Scarlet Justice: Full Blossom – ep. 45
"Seekers"
[Golden Girls, Part 1]

The first few days of travel were uneventful, as expected. I travelled through Fire Country, eating to keep myself healthy and exercising to help clear my mind. A campsite here and there while moving through the wilderness. Nothing exciting or notable.

Crossing one of our many northern borders brings me into the nation that is protected by the Hidden Waterfall Village. Dense forests with many strong trees within, and a climate that has a bit more humidity that those at home would be used to. I put away my cloak and get back into my usual clothing, which is much better suited for this sort of weather. Working in cover here will allow me to get some more information. I take my headband and tie it around my neck, a bit below my collar. If anyone does notice it, I'll know that they've been paying a bit too much attention to me.

"This place makes me think of the Forest of Death," I say to myself. "There's no comparison when it comes to breathtaking danger and violence, which we should all be thankful for. And I think that this place is much prettier and much more relaxing. Perhaps this is where the inspiration came from..."

I am able to carefully travel through the trees thanks to my normal awareness and the well worn paths at my feet. Following some of them leads me to settlements and small villages, where I get some helpful advice and can purchase a few things. Money is the same everywhere on this shinobi continent, after all. And I do like being helpful.

"The trees that look like this, you can use for timber. The other ones, they have different looking leaves at those angles, and slightly different colours on the bark. Those ones are much better for fires, if you want to cook, all of that."

I nod along as this uncle teaches me about trees in the forest. There are a few types, but two really stand out in terms of utility overall. Cutting them down and shaping them should be no issue...I want to set up somewhere beneath the trees, so that I have a place to come back to. Most importantly, I'll be able to gauge the temperature of the area properly. It will be obvious if a shinobi comes snooping around, or knocks down my structure while I'm gone.

Running errands for the sick and elderly has also been a great use of my time. I get them food and medicine, and they tell me stories which almost always contain useful information for my journey. Even in the few cases they don't, I do love sitting down to have tea with those who have seen so much of the world in their lifetimes.

"Going out to camp in the forest...ah, be careful now, girlie." Today's client is Miyako, a woman of ninety seven years who moves at a confident pace and has plenty of strength left. Her hair is a faint pink, fashioned into curls as she likes to do every so often. She sailed the oceans in her youth and the prime of her life, and so wears the knit sweaters and dark trousers that the men of that profession take to daily.

"Thank you, baachama~. I'll be sure to look out for myself."

"I wouldn't want anything to happen to you, especially after your help earlier. The heavens must have sent you down at their own leisure," she says with a chuckle.

"You don't know how right you are," I say with a smug smile. She laughs heartily while bringing a plate to the table. It's a nice, light sandwich, cut neatly into two slices. And of course, a tall glass of milk on the side. The home is small and cozy, built by hand years ago. It smells of wood and incense, and the furniture is protected by knit coverings of all kinds. Miyako goes out for walks in the countryside daily and says that she has everything a body could want in here. I can believe that easily enough.

"Always good to see a girl like you with confidence. We all make the world go around, you know."

"We certainly do. How is the medicine working?" I ask.

"Very well! I was getting along fine with my shoulder, but now all the pain is dealt with. Feels like I have an extra spring in my step to boot. Now, ah...there was that something you wanted to know about earlier. Mm...yes, yes. I was talking about the forest. Beasts of all kinds out there these days."

I nod and take a bite out of my sandwich while Miyako speaks.

"Some fellows have been doing work out there lately, strange ones...wearing black robes, and the like."

"I've heard of them. They're called Akatsuki," I say. "What has been strange about them?"

"Taking on about twice the work for half the pay. Nothing like any shinobi I've ever seen. No offence, girlie."

I nod. "The reputation is well earned by now, unfortunately."

"A sad business, yes." She sighs. "Anyway...those fellows are taking on quite a bit of work for cheap. It makes the misers and big shots happy, so nobody really complains. I have a hunch they're after something, though."

"Past experience?"

"Oh, yes. Captain of a boat hears rumours of a treasure cache, or some exotic sort of thing on the seas...routine to take a job on the cheap so that nobody can muscle in on your turf while you're out there looking. Those clients don't complain, either."

"Mm." I take a few sips of milk while thinking. "Do you have any ideas on what they're looking for?"

"Not a clue. I do wonder how much they're aware of the Seven Tails, in the midst of all this. Those folks from the Hidden Waterfall wander down to these places from time to time, asking all sorts of questions about whether we've seen this or heard that. All I know is that the new host is a young girl this time. Poor thing...I couldn't imagine living with a monster like that inside of you."

"It's a harsh life, for many reasons," I say.

