Chapter 21

Kenshiro's POV;

"Finally, Kirigakure," said one of the real Genin, he would have sat down where he stood, had his Sensei not sent him a hard glare. Showing such an obvious weakness is damaging Konoha's reputation.

"Remember, from now on you are to behave with your best manners. You are representing Konoha, your behaviour will reflect back on her, be it good or bad. Especially the bad will be remembered, by everyone," warned his Sensei. He was speaking to all of us, but I had the feeling that he was addressing his own students more than the rest of us Genin.

"Sensei, what if they disrespect Konoha?" Asked one of the Genin that graduated with me. It was the girl with the many throwing weapons.

"Don't react, we are above low mocking and insults. We won the Shinobi War, they know that we are no pushovers. And you are Ninja, are you not?" Answered the same Jonin who told us to behave.

I shared a glance with Ariha-chan and Sakumo-kun. They both nodded in return, also having heard the silent order. If they badmouth Konoha, then retaliate without being found out. The work of a good Ninja is only spotted when he is long gone.

"Now silence!" He ordered again. The silent conversations between each of us ceased and we got into our Genin groups. The Jonin-sensei were walking in the front, Sarutobi Hiruzen was going to be our spokesperson. He had our invites and papers.

Which he was just now passing over to the gate guards, the only visible sign of any guards. However, that was only what they want us to think. I have been able to feel a group of four Ninja following us since we hit the shore and there are at least three dozen more at the gate.

Some hidden inside the wall, others inside the few trees and most inside the water that was surrounding us.

Ah yes, I should explain what the Land of Water looks like.

First, it's misty. There is fog everywhere, it is hard to see anything beyond a few meters ahead. Seriously, it is so foggy that even I am annoyed with it. And fog is the best weather there is.

Secondly, it is wet, the mist soaks into you, the water under you is drenching your feet and the almost daily rain is showering you as well.

Add a couple of hundred bogs filled with mosquitoes, dozens of rivers filled with mosquitoes, creeks filled with mosquitoes and lakes filled with mosquitoes and you get a pretty good picture of the Land of Water.

Not a single day went by without Tsunade checking every one of us for parasites, even Ariha. Whenever she finds the tiniest bit of infection in me she pales and only stops once it's gone. The aftereffects of Hashirama and Dad's death.

Sarutobi has finished our entrance check and one of the many hidden guards showed himself. They explained that Kirigakure itself is hidden inside a fog so thick that only locals can traverse through it without getting lost.

I quickly saw that this was a lie and the so-called fog was only a Genjutsu. Still, none of the Jonin saw through it. And I was not stupid enough to voice this out loud. So we were guided through the 'fog' like everyone else.

I was happy that Genjutsu doesn't work on me, this one was no exception. The Genjutsu started right behind the gate and hid a few hundred-meter wide dead zone. Every Kiri Ninja will see an attack within seconds. And while they can attack, the invaders can not. The Genjutsu was too strong. I memorized everything to the best of my abilities and tried to act as blind as the rest of my team.

I looked inconspicuously around and saw a few seals glowing on the ground. I couldn't make out what they were meant for, but they probably have something to do with Genjutsu. Such a strong Genjutsu must be seal anchored. There are not enough Ninja to both hold-up and create such a strong, as well as large Genjutsu for an extended period of time.

There were also traps, a lot of traps.

The guard led us through a maze of traps and circles before we finally reached another gate that marked the end of the Genjutsu. Once through the group got released from the Genjutsu, they sighed in relief and looked around.

Kirigakure was kinda beautiful, it had a park theme going for itself. The houses were overgrown with plants and there were waterways, filled with mosquitoes, alongside the roads. Large tower-like houses were further inside and high walkways were connecting the towers with each other.

Most buildings were built above the ground, probably to prevent damage when the streets get flooded by heavy rain. The ever-present fog was also creeping through the village. It truly has earned its namesake.

The guard kept guiding us through the village. The shops and houses along our way were separated in three floors. There were those that were built on the ground. They were of low quality and the stalls and stores showed products of lesser quality. Above them were the normal shops, our group was walking on this floor. The walkway was also built above the ground and allowed us to walk over the heads of those below.

I couldn't see what was above us, but I suspect stores and houses of high quality and with rich owners. The few people that were out stared openly at us. There was a clear difference between some groups of civilians in terms of clothing and behaviour.

There is not much taught in the academy about Kirigakure, but it was said that they live in a caste system. This must be how they divide each caste from the other. I could also see that most of us Genin were not happy with what they saw.

Thankfully none of them said anything during our walk. The guard left us at a large tower, where we got our rooms from a receptionist. Her Chakra and attributes were high enough to be that of a Jonin. She told us that the other villages will be housed in the same building and that each village got their own floor.

From down upwards it went like this; Small Villages, like Rain, got the first and second floor. The large remaining four villages got the rest. Konohagakure on the third, Iwagakure on the fourth, Kumogakure on the fifth and Sunagakure on the sixth floor. If they follow the theme from the village then they are telling us whom of the villages they respect the most.

