9 a.m., 16 November 54; The Hokage's Office
They were already changing out the tatami mats—that was the first thing that Katya noticed as she waited for the rest of Team Eight outside of the Hokage's Office. The second thing she noticed was a bookshelf laying on its side in the atrium, ready to be assembled. While the Sandaime Hokage was a minimalist, the Yondaime Hokage preferred to be surrounded by his scrolls and books. He always said that you could see the whole world from books. Learn about it, too.
"What're you doing?" Shisui asked as he walked into the waiting area.
Katya blushed slightly while she crouched down next to the shelf. "Writing," she said glibly.
"I can see that. Writing what?"
"A seal."
"You're not going to tell me, are you?"
"Nope," she chirped, pocketing the pencil.
"Hey brats," Tsume greeted when she walked in with Isamu and Kuromaru.
"My pups look like that when they're up to no good," Kuromaru commented in his gruff voice.
"Oh, it's fine. Everything's fine. I didn't do anything. It's all fine," Katya said.
Kuromaru looked at Shisui and rolled his eyes. It would be like wringing blood from a stone to get him to talk.
The office door opened.
"The Hokage will see you now," Genma said.
"New job?" Isamu asked as they crossed the threshold.
"Just made tokubetsu jounin," Genma said proudly.
"Congrats man!" Isamu replied, bumping fists with the other teen.
"Thanks." Genma smiled at him before melting into the corner of the office.
Kuromaru barked, "Isamu."
"Yes, yes," Isamu waved and walked up with the rest of his team.
Minato smiled at the team assembled in front of him. Tsume stepped forward and bowed with her hand over her heart.
"Hokage-sama, Team Eight reporting for duty."
"Good morning, Team Eight," Minato started. "As I became Hokage yesterday, it must be formally announced to the other Kage and Daimyo. Your mission is to deliver this announcement to the Daimyo of the Land of Tea in Dagarashi Port. It's a C-Rank mission."
Rin cleared her throat behind Minato.
"Tsume-san, it seems you are not mission ready until you complete your annual medical exam."
"With your permission Hokage-sama—eh, fuck it. I'm gonna talk to you like I always have, Minato. Isamu, here, has yet to lead a mission since becoming a chuunin. This is the perfect first mission for him to lead. Little risk, and the brats can enjoy the port."
Minato steepled his hands in front of his face. "I see. Well, in that case, Chuunin Tanaka, you are now the mission leader."
"I would like to go," Kuromaru said lowly from Tsume's side. "The Land of Tea should only take us one week."
"Works for me. Trying to get away from your litter?" Tsume teased the ninken.
"That limits your personal mission capability, does it not?" Minato asked. "We're short-staffed as it is, I'm not sure I can have a jounin unable to take missions for a week."
"As it happens, I'm knocked up. Found out a few days ago. I wasn't going to say anything cause I'd be fine on a mission. But, since I have to take a medical exam right now anyway." Tsume finished with a shrug.
"Congratulations, Sensei!" Katya said, turning around.
Shisui repeated the sentiment.
"Wait, who's the fath—" Isamu asked before Shisui slapped a hand over Isamu's mouth.
"Baka, you don't ask that," he hissed.
Minato shook his head and held up the mission scroll. "Chuunin Tanaka, please leave within the hour."
"Yes, Hokage-sama," Isamu said formally, bowing after he received the mission scroll.
Katya turned around before exiting the office and ran back to Minato. She threw her arms around his neck, planting a kiss on his cheek.
"I love you, tou-chan."
"Love you too, Kit-Kat. Have a good mission," he said, returning her embrace. "I'll see you next week."
9 p.m., 16 November 54; South of The Land of Fire
Shisui leaned against a tree, carefully watching the outer perimeter of the Konoha outpost. An ANBU member sat on top of an observation post above him. The fire crackled behind him. A warm blanket was draped across his arms, and he smiled gratefully at Katya before she walked away.
Isamu cleared his throat. "Alright, Shisui, let's gather 'round. We have two options, we can take a ship out of this port town here in The Land of Fire. Take it all the way down the coast to the Dagarashi Port. Or we can hoof it the entire way."
