(Thanks for coming back to read the fifth chapter of the series. This time we find Team 3 going on there first real mission outside the village. How will they fare? I love feedback and constructive criticism, so please leave a review so I can improve my writing and storytelling skills. Enjoy!)
"The objective of this mission is to escort a politician's two sons to a private estate where their mother lives," explains the Hokage, fighting off a grin due to the knowledge of what is coming next, "Come on in boys."
There is a loud thump on the wooden doors and the sound of two voices raised in anger can be heard out in the hall. The team looks at each other with uneasiness and uncertainty. After another thump the door bursts open and two boys roll though, fighting one another with feet and fists.
"Take it back Enji!" says the one with messy dark black hair just long enough to reach his eyebrows. His fancy black suit is covered with dirt and his face has a few small pink scratches on it.
"Never!" shouts Enji who sports light brown hair in the same style as his brother, "I won't take it back Nobuo." His knees are covered in dirt and his expensive looking jacket and red bowtie are also filthy from the brawl.
"We have to escort these brats?" Jando complains over the noise of the boys renewed scuffling.
"Hey, who are you calling a brat?" shouts Enji forgetting about his brother and earning a fist in his face.
"Good luck," says the 8th with a wink and a devious smirk on her face.
"Uhh...thanks," Jando replies scratching his head and looking uncomfortable.
"All right, let's go you two," says Sakura trying to begin the mission.
"Shut up ugly!" responds Nobuo as he closes his eyes, scrunches up his face, and sticks his tongue out at her.
"Why, you little…" shouts Sakura as a blush of anger takes over her features. She stomps over, all attempts at professionalism flying out the door with her temper, preparing to punch the young boy who is still entangled with his brother.
"Sakura, those are our clients," comments Kayo mildly, "You can't attack them."
"Sorry, Sensei," says Sakura, ashamed of forgetting her place. After the reprimand from her sensei she takes a moment to compose herself.
"Well, what are we supposed to do with them?" asks Jando glaring at the boys with anticipation of a highly irritating mission.
"Do with us? We are not animals you know!" exclaims Enji.
"If you don't want to be treated like animals then stop acting like them," comments Kuroda as he picks up both of the boys by the backs of their shirts and throws them over his back.
"Hey, let me go!" shouts Nobuo as he struggles to get free.
"Sorry, but you are just going to have stay there until we get to our destination. Let's go team," Kuroda says sternly. He heads out the door, not giving the boys a chance to protest.
"Well, that was easy," remarks Sakura amazed at the quickness with which the kids submitted to Kuroda's authority. She bows to the Hokage and then turns to follow them out of the office.
"He can only do that because he is so tall," complains Jando as he walks after them.
Hours later, the group is traveling on a lonely little dirt road in the middle of a quaint and quiet forest. Spots of sunlight seep through the leaves overhead and shed light on the path. Kayo eventually made Kuroda set the brothers down to walk on their own feet since they were behaving well, but it is now looking like a bad idea. They have started to fight each other again for no apparent reason.
"No you're the second, I'm the first," shouts Nobou with conviction.
"I'm definitely the first, you are just jealous," counters Enji.
"What the heck are these two even arguing about?" wonders Jando as he tries to hold the two apart.
They are becoming so loud that a group of bandits hear them from miles away. "Those brats are way too easy to track, this is going to be a piece of cake," remarks one of the bandits, whose neck and mouth are covered with a long, thin blue scarf.
"What about the guards?" asks another bandit gravely, this one wears an open flannel shirt and has a long scar across his chest, "It looks like there are four of them."
"Who cares? We outnumber them five to one. It will be a piece of cake," comments another bandit exuding confidence in the group's strength. Tied to his back is a sword the size of a person which seems just the perfect size for this man.
"Okay, let's attack now then," suggests another man with black eye-patch. With a rumble of agreement from the rest of the men they move out to attack their target.
