The Village Hidden in the Sand had become more bustling. The panic the village faced before had calmed slightly.
The citizens had begun making their way back into the village. Shops had reopened and streets became less empty. One man was walking down the street, smiling at the commotion that had been so common before.
Anari walked through the village, watching kids play with the toys and balls that they had missed so much. His walk was interrupted when a ball came passing by his feet. The man looked down at the ball, bending over to pick it up. When he did, two boys ran into his view.
"Hey! Mister!" One of them complained. Anari smiled at the nagging, standing back up straight, kicking the ball back to the children. One of the boys caught it with his feet and turned around, waving as he did.
"Thank you!" They thanked in unison as they ran away. Anari looked on, his smile unwavering.
'Allowing the villagers back to their homes was the right decision. Seeing the happiness of the villagers is worth the risk.' Anari thought as he walked through the village.
He continued to walk down the street until he had reached the front of the Kazekage's building.
'To protect everyone. The job of the Kazekage.' He thought, feeling a shift in the air.
"You're an Anbu shinobi. Don't you think your presence should be concealed a little better?" Anari asked aloud. The woman walked out of an alley to the left with a devious smile on her face.
"You've always been one to take strides through the village, haven't you? Always watching over the children." Koemi stated as Anari's smile left his face, the happiness in his eyes disappearing with it.
"If there's a reason that you are holding me up, I would like to know. I have important meetings that I musn't be late to." Anari ordered, waiting for the woman to respond. Koemi's smirk continued as she kept walking towards Anari, who's vision stayed straight.
"Don't be so cold, Anari. We were on the same team once." She said as she closed in on him and then stopped right next to him.
"I'll walk with you. I have meetings today as well." Koemi said as she took a step forward. Anari sighed and began walking with her. There was silence as they entered the building.
The door shutting behind them was the alarm to start their conversation. Koemi began to speak again.
"My investigation has borne no fruit, Anari. It's rather disappointing, if I'm being honest." Koemi, with a seriousness to her voice that was missing beforehand. Anari, eyes straight ahead, responded to her.
"I have left it all to you. My planned investigation has grown cold. I have no time for it. All of my attention is being directed towards preparing for the Leaf invasion."
Koemi ruffled through her pocket before as if looking for something. The action only happening for less than a second.
"I have looked into the movements of Sento Maru. There is nothing to be found out of the regular. He is performing all of his regular duties." Koemi stated as they continued to walk.
"That's a relief, but also concerning. That means there is someone, even more dangerous, who is within us. Someone able to not alert our radars." Anari grimaced. Once they were three doors down from the entrance Anari stopped walking and turned to the door.
"Continue your searching. There is someone who is one step ahead of us." Anari said as he opened the door and walked in. Koemi stopped, two paces past the door Anari had walked in.
Only a few seconds had passed before a shift, the slightest of noises, occur at the far end of the hallway, deep within the shadows.
The keen senses of the Anbu shinobi didn't miss anything.
Koemi simply continued to walk down the hall, going to her meetings taking place during the day.
Anari arrived to his final destination, the table he had almost anchored to the day before.
There he found both the Kazekage and Enma sitting, waiting for him. Both of their attentions turned to the white haired man.
"Anari… you're late." Enma said, looking at him, not by turning his head, but shifting his eyes from the front of the room. Anari took his seat and looked forward, not giving even the smallest of acknowledgement.
"You're not usually late. What happened?" Enma spoke once again. Anari turned his head to his elder.
"I got lost in time playing around with some kids in the street." Anari stated coldly. Enma kept his eyes strong at his colleague before shifting them back to the front.
"You barely made it in time. They just arrived. The first team of the day." Enma responded. Anari looked down at the stack of papers that had been staged in front of him. At the top of the list was a red haired boy with his stats, accomplishments and completed missions on the front. He nodded and raised his head.
"Bring them in!" Anari ordered aloud.
The large doors swung open to reveal three shinobi walking forward, Kue leading the ground. Behind him on either side was Suminao and the other was a new face. A black haired older man. He had short, buzzed black hair. His eyes appeared to be perpetually closed. He was wearing a green shirt, the only upper garment that was under his chunin vest, was tucked into his black pants. The ninja tool pouch was wrapped around his back. Differently from everyone else though, he had a belt wrapped around his waist that held up a book to his side. His black open sandals had a design of orange sand that wrapped from his soles to his ankles.
They walked to the middle of the room and kneeled.
"Chunin Team, HaRiHa Reporting!" Kue announced loudly. They continued to hold their heads down to the ground as the leaders of the village watched down on them.
'So… this is the Natsume boy I've heard about…the one who is to become Jonin today…he doesn't look promising at all…' Orochimaru thought calmly.
"You may raise your heads." The Kazekage allowed. The chunin all raised their heads from their lowest points.
The two other elders watched as the Kazekage spoke.
"Do you know why you've been summoned here?" He asked. The ninja looked up to their leader.
"We have been briefed, only on the basics. That were are receiving a high class mission today." Kue answered. The Kazekage nodded, while Enma smirked.
"You are quite the humble one." Enma said, loud enough for the shinobi to hear. Kue looked away out of embarrassment, with a blush on his face.
"Yes. That is true, but there is one thing that must be done before your mission can be given." The Kazekage stated as he clapped his hand.
