14 Chapter 14

Two more months passed.

We had been out of the academy for around eight and a half months total.

The war drew closer as did the ninetails attack.

I wasn't feeling as pressured as I once was, surviving seemed doable and not too far out of my reach.

Minato said I was at Chunin level and that I was only lacking experience and people skills.

People skills didn't matter in your consideration for promotion, but it did help when you wanted to lead a team.

My people skills being called into question came from a C-ranked escort mission that we did a week ago.

We were escorting an affluent female noble to her family's house that she had planned to visit.

…

She had decided that I was cute and was touching me and talking to me in baby speak.

And just generally invading my personal space.

"Aww your so cute! Yes, you are!"

Why are you doing this to me?

"Aww I bet all the girls in Konoha just adore you!"

They do, but I think it's about time you fuck off.

"Miss?"

She smiled at me.

"Yes, Shiro-kun?"

Time to use my secrete move.

"When's the baby due?"

She looked confused.

"What Baby?"

Time for the conversation killer.

"Your baby?"

I tried my best to sound confused while I reached over and patted her stomach.

Pat* Pat* Pat*

"Oh… Uhh… I'm not expecting…"

FINISH HER!

"Ohh… Ummm… I thought you were pregnant, sorry."

I bowed my head.

"Oh… It's alright Shiro-kun…"

I heard Kakashi stifle his laughter.

The woman didn't speak for the rest of the trip.

My secret technique did critical damage!

The conversation killer has yet to fail me!

…

And that was about the gist of the incident.

I received no actual trouble from it.

Though I did get a talking-to from Minato telling me to improve my people skills.

Other then that nothing noteworthy happened.

We didn't go on any more B-ranked missions.

I continued Practising my nature transformation.

I used Kinryoku kyōka a good amount and now have my gravity seal active at level 2 all the time.

Life was good and I wasn't feeling the shadow of death hanging over me all the time.

…

I had a lot of free time nowadays.

Anything I needed to learn was burnt into my mind with Kokoro no kyōka.

And with Kinryoku kyōka my training time was cut down a lot.

This gave me more time to practice nature transformation.

I was making progress.

I had gotten the technique down to one hand-seal and could now somewhat control the direction of the lightning and guide it around trees.

But once it got past a certain strength, I could no longer control it.

It wasn't a problem, strength would come with experience.

I also wanted to drop that final hand-seal.

The last hand-seal was used to control the lightning once it left my body.

I had amazing chakra control but it didn't extend past a foot around my body.

So, what technique did people use that controlled stuff at a distance?

Chakra strings.

I hoped they were the answer to my current problem.

So now I walked around the house and used chakra strings to pick-up things and make my meals.

At first my chakra strings were misshaped and clumsy, but the more I used them the better I got.

When I figured out how to make my chakra strings invisible, I'd be walking around looking cool when my tea seemingly made itself.

It would make quite an impression on future guests.

But until then I'd continue to walk around hand outstretched, misshapen strings coming from my fingers and a look of concentration on my face.

…

I was doing some youthful training with Gat when I had a sudden but terrible epiphany.

I hadn't been doing much youthful training on my own.

Could I even consider myself youthful?

Do I even deserve to wear this jumpsuit?

"Gai!"

I'm not training youthfully anymore!

"Shiro!"

And I no longer try to get people to wear a youthful jumpsuit!

"I've started behaving unyouthfully and I don't think I can change my ways!"

My eyes met Gai's.

"Shiro! I shall fan my flames of Youth twice as hard for both of us!"

Tears started streaming down my face.

"Gai! You're the most youthful friend I could ask for!"

Gai had tears streaming down his face as well.

"Shiro! Let's ignite your flames of youth by running 1000 laps around Konoha on our hands!"

I gave my nice guy pose.

"That's a great idea Gai!"

Gai gave his nice guy pose.

…

We had another B-Ranked mission.

This time it was an escort mission.

