerked.
"Whoa, you've got quite a punch there," she said, shaking her hand as if it stung. In all honesty, it did a bit. She was trained to take hits, but that girl had quite the arm. "I think you've got a good chance!"
"I bet I can hit harder," bragged the boy with the missing teeth. He swaggered up to Sayuri and she raised her palm in invitation. He swung and completely missed her palm, yelping as he lost his balance and started to fall. Sayuri caught him around the middle. The girl was pointing at him and laughing loudly.
"You couldn't even hit it!" she accused.
"She's got small hands!" the boy said defensively. He looked up at Sayuri, breaking out puppy dogs eyes that were completely useless. "One more time?" he begged. Sayuri held up her palm again. This time he hit it and Sayuri grinned.
"Not a bad swing you've got," she praised.
"I wanna try!" said the pudgy boy, scurrying up and taking his friend's place. He balled up his fists and swung. Sayuri grinned as her hand flew back.
"I'd say you're all pretty strong," Sayuri said.
"Can you teach us how to fight?" the girl begged. "Just one move, come on, please!"
The three genin exchanged glances.
Suddenly they weren't the students, but the teachers. Sayuri took the little girl, Miyako took the chubby boy, and Kiyomi took the boy with the missing teeth. They taught them a basic, firm stance, then showed them how to throw a punch and a kick. Ayano chatted with the mothers casually as they watched their children.
Finally the children were called for dinner and their mothers took them home, leaving Ayano with her students.
"Well played guys," she said with faux-sternness. "You got out of training today."
"They asked," Kiyomi pointed out.
"Yeah, and you guys are actually decent teachers," Ayano said. She blew on her nails and rubbed them on her chest. "You get it from me," she said smugly.
"You know, they may not hit hard, but after a while, that starts to sting," Miyako said, shaking her hands. All three of the genin had red palms from the repeated contact.
"Anybody else feel fluffy inside though?" Kiyomi asked, raising her hand. Miyako and Sayuri raised their own.
"They're adorable," Ayano admitted. She shook her head. "Alright, you successfully wasted a day. We'll be leaving the morning after next. Let's hope we can accomplish something tomorrow."
That night they were woken by shouts and screams. In a flash the kunoichi were on their feet and out of the old woman's house. People were running in the street and heading for the square of tamped earth that served as the center of town. A huge fire flickered there.
"What's going on?" Miyako asked worriedly.
"I don't know," Ayano said grimly, strapping her kunai holster to her thigh. "But let's move!"
She leapt to the rooftops and her students followed. They hopped from roof to roof, keeping low and hiding in the shadow. When they got to the square they found a huge bonfire with nearly forty men assembled around it on one side. This was clearly the rest of the band of raiders. On the other side were the townspeople, huddled together for protection.
At the head of the bandits was a man with the same build as Akihiro, but with the addition of a few wrinkles and red, puffy eyes. This was clearly the older brother, Ichiro, the one who led the band. As Kaede had predicted, he was upset about his brother's death.
"You thought it was bad with us taking half of your harvest?" Ichiro snarled. "Well guess what? From now on, we're taking all of it!"
"You can't!" cried a voice.
"Yasushi," Ayano hissed as the skinny, twitchy man moved forwards.
"If you take all of the harvest, we will die!" Yasushi shouted across the crackling of the flames.
"Why is that my problem?" Ichiro demanded. "You all are responsible for the death of my brother and my men. Why should I care if you all starve?" he roared. His voice suddenly got quieter as he said, "But you know? I'm not a bad guy. Maybe I'll leave you enough to live on… if you hand over the guys that killed them. Where are the shinobi you brought in?" Ichiro screamed. "Bring them out and put them at my feet! Give me their lives and I'll spare yours!"
The villagers murmured and the crowd shifted anxiously. Words drifted up. Opinion seemed split. Some were hesitant to give up the people who had already done so much for them. However, others seemed to think four lives weren't much if it meant the village survived.
"Or I can just torch the place now," Ichiro said, reaching down and yanking a flaming branch from the fire. He held the torch aloft tauntingly.
"Give them up!" shouted a voice from the back of the crowd.
"They're not our problem!"
"Just turn them over!"
Soon the crowd was taken over, chanting for Yasushi and Kaede to turn them over and save the village.
"Are you mad?" Kaede shouted right back. "They've already cut that band down by a third. That's more than we've accomplished in the six months since they got us under their thumb. And you want to hand them over to be slaughtered?"
"Shut up old woman!"
"Yeah, what do you know?"
"This is getting bad," Ayano whispered. Her brow was furrowed.
"What do we do?" Sayuri asked calmly.
"Get around behind his men," Ayano ordered. "I'm going in to be a distraction."
