A/N: Wow, that took longer than planned. I'll do my best to finish the next one sooner! To those who asked for my update schedule: I don't have one, I'm way too busy for that (see notes at the end of chapter 1). I try to upload at least every two weeks, but it's not always possible.

The Demon of the Hidden Mist

Hinata took a deep breath before tightening the binds around her chest area, though the result was so-so at best. It also felt more uncomfortable than usual, which probably meant they had grown again. With a deep sigh, she donned her mesh armor, pulled the grey shorts and pants over it, and fastened her satchel and kunai sheath before looking at herself in the mirror. Despite her best efforts and layers of clothing, her figure was still showing very distinctly. Why was she stuck with these useless lumps of fat? Not only were they always in the way when she trained, forcing her to deviate from the traditional form, but she was also sure her ugly body was part of the reason why Naruto wouldn't even look her way. Her crush clearly only had eyes for Sakura, and she could see why. Why couldn't she have a beautiful, slender figure like her?

Some loud voices from outside the manor pulled the Hyūga heiress out of her thoughts. She quickly put on the oversized jacket she had come to appreciate during her academy years, one of her few pieces of clothing that could actually conceal her form, and went outside into the bailey of the Hyūga estate. To her surprise, she found her father in a conversation with Kurenai, her Jōnin-sensei. Why did she come to her home? It was still half an hour until their agreed time to meet. Or was her alarm clock misaligned? Did she oversleep, and now she was making her team wait to the point where her sensei had to personally pick her up? Was she really that much of a failure?

"… don't know what Lord Third is thinking, but I cannot condone this. Hm? Oh, Hinata. Good morning."

"G-good morning Father, K-Kurenai-sensei," she returned the greeting as the two adults noticed her presence.

"Good morning, Hinata. I'm here because there is a change of plans. We were given a C-rank mission."

A C-rank? After only three D-ranks? Hadn't father always told her she wouldn't get to do a C-rank until after at least two to three months of active service?

"And as I said, I am against it," her father insisted. "She is not ready for it."

"Lord Hiashi, I know you are concerned about your daughter, but she is a fully trained shinobi now."

"Concern has nothing to do with this, I am simply being realistic. If her skills were on par with Neji, or at least up to our family's standard, there would be no issue."

As harsh as his words were, Hinata knew he was right. Even when sparing against her younger sister, she always held back because she couldn't bring herself to harm little Hanabi. She could hear the elders calling her a stain on the Hyūga name even when they weren't there. Kiba and Shino, sure, those two were probably ready for it, but her?

"I think you are underestimating your daughter, Lord Hiashi. And besides, this is a secure route, and the client isn't even a merchant or carries anything that would make him a target for bandits. This mission will most likely be nothing but a few days on the road."

"There is a reason for the Hyūga's high standards. We are talking about an unsealed Byakugan leaving the village, I need more than mere assurance from the Hidden Leaf's most recent Jōnin to allow that."

On that comment, Kurenai's facial features hardened and her big, red eyes went in a deep scowl.

"Your opinion is duly noted, Lord Hiashi. And while I would love to hear your explanation as to why you think I would need your permission to take a ninja who is under my command to follow the orders of the Hokage, I'm afraid we are a bit pressed for time. Hinata, Shino is already picking up Kiba and we're meeting the client at the gate. So, quickly fetch your equipment and sleeping bag, I'll wait."

Scared by the tension in the air, Hinata in a slightly panicked manner looked between her father and her sensei, but after a few seconds, the Hyūga clan head just scoffed and went inside. Did that mean he was fine with it?

"So? You're gonna get your stuff?" Kurenai asked in a not exactly unfriendly manner, but still significantly less friendly than she had been at the beginning of the conversation.

"Y-yes, Kurenai-sensei!"

The day had started fairly decent for Kurenai. Great, actually. Unfortunately, Hiashi Hyūga had put in quite the effort to sour her good mood. While she could fully understand his concern for his daughter - at least, if that actually was his motive - there had been no need for him to be this condescending. Maybe she hadn't been a Jōnin for a very long time. So? That didn't mean she was any less capable. However, that was an opinion seemingly not many people shared. She rarely heard it said directly in her face, but she was well aware of the gossip behind her back; how she only reached her position because she was close to the Hokage's son. Had her father not been Shinku Yuhi, the man who had saved countless lives during the Ninetails' attack, people probably wouldn't have even bothered to keep the talks behind her back.