We had to escort some rich heir to his mansion and make sure he doesn't die on the road.

His mansion was located in the Keshi which was the capital of The Land Of Fire.

…

I was packed and at the south gate waiting for my teammates.

Kakashi had yet to arrive, which was unusual as he usually arrived before I did.

…

Eventually Minato and Kakashi came into view bringing with them a green-haired, green-eyed teen.

I placed the teen at 18ish, just at the cusp of adulthood.

They got closer and I figured I'd not beat around the bush.

"So, who wants him dead?"

Minato sent me an admonishing look.

"Shiro."

What? He knows someone wants him dead.

"His cousin wants to be the heir and hired some ninja from Tangakure to kill him."

The Village Hidden in The Valleys?

Never heard of them.

"Tangakure? What are they Known for?"

Kakashi chimed in.

"Being ninja."

Very useful Kakashi.

"They Known for anything else?"

Minato chimed in this time.

"About 18 years ago they destroyed Kagerō village."

Heat Haze village?

More nobodies.

"And?"

Anything useful?

"As Kakashi said, they are known for being ninja, they don't have any clans or special bloodlines"

So, canon fodder ninja, I guess?

I looked at our client, he had been silent and was watching us converse.

"So, got anything to say meat-bag?"

The look of disbelief on our client's face was delicious.

"Shiro!"

I think this might be my new thing.

…

Eventually we set off.

I figured that our client would ride in a cart or palanquin as that's how most rich folks seemed to travel.

But I guess he was walking.

"Can our client not afford a cart?"

"Shiro!"

…

We hadn't even gotten halfway through our trip and I was bored.

I had been activating my Byakugan every couple of minutes hoping to spot a possible ambush.

Sadly, it was not my day, there was no ambush.

I looked at our client who was walking between me and Minato.

What was his name again?

"What's your name meat-bag?"

He gave a soft effeminate reply.

"Ida Kichirou."

I looked a little closer at Ida.

Was he a trap?

Or a woman dressed as a man?

I had no idea…

But I guess it also didn't matter

…

We were about done the mission, we had about four hours until we reached the capitol.

"Sensei?"

Minato turned his head to look at me.

"Yes?"

Where's the action?

"Are we going to encounter any enemy ninja?"

Minato shook his head.

"Maybe not"

…

When we were about an hour away from the capital, we finally encountered the Tanga-nin.

Minato seemed to have detected them awhile ago, but it wasn't until now they entered my range.

They were both hiding underground.

"Two Tanga-Chunin 120 meters ahead."

Kakashi and Minato both nodded, our client looked frightened.

"Kakashi protect the client, Shiro you're with me."

Minato veered off to the right and into the trees.

And I followed behind.

…

We were about 40 meters from the Tanga-nin when Minato stopped.

"Shiro?"

I raised an eyebrow at him.

"Hmm?"

What's up?

"You should use this opportunity to fight and gain some experience fighting opponents around your level."

I made a get on with its gesture.

"You should let your fight last longer than ten seconds."

Ah, gotcha, I gave Minato a thumbs up.

"Yes, sensei."

I do try to end fights as fast as possible, I don't want my enemies to have the time to out-think me after all.

"Alright let's go."

…

I activated Chikaku no kyōka at a low level.

We continued our approach.

Eventually we were right on top of them.

Too bad they didn't have a sensor with them.

I deactivated my Byakugan.

And Eyed the ground they were hidden under.

If I hadn't seen them with my Byakugan I wouldn't have known they were there.

…

Should I be learning skills like this?

…

No, I'm not interested…

…

I took a silent breath through my nose and stepped off my branch, charging a One For All enhanced kick.

My heel hit the ground and the earth shattered.

BOOM!

The two ninjas emerged from the ground looking shaken.

Minato jumped in and kicked his opponent away, he followed his opponent off into the distance...

I and my opponent spared the flying Tanga-nin a look.

"Ouch."

The Tanga-nin nodded.