"Yes, it certainly must be. Those shinobi don't think much of her. I would say they barely class her as a human being." Miyako shakes her head. "I haven't seen the lass myself. She tends not to go too far, apparently. But she doesn't seem to be treated well at all. Those fellows from the Hidden Waterfall don't seem to do much these days for people like us, either way."

I finish my sandwich and wipe my mouth with the napkin nearby. "It's like that all over, baachama. And it explains why these Akatsuki people have gained a foothold in areas like this one. The nobles are coveting wealth, and desire strength to help protect said wealth. At the same time, shinobi are seeking means of securing cash flow for their villages. Aside from taking on criminal flareups and threats to national security, shinobi are not inclined to worry about doing work for regular people that can't offer enough to cover their costs."

"Mm. That does make sense. It's terribly sad, though." She takes away my empty plate. "Terribly sad."

"Many would agree with you, but less would have the courage to speak out. The world continues to turn, after all. Whether in the face of injustice, or otherwise."

"You've seen too much of the world for your age," she says with a frown.

"Maybe so. But then, that puts me in a good enough position to solve at least some of these problems."

She signs and nods, relenting. "You just take care not to burn yourself out, like I said. The world needs girls like you."

"Of course. I'll keep my promise to do just that. Thank you for lunch, baachama. I hope that medicine lasts you a while."

"Oh, it will. Don't you worry. Now you take this from me, and don't throw a fit about it."

I frown at her. "I told you I didn't need anything."

"Hush, girlie."

I roll my eyes as she rummages through a too-large purse and clenches a few things in her hands.

"Here you are."

I put out my hands and receive the items: a few coins, and some hard candies.

"I couldn't let you go out there empty handed."

"You really are too much." I smile and kiss her on the cheek. "Take care. I hope you're around long enough to hear about my exploits in the future."

"Something to look forward to, yes." She smiles back and waves as I leave.

After following my map and doing a few checks, I determine that I'm near the heart of the country. The Hidden Waterfall is at the very edge of my range, from what I can sense. Some higher than normal chakra sources are roaming around in a particular space. I won't be going near the village, or seeking it out as I would need to do. The village takes pride in the fact that it has not been invaded once despite its geographical location. They do have a tailed beast and presumably a decent amount of resources, so I suppose that it is something to brag about. For now, at least. Who knows what the coming tides might bring.

One thing is for sure, though. Akatsuki is steadily gathering intelligence so that they can capture and extract the Seven Tails from its host, whoever she might be. I don't know if I can do anything about that, but I can at least make some effort to gather intelligence in the meantime. Hidden Waterfall losing their tailed beast would not be a mortal blow to the shinobi order, since they've been mysterious and semi-isolated for a while now, but allowing Obito and Akatsuki to advance their goals will be disastrous for the world itself. I've no idea if they have a means of using individual tailed beast powers for themselves, and I am not keen to find out. The Three Tails is at least within our control.

With the advice from earlier, building a home has been quite simple. Cutting down a few trees away from the campsite for building material, and then a few more for firewood. A bit of flame to clear out the building area and space for traps and alarms. While keeping my senses sharp, I cut apart the wood with my knives and arrange the selections of slabs and posts into a rectangle. There should not be much in the way of wind, and any moisture will not be a problem. The interior is big enough for me to rest and read in, no more than that for now. I've made a frame out of thin pieces of wood for the roof, and covered it with leaves to have a ventilated roof. Small openings allow me to look outside and fire attacks as needed, while keeping larger and curious creatures out if they do approach for any reason. If any cooking needs to be done, I've built a proper field kitchen that directs the smoke to the ground.

"Far from the luxuries of home, but very well done for a few nights in the forest. Lovely," I say with satisfaction. This will be my home base as I move out and about to collect two important things: missions, in order to directly push Akatsuki about, and information, which I can gather by trailing any Waterfall shinobi that come along my path. This will be a bit of work, but I didn't exactly leave the village to have myself a vacation, did I.

"Alright. Let's leave these things to settle, and hopefully you will be standing when I come back."

I grab my backpack and dump the remaining wood in the nearby pit, then head off to find somewhere I can wash myself. Construction is a sweaty business, rewarding as it might be...

So it's been chaos for old Danny over here, yeah. Not much room for his creaky bones to move around lately. But he's still red hot 'cause of what happened to Sai...Auntie Tsuna says you could cook a steak to a crisp on the guy's forehead from what she's seen of him. He and Hiashi have been going at it like wild dogs, too.