She knew she shouldn't let herself get bothered by all this. As Asuma always said, as long as she herself was aware of her skills, that was all that counted, who cared what others said? After all, she had managed to finish the academy in merely two years, and among the ninja currently in the village, few could match her skills in Genjutsu. And yet, even the support from the people on her side, like Asuma or her father, somehow sounded off in her ears. First among them, a sentence that she was absolutely sick of hearing:

How 27 was quite young for a kunoichi to reach the rank of Jōnin.

Not for a shinobi in general. Just for a kunoichi. Sure, female Jōnin reached their rank on average later in life than their male counterparts. And maybe, she would've even been fine with the situation, ignoring baseless rumors and being proud of her achievements, had it not been for what was probably the biggest slap in the face in her entire life:

Tanya Umino. One of the youngest shinobi and the youngest kunoichi to ever become Jōnin. And those were far from the only village records she held to her name. Finishing the academy at the insane age of five, the girl had been on a Genin team under Kurenai's father. Back then, the then 19-year-old Chūnin had actually taken a liking to the little girl. She was smart, mature for her age, and eager to learn. Kurenai had spent a lot of her free time with her, often teaching her in Genjutsu, a field that highly fascinated the tiny kunoichi. The time with her cute kouhai had been quite enjoyable at first. But soon, it showed why people called Tanya a genius.

With unfathomable ease, Tanya mastered whatever Kurenai taught her. She also developed fearsome Taijutsu skills, had self-taught sensory abilities, and broke the world record for the youngest person to ever create an original ninjutsu by seven years. It was as if she was the reincarnation of a seasoned shinobi with a lifetime's experience in both fighting and chakra control, completely overshadowing the rest of her team. A team that consisted of an Uchiha and a Hyūga for crying out loud! At first, Kurenai had been slightly embarrassed by the young girl's prowess, doing her best to not get overtaken by her kouhai. She had mastered complicated Genjutsu of the highest rank, working tirelessly to improve, and finally, near the end of last year, she had managed to reach the rank of Jōnin.

After Tanya. Not by much, just a few months. But that was enough to make the achievement feel hollow.

She knew she was being petty. She was jealous of a girl not even half her age. She should be proud of what she had accomplished and be happy for her kouhai. But she just couldn't. Whatever happened, Tanya seemed to always one-up her, and the worst part was how casually she acted about it. As if it was simply a fact of life that Tanya was better than her. But Kurenai refused to accept that. She would be the better of the two again, and for now, that meant being the better sensei. So naturally, she was thrilled to learn that her team would be the first of the rookies to receive a C-rank mission. Hiashi Hyūga had successfully dampened that.

Jumping from rooftop to rooftop, Hinata right behind her, Kurenai aimed straight for the gate. Preferably, she would meet the client before Shino and Kiba did. With which she actually meant, before Kiba did.

"You are supposed to protect me?" she could hear a rough male voice ask. "You are just a bunch of brats."

"Your doubts are unsubstantiated. Why, you ask? Because the abilities of a shinobi override any advantage regular fighters could acquire through experience."

"Pfah! Do you even know how to write these big words? Am I seriously paying 40,000 ryō to babysit?"

"NOW LISTEN HERE YOU OLD FART! IF YOU THINK YOU ARE SO GREAT, AKAMARU AND I WILL GLADLY KICK YOUR ASS HERE AND NOW!"

"Yip!" the tiny ninja-hound barked as Kurenai finally reached the scene.

"Kiba, please stop insulting the client."

"Oh, finally an adult!" The old man complained. Turing his gaze to Kurenai, his face started to redden in a way that was very likely not just from the bottle of cheap booze in his hand.

"That I am," the Jōnin affirmed, doing her best to ignore his reaction. "But while I hope you can see past Kiba's lack of manners, you should indeed not underestimate these three. Children they might be, but each of them could easily hold their own against ten seasoned mercenaries. Since there is no reason to expect a fight against other ninja, you are in capable hands."

To that, the old man coughed for some reason. Did he drink his booze too fast?

"Um, fine, I guess. Alright kids, I'm Tazuna, the best bridge builder in the Land of Waves. I'm basically a VIP, so I expect super protection from you brats, got it?"

He emptied his bottle and started to walk. A few seconds passed before Kiba grumbled: "Can I kill this guy?" and Akamaru growled in approval.

