Land Of Waves Arc (2) : Watched.

Their discussion was stopped when Kakashi arrived at the gates.

"Sensei, you're late! Again!" Sakura complained and Kakashi gave her a gaze that seemed to be asking, 'Who asked?', but he responded politely, "I had gotten lost on the path of life."

Kakashi then turned to Maruboshi and introduced himself, "I'm Hatake Kakashi. A well-rounded jonin that specialises in Ninjutsu."

Maruboshi caught on to what Kakashi was doing and explained his strengths according to protocol, "I'm Maburoshi Kosuke. A genin that specialises in Kenjutsu and Ninjutsu."

Team seven all had their eyes widened, but Naruto was the only one who asked Maruboshi about it blankly, "Seriously old man? Are you any good?"

Maruboshi laughed a little and then said cooly, "I participated in both the second war and the third war, you tell me am I good enough?"

Naruto frowned and thought hard but after a few seconds said, "I don't think I'll be able to defeat you yet old man. So you're strong for now."

Naruto's 'joke' made everyone smile a little and they moved on without questioning Maruboshi's credentials. They all assumed there was some personal reason Maruboshi had chosen to remain a Genin for so long.

Naruto was the next to introduce himself, "I'm Naruto Uzumaki! I'm a genin that specialises in the multi-shadow clone jutsu. And I'm gonna become the Hokage dattebayo!"

"I'm Haruno Sakura. A genin. I don't have a speciality but I know a lot about various things and have good chakra control."

"Uchiha Sasuke. Genin. Specialise in shurikenjutsu."

Tachibana nodded and finally introduced himself since it was his turn, "I'm Tachibana Rei. I specialise in Divination and am good at things a clown would be good at."

Everyone except Maruboshi frowned a little when they heard Tachibana's introduction but he explained, "An example would be better, for example, let me divine if this mission we are on will be safe for us or not."

Tachibana let his Topaz pendulum drop and entered a half-sleep state using cogitation.

Even Tazuna was a little interested in his performance since he'd never seen anything like this in his life.

"The mission ahead will be filled with many hardships and life-threatening danger."

Tachibana repeated the statement seven times and opened his eyes, only to freeze once he saw the pendulum spinning rapidly in the clockwise direction.

Tachibana felt if he'd let the pendulum out of his hand right now it could serve as a slingshot with how fast it was spinning.

Even Maruboshi who'd gained a rudimentary understanding of Tachibana's mysterious jutsu felt a little unsettled.

'Didn't Hokage-sama say to trust Tachibana's divinations?'

'Does this mean we'll die on this mission?'

'Should I request for backup?'

"Woahh!!! What does that mean?" Naruto asked in surprise.

"*gulp*" Tachibana looked at Maruboshi and their eyes met. Maruboshi gave Tachibana a slight smile before nodding for him to continue. "It means there is great danger in this mission. Enough that we're most likely going to die."

Kakashi's eyes sharpened as he noticed Tachibana's and Maruboshi's interraction.

Sakura paled a little but Sasuke just clicked his tongue and turned around.

"As if I'll believe in something so silly. I'm not going to die as long as I don't kill the man I want to."

"...so cool!!!" Sakura exclaimed

"Yeahh!!!! Me too!!!" Naruto shouted as he pretended to be cool like Sasuke while putting his hands in his pockets, even though he looked a little pale and was trembling.

With the children of Team Seven moving ahead, Maruboshi looked at Kakashi before sending a secret signal his way, and when Kakashi nodded Maruboshi used shunshin to leave. As he left, Maruboshi told Tachibana, "Be well, I'll bring backup in case of danger."

Under Kakashi's mentorship, Tachibana was now forced to walk ahead and leave the village, but no one saw Tazuna become a little sweaty after the divination. No one except Kakashi and Maruboshi.

Tachibana followed the group silently. Walking beside Tazuna as they escorted him to the Land of Waves.

"Tazuna-san, did you make a deal with the village to share the profits of your bridge in exchange for protection?" Tachibana asked since that was the only reason the village wouldn't just outright disband this mission given how risky Tachibana had predicted it would be.

Tazuna looked at Tachibana with a little surprise before he nodded, "Yes. That's right. Although it is a C-rank mission since the Land of Waves couldn't afford the appropriate amount for a Jonin squad. We bargained a toll tax that Konoha would take for the usage of the bridge for the next three years in exchange."

Tachibana nodded in understanding.

He was currently following a routine. Tachibana activated his spirit vision to scout around for enemies every few minutes. The action had not gone unnoticed by Kakashi but he just thought Tachibana was being wary.

Team Seven was wary of any ambushes too, but they had gotten much more lax since they didn't deeply believe in Tachibana's divination abilities. Because of this, the two teams hadn't talked to each other much after their first introductions.

'I don't think a simple ambush from two chunin shinobi and from a mist jonin and an elite chunin would cause such a terrible divination result.'

'In the anime, Kakashi was able to handle the attacks just fine with Naruto and Sasuke's help.'

'There has to be something else.'

'But what?'

'I need an opportunity to pretend to be sleeping so that I can perform a dream divination before we reach the Land of Waves.'

The tension of the mission was getting on Tachibana's nerves so he picked out a book from his bag and began reading it to calm himself.

Kakashi noticed the book in Tachibana's hands and *coughed* lightly after reading its title.

'My Neighbour's Wife Is Prettier Than My Own.'

Tachibana didn't mind and carried on, his eyes remained alert for any ambushes.

'When did the two chunin who attacked Kakashi arrive?'

Slowly the light of the day increased to a bright sunny afternoon after which it dimmed until the evening when it finally miffed out into night.

'So it takes multiple days to travel to that place?'

'Nice for me.'

"Naruto and Sakura make camp. Sasuke guard Tazuna-san." Kakashi ordered, he then turned to Tachibana and said, "Why don't you gather firewood."

Tachibana nodded gladly, having no idea how to set up a camp he found himself exploring the woods to pick up dry sticks that could be used to make a fire.

Once he felt like he had enough, Tachibana walked back to the camp only to find that there were now six tents propped up. He handed the sticks over to Naruto who happily started the fire on which Kakashi set up a pot of ramen for everyone to eat.

Tazuna got drunk in spite of Kakashi's repeated warnings and collapsed into his tent, after which Kakashi ordered everyone's turn to keep watch.

The first to stay awake were Tachibana and Kakashi.

"Kakashi-san, I want to perform a divination. Is that alright with you?"

Kakashi nodded, "You may perform them whenever you want."

"Ah..I was being polite because I don't want to bring the mood down again."

"Don't worry about it. Having information is better than not. I'd rather everyone be upset because you predicted their deaths than them dying without knowing what happened."

Tachibana smiled at the confidence Kakashi's words gave him and performed the divination.

"There will be an attack when we're asleep at the camp."

Tachibana repeated the statement seven times and opened his eyes.

The pendulum was spinning clockwise, but only slowly.

Tachibana opened his mouth but then closed it before pulling out a piece of paper and writing on it.

Kakashi took the paper when Tachibana handed it to him and read what was on it, before folding it and tossing it into the fire to burn away.

On it were the words, 'We are likely being watched or going to be watched during the night.'