"Risks?" Kuromaru prompted. He crossed one paw over the other as he stretched leisurely near the fire.
"The ship would go close to The Land of Water and Kirigakure. There were reports of instability that came in a couple of months ago. But when have they ever been stable? Hoofing it puts us at risk of coming across bandits and other foreign shinobi."
"Good. What are you missing?" Kuromaru added, looking over at the fish head on Katya's plate.
"Sensei?" Katya asked, breaking off the fish's head from the spine and offering it to him.
Kuromaru gave her a soft woof of thanks before digging in.
"Uh, oh yeah, benefits. So with the ship, we, of course, spare our legs and we can also better protect the announcement scroll. It'll have less risk of degradation in a pack in a ship's quarters. With hoofing it the entire way, we avoid Kiri almost entirely, as we'll be inland the entire time."
"So risk Kiri, or risk bandits and other unknowns," Shisui summarized.
"That's the gist of it, yeah."
"I vote ship," Katya said, placing her empty plate on the ground. "What're the actual chances we'll meet with Kiri-nin on the high seas? If they're unstable as you say, then chances are they're too busy fixing their village. Or fighting in it. Either way, they're not going to be on the sea in the off-chance they run into us."
"Hmm," Shisui started. "I disagree, on the grounds that it is Kiri. They're unpredictable and ruthless. If they're facing instability, then any Kiri-nin that we do run across are going to want to score points with whatever faction they're trying to impress. I vote hoofing."
"Sensei?" Isamu asked.
"I don't like being on a ship. It's unnatural for a nin-ken. However, you have forgotten one possibility."
Isamu put his fist underneath his chin, mentally reviewing what they had just discussed. "Got it. Incognito, that's what you mean, right?"
Kuromaru gave a slight nod before laying his head on his paws.
"Either way, we can be disguised as three kids traveling. I think that will be easier to pull off on a ship. You can't explain us away if we're caught traveling through trees," Isamu reasoned aloud. "Right, I vote ship."
"Well, that puts us at a tie," Katya complained.
"Call it, Shisui," Isamu said, pulling a coin from his pocket.
"Heads."
Isamu nodded and flipped the coin into the air. "It's tails. Ship it is. Let's get some sleep. Katya, you're first shift."
Katya nodded, setting up her sleeping bag before jumping into the trees next to the ANBU member. The masked ANBU tilted his head in greeting before grabbing his binoculars.
12 p.m., 17 November 54; Land of Fire, coastal town of Furano
Katya smiled to herself when she looked at her watch. At exactly noon every day, the seal she left for her dad would activate. Sunflowers would sprout and fill the tops of the bookshelves for exactly one hour before disappearing again. At midnight, cape jasmine would wind around the bookcases. No doubt, there would be some nights he would see them. She only wished she could have been there when they first popped up and startled him.
"What's that look for?" Shisui asked between bites of dango. He dusted his hands on his patched civilian pants, adding to the illusion of street urchin.
"Just thinking about tou-chan. That seal that I drew," she whispered. A middle-aged couple walked by on the narrow park trail, quickly looking away from the pair of dirty orphan children. Orphans had become all too common in recent years as the war between the ninja villages raged.
Shisui offered her a bite, and she pulled the green ball off the stick before handing it back. Waiting for the couple to move out of hearing range, Katya slowly ate the dango.
"It's set to activate at noon and midnight. I, uh, made it to where sunflowers would pop out at noon on the shelf and cape jasmine at midnight. It should run without me adding to it for about a couple of weeks."
"That's a good prank. I like it."
Katya beamed at him. "Thanks, I thought so too. I wish I could've seen him startle the first time though."
Putting a gentle hand on her shoulder he replied, "I'm sure he'll tell you how much he loves it when we get back."
"Yup! Oh, they're heading back."
Hands in his pockets, Isamu walked back slowly with Kuromaru at his side.
"Hey, nii-san, did you get the tickets home?" Shisui asked loudly enough for passersby to hear.