"Will you two please stop fighting, you are hurting my brain," groans Sakura putting her hands up to her ears to try and block out the noise.
"Mine as well," Kayo thinks secretly as she grits her teeth and tries to focus on the road. Up ahead a bit a small stream cuts though the earth and carries water to an unknown destination. Water flows over the rocks and it is so clean that the pebbles at the bottom can be clearly seen. Compared to the conflict between the boys it seems like the most peaceful place in the world.
"How much longer until we get there?" asks Jando after he notices her staring ahead.
"You are so wrong!" yells Nobuo ignoring the ninja's comments.
"I am right! You are the one who is wrong!" argues Enji as he tries to push past Jando.
"I said be quiet!" yells Sakura, red-faced and stomping her foot onto the ground. The sudden outburst causes everyone to become quiet, including the boys. Finally there is no noise and everyone can think clearly again and they can hear clearly as well.
"Sakura look out!" screams Kuroda as he runs towards her.
A large bandit swings a sword down upon Sakura. The sword glints in the sunlight as Sakura stares in frozen fascination at the advancing bandit, but Kuroda makes it in time to halt the blade with his kunai. Sparks that fly off the connected blades as they each try to overpower the other.
"We are surrounded!" yells Jando who has activated his Byakugan, "Those brats were so loud it's no wonder they snuck up on us." He moves his arms and legs into a pose as he tries to count the number of enemy popping up.
"Sakura, guard the boys!" orders Kayo as she draws a weapon, "Jando, form up with me and Kuroda so we create a triangle with Sakura at the center." 'Sakura snaps out of her horrified reverie and runs over towards the boys, but a bandit charges at her. Kuroda tricks his opponent into using too much power and then slips down under the blade. As the bandit falls forward he grabs hold of his arm and tosses him over the shoulder so he crashes into the new attacker.
Now over their initial surprise and focused on their orders Team 3 starts to engage the other bandits. Sakura turns to where a big group of enemies are rushing forward and places herself in front of the boys.
Nobuo and Enji are shaking in their crocodile-skin shoes and covering their ears in an attempt to block out the sounds of violently clashing weapons all around. The fear takes over their bodies and they start backing up, out of the defensive formation, 'and the action leads them to bump into a very large bandit.
"Hi there boys," sneers the bandit in an evil voice. His size is massive, as if he was meant to be a bear and not a human.
"Sakura help!" screams Nobuo, but she is engaged with another bandit. Another two bad guys appear and surround the boys, they are much shorter but just as deadly-looking.
One of them comments, "You two are coming with us!" They move in from all sides, providing no chance of escape.
"Not while I'm around," says Kayo appearing in mid-air. Her flowing black hair looks dazzling as she spins around and with a single kick nails both of the men in the head simultaneously with a sickening crack.
"Nice moves for a sexy woman such as yourself," says the larger bandit as he catches and locks his arms to restrain her, "Maybe I'll take you too." He laughs menacingly believing that he has achieved victory.
"Not likely," says Kayo coolly and calmly. "You may be big, but you are way too slow to catch me off guard," she thinks as she senses her technique starting to take effect.
"What the hell? I can't move my body!" exclaims the bandit as his muscles strain to move.
"That is because I caught you in my Genjutsu," explains Kayo as she easily slides out of his grip and settles on the ground, "It's called the Body Freeze Jutsu. How do you like it?"
"Damn you, you bitch!" yells the large man, fury evident in his face and eyes full of rage.
"Next time you should plan more carefully before you attack Leaf Ninja," says Kayo impassively before twisting around and slashing his neck with a kunai.
Meanwhile an opponent has backed Sakura up against a tree. Her eyes dart around frantically looking for an opening to attack or escape. The bandit brings his sword up and slashes horizontally. The attack connects, but Sakura's body turns into a log. "What the hell?" exclaims the surprised bandit.
