Heads were collected. The bandit camp was stripped of anything that could be considered even remotely useful- I'd given in to some very loot goblin-esque tendencies, and Minami was... secured. I really didn't understand how she found the strength to remain conscious- from my own experience, something like that was excruciating on one point, never mind two. The man, I'd given some surface level healing which should at least make him well enough to survive, but Minami didn't know him, he was not a Konoha citizen, and when he came to, he denied wanting to be escorted to Konoha.
The baby had exhausted herself by crying, and I was now carrying her. She was... well, ugly, in the way all babies were, but more than that, she was clearly malnourished. Nothing I could do about that.
Oddly enough, his name was shadowed, but I really couldn't deal with that right now.
Several hours later, as I made my way back to Konoha, a shadow broke away from the trees and fell in step with me. "Tomo-chan."
I turned to eye the woman. "Where were you, sensei?"
Her lips thinned. "I should be asking that of you. While securing the perimeter, I found a group of Kumo-nin, who were likely in contact with the bandits... and given the circumstances, I understand why now."
I shrugged a little. "I found injured civilians, and given that my mission was completed, I gave priority to carrying her back to Konoha immediately for medical attention. I thought you were in the area. You know, this wouldn't be an issue if you joined-"
"Relying only on your natural abilities to detect allies makes you sloppy, Tomo." I rolled my eyes. "Also, we ought to talk about the elephant in the room."
"I'm already used to taking lives, sensei..." I muttered regretfully. "And I got plenty of confirmation that I was doing the world a service by ridding it of this scum." I bit out, feeling surprisingly satisfied about the loss of human life.
Yugao blinked. "I see... admittedly, that should have been my first instinct, but that is not what I wanted to talk to you about." She paused for a moment, grasping for words before looking straight up. "Tomo-chan, why, and perhaps more importantly, how do you have a Hyuga clan woman tied to a wire and flying through the air like a kite?"
I paused as well, looking straight up. Indeed, Minami was floating like a kite, holding onto her legs to stop them from flapping around. Her clothes billowed in the wind, and ensured that she wouldn't be brought down to earth- though the impact with the ground would be gentle as she weighed only as much as her clothes did.
She seemed surprisingly okay with the situation.
"I had to carry her without jostling... both because of her health, but also I feel that since the mission didn't mention her, at any point that the Hyuga know she's missing, they might just... shut her off." I murmured grimly. That was the main reason for my haste. I was surprised that the game had not made a quest out of it, but honestly, I felt better that way. Having my sense of justice validated by exp always... I dunno. Cheapened the meaning. "And fuuinjutsu."
Yugao's gaze sharpened, into the look I'd come to realize she always gave me whenever I rattled off information I just should not know. "I see. And the bandits?"
"All dead." I shrugged. "Heads secured, camp looted. Shame I couldn't take the anvil."
"You... wanted an anvil?" She blinked owlishly, previous intensity gone.
"Well.. I didn't not want an anvil. What if I need to forge something on the go? Besides, it's a big hunk of metal. That's gotta be worth something."
"...do you even know how to use a forge?" I remained silent at that.
After a moment, she rolled her eyes at me, and with that, conversation faded. We accelerated our gait, with Konoha in sight, and it wasn't long before we were in the gates. While normally, check in would be a hoot and a half, having an injured civilian and with Yugao's level of clearance, we were just waved in. Better too, considering that, while I still had a good amount of time left, after voicing my suspicions of what would have happened if we hadn't rescued Minami, a timer had appeared in the bottom right of my sight.
[03:22:53]
Apparently, turning the woman weightless actually had saved her life.
"I will go notify the Hyuga," I offered. "Hopefully they'll be happy to know you're home."
"...right. Home." she murmured. Threat of death gone, she seemed largely out of it, nodding in and out of sleep. And considering what I'd seen of her injuries... well, I suppose that being a branch member, she'd just traded one cage for another.
...fuck, that was depressing.
I passed the kite-Minami to Yugao-sensei, who sighed and nodded to me. "After that, go to sleep. Take the next two days off for light exercise, as I know you used a lot of chakra. After that, we'll resume training and D-ranks." I groaned at that last bit.
"Hai, sensei." With that, I split off.
Looking down at myself, I grimaced. I was good enough to avoid injury, but my techniques weren't exactly clean. Fractal Flower especially had pretty much left me caked in blood. Between that, sweat, and general forestry grime... I should probably pass by the house, especially since I was about to visit the one clan more uptight than mine.
...oh, right, fuck. I still have a bunch of heads in my inventory. Uhhhhhhhhh- yeah, no, dealing with that later.
