This chapter has been revised as of 8/8/2021
Chapter 5: Daichi, The Merchant
After Hinata's one absence, she tried to be early every day they met up. She thought her father would have disapproved of her teammates nearly barging into a private clan lesson, but he instead switched his schedule to instruct her during the late evenings. In his own words, he'd rather not interfere with her Genin duties if possible.
"Individual skills are always important, but talent can only carry a ninja so far at your current level. Genin should focus on building squad-centered tactics," he said to her. "We'll resume working on your Gentle Fist techniques when you return from missions. If you aren't too exhausted to continue our work, that is." She could tell this was a method of testing her resolve, and she accepted his offer.
"I'll continue to be diligent, Father." She'd be even more drained than before, but she refused to disappoint him. She would master the 8 Trigrams 64 Palms by any means necessary.
As another month of chakra control exercises, sparring, and D-rank missions passed, Team Kakashi adjusted to the pattern they'd fallen into.
"Good to see you're all still working hard." Kakashi appeared before them, silent like a ghost, and Naruto dropped the leaves he'd been sticking to himself for the past half an hour. She'd watched him make serious progress with his chakra control once he stopped focusing on how boring the activity was. Now Hinata felt that he didn't need her to monitor his practice as closely.
"Woah, you're early, Sensei?" Naruto asked. Sasuke began collecting shuriken from his throwing targets. Kakashi was early by his own standards, at least. Their teacher usually only appeared to retrieve missions in the afternoon, but it was only mid-morning.
"Hm, I didn't notice the time…" Kakashi shrugged and closed his favorite book, tucking it away in his vest pocket. "I'm here because I have something new for you today." That got their attention.
"I bet it's a jutsu! Did you find one for us yet?"
"It better be worth the wait…" Sasuke said as he joined the group.
"Ah, not quite. I thought it was time we took on a different kind of mission, so I've arranged for a C-rank."
"I knew we'd get a real mission soon!" Naruto butted in. "So what's it about?"
"Patience, Naruto. You'll get the details at the Academy."
"Doesn't a C-rank mission mean that we could run into combat, Sensei?" Hinata asked.
"There's definitely some risk to it, but nothing I don't think you can handle. The worst to expect are wild animals and bandit gangs. And if it gets out of hand, I'll be there to make sure nothing goes too wrong."
"What's the matter? You're afraid of a real fight, Hyuga?" Sasuke said. Was he teasing her?
"I just like being prepared. It's better than walking into a situation blindly."
"Sure. As long as it doesn't slow you down when it matters." Naruto interrupted before she could say anything else in defense, oblivious to the tension between them.
"Who cares how tough a C-rank is? I'll take on anyone who tries to stop us, no problem!"
"I think that's enough big talk for one day," Kakashi said. "Let's go meet our client."
"Your mission is to escort Daichi Kato and his small caravan to and from his destination, a large greenhouse about two days away from Konoha." The Chunin working the mission desk tossed the scroll over to Kakashi, who began skimming it as they continued briefing. Behind them, a squad of three other Chunin left with an old man gripping a bottle of open Sake. "The trade route you'll be taking and any supplementary details should be written there."
Daichi, who entered the room shortly after Kakashi's team did, appeared to be an ordinary man in his late 30s. He le[t his dark brown hair in a short ponytail, and his skin was tanned from travelling. A straw hat hung on a string around his neck, and he scratched the peach fuzz on his chin as he checked out the ninja assigned to protect him. The only thing about him that caught the eye was his bandaged right hand. Even as he scratched his face with it, it looked stiffer than his left. The Chunin at the desk introduced them by name, and Daichi gave the group another once over.
"Hm… you guys are alright, I guess." His eyes never quite lost the lazy look in them, but he presented them with a lopsided grin. Hinata couldn't really get a read on him at all. Maybe he just had nothing in particular to hide. Naruto bristled at his offhand comment.
"Who're you calling just "alright" ?" he asked. Kakashi quieted him down with a hand on his shoulder.
