So, as it turns out, the average C-Rank can be completed in the course of two days, if not within a single day in the case of courier missions to Kanzaku Gai.
For the first two weeks 'Team Nanako's C Rank Rush' as we called it, consisted mainly of these quick sorties in the immediate area of Konoha.
These had allowed me enough time to get working on a few experiments with rifling and the like, but I'd run into a roadblock.
"No one in the Land of Fire can get me a steady supply of Nitroglycerin." I groaned one day, as we marched towards the land of Wind. This C-rank was different, we were hunting down a set of bandits that were futzing around the border of the lands of Fire and Wind.
The Wind Daimyo had kicked this job over to Konoha instead of Sand, which I seem to remember being one of the contributing factors of the Konoha Crush being a thing, but hey, I had projects I needed to fund.
"And you haven't asked Dad, why?" Nanako asks with a scoff as we continue our march.
"Because if I rely on Hokage-sama for everything I'm gonna feel more indebted to him than I already do. Besides, Mom's been teaching me a few things about contract negotiations, so if I can snag a supplier directly instead of through the traders guild, it'd save me some money and I'd get a purer product." I explained whilst reading through a scroll my mother had given me when I told her about the issue I was having.
"Are you making dynamite, Isshin?" Yara asked, and I shook my head.
"I'm trying to get rid of the giant clouds of smoke that billow out of my weapons with every shot." I explained, fiddling with one of my buckshot shells on my belt. "Black powder is corrosive and slow burning. It's inefficient and leaves a lot of residue in the weapon and means more cleaning, as well as giving away my position."
There's a step of silence before my team turns and faces me.
"Who are you and what have you done with my baby cousin?" Nanako accuses, Yara nodding
"Isshin Sekitangara…Worried about stealth?!" She breathed out incredulously. I turned from the two to plead with Itachi.
"'Tachi…c'mon man, you know I can do actual ninja stuff…right?" I ask, and my heart sinks as Itachi shifts his gaze slightly.
"...You're rather bombastic for a shinobi, Isshin." He muttered and I leaned against a tree, hand over my heart.
"My best friend…doesn't think I can be stealthy. That hurts, man. Right here." I spoke, tapping my heart.
My two teammates and my cousin just hit me with a set of three deadpan stares.
"Isshin. You're an explosives expert." Nanako. "Your weapons sound like a thunderclap and shoot a fireball visible from over a hundred meters away."
It was at this point where I pushed myself off of the tree and got back information. Settling back into our march as we kept moving to the mission area.
"Issues that I know how to mitigate to the point where I can send a single round flying up to a thousand yards before the enemy can hear it. If I get my propellant to be what I want it to be. I just need to source materials." This got me another set of bewildered stares from my teammates.
"You're saying that-"
"Crumple a man at Eight-Hundred Yards, Cousin. You think I've been futzing around with that 29 inch hardened steel pipe for no reason? Oh no, that baby is the barrel of what's going to be helping me take out targets from a bush well out of eyeshot."
"...Sensei, Isshin's scary sometimes." Yara commented, earning a light nod from Itachi.
"Shinobi Lesson number yadda yadda, kids. You want the scary on your team." Nanako spoke before we finally broke out of the treeline to the border of Wind Country. The edge of the desert, where we could see the dirt and grass give way to sand.
Sand dunes sprawling as far as the eye can see.
"Alright, so for the sake of avoiding another international incident." Nanako began,
"Hey, not my fault!" I cut in, only for Yara to counter.
"Shut it, Public Enemy!"
"As I was saying…In order to not cause another international incident, you all are going to follow my lead. You watch, listen, and learn, and for the love of the Kami, do not antagonize any ninja we encounter from Sand." Nanako ordered, matching eyes with all of us, before giving a pointed glare at me.
"Are you serious?!"
"You are rather reckless and have a temper, Isshin." Itachi spoke, patting me on the shoulder. "I know you're working on it, but it's there."
"When did today become bash on Isshin day?!" I muttered, and the response was immediate.
"Shion-san decided to have fun with us while you were sleeping." Itachi shot, and things began to make sense.
"She's a menace." Yara muttered with a shiver. I felt the familiar cold and my breath misted announcing the arrival of the aforementioned spectre, who was giggling behind her hand. Both of my teammates immediately took a step away from her, and I let out a sigh.
"Really, Nana?" I asked, only leading to her laughing even harder. "It's hard enough for most folks to understand that I'm freakin haunted, Grandma."
She crossed her arms and huffed, before she tapped her staff to the ground and snapped to attention whilst pantomiming looking out at a distance.
