39) Entering Kiri
Kiri was wet.
Wet, clammy, uncomfortable, and sometimes damp.
The weather was miserable to boot. It wasn't as if it was raining or something. It was just so wet. There was so much moisture in the air that my clothes were perpetually damp. It made moving in it very uncomfortable.
And to make matters worse, I was constantly in stealth mode. It kinda made me very irritable. Entering Kiri wasn't a big issue. Their border control was shit. Their patrols were non-existent. So, it was pretty easy to cross the border and enter Kiri.
The real issue came afterward.
The situation that had been debriefed to me in Intel was very different from what was on ground level. Kiri was not an affluent nation. It wasn't merchant or civilian-friendly like Konoha. It was filled with violence from the ground to up.
No wonder most of the shinobis that were coming out of this nation were bloody psychopaths. The entire country is a zone that is filled with violence. Fights can happen at the drop of a hat and blood flowed through the streets with no one giving it much attention.
It was jarring to realize how worse things were here.
If I thought the tensions in Konoha were bad, this was on an entirely different level. And that was the normal level here. Now that their Civil War was starting, the promise of violence hung in the air like nothing else.
After Kiri lost the war and was forced to concede, the Daimyo and his court decided to find some scapegoats to explain away their loss. And the fuckers in the court had to go and point towards the bloodline clans.
It was common knowledge that the bloodline clans rarely respected the fatsos in the capital. So, they thought it would be good to push the blame on the bloodline clans and be done with it. And the Sandaime belonging to a bloodline clan didn't do much to improve the image either.
The really worrying thing was that the Yondaime Mizukage didn't seem to mind it much. He had secluded himself in his office and washed his hands of the entire mess. My prediction is that the Yondaime was doing as much as possible to undermine the supporters of Sandaime – Kiri being what it is.
Well, you can guess the fallout.
Civil War.
With the bloodline users being prosecuted, tensions among the shinobi became more and more prominent. A scuffle here, a bruised ego there, some suspicion there, and a spar taken too far, you name it, you got it. Things soon began to spiral out of control and the land that thrived on being violent became volatile at the drop of a hat.
The smarter ones have already seen the writing in the sky and started fleeing already. However, this meant that the Hunter Nin had an excess amount of work and they went to it with glee.
When I entered Kiri, the land was swimming with Hunter Nins who were tracking one fleeing shinobi or the other. In the last few days alone, I have dodged four Hunter Nin units. It was incredibly irritating. And the weather wasn't helping me either.
As for posing as a merchant, only an imbecile would do it. This was the land of the strong and even merchants were susceptible to being murdered in cold blood on the street just because some haggling had gone wrong.
All it would take was one such attempt and me fighting it off to blow my cover. Then, I would have a legion of Kiri shinobi hunting for me. That way was a complete no-no. So, I could only move about in stealth.
However, all was not lost.
I knew that Kiri was known for its numerous islands surrounded by a large body of water. That geographical advantage was manifested in the form of shinobi having mostly water nature chakra.
Even though I knew it, I haven't realized how easy it was to be a water-natured shinobi surrounded by water and wetness always. It was like being submerged in an onsen filled with warm water. Everything was absolutely blissful.
It was way too easy to manipulate water chakra here. And my recent run-in with Mikoto and her easy manipulation of the Fire element had let me know that I had a lot to learn in the ways of chakra nature manipulation. So, I was using this opportunity to completely master my primary affinity.
Luckily enough, I had read some scrolls from my grandfather regarding claiming mastery of my affinity and the corresponding exercises. There were countless tips he had left for a future generation that was useful to me. I was sure that these secrets have not been spread wider in Konoha, despite my Grand Uncle's habit of sharing everything with the village.
If anything, my grandfather seemed to be a complete pragmatist. While he had indeed shared a lot of his discoveries with the village, he had also kept a lot of tips, tricks, and secrets that could give a competent Senju an edge over others if it came to fighting.
There was this one particular trick that I found completely hilarious. While it did annoy me a bit, it also allowed me to see how crafty my grandfather had been. The Water Dragon Jutsu – which was known for its large number of seals to create, was one of my dream jutsus to become proficient in. Proficient, in the sense, I wanted to be as proficient as my grandfather who had been widely known to perform it with a single seal.