With a sigh, I walked through the village, trying not to draw too much attention as I stayed clear of where civilians could see me. They tended not to like seeing an eight-year-old looking like she walked out of an active warzone.
Turning on [Battle Trance] to start better recovering my chakra, the world grew muted around me, though I could still hear the soft whispers of people speaking and the crunch of leaves beneath my feet. Ironic that this skill was practically worthless in a fight but useful for walking through town after one.
Bizarrely, a ninja in peacetime actually had a lot of free time when not on a mission. Of course, it was expected of you to train, but with forced rest today and two days of only light exercise, it was easy to feel like I wasn't actually doing much.
[Exhaustion Resistance Lv.12] probably helped there.
The mission had taken us half a day of unhurried travel, two hours or so of espionage, ten minutes of explosive violence, three hours for the tattoos and a few hours of rushing back to Konoha. Not really much time had passed. Granted, search and eliminate missions were... kind of short, but still.
Konohan bath houses were quite cheap to use and had a discount still for people who wore a forehead protector- I imagine that they're not all that popular, among ninjas, what with the idea of washing in an unfamiliar, publically available place. Beyond that, their setup was quite simple past the reception that separated the area into male and female areas... which left me a bit stumped initially, but I ended up heading to the female area to avoid the headache, hoping it was empty.
There was an initial area to strip down in and, if needed, rent a towel, featuring a series of washing machines and dryers, and a larger, secondary area with a series of showerheads with small stools, tall windows, a drain, and various soaps. Thankfully, it was empty when I walked in, and I could sit down to shower in peace.
I washed off the grime off myself extensively. The less I could find the signs of the fact I just turned a group of twenty-something men and women into mincemeat, the better. The water was hot, but I barely felt it. I just felt... dirty and grimy. Sitting down on the stool provided, I just covered myself in soap- strictly unscented- and just scrubbed, scrubbed, scrubbed with my fingernails. It wasn't enough. The soap washed off, but the stench remained. The stench of fear, of blood, of death.
It clung to me like an aura, all over me. I dug my nails in, trying to scrub it off. The water had long since cleared, but I kept going until it turned red again. And still, I couldn't get rid of the sensation. I-
A hand gripped my wrist. I pivoted around, looking to throw the figure to the ground, only to have a leg hooked around mine, and suddenly, I was the one falling. The hand remained tight around my wrist, and when I hit the ground, I was pinned to the bathroom tiles.
I deactivated Battle Trance. "-me, Chibi-chan?" A voice slipped into my ears. It was that of a woman in her twenties, with dark skin and blonde hair, which... huh. Hadn't seen that before in Konoha. I wriggled a little to try and get free, but she had me in a vice grip. With a frown, I wondered whether it was an attack. "Are you with me, Chibi-chan?" She repeated, slower.
"...yeah. Please let go. Being pinned to the floor while naked is not exactly comfortable." I grumbled, feeling a bit embarrassed.
"Hmm, maybe when you're older, you'll change your mind," the woman said teasingly, and I felt the blush creep up to my ears. Thankfully, my body was a little young for arousal to be a concern. She pulled me up, and I opted to go back to my showering rather than give in to the temptation to turn around as the woman breasted boobily around the bathroom area. I felt her gaze on me for a moment longer before I heard her moving back to the hot tub. "Bad mission?"
"Yeah," I murmured, turning the shower back on and letting the hot water beat down on me. The heat washed over me, mixing with the soap and blood, turning the water into a pinkish-red color. "Bandit camp. Twenty-four targets. Twenty-four heads." It wasn't really a sensitive mission, and besides, this woman was also a shinobi if she could wrestle me to the ground like that.
"At your age?" The woman's tone was a mix of surprise and amusement. "You're really coming into your own as a kunoichi, aren't you?"
Critical Failure!
...? Was I missing something here? Why is the system... was that an innuendo? I don't get it. Girl stuff is hard.
Giving the woman a side eye as I finished my showering, I decided that pain wasn't the new black. Flipping through hand signs, I brought my palm to my skin, as cold relief washed over me, and the blood and grime vanished from my body.
The woman let out a low whistle. "And a healer, too. Damn, Chibi-chan, they ship out all academy kids like you? We couldn't do half of that when I was your age." She chuckled, the sound echoing through the bathhouse.
I snorted. "The other academy kids wish they were as good as me when we got into spars." I stepped out of the shower, grabbing a towel. "Thanks for the help," I tossed over my shoulder, noticing her gaze lingering a bit longer than necessary. I dried myself off, and finally turned to address her, eyes glancing up at the floating name tag above her head. "And what's your name..." I trailed off, smile slipping off my face.