"Shall we start?"

The Tanga-nin didn't waste words and jumped towards me, kunai in hand.

I met his kunai with one of my own.

I snaked my left hand towards his face hoping to poke him in the eyes, but was blocked.

I jumped back and he followed me.

We engaged in a few more clashes of kunai.

I tried to sweep his feet out from under him but he jumped and threw a handful of kunai at me.

I used Shunshin on my left arm and snatched the closest kunai.

He took this time to put some distance between us.

I used both my kunai and the one I caught to deflect the rest of the weapons.

We stared at each other and my opponent started running through hand seals.

Tiger, Ox, Snake.

'Oh, the hiding like a mole jutsu…'

The second I had the thought he disappeared underground.

"Huh! Where'd he go!"

'I hope that was convincing enough.'

When using the hiding like a mole technique the user can tell where their target is by sensing magnetic forces.

I had no idea how that was done but that's what the scroll had said.

So, he would likely come to me.

I stood still, a One For All enhanced kick at the ready.

The second his hands started to exit the earth I hit the ground with my heel.

BOOM!

The ground cratered before giving way, my foot went through the earth like butter and hit his head.

The hands spasmed before going limp.

"Oops…"

I pulled my leg and foot from the ground.

I sighed…

I deactivated Chikaku no kyōka and then activated my Byakugan.

I took a second to register that Minato had already subdued his opponent and had been watching my fight.

I ignored him and focused on my ex-opponent.

The Tanga-nin's head had caved in.

When one uses the Hiding Like A Mole Jutsu the earth around them changes into fine sand, allowing them to move…

Sadly, it also allowed me to stomp him.

"Sensei, I accidentally killed him."

I nudged a limp hand with my foot for emphasis.

"Sigh… I can see that Shiro."

Minato threw his opponent over his shoulder and started on his way back towards Kakashi and our client.

I focused back on my opponent.

I decided that he was a good opponent.

I bowed my head clasped my hands and said a prayer.

"We may not know each other, but may you be blessed in your next life."

Afterall how many opponents burry themselves and save you the cleanup?

…

I made my way back to Kakashi and Ida.

Minato split off from me and told me to send Kakashi to him.

I bet Minato was going to do an Interrogation.

…

I could see Kakashi and Ida in the distance, they both looked fine.

It seems there was no trouble on Kakashi's end.

I gave them a friendly wave as I approached.

"Kakashi, Minato-Sensei wants you for an interrogation."

I felt a bit disappointed that Kakashi would be learning integration before me but figured that it was fair as I had gotten to fight the Tanga-nin.

The look of terror on the client's face at the word interrogation was also welcome.

I wasn't supposed to use the word interrogation around our client.

But how else would I entertain myself?

I watched Kakashi disappear into the forest.

"I wonder if we will hear the screams."

The whimper the client let-out was music to my ears.

…

Sadly, no screams were heard.

Minato and Kakashi returned, Minato had his usual smile and Kakashi looked a bit ill.

But other than that they both looked normal.

Hmmm…

I figured there'd be more blood involved…

Minato nodded at me and Ida.

"Alright let's get you home, Ida."

Ida looked overjoyed at the thought.

"Anything to worry about sensei?"

Meaning, what did the interrogation yield?

"No, nothing new."

Sigh...

A little more combat wouldn't have hurt…

…

We arrived at the capitol's northern gate.

We gave the guards our ninja licenses and we were allowed to pass.

Ida had some papers of his own that he showed as well.

"Sensei, can I go look around?"

…

"No."

Ok…

…

We made our way down the streets following Ida.

Eventually we reached his mansion.

The guards recognized him and let us pass.

Ida signed our mission scroll and bolted into his mansion slamming the door behind him.

Minato looked at me.

"Wasn't me!"

He continued looking at me.

…

Minato rubbed his temple.

"Alright, let's get back to Konoha."

We would be back before nightfall.

Nice.

Shower-sama here I come!