Chapter 7: Yamashiro

We were taken to the orphanage where a kindly woman named Yuri asked us for our names and then after writing them down, led us to where the other orphans were, after showing us where we would be sleeping and where we could put our bags, explaining what the schedule was like, and that we could expect job assignments later in the day so we could begin working tomorrow. Yuri had instructed Kiba to leave Akamaru outside, to which he objected strongly, but eventually, grudgingly consented to. Akamaru whined sadly but sat outside the orphanage door, keeping an eye on what was happening in the village as per Kiba's instructions.

They were probably around twenty other orphans with us ranging from ages nine to seventeen. They regarded us with interest as Yuri led us in. The younger children quickly turned back to their games but the older ones took more time, scanning the four of us carefully. The low stores of plants in the village had decreased the number of laborers needed to prepare the plants and then use them in the making of medicines and toxins, so the orphans had no work to do.

"You all sure picked a fun time to show up," said a boy to the left of us. He looked to be about our age, with sandy hair that seemed to stick in every direction.

"Don't torment the new kids Chikaku," chided a girl nearby. Her blue eyes remained fixed on the book in her hands as she introduced herself, "I'm Sukai. Don't mind Chikaku. He's a brat to everyone."

"O-oi! Sukai!" he protested. Sukai merely smiled before marking her place in her book.

"So where are you four from?" she asked.

"Konoha," Kiba answered much to my displeasure. I would much prefer to keep the specifics of where we're from under wraps. The fewer people who knew we were from Konoha, the fewer people who could connect the dots before our mission was through.

"Really? That's close! I'm from Iwa, and Chikaku's from Kusa. Not a lot of orphans come from the big villages though. They can usually take care of their kids, the hidden ones will even make 'em ninjas, although sometimes there are some who want to come to Yamashiro so the bigger villages let 'em. Some politics about gettin' in Yamashiro's good graces I think. Doesn't matter much to me. They let me come here, which was great cause I really didn't wanna be in Iwa forever, but I also didn't wanna be a ninja so this was a happy medium."

It took me a few seconds to muddle through Sukai's strange combination of articulate and slurred words. She seemed to know a lot for a civilian child.

Chikaku spoke next, "I still don't know why you don't want to be a shinobi. It'd be so cool! Plus you'd get super strong and could protect the village and everyone here!" He threw Sukai an exasperated look, as though this was an argument they were used to having. Sukai looked like she wanted to respond, but instead she took a deep breath before turning back to us.

"So you guys have any idea what jobs you're gonna be assigned to?"

"None," I replied, "what do you do?"

"I work in the Pot. It's what they call the buildin' where they wash everything the harvesters bring in and boil it if they need to," Sukai clarified at our bemused looks, "I'm mostly in washing, but they say if I keep up the diligence, I could do more with preparation. Then I could actually learn somethin' useful with the herbs."

She glowed with child-like excitement at the prospect of moving up and learning more. Chikaku rolled his eyes with a warm smile before answering.

"I do harvest and look out in the mountains. Haven't been doing much lately since the bandits shut us down pretty quick."

"You've seen some of them then?" I questioned.

"Mhm," he hummed affirmatively, "Couple of them were using chakra attacks on our shinobi guards. But the others were just thugs. I beat off one of them and the other men on lookout and harvest took care of the rest."

"Nearly had a broken arm for your trouble," Sukai added.

"I don't though," he quipped back.

"How many times did they attack?" I pushed. My teammates kept their eyes fixed on the two orphans, just as eager as I was for as much information as we could get.

"They only hit my group once but four others were attacked too before we stopped going out. Then they attacked the village and a lot of our shinobi were hospitalized. Most of them should be back in a week or two, but we might not make it till then if we keep getting attacked. Although Yuri says we might be sending small groups back out again soon and we need to. A fire user got into the warehouses where the herbs are stored and burned out a lot of our supply. We're not in any danger, but we won't be able to keep treating our people after a while."

"A-anything distinguishing about th-the bandits?" Hinata inquired suddenly.

Chikaku hummed in thought for a moment before shaking his head, "not really. Although one guy that Taki knocked out when they attacked the village had a weird number tattooed on his right wrist. Why you asking?"

"Curious," Hinata answered.

I was mostly intrigued by the mention of the tattoo. I rubbed at the glove that hid my own number as I considered the implications of what we'd learned. It was possible the numbers didn't mean a thing, but with Karasu here I doubted that. Numbers tattooed like that denoted an experiment, something that only furthered my belief that Orochimaru was behind this.

Conversation drifted away from the attack to what a normal day in the village was like. We learned that typically the teams of guards and workers who went out to collect or cultivate the plants left shortly after dawn and came home around mid-afternoon. Work would stop for everyone else not long after the teams came home and then everyone would enjoy the rest of the day and take care of their personal business. It seemed like a quaint place without the bustle and hurrying of the hidden villages. And, usually, it was peaceful, protected from war by agreements with the villages. Those same agreements usually warned off bandits or other groups interested in the medicinal secrets of Yamashiro. Not now though.