"A ninja should take things in stride, not fly off the handle…" Kakashi said quietly. Daichi didn't seem to mind the exchange at all, or maybe he just didn't care enough to respond.
"I'll be leaving from the Northern gate at seven tomorrow morning," he said.
"We'll be there on time," Kakashi assured him, rolling the scroll up.
"Good. Now if you'll excuse me, I need to get my cart ready…" With his hands behind his head, Daichi left the room.
"For someone who's paying for protection, you'd think he'd be less carefree…" Sasuke said while Naruto continued to stew. After confirming the mission details, they left the Academy together.
"Is it...normal for a client to act this way?" Hinata asked. He didn't seem mean, but shouldn't he be more concerned with his safety.
"Merchants like Mr. Kato that frequently travel through Konoha get used to ninja after a while," he explained. "Don't expect to impress them with just a headband, especially on a routine escort like this one. But don't let him distract you from your job either, okay?"
"Heh, I bet I'll blow that guy away as soon as he sees my skills in action! Then he'll respect us!" Naruto said, drawing some attention from people passing by. Kakashi sighed.
"Naruto, what did I just say? That aside, we'll be out of the village for at least a week, so make sure you pack enough supplies. You all know where the Northern gate is, right?" They nodded. "Then I'll let you three go early. Don't be late tomorrow!" With a lackluster wave, Kakashi disappeared. Sasuke followed Kakashi's example and tried to make his own exit.
"Hey, what about our fight? We didn't finish it today!" Naruto complained.
"I'm going to pack. Why should we waste our time training if we're leaving the next day? I'm not giving you any spare equipment if you run out during the mission, idiot." Naruto grumbled, but let Sasuke go.
"He still thinks he's better than me."
"...He has a point. We really should focus on the mission tomorrow," Hinata said. She had to tell her father she was leaving, and then figure out her own supply situation. Maybe she could fit in some last minute work on her chakra point accuracy if she returned home early enough.
"Yeah, I guess." Naruto's mood recovered as fast as he always seemed to do. "I gotta get one last bowl of Ichiraku's in, then! See you later!" He jumped over the midday crowds and ran along the rooftops, leaving her far behind. Hinata truly hoped he didn't forget to bring anything.
The Hyuga Compound felt emptier during the day, the majority of its residents out on missions or other village business. She hadn't expected her father to even be available until later, but the guards informed her to check his office. He looked up from the scrolls and papers on his desk when she slid the door open. She couldn't help but stand up a little straighter when his eyes met hers.
"Hm, you're back soon," Hiashi said. She always struggled to read his expressions right.
"We...were given the rest of the day off," she explained. "My team has a higher ranked mission taking place outside the village. I'll be departing tomorrow." He set down his writing utensil.
"Is that so? Then your training is postponed until you've accomplished it." There was no sense of "if" in his wording. He fully expected her to succeed, and she wasn't sure if that should make her nervous or proud. "If you need any specific item, inform Ko." He looked down at his desk to organize his files. "And make sure not to slack off on your basic drills while you're gone, it'd be a shame to see your progress deteriorate."
"I'll keep working on it." After a polite bow, she tried to leave. Best not to keep him from his duties.
"Hinata." She stopped, back still facing him. "Remember that your actions represent the Hyuga Clan." He didn't need to say anything more. She would conduct herself in a way that showcased their family's strength.
"...Yes, Father." She stepped out of the office.
She spent a handful of hours in the training hall, and then took some last minute notes on the technique scrolls she couldn't take with her. If she wanted to keep up her training, she still needed those basic instructions. When the sun set, she returned to her room to begin packing. Deciding how much and what kind of clothing to take didn't bother her, but calculating how many weapons and tools would be necessary was harder to guess. The Gentle Fist technically required nothing, but that didn't mean she could get lazy and survive a week with a handful of knives. Maybe she should have asked Kakashi-sensei for ideas before he left.
