V.1-C.25│Assigned V│

Scary. Beyond scary were her thoughts of the movement that came from the boy she watched killing her current teammates.

However, she did not grieve, because she didn't care for them. Say what one will about Kirigakure and their methods, but it was effective in making Mei a lot more desensitized to the death of her comrades.

Especially since she hardly knew them. She was made to face those that had some connection with herself, those that she had grown close to and considered friends.

Now standing before him, Mei looked into his eyes as she did him. 'Those eyes... Dojutsu?' Mei thought, and understood not to make the same mistake as her fellow comrades.

He was stronger than her, and while it did appear in her mind for a moment, she decided to go against the idea of gaining his trust to stab a dagger into his back later on. That would probably not work, not with the movements she had seen.

It was a level of taijutsu that was above her own, and possibly at a level above chunin as well. She would be no match, and upon gaining a much more clear look of his eyes, she knew for sure that she would fail.

'That Sharingan...' She also took note of his words before, and if he is telling the truth, it would harm relations between the villages even more if she did something negative.

Those two idiots had already tried to do something, thinking they were probably powerful enough to take him down, but clearly they were not.

"I wish not to fight you, shinobi of the Leaf." Mei started seeing that the boy didn't seem to do or say anything. It also seemed like his mind had wondered somewhere else. "Shinobi of the Leaf?"

"Eh...? Ah! Right, right. Sorry about that." Rubbing the back of his head, the boy smiled at her.

'A strange one, isn't he.' Mei thought before she introduced herself. "My name is Mei Terumi, and I am from Kirigakure. Help me understand why you are here."

"That's easy. Oh, and my name is Obito Uchiha, by the way." He smiled at her with a grin, confusing her with why he was so friendly with her, when a moment before when facing her teammates, his face was emotionless.

Scary emotionless, and those eyes seemed to make her a little afraid. "Nice to meet you, Obito Uchiha."

"Yeah, good to meet you too. I guess? Sorry about your... teammates?"

"Don't worry. I was not close to them, and from what I understood about them, they should've died anyway." She knew that some people cheated during that academy ritual that took place, and not only cheated, but had no care for their fellow classmates.

They were scum to her, especially since they were even idiotic enough to fight Obito without gathering more information. "Really...? Never mind." Obito shook his head, before continuing. "We are here on a mission to eradicate those pirates."

"If that is your goal, then your mission aligns with my own. Do you wish to join forces?" Mei asked him.

"Sure!" He so easily accepted her alliance, which did make her suspicious of his intentions, but she couldn't tell just what he was thinking. For some reason, she imagined he had two faces, the one she saw that was emotionless, and this one before her now.

One that hide his emotions behind a smile. Whether that smile was a representation of his true feelings or not, didn't matter.

"Ok. I will follow your lead." Mei gave over control of this situation to Obito, for he was clearly stronger and probably more capable than she is in this situation.

"Really? You don't have anyone else around that you need to inform?" Obito asked her.

"No. We should be fine." Mei didn't really have a superior.

"Ok." Obito replied, before going off in another direction, Mei following right behind him.

'I should gather more information first...' Mei thought to herself as looked at the back of said boy that was around her age.

[]

After the small skirmish that happened, it looked like the pirates were retreating, but not without having taken a lot of damage, losing a lot of their own pirate crew among losing a few ships that had been destroyed and lost at sea.

But, the other side with Team Kushina and the shinobi from Kirigakure weren't able to avoid taking damage themselves.

A lot of people had died from both sides, but Team Kushina was doing just fine, with Obito having to introduce his new friend to the three. "Yeah. This is Mei, Mei Terumi." Obito said as he introduced the girl that stood next to him.

"Greetings, Konoha shinobi." Mei did a small bow, and saw that the team that Obito had was composed of all girls.

"Mei Terumi... I see that you are from Kiri. What is it that you guys are doing out here? Also... Do you not have someone else that was leading things over here?" Kushina started and questioned.

"No, not really." Mei had shown her own leadership skills from a young age, and even though there were other chunin there, she would probably be higher up then them. In fact, her skill level would place her with chunin's even at her age now.

"They have you out here, to deal with these pirates?" Kushina was most definitely thinking that this was strange. To send someone that looks like they have just graduated the academy to battle... was not exactly a thing she expected.

But then again, there had been rumors going around enough to paint Kirigakure and their methods in a new light.

"Yes. I was sent with two others, but..." Mei trailed off as she looked towards Obito.

"Yeah... you see, Mei's teammates here decided that they wanted something from me, specifically they wanted my eyes, so they meet an unfortunate end." Obito added as he rubbed the back of his head.

"You are unhurt, right?" Kushina asked him.

"Yeah, I am fine." Obito nodded his head, the nonchalance over the deaths of those two that attacked Obito being very clear.

"Do you guys have any information as to who those pirates are?" Rin asked Mei, while looking at her suspiciously and with how close she was to Obito.

"No. I received orders to come out here a few weeks ago. I am a recent academy graduate." Mei revealed to Team Kushina, surprising them that there would be so level of forces here.

Of course, they knew better than to judge a book by its cover, specifically Mei's age, but that didn't mean they could look past the fact that there didn't seem to be any jonin rank overlooking this situation.

"How stupid. Doesn't Kirigakure have no jonin ranked shinobi available?" Kushina asked.

"From my understanding, no." Mei shook her head as she replied.

"Great..." Kushina still wanted to complete their mission, but it was obvious that there was more to their current duties.