"That would be unwise," Shino retorted. "Why, you ask? Because-"

"No, no I don't ask! Because that was sarcasm, you stupid, tone-deaf insect freak!"

"K-kiba, maybe we should-"

"Oh, for fuck's sake, if you want to say something, Hinata, don't say it at a volume where even dogs will struggle to hear you!"

"Eep!"

"Come on, kids, let's go," Kurenai diffused the situation with a sigh. Ability-wise, all three of her students were plenty capable. But in terms of character, they really gave her headaches. But hey, maybe this mission would allow them to finally develop some teamwork.

The next two days on the road were rather uneventful. The universe compensated for this in the early evening of the third day by metaphorically slapping her in the face.

"Greetings, Kurenai. Nice to see you, how are you doing?"

"Tanya?!" Kurenai couldn't hide her surprise as the golden-haired girl suddenly jumped out of the forest. "What are you doing here?"

"Teaching my team some basics."

"You… are aware the village has training fields, right?"

"Sure," Tanya shrugged, "but I didn't want to make them feel like they had a way out of this."

Looking past her into the forest, Kurenai could see a distinct patch of orange trying to run up a tree trunk. So was she teaching them tree climbing? Since Hinata, Kiba, and Shino were clan children, all of them had already learned it from their parents.

So at least in terms of skills, my team is ahead of yours.

"See that, Naruto?" Kiba suddenly shouted into the woods. "We're the first rookies on a C-rank! Suck it, loser!"

"YOU CAN-"

"You can talk when you are up the tree!" Tanya interrupted before Naruto managed to get a rebuttal out. She then turned her attention back to Team 8.

"Anyway, thanks for dropping by even if it wasn't planned. Maybe showing them what they missed out on will finally motivate them to improve on their behavior."

"What do you mean?" Kurenai asked confused.

"Well, you probably got the mission we were offered. I passed on it because my team refused to behave with the expected maturity."

Doing her best to not let her anger show, Kurenai clenched her fist. Of course. Of. Fucking. Course, they hadn't actually been the first rookie team to get offered this mission. No, she once again was second fiddle to Tanya. Also, why was Hinata staring at Tanya like that?

"So, we *burps* get going or what?" Tazuna pulled her back into reality.

"Yeah, let's," She agreed, eager to leave the scene behind her.

"So, uh, who was that brat?" Kiba chimed in, a lot less determined than her to forget the meeting, unfortunately. She took a deep breath.

Don't be childish in front of your team, Kurenai!

"That 'brat' is called Tanya, and she happens to be one of the strongest Jōnin in the Hidden Leaf."

"S-stronger than you, K-Kurenai-sensei?" Hinata inquired.

"… in some fields, her abilities surpass mine, yes."

In the morning of the next day, an hour after they had woken up, Kurenai noticed something. Only she did, despite having a team specialized in tracking. A bit disappointing, but a good opportunity for a lesson.

"By the way, there is something I wanted to show you three."

"Does that have to be now? I'd like to reach our destination today!" the old man nagged.

"It'll just be a moment. She that tree over there?"

The three kids nodded.

"Watch this!"

Quickly, she went through a set of hand signs.

"Um… are we supposed to see something?" Kiba inquired after a while.

"Since you weren't the target of the Genjutsu, no."

"Genjutsu? Then why did you tell us to watch the tree in the first place?!"

With a smirk, Kurenai pointed behind her.

"To make the guy hiding in the puddle over there think I didn't notice him. You three overly rely on your natural abilities. Your senses are good, but they can be tricked. Smell, for example, can be masked by water."

Kunai drawn, she walked over to the puddle.

"For that reason, you must always observe your surroundings. If we are still a few kilometers from the coast, there is no river, and it hasn't rained in weeks, then a lone puddle must catch your attention and-"

She interrupted herself and jumped back as a set of bodies erupted from the puddle. Two ninja with the Hidden Mist's symbol on their headbands stood before her, most noteworthy feature was the large gauntlet each of them wore that connected the two with a spiky chain.

Two. So one snapped the other out of it. They are pretty well in synch considering that they masked each other's presence to the point where I only noticed one. If I want to catch them in a Genjutsu, I have to cast it on both at once.

Which was slightly trickier, but not really a challenge for her. She just needed to wait for the right moment for it.

"Team 8! Protect Tazuna! I'll take care of those two!"