It is well known that Kiri does not like Konoha, that's why we get the lowest possible floor. Giving us the first or second floor, alongside the weak villages would be too insulting. We are followed by Kumo, who is also not liked by Kiri and lastly Suna. Suna and Kiri don't have a working relationship as well, but they have the least grudges with each other between the five big villages.

Wait a minute, Kiri is like the Irish. They will hate each other within a few years as well. Damn Kiri, they are destroying Kiri.

Anyway, we silently climbed the stairs up into the third floor and stopped inside a large living room. The Sensei signalled us to stay quiet and one of them took seal papers out, before slapping them on the walls. He activated the seal and I felt how they flared their Chakra in a steady pulse. The warm Chakra of Grandma Mito flew through the sealing array.

"Now we can speak without being spied on. You did good in staying silent for the whole trip," said the Jonin that has activated the seal.

Sarutobi waited a moment before he started to give instructions and orders. "This room is the only one that we can protect against spying. You would do good to not speak about sensitive things during your whole stay. That obviously means anything about Konoha, but also includes things about yourself and your teammates.

You are allowed to leave the building but are not to be outside after it gets dark. Genin are often accused of spying and taken into T&I. If I hear about anyone of you causing trouble your whole team will be disqualified and will have to do D-Ranks for the next six months." He gave each team a hard and slightly killing intent infused glare, before nodding in satisfaction when all of us have shown him that we understood.

"I think you've scared them enough, Hiruzen-san," continued Kagami-sensei for him. "Each team will have a single room. From now on you are contesting teams from Konoha." He then designated a room for each team and dismissed us.

The room my team got was furnished with high-quality beds and each of us had our own wardrobe. Kiri might hate us, but not giving us good rooms reflects badly on them and not us. There was also a large window that showed a good part of Kirigakure. Ariha and Sakumo took their beds and then waited silently for me to put our own silence seal on the walls. They were given to me by Grandma Mito, Tsunade has her own as well.

I could do some silencing seals, but this one is way above my skill and simply copying them won't work. Seals are almost impossible to copy. Sure, they can be copied easily, but not activated with the same result.

They are intent based. The basic explosive seal and the basic container seal are pretty much the only two seals that can be copied. And that only because everyone knows what they will do. This 'knowing' gives the seal their purpose when they get drawn. Genjutsu seals, under which category silencing seals fall, need strong emotional intent. I'm okay with seals that affect stuff, not people.

Every more complex seal is written by its creator with specific intent. Each letter has its own meaning and emotions when drawn. It's basically like this, a normal explosion seal has the letter for explosion and fire. Those two cause it to explode in the form of a fireball.

But if you link the symbol for a dragon with the symbol for fire and the symbol explosion the result will be way stronger. Add a god of fire and it will get stronger again. But only if you believe the god to be stronger than a dragon. People think differently and have different opinions on the symbols. This flows into their seals and causes the changes, add your emotions while drawing and everything changes again.

So yes, you could copy a seal, but the result will be different than what the original could do. It might be better, or a lot worse. Most of the time it is the later. Grandma Mito has pounded into me that creating a seal is always better than copying one.

I activated the seal and the instant it started working Ariha-chan sighed out loud and long. "I already hate this village. Have you seen how thin and haggard the people down on the ground level look?"

"Yes, something like this wouldn't happen in Konoha," agreed Sakumo. I agreed only partially. Konoha has its own slums, but they are not shown in the open and the people there do look better than the beggars here.

Instead of telling them, I choose to pick my own bed. It was the bed close to the door. "So what do you want to do? Take a look around the village?" Asked Ariha while we started to change our clothes from travelling gear into free time stuff.

Well, they did. I liked my coat and had seals inside that made them comfortable to wear at all times. It also allowed me to have my weapons with me whenever I am out.

"It still is a mystery to me why you can stand this coat. Isn't it stuffy and hot inside?" Asked Sakumo before he pulled his shirt over his head, it made a wet splat sound when he threw it down.

"Yeah, and wet. The fog has soaked into everything," added Ariha. None of them was hiding behind something. We were only turning around when Ariha switched her soaked underwear, she did the same for Sakumo.

"Grandma Mito has helped me with this awesome coat. I'm perfectly dry under it, they even have seals against mosquitoes. I'm also using my wind Chakra to stay cool and fresh. The only thing I can nag about are my wet feet," I replied. That was the only thing I took off. My boots and socks. I then pulled a new pair of socks out of a seal and turned the boot over. Enough water to fill a glass came flowing out, yet the boot was dry afterwards. Seals were preventing the water from soaking into the material.

I seriously love seals, but they are not for me. I suck at inventing new seals and am not creative enough to form the more esoteric ones. Grandma Mito was understanding and only a little disappointed when it became clear that I would never be as good as her, or even close. She still drilled me in sealing Bijuu. That was something I HAD to learn and did.