(Thanks for coming back to read the next chapter of the series! Kuroda has killed a fellow Leaf Ninja in order to obtain the Sharingan. Is he planning to betray the village? I love feedback and constructive criticism, so please leave a review so I can improve my writing and storytelling skills. Enjoy!)
Kuroda steps out of an alleyway and onto one of the main roads in the village. It is the middle of the day and the streets are crowded, but having roamed these streets his entire life he knows exactly how to weave through the crowd and get to the other side without wasting any time. He rounds into the next alleyway, opening his senses and searching for signs of his pursuer. He starts walking towards the market district when he feels the presence of someone else around him. "Is there any reason you are hiding from me, Hitomi?" asks Kuroda.
The girl, sporting her red and grey outfit, hops down from above and lands gracefully on her feet. She flips her long, black hair over her shoulders as she says, "I wasn't hiding; I just got here."
"Don't be foolish," he replies, "You have been spying on me for the last hour."
Hitomi frowns, realizing she has been caught. "I apologize," she says, "I was just curious."
"You could have just asked to join me," states Kuroda.
"Is that wise?" she asks.
"It's not like I am doing anything," he responds.
"Well, then where are you going now?" inquires Hitomi.
"I was headed to the Konoha Library to do some research," he explains.
"Research on what?" she asks.
"Ohh, this and that," he says, "Do you want to come?"
"I don't have anything better to do," she replies.
"Follow me then," says Kuroda turning to walk. Hitomi tags along silently as they make their way to the markets and then head for the library.
Outside of the library an old acquaintance is waiting. The man with short, black hair and classic Leaf Ninja attire walks up to the two of them. "Hello, Raj," says Kuroda politely.
"Good afternoon," greets Raj.
"Do you know him?" asks Hitomi.
"You could say that," replies Kuroda.
"You're Hitomi Uchiha correct? That is very convenient," says Raj.
"And why is that?" she inquires.
"I was waiting here, because I figured I might find Kuroda since he comes here so often. But I did not expect to find you also," explains Raj.
"Is there something you needed me for?" asks Kuroda.
"The Hokage has summoned the both of you to her office. She has another mission for you," explains Raj.
"Interesting," comments Kuroda, "I didn't expect her to send us on a mission so soon, or to keep us together considering what happened on the last mission."
"I don't claim to know her reasoning," says Raj, "I am just a messenger. Lady Katonae is waiting for you; you should head to her office right away."
Kuroda turns around and starts to walk off. Before heading after him Hitomi says, "Thanks for the message, Raj."
"Are you sure about this?" asks Michiyo Katonae, brushing the blonde strands of hair out of her face.
"Positive, my lady," responds the silver-haired male ANBU member kneeling on the floor.
"This is very disturbing," says the Hokage as she stares at a scroll of paper.
"Your orders?" asks the ANBU.
"Bring a recon team to check out the area. I doubt anything is left by now, but there may be something," she replies.
"Yes, Lady Hokage," says the man before vanishing into the shadows. The Hokage breathes a heavy sigh and starts to reach for something in her desk when there is a knock at the door.
"Enter," she says. Kuroda and Hitomi enter the room, closing the door behind them. "That was quick," she comments.
"Raj chose a good place to look for me," responds Kuroda," and she just happened to be with me."
The Hokage raises her eyebrow at this and thinks to herself, "Are they dating?"
"Very lucky for him," comments Hitomi, "I can be hard to find sometimes.
"So what is this mission?" asks Kuroda.
"I will explain when the third member of the team gets here," says the Hokage.
"Is it anyone I know?" asks Kuroda.
"You might have seen him around somewhere," murmurs the Hokage as she leans back in her chair and observes the pair. Kuroda walks over and leans against a wall while Hitomi sits down in a chair on the other side of the room.
"I guess I must be making things up," thinks the 8th. Kuroda closes his eyes and goes into a state of meditation. Hitomi curiously observes him. She starts to say something but then there is another knock on the door. "Come in," says the Hokage. The door opens and a handsome blonde male walks into the room. Hitomi glances at the new person and is surprised by the blood red color of his pupils.
"Am I late?" asks the boy, "Sorry about that."
"No, we were early," says Kuroda, opening his eyes and moving back to the center of the room.
"That is strange," says the boy, scratching his head, "I am usually late."
"Kuroda, Hitomi, this is Yovestu. He will be leading the mission. He has been a Chunin for a while now, he is a good leader," says the Hokage.
"Nice to meet you," says Yovestu, extending his hand.
"I am Kuroda Taishi," says Kuroda as they shake.