Without wasting another second, the two Mist Ninja charged at her, trying to catch her in the chain. Kurenai let herself fall back so the spiked metal went over her, then caught her fall with her hands, spun around, and buried her heel in the stomach of the left one, causing him to stagger backward. Through the chain that connected them, the other was therefore forced to stumble in the same direction, and Kurenai used the opportunity to hook her kunai into the chain and yank the guy toward her. Losing his balance, he tried to slash her with the clawed gauntlet, but she casually pushed his arm up with her left hand, ducked under the attack, and rammed her blade into his leg. She then swiped the leg with her foot, causing him to fall down, looked out to avoid the spikes of the chain, and prepared herself to switch the attention to the first one, who she could see in the corner of her eye had gotten up and closed in on her. Now she just had to-

'Tsūga!' [Passing Fang]

Suddenly, Kiba flew in from the side, using the secret Taijutsu of his clan to spin rapidly in the air in an attempt to attack the Mist Ninja. It stayed at the attempt as the man dodged, jerking up the chain so the spikes got caught in Kiba's jacket. The young Inuzuka got thrown out of his technique and fell to the ground. The Mist Ninja wasted no time to slash at him, but at the last moment, a small hand grabbed his hood and pulled him away from the attack. Looking up, he saw Hinata, who quickly jumped back to bring her and Kiba away from the attacker. Meanwhile, the other Mist Ninja had gotten up again, and despite his injured leg, he and his partner no both charged at the Hyūga heiress.

Only to suddenly stop dead in their tracks.

'Magen: Jubaku Satsu!' [Demonic Illusion: Tree Binding Death]

In between the two, a tree rapidly grew out of the ground, its branches lashing out and coiling around their limbs like snakes, restraining them in place.

It wasn't really happening, just an Illusion the two were seeing. But it tricked the brain into thinking they couldn't move to the point where they actually did become unable to do so. As she walked passed them, Kurenai slashed their throats in a fluid motion before turning to her team.

"Are you hurt?"

Kiba quickly checked himself, but while the jacket was torn he himself was uninjured.

"No, I don't think so."

"I-I'm also fine," Hinata added, holding her hands over another.

"Good. Then, first: Hinata, you thought quickly and reacted accordingly, well done."

"Th-thanks, sensei."

"Second: Kiba, WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?!"

"You were fighting alone, I also wanted to do something!"

"'Do something'?! Are you crazy?! I didn't order you to stand back just for the fun of it! I am not just your teacher, I am also in command of this team, so if I give you an order, you follow it!"

She sighed. She knew Kiba was very headstrong, but she hadn't expected it to be this bad.

"You are aware that you almost got yourself killed, right? Had it not been for Hinata, you could be dead now."

"I-I didn't mean to-"

"Of course not, but it's what you get if you keep acting like that. Do you remember Tanya? The girl we met yesterday?"

"Um, yes? What about her?"

"On the first big mission that she was in charge of, she executed her own teammate because he refused to listen to her orders and therefore presented a liability for them. I'm not saying I would've done the same in her situation, but my point is that there is more than one way you can die if you don't follow orders. And that is ignoring the fact that a team can't function if everyone does what they want!"

To that, Kiba's gaze dropped. "I'm sorry," he apologized. Akamaru trotted over to him and licked his partner's hand, which petted him in return.

"Once we are back, we will focus on some team-building exercises. Which brings me to my third point."

She turned to the bridge builder.

"Those two didn't exactly strike me as rogue ninja turned bandits. They were hired. Is there anything you want to tell us?"

Tazuna dodged her gaze for a moment, but in the end, he relented. He explained that his home country was currently under the thumb of a man named Gatō, a shipping magnate and leader of the famous Gatō Company. He had taken control over all shipping routes in the country, and since the Land of Waves depended on the trade, he basically had it in the palm of his hand. Tazuna wanted to free his country by building a bridge to the Land of Fire, which had put a target on his back. But since his homeland was very poor, he didn't have enough money for a B-rank mission.

"I am sorry for lying to you, but I was out of options." He shrugged. "I understand if you abandon me now. My daughter and my cute 10-year-old grandson will probably cry if I die, but it's fine. Not your fault."

A moment of silence followed, but in the end, Kurenai sighed.

"It'll probably take a while for Gatō to hire new shinobi, and we are almost there anyway. We will bring you home, and that's it. But since you lied, the mission no longer has priority. If I judge the situation too dangerous for my team, we will retreat, and we'll leave you behind if necessary."

