Chapter 007

When Ten Ten arrived at the entrance of the village, her sensei and teammates already arrived at the gate and were discussing about the mission. To be honest, she was very excited right now as it was the first time she went out of the village . Gai was warning them to be careful when they were going out for mission and sharing his experiences. Ten Ten and Neji were listening carefully while Lee was writing down every single word that Gai had said into his notebook. A few minutes later, the merchants arrived at the scene. Then they left konoha and began their journey.

Land of neck was a small country and existed far away from Land of fire. Therefore it took about five days to go to Land of neck from konoha. They had to across Land of Wave, Land of Water and Land of Bean Jam to reach Land of Neck. So they might face not only bandits but also pirates on the way. Their journey on the land was smooth as they had a sensor type ninja and a Byakugan user in the team. So they avoided traps and bandits easily.

Two days later, they were sailing across the Land of Wave but they had a small problem right now. Although Might Guy believed he could solve all problem by the power of youth, he had encountered a problem which could only be solved by the power of youth, seasickness. He and Lee had seasickness. They couldn't even stand well right now. Ten Ten also felt dizzy when she used sensing technique. Neji was the same when he used nearly 360 degrees penetrative vision as it was the first time he used Byakugan in the sea. Therefore they decided to summon Ningame for scouting task.

Although Gai look stupid, he was smart. He signed a contract with ninja tortoise because he knew he had seasickness. If he had to voyage across a river or a sea during mission, he would summon Ningame. After the ninja tortoise swam across the sea and arrived at mission location, it would use reverse summoning to bring Gai to the mission location. That way was really useful unless the mission was an escort mission like this.

" Ninkame, what's the matter?"

Ten Ten asked while looking at the the ninja tortoise swimming swiftly back to the ship.

" It's Ningame, kid . And you should call me Ningame sama," the tortoise replied angrily.

" Yeah, yeah, Ningame sama, can you tell me why are you coming back to the ship, please?"

"Okay, I'll forgive you this time. I saw two pirate ships not far away. You should prepare right now."

"Are you really sure? I mean it can be some merchants ship disguised as pirate ships. I had heard that some sticky guys didn't hire ninja to protect them and pretended like pirates. "

"I'm sure that they are pirates. They are robbing a merchants ship now. "

"Okay, I'll go and inform Gai sensei. Can you take my shadow clone to that ships? I wanted to know more information."

"No problem "

Then Ten Ten used kage bunshin no jutsu and ordered her clone to go with Ningame for gathering information. And she went to Gai and reported the situation.

Although Gai suffered seasickness, he was still an experience jonin. So Gai instrcted them for battle.

" There are nearly thirty pirates and they are now fighting with the personal guards of the merchants. Most of them are ordinary people. But the captain of bodyguards and three pirates seem to be able to use chakra. And their chakra amount was at about chunin level. We have to hurry. The bodyguards are lose," Ten Ten said after receiving information from her clone.

"Okay, it was too late to avoid the pirates now. So we had to fight. Ten Ten and I will go to the battle. Lee and Neji stay at this ship and protect Mr. Yamamoto and others" Gai said.

Among three genin, Ten Ten had best attacking power. And Neji's gentle fist was suitable for protecting people. As for Lee,he had not taught Lee eight gates. So it would be dangerous to bring him to the pirates ship. Moreover Ten Ten's water walking mastery was higher than the other two.

After that, they instructed the merchants to hide in room. Then Ten Ten and Gai jumped into the sea and run towards the three ships.

After the two arrived onto the ship, the started to fight the pirates. It was lucky that the bodyguards of merchants wore uniform. If not, it would be hard to distinguish between pirates and bodyguards.

"Water release: water phantom jutsu"

"Demonic illusion: phantom clone jutsu"

Ten Ten used her jutsu and rushed towards the pirates. Although her techniques didn't seem powerful when she fought with Might Guy, she was like a goddess of death when she fought with ordinary pirates. She could kill a pirate with one or two moves. At the same time, Gai was also fighting with pirates by using legendary seasickness fist. After adapting to seasickness, Gai invented the unpredictable seasickness fist. A mere seasickness was not something that could stop his power of youth.

A few minutes later, they had finished all pirates. Ten Ten was healing her injuries that she got while fighting with a chunin level pirate. Even after she had healed the injuries, she could not stand up as her legs were trembling. She was breathing heavily and her face was pale because it was the first time that she killed people. She didn't feel anything while she was fighting and killing. However after the battle, she felt scared and suffocated because the thought ' I've murdered people ' made her feel bad even she knew this pirates were bad guys.

"It will be okay. Breath slowly and think about something good," Gai patted her head and consoled her.

Ten Ten nodded and tried to breathe slowly and relax herself.

A few seconds later, she said.

" Thanks, Guy sensei. I'm fine now"

Before Guy replied her, a voice interrupted.

"Are you Ten Ten?" a middle aged man asked.

"Yes, I am. But who are you?"

"Don't you remember me? I've attended your birthday party last year and you a tanto as birthday present."

"Forgive me, uncle Hiroshi, I can't recognize you immediately because you look so different from before," Ten Ten apologized.

"That's okay. What are doing here? Oh ! Are you doing mission? Sorry, I shouldn't ask you. I know ninja rules. Do I need to pretend like I don't know you," Hiroshi whispered to her while glancing Guy with vigilant look.

' How could we pretend like we are stranger after you talk to me like this ' Ten Ten sighed.

"No, you don't need to do like that"

"Oh, is this really okay? By the way, congratulation for becoming a Shinobi"

Mr. Hiroshi was a merchant from land of water. He was one of her father's business partner. Now, he was going to Land of fire to do some business with her father. And he didn't hire any ninja to protect him because he heard some rumours about Hidden Mist village. According to what he heard, there was a rebellion in Hidden Mist and even Mizukage was killed during battles. During Fourth Mizukage's reign, there were many civil wars in hidden mist. It was even famous as 'Bloody Mist' because of this. Moreover, many hidden mist ninja were defecting everyday. So they didn't dare to hire hidden mist ninja. What if hidden mist ninja suddenly changed during mission and killed them to rob their money? Even the three chunin level pirates Gai and Ten Ten had killed might be missing nin of the hidden mist village. Therefore most merchants like Hiroshi chose to cultivate bodyguards themselves instead of hiring ninja.

After saying goodbye to uncle Hiroshi, Ten Ten and Gai went back to their ship. Although they fought most pirates, there were some pirates who reached to their ship. But because of Neji and Lee's efforts, the merchants were safe. Although both of them were injured, their injuries were not serious. So Ten Ten treated their injuries.Then they continued their journey.

Two days later, they arrived to the Land of Bean Jam. After travelling for one day, they would finally reach their destination, the Land of Neck.