Chapter 15: The farmer

A/N: Trigger warning: violence, death

In order to survive, we cling to all we know and understand.

-Uchiha Itachi-

-The farmer-

-Yahizui-

The autumn weather in Konoha was perfect. The temperatures were mild; the sun was shining brightly, and the sight of golden and red leaves gave the village an almost romantic atmosphere. For Yahizui, it was the only time of the year when her hair didn't stand out like a sore thumb, so that gave it an extra plus.

Two days after Itachi had suddenly taken off with Shisui and left her with two six-year-old boys who held no love for each other, Yahizui and her team got called in for a mission.

As they made their way to the mission center, Yahizui desperately hoped that they were finally going to do something meaningful for the village, and not just paint another fence.

Ahead of them, Kaito walked with a firm determined stride. Sometimes Yahizui was sure that she could tell someone's personality simply by the way they walked. Their teacher had a large, steady step, which perfectly matched his stern demeanor. Tojiro had a languid gait, his long legs carrying him far with smooth movements. He moved calmly, just like his personality. And Hakodoshi...he was annoyingly silent, which told her absolutely nothing. Then again, she didn't need to analyze his walk to know he was a stuck-up, arrogant ass.

"Come in."

Yahizui snapped back to the matter at hand as they reached the large double doors of the mission center. The chuunin that sat behind the desk waved them inside, and Yahizui stepped over the threshold with confidence.

"Team 4… let's see what we have here…" said the chuunin pensively as he leafed through a file. "Twenty D-class missions out of which sixteen were successful. Your track record in the last month is especially good, and their difficulty has gradually increased." He closed the file and looked at them. "I think you're ready for something more!"

Yahizui barely suppressed the excitement in her veins.

"A client made a public posting in a nearby village, and one of our collectors saw it. It's an escort mission. Your client is a farmer, and your job is to safely bring him home to the Land of Rice Paddies," said the chuunin as he read the mission request.

All three nodded, and Kaito approached the desk to take the mission scroll. The chuunin handed him two scrolls; the first he pocketed, then opened the other one, gave it a quick glance, and gave it to Tojiro. "Read the requirements and meet me at the gate in one hour. The client will be there. Pack well."

They nodded even as he disappeared in a puff of smoke, before turning and exiting through the door. As soon as they were out of the room, Yahizui turned to Tojiro. "What do you think the other scroll was about?"

Tojiro shrugged. "Maybe he got some more details? It's a more complex mission than our previous ones and our first outside Fire Country. Maybe he just has more things to deal with?"

Yahizui nodded, though she wasn't happy with the explanation. She promptly ignored Hakudoshi and waved at Tojiro. "See you at the gate!"

An hour later, Yahizui had a bulging pack on her back and a hip pouch stuffed full of kunai and shuriken. She placed the bag by her feet and casually leaned next to the gate, waiting for the rest of her team to arrive. Five minutes later, she sensed Hakudoshi's presence before his snow-white hair appeared on the horizon. As he approached, she nodded towards him, receiving the same courtesy in reply.

They had come to the understanding that when it came to missions, they were obliged to communicate enough to ensure the success of the task. Over time, Hakudoshi had stopped jabbing at her during training as well. Yahizui didn't have it in her to forgive him or change her opinion of him, so she ignored everything besides his usefulness on the field. She had to admit that, as arrogant as he was, Hakudoshi was by far the best strategist among them. His level-headedness and ability to keep everything but the most critical emotions suppressed had proved useful on many occasions. He wasn't a bad fighter either, but unlike herself and even Tojiro, he preferred to work in the background, laying traps and using genjutsu rather than close-range attacks.

Not long after Hakudoshi arrived, Tojiro showed up, and the silence was finally broken by an amicable, "Yo."

"Hey," replied Yahizui, and from the corner of her eye, she saw Hakudoshi nod in response. "Excited?"

Tojiro shrugged and stuck his large hands in the pockets of his baggy pants. He also had a bag hanging on his back, and Yahizui was sure his hip pouches were brimming with kunai and shuriken. "Yeah, this should be cool! You?"

"Ye—"

A swirl of leaves interrupted her response as Kaito appeared before them. He wore the typical jounin vest over a loose-fitting, long-sleeved mauve kimono blouse that hid a myriad of weapons. Fastened to the small of his back was an ebony katana that fascinated Yahizui every time she saw it. So far she'd never seen it drawn.

Yahizui wanted to see it drawn.