"Yup! They were really nice and gave me a discount. Then the lady over there gave Kuro a piece of jerky."
Kuromaru woofed and lolled his tongue out of his mouth, giving the appearance of an ordinary dog.
Katya jumped up, wrapping Isamu in an enthusiastic hug. "Oh, nii-san, we knew you could do it."
Her raggedy skirt swished as she carelessly plopped back down on the metal park bench.
"I got you guys lunch while I was over there," Isamu added, passing them two to-go bento boxes. He started tapping on his knee when he sat on the bench in Konoha standard code. 'Our ship leaves in two hours. We have to stop on Nagi Island and get a connecting ship from there.'
His two teammates nodded in understanding while finishing their food. A ball was produced from one of the travel bags. For the next two hours, they played a slow game of catch. At some point, Katya had woven three flower crowns and one flower collar from the wildflowers that grew next to the park. When it was time to board the ship, they were still wearing them.
Six hours at sea passed. Kuromaru looked green, leaning over the railing of the ship as his stomach rolled with the waves. Katya wasn't far behind, having felt sick since they hit the first winter wave on the open ocean.
"You'd think those Uzumaki genes of hers would prevent seasickness," Isamu said under his breath to Shisui as they sat together on the bow of the ship. "They were seafarers too, out in the whirlpools."
"I think it's the mokuton. She can't feel any plants out here. Plus, she's only like a little more than an eighth Uzumaki."
They grimaced when she sprinted to the edge of the ship and hurled. She wiped her face on a handkerchief before burying her nose in Kuromaru's fur.
"More than an eighth?" Isamu asked.
"Yeah, there's some Uzumaki on the Kato side. I saw her family tree a few years back when we did that genealogy project for the academy."
"What about you, Uchiha, anything other than Uchiha?"
"My grandmother was from a lesser clan in the Land of Lightning. She was a medic. My mom's mom was from the capital, the daughter of a noble."
"Aren't the Uchiha a noble clan?"
"Sure, but mom's mom was like the second cousin of the daimyo or something like that. Like almost royalty kind of nobility. Uchiha and Senju have been nobility for maybe six centuries now? It loses its effect once you've been out of favor with the inner circles of the capital for a few generations. What about you, Isamu? You never talk about your family."
"It was just me and Mom up until she passed a couple of years before I met you. My dad died before I was born. Mom was an orphan. Got put in the Konoha orphan home after that. I'm just glad it was my last year at the academy so I could move out. It kind of sucks, you know. Sometimes, I wish I had a huge family like yours. Uncles, cousins, all of that. Oh, I think I see land!"
"Kat, Sensei, land's just up ahead," Shisui said, putting his hand between her shoulder blades.
Katya moaned in response and buried her face further into Kuromaru's warm fur.
"Captain told us that there was a world-famous shrine there," Isamu tried to entice from behind her.
"Really?" she asked, lifting her head up. Kuromaru shook his head again before jumping up and leaning over the railing. Shisui caught Katya as she went flying.
"Thanks for the landing," she joked before suddenly putting a hand over her mouth. She leaned over the railing again and joined the nin-ken.
9 p.m., 17 November 54; Nagi Island
The sky was moonless overhead, the stars veiled by the clouds that hovered close to the ground. A cold wind blew through the island trees, promising rain. A strong chakra signature appeared at the periphery of Katya's senses. She had felt it before, a sticky, swampy chakra yet harsh and sharp like broken glass.
"Taichou?" she started.
Isamu nodded, understanding what she wanted to say without needing to listen.
"No fire tonight," he said quietly. "We're not going near the shrine either."
Kuromaru nodded in approval. He sniffed the air subtly and shook his head. "Ships will not be sailing out until daylight."
"We need to make camp somewhere," Shisui added quietly. "I don't suppose we can stay in one of the hostels in that village?" he asked, pointing to the lights on the distant coast.
Katya looked up sharply when ten new chakra signatures entered the periphery. "Ten. Ten new signatures," she whispered. "Strong too. Maybe five jounin, two ANBU, the other three are masked."
