Chapter Three : Journey to the Hidden Rain Part Two - The Decendant
The first part of the trip had been an easy one. Well, for the most part. Kitami-sensei had thought about leaving Akamo behind at the Dango shop in the Hidden Grass Village. It was the one stop that he found out that the dumplings there tasted better than the Dango shop in Konohagakure.
At the dumpling shop, 2 hours ago... "Akamo, come on! I'll buy you a whole mess load of dumplings when we get back," Kitami-sensei pleaded with him.
"B-but I don't know when the next time we'll be able to eat! And they're so good!" he tried reasoning with her.
I sighed hearing the two of them bicker back and forth. I looked at Kunji and he just shrugged, taking his kunai out to count them. I knew that this would be a pain in the neck if this caused me to lose out on more missions in the future. I grabbed a hold of Akamo and dragged him out, "Come on, Akamo! We've got a schedule to keep to." Kitami-sensei handed the money over to pay for them as he was basically kicking and screaming to get more. "I don't know what you put in those dumplings, but you need to change it," Kitami said to the shop owner as they laughed.
Yep, this is my squad. The dumpling addict, the withdrawn one and the Sensei that tries to keep everyone in line. We're nearing the border of the Hidden Rain and there were guards on alert. After Lady Konan's death years ago, the new revolution that she had started had fallen apart before the war started. The new leader was supposedly a lost son of Hanzo of the Salamander. He had brought forth a new leadership in the Hidden Rain, no Akatsuki lackeys left over at the Fourth Great Ninja War were to enter the borders or they would be killed on sight. Things had become quite strict here. Kitami-sensei walked up to the one guard and told them that we were here delivering a message to the leader. They let us pass but Kitami-sensei told us to keep our eyes out. "Even after the war, other villages are no longer welcome here. We must stay vigilant and not wander away from the squad," she explained to us. We nodded in agreement and made our way to the mansion where the decendant resides. We were allowed inside only to find out that we would only be able to deliver the message, get his response and then leave at once. Akamo sighed, "We can't even look at the gift shops." I nudged him to keep quiet and he looked at me, "What?" I rolled my eyes and looked around. The leader came out, dressed in red armor. He had a mask over his face and spiky hair. He looked around seeing our four man squad and walking towards us. Kunji kept up his guard, acting as if something was off about this guy. "You must be Haikarumu, son of Hanzo of the Salamander," Kitami-sensei said greeting him.
"Yes, I am him. You must be the jonin from the Hidden Leaf. Welcome to our country." He walked over to sit at a desk, holding out his hand. I handed him the document and stepped back behind Kitami-sensei, in formation. "I didn't know the Uzumaki girl would be a part of your squad, jonin," he said with fire in his eyes. He opened the seal and read it's contents.
My heart was beating out of my chest. He must be the son of Hanzo, or why would he need the mask. The poison would be bad for us all if he were to remove it.
He wrote his own response down on a scroll, sealing it with candle wax and his mark, handing it to Kitami-sensei. "You can tell your Hokage that I reject his offer. He can read the rest within this scroll." We bowed before him and turned to leave. Kitami's face was now sour from the reception we had received.
"Kitami-sensei, we're heading back to Konoha right?" I questioned her.
"Yes Kumera, we are going back. But remember what I told you about your guard. Do not let it down for even an instant."
I nodded to her and looked to my squad members. We were continuing on our way, nearing the gate when I heard a ticking sound. I looked at the scroll attached to my sensei's backpack. "Sensei! The scroll is about to go off!"
She pulled it off and threw it just in time for it to explode. The guards nearby thought we had thrown a paper bomb tag at them. "No, no! It's the opposite! We were-" she was interrupted as she pulled out her kunai to block an incoming attack from one of the guards. "Prepare to fight our way out!"
I pulled out my kunai and backed up to my teammates. "Formation Alpha! Go!"
Kunji weaved the horse and ox signs, "Human Expansion Jutsu!" causing him to expand and grab about three ninja up off the ground, throwing them.
"Ninja Art! Demon Beast Summoning!" Akamo announced as he sent dark hounds towards the enemy. We were making progress until I had to whip out my own jutsu. I had worked on a new one a few weeks ago. It was still in the forming process but I had perfected it where we could make an escape if we needed to. I weaved 7 hand signs and inhaled deeply activating my Byakugan, "Wind Style : Burning Vortex Jutsu!" I thought to myself as I released the spirling vortex, gathering up all the enemies before the wind turned into a huge flame, spirling into the air.
"Let's go!" Kitami-sensei screamed out, sending a shockwave back to the remaining enemies with her Tyrant Lightning Jutsu.
We made it back to the Hidden Grass village, out of the range of Hidden Rain ninja. I turned to look at Kitami-sensei. "You're hurt!" I said rushing over to her side. I pulled out a bandage and said a few words, bringing the healing seal up to the surface. I placed it over her wounded arm, making her grimace in pain. "It will be over soon, hold on." I taped it down and the jutsu healed her arm over time.
"I don't know where you got that from, but it helped. Thanks Kumera," Sensei said to me.
"It's not a problem at all, Kitami-sensei.." I looked over at the other two. Somehow we had made it out of there alive. The leader had put down an exploding seal into the scroll without our noticing it. It had malfunctioned or it would have exploded when we gave it to my father, the Hokage. My mind was rushing right now and my heart had fierceness within it. I wanted to go back but I looked to my sensei who was injured. "We have to make it back to the Leaf now." Akamo and I helped Kitami-sensei up onto her feet while Kunji took lead. We had to get back. Kitami-sensei was not looking good whatsoever. She might have been poisoned from the kunai attack. I wasn't sure, but Lady Sakura would be the one to help with that.
We rushed back to Konohagakure and were greeted at the front gate by my father. He looked to me with a sour expression. "For once, it wasn't me, dad.. It was Haikarumu. He staged for us to be ambushed," I said looking at him explaining.
"Meet me at my office for debriefing in 30 minutes." He hoisted Kitami onto his back and used flying raijin to teleport to the hospital.
I looked to Akamo and Kunji, "We should go to his office, there is a lot to do."
They nodded as they grabbed onto me for my teleportation technique to take us there.