"Before the client arrives and we set out," Kaito began in a stern tone, "there are a few things we need to discuss." He paused, waiting for his words to sink in, his piercing eyes inspecting each of them in turn. "First off, this is the first time you will step out of our Fire country borders. There might be bandits; there might be rebel clans with hostile intentions. What is your first priority?"

"The client!" was the chorus of answers that came from the three genins.

Kaito nodded. "And if while we are in the land of Rice Paddies you see any crime being committed upon the population or an injustice happening before your eyes, what do you do?"

Yahizui's first instinct was to say she would do something about it, but she knew from experience that Kaito cared less for the first thing that popped in their head and more about a well-thought answer. But before she could even start getting her emotions under control, Hakudoshi answered.

"Nothing." His voice was strained as if the answer pained him.

From the corner of her eye, Yahizui could see his clenched hands and wondered what exactly happened to him. When they first started as a team, he had mentioned something about the killings in Kirigakure… had something occurred while his family lived there? She shook her head, catching that thought and pulling it out before it took root in her head. Wondering about his past and questioning his motives were not necessary; not for the barely tolerating relationship that they had.

"Exactly, nothing," said Kaito with a nod. "You are outside our borders. How other lands deal with their farmers and citizens is not your concern. You will not interfere since you do not know their customs, and imposing your views on them could be seen as an attempt from Konoha to influence their country, and would not be taken lightly. Keep to the mission parameters and stay out of other people's business."

Yahizui almost trembled with the force it took her to withhold her comments. How could they ignore it when someone needed their help? What if it was a kid or an old person? What if a bunch of brutes were taking advantage of a woman? Nonono, she couldn't sit and…

"Yahizui, I see you're close to exploding with indignation. Let me make it easy for you by taking a scenario that is without a doubt running through your head. You see a gang of men punching a kid around and kicking him to the ground. You run to help the kid, thus leaving your client with one less protective body. If one or the other of your teammates follows you, then two are gone. If the enemy were to attack at that moment, your client might end up hurt, or worse, dead. Since you are taken by surprise, you and your team might also end up in a similar situation. So no, I don't care if people are being flayed on the streets, you will keep to the mission parameters; and that is an order, Shourai!"

"Yes, sir," she said in a strained tone, similar to Hakudoshi's.

"Good. Then let's go meet our client."

They turned toward the gate and saw that a few meters outside the village, a middle-aged, skinny man waited for them. He was dressed in a patched-up blue kosode tied with a threadbare obi sash and knee-length pants of the same patchy material. His skin was tanned and leathery looking, likely from spending too much time in the sun.

"Hello," the farmer greeted in a gentle voice. "My name is Kouyaku Hakumai. I am in your care." He bowed, one hand holding his straw hat on his head.

Taken aback by the man's polite demeanor, the three genins quickly bowed in return before Kaito stepped before them. "Hakumai-san, I am Murasaki Kaito, the jounin sensei of Team four. I assure you that you are in safe hands."

The farmer smiled and tied his straw hat tighter. "What a relief! Shall we?"

With one sign from Kaito, the team assumed a defensive diamond position around their client, with Kaito in front, Yahizui and Tojiro on each side, and Hakudoshi in the rear. They tried to make it seem like they looked confident in what they were doing, but Yahizui knew for sure that the other two members of her team were just as nervous as she was.

It was only once they'd almost reached the border that they started feeling more comfortable and Tojiro began talking to their client.

"So Hakumai-san, what village are you from?"

The man smiled jovially at the question. "Oh, you wouldn't know it if I said. It's a small thing right in the middle of the land. We're small, but our rice is of the best quality…"

From the corner of her eye, Yahizui saw her friend nod politely. Then, to her utter surprise, he knew exactly what the other man was talking about. "Ah, that must be the village Kaimachi."

She couldn't help the surprise that colored her voice. "How did you know that?"

Tojiro shrugged, leaning back to look at her behind the silhouette of their client. "My parents are farmers, and part of my family lived in the land of Rice Paddies. Everyone knows that the best rice comes from there, it's their main export resource. And though small, the village of Kaimachi makes the finest rice, bought by the nobility."

"You never mentioned that…" she said, feeling put off.

Tojiro's eyebrows lifted in surprise, then he shrugged. "You never asked."

She… she never asked. Yahizui's steps faltered, slowing down. She'd never asked Tojiro about his family, and barely spoke of her own guardian… why? How could she know him for so long and never know what his family did, what his background was before coming to the academy?

