"Congratulations dear! We're so proud of you," Sanchin smiles, wrapping Hasuka up in a hug. Even Saifa, who is normally much more formal with her, stooped down and wrapped an arm around her small frame.
"Your first mission as a team should be soon incoming, as soon as your teammates heal from their sustained wounds. In the meantime, you have two options, either continue your training It for the next couple of days, or we can have you try a solo mission," Saifa explained.
"What kind of solo mission?" Hasuka asked, genuinely curious about what they thought that she could accomplish in such a short time.
"It's a simple escort mission. A visiting team from Konohagakure is going to be assigned an escort with documentation so they can safely pass through unharmed. It could be dangerous if they try to escape, but I'm sure that you can return alive if nothing else."
Standing behind Saifa, the expressions going through Sanchin's face made Hasuka worried. It was obvious that she didn't think that this was a good idea, but was helpless to deny him.
"Here is the documents, please read through them for your departure in..." he glances at the rising sun. "About an hour."
"Wait but-" she tries.
"Is something wrong?"
"I'm not sure I want to do it, I just became a Chunin yesterday!"
"At this point you don't have much of a choice, dear." Sanchin forces out. "You need to get some experience and diving right in is the quickest way."
"Yes exactly, now go grab anything you will need and we'll read the fine print on the way." Following Saifa's orders, Hasuka paced upstairs, bewildered by this sudden change of events. Only to the border of the Land of Wind, the scroll said. It wasn't that she had absolutely no idea where that border was or anything, but that's only the least of her worries.
Deciding that, yes, she should put up her transformation jutsu, Hasuka exhaled a breath, a poof of smoke revealing the long, blue-haired girl from her exam. As she gazed at her closet, a thrill of excitement ran through her.
This was her first mission, her first solo mission at that. She felt older, more powerful just with this knowledge. "Perhaps..." she muttered thoughtfully. "A new outfit is in order." Searching through, she liked the color scheme from before, green, brown, and navy blue, but maybe a different order.
After ten minutes, she decided on loose brown pants, a short-sleeved, dark green top, and her navy-blue Medic belt. A separate belt, this one a dark brown-almost black color, crossed with the navy at an angle and held a pouch on either side. In one, she put the scroll and excess chakra pills.
If she was to keep up this jutsu for at least three whole days, not even counting the three days back, she was going to need them. Hasuka paused in her movements. Would she even sleep? Any number of horrible things could happen while you slept, so how would that work?
Not like she was particularly excited for sleep. A certain being who was always present refused to make an appearance last night, not matter how much she called or willed herself to his presence.
It was now, when she held the little raccoon charms in her palm, that she pondered the reason. Was he upset with her? Could he have possibly, died? Frowning, she put up her hair and collected her other supplies, four kunai that she tied onto her calfs and arms with her usual bandages.
"Don't forget to pack a bag of supplies!" Sanchin called up to her from the kitchen. Creasing her brows, Hasuka removed a small backpack from the very depths of her closet. What could she put in though?
Grabbing practical clothing, she slipped a long, thick, brown, sleeveless sweater with a hood into the bag. On top, she placed a book on pressure points in case of boredom and some dried food from the kitchen.
Her parents, she thought of them as such now, approved of her baggage and travelled with her on her journey to the Chunin Exam lodgings. When they had arrived, her charges were already waiting outside.
One was a calm-faced, silver-haired, boy who looked slightly younger than his teammates, almost Hasuka's age if she wasn't transformed. In the middle stood a girl with shoulder-length brown hair and purple stripes on her cheeks. She was the first to notice the new arrivals and gave a small wave.
Returning the gesture, Hasuka gazed upon the final member of their party, a boy with spiky black hair and orange goggles on his forehead. Of the three, Komura thought that he looked the strangest but disregarded the thought because looks could be deceiving.
"Hello, I will be your escort out of the Land of Wind," Hasuka explains, approaching the unfamiliar trio. Kakashi's eyes widened slightly at her appearance, recognizing the new Chunin from yesterday.
"You're the escort?" He scoffs. "Shouldn't they be second someone more qualified?"
"She is perfectly capable of completing this mission," Sanchin replies. "Shouldn't you be more polite to, in this instance, someone of higher importance?"
Obito snickers at the burn whereas Kakashi huffs indignantly. To break the awkward tension, Rin steps foreword and holds out a hand in greeting. "Hi there, I'm Rin and these are my teammates Kakashi and Obito. I look foreword to our traveling together!"
Thankful for the chance, Hasuka eagerly accepts the offered hand, stepping up to join the team. "If introductions are over, you'd best be off then," Saifa concludes. "We shall see you in a week."
Hasuka nods and smiles in goodbye at her family, following behind Team Rin, or whoever was in charge. They quickly left the the town and traveled mainly by tree for their journey, Kakashi always in the lead by far.
They stopped to rest for the third time as the sun fell, Kakashi saying that he would take first watch. In her time spent with them, they didn't seem like the most talkative group. Emoda and Asoka had gotten along famously and she had felt a connection of maybe friendship with the former, but these three seemed too divided.
