Chapter 20: Into the Land of Tea

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Whipping my blade back into it's sheath, the back of one of my hands rested on its handle as I approached Amai-Sensei, whose impassive exterior finally broke as he looked guilty.

So I smiled slightly and said, "Don't beat yourself over this sensei, I alone chose to do this."

Amai-Sensei sighed before mumbling, "How unbecoming of me, losing my countenance like that… if you could not mention this in your mission report when we get back to the village…"

I grinned and replied, "I think it makes you more human… but don't worry, I won't say anything. It may not get along the Shinobi Rules, but I pride myself to be a human being before being a Shinobi."

Amai-Sensei looked stunned, before he smiled and said, "I see."

His hands moved to form the Ram Hand Seal, and the ground around the dead bandits softened to swallow the bodies, before hardening again, getting rid of the bodies and giving them a burial. The ground itself barely had any trace of having been shifted itself.

Ninjas could be really scary sometimes, killing and getting rid of bodies so easily and without leaving any trace…

The deed done, we quickly moved through the town to return to the inn, and waited for my teammates and our client to come out.

They didn't take long to arrive, and our client, Mr Tokikake, didn't look too tired, it seemed he was used to waking up early.

The three of them having absolutely no idea of what had happened tonight, we left the town with the sun rising in front of us, atop a small mountain in the distance. It was quite the beautiful view.

At first, everyone was silent, probably because they were tired, but Laiko finally broke the silence as he looked at me weirdly and asked, "Why are you not letting go of your katana?"

I looked down, and saw my hand was resting on my blade's handle. It was weird, but I somehow felt closer to my blade ever since I had shed blood with it, and resting a hand on it felt more comfortable.

But I couldn't really tell him that, as I would be spilling the beans about what happened last night, so I said, "If we get ambushed, I'll be better with a hand on my sword than in my pockets."

Laiko, who had his hands in his pockets, snorted, so I unsheathed my sword with a lightning fast speed, resting it upon his throat as I smiled, "See?"

He pushed my blade away, annoyed, and started walking faster. Izumi quickly came to my side and whispered, "Are you doing everything in your power to make him hate you?"

I looked at Laiko, who now had his hands to his sides, and said, "I would rather have him hating me than dead. It goes for you too, by the way." As I said that, I looked at her hands, which were also in her pockets.

Izumi rolled her eyes, taking her hands out as she asked, "So, how's training with Shisui?"

When I showed up with a sword last month, they obviously had questions, so I had told them about my training with Shisui. There wasn't much to hide anyway.

"Fine, although he is a little too soft. Sometimes he seems a little lost with what to do, because I don't have the Sharingan. By the way, how is your Sharingan training going?"

Izumi looked confused, so I whispered, "I saw you training. You have trouble sustaining the Sharingan, don't you?"

Izumi rather obviously wanted to deny at first, but after a moment she sighed and whispered back, "How did you notice?"

I smiled and explained, "I always a part of my mind on my surroundings, so all kinds of things become obvious. Besides, I've been observing both you and Laiko to learn your strengths and weaknesses."

Izumi frowned and spat, "Real ninja aren't you?"

I shrugged and replied without any shame, "What tells me you won't try to kill me in the future? Besides, my main motive was teamwork."

Izumi was now somewhat confused, so I elaborated, "Why do you think Amai-Sensei calls our training 'Team Training', despite us all working on our own?"

Izumi grumbled, "No, but I bet you do?"

I smiled, "Sensei knows of the inevitable tensions in the team…" "More like those you created."

I ignored her interruption and continued, " and so he knew normal team building wouldn't get us any real result. So he simply had us train next to each other, so we may observe the others. Even if you and Laiko weren't as observant as I was, you both are probably familiar with the way I fight. Hence, while we haven't worked on any team formations, by understanding each other we should be able to work together if needed."

Izumi gave me a stink eye and said, "Or he knew working together with you was hell on Earth and he decided not to have us go through it."

I tilted my head for a second, before saying, "Possible too."

Izumi chuckled, and we resumed to our silent walk.

Whether the bandits who attacked last night understood we were out of their league or if the information of last night's failure did not reach them yet, in any case we did not cross any other group of bandit as we crossed the Land of Tea.

We dropped our client, Mr Tokikake, at the border town of Ikami, as per stated by our mission. However, as we left our client, Amai-Sensei led us to a high rooftop that gave us view on pretty much the whole town.

"What are we doing? Aren't we going back to Konoha?"

Laiko asked, and Amai-Sensei replied, "Our mission isn't finished."

Izumi asked, "Wasn't our mission to protect Mr Tokike on the way to the Land of Tea?"

Peering at the distance, Amai-Sensei didn't turn around to reply, "Lord Hokage gave me a second, secretary objective. Mr Tokike is suspected to work with another village…"

Laiko and Izumi gasped as they rapidly exclaimed, "Impossible! Mr Tokike can't…"

I cut them off, "He was being shifty on the way, showing signs of apprehension more than once."

That was bullshit, but only Amai-Sensei and I knew this as I stared at him in the eyes. With this stare, I understood Minato hadn't really given him a second objective, but Sensei had rather learned something when he interrogated the bandits last night.

Laiko and Izumi were about to retort something at me, but Amai-Sensei said, "He is suspected to be working with Suna."

To my surprise, all traces of reluctance disappeared from Laiko and Izumi's face, replaced with shock, and hatred.

Amai-Sensei didn't add anymore reason, as if he knew this was more than enough to convince them, and said, "Our mission is only to observe, and not attack in any way. Understood?"

I shrugged, and saw that my teammates didn't show any response, so Amai-Sensei asked again, "Am I understood?"

The two finally relented and nodded.

Amai took out an ear piece, prompting us to do the same, and after checking they were functioning normally Amai said, "We move to the four cardinal points, I go West, Sukaina goes South, Izumi East and Laiko North. Hide and search for any sign of our target or other ninjas."

We all nodded, and disappeared with the Body Flicker.

Using the sun as a reference, I moved South of the town, the second most dangerous of the four. Amai-Sensei hadn't randomly sent us to the four directions. The Land of Tea was South of Konoha, while it was separated by the Fire Bay from Suna, in the West.

So the most dangerous place was West, as it was the most likely place where Suna could come from, while South was second as it led to deeper into the Land of Tea. Comparatively, North was the least dangerous, as it led to the Land of Fire, that is Konoha's territory.