(Welcome back! This is the Second Chapter of a new 5 Part Arc. The Leaf Ninja are scattered all over the place, but can they come together when the target surfaces? I love feedback and constructive criticism, so please leave a review so I can improve my writing and storytelling skills. Enjoy!)
Kuroda exits the guest room, faintly hearing a fading conversation between voices as he walks away. He quickly exits the mansion grounds and heads out towards the town proper. He takes this opportunity to explore the region and keeps a vague idea in the back of his mind that he might find someone or something useful. He walks the streets of the nearby village, easily blending in with the locals. He takes note of the various shops; most of them are poorly constructed or very old. Almost all of them provide tools or goods that would be considered junk back in Konoha. The only shops that seem to have anything worthwhile are in the food markets. The main offering is various types of fish, which isn't surprising considering the country is surrounded by water. Yet there is plenty of produce like rice and beans. As he continues his examination of the shops and structures he goes over everything he knows about the country.
"From what I can remember, this country doesn't have any sort of ninja force or village," he thinks as he walks past a sushi shop, the tasty aroma of the food drifting past his nose, "If they specifically need the help of ninja they usual call on the Leaf or Mist Villages, and in rare cases the Hidden Cloud Village. The Feudal Lord is technically the leader of the country, but due to the economic importance of their gambling establishments the Wasabi Clan are the ones that actually control it. Their forces are the ones that enforce the laws and keep order."
He turns to head down a different street when he feels a tingling down the back of his neck as if someone is watching him. "I'm being followed," he thinks, continuing to walk forward, not turning around to try and see the tail, "Is the Wasabi Clan keeping tabs on me? No, that's not it. The person tailing me is seems kinda familiar. There is something about this chakra signature that I recognize. Wait a minute I know who this chakra belongs to. It is Shun, but why is he following me? Is he under the orders of the Hokage, or does he have his own suspicions? Well, either way it doesn't matter since so far there hasn't been anything worthwhile in this country."
A dark brown hand firmly grips onto a dirt-covered brick, allowing the owner of the hand to hide in the large windowsill of a broken-down, old building. Shun's eyes stay locked onto his target, searching for signs of the next movement. As soon as Kuroda turns the corner Shun takes off towards the next place where he can hide, but still observe. His hands are covered with calluses due to the extreme training he does everyday and he barely feels it when latches onto the rough surfaces of the buildings he uses for cover. After a while he starts to get bolder and moves in closer and closer until he sees Kuroda's head start to turn and he jumps into the first opening he can find.
"That was close, he almost saw me," Shun thinks as he takes refuge inside a small bookstore, "I think I'm in the clear, but I'll need to be more careful. I'm not used to sneaking around like this, so this is a good experience for me. But what exactly is Kuroda up to? When he left he seemed like he had a specific goal he wanted to accomplish, but he hasn't done anything but walk around. He hasn't even gone into any of the shops."
He spots a mirror in a display case and watches as Kuroda examines something through a window but then quickly moves on. Shun frowns as he watches Kuroda's progress, but still takes off after him.
The day drags on and Kuroda continues to explore the rest of the village even though he doesn't find anything of note. He allows Shun to tail him the entire time, not even attempting to shake him off.
"Well, this is disappointing, but I guess it wasn't a complete waste of time," he says to himself, "I did learn a few things about the country. I guess it is time to head back now."
He starts to take a step forward, but before his foot hits the pavement his body disappears.
"What the hell? Where did he go?" wonders Shun, from a nearby alley, as he sees the black-haired boy completely vanish from view.
"Are you ready to go back?" says a voice from behind him.
Shun spins around to find Kuroda standing there. His eyebrows rise in alarm and he questions, "How did you get…?"
Kuroda just smirks and leans against a wall with his arms crossed over his chest.
Sensing he won't get a response, Shun sticks his hands in his pockets and sighs, "When did you figure out I was following you?"
"I've known for a while now," Kuroda admits, trying not to gloat too much, "I could have lost you at any time, but I figured you had your reasons so I let you tail me for the day."
"He let me tail him?" Shun ponders silently, his curiosity overpowering his anger over being one-upped.
"Come on, we should return now," Kuroda says turning to head back to the Wasabi Clan headquarters.
"Right," Shun responds absently, following after him while still pondering why Kuroda allowed him to follow him around for the day.
When the boys arrive back they are immediately subjected to a severe lecture from the women of Team 15.
"Where were you?" Rame Tsu questions, poking her finger into Kuroda's chest.
"What were you doing?" Naoko adds, also poking her finger.
"Why were you gone so long?" Rame Tsu asks, pushing him towards the wall.
