12 Chapter 11: First Mission Part 3

July 5th 18 B.N.B. ,

Uzushiogakure, Land of Whirlpool

Ikeda's Residence

Yoshima headed straight into his father's study, knocking on the door before coming in.

"Father, sorry to intrude, but I only have less than an hour to pack and leave for a mission."

He almost yelled in surprised seeing his father's face, he had dark around his eyes, there was a small twig stuck in his hair, his eyes looked like he had seen a ghost, or had all of his chakra extracted by a succubus.

"Ah, Yoshi? Is that you? What, less than an hour?" His father seemed to be coming to.

'He must have really slept outside!'

Ikeda stood up and approached him, pulling two scrolls from his robe. "Here Yoshi, take this, they are sealing scrolls, inside each scroll you will find a seal to bring you here as soon as you use it, there are four communication seals on each as well, while the rest are a few kunai and items you might need."

His father placed a hand on his shoulder. "Just remember to be careful, a mission is not always about fighting, but finding ways to finish the mission without fighting, unless it is the last resort." He said.

"Now, I know you will make me proud, go pack up some food, take not only Uzushio-nin attire but also a few formal clothes befitting your rank. Do that before talking to your mother, you know how she gets." His father walked back to his desk as Yoshima couldn't help his eyes to mist-up.

He nodded even with his father's back to him, and said resolutely. "Yes Father!"

Yoshima rushed to his room, taking a seal from his desk, and unrolling it onto the floor. He picked up some training clothes, his Uzushiogakure-nin attire, and a few formal clothes from his dresser before placing them on top of the scroll.

"Seal!" He made a single hand seal and sealed everything onto the scroll. Placing it onto his combat pocket in the lower left of his pants, he grabbed another sealing scroll before heading to the kitchen.

"Hello Martha, could I please have some of your famous cooking? It doesnt matter if it is cold or frozen, as I need to leave in a few minutes."

"Sweet words will get you everywhere Yoshi! I'll pack some food for you, for how many days?"

"Around a week's worth would be perfect, we can hunt if we need to. Thank you Martha!" He gave her a kiss in the cheek before rushing to his mother's room.

Yoshima came to a complete stop, and hesitated to knock. He was about to knock before his mother said, "Come in Yoshi, why are you mooching around?"

He took a deep breath before walking in, expecting a long-winded speech from his mother, what he did not expect was his mother sitting on a chair calmly. She had a headband in her hands, and his Kaen in her lap.

"You will need this for your mission, your Great-grandfather just told me you are leaving soon, it was intended for later, but you will need it now. Can't have a shinobi that has blood from both villages appear like a vagabond can I?"

As his mother handed him the headband, he could see a few cuts on the tip of her fingers.

His eyes started to water again. 'She sowed it her self'.

Instead of accepting it, Yoshima rushed into his mothers arms and gave her a hug.

"Thank you Mother, I promise I will not disappoint you, father, or my grandparents!" He took a step back and accepted the headband resolutely.

'By taking this, I am accepting a hundred percent that my life will never be the same, I will be a Ninja from Uzushiogakure, no matter what happens.' He thought as he placed the headband on his forehead with a simple knot at the back.

"You never do Yoshi, now go show that old geezer what a scion from Senju Clan, and Uzumaki clan can do, and don't forget your sword."

Yoshima took the black scabbard from her, and tied it to the left side of his waist, he had another one that he used daily in the right side.

"Bye Mother, I will see you soon." Yoshima rushed to the kitchen before he got more emotional, been in the body of a child affected his emotions than what he would have liked.

"Yoshima" His mother called as he passed the door.

"Remember the shinobi code, but above all, just come back to us." His mother Mitsui said as she stood up with her head down and closed the door behind him.

He made a silent promise that 'No matter what, I will save my family from the upcoming demise , and if I can, Uzushiogakure itself.'

After sealing the food and water on his second scroll, Yoshima rushed to the harbor, to look for the ship The Clam, the harbor of Uzushiogakure was one of the busiest places in the world, most of the world trade passed through here for some reason or the other, whether it was because a trading company in Uzushio brought it over to trade somewhere, or it is just pacing through to reach another destination.

Uzushiogakure was the central trading hub for most of the known world. With a lot of its trade diverting to its vassal island of Land of the Waves. From the main port of Uzushiogakure, it would then go to anywhere its destination was.

So finding a random ship he has no idea how it looks like named 'The Clam' would not be an easy matter as spotting an elephant in an open field.

Yoshima looked for a couple of minutes but not finding anything, he stopped one of the deck-masters taking inventory and collecting tariffs to ask him.

"Excuse me, Sir."

"What do you want kid? If you want a job, you should finish school first." The old man said with his raspy voice.

"Could you point in the direction of The Clam?"

"The Clam? What do you want with The Clam?" He finally took a good look at him, recognizing the headband.

"Ah, a young Ninja, eh? The Clam is that giant fortress of a ship you see over there." He pointed at what must have been the biggest ship around. It was closer to the harbor than most ships.

"Thank you!" He said as he used Body Flicker to appear next to a few workers loading the ship.

"Is this-" He did not even finish asking as around twenty ninjas surrounded him.