"Yeah yeah, constant vigilance, but still. Harassing my teammates ain't gonna help."
"Don't bother, Isshin. Auntie Shion does what she wants. How do you think your dad came about? How you doing, Auntie?" Nanako interrupted, earning a flat look from Grandma that just said 'Dead.'
"Yeah, that sounds about right."
We got moving well enough further into the land of Wind, and I was learning that my teammates and my cousin…could not handle the desert.
"Drink. More. Water!" I snarled, dragging Yara under a stone outcropping as the sun began to set. The temperature was rapidly beginning to descend and I got to work dragging Itachi into shelter and Nanako helped herself to the shelter as well as they got to work draining their canteens.
"I warned y'all about wearing wool in the desert, but noooo." I grumbled as I got to work setting up the camp stove for the night. I unsealed the implement from our camp scroll and got our tents set up.
"How are you doing so well!"
Twenty Five years living in a desert, Yara.
"Look, the desert is an environment that is hostile to life overall. Water is limited, food is limited, temperatures shift between extremes, and what life there is here has evolved to survive in this hostile environment. Most of them are venomous, and are active at night compared to the day." I spoke, quickly drawing my knife and thrusting it into the sand, drawing it out to reveal a rattlesnake that I'd speared through its head. I quickly cut its head off and chucked it into the fire before getting to work gutting the snake.
Hey, it's all backstrap.
"You've never been to the desert, how do you know all this? You're way too comfortable doing that." Yara quipped, and Nanako came to my defense.
"Old Man Sekitangara is from Stone, which has a similar enough climate. Dry, hot, hostile to life. He taught Isshin his way of survival training. Even more than that, Baby Isshin here was taught with Stone's wartime curriculum." She speaks, sitting up and taking softer sips from her canteen. She wasn't comfortable, but she was better at it than Itachi and Yara. Itachi was already changing his shirt for a beige linen top also emblazoned with his clan's signature fan emblem.
"I would think someone with a family as rich as yours would have a silk shirt, 'Tachi." I quipped, earning a sweat soaked dark blue shirt thrown at my head.
Alrighty, 'Tachi gets cranky when he's hot. Noted.
"What, you shelled out for silk yourself?" Yara scoffed, and I grinned as I chucked the rattler's guts into the distance and set the skewered meat over the fire.
"Yes, actually. Sensei, how far are we from getting to where we need to go?"
"If we move at first light, maybe about three hours. We'll rest up for the night here, it's as good enough a place as any. Keep an eye on that fire though, we don't want anyone sneaking up on us. That includes you, Auntie!" Nanako ordered, said spectre appearing next to Yara pouting.
"Isshin, Itachi, take the first watch. I'm going to help Yara get settled in." Nanako ordered, and I soon found myself sitting by the fire with Itachi huddled next to me.
"You never talk about it." He suddenly speaks, "Father says it's a bad sign when someone keeps that inside…and you've been pushing hard, working into the night when you think no one's watching. Then earlier with the snake and the climate. You did that as if it was second nature. It's not normal, Isshin."
I take a moment to think about it, he's not wrong, but I figured I'd covered my tracks better.
"I don't like thinking about it. I get shaky, and my stomach twists into knots. Working helps. Keeps my mind off of things." I spoke, keeping an eye on the horizon.
"That doesn't explain the rest, Isshin. You're depressed. You're mourning something, have been for a long time. You're my friend, Isshin. I haven't been around to help you through your first kill, and I'm sorry for that…but I worry about you." Itachi implored, and I let out a sigh.
"Don't beat yourself up over that, Itachi. It's not your job to be my therapist. You've got my back when I need it, and I've got yours, you can take that right to the bank." I replied. "There are things about me that aren't…normal, 'Tachi. You think Nana's here because she decided she wanted a break from the pure world?"
My comment earned me a chilly bump on the head from the mentioned spectre, but the point still stood.
"You walk in the shinigami's shadow. That's what my father said." Itachi mumbled, and I scoffed.
"If only it was that simple, Itachi. I've technically died already, and I dragged some of that with me when I came back. That's the simple explanation. The long one…we'd be talking until sunrise."
"Then don't tell me, just tell me this…can I trust you around Sasuke?" He asked, and I turned to hit him with a stern glare.
"That's a hell of a thing for you to say to me, Itachi. You're family to me. I'd die for Sasuke. I'd die for you."
He met my gaze before he turned his head away, gaze lowering.
"I'm sorry. That was uncalled for." He apologized and I shook my head.
"No, you love your brother. It's fine man. Just…I've got your back. Don't you ever think I don't."