Anonymity was what let Yamashiro's current assailants continue. They were a small enough group that they could disappear in the mountains. The fact that their allegiances to any party was unknown and speculated at at best also protected them. The hidden villages had no one to get to to stop them. Which is why we'd been sent. A small team of ninjas who could blend seamlessly into the population and not tip off the bandits.

But with Karasu here that got a lot more complicated for me. Our history didn't endear us to the other. Quite the opposite. Although what Taki had said about him was strange. This green substance...he hadn't had that power before. Seems like he'd been moved up in standing.

Worse, I couldn't dismiss the feeling that this mission wasn't going to turn out well for me.

The next morning we were up early, just as the sun was rising over the mountains. It had been another restless night for me, though the nightmares were less intense and less frequent. Now it was my own dark thoughts that kept me up. After breakfast, we were shuffled away from the rest of the orphans and led to a stern looking woman I didn't recognize.

"You're the new ones then?" she asked and then continued without waiting for an answer, "alright. Boss says you're all going with…" she paused, as if double checking something.

"You're going with...Kenta's group. Huh, don't usually send newbies there. Unprotected and a favorite spot for bandits. Coacha flowers are powerful stuff. Well off you go then."

After pointing us to Kenta's group, the woman turned away, already moving on to the next bit of business. We followed her instructions and made our way to Kenta. He was a tall man with a powerful build and a presence to match. A white scar decorated his right cheek and a sheathed blade was strapped to his back. As we approached, he appraised us carefully and knowingly.

"The new recruits then? Don't look like much. Hope you're up to the task."

Kiba bristled at the implication and Akamaru tensed at his partner's indignation. The dog was pulling off mangy stray well, his normally pristine coat was already dusty and tangled. There were a number of stray dogs that wandered the village, most half tamed and favorites of the kids at the orphanage, fortunately for us. Akamaru's presence wasn't overly suspicious and some of the other kids had dogs follow them around and out of the village, tamed and loyal to the point of death according to Chikaku who had seen some of the dogs die in bandit attacks as they bought their masters time. Kiba had been dismayed but admiring of them and even I was surprised by their loyalty.

"We'll be fine, but we appreciate your concern," I deflected coolly, sending a warning glance toward Kiba. No need to do anything to irritate Kenta after just meeting him.

His eyes ran up and down us once more before he turned away and gestured for us to follow. He led us over to a small group of people. All of them were older than us and had a harder look than the rest of the villagers. There was another shinobi there alongside Kenta, but each of the harvesters themselves seemed very capable of handling themselves in a fight. Whatever these coacha flowers were capable of they must be something to warrant such protection. I had no doubt that if there were more shinobi available, we would have more of them with us. As it stood, there was our team and then the two Yamashiro shinobi. I hoped it would be enough.

"Bit young to be out here with us ain't cha?" asked a sharp eyed with wild spiked red hair.

"They were assigned to this group because of their skills Akana," Kenta replied, "so I want no questioning from any of you. They will remain with us as long as needed."

With that, Kenta strode away to the gates and the rest of the group, after casting us a cursory glance, followed him. The woman, Akana, lingered, watching us with her head cocked before shrugging and falling in line with Kenta. My teammates and I exchanged bemused glances before we trailed behind our group.

It took us nearly an hour to reach the place on the mountain where the coacha flowers grew. However, we weren't allowed near them. Kenta instructed us to keep guard at the pass that I assumed led to the field. The other shinobi kept watch at the other side while Kenta patrolled around both areas. It was a brilliant move, employing our help without letting us have access to the flowers. We might be able to approximate their location but we couldn't see what they looked like. While I appreciated the genius of it, I wasn't overly fond of being just a lookout. None of us were, but we understood why. On top of that, this made it easier to fulfill our mission. If we were attacked and rebuffed the attack, we could use Shino's bugs or Akamaru's nose to track the bandits back to where they were hiding out.

We patrolled and stood guard in shifts, two at the pass entrance and two patrolling from the treetops. We were still below the treeline and the trees were tall and thick enough to provide cover for , Hinata and I were at the entrance, watching for any threats that might have slipped past Kiba and Shino.

"Tenshi-ch-chan?"

"Yes?" I questioned, turning to Hinata.

She shifted nervously before responding.

"Are you okay? The o-other night when w-we were traveling...you didn't s-sleep well. Do you have n-nightmares?"

So she had noticed. I closed my eyes and tilted my head back before I spoke.

"Yeah but you don't need to worry too much Hinata. I've been having them for some time now. I can deal with them."