However, being the crafty bastard he was, my grandfather never learned to do the jutsu with a single seal. He pragmatically decided that spending so much time to perfect a single jutsu was really stupid. As everyone knows, the more seals there are to a jutsu, the harder it was to accomplish it with less number of seals. So, in order to do what he did, he must spend an inordinate amount of time with the jutsu to acquire such proficiency.
Hence, my grandfather never saw the need to do so, the crafty bastard.
Rather, what he did was to use shape manipulation of water to resemble the appearance of that jutsu. Being a large mass of water that had been manipulated into a particular shape, the same water could later be used to perform different jutsu with more ease later.
He even went on to list the advantages of such an approach making my eye twitch a bit. One, creating a massive jutsu with a single seal can be called the height of flexing. This made the enemies wary and when it seemed as if you have more chakra after using such a jutsu than expected expenditure would even demoralize the enemy.
Two, it immediately allowed him to shape the landscape where the battle was being conducted by allowing him to spam a large amount of water. This would allow him to perform later jutsus with more ease and will help turn the tides of battle. He had got the upper hand on Madara's brother Izuna countless times with this tactic alone.
Three, it also had the added benefit of tricking the enemy into believing that you will not show mercy if they didn't desist from their actions. It was a form of intimidation and had indeed worked a lot of times. It also has the advantage of fooling the enemy by making them believe that you have already started fighting and wasting chakra when you are only making preparations while figuring out the enemy's reaction speed, his preferred mode of attack, and other such things.
After reading it, I had to give it to my grandfather. He was very crafty and pragmatic in his approach to things. I can't wait to flex in the same manner and make people believe that I was in the same league as my grandfather. It would be hilarious to watch people piss their pants with a shape-manipulated water dragon.
Like this, my grandfather's notes contained a large number of tips and tricks to use in battle with water jutsus. Reading his notes gave me inspiration as to how better use my war bow as well.
Considering the fact that my war bow was becoming less and less usable in high stakes battles these days, it was a welcome bit of inspiration. Shape manipulation of water was very versatile and if I had enough creativity, I can make my bow a major weapon in the future as well.
Ever since I obtained the key to Senju Ancestral home from Tsunade and opened it, I have been a little busy with other affairs to truly concentrate on improving my Ninjutsu to the next level. This mission seemed like the perfect time for me to actually make my water affinity a very deadly tool in my arsenal.
Recalling bits and pieces of the anime I had seen, Taijutsu and Genjutsu become a bit irrelevant while battling Elite Jounins or S-rank shinobi. Unless one was a veritable master of the art like either Itachi or Gai, there was little that could be done that would be effective against opponents at that tier.
So, it was imperative that I took my Ninjutsu to the next level where I could throw around devastating jutsus one after the other. A small part of me was also giddily waiting for me to be capable of doing such feats, but I am decidedly ignoring it in favor of not appearing as a child.
Still, Kiri was the best place to hone my water affinity. I was going to take advantage of it as much as I can. As far as the mission I was sent on, well I would try to make some contacts and see how it goes.
But first, I have to track down these clans…
Yuki, Hozuki, Hoshigaki, Karatachi, and Funato are the major clans that were present in Kiri at this moment in history.
The Funato clan is a clan of pirates. They reside on a separate island that is slightly off the mainland, near the Land of Waters. And from my discrete enquiries it looked as if they didn't seem to care about the civil war raging on the mainland.
Being pirates, their very nature wasn't sustainable to live in Konoha. Sure, they were powerful, but they were also very unpredictable. Bringing in such volatile factors would only result in more headaches as time progressed.
So, I crossed them out mercilessly.
Karatachi clan is the clan of the Yondaimae Mizukage, Yagura Karatachi. Trying to get in touch with them would only tip off Kiri that I am here. Furthermore, being the clan of Mizukage, they were protected in certain aspects. Even if a civil war occurs, they are relatively well protected to even entertain Konoha's offer.
So, they were off the list as well.
