The Land Of Fire

"Let's stop here for today. We'll reach the border soon and I don't want to get there in the dark if at all possible. Don't forget that Konoha was at war until recently."

Yoroi decided to set up camp some distance from the border. Approaching the border at night as a team from another village was a bad idea and it was not in Yoroi's intention to create a conflict between the villages. If Konoha were to go for it, then he had permission to escalate it as well, but that clearly didn't mean their arrival.

"Megusuri, we are depending on you. I'm not sure if we could already get a team to visit here, so you'll probably have to work very late tonight. The same goes for the others, we might run into enemies and this time they won't be bandits. Sleep with an open ear and always keep yourselves ready to fight." As team leader, it was up to Yoroi to point out the dangerous situation and to keep the concentration high.

The camp was set up in a few treetops and traps were also placed in the immediate vicinity. Yoroi also decided to keep watch with Megusuri for most of the night and only take a short break at dawn.

The forest was comparatively quiet, with only a gentle breeze and hardly any moonlight penetrating through the clouds in the sky. Visibility was limited to a few metres, so Megusuri had to keep a concentrated lookout. While he was busy, Yoroi played around with the sword in his hand. Ever since he tried to gather chakra on the blade and created a strange new technique, he had been searching for an answer as to why. He did everything exactly the way one would sheathe his sword in chakra and yet the result looked different for him. In the village it was not uncommon to use Lightning Release for this and he did it too, but no one could tell him where his mistake lay.

Actually he should be able to sheathe his sword quite easily by now, but his mistake makes it extremely difficult to control and so it only lasts a few seconds at a time. Especially as his chakra consumption was huge, which made no sense.

Slowly some moonlight came through as a small gap opened up in the clouds. A small breeze blew past Yoroi and at Megusuri's sign, they both leapt to another tree.

"Boom."

The quiet forest was shaken awake by a loud explosion. The tree they were both sitting on was no more. With a nod to Megusuri, Yoroi directly formed finger signs:

"Storm Release: Sphere Discharge".

A bright ball of light emerged in front of Yoroi's hands and became extremely bright until the light penetrated the farthest parts of the forest. Megusuri who already saw the nod quickly closed his eyes and held his hands in front of it. Within a few seconds between the explosion and the bright light, Yoroi successfully formed his finger signs. That jutsu he had learned before he left, it was a defensive variation of a ranged jutsu where you shoot a ball at your opponent. In this variation, however, you use the chakra to blind the opponent.

In the short time after the jutsu, when the forest was bright, Yoroi could make out several opponents and also identify them as Konoha shinobi.

"Stop! We are on a mission and are supposed to meet a team from Konoha at the border in a few days. I am sure you have already been informed in advance. I advise you to keep your distance and your team leader can approach to talk. Otherwise, we will take it as a declaration of war against Kumogakure." Yoroi shouted loudly in the direction of the Konoha team and pulled out a kunai with explosion tag, near the team was one of the prepared traps, so with a simple throw a bigger explosion could be detonated.

While Jooi arrived at a tree next door, Yoroi knew Moi would stay undercover to potentially surprise the opponent. It was a nice idea, but Yoroi realised that the opponent had to have at least one sensor ninja with them. The enemy team had been visibly surprised by the bright light and he was not surprised that none of them wanted to come out of hiding.

"Two new chakra signatures fast approaching. Ten seconds to arrive." Megusuri continued to be attuned to the surroundings and gave Yoroi precise information. The latter was unsure if he should use the advantage for a jutsu or rather wait to avoid further escalation.

Two new Shnobi arrived, both between the Konoha and Kumo teams. One was comparatively tall and already older, he was wearing a normal Konoha uniform and his black hair was tied into a prominent bun. A sight that reassured Yoroi a little, as members of the Nara clan wore their hair like that and it stood for their sharp mind. 'Luckily, someone with brains and not an impulsive shinobi from another clan.' Yoroi thought to himself as his gaze drifted to the other ninja.

"Shit."

Yoroi could not help swearing. Standing there in a simple Konoha outfit was someone with a striking silvery head of hair. He was about 180 cm tall and wore a short white sleeve on his left upper arm which had red edges.

Next to the Hokage, he was the shinobi with the largest bounty in the Kumo bingo book: Sakumo Hatake.

If he had been in control of the situation just a moment ago, it was slipping away. Against a normal team plus probably a Jonin of the Nara clan, Yoroi was sure he could still escape, or at least some of his comrades. Against Konoha's White Fang a fight would be hopeless, Yoroi was sure that not even his Sensei A could win the fight. Flee yes, draw for sure, but a win would probably not be it.

"My name is Hatake Sakumo, I am the team leader of the Konoha team for the mission. It was all a misunderstanding from the border patrol, please forgive their trouble, there was war until recently. Here is the scroll of our employer as proof." Sakumo pulled out a scroll that looked exactly like the one Yoroi owned and so the latter was reassured again.

"Still, that's not exactly a nice welcome. Considering the tense situation we stopped for the night so far away from the border and yet we almost fall victim to an explosion. Especially since you had already been watching us for a few minutes, enough time to check back and get us associated with the mission." As a Kumo ninja, Yoroi had to play the strong village and show arrogance.

"I'm really sorry, I rushed as soon as I saw the light, Nara Tsusake here is the Jonin in charge of the border section, he came straight with me and will talk to the team here. It doesn't seem very safe now, but you can follow me to the border camp, the other team members for the mission are there too." Sakumo was embarrassed, he too had imagined the greeting to be less hostile.