It seemed like an army of pirates was now out there, and to take them all down would require more than just the four, or with Mei, five of them. "From what I understand, we have the same goals. Kiri and Konoha may not be on the best terms, but I believe that it would be beneficial to both of our Land's if we take care of this problem." Mei said, being quite the good diplomat.

"It would seem so." Kushina replied before she thought of their next steps. "I see that you have access to a small fleet of ships. Are they still going to be available? We have been stuck out here and we need a transport back..."

"You have been stranded here? For how long?" Mei asked.

"We have only been here a day. The pirates attacked, we tricked them into leaving, and then we waited here till everything now." Kurenai added herself.

"Sorry, sorry. I forgot. My name is Kushina Uzumaki, these two girls here are Rin Nohara and Kurenai Yuhi." Kushina had to add for Mei to know who they were.

"Greetings." Mei introduced herself as well, as the two girls also gave their own greetings. "The ships wont be here for long. If it is transport you need, I can help you. From the reports that I have been given, the pirates have set up somewhere within the Land of Whirlpools."

"The Land of Whirlpools... huh?" Kushina thought about that place. That small country in comparison to all the others, as they also didn't have any shinobi as well, it was actually the perfect place for the pirates to set themselves up. "I guess we are going to the Land of Whirlpools then."

"I wish to come with, that is if you don't mind." Mei stated as Kushina had made that decision.

"Yeah! I am sure that it would be fine." Obito stated already throwing some caution to the wind.

Sighing, Kushina added. "Yes. I don't mind cooperation. I would be more comfortable if you weren't a genin though."

"Don't worry." Mei shook her head to make Kushina's worry dissipate.

[]

It was now night time, and taking a ship all the way towards the harbor located in the Land of Fire, Team Kushina, along with their extra had gotten off and started to make their way towards the Land of Whirlpools.

It didn't take them long to get back on land, especially since they had an actual crew to man the boat and help them along. With Mei around, it seemed like things had gotten a little strange, like there was some tension being created.

Specifically because Mei stuck herself close by to Obito, annoying both Kurenai and Rin.

Having been taken to the side, Kurenai and Rin had teamed up together to question the girl. "Tell us. Why are you staying so close to Obito." Kurenai had her eyes narrowed as she asked this.

"I am not sure I know what you mean...?" Mei replied with an aloof expression that would be considered cute, but to Rin and Kurenai, it was nothing but a facade.

"I think you know exactly what we mean." Rin stated.

Sighing, Mei revealed. "Obito seems to be the strongest here, and I am staying close so that I can survive. I noticed that he has a penchant to protect those close to him, like the two of you." Mei had seen him when they were battling at sea, more so than just with her teammates.

"Survival? That is all?" Rin found this small thing strange, even if understanding, but she was also a little more aware of the reputation within Kirigakure.

"Yes. Is it so strange? My village is not the kindest place, and in ways I wish to live to do many things. That would require myself sticking close to those that would help me and protect me from danger. Obito is a good protector." Mei replied.

"So you are using him? You have no other intentions?" Kurenai questioned.

"If you are implying that I wish to have a closer relationship, I admit that he is somewhat cute looking." Mei said this with a small smile.

"I knew it!" Kurenai exclaimed as she grabbed onto Mei's shirt.

"Calm down!" Rin got Kurenai to get off of the girl.

There was now an awkward silence as Kurenai realized that she may have come off a bit strangely. "Sorry about that." Kurenai apologized, something that was very rare for her to admit.

"That's ok." Mei replied as the situation had calmed down a bit.

"What is possibly going on here?" The mirthful voice of Kushina came into the scene, shocking the three genin girls. "I thought I heard something about something and decided to come this way. Shouldn't you guys be asleep right now? We leave in the morning." Kushina was smiling as she said this.

Kushina couldn't contain the playfulness at being able to listen to these little girls fight over Obit while she is able to cuddle with him all she liked. Kushina laughed within her mind.

Rin, Kurenai and Mei blushed. All of them blushed at having been found out, but hoping that Kushina didn't hear anything, Rin asked. "Um... Elder sister Kushina, you didn't hear anything, did you?"

"Was I supposed to hear something? Was it anything of importance?" Kushina laid it on that she didn't know, but she most definitely was aware of their conversation.

"No, no!" Practically all three of the girls said.

"Ok then. Off to bed then. We have a long day ahead, and then we must investigate what is happening in the Land of Whirlpools." Kushina got them to hurry along. "Go on. It is unfortunate that there only two tents."

"Two tents? Were our supplies destroyed?" Kurenai asked.

"Yes. We had no time to restock as well, given that this mission is of great important now." Kushina replied. "I will be sleeping with Obito, and you three will be sleeping in the other tent. Got it?" Kushina was most definitely gloating at the three girls.

"R-Right..." Rin said as she looked at the other two she would be sleeping with. 'Do I have to mediate between these two?'

Going back to their campsite that had been made, the girls saw that Obito was sitting there and meditating. Or what looked like he was meditating as he had crossed his legs, his eyes were closed and he seemed to be at peace.

Confused, Mei asked. "What is he doing?"

"It is a part of his training." To be honest, Kurenai also didn't understand just what exactly what he was doing.

"You guys are back? I was wondering what had happened." Obito stopped what he was doing before he looked at the three girls as Kushina headed towards their tent.

"Come Obito!" Kushina called from the tent.

"Oh! Good night, Rin, Kurenai, and Mei." Obito said to the three girls before moving along to where Kushina had entered.

"They are close? Close enough to do that?" Mei was confused.

"You could say they are like family, I guess?" Rin replied.

"Right..." Mei quietly said, before adding internally. 'Do family members sleep in the same bed? I was hoping to start my seduction plans...'