Chapter 16: A net

Patience is the key to success. He who has patience will, in the end, see his plans come to fruition. I am a patient man.

-Shimura Danzo-

-A net-

-Yahizui-

They were quiet as they walked through the forest that bordered the Land of Rice Paddies. Their previously adopted diamond formation was still in place, with Kaito at the front dictating their pace. From her position on the side, Yahizui could see the rusty colored flakes That still stained his sleeves and hands.

He hadn't bothered stopping to wash them out.

Yahizui's hands were clean, trembling slightly by her side as the image of the men's heads rolling on the ground flashed in her mind. The image was different, yet so similar to what used to plague her dreams. Would she dream of this too?

With each step they took, the dark, mossy ground of the forest transformed into a sticky, soil that dirtied their shoes with every step. As the trees thinned, they began to see countless rice paddies stretching all the way to the horizon, the setting sun bathing them in orange and red hues.

Yahizui watched as their client, Hakumai-san, took a deep breath, bent low to grab a fistful of earth, and smiled.

"This earth," he said as he turned toward them. "Can only be found here, in the Land of Rice Paddies. It's perfect for rice crops, and it's the reason our land became one of the major exporters of rice in the world."

Yahizui looked at the clay-like soil in his hand, then peeked at Tojiro. Noticing her curious gaze, her friend gracefully supplied an answer to her silent question.

"This type of soil retains water," said Tojiro. "Rice fields are flooded with water for the plants to grow, and it's best done if the earth is more clay-like. Otherwise, the water seeps out, and the rice seedlings die."

Hakumai-san nodded sagely. "You're right. You know Tojiro-kun," he said with a smile, "if you ever feel like you want to leave the ninja life behind, you'd do well as a rice farmer."

Tojiro smiled awkwardly, and for a moment Yahizui feared that he would take the offer. What if Tojiro said he didn't want to take part in all the fighting and killing? What if Kaito-sensei's earlier demonstration of deadly force was too much for him? What would she do then? Being on a team with only Hakudoshi would be horrible! And who would be the third member? What if —

"Thanks for the offer, Hakumai-san," said Tojiro in a polite tone, "but I think I'll stick with the shinobi life. There's got to be someone making sure that farmers like you and my parents can do their jobs in safety."

Hakumai nodded. "A fine answer!" He then looked at Kaito and pointed forward. "Kaimachi is this way, about a day's walking distance."

Kaito shook his head. "We'll camp here for the night, then resume as morning comes."

Hakumai waved his hands and smiled jovially. "No need to camp outside. The next village is half an hour away, and I have a cousin there. They'll surely give us a place to sleep and a warm supper."

Kaito nodded and soon Yahizui and the boys were entering through the gates of a small village. At first, it looked deserted, eerie in its silence but Hakumai assured them that rice farmers usually went to bed early so they could wake up before the sun began to rise. 

They reached the house quickly and a few moments after Hakumai talked to his cousin, they were allowed to enter. As it turned out the man wasn't quite prepared to receive guests, as his wife was down with a fever, and he was feeling under the weather as well, but he welcomed them anyway. His ruddy, sweaty face was open and welcoming as he invited them to stay for the night. They graciously accepted his dinner invitation and silently ate the rice and steamed fish provided by their host.

Yahizui didn't feel particularly hungry, the image of crimson liquid and quickly vanishing bodies spoiling her appetite. 

They were gathering the empty plates and cups when Tojiro coughed a few times, clearing his throat before turning his attention to the man they had been hired to protect. "Hakumai-san, why were those men after you?"

Yahizui perked at the question. This was something that had been nagging her for a while. Why would anyone be after a rice farmer? From the corner of her eye, she saw Kaito pause as he brought the sake cup to his lips and Hakudoshi turned back towards them after clearing the table. They all wanted to know.

Hakumai lifted his own sake cup and took a sip out of it. "Ah, you see I am no regular rice farmer." He refilled his cup and downed it in one go, sighing as he set it back on the table. "I worked with men of science from all around the world, and together we came up with the perfect rice seed."

