Chapter Warnings: Killing and disposal of dead bodies. Mention of death by car accident.
"Ooooooo…I wanna rocks!"
Haru had been humming Naruto openings the entire trip. She only did so when it was safe, of course. Some of the more dangerous roads required total silence and concentration.
Lee took a special liking to "Go!", singing along to "We are fighting dreamers!".
Team Nine had managed to deliver curry to several towns without trouble. Whatever common thieves or bandits showed up were easy to beat.
Come nightfall, they set up camp.
"Dinner's ready!" Sanshō called.
Team Nine and Sanshō sat around a cooking fire with a pot of curry in the middle. This was the first time Sanshō cooked curry for them. All the other nights they ate food the town inns served.
There were no more curry deliveries to make and they were going to arrive in the Land of Rivers by tomorrow.
Sanshō must've been feeling generous since Team Nine's curry deliveries were successful.
"Thanks for the food!"
After Lee took his first bite of the curry, he paused in awe. Then he eagerly scooped more curry into his mouth. "So delicious!"
Once Haru tasted the curry, she couldn't help the emotions that welled up inside her. She remembered when her family had curry, dipping pieces of baguettes into it. Vietnamese curry was something special…
Sasuke remained quiet. He thought that the curry tasted like a mother's home-cooked meal…
Yamato didn't react, simply taking in the curry as a nourishing food source.
"I'm happy you all enjoy the meal! I hope you'll also get the chance to try my son's cooking!" Sanshō said.
"I look forward to it!" Lee said.
Then Lee looked up at the night sky. His eyes sparkled. "The stars are so pretty out here…"
Haru agreed with him. Looking at the stars in the open sky was different than looking at them from inside Konoha.
Being close to their destination in the Land of Rivers, Yamato agreed to be on lookout that night.
"We're finally here!" Sanshō stood in front of a small quaint shop and spread her arms wide. "Welcome to The Curry of Life!"
And that's when Haru finally remembered.
The Curry of Life like from that one filler arc in the anime!
Haru remembered watching snippets of it on Cartoon Network.
Since it was filler, Haru had nothing to worry about.
The filler arc only took place in the far future. That was Naruto and Team Guy's mission to deal with.
A man burst out of the curry shop, slamming the door open, breathless and panting. He had a wild, panicked look in his eyes.
Sanshō smiled and opened her arms for a hug. "Karashi! It's good to see you again!"
Karashi didn't move to hug her. Instead, he looked absolutely furious. "Mom! What are you thinking? You're not supposed to be back here!"
Karashi glared at Team Nine. "If you four know what's good for you, you'll leave before the Kurosuki Family finds out you're here and kills you."
"No! I brought them here to help us!" Sanshō said.
Haru's heart sank to the pit of her stomach. Sasuke and Lee were surprised.
Yamato's face hardened. "Let's head inside and you can explain everything, Sanshō."
Sanshō's head hung down in guilt. "Of course. Karashi and I will get your meals ready too. It's the least we can do."
"The Kurosuki Family's leader is Raiga. They seized control of this town six months ago," Sanshō explained.
Yamato's eyes narrowed. "Kurosuki Raiga. One of the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist. He and the other Swordsmen annihilated much of Konoha's forces during the Third Shinobi World War. Last I heard, he became a missing-nin. So this town is where he has chosen to seek refuge."
Yamato nodded at Sanshō to continue.
"Raiga forced our townspeople to mine gold for his gang. He bribed our government officials with a portion of the gold. As long as their pockets were filled, they could turn a blind eye to everything. No one opposed Raiga. His gang made sure that our town was kept secured, guarding all entrances and exits. No one could come in and no one could leave without the Kurosuki Family's permission. Any who tried to escape were buried alive."
Karashi frowned at Sanshō. "That's why you shouldn't have come back, Mom!"
Sanshō glared at Karashi. "I couldn't just leave you and everyone else here to suffer!"
"But Mom-!" Karashi started to say.
Yamato held his hand up, turning their attention to him. "Wait. How did you even manage to get out, Sanshō?"
Sanshō and Karashi told their story.
Five months ago, one of the townspeople got fed up with the injustices and stood up against Raiga. The distraction of the rebel being buried alive provided a distraction, a chance for Sanshō to escape.
Sanshō knew she and Karashi had to leave. Especially since the Kurosuki Family kept scaring or killing off the curry shop's customers and their fellow townspeople. It was not safe for them to stay.
Karashi quietly led Sanshō to the outskirts of town and she got onto a secret wagon packed with their belongings. He let his mother and the wagon go off without him, lying that he would follow her. His mother would be safer outside of home.