"I am a ninja of the Hidden Leaf Village," says Sakura proudly as she appears in the air above him.
"Why you little…!" says her opponent swinging upwards, but only connecting with a shimmer of light. The sword passes straight through the illusion, causing the image to warp and bend back into reality.
"You didn't think it was going to be that easy, did you?" taunts Sakura appearing below, beneath his guard. She slams her kunai into the ninja's gut and he collapses into a heap. Sakura places her hands on her knees, breathing heavily from her effort.
"Good work Sakura," says Kuroda, walking up to her.
She looks around to see a few bandits dead on the ground, their bodies crumpled into huddling shapes where they'd fallen in death, but there are not nearly enough corpses. "Where did the rest of them go?" she asks surprised.
"They ran away like cowards," comments Jando grinning cockily as he brushes dirt off of his robes.
"No, they retreated," corrects Kuroda, "A wise choice on their part. I guess they weren't informed that the boys would be guarded by ninja."
"I still think they are cowards," says Jando turning his back and gritting his teeth.
"Don't worry," says Kayo as she examines the two brothers for injuries, "I have no doubt they will be back. You can prove your skills then."
"I am fine!" shouts Enji tugging his arm away from the scarlet-eyed Jonin.
"Hurry up you two," says Jando later on in the day as the group travels down the banks of a river. The river is wide and deceptively deep, its water still and calm providing a tranquil atmosphere. The sun is nearing the end of its arc, signaling that night is almost upon them.
"I am tired," whines Enji as he stumbles along.
"I am hungry," adds Nobuo, tugging on Sakura's dress.
"All right, let's take a break then," announces Kayo, searching around for a good resting spot.
"What? Why?" questions Jando, "I can still go on for miles."
"Are we really going to stop Sensei?" asks Sakura.
"Yes, we are," confirms Kayo, "When you are traveling with other people you need to take their needs into consideration. We are ninja; we have the ability and training to keep going for a long time. These boys are just regular people. Their bodies cannot handle the same things as us."
"I understand," says Sakura.
"We will stop over there," says Kayo pointing over to a secluded grove, "Kuroda, please set up a perimeter."
"Yes Kayo-sensei," he responds.
After gathering some dry logs Sakura starts up a fire so that they can cook a meal for the two hungry boys. Kuroda walks in a large circle around the camp and sets up a few traps to warn them of approaching enemies. Then he jumps up into the forest and keeps lookout from high in the trees.
"Wow, this is really good Sakura, where did you learn to cook like this?" asks Jando once the meal is prepared. He dives into the stew with ferocious intensity, giving way to his hunger.
"Kuroda taught me," she replies.
"Since when does Kuroda know how to cook?" questions Jando resentfully. "That jerk has time to hang out with girls instead of training and he is still so good?" he wonders, "And Sakura needs to learn how to cook from a guy? I thought that was the first thing that all girls learned."
"Well, he has been living on his own for a long time," explains Sakura, "So it is only natural that he knows how to cook for himself."
"I thought you guys were ninjas," interrupts Enji, "Since when do ninjas have time to learn to cook?"
"They only recently became Genin, or considered as full-fledged ninja," explains Kayo, "And besides that it is not like ninja are on missions every moment of every day. We do have some free time."
"Yeah, but this food is a lot better than something an amateur could just cook up," comments Nobuo, "It takes time and dedication to learn to cook this good."
Sakura blushes, "Well thanks, I have been working hard and I guess this means it has paid off."
"I do a lot of reading in my free time," comments Kuroda having caught the tail-end of the conversation from his perch above, "And I got tired of eating bad food all the time. So I just took out a lot of cookbooks from the Village Library and taught myself how to cook better. I made a meal for Sakura one time, and she liked it so much that she asked me to teach her."
"Since when are you an expert on cooking brother?" comments Enji.
"What did you say?" replies Nobuo.
"You heard me, Scaredy-cat!" taunts Enji.
