Heading out on a Journey before Chunin Exams
"Morning Sensei" Yuuma greets Ao after he collected his special kunais with a clean wooden hilt for him to inscribe on later, "You are quite relaxing after knowing that your training will be starting although it will be together with someone else" Ao muttered as he looked behind him was a timid young boy several years older than him with short tufty blue hair and dark eyes with square black-rimmed glasses connected to ear protectors. He was wearing a blue pin-striped shirt and camouflage pattern pants.
"This is Chojuro, one of the seven swordsmen of the Mist, despite being young his capable talent as a swordsman allowed him to attain a seat among the seven swordsmen" Ao explained while Chojuro blushed while caressing the back of his head not sure how to engage in a conversation with Yuuma whom he heard much about, "G-Good Morning Yuuma, I'm Chojuro pleased to meet you" Yuuma grasped Chojuro's hand shocking the latter as he did not expect Yuuma to greet him so easily but it made him feel a little relieved.
"Yuuma Terumi, pleased to mee you too Chojuro" Yuuma smiled, Chojuro blushed looking away as he almost got caught in the handsome look of Yuuma 'I'm Straight I'm Straight I'm Straight' He thought to himself while Yuuma turned to look at Ao, "Sensei, I suppose we will be heading out?" Hearing Yuuma's question Ao nodded, "There will be two more ninjas coming with us who will be your partners in the upcoming Chunin exams, but they will be arriving much later since the Chunin exams are only in a few months anyway, make sure to pack your things since we are leaving in an hour for a few months"
Yuuma nodded before separating from Ao and Chojuro, when he arrived home he took out his ninja bag which he inscribed with a formulate technique which expanded the space within the back without affecting the bag size itself, this allowed him to stash all the things he would normally store in storage scrolls into the backpack which included his special Kunais, normal Kunais and a large number of shurikens.
He got dressed in his camo ninja outfit with dark brown leather boots, he also dressed on his flak jacket which was equipped with several seal scrolls that contained jutsus he sealed inside for emergencies. With the contract scroll of the White tiger attached to his lower back, Yuuma wraps his yellow scarf around his neck.
Yuuma looked at his room one last time since this time he would be gone for a long time from home when he exits his room he noticed Mei was standing there waiting for him. Mei did not say anything but only gave Yuuma light hug before placing a badge in his hand, "With this, you are officially my personal Guard so make sure to come back safely to big sister okay?"
Yuuma nodded, his eyes never left the badge for a long time before he looked at his sister in her eyes "I will be back before you know it and much stronger than before" Mei nodded with a smile as she knew he would definitely come back with more amazing feats to tell her, so Yuuma left the house while Mei sighed before leaving to busy herself with work since she could not help but have an urge to keep Yuuma at her side.
"You ready?" Ao asks while looking at Yuuma who nodded, thus Ao, Chojuro and Yuumo left the Mist Village, their first destination was the Land of Rivers where it was last known for Raiga Kurosuki who held on the swords Kiba. "The one responsible for this mission will be you Yuuma since Mei already chose you to become the wielder of those swords it will be your responsibility as their new owner to get them back" Ao Muttered without looking at Yuuma who unconsciously touched his katana and wakizashi left for him by his parents.
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It took them three days on a speed trip from their harbour all the way to Port City in the fire country, The city had quite a resemblance to their own harbour city with many fishermen bringing their hauls of the day to sell it on their own or handing it over to those who contracted them.
In these three days, Yuuma was forced to spar against Chojuro in pure kenjutsu which caused Yuuma to realize the difference between someone who specializes and someone who is allrounder like him, but these three days of intense spar he managed to benefit greatly from it while Chojuro became more experienced in dealing with ninjutsus.
"It will take us a full day in running full speed to reach the River Country, so let's eat up first before we head out" Ao spoke as he led the boys to eat at a Fish restaurants that served them sushi, Yuuma, however, ordered rice with prawns instead which was much cheaper so he could get a larger portion compared to eating small delicate pieces of fish.
After the meal, the three of them began to move in earnest while using their chakra to enhance their speed in travelling, thanks to his delicate training in controlling his chakra Yuuma could leap several meters ahead with each step with minimal chakra usage.
"I see you have been training your control to a high degree" Ao commented on Yuuma's ease of movements, Yuuma nodded "Yes, since I trained in shape transformation it aided in my training which increased the amount of control I have over my chakra"
"I see, if you don't mind you should teach the technique to Chojuro" Hearing Ao's request Yuuma took out a balloon and tossed it towards Chojuro who caught it, Yuuma began to explain the process of training control in several phases the first was Rotation. The next step was to use a rubber ball to train in the power of the rotation and finally back to the balloon to train in containment, naturally, Yuuma skipped some of these parts thanks to his daily training in control he did not need to do some of it.