That left Hoshigaki, Hozuki, and Yuki clans as my primary targets to establish contact with. Especially, the Yuki clan. The Sandaimae Mizukage belonged to the Yuki clan. If Yagura is rooting out Sandaimae's supporters, then they would be the primary target for any attacks and would be in danger for a long time.
So, the Yuki clan had a good chance to accept Konoha's invitation.
Hozuki clan was a bit of a headache, to be honest. I knew that the infamous Second Mizukage came from that clan and his reputation was enough to earn the respect of many of his fellow villagers.
But, that was in the past. Now, apart from Mangetsu Hozuki, who is part of the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist, the clan didn't have any great shinobi in their ranks. Their reputation has fallen to the wayside as a result. But, their Water Body is undeniably an interesting Kekkai Genkai. I am sure Danzo would salivate at the opportunity to get someone with that ability under him.
From the looks of it, the clan seemed to be doing fine on the surface. However, if one looked deeper, it was easy to see that the clan members were dissatisfied with their position and are a bit stir-crazy. They seemed to be itching for a fight and this civil war was providing them with a good opportunity to do so. So, I didn't know how exactly to approach them.
If they were eager to fight, then they might not be receptive to the invitation sent by Konoha. On the other hand, having the Hozuki clan abandon Kiri for Konoha would be a sweet victory in my books. So, in regard to them, I was currently on the fence.
The Hoshigaki clan was clearly a neutral clan in the conflict. They didn't look to be too eager to side with any side. Sure, there were individuals who seemed to favor one side or the other, but in the end, the clan as a whole was remaining strictly neutral in the upcoming civil war.
Kisame Hoshigaki's name was the only one I recognized from the long list of shinobi present in the clan. When I came across his name, his shark-like features and the deadly sword he wielded came to my mind. Knowing his history, Kisame would eventually grow disillusioned with the world as a whole and end up serving Tobi in the end.
But, Kisame also interested me because he was one of the few Kiri nin who was able to see that someone was manipulating Yagura from behind the scenes. Also, he was also a future S-rank ninja. That meant, his potential was really great.
Current Kisame was not even a Jounin. He was still an apprentice to one of the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist, just like Zabuza. In fact, he wasn't even a big player in the dynamics of his own clan. So, in my current situation and mission, he was a non-entity, to be honest.
After reviewing all this information, I was really left in a bind. While the objective of the mission did indeed look simple, there were several factors that I needed to take into account before making a move.
If I overplayed my hand or contacted the wrong person, then I can only run with my tail tucked between my legs. Even a kage will be no match for the power of an entire nation. And a newly promoted Jounin like me would be hunted down rather quickly.
So, it was imperative that I make contact with the right person.
And to me, that right person was Mina Yuki.
Mina Yuki was a respected Jounin during the Third Shinobi War. She had made countless contributions to Kiri during the war. She was famous for her escape from Kumo nin after assassinating a high-profile target inside Kumo's borders. To this date, Kumo had a huge bounty on her head.
While I hadn't actually run into her during the war, we do have a somewhat distant acquaintanceship, to be honest. Mina Yuki was the Jounin who trained the She-devil that I ran into frequently during the war. In short, Mina Yuki trained the future Godaimae Mizukage.
But, there was no information regarding her in my memory. All I know are the details from the bounty poster I had acquired on her. That meant Mina Yuki didn't make it alive through the civil war. Not only she, but most of the Yuki clan didn't make it out of the civil war.
According to my memory, the Yuki clan was decimated as a whole and very few of their shinobi survived the purge that occurred during the turmoil. Haku, the brat who followed that idiot Zabuza was the only known member of the Yuki clan by the start of the timeline. So, either they all perished fighting in these intermining years or they were killed off entirely to make a statement.
My gut feeling was toward the latter.
Either way, I now had a target and it was time to work on my mission.
Obtaining a bowl of water in Kiri was relatively easy. And with it began my first experimentation in water shape manipulation as instructed by my grandfather.
According to the old man's records, water is the easiest to shape of all chakra natures. However, the records also caution that it is also difficult to keep them in said shape after the shape manipulation.
Water, by its nature, was fluid. Thus the ever-changing aspect of its nature makes it hard for anyone to maintain the shape that they manipulate the water into. And in order to obtain true mastery over the water-natured chakra, one must be able to shape all water according to their will.