"D-do you want t-to talk about them?"

I opened my eyes and looked back out toward the edge of the woods.

"Not really."

She looked like she might have said more but then the boys appeared out of the trees, signaling it was our turn to go out and patrol. I could almost feel her worried eyes on my back as we split ways.

When we came back, there was lunch waiting for us. I avoided Hinata's gaze carefully, knowing exactly what I would see. After we ate, there was another two hours of work before we headed back to Yamashiro.

The next day was as uneventful as the first. I hadn't slept well again, dark dreams having haunted my closed eyes. I found however, in the orphanage, I was far from alone in watching the moon inch by overhead, waiting for the sun to dispel the night which lingered in our minds. Although I knew none of them would have experiences like mine, it was still strangely comforting to know others were plagued by their pasts. They never spoke to each other, but it was obvious the other kids drew silent strength from one another. As I watched them in the daytime, they gravitated to each other, exchanged silent looks of discomfort when they were struggling. I sometimes caught myself wishing for that silent understanding. But I wasn't a victim like the other orphans.

I was patrolled with Kiba and Akamaru that day, thankfully and was able to be lost to my quiet musings without the astuteness of my other teammates.

The third day was when trouble started.

The first half of the day was uneventful. I was with Shino as we rotated through partnerships. It was probably the best partnership for that day.

After lunch, Shino and I were on patrol first. I was starting to get bored with patrolling and guarding the same parts of the forest over and over. I had been up in the branches of a tree sharpening a kunai when I caught a brief hint of an unfamiliar scent on the wind.

Curious and wary I turned to face the scent. It was definitely a person. No, people. I followed it, moving quickly and silently through the trees. The sound of voices stopped me. Slowly now, I crept toward the voices. A faint buzz sounded near my ear and I turned to see a kikaichu. Shino was nearby as well.

"...believe he sent us out here. What's he expect us find?"

"There's coacha flowers out here, boss is almost positive. We just need to find a pass. It'll lead to field with the workers. Thanks to the attack on the village there's basically no shinobi for us to deal with. In and out then we're done. We can deal with it no problem."

Murmurs now, but nothing important I could pick up. Besides I had the confirmation I'd needed. Karasu's men. We needed to get back to the others and warn the villagers. I was almost sure this would end in a fight.

I raced back through the trees, knowing speed was most important now. If the men knew about the pass already, it would only be a matter of time till they made it there. There was also the fact that this could be our chance to find the hideout and call in the jounin. There was the problem of numbers. We didn't know how many Karasu had sent. The scents were too tangled up. I picked up at least three, maybe four, but there was a possibility some of them were experiments so even if we outnumbered them it may not matter.

I dropped from the trees suddenly enough to make Hinata and Kiba shoot up into defensive positions with Shino shortly behind me.

"They're here. We need to tell Kenta and Akana." Akana, rather unsurprisingly, was the other shinobi assigned to this group. From what I'd learned about her, she was an accomplished kenjutsu user and also had an affinity for basically any type of sharp weapon.

"I'll tell Akana," Shino said, "she'll likely know how to contact Kenta. You three stay here. Be prepared for a fight."

He then ran through the pass to find Akana, while the three of us returned to watching the forest. By unspoken consent we all did our best to appear relaxed and unprepared for the bandits.

No more than five minutes could've passed with a scratchy, barking laughter greeted us.

"So this is our welcoming party? You're right Ryuk, we should have no problem."

The owner of the voice was the bandit I had heard complaining before. His teeth were bared in a savage smile as he sized us up, dark eyes glittering. Six other men approached as well with one giving the speaker a sharp look.

"It does not pay to underestimate one's opponent, Ao. If these children are here, then it is for a reason."

Ao's jaw tensed but he didn't come closer. The other man meanwhile took a step forward and addressed us.

"I am Ryuk. That being said, we would ask that you surrender. You are outnumbered and quite possibly out skilled. Let us take what we came for and we will leave you."

"Yeah right," Kiba snarled, "you're not getting through us."

Ryuk sighed, looking well and truly regretful.

"So be it."

The air sang with the sound of his kunai hitting mine. I had barely had enough time to react to him tensing to come forward. He could've dealt some serious injury to us if I hadn't reacted. His eyebrows were raised in mild surprise as he looked down at me.

"You're fast young one. Excellent reaction time."

I ignored him, instead yelling at Kiba and Hinata.

"Don't let them through! And be on your guard!"