"What a hypocrite," said Hakudoshi, pulling her out of her thoughts. There was a self-satisfying sneer in his tone that would have normally bothered her. "You preach about the importance of civilian shinobi and make yourself out as some sort of protector, but you look down on civilians just like the rest."

Her head whipped around to glare at him. Her slower steps had brought her to the back of the formation and next to Hakudoshi. "I don't! And what would you know?"

The nasty smirk on his face turned triumphant. "I knew what his parents did, that his father comes from the village Maimachi, not far from Kaimachi. His grandparents passed away, so they haven't visited the village in years. I knew all of that because I bothered to ask. You, on the other hand, are more than happy to erase the fact that he and you have civilian roots. You think you're on their side, but in reality, you never talk about them, and I'm sure you think your parents don't even understand you since they're not shinobi."

Her breath came in short gasps as she fought every instinct in her body. "You know nothing!" she said in a barely audible hiss. How dare he talk about her parents? How dare he make assumptions about her? "You igno —"

"Watch it!" shouted Hakudoshi, yanking her toward him as a kunai zipped past the tips of her trailing hair.

Yahizui's eyes widened. The first thought that popped into her head was: had he just saved her life? Quickly followed by: We're under attack!

The months of training and protocol that Kaito had mercilessly drilled into her head, came rushing back in one go.

Eyes zeroing in on the spot of the forest from which that attack had come, she realized she could vaguely feel a presence in the trees, though there was no one in sight. In the blink of an eye, she launched two kunai in that direction, even as she jumped back to her proper place in the formation.

The first kunai was easily deflected, though their attacker was unprepared for the explosive tag attached to the second.

The tag went off with a BOOM and served its purpose of driving their attacker out of hiding. He was a large man, with a purple bandana wrapped around his forehead, but no clear shinobi village association. Looking at their sensei Yahizui couldn't tell if he was relaxed or tense.

"Formation B!" Kaito shouted from up ahead, the sickle of a kusarigama already sliding out from his kimono sleeve. He gave the man before them a deadly glare before he spat to one side. "You are not worthy of my blade."

"With only a quick glance, the three genin knew with they had to do. They each knew their roles in this situation; it was time to put them into practice.

Hakudoshi quickly backed Hakumai-san up against a large tree, placing himself before the farmer, kunai in hand, ready to deflect any kunai that came his way. Yahizui and Tojiro took up guard positions only a few paces before them, serving as the first line of defense. They would protect their client at all costs and only act as Kaito's backup if required.

Yahizui's eyes were wide as adrenaline thrummed through her veins. She felt hyperaware of everything that was going on around them. This was their first real confrontation with a hostile force; she needed to be prepared for anything!

Eyes darting along the tree line, Yahizui checked for the figures that she was sure were still in hiding.

The sunlight glinted off the wickedly sharp blade of the sickle that Kaito held in hand. Then, in the blink of an eye, Kaito darted forward, shooting the heavy ball and chain toward the man before him, the chain snapping around their attacker's neck before he even had a chance to react.

He's fast! Yahizui thought, feeling amazed as she watched her sensei move.

But it was all too easy. As if on cue, six more men jumped down from the surrounding trees, each armed with weapons, and the same purple bandana wrapped around their heads.

Yahizui tensed as three of the men turned towards them. The farmer was definitely their target.

She didn't need to glance back at Hakudoshi to know that he was tense and ready to fight. He would protect their client to the best of his ability and more.

But what could she and Tojiro do? How strong were their opponents? She didn't know.

She needed to buy them time.

She stepped behind Tojiro, hoping his form would hide the way her hand dug through the pouch on the small of her back. From here, she could see the tense set of Tojiro's shoulders and the sweat that trickled down the back of his neck.

"Look what we have here!" one of them said, his bulging arms swinging awkwardly with each heavy step he took towards them. "A bunch of snotty brats playing ninja."

Even though they advanced with a confident stride and ugly grins on their faces, Yahizui realized that their posture was not one of a shinobi. Their footsteps were too loud, their movements not graceful enough.

Maybe we have a chance, she thought determinedly.

"See, that cute little bird there is so scared she's hiding. Tell me darlin' did you piss yourself? We'd love to check that for you."

 Yahizui swallowed her ire as she straightened and stepped out from behind Tojiro's form. She looked at them intently, before stepping back, pulling on Tojiro's hand. He didn't resist her pull and together they stepped back towards Hakudoshi, who stood in front of the quivering farmer.