What I and most water-natured shinobi usually do is use water-natured chakra to create water and shape them as per the jutsu. Since that kind of water is infused with a lot of the shinobi's chakra, they are relatively more stable compared to natural water.
The natural water is more often saturated with natural chakra within them. In order to change the shape of the water, a shinobi infuses his own chakra to overpower the natural chakra that is present in the water. It is a relatively easy thing to do.
But true masters of shape manipulation do not overpower the natural chakra. Rather, they try to use less of their chakra and guide the natural chakra inside the water. This takes great skill and at least a passable level of knowledge over natural chakra manipulation. That is where the trick lies.
Being able to manipulate any water present, also reduces the amount of chakra needed to manipulate the water created with water-natured chakra. To me, this looked like an incredible shinobi hack that most shinobi are not even aware of.
Moreover, any kind of competence over natural chakra is nothing to scoff about. My grandfather's notes said that one can get in touch with Sage chakra and learn about Sage Mode if one becomes proficient in this kind of manipulation. And this was Sage Mode without any external help from summons or other aids.
So naturally, I was very much interested in trying out this new method of training.
Alas, mere enthusiasm wasn't just enough to accomplish anything. It was a difficult thing to get a hang on. From my estimate, it would take several months for me to even become an initiate in this kind of thing.
Luckily, time was the one thing I had in abundance these days as I slowly made my way toward Kirigakure village to meet Mina Yuki.
"Kami damn it, how the fuck did I forget these assholes?" I berated myself as I jumped over a bone spike that was thrust under me.
You see, it is easy to make plans. But, realizing them was a hard thing to come by. As they say, no plan survives enemy contact. I thought that it would be relatively easy to contact Mina Yuki and sound her out. After all, I wasn't coming in hostile and my reputation would make sure that she would at least hear me out.
Even if things turned sour, I had the confidence to retreat easily. Not that Mina Yuki had any better option. The situation of the Yuki clan was even more direr than I imagined and they were being pressured more and more.
However, I hit a small snag.
Mina Yuki was on a mission. That meant I wouldn't be able to contact her soon. Which also meant that I needed to stay in the area for some time to make sure that I could meet with her. But, staying in the region where the Yuki clan was based out of was an absolute no-no to me.
The amount of tension that could be felt in that region was enough for me to abandon any idea to stay near the Yuki clan compound. Not just that, I also couldn't stay anywhere near the village of Kirigakure. This mission was a secret assignment. I wasn't an official envoy from Konoha. Getting caught in Kiri would be disastrous. And with the amount of hatred most of Kiri had towards me, it would be simply suicidal to stick around.
So, I chose a relatively peaceful village to hide in for a week or so, until Mina Yuki returned from the mission. Being in unfamiliar territory, I chose what I thought was a safe village, only to be proved wrong within two days.
Who knew that the Kaguya clan, the clan of bloodthirsty bastards, would choose this village to conduct a raid while I was staying in the village?
The Kaguya clan was an oddity in Kiri. They were a bunch of bloodthirsty bastards who start massacres on a whim. And Kiri, being what it is, has left these bastards to do as they please without much concern. After all, this was the land that worked on the concept of survival of the strongest. An entire village disappearing overnight was not unheard of in this region.
And the tense atmosphere Kiri was in currently can be considered to be an ideal time to create mayhem for a bunch of lunatics like the Kaguya clan.
When I started considering the clans that were in Kiri that could migrate to Konoha, I never even entertained the thought of getting these lunatics from the Kaguya clan to come. These idiots were infamous for their violent tendencies all over the world. If I even suggested allowing these bastards to settle in Konoha, I would be stoned to death by the civilian population.
How a loyal kid like Kimimaro came out of this bunch of lunatics still boggles my mind. Either Orochimaru had the luck of the devil or he was extremely suited to dealing with violent assholes. Personally, I think it was a bit of both.
The attack happened in the middle of the night. If not for my war-honed senses, I would have been already dead. Impaled by a bone spike while sleeping was not how I thought I would die.