"Perfect rice seed?" asked Tojiro, his eyebrow rising in confusion.

Hakumai nodded, his eyes brightening. "You might not believe it, but I found it. This type of rice will not only grow twice as fast, but it is immune to almost all diseases and pests. With this, the Land of Rice Paddies will become the biggest exporter of rice in all the Nations. This has been my life's mission, given to me by the Daimyo himself. With the money we will get, our citizens will no longer know poverty and we will be able to afford any and all ninjas to protect us or fight for us. This rice is our Nation's independence."

There was pride and hope in his voice, his warm eyes shining with the feeling. To Yahizui it sounded extraordinary, what this one man did, and would continue to do. It made guarding him meaningful. This was not just another farmer, this was the farmer, the one that will ensure this small nation's prosperity. She smiled at him, feeling her chest expand with purpose. "We will take care of you, Hakumai-san."

By her side Tojiro nodded, his expression mirroring the way she felt. "You can rely on us, we will protect you."

As they finished eating and saw that Hakumai and his cousin were about to retire for the night, Kaito looked at the two boys.

"Hakudoshi, Tojiro, you go with Hakumai-san. Get some rest. Yahizui, you're with me; first watch."

Yahizui followed him obediently. On missions outside the village, she normally got the first watch, followed by Hakudoshi and Tojiro. It was a comfortable routine, one that they didn't often switch. It was usually done alone, each of them rotating out at predetermined times, but Yahizui had a feeling that after their client had been targeted today, their sensei would be sharing watch duty with them.

As they jumped to the roof of the small house and settled there, Yahizui started sneaking glances at Kaito's relaxed form. Any trace of the previous fight was gone; his hands were clear of blood, and his face was wiped clean of the lethal expression that twisted it. She glanced at her own hands —they were still trembling. She quickly placed them between her knees, hiding her weakness; out of sight, out of mind.

Before this day she'd never truly thought about what it meant to be a shinobi. She knew she wanted to be one, to have the power to protect those she loved, but always brushed off the grittier aspects of it. In a way, she thought that what happened in her past had prepared her for it, and made her stronger. It seemed she was wrong. With another quick glance his way, Yahizui wondered what was it that really made a proper shinobi. Was it the ruthlessness? Were they supposed to be killers who didn't flinch, didn't blink when blood splattered their feet?

By the time she finally found the courage to ask, Kaito had taken out his kusarigama and was passing a soft cloth over it, removing any traces of blood from it.

"Sensei…" she began hesitantly.

"Mm?" asked Kaito, his blue eyes never leaving the blade.

She paused, trying to gather her thoughts in a way that would make sense. Kaito wasn't fond of useless babble. "What makes a good shinobi?"

Kaito's hands paused before he set both the rag and weapon on the roof beside him. He turned towards her, his bright blue eyes roaming her face attentively. "Why do you ask?"

She wasn't sure why. Maybe because she was feeling inadequate, scared, and unprepared for what was really out there. "Because I'm not sure I know the truth."

Kaito sighed, his shoulders sagging as his eyes seemed to lose their focus. "There is no real truth here. What it means for me might not be the same for you, or for Hakudoshi, or Tojiro, or any other shinobi in Konoha. It differs from generation to generation, from person to person. But I can tell you what my sensei told me and that's the truth I know." He paused, looking back at her with a heavy gaze. "A shinobi is one that endures."

Yahizui blinked at him owlishly. "Endures what?"

Kaito's look told her plainly that she was an idiot, yet a heartbeat later he sighed and resumed his blade cleaning, his voice answering in a surprisingly gentle tone. "Everything. We endure the violence that comes our way, our fates at the orders of our Kage, and the burden of taking another life. As shinobi, we take it all upon ourselves, at the behest of our clients, or for the safety of our village. The truth is, we are tools, held in the hands of our leaders and hoping that what we do is the good thing."