Sanshō had realized too late that Karashi had chosen not to follow her. She continued her escape with a broken heart, promising to return to Karashi and the others with help.
Karashi had chosen to stay to join the Kurosuki Family to gain power and strength. He wanted to stop being weak.
With Sanshō missing, Karashi made up the cover story that she had passed away from old age and he cremated her. He spread her ashes somewhere out in nature as she wished. He didn't say a burial since the town's graveyard was reserved for burying dissidents alive.
The Kurosuki Family accepted the lie, especially since Karashi was joining their ranks.
It took Sanshō some time to gather the travel and ninja-hiring funds from her curry to make the trip to Konoha. She had to depend on the chance that she hired ninja with compassion and a sense of justice.
Sanshō had been hoping to get older, experienced ninja. But objecting to the team selection would've made Konoha suspicious about the true nature of the mission. So she kept her mouth shut.
With the true nature of the mission revealed, Sasuke kept silent in thought while Haru was irritated.
Yamato scowled. "So you knowingly lied to us."
Sanshō's head hung down in shame.
Lee shot up from his seat. "How horrible it must've been for Sanshō to endure such hardships, not knowing if Karashi was safe or not! Don't worry, we'll put a stop to the Kurosuki Family's injustices!"
"You guys don't know what you're dealing with!" Karashi screamed. He trembled. "They just buried someone alive a few days ago. If they find out we've brought help here, they'll kill my mom and me next!"
Sanshō gasped. Haru felt sick. Lee blanched in horror. Sasuke scowled. Yamato's face hardened.
Someone was executed by suffocation while Team Nine was on its way to the Land of Rivers. They had arrived too late to save the poor victim.
Karashi scowled. "If that idiot hadn't opened his big mouth, he wouldn't have gotten himself killed."
Lee faced Karashi with fury. "Hey! Don't speak of a brave man with such disrespect!"
Karashi snorted. "Brave? More like stupid. What was he thinking? Speaking up to protect some old man? It doesn't matter now that he's dead."
Lee lunged at Karashi to punch him. "Why, you!"
Yamato grabbed the back of Lee's collar before his fist could reach Karashi. "Enough, Lee!"
Karashi smirked. He was about to shoot some insults at Lee but Sanshō glared at him.
Karashi clamped his mouth shut. He crossed his arms and turned away from Lee with a huff.
Sanshō faced Yamato and kneeled down on the floor. "You heard how bad things are here! Our own government won't even help us! Konoha is the closest ninja village to the Land of Rivers! You are our best chance for survival! They don't even let us keep any of the gold for ourselves! We can't afford to pay Konoha for this kind of mission right now! But once the mission is done, Konoha can have all the gold it wants! Please! If you have any compassion, please help us!"
Yamato was unmoved by Sanshō's pleas. "We should return to Konoha. This is an unauthorized increase in mission rank. There's no benefit to staying here. The losses outweigh the gains."
Lee stiffened. He couldn't believe that his sensei was ignoring a poor old woman's desperate pleas. Guy-sensei would never do that. Sanshō was admirable for taking such a huge risk to save her son and village from criminal ninja.
Sasuke felt dissatisfied. He too wanted to help the old lady Sanshō. And this Kurosuki Raiga sounded like an extremely strong opponent he could test his skills against.
Haru groaned. Why was it that her first life-or-death mission was a filler arc? It wasn't even supposed to happen this early! - I really am just some filler character in this cold, unfeeling world. At least Yamato, Sasuke, and Lee are actually important! Shouldn't Naruto's begging for a C-rank mission cancel this kind of bad luck out?! What the fuck! I can't believe Sanshō pulled a Tazuna on us! This is all Yamato and Sasuke's fault! The Team Seven curse carried over from them, damn it!
"Uh. Is your friend all right?" Karashi asked.
"Why do you ask?" Lee said.
"Her eye is twitching uncontrollably."
"I signed up for a DoorDash food delivery job! Not a death sentence!" Haru muttered.
Karashi blinked. "...What's DoorDash?"
Haru groaned and threw her hands in the air. "Never mind! Forget it! Let's just go back to Konoha!" Some other ninja team could handle the heroics. No way her team was strong enough to handle one of the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist! This was a suicide mission!
Lee grasped Haru's hand. "Haru, we can't just leave these innocent people to fend for themselves!"
Sasuke frowned at Haru. "We're a team, remember? Or was what you said at our survival exercise all talk?"