Luckily, the incoming chakra signature was enough for me to wake up and bolt away from my bed. As a result, the bed I occupied mere moments ago soon turned into a hedgehog filled with bone spikes.
What followed was a struggle to fight in an enclosed space with a weirdo who was capable of producing deadly weapons all over his body. It wasn't pretty, I somehow managed to kill him with a kunai to the eye and shunshinned out of the building, only to be assaulted by another one before I can even take a look around.
I ducked under the bone spike and retaliated with an uppercut, a bone-plated chin was waiting for me. My strike didn't even seem to faze the maniac before me. He was too far into his bloodlust to even register my attack.
I had to scamper backwards to avoid being impaled by a bone spike protruding from his elbow, as he retaliated without trouble. I evaded the next few swings from my attacker and created a bit of distance between me and him.
Pausing to look around, I saw a horrifying scene entering my eyes. Even during the war, I haven't seen such a violent scene. The rest of the compatriots of my attacker were massacring the village I was staying in wantonly. The sight brought a chill to my bones as my attacker came in rushing toward me.
A well-placed kick sent him stumbling back.
Normally, the kick should have sent him back flying. The bone armor my opponent had was able to negate most of the impact of my kick, causing the damage done to be limited.
I spat out some bloody saliva and took in my surroundings with a gloomy eye. Everywhere I looked, I can see helpless civilians being slaughtered by the Kaguya clan members. It angered me like nothing had ever done before.
Taking in a deep breath to control my rage, I looked at my attacker who was once again rushing at me, eager to kill me and soak in my blood. Gritting my teeth, I eyed the bone armor that he was sporting.
Technically, the man's skill level was almost laughable for a Taijutsu expert like me. I could easily dance around him if I felt like it. While his Taijutsu left a lot to be desired, the bone armor was alone enough to offset his shortcomings. If I needed to do damage, I needed to get past the bone armor he was wearing. Either by breaking the armor or going for those relatively less protected areas like eyes or other regions.
But, any competent shinobi will know his shortcomings and protect such weaknesses very closely. The only reason I was able to kill my first attacker within a short time was that we were fighting in an enclosed space with little room to maneuver. My Taijutsu skills brought me an edge in that kind of closed space. And my opponent didn't have enough room to lean his head away, leading me to drive a kunai through his eye.
Now, I was out in the open, and my opponent had enough space to maneuver. This posed a big problem for me. Moreover, while I only had one kunai on my body, my attacker could create innumerable weapons whenever he pleased. And not to forget that damned armor.
Well, this was going to hurt like a bitch.
I flashed from my position and met my attacker head-on. Just as he swung his spike in an overbearing manner, I turned sideways and let the attack pass. Before he could recover, I concentrated chakra on my knee and kneed his stomach hard.
A cracking sound followed my chakra-enhanced knee.
Before he could do more than gasp, I grabbed his hair and yanked his head back. Not giving him any time to recover his wits, I plunged my kunai into his neck and twisted it to make sure that he didn't somehow live through it.
Blood gurgled in his mouth as I threw him away like the trash he was and looked around to see a few more Kaguya clan members taking notice of me dispatching their comrade.
With a shout, three of them rushed toward me. I idly picked up the bone spike that was dropped by my previous opponent when I plunged my kunai into his neck and spun it in a showy manner waiting for them to approach me.
As I watched them approach, I was able to classify their level based on their speed. They seemed to be at Chunnin level if my estimates were right and from the looks of it, they seemed to like to engage in physical combat the most.
Their reach would be far longer than mine due to my age, but it didn't mean that I was in trouble. With my speed, I could get inside their range and attack them before they could react to my presence. As long as I kept them from encircling me, I can easily handle the three of them.
And I did exactly that.
Pushing forward once more with my chakra-enhanced legs, I rushed towards them and got inside the lead attacker's reach in the blink of an eye. I saw his eyes widen a bit at my sudden appearance, but I didn't even pause to savor his shock. The bone spike in my hand thrust into his bone armor, lifting him a bit slightly due to my momentum.
I heard the sounds of bones breaking and felt the spike in my hand shattering under the force. I was now out of a weapon, but the best part was that his bone armor shattered too.
