Chapter 7

"Here comes our employer," one of the nearby stationed shinobi remarked.

Turning around, I began to examine the first shinobi I encountered, who served Konoha and did not belong to our clan or allies. In general, all eight of our protectors wore standard gear for chunin and jonin, not much different from what Mom wore.

The six teenage chunin boys looked completely ordinary, and the only one who stood out was a member of the Inuzuka clan, thanks to his tattoos and a large dog, more like a wolf, which reached up to his mid-thigh. The most peculiar thing was that, besides the slight Asian features expressed in slightly slanted eyes and slightly thinner facial features, the people here didn't resemble Japanese at all and certainly weren't as small.

A group of such guys would be almost commonplace on the streets of our city. Only their graceful movements, indicative of intensified martial arts training, set them apart. As for the jonin, they warranted closer inspection. One didn't differ much from the others, except for his straight black hair, which literally shimmered blue in the sunlight, and his eyes, completely without pupils, were a white-silvery color. A Hyuga!

His rank counterpart presented a more exotic sight — a tall, very beautiful, shapely woman in her early twenties with piercing green eyes and luxurious red hair. The first time I've seen a color other than my father's red hair, dark brown, or black, typical of all in our clan, or the blond heads of the Yamanaka. I wonder what other colors I'll come across?

It would be cool to see pink or green. That's something you don't see in everyday life. Behind the beauty, the hilt of a sword protruded, the size of which exceeded my height two or even three times. Well, she's quite a character.

If I were a dozen or so years older, I'd definitely be drooling... metaphorically speaking. Right now, I just glanced at it with a curious gaze and returned to the representative of one of Konoha's strongest clans.

"Good day, Nara-san, my name is Yoshi Hyuga, and this is Linli Senju, we and our teams will be your escort. I am the mission commander for the time being."

Senju! Almost wiped-out clan, the last representative of which will be Tsunade! Now it's clear why she has such a large chakra volume — almost twice as much as the other jonin and three times as much as Mom! Better not to think about myself and the chunin at all.

Apparently, they haven't been knocked out enough yet that there's no one left. Well, right, since the village's foundation, there's only been one war, most of which was led by Tobirama, and he wouldn't use his clan as cannon fodder and block dangerous directions with almost guaranteed lethal outcomes. It was later that Sarutobi nearly completely wiped out the founding clan.

Seeing that I was examining her intently, Senju warmly smiled and winked at me. I smiled widely and waved back, receiving in return for my efforts a quiet melodic laughter.

"I like him!" exclaimed the beauty, almost ignoring the surprise of those around her. "What's your name?"

"Ryu!"

"Pleasure to meet you, Ryu-chan!"

"Pleasure to meet you, Linli-chan! I like you too!"

"A true gentleman!" laughed Linli. "Simple and straightforward, not all 'how about spending the evening together' or 'allow me to invite you to dinner' and the like!"

Now Saya was already laughing, with a characteristic intonation, as if the two of them knew some joke, and everyone else caught on and busily looked at the ground or around, deliberately avoiding making eye contact with the two kunoichi, which only amused them even more.

The only one who remained cool was Hyuga, but if you looked very closely, you could see the faintest hint of a blush on his face. I wonder, does such a reaction mean that each of the present shinobi tried in one way or another to hit on Senju? I can't blame them — she's definitely one of the most beautiful women I've ever seen.

I think even the acknowledged beauty Tsunade somewhat loses to her relative, judging by the photos I've seen of the current heads of clans and their heirs. Studying "allied" and friendly clans is part of a young shinobi's training, just like learning manners. Thank goodness, the Naras are too lazy to really bother with that.

"Ahem," the possessor of the Byakugan drew attention to himself, "if you're ready, we can start, and we can talk on the way."

"Of course, Hyuga-san," Mom slightly bowed, "we are ready."

"Then let's proceed to the gates. Do you prefer to walk on the ground, or shall we move in a faster way?"

"Don't worry, I'll keep up with you just fine," Saya replied, adjusting her grip on me for comfort.