Ryuk twisted away from me and signaled his men forward. We needed Kenta, Akana, and Shino back. Even if we were accomplished shinobi, these numbers could be dangerous, especially if any of them were skilled like Ryuk. I took this opportunity to flick through a series of handsigns and slamming my hand into the ground. Next to me the ground shifted and grew upward before forming into a clone of myself. Earth clones took more chakra than shadow clones might have, but they could also take hits better than shadow clones and wouldn't vanish with a glancing blow. My clone took off, slamming a punch into one of the men. I wasn't able to look and see how my teammates were faring before Ryuk attacked again, nearly as fast as before. Predicting his movements took all of my concentration, and even then I still was hit a few times, earning a cut to my left arm and a hard kick to my ribs. I was able to get in a few swipes too though, catching Ryuk's shoulder with my kunai and surprising him with a slash toward his midsection with my claws. The scratch there wasn't as deep as I'd prefer though, as he had managed to dodge backward for most of it.

Baring my teeth in agitation, I allowed more chakra into my feet and arms and pushed myself to move faster. We continued our attacks with taijutsu, neither of us of us making any real headway. It was rare that I found an opponent so fast. My speed was above average, but I could only keep this pace for so long. Already I was getting sloppy, yet Ryuk showed no signs of fatigue.

Then a barrage of shuriken at Ryuk's side deterred his attention from me. This gave me ample time to slip a hand into my poison pouch and pulling out three sedative laced senbon. I acknowledged Akana's help with a nod before flicking one of the senbon with expert precision. It caught Ryuk in the arm and he quickly pulled it out with a hiss, but I knew the damage was done. The sedative was in his bloodstream and while it was more slow acting than other sedatives, it required much smaller doses to be effective. Ryuk ran back at me, jumping to kick me, but I blocked it with my arm wincing at the force of it. He landed hard and stumbled a bit, evidence that the sedative was starting to kick in. He shook his head sharply before flying toward me again, but he was slowing down. After a few punches, he fell to his knees before his eyes rolled into his head and he collapsed. After quickly checking his vitals, I turned my attention back to the fight.

With the arrival of the other three, it was definitely in our favor. Moments after my fight with Ryuk was finished, my clone was pulverized by Ao who struck with surprising force. Aside from him and Ryuk though, none of the other men seemed to have any noteworthy chakra skills. After seeing Ryuk go down though, Ao swore before calling for a retreat. Three other men made it away with him, while Ryuk and two others were down and unable to flee. Akana made to pursue them, but Kenta stopped her.

"Let them go. Need to trace them back to the hideout anyway."

Akana watched them go in agitation before turning back to us.

"You kids are pretty good. That was actually almost fun."

Fighting the urge to roll my eyes at Akana I scanned my teammates for injuries. None of them looked too worse for wear. Scratched and forming bruises here and there but nothing serious. I winced as I became aware of the ache in my ribs. They didn;'t feel broken but Ryuk had definitely bruised them.

"Well," Kenta said, "you'll have to be fast in tracking down the hideout. We'll take these guys back today and see if we can get anything out of them but your best bet it to follow the trail. They know we've hired shinobi, or at least have very skilled young ones and they'll be wary and more vicious I imagine."

"A few of my insects were planted on them. When they return to the hideout, my kikaichu will be able to track them there," Shino replied simply and Kenta nodded.

"Well in that case, let's return to the village. You can follow your trail tomorrow."

He was unhappy when only half of the party returned and did so empty-handed. This failure was extremely detrimental in moving their plans forward. They did not possess any coacha flowers and Ryuk was gone. The man had been among his better fighters and one of the few he could tolerate without a headache. His loss was unplanned and quite irritating.

"Ao," he demanded sharply, "explain how this could have happened to me."

Ao looked up, his features twisted in annoyance.

"They had some shinobi brats with them. Must've been hired cause one of them had the Byakugan. Or Konoha is sticking their nose in places it don't belong."

"Konoha?" he hissed outraged. This was bad. If the Hidden villages began to get involved they would have to abandon the operation. The shinobi there would be too much if teams began to arrive. "Tell me more about the fighters."

"There was the Byagukan girl, a boy with a dog, and and another girl. Then three others showed up. Two had the Yamashiro headband and the other was some boy with bugs."

"Which one took down Ryuk?"

"Well," Ao started, "it was mostly the blue haired girl. She matched his speed, fought him for a bit, then when the Yamashiro girl distracted him, she hit him with a senbon that must've had something on it because he went down shortly after that. She also made and earth clone that was a handful."

With an irritated exhale, he dismissed the team, who disappeared as quickly as possible. His mind was wrapped up in the description of the girl who had taken down Ryuk. She sounded awfully familiar.

"Could really be you?" he wondered out loud, a dark smile twisting his lips.

"Ah Tenshi," Karasu said, "if it's you, you'll soon come to regret fleeing to Konoha."

A/N: So it's been a while...about eight months I think. Way too long. Sorry guys. I finished my last year of high school and was getting massive stress headaches in the process and couldn't write more than pieces here and there. I have started college now though and once I settle into my homework schedule I plan to do more writing. Thanks for sticking with me guys!