"Are you sure you'll be okay?" Miyako fretted. Ayano grinned, reaching over to ruffle her hair.
"Hey, have some faith in me, kid."
Kiyomi, Sayuri, and Miyako moved off around the rooftops, getting into position on the building behind the raiders. As they moved, Ayano leapt down from the rooftops, landing lightly just on the villager's side of the fire.
"I hear you're looking for me?" Ayano said, putting her hands on her hips and grinning confidently. Ichiro's eyes widened at the sight of her, her hitai-ate gleaming in the firelight.
"You? You killed Akihiro?" he demanded as a few of his men chuckled at the idea that a woman took him down.
"Was he the muscley one with the big sword or the other muscley one with the big sword?" Ayano asked, putting a finger to her chin thoughtfully. "There were a lot of them, you see."
Ichiro snarled something that Ayano would have smacked any of her students for saying and pulled out his own sword.
"Oho! You're touchy!" Ayano grinned. "You sure that's smart? I'm a jonin, you know. You really think you can take me?"
"I'm gonna knock that sassy head of yours off your shoulders!" Ichiro snarled, lunging for her.
"Take it away, ladies!" Ayano shouted.
"Fireball Jutsu!"
Fire rolled from two separate roofs, bathing the sides of the raider's forces. Four men ran screaming into the night, backs aflame. Three were put out by fast-acting companions, and five simply burned where they fell, writhing on the ground. Senbon, kunai, and shuriken bit into the ranks from all directions. In the flickering light the weapons seem to vanish in the blackness, only to reappear when they caught the firelight and flash red. This made them hard to dodge because almost as soon as you saw them they were gone, but something else was coming for you.
"Lightning Style: Chain Lightning!" Ayano shouted, making hand signs. Lightning shot from her palms and connected with two of the raiders who followed Ichiro's charge for her. They didn't even have time to scream before their charred bodies hit the ground. The lightning split for the three nearest attackers. They shouted as they got a nasty jolt, falling to the ground with their muscles spasming. It spread to three more from each of them, and these only got a bad jolt. The next victims were barely shocked.
"You bitch," Ichiro snarled, advancing on Ayano. "You think you can just come into my territory and kill my men?"
"Well I seem to be doing pretty well," Ayano shrugged. She sounded blasé, but she was actually a bit worried. They were facing about forty men. Their first attacks took out about ten of those, killing or incapacitating them. That left thirty. Even if she took ten, that still left about six for each of the girls. She wasn't sure if they were ready for a battle this pitched yet. "Thank god these guys aren't ninja," she muttered under her breath as she dodged Ichiro's wild, emotion-fueled swing.
"Quit dancing around and fight like a man!" Ichiro roared.
"Okay," Ayano said. "Lightning Style: Lightning Beast Running Jutsu!"
The lightning flew from her palms and took on the shape of a hound. It charged towards Ichiro, whose eyes widened. He threw himself to the side, barely avoiding the attack. Ayano kept him down with a hail of kunai. He howled as a few stuck in his shoulder and side. Reaching up, Ichiro tore one from his shoulder and hurled it at Ayano, who executed a backbend to avoid it.
Ichiro wasn't stupid. It was clear that Ayano mostly used Lightning Techniques. Having metal anywhere near him at this point was only going to make this more dangerous. He stood up and stabbed his sword into the ground, abandoning it as he ran at her with his fists. It would be more satisfying to beat her to a pulp with his bare hands anyway.
He raised a fist to punch her in the stomach. Ayano flipped onto her hands, her feet coming up and nailing him under the chin. Ichiro staggered back as Ayano righted herself. She came at him with one leg extended, hands flicking through signs.
Ayano's fighting style really was something to behold. Because her hands were busy making signs, her legs were both supporting her and doing the attacks, but that was fine with her. Even before she developed this technique, if it came down to taijutsu, she preferred kicks to punches. Ayano's legs flew through the air gracefully, twisting and flashing out, crackling with energy. The smell of scorched flesh came from every place she connected, but Ichiro seemed beyond pain with the loss of his brother. He just kept coming.
Kiyomi and Sayuri were throwing out Fireball Jutsu after Fireball Jutsu, Miyako hurling weapons into the mix. They leapt from roof to roof so their enemy never knew what attack was going to come from where.
"You cowards, get down here!" shouted one of the raiders.
Miyako shrieked as one of the men suddenly appeared over the edge of the roof she was on, clinging to the gutter. He seized her ankle and dragged her over the edge. She hit the ground with him.