About ten days have passed since my arrival. Bits of chatter from Akatsuki middlemen tell me that they're bothered by the sudden drop in pay that they're getting, which means that everything is going to plan. I've created a controlled race to the bottom by undercutting their prices, forcing them to go lower and lower down the scale. It's beginning to become unbearable on their end. Naturally, this isn't a strategy that can be used on a larger scale...but it has been working just about flawlessly here. Since I don't have any need for money, collecting just enough to look generous and reasonable, along with some work for free, works out very well for my purposes, and drives my opponents into a financial corner.

Hopefully this is paranoia on my end, but they might send in some of their elites if things get too desperate at this stage. I did beat Sasori, but a two on one with S-Class criminals that have esoteric abilities...well, the line between confidence and thrill seeking gets thin sometimes. I have no intention of crossing it.

Alright, that might be a bit of a lie on my part. Not yet, at least. Perhaps much, much later.

Have they come around to bother you yet? I ask Fio as I walk back to home base.

They tried once, a night or two after you left. Gramps had some people in place to make them back off, though. Then the ANBU guys took me over to see Ibiki and we just hung out at Intelligence, had some burgers and stuff. Played poker for a few hours with Yugao and 'em. Nothing after that, so it looks like we're all good. Hina's okay, I checked in with her. Not too stressed out, considering.

That's good. Have you heard anything from Team Kakashi?

Rika told me they're doing alright, although Sasuke is being his usual, uh...what'd you call it, cantankerous self. She said that he's been snooping around a bit, but it hasn't been any real problem. Curious little guy, ain't he?

Unfortunately. He's like his big brother, in the most annoying ways.

Heh. But yeah, everything is snapping back to normal. I've been keeping myself out of trouble, like you asked. Mission coming up, looks like a short one, though. Gonna clear out some losers in the south, somewhere around one of the old train stations. Oh, Gramps was talking about running routes down there again, he was gonna swing it with the pols this week or next. So me and the team might be a bit busier than usual since this is our kind of work. I'll keep you posted as always.

As always, I very much appreciate your reports, Fio. Have you been taking care of yourself? I reach through a small opening at the side of my home and pull out a small block of wood. It allows me to move away the front entrance, which I set into its usual depression on the floor so I can walk over it easily.

Yep. Good eating, good sleeping, good lifting. Auntie Tsuna says I'm almost good for medicine since I've been steady for a while now. I'm gonna work on more chakra stabilizing stuff with her...one day these bracelets are gonna be fashion accessories.

I'm very much looking forward to that, Fio. You've been doing so well for yourself, and I'm very proud of you.

Thanks, Lili. All of this is thanks to you, obviously. I really appreciate you working so hard back then to help make me who I am today.

Worth every moment, I reply with a smile on my face. Well, I am going to have a snack and then a quick nap. According to what I've gathered, tonight should be a splendid time to gather some extra intelligence on Akatsuki and the Hidden Waterfall's operations.

I'll leave you to it then, superstar. You take care of yourself, too, you hear?

I promise, my love. Talk to you again soon.

Got it! Love you lots, Lili!

Love you too, darling.

Our conversation ends, and I grab a wrapped sandwich from my bag to eat. The forest around me has been utterly devoid of drama...very nice to know that I picked a good hiding spot the first time around. I catch up on my reading, then lie back on top of my sleeping bag and close my eyes. An hour or two should be enough to recharge...

...and my eyes open to see that the light has started to wane in the area. It's now dusk. I yawn and stretch before getting up, doing a quick check of my surroundings by sensing for any chakras in the area. Nothing, aside from a few harmless animals.

One quick supply check. I have food, both of sealed and perishable varieties, plenty of collected and purchased water, and my survival equipment is still ready to go. I grab my portable medical kit and slip it into my pouch, secure Murkaumo, and zip up my sweater. All set. My memories of the patrol areas tell me that there should be a change over within twenty minutes at eighty one degrees, within the five kilometre circle of the village. Chatty little ones, and not as adept at stealth as I am. I leave a serpent friend inside of my little home, as an added layer of protection.

"Let's head out."

There are a few shinobi spread out at current, and from what I've gathered it's mainly to see if they can get a hold of the Seven Tails' host so they can bring her back to the village for a check up. Seems that she's been remaining elusive, which is good for her considering the way that she's been treated by her so called comrades. Naruto used to go through the same sorts of things, and Gaara had it even worse...fear and desperation can ruin lives faster than most people realize. If not for stabilizing influences, and good people in their lives, anything could have happened.

More than the fear of tailed beasts rampaging, what hurts me is the thought of those boys succumbing to despair...burning the last of their lives away so the world that wounded them could be brought to ruin. Just how close were we, I wonder...I don't want something like that to happen, ever. But then, the other day revealed something curious. In my heart, I hope to come across that girl who is a host herself, in order to satisfy this curiosity of mine.