"In that case, no. We need to avoid the town. That's the first place they'll go if they're looking for us. If they're not, they won't spot us in the woods. How far away are they?"
She placed her hands on the ground and closed her eyes. The roots of the mangrove forest on the island connected in a massive network. She could feel the shinobi move along the sandy soil. One of them tripped over the root of a tree before catching themselves. There was a ceramic object that hit the bark of an oak.
"Seventeen miles. Maybe a bit more. Not close by."
"Our mission objective does not include combat. We are to deliver this announcement. Remember that mission," Isamu said gravely. "Let's go ahead and set up camp. We'll do two on night watch at a time to be safe. A sensor with a kenjutsu user."
The team agreed with Isamu and Katya on the first shift. Minutes passed as Isamu set up traps around the woods. Ninja wire covered the upper layer of tree branches.
"Kat," he whispered behind her. "Can you tell where they are now? Or where they're from?"
She nodded at him, putting a hand on the nearest tree and concentrating. "Fifteen miles. But they're stationary. I'm not getting a good sense of village identity. Not this far out."
His shoulders dropped in relief. It was likely the other group of ninja was just passing through, the same as them. To be safe, he rigged a series of exploding tags along the ninja wire. A thick fog rolled off the coastline and slowly filtered into the treetops.
"Isamu?" Katya started. "It's going to be okay. I don't think they're after us."
The thirteen-year-old shook his head. "I don't either, but I don't want them accidentally tripping over us either."
She shrugged and resumed her post on the opposite side of the camp.
"Wake up, Shisui!" a man's voice called out from his subconscious. "Wake UP NOW!"
"Wha?" Shisui started to say out loud. He opened his eyes, looking around for Katya and Isamu. A shinobi's chakra signature was no more than a mile away. A second one joined the first. Shisui stood up and quietly rolled his sleeping bag in the dark. The moon was low in the sky; he guessed that it was around three in the morning. Isamu was over two hours late to wake him up for his shift.
"Sensei," he whispered, placing a hand on Kuromaru's shoulder from his spot on Katya's sleeping bag. Kuromaru opened his eyes, instantly alert with a low growl in his throat.
"Where are the other pups?"
"I don't know. I think they're in the trees."
Kuromaru jumped to his feet, sniffing the campground. "Pack up everything, we have to move as soon as I find them. Stay here."
The ground was wet from the fog, dampening Isamu and Katya's scent as Kuromaru went deeper inland. One thousand feet from the camp, he found Isamu laying on his side, a glassy look in his eyes from a genjutsu. Kuromaru smelled around frantically for his other pup. A stiff wind blew through, and he picked up her scent from the other side of camp. Dragging Isamu through the wet sand, he laid him at Shisui's feet with a barked order to revive him then meet at the bridge.
'Where are you, girl?' Kuromaru thought to himself, smelling the tangled roots of the mangrove trees that hugged the coastline. A loose purple thread was crushed into the sand. He sniffed it, following the trail of its owner. Thirty feet away, Katya lay bent in a cluster of mangrove roots unconscious. Her feet trailed into the briny water below.
"Wake up, pup," he murmured before placing his maw on her hand. He bit down gently.
Katya whimpered slightly, still locked in the haze of genjutsu.
"Come on. I can't get you untangled from these roots by myself," he said before biting down harder, drawing blood.
"Ow. How did I…? Move, please," she said to the roots. Kuromaru chuffed in relief when she easily walked out of the gnarled mass.
"We need to get back to the team," he said quietly. "We're under attack. Isamu was under genjutsu too."
Katya nodded and sprinted after Kuromaru. The bridge across the mountains that led to the town was near. A single lantern hung on the post at the edge of the cliff.
"Sensei," Katya said worriedly as Isamu and Shisui's chakra spiked further away from the cliff.
There was a clang of swords crossing in the distance through the trees. Before they could move, four shinobi stepped out of the darkness of the treeline. They wore gray armor on their chests and backs with shoulder plates. White ceramic masks covered their faces with the mark of Kiri on the forehead.
"Orders?" Katya whispered to Kuromaru.
"All out, pup. All out."
"Yes, Sensei."