"What d'ya say boys?" he asked, his eyes measuring them up and down. "Should we mess them up a bit, show them what the real world is all about?" The other brutes nodded in agreement, their sinister grins deepening along with the perverse look in their eye.

They could take them.

The realization had her shoulders relaxing, her lips curling into a smirk of her own. She stood straighter now, sure of herself. Her evergreen eyes turned flinty as she gave them a look she normally reserved for bullies.

And that's all they were. Bullies. 

"You can try," Yahizui replied with a sneer. "But I assure you," She pulled out a kunai with a thin, blank tag attached to it, and threw it in the spot she and Tojiro had stood only moments before. "None of you will get past this mark."

The men glanced down at the blank piece of paper attached to the kunai. A couple of them snickered. "Stupid girl," said one. "You're supposed to have an exploding tag on it to work."

Yahizui's smirk turned into a grin as they took another step towards them. "Not my tags," she said, then in one swift move, her chakra swelled, her hands slamming together in a ram hand sign.

From the center of the once blank piece of paper, dark sealing script spread to the edges before exploding, igniting the other tags hidden in the dirt at their feet."

The low power of the explosion seemed to do the job, sending their attackers into confusion, their sight blinded by the screen of smoke and dusk that permeated the air.

Next to them, Hakudoshi threw a bundle of wire-connected shuriken their way, then wove the hand signs of a concealment genjutsu and placed it on the farmer.

Yahizui and Tojiro both leaped into the smoke, already knowing what they needed to do. This was something Kaito had drilled into them repeatedly, something they had practiced to perfection.

Tojiro swept out an arm, using his superior aim to anchor the wires to nearby trees with kunai. Meanwhile, Yahizui darted through the smoke, grabbing the lingering loose wire, while sliding over and under the confused and coughing men.

All wires in hand, Yahizui bounded directly into the center of the group, before propelling herself high into the air, sailing over their attackers' heads, leaving the clearing smoke behind.

Midair she turned and flung another fistful of the same thin blank tags at them before landing in a crouch beside the two boys, just as Hakudoshi yanked on the wires.

With a snap, the wires tightened around the three men, trapping them in a bundle in the center.

It worked! Their trap worked, and she would even dare to say that their teamwork had been perfect!

With a smile on her face, Yahizui turned around to congratulate them. "Good job gu —"

"I would disagree." A tall man stood directly behind Hakudoshi, tanto pressed to the exposed skin of his throat, a fine line of blood welling up beneath the blade.

Yahizui froze, her blood turning to ice in her veins. How could they have missed him?

"Release them," he continued, speaking down to the boy in his grasp, slowly increasing pressure on their teammate's throat. Yahizui saw the flash of fear and pain that crossed Hakudoshi's face, a dribble of blood sliding down the curve of his neck.

Neither Yahizui nor Tojiro moved. She felt that the moment they even so much as flinched, the man would drag his blade along Hakudoshi's throat. Panic welled up inside her; what could they do?!

Even as she struggled to come up with something, anything, she could see the defeat that settled in Hakudoshi's golden eyes.

The wires around them began to slacken when a chain shot past Yahizui's temple and wrapped around the man's blade, stalling its movements and pulling it away from Hakudoshi's throat. She whipped around, her shocked gaze landing on their sensei who stood only meters away from them, surrounded by the bodies of the other fighters.

The look on his face was one that she had never seen before; his expression was set in stone as a single whisper left his lips.

Lighting style: Chain lightning.

A wave of electricity shot up the chain, ripping through the man's body. For a moment he convulsed, mouth open in a silent scream as his eyes rolled back into his head. Then it was over. The tanto dropped from limp fingers and Hakudoshi stumbled forward, dazed.

Kaito marched toward them, a deadly expression twisting his features. "Status?" he asked in a clipped tone.

Before she could open her mouth to reply, Hakudoshi promptly replied. "Hakumai-san is fine," he replied in a rough voice, as he wiped the blood from his throat. His golden eyes gave them all a cursory glance. "So are we..."

Yahizui stared at him in disbelief. Even though he had had such a close brush with death, he had been the first to shrug it off. How?

For a split moment, Kaito's icy gaze softened. "You did well," he told them, his voice sincere as he gazed at each of them in turn. Then the expression disappeared. "Now, take Hakumai-san to the other side of the clearing and wait for me there. There's one more thing I need to do." His voice brooked no room for argument.

They nodded obediently, guiding their dazed client through the bodies of their fallen attackers, to where their sensei had directed them to go.