The tailed beasts are not just vengeful demons, bent on destruction. I feel like...there is more to them than that. There's the fact that many in the Cloud look up to their two hosts, which wouldn't be possible if they were constantly on edge and rampaging. But the way in which Gaara was manipulated for years is telling. Perhaps – and this is only a whimsical thought of mine – the tailed beasts are not just mysterious entities pushed into compartments called human sacrifices.

They might be very well be people, too.

"..."

I wonder, though. How would I test something like that? Maybe...

"Hm."

I have to hold those thoughts for now. I've come upon today's targets. This is the earlier shift, and they should be switching off in a few minutes from now. I put my back against a tree and slide down into a crouch. Nothing has changed, and there are no sensor types around. They're likely on the move searching for the host, if at all. Or guarding that secret entrance, which is far from it in my eyes after a few trips by it. Clever, though. And more than sturdy enough for most jobs.

"Yo."

"Yo yourself. Clocking in, eh?"

The two men approach each other, and I hear them bump fists lightly as always. The first is an experienced chuunin, the other rotating out is a special jounin.

"Yeah. Nothing doing today. Just the usual mercs running around from place to place."

"I see. There's a bit of a stir, speaking about that."

"Yeah? What's happening?"

"Well," the chuunin starts, "you know about that Akatsuki outfit? Turns out that someone else is going around and cutting into their profits. Some group of girl mercs, I'm hearing. Been doing deliveries, log splitting, digging ditches...all that D-Rank stuff that the discount mercs were taking on. Super discount mercs, I guess. Can't make heads or tails of it."

"Ah, that'll make things harder for us, as usual."

"Yeah, always does. The brass are saying not to worry too much about it, but..."

"We can't do anything as we are, so we might as well listen to them. Just gotta hope they do something soon...if too many people turn down services, it won't be enough to rely on the moneybags," the special jounin says. "Anything on the Seven Tails?"

"Dumb animal is out there somewhere still. She always wanders back, but the bosses are just worried this time because of the bullshit that Hidden Sand went through."

"That must have been a trip. Something about that Scarlet Viper lady doing work over there?"

"Saying that she smoked Red Sand Sasori, yeah."

A low whistle. "Man. I'd let her spank me around some, know what I mean?"

"Ha. How many women do you think are that strong and have a full deck of cards? She'd probably break your neck without thinking..."

The rest of their idiotic ramblings is easily shifted to the background. Seven Tails still at large...the earlier ploy with my clones and transformations has been going as planned...and Hidden Waterfall is still oblivious. I might be able to do some of my own searching now.

"...I'll talk to you later, bud. Get yourself some rest."

"Alright. Don't work too hard out here."

They part ways, and I go through my options. Do I chase a new lead, or see what Akatsuki is up to? Nobody has come traipsing through the forest yet...and maybe the risk on an unofficial visit to the Waterfall is too high at the moment. Perhaps a bit more snooping before I head home.

"Two hundred five degrees relative...let's see what I can glean-"

Wait. Someone is around my base, it seems. I focus my sensing on the area, and almost feel myself blown back by the measurement. This chakra is massive, nearly like Naruto's. It could be an Akatsuki elite, or...it could be that person. Either way, I need to check.

I quietly make my way through the forest again, slowing down as I get to within a few hundred meters of where I've set up. The scent of the visitor is somehow faintly familiar. Almost feels like Shino...why is that? A bug user? What kind, and why would it be so similar? I don't know what the Seven Tails looks like, only that it presumably has seven tails. As I crawl through the brush on my belly, I note that the presence is currently circling the structure...a few light taps, hesitant and polite.

"...really nice...built this...person..."

It's a girl's voice, young sounding. A young adult, it sounds like. That matches up with what Granny Miyako said.

"Kya! S-snake...eh. It's not...you sure? Maybe...poisonous, then. Guess you..."

I slowly make my way closer.

"Um...should go. Come...here, at least. Even if it could be an enemy...hope not."

Some more indistinct mumbling before the Seven Tails' host exits. A rapid beating of wings...it seems they can fly, and very well at that.

I get up and properly jog towards my home. Nothing disturbed or out of place...just a few light footprints. I couldn't get an estimation through vibrations, because both of us were constantly moving. But whoever it was, she said that she would be back at some point to see who owned this little place. Well, I can easily take my time and wait for her here, if she's so eager.

I pick up the child who has crawled through the opening, and drape him around my neck. A reward of warmth for his good work.

"I can spare some chakra for clones tomorrow, and hold myself here for a while. Tonight, a cool dinner with some milk, whilst completing my reports. That should do before bed."

I nod to myself and open the door to my home before settling on the ground. The lamp is lit, and so the rest of my night begins.