Without giving him reprieve, or more time for the other two to interfere, I thrust my kunai into his kidney. I heard him gasp in pain. I didn't pause in my action however, with a well-placed kick, I sent him flying towards the one closest to us.
As the closest one dealt with the sudden change in the situation, I bypassed him and met the one that was lagging slightly behind. By now, he seemed to understand that they had kicked an iron board. So, the man stopped abruptly and went into a defensive mode.
Just as I was going to deliver a chakra-enhanced punch, my danger senses tingled and I aborted my attack abruptly and fell back. Dozens of bone spikes emerged from all over the man's body making him look like a bone hedgehog. If I had continued on, it would be me that was injured.
While I could have damaged him a bit, my hand would have been shredded as a result. By now, the other attacker was also back and they both looked at me a little vigilantly. Gone was their crazed bloodlust and I saw from their eyes that they were taking me seriously now.
However, what puzzled me a bit was that it didn't look like they neither recognized me nor were afraid of the way I killed their comrades. In fact, their eyes gleamed with eagerness as they watched me warily.
As we stood in a standoff, I heard the wailing of civilians as the massacre continued. My brows furrowed a bit as the situation irked me a bit. I knew that I could walk out of here alive and unharmed if I went all out. But, the rational part in me was cautioning me to not do that.
If I went all out, I will leave a lot of evidence behind for anyone coming to investigate. That would be disastrous to my mission to stay under the radar. On the other hand, if I held back, I can escape here without trouble and continue on with my mission without much hassle.
But, it would mean abandoning those helpless civilians.
Fighting with a troublesome Kekkai Genkai like the Kaguya clan's always came at a price. A small mistake would be disastrous. You wouldn't even know how you died if you are not careful. That was the problem with any Kekkai Genkai wielding opponent. My fights with the She-devil have taught me this lesson.
So, I now had two options.
One, fight with all I have and possibly expose my presence to any investigating Kiri ninja. It would mean relentless pursuit and a possible failure of the mission. Two, retreat from the village and leave the village to its own fate. This way, my anonymity inside Kiri would be assured and I can carry on with my mission. That was something that I could do easily.
The only problem with my current situation was that running away after seeing helpless civilians slaughtered by the Kaguya clan would leave a heavy burden on my conscience. I wouldn't be able to sleep after such a cowardly act.
My mind fell into turmoil as I assessed both possibilities for the pros and cons. Logically, I knew what a good shinobi must do at this juncture. To a shinobi, a mission objective was paramount. They must do everything possible to succeed in their mission.
So, going by that logic, the right decision was to withdraw from here right away.
However, logic was logic and emotions were emotions.
Just hearing the screams of helpless mothers and dying men were enough to shake my mind. Their wailings and calls for help were battering my conscience like nothing else had done before.
For a moment, logic and emotion warred within me.
Then, a strange thought blindsided me from nowhere causing me to gasp in surprise. The moment that thought came into my mind, I knew what I was going to do.
Well, fuck this mission. This was slated to fail anyway. I was sent out on this mission to keep me away from the village. So, whether I complete this mission or not didn't matter.
The bigger question here was what kind of a ninja I want to be.
This was the same situation that Sakumo san was in during his ill-fated mission wasn't it? He knew he would fail his mission if he followed his heart. And he did it despite that.
If Sakumo Hatake can do it, why can't I?
Decision made, I decided to act…
Mei Terumi was bored a bit.
She was currently resting in the Jounin lounge in the administrative building. Most of her acquaintances, including her shishou, were on a mission leaving her alone in the village.
That left her little to do making it difficult to enjoy her downtime. Things have been like this since the new Mizukage, Yagura Karatachi, took charge. Kiri was currently divided into two factions.
One that was loyal to the previous Mizukage and the one that supported the current Mizukage. The succession of Kage in Kiri was not a peaceful affair like most of the other villages. Being a violent nation, it made it hard for people to have unified opinions. Any small issue was always blown out of proportion.
The current Mizukage had ascended into his position based on his strength. He had defeated or killed most of the naysayers, carving a bloody path towards his ascension true to Kiri's violent nature.