"Fine, fine, geez."

And so, they kept going. At noon, they finally reached the coastline.

"A bit south from here is an acquaintance waiting for me. He will bring us over, and we can-"

*Thud!*

Surprised, the group turned around, only to see that Hinata had collapsed to the ground. They quickly ran over to her.

"Hinata! Hinata, talk to me!"

But the girl only managed an incoherent mumble. Her face was flushed and feverish.

"What's wrong with her?" Kiba asked, panicking.

"This is," Shino answered and held her arm up. On the back of the girl's right hand, there was a tiny cut, almost healed already. Kiba took a quick sniff.

"Poison", he concluded, "but I don't know what kind. I also smell some form of ointment."

Kurenai clenched her teeth. "Stupid girl, why didn't you say anything?" she hissed.

"I can help her," the young Aburame claimed calmly. As he did, a couple of tiny bugs scuttled down his hand onto hers and chewed the cut open.

"My bugs will remove the poison. But it'll take a while. And since it's already been in her for a while, moving her would be a bad idea."

"Then concentrate on that," Kurenai nodded. "Kiba and I will be on the lookout. Say if you need anything."

Zabuza was sitting on a reasonably comfortable couch, stretching out his legs. It would be relatively stress-free, were it not for the annoying man standing in front of him.

"Your men failed!" Gatō hollered. "You better do something about it if you want to see your money!"

"Stop bitching," Zabuza answered after a few seconds of silence. "The old man won't come here alive, I'll make sure of that."

"You said the same thing when you sent the two brothers after him. How I am…"

Gatō stopped talking as the long, heavy blade of the massive executioner's sword Kubikiribōchō was pointed at him.

"I am not like these two. There is a reason they call me Demon of the Hidden Mist."

Hours passed as Zabuza waited at the coast of the Land of Waves, standing on top of the unfinished bridge. At his feet was a cage containing a small snow bunny he could use for a substitution if necessary. Below him, the mist was so thick you could barely see the water, but that didn't change anything for him. To Zabuza, the mist was like an extension of his body, there was no way he would miss someone passing through. And yet, no one had come.

"Haku."

Out of nowhere, a small, masked figure appeared next to him.

"Yes?"

"If they haven't come yet, they got delayed by something. We're going over."

He grabbed the cage, jumped down onto the water, and ran towards the Land of Fire, Haku right behind him. As they closed in on the mainland, he could feel his itch getting stronger. It had been ages since he had a good kill. If they could take out the Demon Brothers, then they for sure would be worth painting his blade red.

Although, a kill he would enjoy more would certainly be Gatō. Not that the guy would put up a good fight, but he annoyed Zabuza to no end. Unfortunately, his options were sparse since he had to flee the Hidden Mist Village following his failed assassination attempt on the Mizukage. If he and Haku wanted to be safe, they needed to travel further east, and for that, they needed money. Something Gatō had a lot off.

They reached the shore and followed the road north until he could see a group of people in the far distance.

"Go in position. Don't interfere unless I give you a sign."

Haku nodded silently, took the cage with the bunny, and vanished. Getting underwater, Zabuza swam closer to the group and poked his head out of the water, hidden by the mist. He saw a man - his target - a woman, and three children, one of them lying on the ground. The latter four all seemed to be shinobi. The woman was probably the one who had taken out the Demon Brothers. Zabuza didn't recognize her, but then again, he hadn't been able to update his bingo book for almost a year.

"It's almost evening, are you done soon?" the old man asked impatiently.

"No, I will still need a while. Why, you ask? Because I only know the theories of this technique, this is the first time I'm actually doing it. A rushed job would just make things worse."

"Besides," the woman chimed in, "we wouldn't even be in this situation if you hadn't lied about the mission, so I would be quiet if I were you!"

So the Demon Brothers had managed to poison the kid, lucky. And 'lying about the mission' probably meant the kids were all Genin, so he only had to look out for the woman. They also had a dog, so the other kid was probably an Inuzuka, but that was no problem. Using water release, he coated his body in a thin layer of water to mask his sense before surfacing and forming a set of hand signs. Time to demonstrate why he was called the master of silent killing.

'Ninpō: Kirigakure no Jutsu' [Ninja Art: Hidden Mist Jutsu]

The mist got thicker and spread from the water onto the land. The woman noticed first something was wrong, warning the rest although it was pointless. The Inuzuka-kid tried to focus on his smell, not yet knowing it wouldn't help him. He effortlessly passed both of them, reached the old man, and raised his blade.