"Is it a good thing?"

"Yes, I believe it is." His voice sounded grave like he'd been uttering a prayer or an age-old piece of wisdom.

Maybe that's what it is, thought Yahizui. She looked at her hands once more, trying to will the tremble away. Endure, he said. She could do that, she's been doing that for a while.

Silence followed their conversation, and Yahizui leaned back on her hands to look at the starry sky above Beside her, Kaito returned to cleaning his blade, the motions soothing. Then a thought struck her. "Sensei…"

"Mm?" he replied absentmindedly, his hands moving the cloth over the sickle's blade. 

"You have a sword, but I've never seen you use it. Why use so many other weapons and never the one that's most visible?"

Kaito paused and turned to look at her. "If everyone sees you have a sword, they expect you to use it.  When I am in the middle of a battle, my enemy will keep their eyes on my sword, and strategize against it. So, I use that against them. I use other weapons to surprise them, I use my jutsu to cripple them. And I bet that the entire time, somewhere in the back of their heads they think of that sword and wonder why I don't bother to use it. And they fear it."

Yahizui nodded sagely. Yes, it made perfect sense. Still… "But do you ever use the sword, or is it just a prop?"

Kaito shook his head lightly. "Yes, I do use  it, but not on every idiot out there."

"So…" she said, feeling more and more like herself with each moment. "It's a sword for the worthy?"

There was that expression again, the one that told her she was a complete idiot. "I wouldn't go so far."

Yahizui sighed, once more defeated by the utterly dull, practical nature of her teacher. She leaned back on had elbows, her eyes fixed upon the countless stars that started peeking in the night's sky. In a way, it made sense that he wouldn't show his ace weapon to everyone. Which meant that the guys they faced really were just some weaklings. And yet… they had been scared, and Hakudoshi's life had been on the line.

"Yeah," she said, her voice booming with artificial confidence, "they were weak, those guys, I knew it from the start."

"How did you know that?" he asked, after a moment of silence.

Yahizui shrugged, blowing a stray lock of hair out of her eyes. "I just felt it." She had after she managed to get over the anxious feeling in her chest.

Another pause, longer this time. "Yahizui, can you close your eyes for me and focus on your chakra?"

She looked his way, wondering what this was all about. They were way past chakra focus and control exercises. At the expecting look in his eyes, Yahizui obeyed. She focused on the energy inside her, just as she had done so many times before.

"Good," said Kaito. "Now, I want you to try and tell me where Tojiro and Hakudoshi are."

"Below us, in the house," she stated in an obvious tone.

"No. Don't guess. Where in the house? Use your chakra," his voice brooked no room for argument.

Yahizui nodded, focusing on visualizing her teammates' presence. She concentrated, flaring her chakra, yet nothing was coming from below. Beads of sweat gathered on her forehead, as she focused harder, but there was still nothing. "I can't tell!" her voice was shrill, brows furrowed.

"Try again. This time, imagine your chakra is a web," said Kaito, looking at her intently.

The image of a spider weaving its translucent web popped into her mind. "Like a spider web?" she asked, her eyes lighting up.

"Exactly. Your chakra is a spider web, and you lay it all over the house. It goes through the ceiling and reaches the floor. Now everything that is in the house is on your web. Can you feel it?"

Yahizui listened to the sound of his voice and allowed her mind and imagination to be guided by it.

Like a web.

She stretched her fingers, imagining tiny threads of chakra leaving her fingertips and spreading out through the roof below her, then further, down into the house. It spread and wove together, encompassing the house with her web. She could feel herself right at the center of it, just like a spider in its web.

Beads of sweat gathered on her forehead as she focused, The tentative, wavering control she held on her chakra reminding her that she still had a long way to go.

But it was working. She could feel Kaito right beside her, half a meter to her right. His presence - his chakra - was like a beacon of light shining by her side. She noted the way it felt, alive and buzzing with tightly coiled energy.

It reminded her of the jutsu he had used on the thugs he had ambushed them.