Obito had taken up a handful of conversations with Rin and Hasuka had even started speaking with her about healing ninjutsu, as she was the teams healer. Kakashi however, was focused elsewhere and contributed nothing to the small banter.
Having gone two nights with very little sleep, Hasuka was exhausted. Kakashi had also done the same as the watchman of the group. The little sleep that she had received always left her with a feeling of helplessness upon waking for Garoma was nowhere to be found.
It was on this day, as they neared the border, that the team slipped up. They weren't sure exactly what happened, maybe Kakashi was tired too and wasn't paying much attention, maybe the lagging three talked too loud as they traveled, maybe it was just the enemies were looking for a fight.
Whatever the reason, as Kakashi and Co. dropped to the ground to rest, out of the lush bushes came a series of shuriken. Kakashi draws his White Light Chakra Saber and uses it to deflect any aimed at him, leaving his teammates to dodge or deflect however they could. Hasuka deflects them as well but with the kunai blades on the outsides her arms instead of a fancy tantou.
Kakashi immediately rushes in, slashing at the enemy with his weapon, only to become trapped as two more enemies rise from the ground. With one opponent down, he swiftly turns and takes on the next two.
Hasuka too leaps into the fight as Obito and Rin prepare themselves to do the same. With their backs turned, she runs foreword and aims to strike, only for her arms to be pushed aside by another enemy and roll to the ground.
Despite the adrenaline in her system. her body did not want to get up or move very far at all. So she didn't. The team seemed to have everything under control, and she was just an envoy. Wait, why were they even fighting at all? She had documents allowing them passage...
"Wait!" She shouted, forcing her body to stand up and pull out their documents. "We have a Sunagakure documents from the Chunin Exams allowing us passage through the Land of Wind. As Suna Ninja, you must follow these orders!"
One Ninja who fought Kakashi walked to her, towering over her short stature. "Let's see these papers then," he muttered, holding a hand out expectantly. As she placed them in his hand, Kakashi shook his head, predicting what was going to happen.
The Ninja glanced down at the papers, seeing the Kazekage's seal, nodded, and burst it into flames. As the remnants fell to the ground, he replied with a shrug, "I don't see any papers, must be the envoy got lost in travel."
The shock on Hasuka's face slowly turned to anger. Her first mission, and it's going like this? Nope, not going to happen, not this time. The man laughed at her reddening face, aiming a punch at her stomach. Blocking the attack with her arms, she slid backwards.
Rushing foreword to attack him, he retaliated by sending her flying into a nearby tree with a crack and a spew of blood from her mouth. The battle had struck up again, Kakashi against two and Rin and Obito keeping the other occupied.
Coughing a little blood into her hand, Hasuka gazed at the crimson liquid. Suddenly the perfect idea came to her. These Ninja must have enough energy stored within their bodies to summon Garoma. He could help them, guide them, and she would finally get an answer as to why he wouldn't appear to her.
Thinking thus, she remembered the recently dead Nin and calmly walked over to the body. The slash wound on the front was still oozing a small amount of blood so she placed her palms in the to the surface of the cut. Thinking of Garoma, she called out to him and pulled.
When nothing happened, she frowned, searching father for where he might be. This time she found then type of energy she was looking for. Giving the same mental tug, she opened her eyes to see the blood collect from the body and solidify to form the image of her friend.
"Garoma..." she breathed thankful both that it worked and that he was still alive. He on the other hand, was not thankful in the least. As the sounds of battle died around them, he warned, "You shouldn't have done that Komura."
Surprised, she backs away from him slightly. "Wait wh-what do you mean? Why have you ignored me? I've tried to reach you every night!"
"You've chosen a path that I will not follow. Do not try to reach me again," he unraveled, the blood sloshing down back over the body and onto her clothes.
Stunned, she could only stare at where her friend had once been.
"Care to-"
"Oh my-"
"Woah..." came three separate and simultaneous reactions to the events having just taken place.
Hasuka was oblivious to all of them, her thoughts only on what had happened. Just the other day he was teaching her about energy and they played in the forest. In the span of two days what had had changed?
"Get up," came the voice of Kakashi, bringing her back to awareness. Now she could hear how close he had gotten to her when in her reverie, and she slowly spun around to face him. His expression was harsh with cold eyes as he pointed the blade at her neck.
Looking past him, Rin's and Obito's expressions were of remaining disbelief and newly acquired suspicion. "That was an animal summon," Kakashi states matter-of-factly. "Very few Chunin have such an ability, especially someone who just became one."
Hasuka's expression looked like a deer-in-headlights, not realizing the gravity of what she had done before. "No answer?" She opens her mouth about to say something but closes it, deigning to remain silent.
Swiftly he leans down, tilting the blade away from her so the hilt faced her skull. "Hostage then," he mutters, slamming the hilt into the side of her head. Hasuka heard one last command before her consciousness slipped, "Obito, carry the spy the rest of the way. Rin, make sure she doesn't wake up."