Before he could attack, roots erupted from the ground and slung themselves around his body, preventing his attack.

"Aren't you underestimating me?" The woman asked as she grew out of the ground behind him and stabbed her kunai into his neck.

"Right back at you," Zabuza answered as the water clone, seemingly trapped in a Genjutsu, dissipated. The woman spun around and Zabuza swung his blade, not at her, but at the kid with the dog who was still too focused on his sense of smell. The woman quickly tackled him away from the attack, but while that saved him, it also earned her a large cut along her stomach.

"Kurenai-sensei!" the kid screamed in panic as he finally noticed him. Ah, so that was her name.

"Kiba, stand back!" Kurenai ordered.

"Or, better yet kiddo: run back!" Zabuza smirked as he attacked him again. Kurenai jumped in front of him, deflecting the slash with her kunai while her left arm clutched the bleeding gash in her abdomen. Using the momentum, he continued the swing. The old man was too far away for a killing blow, but not too far away to receive a nasty cut over his chest.

"AHH!"

"Shit! Kiba, take Tazuna away and protect Hinata and Shino! Do NOT attack this guy!"

"Do you really think you are in a condition to fight me?" he mocked.

"I don't care, I will NOT let you harm them!" she hissed through clenched teeth. Still pressing her arm against the wound, she brought her other arm down to form a hand sign. If nothing else, her tenacity was commendable.

'Kasumi Jūsha no Jutsu' [Mist Servant Jutsu]

Dozens of copies of her grow out of the ground, slowly closing on him. As he attacked one, it splattered into black sludge and immediately reformed. Zabuza recognized the technique. It was a simple Genjutsu meant to confuse the opponent and conceal the real attack. Not very menacing, but with her injury that wasn't surprising. After all, it was difficult to muster the concentration necessary to cast a high-ranking jutsu if your guts were about to spill out. Not taking any chances, he swung the executioner's blade in a wide arc, cleaving through the illusions. In the second they took to reform, he could see… nothing. Kurenai was gone.

"I see," he chuckled and kicked behind him, hitting the injured kunoichi square into her wound. She screamed in pain as another gush of blood splashed onto the ground.

"This might have worked against someone else, but I am the master of the mist. My senses won't be tricked so easily."

He made an overhead strike which she tried to deflect again, but then he changed the angle at the last moment so she had to block instead and got forced into a bind. Her knees gave in as she tried to push the much larger weapon back, the tensions in her body no doubt making the wound worse.

"Why don't you just give up? Just let go and it will all be over. No more-"

Suddenly, the hair on the back of his neck stood up and he immediately jumped back. An eerie feeling made his body tense. Something was here. Something tried to use his mist against him. And to make matters worse, it did so well enough that he couldn't pinpoint its location. He quickly put his blade on his back and activated the substitution technique he had prepared the bunny for. Mere seconds later, a blade pierced his back had he changed places with the animal Haku had placed down a bit away. Who was that newcomer? Where did they come from? And, most importantly, what now? Should he retreat? Or should he just go for the old man and be done with it? The mist was still thick, so he could-

'Kuchiyose no Jutsu' [Summoning Jutsu]

Before he could finish his thought, a powerful gust of wind blew the mist away, leaving him exposed. But the new arrival seemingly had no plans to give him time to assess the situation.

'Futon: Tekkōkūdan no Jutsu' [Wind Release: Amor-Piercing Air Bullet Jutsu]

Following his instinct he shifted his body and raised his weapon, hiding behind the wide blade. Two quiet pling! later, he felt a stinging pain in his left arm. With a quick glance, he noticed two fist-sized holes in his weapon and the ground behind him, as well as one in his arm. So it had indeed come from above.

Ignoring the blood dripping down his left arm, he looked up. High in the sky, there was a small girl with shining golden hair. On her back, there sat a mastiff-sized, white poodle moth. From his angle, it appeared as if the large, silken wings came straight out of the girl's shoulder blades, while the fuzzy legs draped around her body looked like a scarf and belts.

Air bullets so fast and sharp that they can't be blocked… and those wings and hair… I see.

"My bingo book isn't up to date," the called out to her, "so it is nice to finally have a face to all the rumors! Well met, Pixie of the Hidden Leaf!"