Yoshima used his Body Flicker to teleport (Just a reminder, teleportation in Naruto, is just high speed movement, not the space/time ninjutsu.) a distance away. He did not even sense the person who moved behind him as he felt a sword placed near his neck.

"Yoshima?" A familiar voice came from behind him. Yoshima dropped the hand performing a seal.

The sword lower from his neck and he turned around, it was his uncle Hino.

"Uncle Hino? How are you?"

"Don't 'How are you?' me! What are you doing here!?" He made a gesture with his hands, and all the shinobi returned to their duties. Some still eyed him with interest.

"Hehe" Yoshima scratched his nose as he took out the mission scroll.

"I was told by Great-grandfather to take a ride on The Clam, I have a mission in Land of Fire."

His uncle took the scroll and read the contents, taking only a few seconds to glance at what's written on it.

"Gramps is a sneaky old man, huh Yoshima? By making you come on board this ship, he is intending to rush me to get to Land of Fire and drop you off, since you only have two days." His uncle Hino said as he exhaled.

"Yes, that old man is very much so, as you probably guessed Uncle, he did not tell me you were the captain of this ship, or that this was a ship-of-the-line."

"You couldn't wait to finish the academy Yoshi? Well, I can see why you would want to do a mission. Like me, you want to see the world, and not be shackled in one place. As I always say, it's better to die a free than to die on your bed."

Yoshima perked up at what his uncle said, it reminded him a lot of a few of his battle-buddies in the service. "That's a good ideology Uncle Hino, but remember there should come a day you should settle down and live for your family." Yoshima told him as he placed a hand on his uncle's shoulder.

'Even if the woman I loved killed me for it, not everyone is like her.' Yoshima glanced at the horizon picturing her face.

"Look at you, trying to take the spotlight from me, who has been teaching you? Gramps?"

Snapping out of his memories, Yoshima grinned and saluted. "Permission to come on board Captain!?"

His uncle sighed. "Dispersed with the formalities, on The Clam, everyone is the same, now get on as we have to get you there soon."

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Same day,

somewhere in the ocean between Land of Fire and Land of Whirpool

After they had cleared the harbor, and gotten far enough, the crew used the air thrusters to increase the speed by manyfold.

It had only been two hours since they left, but he could already see the landmass. Land of Fire was really close to Land of Whirpool, it was just that you needed to know how to make it through the whirlpools.

"Here we are Yoshima, that's the closest you will be to Konohagakure, even if it is very far on foot. I'll see you once this mission is over, they are giving us a break after it. You take care."

"Wait, what do you mean you take care? Do you want me to walk on water the rest of the way? At least bring me closer to land!"

"Alright, set sail to Land of Lightning!" His uncle ignored him as he gave a command to the crew.

"Bastard. I'll tell my mother about this!" He told his uncle as he jumped overboard.

"Wait Yoshima, it was only a joke! You won't tell your mother, right? Right?" His Uncle scream from on top of The Clam as he ran on top of the water.

"You'll see once you are back home Uncle Hino! See you later!" Yoshima snickered as he rushed to get to regular ground.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________

July 6th 18 B.N.B. , Morning

Great Forest, Land of Fire

Yoshima had spent close to half his chakra reserves to get there quickly, but now that he was more than half way there, he had slowed down to a cruising speed, specially after evading a lot of wild beasts, some were really strong that all he could do was run faster.

He had eaten on the move, and did not need to take a rest.

Yoshima suddenly stopped, detecting three targets moving towards Konoha as well. He debated for a couple of seconds before deciding to get closer to them.

Yoshima used Body Flicker after jumping above the tree tops for a faster linear movement. After getting close enough to be able to see the three people, Yoshima allowed gravity to pull him to the branches below, landing on one in the middle.

Opening his Mind's Eye, Yoshima glanced at the figures moving ahead of him, two where weaker than him, around low Chunin levels, but the other one was considerably stronger than him. He had never met them before, and he had no clue if they were from Konoha or not.

'Three ninjas at those levels would never attack Konoha, that would be suicide.'

As Yoshima got closer, he saw that all three people had the symbol of Uzushiogakure on their back. Before he could see anymore details, the person in the lead made a sign to stop his squad members and called out.

"Come out."

Yoshima had been planning to, so he shrugged his shoulders and approached.

He saw that all three of them had been ready to attack, as they had take a defensive formation, but seeing such a young child had really surprised them.

"Hello! My name is Yoshima, I am a shinobi from Uzushiogakure, on my way to Konohagakure, are you guys heading in that direction as well?"

The person on the left seemed the most on edge, he looked around seventeen years of age, and had dark hair with a tan skin.

The person in the right looked like he would jump if he made any weird movements, he also looked around seventeen or eighteen years old, and had dark gray hair with a light skin tone.

While he did look at them first, what really drew his attention was the person in the middle.

He had a silver ponytail with spiky hair on top, and bangs that hung over his konohagakure forehead protector. He had a standard Konoha-nin uniform, like the other two, but he had a pair of gloves, a flack jacket, bandages on his right arm, and distinctive short white sleeve which had red edges and the Uzushiogakure crest on it. He had a holster that came up diagonally over his right shoulder.

'The Konoha White Fang!'

'Sakumo Hatake!'