Yoroi signalled Megusuri to send an update of the situation to Kumo and so the team headed towards Sakumo.

After Yoroi talked Sakumo into waiting a short while, the others were able to pack up the camp and walk wordlessly towards the border. Somehow the whole situation was very uncomfortable for everyone and Yoroi got a good feeling about Sakumo.

Since Yoroi did not know that much about Naruto, he knew nothing about Sakumo except how his last mission ended and that he was Kakashi's father. Now he could at least tell that Sakumo must be a nice person, even if he still had to remain suspicious of Konoha ninjas.

After some time they came to a camp near the border, it was in a small pit in the ground and covered with tent sheets that helped to camouflage it. In the camp itself were four other people who immediately dropped everything and gathered in a line.

"This is the rest of the Konoha team, let me introduce them briefly: Uchiha Akizumi, Hyuga Hoyoshi, Aburame Keishiro and Namikaze Minato." As team leader, Sakumo introduced the Konoha ninja before Yoroi introduced his team and himself.

"Oh, uh, sorry. I probably should have said more about myself. I am Hatake Sakumo, and as a Jonin, I am the leader of this mission on Konoha's side. I plan to spend a few days here getting to know each other at least a little, after all we are spending a long time together now and I don't think it is practical to have to expect an attack from the other side permanently or how do you see it Yoroi."

"I agree, it is not practical to have no confidence in each other's team." Yoroi answered Sakumo and looked at the other ninja.

Uchiha Akizumi caught his eye and that was thanks to her activated Sharingan. She was estimated to be in her early twenties and already had three tomoe in her eyes. Besides her black shoulder-length hair, she wore tight black clothes with a burgundy jacket on the sleeve of which the Uzushiogakure symbol was placed. He couldn't see the jacket from behind, but there was probably the Uchiha clan crest.

Next to her stood Hyuga Hoyoshi, who did not have his Biakugan activated, but with this lineup, Yoroi would be surprised if he did not have one. He had a bald head covered with a bandana and wore standard Konoha clothing.

Aburame Keishiro wore a large olive green jacket and only the lenses of a pair of sunglasses peeked out from under his hood. Occasionally, Yoroi could see insects flying in and out of the openings in his clothes.

Last but not least, Namikaze Minato, a name that told Yoroi something, but he couldn't place it. He was a boy only a few years older than himself and just as tall. He wore a grey open jacket and a normal ninja under-shirt underneath. Only his yellow hair added a touch of colour.

Yoroi was a little apprehensive at this line up, for it was clear that Konoha was up to more than the simple escort mission. Three sensor ninja and Sakumo as a Jonin indicated problems for Yoroi.

Yoroi signalled to his team to set up in a corner of the camp and allowed the three of them to go straight to sleep. He would keep watch alone, as he had to clarify further details with Sakumo anyway.

Once in Sakumo's tent, Sakumo apologised again and then laid a map on the table.

"I'll now show you the route we will use roughly. In the first step, we will leave the border region and you must always stay close to us, otherwise you will be considered as attackers who have infiltrated the country. We move away from the border to avoid problems like the one we just had. I think we will be in the Land of Fire for about a week. The rest of the route will be decided when we get back to the border. Are there any objections? No, then I can continue directly, you have surely noticed: we have another mission. I say this now to create a basis of trust. In the course of the mission we are travelling to countries where some ninja have fled from the war, what we do with this line-up there should be clear to you. I'm sure you're a little more willing to trust us now that I've put the cards on the table."

"That's been a good move, in fact it puts me at ease now. It was suspicious from the first second to assign Konoha's White Fang as team leader of such a simple mission. Then when I look at the team, there are few better teams to pursue. I assume Namikaze Minato is an all-rounder in combat? Otherwise, I can't make sense of his positioning in the team."

"Mhmm..., you're trying to directly elicit information from me about the team members you can't directly assess. Very good, that's how it should be." Sakumo burst out laughing.

"Namikaze Minato is a very great talent and will definitely go far, he's about to become a Jonin so don't underestimate his clout. I think he's probably in a similar situation to you. You're not undescribed Yoroi either, take a closer look at your entry in the Bingo Book of Iwa." To Yoroi's great surprise, Sakume gave him a Bingo Book.

There was actually a page about him, but it also said that he was probably already dead. There was a short report on the incident in which he lost his two friends and what he thought was an overestimation of his abilities. The picture was also well done and there was a reference to his brother. 'Young, talented and the brother of Yodai. Eliminate on sight.' Were the closing words of the profile.

"That's unexpected, to have my own profile already after one fight." Yoroi couldn't help but comment.

"Don't underestimate this one fight. You killed a Jonin and several Chunin, plus ruined Iwa's plan. I don't think that's an understatement at all, and I'm also curious to see what you're capable of." Sakumo smiled at Yoroi while taking back the bingo book.

"I'm sure you can train well with Minato, we may not be allies but training together for the next few weeks or months definitely makes sense. I just need to talk to Akizumi, she seems to have it in for you somehow. Do you know more about that?"

"I was shocked myself that she had activated her Sharingan when I looked at her."

"Mhmm... I'll talk to her right now. I think that should be all for now, we can coordinate enough over the next few days, you're welcome to rest too."

And so Yoroi went to his comrades and leaned against the wall of the pit to get some rest, but no sleep, he was keeping vigil. At dawn he was relieved by Moi and got a few more hours of sleep. The morning could have gone quietly, but immediately after waking up Yoroi was able to hear an argument between Akizumi and Moi, so he had to intervene directly. 'Does it have to start like this...'