"Miyako!" Sayuri shouted. She leapt down in front of Miyako and swung her arms widely, firing bits of bone from her fingertips. "Get back up!" she ordered as she kept them at bay. Miyako leapt back to the roof. Sayuri made to follow her but the moment she stopped the raiders surged forwards, pressing her from all sides. The bone membrane grew under her skin and bone sprouted from her back, chest, arms, and knees.
"What the hell?" one of the bandits yelled as they recoiled from her.
"Larch Dance!" Sayuri shouted, spinning along the line. The bandits fell back, clutching their puncture wounds. Sayuri stopped spinning and the bones retracted into her skin.
She arched in pain as her back exploded in agony. One of them had gotten behind her and had just sliced her back open.
"Sayuri!" Kiyomi shouted. Suddenly Kiyomi was there beside her. She kicked, throwing the man who had cut Sayuri back into the wall. She hurled a kunai, catching him in the throat and sending him sliding to the ground, gasping around his own blood.
"You get up!" Kiyomi ordered. "Fireball Jutsu!" The light and heat distracted the men long enough for Kiyomi to grab Sayuri and haul her back up to the roof.
"Are you okay?" Kiyomi asked worriedly, crouching beside her.
"You saved my life," Sayuri panted with a weak grin. "Thanks for that."
Kiyomi smiled back. "Don't mention it. What're friends for?"
Sayuri grinned. No matter what kind of defenses they had, be it a smart mouth, shyness, or a distant attitude, she knew the truth. They all cared about each other.
"Miyako, get over here!" Kiyomi cried. Miyako leapt onto their roof and landed next to them, hands immediately seeking Sayuri's back. She ran her fingers along the cut and Sayuri winced at the tenderness but she felt the blood begin to clot, forming a scab. At least she didn't have to worry about bleeding out. Miyako's work with her father on the healing aspect of her kekkei genkai was paying off. A couple months ago she couldn't so much as clot the blood from a paper cut.
"Alright, lets finish this," Kiyomi said. The three of them stood up, staring at the raiders below grimly.
Ayano swung at Ichiro one last time. He leaned out of the way, putting his heart directly into the path of her kunai. He gasped and shuddered as the blade slid in. Ayano shoved, forcing it in that last little bit to puncture his heart. She yanked it out and Ichiro dropped, dead.
"Fireball Jutsu!"
"Wind Style: Great Breakthrough!"
Ayano looked up as the wind fed the flames, the double fireball roaring to impossible size and rolling over the last few bandits standing. They didn't try to help each other out this time. It was every man for himself. Most of them fled, screaming madly as they were slowly incinerated. A few just dropped and smoldered, writhing.
Slowly, the sounds of battle faded and the villagers, who had fled in terror when the fight started, emerged from their hiding places. Heads poked out of doors and windows, from out of alleys. A few men ventured out to survey the damage. Buckets of water were hastily tossed over any remaining fires. Children were warned to stay inside to keep them from seeing the devastation.
"Everybody okay up there?" Ayano called to the roofs. Miyako and Kiyomi leapt down, supporting Sayuri between them. Ayano raised an eyebrow. "What happened to you?"
Miyako and Kiyomi turned her around so Ayano could see her back. She winced.
The next day was spent in celebration for the villagers and rest for the kunoichi. Sayuri took the worst wound. She could have easily damaged her pine but for the bone defense. As if was, she just had a long, deep cut which Kaede stitched up while Sayuri bit on a rag, vaguely buzzed from the sake they'd poured down her throat since they didn't have any morphine with them.
"I'm not taking that," Sayuri groaned as Ayano brandished the bottle of painkillers. To keep from putting pressure on her back, she was lying on her stomach. She took advantage of this by turning her face away. "Do you have any lavender?" she begged Kaede.
"I'll get you some, dearie," she said, patting Sayuri's hand. She rose and tottered out of the room.
"And a lot of onions!" Sayuri called after her.
"Are you making the world's weirdest salad?" Kiyomi asked with a snort.
"I don't like painkillers," Sayuri grumbled. "They make me nauseous. This works just fine."
Kaede sliced the onions and handed them around. Sayuri placed bits on her bruises and sighed in relief. It reeked to high heaven, but the bruises immediately began to reduce in swelling and size, so the others quickly followed her example. Sayuri used a wrung-out towel full of brewed lavender along her back to stop the pain. Their room smelled lovely and horrible in turns for the whole of the night.
The next morning, on the way back to Konoha, a group of chunin dropped down onto the road in front of them.
"Ayano, why are you headed back?" asked one of them. "We hadn't arrived yet."He looked over the three bruised and battered genin. "What did you get into?"
Ayano sighed. "You would have been awesome to have like two nights ago, my friend. Screw you, sir. Screw you."
The chunin stared at the small group as they continued along the road.
"I'm pretty sure our job was done for us," one of them said faintly.