Her control over her chakra wavered. Swallowing harshly, Yahizui forcefully pushed away the lingering sound of screams, and the smell of burned flesh. Focus! she told herself. She had one task - find the boys.

Yahizui allowed her web to expand, her attention sliding through the roof she was sitting on and down into the house below her. Something moved in her web, alerting her to a presence in the house, almost breaking her concentration.

Her eyes clenched shut, hands fisting in the material of her pants.

"How many people?" Kaito asked. His voice seemed far away.

Yahizui's chakra wavered, her control wearing thin. Come on! She placed her hands on the roof beneath her, trying to get a better feel of the net below. "Four, I think… No, five."

"Good. Where are the boys?"

Her mouth thinned, brows coming together in concentration. In her mind, she looked at the web. She was in the center, and there were five other presences on it. She looked left, then right, and saw that two of those presences were glowing, like beacons of light compared to the dimmed energy of the other three.

"They are… below us, four meters to the right." She opened her eyes the world coming into focus once more. It was then that she realized how tired she was, her breath coming in ragged pants.

"Congratulations. You are a sensor type."

For a moment Yahizui was confused. Was that a smile playing on Kaito's lips? Her sensei was capable of that? She wasn't sure how to place this expression in the picture she'd had of the man before her. "Just like that?" she asked, not really knowing what else to say.

"You were most likely born with it, so yes, just like that," said Kaito, turning back to finish the last touches on the kusarigama's blade. "You have potential, but it's rough. You'll need to first increase your chakra control before you can fully master this." The smile was gone from his face, but Yahizui didn't care. It had been there, she had seen it.

A sensor type. It wasn't something every ninja could do, and it was definitely useful. If she mastered this she could easily tell where their enemies were hiding and how many they were. She'd read that the Second Hokage was able to tell friend from foes on the battlefield just by the sense of their chakra! Feeling suddenly excited, she hopped up on the balls of her feet, eager to start learning. "Show me! Tell me what I need to do!"

Kaito gave her an unimpressed look. "Calm down, you're not doing anything now. You can start training in the morning. Right now you're on watch duty, so do your job."

She deflated like a popped balloon, dropping back into her previous spot. Well, this sucked. She snuck a look at Kaito, but his face told her that the matter had been closed and she just had to accept his decision. Defeated, Yahizui amused herself with the thought that she would soon learn how to control something she'd had inside her since she was born. Although something about it didn't give her peace. She came from a civilian family, how could she have been born with such a skill?

"Sensei, you said I was born with this affinity…" began Yahizui, unsure how she should formulate her doubts. "How? My family…they were civilians."

Next, to her, Kaito finally put the cleaning cloth away, then picked up a whetstone from his pocket and started running it over the sickle's cutting edge with rhythmic moves. "It could be that you had some ninja in your family."

She thought about it for a moment then shook her head. No one in her village knew how to use chakra, she was sure of that. "No, I'm sure I don't."

"Kid, I'm calling it as I see it. If you don't want to believe it, that's not my problem. Now, pay attention to your watch."

Yahizui puffed her cheeks in annoyance, but she managed to keep her mouth shut for the remainder of her shift. After what felt like an eternity, Hakudoshi silently jumped up onto the roof, his white hair gleaming in the moonlight.

"I'll take the next shift with sensei." He said, his voice sounding dull.

"It's about time!" Yahizui snapped. The silence of the past two hours had gotten to her and she felt drained and tired. Maybe the chakra-sensing exercise had taken more out of her than she first thought.

She gave Hakudoshi a narrow-eyed look, though it lacked the usual glare. Her limbs were heavy as she dragged herself to her feet. As she passed him, she noticed that his white hair was almost plastered to his face and he panted, as if the distance from the house to the roof had exhausted him.

Maybe they were all more tired than they thought.

Yahizui wasn't sure how she reached the house, or in which bed she collapsed, but by the time her head hit the pillow, she was already asleep.