His strength brought him a lot of followers. However, his relative inexperience and status as Jinchuriki made it hard for others to trust him. Mei belonged to the faction that supported the previous Mizukage just like most of her acquaintances.
Once the new Mizukage took office, he made sure to bog down any of the supporters of the previous Mizukage with continuous missions. Moreover, almost all the dangerous missions were saddled on his opposing faction. This created a lot of dissatisfaction in the village.
The rising tension in the village made it hard for her to spend any time in a relaxing manner outside. So, this was the only place she could relax at present when her acquaintances were not in the village.
Only her reputation during the war and her relatively younger age has kept her from being assigned dangerous missions. Her reputation was enough for anyone looking for trouble to have second thoughts these days. And her junior status in the village made her non-entity in the higher level politics that was being played.
Mei knew that this state wouldn't last for long. With her acing her missions continuously, her status in the eyes of her fellow shinobi would soon begin to change. And her possessing Kekkai Genkai would only add more wood to the fire. Soon, she would be targeted like other bloodline users.
But that day was still a bit away. Meanwhile, the only thing she could do was to go on missions and train harder. One day, this unrest would boil over and a fight was definitely on the horizon. So, until then, she should enjoy the relative peace while it lasted.
But, it is hard to do so in such a volatile environment.
Why can't she find a boyfriend for herself? If there was a boyfriend, she wouldn't be this bored currently. And shishou has to go on a mission just when she had free time.
Ugh, she was so bored…
Just then, she felt someone rushing towards the Jounin lounge in a hurry. Her eyes brightened and her ears perked up a bit in anticipation. Maybe, whoever was coming would have something to relieve her of her boredom.
"Teumi san, you have an emergency mission. The Mizukage has ordered you to lead a team," an anxious Kiri ninja said to her unceremoniously the moment he entered the lounge.
Mei rolled her eyes a bit at the flustered expression present on the ninja. It was clear that the man was terrified of the Mizukage. While she could understand why the man was afraid, the way he expressed it made her look down on him a bit.
Men must be bold. No wonder she didn't think much of this ninja when she passed him by. This man was definitely not boyfriend material. What a waste of space! Why couldn't she find someone promising? Where have all the good men gone?
Sighing a bit at her lackluster love life and unlucky circumstances, Mei arched her eyebrows a bit from where she was lounging and looked at the messenger a bit derisively.
She didn't like this man at all. Why can't Mizukage send someone that was better on the eye to summon her? She was sure that the man was doing this purposefully.
"What is it?" Mei asked nonchalantly not looking at the messenger.
"A report came in stating that the Kaguya clan had attacked a settlement twenty-five miles out of the village. The Mizukage wants you to lead a team to check it out," the man spoke in a hurry.
Mei's relaxed posture stiffened a bit as she heard the news. Her lounging straightened as she realized what the report meant. Those damn Kaguyas. Just when the tension between bloodline clans and other shinobi is so high, these morons decided to attack a helpless village to satisfy their bloodlust.
This would cause the friction between the two groups to increase. Even some neutrals would be disgusted by this behavior and would only accelerate the eventual civil war. Why can't those morons just stay put?
"And if the Kaguya are still present when I arrive?" Mei asked narrowing her eyes a bit.
She never liked mindless slaughter. If those bastards were there when she arrived, she would kill them all. Attacking innocent civilians was way below even her tolerance level. Even if bloodline clans are nominally on the side of those supporting the previous Mizukage, she wouldn't let such a thing go.
"The Mizukage has stated that you are only to scout and report back. He had expressly forbidden you to get involved with the Kaguya clan," the man said in a morose tone causing Mei to glare at him.
"Then why the hell am I leading a team?" Mei grumbled irritably.
"Mizukage stated that it was for your safety," the man mumbled shrinking in his neck.
Mei felt a bit irritated hearing that statement. She could read between the lines. The team was sent to monitor her as well as scout the village. Looks like the Mizukage was beginning to get worried about her as well.
"Fine, let's go," Mei grumbled and walked towards the mission desk.
A/N: Check out my ptrn page for advanced chapters of all my fics.
Oddity - Chapter 40
Symbol - Chapters 13, 14, & 15
TLD - Chapter 11
Ptrn name: p atre /kkephemeral