Ao who heard this was quite impressed as he once heard about the Rasengan the Fourth Hokage used which was quite similar to what Yuuma just explained, Chojuro thanked Yuuma before slotting in the balloon into his pouch for him to later try it out.
The three of them picked up the pace, it was late at night they arrived. Ao had a complicated face as he wondered if it was too soon for Yuuma to face Raiga, it was no exaggeration to say Raiga was indeed one of the most powerful shinobis produced by Kiri.
Yuuma understood the level of his mission this time could be said unreasonable, but he was no fool as there was no need to face the shinobi head-on. When they arrived in the village they realized the village was without vigour, as if everyone was extremely exhausted enough to shock Yuuma and Chojuro.
Ao went over to talk with one of the villagers to soon learn that one of the gangs that were tormenting the village was led by Raiga Kurosuki, Ao nodded as he was invited to sleep for the night in one of the abandoned houses since some villagers made a run for it in order to escape from the clutches of Raiga.
The three of them held a meeting talking about possible scenarios till Ao ended it, "Tomorrow we will investigate the locations of the gang hideout including the location of Raiga before we plan our next move" Ao concludes today's meeting, "Sleep early since we will be moving actively tomorrow" Chojuro and Yuuma both nodded at Ao's words before heading to their respective futons, Yuuma closed his eyes as he thought 'I wonder what is Raiga's story for abandoning the Mist Village'
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Next morning Yuuma together with Ao and Chojuro walked around the village, but not once did they spot a gangster. It was right before Lunch that Ao stopped the patrol, "From here on we will split up and search in the outer area of the village. Should either of you find anything don't act but instead return to the village" Ao muttered while he took out a food pill, Chojuro already ate his pill so he was not hungry.
"There are three positions that could be possible locations of their hideouts" Ao pulls out a small scroll with the River Country map drawn detailed on it, Yuuma you will head to Takumi Village to search in that area, Chojuro will head towards Tani Village as for me I will be heading towards the centre of the River COuntry along with the river which splits the country in two" Yuuma and Chojuro nodded at Ao's instructions before the three of them splits up.
Yuuma fist bump with Chojuro as the two of them get along after their spar, "Take care out there" Yuuma muttered, Chojuro nodded before sprinting the opposite direction. Yuuma turned and left in his direction, but never in his life he would expect himself to end up in a location that was filled with valleys, it was quite beautiful seeing the green grass as far as he could see with tall mountains high towards the skies with snow-covered at its peak point.
Yuuma enjoyed seeing numerous kind of animals living in the area, just as he went past them they would shriek before running away but by then Yuuma was already gone far ahead, 'This is actually a naturally good place to train, it has some resemblance to Mount Myoboku but the natural energy in the surroundings is not as pure and strong' Yuuma thought as he strides throughout the valley while enjoying the scenery, it was just before he arrived at Takumi village he came across a valley where it was almost devoid of life.
Seeing that it was stretching in a different direction than his original destination, Yuuma decided to follow the valley and come to Takumi Village later. Just as he was about to head down the Valley he came across a tiny restaurant with a windmill blowing, Curry of Life Shop Written on a signboard. Yuuma felt his stomach growling as he pushed open the door to enter only to smell the scent of curry lingering in the air.
"Welcome to Curry of Life Shop, would you like to eat in or take out?" an elderly woman wearing a pair of large glasses with white hair and small black eyes. Wearing a beige-coloured hat and two large strands of her hair hang down below each side of her face, next to her were two boys with one appearing much older than the other. "Good day, I would like to eat in" Yuuma answered with a smile.
"My name is Sansho, would you like to have mild, spicy or extreme spicy?" Sansho stood in front of Yuuma who took his seat in front of the counter, "Mild please" Sansho nodded as she turned to look at Ranmaru her son and current heir to the shop, "One Mild Curry" Ranmaru nodded at Sansho's order leaving for the kitchen while the younger boy kept staring at Yuuma intently.
From Yuuma's perspective, the young boy had chin-length purple hair which is parted in the middle, red-coloured eyes and his items of clothing consists of a light-purple shirt with black stripes on each side, a sash around his waist, a pair of dark-coloured pants and sandals. "If I may know, what is your name sir?" The boy came over to talk with Yuuma since their shop was empty today.
Yuuma looked into the eyes of the boy realizing something was wrong so he activated his eyes only to see the boy's eyes were glowing bright red, "You---" The boy glance at the eyes of Yuuma whose eyes were also glowing but it was bright blue but before the boy could complete his sentence he fell in a genjutsu of Yuuma's creation. "Now then boy, what is your name?"
"Ranmaru"