"Take that back!" shouts Nobuo.
"Oh great, not again," sighs Jando. The boys jump at each other and wrestle around on the ground.
"Why should I?" replies the brown-haired youth.
"Because it's a lie!" cries Nobuo hotly.
"No it isn't! You are a scaredy-cat. You were so scared of those bandits back there that you were shaking!" yells Enji.
"Shut up! You were scared too!" counters the black-haired boy.
"That's a lie!" yells Enji.
"You were right next to me shaking like a little girl," taunts Nobuo dodging out of the way of his brother's furious fists.
"All right, that is enough, you two," says Kayo breaking apart the fight, "You are going to give our position away again."
"I hate you Enji, and I never want to see you again!" yells Nobuo.
"Good because I never want to see you again either!" shouts Enji.
"Fine, I am out of here!" announces Nobuo, and before anyone can stop him, he runs off into the forest.
"Good, then I will go this way!" yells Enji, before running off in the opposite direction, leaving his escorts staring after him with blank eyes and open mouths.
"Umm…what the heck just happened?" asks Sakura, scratching her head.
"Damnit, now we have to go find them, and it's going to get dark in a few hours," groans Jando as he sets his empty bowl down, "I'll go after this one." He runs off to track down Nobou before anyone can do anything.
"Jando, wait a minute, don't go off on your own," calls Sakura as she heads after him.
Kuroda jumps down from the tree and lands next to his raven-haired master, "What do you want to do about this Sensei? You can take care of yourself, so do you want me to head after them?"
"No, I want you to come with me," says Kayo as she pulls a scroll from her pouch, "The area that Enji is headed towards is very dangerous terrain. We need to find him before he hurts himself. I'm sending a message to Sakura to meet us back here once they get Nobuo."
"Okay," he replies. A small mechanical bird pops out of the scroll when Kayo pours chakra into it. She attaches a message then winds the bird up and it flies off.
"Let's get moving," she says.
The mechanical bird catches up to Sakura and lands on her shoulder. Sakura takes the note from the bird's leg, and then it poofs into smoke. "What is that?" asks Jando as they run through the forest.
"A message from Kayo-sensei," says Sakura as she reads the note, "She says to meet back at the grove when we find Nobuo. Have you spotted him yet?"
Jando looks around with his Byakugan trying to find the boy, "Yeah, I just found him. He is up ahead about a hundred meters."
"Stupid Nobuo," mumbles Enji picking up a rock and chucking it. There is a thud and then a scary growl. A large bear stumbles out of the trees with a large lump on its head and an angry expression on its face.
"Uh-oh, help! Somebody help!" shouts Enji backing away and tripping over a stone. The bear stalks toward him planning to get a fresh meal for the day. It bares its polished, white fangs and roars so loud it sounds like thunder.
"Body Freeze Jutsu!" announces Kayo appearing just in time. The bear becomes frozen, unable to move, its teeth looming inches away from the boy's neck. Kuroda jumps down and grabs Enji and then leaps back into the trees. Kayo releases her Jutsu when Kuroda lands next to her. "Good work," she compliments.
"Put me down!" demands Enji struggling and nearly in tears but unwilling to admit he was afraid.
"Oh, so you would rather we let the bear have you'?" teases Kuroda.
Enji freezes in horror and shakes his head violently replying, "No, I'm sorry,"
"Good because if you run off again then I won't save you," threatens Kuroda.
"We should head back and see if Sakura and Jando were successful," comments Kayo giving her student a stern, but not totally serious glare.
Meanwhile...
(That is the end of the chapter, what did you think? What will happen to Nobuo, and can the team complete the mission? As usual, if you want more information on my characters you can see their bios on my profile page. Be warned, there may be some spoilers. Also I'm in the process of getting pictures drawn for the characters, but I have no idea how long that will take. If you're interested in drawing and have a DA account then send me a Message. Enjoy the next chapter, and please review.)