"Ohh, the guy who won the last Chunin exams. It should be fun to work with you," says Yovestu, "I was the winner of my Chunin exams also. But mine was in the Sand village not the Rock village, very different atmosphere."
"I look forward to working with you," replies Kuroda.
"And we have the talented Hitomi Uchiha with us also. This must be an important mission," comments Yovestu.
"Every mission is important," comments Hitomi.
"Well, that all depends on your point of view. I was speaking in terms of the importance to the village if the Hokage is assigning the three of us to a mission," says Yovestu.
"So, what exactly is this mission, Lady Hokage?" asks Kuroda.
"We have recently been getting reports about some disturbances in the Land of Panthers," says the Hokage.
"The Land of Panthers? I have never heard of that country," comments Hitomi.
"It is located in the far west," inserts Kuroda.
"So you have heard of it? Have you been there?" asks Yovestu.
"No," replies Kuroda, "I have come across it during some of my researching in the library. I don't really know much about it other than where it is."
"I see. Well, I traveled there once on an escort mission when I first became a Chunin," explains Yovestu, "It is a fairly large country covered in jungles, but the population is small and spread out. I am intrigued though, it is surprising that they would hire our village for help."
"Why is that?" asks Hitomi.
"That area of the continent does not have as much conflict as ours does. So the countries don't usually have ninja villages, or they have very small ones. The Land of Panthers has a small but very skilled force that protects it. But even if they needed help, there are nations that are a lot closer than ours to call for assistance. So I am curious to know why they have hired the Leaf Village," says Yovestu.
"The Land of Panthers has not hired us," reveals the Hokage.
"They haven't? Then why are we going there?" inquires Hitomi.
"I received a message from an old friend who moved there quite some time ago," reveals the 8th Hokage, "He wrote that someone has started recruiting warriors and is trying to build an army. He doesn't know why this person is doing this, but he is fairly sure that the person in charge is a former ninja of the Hidden Leaf. As you can see this is not a good situation for us. We can't have rogue ninja from our village running around and causing trouble."
"So what exactly do you want us to do?" asks Kuroda.
"Your mission, first and foremost, is reconnaissance," declares the Hokage, "You are to travel to the Land of Panthers and find this army. Assess the strength and size of the army, and also determine who the leader is and what his objective is. Based on all of this Yovestu can decide if you are capable of assassinating the leader, if he is in fact from the Leaf Village. If he determines that you cannot do it on your own, we can have backup teams sent."
"What do we do if the leader is not formerly of this village?" asks Kuroda.
"If that is the case then you will need to ask my old friend what he wants you to do," responds the Hokage, "His name is Yanagi, and he will be your contact while you are in the country. Depending on the objective of the army, he will most likely want you to disrupt it and cause the members to disperse. He likes his peace and quiet; that is why he moved there."
"Understood," comments Hitomi.
The Hokage grabs a folder off her desk and hands it to Yovestu, "This is the best information we have on the Land of Panthers, I also included where you will rendezvous with Yanagi. I want you to leave by the end of the day. You should make arrangements to be gone for a while; this is going to be a very long mission. That is all I have, you are dismissed."
"Yes, Lady Hokage," they all say in unison before leaving.
"Let's take a break," says Yovestu, late in the afternoon. The group jumps down from the trees and lands near a large boulder. Hitomi panting heavily, and looking exhausted, sits down against the boulder.
"Are you okay?" asks a concerned Kuroda.
"I'm fine, I just need some rest," she replies.
"You should have told me earlier that you were tired," says Yovestu, "I haven't worked with you before, remember? I don't know your limits. It is important that you tell me, or I could be putting you in unnecessary danger."
"I am sorry," apologizes Hitomi, "I just didn't realize we would be traveling for 10 days straight."
"I wanted to get to the Land of Panthers as quickly as possible before the situation escalates," explains Yovestu, "But we are nearly there, so we will rest and recover our strength and then move out to meet with our contact."
"Exactly how far away are we?" inquires Hitomi.
"We are about two miles from the border and we are supposed to convene with the Hokage's friend about two more miles inside the country," responds Yovestu.
Kuroda tosses over a flask of water to Hitomi commenting, "You have not had any in a while." She catches it and gives him an angry look before reluctantly drinking.
"And how are you doing?" asks Yovestu.
"I am fine," replies Kuroda, "I have enough energy to go another day before I need to meditate."
"Meditation? Interesting, you are pretty young to already be able to recover with meditation instead of sleep," comments Yovestu.
Kuroda shrugs in response and then asks, "You mentioned earlier that you have been to this country before, right?"
"That is correct," replies Yovestu.
"Can you give us a better description of the landscape?" asks Kuroda.