"Hinata?" Hanabi had already entered as Hinata looked up from cleaning out her tool pouch. She noticed the packaged bundle her younger sister had. "Father wanted me to give you this," Hanabi said, handing it over. She unwrapped the package to reveal a new set of kunai and shuriken, along with an extra first aid kit. That was...thoughtful. A soft smile broke out on her face, and she tucked the supplies into her bag. Hanabi looked around the rest of her room, taking in the open drawers and folded clothes on the floor. She tilted her head and looked concerned. "Are you going somewhere?" She hadn't told her yet, and Father didn't seem to have either.
"Ah, I have a longer mission tomorrow," she explained. "But I'll come back in a week." The only times she had left the village before were for certain clan-related meetings with their father, and Hanabi often stayed home during them. Even with her reassurance, Hanabi still appeared upset.
"You always leave me behind." She was about to pout, but Hinata rested a hand on her shoulder first.
"We'll go out on a mission together when you're older, alright? You need to pass the right tests, and then you can fight right next to me."
"...Okay. But I want you to train with me when you get home again." Hinata hesitated. She really didn't like fighting Hanabi at all, even in a spar, but maybe she'll find something else to do. "Promise!" Hinata's resolve disappeared. She couldn't completely deny what she wanted.
"If that's what you want." Hanabi hugged her waist before she could react, and Hinata forced herself to relax. She rested her chin on the top of Hanabi's head as she hugged her back. "Let me finish packing up, and then I'll go to dinner with you."
"See you later!" She watched Hanabi go, less tense than she'd felt after speaking with Father.
"Look out world, Naruto Uzumaki's coming through!" Both gate guards tried to hide their amusement while observing the Genin team waiting for their client to show up. Sasuke glared at him and adjusted his grip on his backpack.
"How can you yell that loud this early?"
"If the rest of the village wasn't up before...they are now," Kakashi said. He leaned against the huge wooden post that made up one side of the walled gate. Tuning Naruto out, Hinata stared down the dirt path that led out of Konoha and into the forest. The massive doors stayed wide for the day, allowing civilian traffic to pass through. Leaving the village never felt ominous before now, but now her position was reversed. Instead of the one surrounded by protectors, she had to be the first line of defense.
The quiet rattling of a wheel on cobblestone caught their attention, and a decent sized horse drawn cart emerged from the crowd to make its way towards them. A younger man she didn't recognize from yesterday sat on top of it, holding the reins. Daichi followed beside the cart, this time wearing his straw hat.
"Nice to see my bodyguards here early," he said. He acted just as relaxed as the day before. "Let's get moving, I like to travel from sunrise to sunset." As he passed her, Hinata noticed the long necked object covered in cloth and strapped to Daichi's back with a thick string. She wanted to ask what it was or check herself, but Kakashi began directing their travelling formation, and she pushed it to the back of her mind.
As the cart itself would take up a fair amount of space on the road, Kakashi divided their team to cover each angle of approach. No one would stand directly in front, as it drew too much attention to their target. Instead, they'd be stationed near the sides and back, where attacks would be more likely to come from. Sasuke took the left, and Kakashi and Naruto covered the back area, leaving the right side to Hinata.
"Hold on, why can't I handle my side all by myself?" Naruto asked.
"Approaching from behind gives an enemy the most advantage, so having two people here doubles our defense," Kakashi explained. "But don't worry about me stealing your spotlight, I'll be watching from inside the caravan." Naruto seemed to accept that reasoning.
"...Okay, but I'm gonna handle any fight before you even get to step in!" Kakashi already took his place sitting in the back of the cart, reading his book.
"That sounds fair." She started to suspect their teacher just didn't want to walk all day like the rest of them.
They traveled for a few hours without much interruption, passing some scattered sentry posts hidden in the taller trees where other ninja protected the road. Once they moved further away, the extra security would disappear and they'd be in what travelers called "No Man's Territory".
Criminals and rogues preyed on people in between towns, though they kept a wide distance from Konoha's walls. Hinata remembered how this security tactic was explained in the Academy. Konoha made sure to defend its own claimed territory from encroaching bandits, but extending their protection too far across the Land of Fire could damage their effective manpower and economy. If ninja went out of their way to eliminate every criminal they came across, the number of escort and protection missions needed across the Land of Fire would plummet, creating a loss of profit. This also consumed a huge amount of time and resources that could be directed somewhere else. The only targets considered important enough to attack on sight were defective Konoha ninja. This prioritizing became necessary to keep the village funded and not stretched thin in harder times.