She immediately sprung forward against the two Kiri shinobi on her right. Branches erupted from the forest behind them, pulling them back. She worked frantically to form the mokuton seals. A kunai in hand, she aimed at their receding forms. The man on the left twisted out of the wooden hold, cutting it off and falling to the ground. Mist surrounded the area until she couldn't see. Instead, she relied on the chakra around her. Every signature moved with a burst of energy, spiking with each attack they gave. Her heart pounded in her chest. Her feet moved backward until she could feel the edge of the road instead of the grassy undergrowth of the coastal oak forest.
There was a canine howl of pain behind her near the cliff, followed by the drop of a body on the ground.
"Sensei!" she cried out, trying to find him in the pitch-dark fog. There was a flash of metal in front of her face and she ducked backward. Feinting with a kunai, she blocked their blade with another before twisting up into the air. Two of the mist-nin were in front of her. She pulled a shuriken from her pouch, tied with shinobi wire. Jumping back, she threw it. The short man countered it with his own kunai, before crouching to the ground. A wave of water hit her from the side, slamming her into a tree trunk. One of her ribs gave way under the force.
"Sensei!" she tried to cry out again.
Kuromaru didn't answer.
Summoning the remains of her chakra stores, she created a wood clone. Quietly, she substituted with a rock near the edge of the bridge and dropped to a crawl. She almost sobbed in relief when she finally felt his fur on her fingertips.
Her clone pulled the battle away from the edge of the cliff. Kunai clashed against a fuma shuriken.
She shook Kuromaru's shoulder gently. He didn't wake up, his breathing slowed. As she ran her hands to his face, she felt the wet stickiness of blood against his eye.
'We have to get out of here,' she thought. Crawling to the edge of the wood, she found two large sticks. After she removed her jacket, she placed the sticks inside and zipped it back up. She grabbed the scruff of Kurmoaru's neck and dragged him onto the improvised stretcher. She used the vines from the edge of the cliff to tie him to the jacket and sticks.
The sounds of battle grew further away. The wood clone would only last for two hours, barely enough time to find a place to hide. She could only hope that Shisui and Isamu were okay as she dragged Kuromaru's body across the bridge to the other side. The wood bit into her hands, and she could feel blood welling from her broken skin as she walked through the rough terrain. Another mountain rose before her. Every ten feet she moved, she went back and swiped her trail, carefully removing the evidence of their retreat.
A tear fell from her eyes before she wiped it onto her shoulder. She tried to send out an SOS through her tracker before realizing it was with the rest of her gear back at camp. After all, civilian orphan girls didn't wear plain black leather bands. Only a shinobi would wear such a thing.
Shisui and Isamu were too far away for her to sense them. A tree root rose out of the ground. She tripped over it, twisting her ankle. Pushing down the sob of despair that threatened to escape, she grabbed the handles of the stretcher again and pulled. Where there were mountains, there were usually caves at its base, especially on a volcanic island like Nagi Island. The lava would form pockets and caverns as it cooled. The gas would escape, leaving caverns. All she had to do was find one.
'When you are lost on a mission, first find a place to regroup. Second, treat the wounded. Third, find the missing members of your party. Fourth, make a meal as much for sustenance as for morale. I can do this. You can do this, you bookworm. You got this,' she tried to encourage herself as she walked deeper into the forest.
An hour passed before she felt cool air blow past her at the very edge of the mountain. Her chakra was almost completely gone as she pulled the jungle vines off of the mouth of a small cave. Her shoulders dropped in temporary relief at finding a resting place. She quickly pulled Kuromaru into the space.
After fifteen minutes of hiding the last bit of their retreat, she created a cover of trees with the last bit of her chakra. A cloud moved, exposing the moon, and she was finally able to see Kuromaru's wound. She ripped the bottom edge of her civilian skirt and wrapped it around his head. There was nothing that could be done to save his eye. Laying next to the nin-ken, she finally lost consciousness from chakra exhaustion.
AN: thank you so much for reading! If you have the time, please leave a comment. :)
Beta'ed by: Cherryberry12