42 The Land of Hot Springs! Part-1

{Kano Town, Land of Fire}

{2:45 AM, 29 March 78 Yrs}

{Hiroshi's POV}

Kano Village was one of the closest villages to Konoha, it was popular for its wholesale market since it was one of the places around Konoha where the goods of major trading companies were stored. It was also famous for its cheap hotels, currently, Hiroshi and Ryoko were sharing a room. He has been awake for some time now filled with indecision. He wanted to dip but Asuma should be awake considering it was his squad's first few missions outside Konoha walls, in canon he hadn't had any teams before team 10 so considering this was his first squad he should be super vigilant.

Hiroshi didn't want to sleep so he stood up and quietly left the room, the hallway was only illuminated by some poorly placed lights that left dark corners everywhere, Hiroshi went towards the landing, and after a few seconds of pondering he walked towards the window at the end, the roof of most buildings were slanted to make them last longer, and this hotel wasn't an exception. He opened the window and then made a huge deal about climbing the ledge, with great 'difficulty' he pulled himself over and then sprawled himself onto the slanted roof while grabbing the edge.

"Couldn't sleep?" Hiroshi heard a gruff voice ask. He was startled for a moment and didn't even have to fake losing his balance as he turned around to look at Asuma. Hiroshi had tried to sense where he could be but the man didn't make a single sound even while he was currently puffing on a cigarette.

'How the hell is that even possible...'

"Yeah," Hiroshi muttered before he carefully walked towards him, Asuma's body language was open and welcoming, which means he was gathering intel. Hiroshi couldn't just turn away and run so he walked towards him and collapsed next to him his hands grabbed the rooftop. His eyes marveled at the stars in the night sky as he waited for Asuma to begin.

"You know there is an easy solution for those nightmares of yours," Asuma spoke before he took another puff toward the stars.

"...you have anything other than sake and cigarettes?" Hiroshi asked.

Asuma grinned before he pulled one out of his pocket and passed it to Hiroshi, Hiroshi looked a the offered cigarette with apprehension before he carefully took it.

"You know everyone always says never to eat or drink something which has been near a shinobi..." Hiroshi spoke as Asuma pulled out a lighter from nowhere, it produced an empty sound on his first attempt before it produced a small flame on his second try.

"True.." Asuma nodded as Hiroshi took a deep puff, the burning feeling going down his throat gave a slight kick as he relaxed, the tension in his shoulders vanishing as he closed his eyes before letting out the puff towards the sky. The sky of Elemental nations was pure, because of minimal pollution, millions of stars were visible and the whole sky was like a curtain of fireflies.

"Thanks," Hiroshi muttered as he went for another puff, he put his left hand behind his hand and enjoyed the quiet time he was having.

Asuma grunted in response before he spoke, "So you're from Hirabayashi Village, I went there on a mission once," at your raised eyebrow he explained, "Yeah it was on the mission scroll."

"Yeah, it's a small place..." Hiroshi fell silent as if he was reminiscing about something.

"What's that like, growing up in a small village," Asuma asked, there was genuine curiosity in his voice.

"Well on some levels it's the same, it's basically a difference in culture, kids in Konoha are surrounded by ninjas and shinobi so that's what they aspire to be, you can even take yourself as an example, your parents must be shinobi, or in some way or another you must be related to one, in Hirabayashi, we grow up being surrounded by farmers and other craftsmen, a shinobi's life is a fairytale to us, up until I came to one of the bigger towns I only saw shinobi's come and go in passing." Hiroshi took another puff, he held it in longer this time letting him remember the slight burning feeling before it subsided and he let out a large puff.

"Don't hold it in too long, that stuff is far stronger than your normal cigarettes" Asuma warned.

"How was it growing up in Konoha going to the academy?" Hiroshi asked.

Asuma leaned back as if reminiscing his childhood days, he let out a chuckle as he spoke, "Yeah, we were idiots back then, going to the academy every day and skipping lectures to sneak into the commercial district and go for some Dango..."

Both of them sat in comfortable silence, Hiroshi looked at Asuma for a moment, he remembered when he died to Hidan's jutsu. He was a pretty important character and his death was a defining moment in Shikamaru's growth. Hiroshi turned back to the starry sky, now was not the time, maybe not ever, Hiroshi's feelings towards Konoha weren't strong, but it was not like he was attached to any other place, maybe in the future when he finds himself a nice place to stay he could think about something like saving people from canon.

He closed his eyes and let the wind ruffle through his shirt, it was a caress that he could never have felt in his trenchcoat as a content smile came over Hiroshi's face.

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{Kabetsu Town, Land of Fire}

{11:34 AM, 30 March 78 Yrs}

It's been 2 days since they left Konoha, currently, Kabetsu Town was about 125 km away from Konoha, and Hiroshi was halfway to The Land of Fire's border with the Land of Hotsprings. It was a tempting thought to just run away but he didn't need to rush, it was not easy to be like Jun though, Jun was a goofy guy, and he liked to talk and speak his mind, Hiroshi naturally was not at all talkative, the nightmare severed as a perfect excuse for him to stay silent though. He spent almost all of the time in the back where the goods will be stored later, aside from hearing Ino complain about the mission, these two days were one of the most peaceful ones he's had since he got access to the simulation.

Today was the day Team 10's mission ended, Kishi, the owner of the caravan was a stingy guy, and hiring Konoha for a C-ranked mission was a lot more expensive than hiring some mercenaries from the black market.

'Alright Team 10 should be going back to Konoha soon, I can leave a couple of hours later, most likely the guys Kishi hired would be High-genin in strength so it should be easy, I would take anyone that is not Asuma.'

The entry pass that Hiroshi got from Konoha served as a permit across the Land of Fire, most of the towns respected Konoha enough that they didn't do a more thorough check. The caravan arrived in front of a warehouse, Kishi stepped out and he and Asuma talked for a bit, Hiroshi listened to their conversation and Asuma offered to escort the caravan back to Konoha while Kishi fumbled while his attempts to decline.

"Jun, Ryoko, load up the crates containing the iron ingots..." Kishi ordered after he finally managed to reject Asuma, he then finally walked away. Ryoko still apparently angry walked into the warehouse, Hiroshi followed and maintained his principle of copying whatever Ryoko does, the crates were a little heavier as Ryoko struggled so Hiroshi also slowed down.

It took them 30 minutes before Ryoko was exhausted, he took a little break in the trolley so Hiroshi went into the warehouse and started with the final part of his plan.

Ram → Boar → Ram → Dog

'Solid Clone Jutsu'

Hiroshi took out a kunai from the only storage scroll that he was hiding in his pouch and gave it to the clone, this time the clone was instructed to finish stacking up the crates before he should run away and kill himself with that kunai.

Bird → Tiger → Ram -> Snake

'Earth Release: Hiding Like a Mole Technique'

With that Hiroshi walked behind the warehouse before he went through the ground and rushed toward the border of the Land of Hot Springs.

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AN- What do you think should be Hiroshi's focus for the next Simulation?

P.S. The simulation cooldown is getting a little tweak.

The Max Cooldown for a chunin level strength is 25 days, 50 days for Jounin, and 75 days for Kage.

In addition, if Hiroshi survives till the end of the simulation he could choose two options instead of 1 as a bonus.

P.S.- Read 8 chapters ahead at my P.atreon- p.atreon.com/DesMark. (Remove the '.' in the link)