We found the bandit camp pretty early in the morning. Their camp was built into a cave system a bit of the ways east of where we had camped the night before. Our team was half buried in sand looking through three sets of binoculars.

"Sentry count." Nanako ordered.

"Six. Three men groundside, three on the ramparts." Yara reported dutifully.

The camp wasn't ramshackle, but it wasn't fully established either. They had a wall of hewn logs around the entrance of the caves, with wooden doors and two guards, the third groundside sentry covering a breach in the wall that looked like the result of a drunken brawl. On the top of the wall, the three sentries were spaced out fairly evenly, but they were lazy. I could see lit cigarettes and empty sake bottles strewn about.

"They're not shinobi. Or at least, most of them aren't." I observed, Itachi nodding.

"They're not focused. Most are drunk. I think they're celebrating a good haul." He noted

Nanako was looking through her own set of binos before she quipped.

"Did any of you notice the prisoner? The raided merchant's cart?" She asks, and immediately we focus up, trying to find the aforementioned person.

There's a cage on the opposite side of the wall from the breach, so we know they're not complete idiots.

"Western edge, about twenty-five yards from the wall. Got a lady in a cage. She's clothed, but roughed up." I spoke with a light growl.

"We're going to insert on multiple fronts. I will be assaulting the front gate, Yara, Itachi, you'll be infiltrating at the hole in the wall. Circle wide, reach his flank and neutralize the guard quietly. I'll be watching. Once you're inside, I'll begin my assault." She explained, and my teammates both nodded, then turned to me.

"Isshin. Call Auntie." She ordered, and I did so, giving a light chime of the bell, and saw Shion materialize next to me, deadly serious.

"Auntie, can you back me up?" Nanako asks, and Shion gives her hand a so/so shake, she pats my head and makes a handsign.

"She's dependent on my chakra, on my yin chakra specifically. If I run dry, she has to go incorporeal." I explained, earning a nod in agreement from Grandma.

"I need to see what you can do while you're like this. Isshin, think you can handle it?"

"I'll be fine, what do you need me to do?" I asked, and Nanako grinned.

"You're on hostage extraction, kiddo. Best be ready to run. What are you loaded up with right now?"

"One slug, one buckshot. Got more than enough ammo for a skirmish." I responded, earning a grin.

"Keep it quiet for as long as you can. I'm gonna provide us some cover, alright? Once the technique takes effect, you three rush in. Auntie, you're with me. We're going to put the fear of the Kami into them." Nanako declares before she starts burning through handsigns and taking a deep breath.

"Wind Release: Great Whirlwind!" Nanako growls, and blows out a wind that kicks up a sandstorm in a matter of moments.

The three of us rush into action immediately, moving quickly and quietly. I hauled ass around the western flank of the camp, low crawling once I got within twenty yards. I had my knife in my hand, and kept my eyes and ears as open as I could in the swirling dust and stinging sand. I clambered up the wall and actually wall walked my way up the cave wall itself, staying flush with the ceiling as I got in. I could hear the bandits now.

"This storm came out of nowhere…it ain't right."

"You're just soft, you're from Fire right? These storms happen, they're called Haboobs."

I tuned out their conversation as I crawled above the cage, I caught sight of Itachi and Yara pulling double duty and choking out the guard by the wall breach, and then I saw Nanako and Grandma.

They stalked out of the storm slowly, Nanako had her Anbu Mask on, and Shion was slowly fading into view, staff resting on her shoulder and icy ethereal wind backing the both of them.

"SHINOBI!" The bandits cried, and they rushed to ready themselves for battle. I dropped down in front of the cage, startling the woman inside. I brought a finger to my lips. Message clear, she nodded, and I approached the cage. It was bamboo, sturdy enough to keep the captive inside, and bound shut with thick rope, but I had a really big freakin knife.

I cut the ropes and pulled the cage open.

"I need you to follow close to me, and stay quiet. If things get loud, you find a place to hide and stay put. Do you understand?" I asked, and the woman nodded. She was an adult, and wore traveling attire, she had a bruise on the side of her face, but seemed whole and unmolested.

Which was fine by me, I don't think I would be able to control myself if I had found a rape victim and had ammunition to spare.

We moved slow, but steady, I could hear the sounds of fighting from the front gate, I was moving to rendezvous with Itachi and Yara and steal out of the hole in the wall. It'd work the fastest.

About halfway through we were intercepted by a straggler bandit, and I had to lunge for his throat to keep him from blowing our stealth. Now I'm still about only 75 pounds including all of my gear, and only four feet tall. I hit him like a rabid animal, my bowie found his neck and cracked through his spine, knocking him to the ground, I withdrew my knife and nodded the woman over, who shook her way out of her shock and followed.

"You killed him…you're what, twelve?" She asked.

"He would've killed us, and I'm going to see his face for the rest of my life, but my job is to get you out of here. I do my job." I whispered as we crossed the rest of the way to meet up with Itachi and Yara.

"Is she okay?" Itachi asked, and I nodded.

"Roughed up, but whole. Let's save the celebration until we're out of here, guys." I spoke, until I saw Yara, who was staring at the man I saw them choking out earlier, only his throat was cut.

Oh.

"Hey. Yara. Look at me." I spoke softly, stepping forward and shaking her out of her stupor.

"He kept struggling…making too much noise." She muttered, eyes watering, I pulled her into a hug.

"You're okay. You did what you had to. C'mon. Let's get away from here, from him." I spoke softly, Itachi guided the merchant woman out, and I walked Yara out and we watched Nanako and Shion clean up. Itachi came up next to us.

"Yara had him in shadow possession. I finished him." He spoke softly, as always.

"When you blink, you see him. If not his face, then the blood, right?" I spoke, earning a nod from the two of them.

"Uncle Shikaku warned me it'd feel like this…but it's different feeling it." Yara spoke.

"Father said something similar. I hate this feeling." Itachi concurred.

"Not a good feeling. It's not supposed to be. Taking a life is fundamentally wrong, but we have our duty. We're going to be dealing with this a lot more throughout our careers. Supposedly it gets easier." I spoke, spitting onto the ground.

"I hope it doesn't." I continued, earning a few confused looks.

"Why?" Itachi,

"Why punish yourself like that?" Yara,

"If it keeps feeling terrible, I know I haven't lost it."

Nanako's and Shion's fight was dying down, as well as the storm. I could see bodies, some breathing, most not, and a fair amount of them coated in frost. I turned back to our principal, the woman we rescued.

"Ma'am? What's your name?" I asked, moving over to face her properly.

"Mei. Ibarra Mei." She responds, "I'm part of the pyromancer's guild."

A grin grew on my face and I heard my teammates both whirl to face us. Fate works in mysterious ways.

"Oh really? In that case, my name is Genin Sekitangara Isshin." I introduced myself, settling into a cross-legged position. In my mind, I was immediately going through the scroll Ma had given me.

"I think I've got a business opportunity for you."