"What if we had gotten the signal?" Naoko demands, making him back up even more.
"Well…I…uh…" Kuroda stutters, scratching his head, unaccustomed to this assault of questions.
"Relax, nothing happened so it is fine," Shun says, attempting to calm down the situation.
"I'm not going to relax," Naoko replies furiously, "I don't know how you do things on Team 3, but on this team we don't just go running off without telling anyone where we are going and when we will be back. We take our duty as shinobi seriously!"
"Excuse me, sorry to interrupt," says a young man kneeling down outside the sliding panels.
"Yes, do you need something?" Shun replies.
"Moments ago the Clan leader received a message that the mysterious gambler has been spotted at one of our gambling dens," the young man explains, "He requests head out to capture or eliminate the man."
"Can we have the location?" Shun asks as he slides open the panel. Everyone seemingly forgets about the quarrel moments earlier in the face of the message.
"Yes, here you are," the messenger says as he hands over a slip of paper.
"Thank you," Shun says before sliding the panel back, "Everyone get your gear ready, were heading out."
"Wait a minute; don't you think we should wait until Tousen returns?" Kuroda asks, concerned about the apparent ease that this team has with keeping their squad leader out of the loop. He represses a smirk as his thoughts flash on the irony of the situation.
"It might be a long time before we get another chance to catch this guy," Rame Tsu argues, "We can't afford to wait."
"Yeah, but if we go in unprepared we could end up facing off against somebody who's abilities are far superior to ours. That's the whole point of having a Jonin assigned to be the leader of the team," Kuroda counters.
"I agree with that," Naoko says, "But Rame Tsu is also right that we can't pass up this opportunity. At the very least we should do a recon."
"We can do a recon and then if it looks promising we can move in for the capture," Rame Tsu suggests."
"I'm inclined to agree with that," Shun says, "It looks like the best option."
"I still think that we should…" Kuroda starts to say.
"Sorry, Kuroda, the vote is three to one," Shun interrupts, "We can have the Wasabi Clan locate Tousen-sensei and send him to the location. We'll discuss the details of our strategy on the way, let's move out."
"Alright then, it is your team," Kuroda says, reluctantly following the others out the door.
"This is the place," says Shun when they arrive outside of a sleazy-looking establishment on the outskirts of a village in the northeast part of the country.
"It would be easy to trap this guy inside," Naoko says, "But then he might take hostages and civilians could get hurt."
"Maybe we should send someone inside to scope things out," Kuroda suggests.
"We are all underage," Rame Tsu points out.
"Did you forget that we are ninja?" Kuroda replies, "We can use a transformation Jutsu."
"Hey, what are you guys doing here?" says Tousen Nahana rather loudly, bursting with eccentricity as he walks outside for a quick break from betting, "It is good you came by, now you can help me carry all the money. I've been winning tons off some sucker in there. But why are you here anyway? You're supposed to be back at the Wasabi headquarters, waiting for the gambler to show up." He tips a bottle covered by a brown paper bag up to his mouth and gulps down some of the liquid inside.
"Sensei be quiet, you're too loud," Naoko urges.
"Shut up, you idiot! You'll give us away!" Rame Tsu whisper-shouts.
"Huh? What?" he responds, taking a break from sipping his alcohol and stumbling around in confusion.
Their arguing is interrupted as a man inside the gambling den releases a smoke bomb. Everyone inside starts coughing as the gas spreads everywhere and reduces visibility. Drunks stumble about, women shriek, and people in serious debt swipe as much cash as they can during the confusion. A perverted man tries to take advantage of the situation and cop a feel. Unluckily for him he happens to grab the breasts of a Judo expert. The woman tosses him over her shoulder and out the front door. He bursts through the doors, taking them off their hinges on his way.
"Crap, something is going on in there," Shun notes, concern on his face as he runs towards the open door. Rame Tsu and Naoko quickly pick up on his intentions and form up on his sides.
Suddenly something crashes through a window sending glass everywhere. The figure lands on the dirt and then bolts away from the area.
"Dammit, there he is," Naoko calls, "Quick, everyone after him."
The Genin take off after the gambler, leaving Tousen standing there utterly baffled.
"What's going on here? What was that all about?" the Jonin wonders looking at all of the people flooding out of the smoke-filled den, "Wait a minute…" After realizing that he will not receive any of the money he just won, he figures out that the sucker was the guy they were looking for. He takes one last swig of his liquor, tosses the bottle to the side, and then he takes off after them.
(That is the end of the chapter, what did you think? The chase is on! Can the Genin capture the target and will Tousen ever catch up? Read the next chapter to find out. 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.)