Asuka, Kumogakure Delegate, Lv. 52
She stayed as relaxed as she was earlier, sticking out her tongue and rapping a fist on her head. "Finally cottoned on to who I am, Chibi-chan?" She chuckled. "Sorry, not sorry. Teaches you a lesson in not turning your back on a stranger and telling them about your life."
I worked my jaw. "I... see. Thank you for the lesson, Kumo-san." She chuckled, seemingly not at all fazed by my sudden tension.
"Oh, call me Asuka-sensei, Chibi-chan," she said with a grin, her eyes gleaming with amusement. "It's much more fun that way. And since you paid already for the bathhouse, why don't you join me in the tub? It'll help you relax. A lot of boys dig scars, but only weirdos dig wrinkles."
"...okay, Asuka-sensei," she made a pleased sound at my use of the term, as I stood on edge, towel clutched to my chest like a shield. What the hell was a Kumo shinobi doing in a bathhouse in Konoha, and why was she acting so... friendly? I eyed her suspiciously as she beckoned me over to the hot tub. I could have my weapons and clothes summoned and ready to fight in about three seconds... and she'd likely not even take half that time to do something to me.
Bringing up the One-Way Transition window, I slowly slip into the bathtub. The water was hot, but I could barely register it. As I sat to the side, not directly opposite from Asuka but neither close, she just chuckled and shimmied a little closer.
Had they followed us from the mission? Was one of them tailing Sensei as well? How did they slip into Konoha-
"Don't worry," she reached up and ruffled my hair. "A peace treaty is in the works, that's why me and my team are here. Soon, we'll be thick as thieves, but don't tell anyone that, okay?"
...oh.
I let out an incredulous scoff, but still felt a bit of tension drain out of me. Right. They were here... for Hinata. The Hyuga Affair. The peace treaty. Even if it was a lie, she wouldn't do anything that would blow her cover. Even telling me not to say anything to anyone, it's... exactly the kind of thing you say to a child when you want something to spread up the grapevine. "I... won't," I said, sounding a bit sulky.
"So stiff," Asuka commented, her eyes sparkling with mirth as she took in my cautious posture. She leaned back in the tub with a sigh, the water bubbling around her. "You know, Chibi-chan, you've got the guts of a storm cloud, trying to work with the situation even when faced with an enemy shinobi. Thought you tree huggers were all about that sappy bullshit... but it's refreshing to see someone who's actually got it together. No pretenses about the bigger picture, but also not one of those psychos who enjoy the thrill of the kill."
"You're... weirdly friendly," I observed warily, but dismissed the suicide command window.
"I've gotta be all doom and gloom on the job, you can bet I'm not gonna do it in the bathtub," Asuka said with a wink.
I sighed, fighting with my instincts and turning on Battle Trance to force my body to relax. "Well, I guess that makes one of us," I sigh, sinking into the hot water a bit deeper. The heat was starting to get to me, and I was feeling more at ease.
Asuka cocks her head to the side, more attentive all of a sudden. "...huh. Neat trick. Don't think I've seen someone just jutsu themselves into relaxing before. That a med-nin thing?"
"It's a me thing," I shrug, letting her draw whatever conclusions she wants from that. She narrows her eyes for a moment before shrugging it off. The tension between us slowly simmers down as we sit in the hot tub, the silence occasionally pierced by the bubbles popping.
After a bit, she stands up, giving me a perfect view of her body, both in how beautiful she is and in the constellation of scars and muscles that make up her form. A part of me wishes I still had the anatomy to be horny, though most of me is just grateful for the lack of awkwardness.
She grabs another towel and starts to dry off. "You're a good kid, Chibi-chan. Here's hoping the treaty works out for the best. But until then, let's keep this between us, yeah?"
I give a smile and a thumbs up. "Sure, Asuka-sensei," I reply, watching her as she steps out of the room, before sighing.
"Man, she seemed cool." Shame we both know you're not really here to make peace with us. At least I got a really convenient excuse for trying to get in on the Hyugas' business... one I should get to before the next two hours.
I guess this one-off quest has just turned into a quest line.
[Quest Alert!]
The Hyuga Affair
The Kumo-nin delegation have arrived to Konoha with seemingly peaceful intentions, but you know better. They are here for the Byakugan, and they will stop at nothing, including kidnapping children, in order to obtain it. Prevent Kumo from obtaining the Byakugan while avoiding a political disaster.
Time Limit: 1 month
Reward: Increased reputation with the Hyuga Clan, Increased faction reputation with Kumo, 5000exp
Penalty: Varies
Accept/Decline
Yeah, yeah, game, no need to spell it out for me.
I'm done letting things fly me by without putting up a fight.
Don't you just hate when the camera refuses to look at someone until it's time for a dramatic reveal?
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