Haru internally groaned. - Oh great. Even Mr. Dark and Brooding has a sense of justice. - She knew that Sasuke wasn't the type to run away and pass up on a fight against someone powerful like Raiga either.
It was Sasuke and Lee against Haru and Yamato.
Two against two.
One of them was going to have to break the tie.
Lee stared into Haru's eyes pleadingly, softly squeezing her hand.
…Damn it. Haru couldn't resist those puppy eyes.
Haru sighed and sat back down. "Fine. I'll stay."
Yamato scowled and sighed, shaking his head. "You three are still so naive." He had no choice but to stay if he wanted to keep his students alive. It wasn't viable for him to waste his chakra dragging them away with his wood-style jutsu all the way back to Konoha. But once he thought about it further, this could be a good chance to observe Raiga and ensure that he wasn't a threat to Konoha and Danzo.
The shop's door loudly banged.
"Knock! Knock! Open up, Curry Boy!"
Karashi cursed under his breath. "Shit! I didn't expect them to come here today!"
Yamato signaled for Sanshō to hide somewhere safe and for Team Nine to prepare for a fight.
Luckily, there was no need for the genin to lift a single finger.
Once Karashi opened the door, Yamato swiftly killed all the goons, slitting their throats with his kunai.
Haru shivered. It was her first time seeing other people killed in front of her. And Yamato had moved so fast. His training in Root made him a very deadly assassin.
Yamato faced Karashi calmly. The specks of blood on his face made Karashi tremble. "What are their names? What is the password to get into the Kurosuki Family's base?"
As Karashi answered Yamato's questions, Haru looked down at the corpses. There were four of them. The perfect number for Team Nine to disguise themselves.
Oh hell no.
Haru raised her hand. "Wait, Yamato-sensei! I volunteer to stay behind to guard Sanshō and Karashi!"
Karashi snorted. "I can take care of my mom by myself just fine. Besides, it'd be suspicious if a single Konoha ninja stayed at the curry shop. Even if you're disguised as a civilian, having a stranger from outside of town would still be suspicious to the Kurosuki Family. Even if you hid, they would sniff you out."
Yamato looked at Haru sternly. "Karashi is correct. Four henchmen were killed. If one of them didn't return, there would be immediate suspicion. You must come with us, Haru."
Haru knew Yamato was right. She reluctantly nodded.
Each member of Team Nine had to dispose of a henchman's corpse.
Sure, Yamato could've called his wood clones to help him carry them but he wanted his students to gain the experience.
Haru had never disposed of corpses before.
Back at the Ninja Academy, the students had to build up some exposure to handling corpses through hunting or burying dead animals.
But to actually hold a human being that had been alive a minute ago still made Haru incredibly squeamish. She'd only ever seen dead people in her past life at funerals. But she never actually had to touch and carry them.
Haru's hands trembled and she tried hard not to hurl. Was this what her body was like after that car slammed into her on the street?
What did that speeding driver think after finding out that they accidentally killed a college student walking to the bus stop on her commute because they weren't careful enough?
No matter how careful Harper had been, no matter if she did everything right, she still got killed because of someone else's carelessness.
It was all so fucking unfair…
Haru shook her head. That was all in the past now. Thinking about it would do her no good. She looked over to see how the rest of her team was handling the situation.
Yamato was calm as ever, probably used to this kind of dirty work during his time in Root.
Lee looked mortified while keeping a firm grip on the corpse he carried.
Sasuke carried a corpse with a faraway look in his eyes as if he was thinking about being somewhere else.
Haru wondered if Sasuke was thinking about the Uchiha Clan Massacre and the corpses of his dead clan members.
Team Nine piled the bodies into a large newly dug hole.
Yamato used his wood-style jutsu to place a large tree over the newly dug grave.
A morbid thought crossed Haru's mind. - Ah…fresh corpse fertilizer…
They cleaned the blood out from the floors and walls of Sanshō's home.
After Team Nine cleaned themselves up, they used the Transformation Jutsu to disguise themselves as the dead henchmen.
Yamato nodded to his genin. "Let's go."
A/N: Holy shit IDW released an official TMNT x Naruto crossover comic!
This is the first time I've heard of a Western superhero comic and a Japanese manga having an official crossover. This could open up the door to other crossovers!
Like Goku from Dragon Ball Z and DC's Superman.
Also, wow, can't believe the IDW TMNT 2011 comic has ended after 13 years. I need to start reading it sometime.
I also got the Naruto Shippuden Kid Obito Funko Pop #1657. He's so cute! His wink and thumbs-up are so encouraging!
Meanwhile, my Sasuke Tomonui plush is staring judgingly at me...