As the sound echoed through the room a small door opened. A woman walked through the door. She was a tall woman with makeup covering her face. Her face was covered in white makeup, with three purple triangles on her face, placed on her forehead and two cheeks. Her outfit consisted of the normal jonin outfit. Her yellow hair was pulled back into a ponytail by her ninja headband.
In her hands was a jonin vest, neatly folded into a square. She continued to walk into the room until she was standing right in front of the Kazekage and the two ninja, her back towards them and facing the Chunin.
"Today, Kue Natsume, by advisement of the village elders and a recommendation by your squad leader, Rueno Sentokatsu, I am proudly promoting you to the rank of Jonin. You are also to become the leader of the team known as HaRiHa!" The Kazekage proudly announced.
Clapping from the table ensued. The three leaders began applauding the advancement.
Rueno stepped forward and handed Kue his new vest. He had the largest smile on his face as he reached out to grab it. Before his hand could touch it his sensei pulled the vest away. Kue looked up at him with a confused look. The other two Chunin looked on at her with confusion as well. Rueno had a serious look on her face. Her eyes held a deadly gaze.
"As you know, with this you are now responsible not only for your own life, but the life of the people in your squads as well… do you know what that means?" Rueno asked coldly. Kue's face had turned from confusion to shock. Then from shock to a face of reassurance.
"Yes! Sensei!" He responded loudly. The pride in his voice could be heard throughout the entire building.
Rueno nodded confidently.
"Then I leave this squad in your capable hands!" Rueno said as she turned and bowed in front of the Kazekage.
"Well said." Anari said as he looked down on them.
'The child of the Natsume. I heard that he was a very capable shinobi. He will make a valuable asset to the village.' Anari thought to himself.
Rueno turned, with a huge smile on her face.
"Well, don't keep us waiting! Put it on!" She said happily. Kue's mouth turned into a huge grin as he unzipped his Chunin jacket and started taking it off. He turned and handed it to Suminao when he had finally taken it off. He reached for the jonin jacket, almost dropping it when Rueno finally took her hands off of it.
'It's heavy.' Kue thought to himself as he placed his arms through the jacket holes. When he finally zipped it completely he looked down at his chest, with a look of awe on his face. Tears began to well up in his eyes.
'Mom… Dad… I finally did it… Just like I promised…'Kue thought.
Before the first tear could snake it's way down the man's face a punch landed in his gut. He coughed as he reeled from it and looked up at his sensei, the originator of the attack.
"Now's not the time for the water works kid. You have the top three ninja of the village standing in front of you." Rueno said plainly, almost mocking in. Kue breathed in a deep breath before nodding.
"You're right." Kue said as stood up straight, looked to the board, and proudly announced, "Team HaRiHa ready for our next mission!"
"Very well." The Kazekage said as he began explaining the nature of their upcoming mission.
Back Alleys of the Hidden Sand Village
The back alleys of the Hidden Sand were never silent. Thugs, ninja up to no good, and kids who were ditching the ninja Academy training. This day was no different. The dark streets were covered in riff raff smoking, gambling and joking.
The laughter was quiet but the screaming from losing bets were loud enough to be heard by anyone who was to pass by.
"Hey! I saw you switch the dice! That's not fair! Idiot!" A man barked as he kicked the faulty dice across the alleyway. The man kneeling on the ground jumped up and grabbed the angry man by the collar.
"Listen here buddy! I didn't switch any dice. If you're just here to cause problems then I'll break that ugly mug of yours." The dice shooter said angrily.
"You've gotta be joking. I saw Han. You switched it!" The man screamed back. The dealer threw the man to the ground and stood over him, ready to throw a punch.
"That's it!" He said, swinging down, fully expecting to connect with the man's face. Instead his hand slammed against something much harder than a human face. It was metal. He retracted his hand and gripped his wrist with his opposite hand.
"What the hell!?" He yelled. Looking over to see a man clad in armor angrily.
"Who the hell are you?!" He screamed, swinging his hand in the air, trying to cool off his burning hand.
"And what are you wearing? You look stupid." This commotion was catching the attention of everyone in this particular alley.
"You have to be kidding." The knight said as he held out his palm, holding out a single dice in his hand.
"The weighted dice trick is the oldest trick in the book."
The dealer began tapping his pockets, looking for the dice he had placed in there beforehand.
"Hey! Give that back!" He yelled. The knight crushed the die with his grip strength alone.
The dealer was less than impressed by this, becoming increasingly irritated as time passed. .
"You're starting to piss me off!" The dealer yelled as he raced to the man in armor. The armored man simply raised his hand in the air.
The man grew close in range to the metal dressed man. The slow run gave more than ample time to the knight though, who dropped his hand out of the air and landed a strike directly on top of the man's head.
The dealer slammed hardly into the ground, the impact causing a dent in the earth at least three feet wide.
Everyone in the alley watched in caution. The only ones who weren't frightened by the spectacle were a man and girl who were standing nearby.
"Randai. Quit messing around. We don't have time to be messing around in a place like this. Let's go." The man ordered. Randai scoffed and kicked the man out of the way.
"Whatever. And stop giving me orders." Randai argued as he walked down the street in the opposite direction, towards the light of the streets.