By around midday, their group put enough distance between themselves and Konoha's gates for their mission to truly begin. There would theoretically be no more fellow Leaf ninja within calling range until the very edge of the land's borders.
"Hinata, how much distance does your Byakugan cover?" Kakashi asked during their short lunch break.
"Around 60 meters at maximum," she said. The Byakugan could potentially see much farther than that, but her own wasn't powerful enough to match someone who'd been using it rigorously for years.
Kakashi hummed to himself, leaving her to wonder what he planned to do. "Start scanning our perimeter from here on out. Not constantly, but once every ten minutes or so. Can you do that?" She straightened up in her makeshift seat. If Kakashi-sensei was trusting her to watch their surroundings, she didn't want him to think she didn't take it seriously.
"I can handle it."
"That's good. We'll be counting on you." He turned to the rest of the team. "And as for you two…" Naruto and Sasuke looked up at him. "If Hinata gives the signal, get ready to fight. Just don't be too obvious about it." Sasuke nodded and pulled a knife out his holster to store in a different, less expected place.
"But what's the signal?" Naruto asked.
"I'll show you in a moment, just make sure you're prepared for it."
The second half of the day passed almost as uneventfully as the first. They ran into a couple of civilians going in the other direction and spotted a lone deer bounding across the road, but otherwise the path stayed clear. Following her new orders, Hinata watched the surrounding forest with her Byakugan every ten minutes. That earned her a strange look from the cart driver the first few times, most likely unfamiliar with the ability. It reminded her of the comments she'd gotten during her first year of Academy, and she did her best not to react to his glances. He made no attempt to make fun of her, and she wasn't six, so it was ridiculous to feel uncomfortable.
Naruto took to speaking with their client, and it turned out that Daichi had a few interesting stories to tell from his travels. Whether he spoke the complete truth or not was debatable, but they kept the boredom away.
"...And that's how I ended up smuggling a princess across a foreign border in the dead of night." Daichi leaned back in his seat as Naruto's mouth hung open, captivated. "It's pretty damn hard steering a horse with nothing but the moon to see with, but having an angry samurai on my trail kept me focused. I still almost ran into a ditch a few times…" He chuckled.
"You're a pretty crazy old man..." Sasuke said, but the fact that he listened at all betrayed his interest. "Wouldn't they have caught you in a few days?"
"If they really wanted to, I suppose they could've found me later. But then they'd have to admit they lost sight of me in the first place. Samurai are a prideful bunch." Naruto grinned.
"I bet I could do something like that on a mission, no sweat!" he said. Daichi snorted and reached for the object still strapped to his back.
"I don't think I count as much of a princess, kid."
"What's that thing?" Naruto asked.
"This?" Daichi unwrapped the parcel and balanced it in his lap. "It's a string instrument called a guitar. It's foreign, so I had to trade some expensive objects to get a hold of it." Hinata finished her latest scan, and then allowed her Byakugan sight to drift to Daichi. Now was the perfect time to sate her curiosity. The long neck and rounded body shape reminded her of a shamisen she had at home, except the guitar looked larger and thicker with more strings. Did it work just like a shamisen too? She wanted to ask so many questions, but Kakashi-sensei gave her an important duty. Maybe she could approach Daichi tonight when they stopped.
As Daichi continued to explain the guitar, she almost relaxed before a flicker of movement grabbed her attention. Hinata paused, taking a moment to pinpoint the source. Acting as calm as she could, Hinata knocked on the side of the cart three times. Daichi stopped speaking to glance at her, but then continued on. Kakashi melted into the shadows of the caravan's inside without a word. Tension hung in the air for what felt like minutes while they waited, and then three small spheres rolled out of the bushes towards the cart, fuses lit. The merchant cursed, and then the smoke bombs went off.