"I can do better than that," says Yovestu as he smiles and reaches into his pouch to pull something out, "I have a map. It is not an exact indicator, and it is old, so some things might have changed, but it will provide us with a decent view of the country. I'm sure we can pick up a more updated one from our contact." He rolls a scroll out on the ground and Kuroda walks closer to examine it.
"This is where we are now," says Yovestu, pointing near the outer portion of the map, "This river here acts as the eastern border of the country. Once we cross it we will be inside. The area right after it is mostly farmland. This is where the majority of the population lives, but they are spread out and everyone owns a humongous amount of land. There are 3 large towns in the north, south, and center. We will be traveling to a small town here, next to the edge of the jungle. It is known as Tao Village. The jungle is very hot even when it rains, so we will have to keep hydrated. That won't be hard though, because it rains a lot, but that doesn't help with the heat. It is very dense; sometimes the trees are growing through each other. It is very easy to get turned around and lost, so it is very important we stay close together. Now, there are six large tribal villages in the jungle, but they are located near the west, south, and northern border of the country. So, I am betting that this person is gathering his forces somewhere in the center where they cannot easily be found. There are a small number of people scattered about the area, but they usually keep to themselves, so they probably won't be of any help to us."
"Hopefully we can deal with this quickly," comments Kuroda, "I don't like the idea of being in the jungle for a long period of time."
"Neither do I," agrees Yovestu, "If we all communicate and work together I know we can complete this mission without a hitch."
"You are a really positive person," comments Hitomi.
"The only things that negativity brings are bad things," replies Yovestu.
"Wise words," states Kuroda.
"I am going to go take a look around the area," announces Yovestu, "You two stay here and rest up until I get back."
"Understood," responds Hitomi.
Kuroda examines the map in more detail as Yovestu heads off into the forest. After a few minutes Hitomi says, "About what we were discussing earlier..."
"Save if for another time," orders Kuroda, cutting her off.
"Fine then, let me ask you this. Are you really not tired at all?" she inquires.
"No, I am not," confirms Kuroda, "Although I am annoyed."
"Why is that?" she asks.
"Well, for one, if it was only you and I we could have made the trip in a fraction of the time," he explains, "And second, running like that for so long was extremely boring. After a while I couldn't even keep my mind occupied, all I could do was listen to myself breathing. It was irritating to waste so much time on travel, and not even be able to work out solutions to some of the problems in my mind."
"What do you think of Yovestu?" asks Hitomi.
"He seems like a good guy," replies Kuroda, "And his endurance is impressive. I didn't notice him breathing heavily at all. It will be interesting to see what he can do if we encounter an enemy."
"You're not going to do anything to him are you?" she asks.
Kuroda turns his head up to look her in the eyes, "I have no plans to do anything like I did the last time, however I will if I need to."
Hitomi looks away from him and replies, "Just try not to. I don't like watching my comrades die."
"No one wants to see their comrades die," he replies.
"I have no intention of letting anyone of us die," says Yovestu, dropping in from above.
"How did it go?" asks Kuroda.
"Everything looks clear, we will move out in a few hours," he replies, "If you are up for it, I would like you to take watch so I can get some rest before we move out."
"Not a problem," replies Kuroda, standing up and stretching his arms.
A few short hours later the team sprints across the fields of rice paddies towards the looming jungle ahead of them. They spot the hidden road and go over to it, knowing it will lead them towards their destination. As soon as they enter the jungle the climate change is apparent. It is much hotter inside than it was in the open fields. Their clothes quickly dampen from the sweat pouring off their bodies. Hitomi runs at the head of the group while Yovestu guards the rear. "There it is, up ahead, Tao Village," she announces, "Something seems strange though."
"What is it?" asks Kuroda.
"I don't see any people," replies Hitomi.
"Hold up!" orders Yovestu. They come to a halt and move off to the side of the road.
"Is this normal?" inquires Hitomi, "You did say there weren't a lot of people."
"Yeah, but you didn't see anyone in the entire village moving," states Kuroda.
"It is possible," says Yovestu, "But I have a strange feeling about this."
"So what is the plan then?" asks Kuroda.
Yovestu thinks for a few moments and then says, "You get back on the path and enter Tao Village like we planned, but be on guard. I will circle around through the trees and come in from the south. The wind is blowing south so I won't be detected."
Kuroda performs a Jutsu and a clone of Yovestu appears next to him. "In case anyone saw all three of us, they won't notice you are missing," explains Kuroda.
"Impressive," compliments Yovestu, "All right, get going and be careful."
(That is the end of the chapter, what did you think? A new day and a new mission, is the new commander Yovestu leading the team into a trap? 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.)