Yahizui couldn't help but stare down at the bodies. She had seen death before, when she was a child, but it was a different kind of death than the one she saw here. This was pure, raw power. A deliberate, exact action. There was no gushing wounds, nor gory images to haunt her nightmares, instead they looked like had suddenly keeled over, like their life had fled them between one second and the next.

By her side, Tojiro stubbornly looked ahead, his footsteps stiff. But he couldn't hide the disturbed look that covered his face.

For a moment, Yahizui wished she could feel some of that shock, that discomfort. This was nothing compared to the hundred deaths that had replayed in her dreams for years. She felt...disconnected. Disconnected from her shock, from her feelings.

She hadn't been the one to kill them. But did that make it any better?

If Kaito hadn't done it, then it could have been their bodies lying on the floor, and as she thought of the hungry look on the men's faces, she felt sure that their deaths wouldn't have been so quick

"Lightning jutsu," murmured Hakudoshi, his gaze fixed on the corpses as well.

Yahizui nodded. She had seen the current traveling down the kusarigama's chain, and had smelt to scent of burnt ozone in the air. They had known that their sensei was well versed with many weapons, though none had known of jutsus. What other things did they not know about him? Just as the question entered her mind, a moan of pain captured their attention. They were already a few meters away, but could clearly see Kaito crouching next to one of the tied-up men. Yahizui stopped walking, her curiosity getting the better of her.

"Who sent you?" he asked them calmly.

The man cursed, tried to spit in his face, and swore to never utter a word. "Fuck you!" he snarled at him, then his head snapped back, mouth opened in a soundless scream as Kaito pressed a hand to his chest, crackling blue energy dancing around his fingertips. As the wind blew through the trees, the stench of burnt flesh reached them once more.

Yahizui stared in amazement and horror, her eyes never leaving the movements of the man that only a week ago, she had complained about.

Her heart slammed against her ribcage as she watched Kaito calmly stand up and move on to the next man. His question was the same, asked calmly in the same monotonous voice. Every time he released the energy through his palm, his entire face was bathed in a blue light that made his eyes glow. He would alternate his approaches, ask questions, and administer shocks, each with a detached nonchalance that rattled her to the core.

Was this the truth about T&I, the division meant to get answers by any means necessary?

"Who sent you?" asked Kaito once more. The man before him finally whispered something, and Kaito nodded, his lips stretching into a thin smile, making the scar on the left side of his face twist gruesomely. "Good, very good." Then the scythe of his kusarigama fell from his sleeve and in one arching sweep their heads parted from their bodies, rolling helplessly on the floor.

Yahizui swallowed harshly, looking away from the spurting blood. She knew what blood looked like; there was no need for a reminder. Her eyes instead fixed on her teacher, on the intense concentration on his face. She watched him bite his finger and touch the ground with his bloody hand. An ash-colored rat wearing a green vest appeared before him in a puff of smoke. Kaito whispered something to the animal, and in the next moment, it zapped away with more speed than Yahizui knew rats were capable of.

As he walked toward them, Yahizui realized that she was actually afraid of the man before her. It was an irrational fear, something instinctual that told her to stay away from danger, which showed her this man was a killer. She took a step back until she was right beside Hakudoshi and Tojiro, feeling comforted by their presence. Her eyes darted to her left, glimpsing the white locks and the stubborn golden gaze of her rival. He was standing his ground, looking at Kaito with a mix of fear and admiration.

He was right.

Struck by the thought, Yahizui turned once more towards their approaching sensei, with a new set of eyes. This was what they all hoped to be, trained to become: deadly killers. Kaito had killed those men to protect them, to defend their client. As if the shinobi rules were suddenly present before her, Yahizui realized the mistake they had made. Leaving an enemy alive meant a possible future death. If Kaito had left them, then they would have escaped their trap and gone to get reinforcements, now with information about their strengths and techniques. And with each step, Yahizui saw more of her sensei and less of the cold T&I man who tortured men for a living. This was their teacher, and they had to trust him.

They had to.

"We need to move out," said Kaito as he reached them. They nodded, still half shocked, half dazed. Before they left, Kaito raised a hand and stopped them. "Wait. This is a good opportunity to learn a new jutsu. It's an earth jutsu, but you don't need that much of an affinity to learn this one." He signaled them to carefully look at his hands, slowly executed four hand signs then placed his hands on the ground.

Earth style: Deep grave.

The earth moved, rose up, and swallowed the bodies, turning what had been a battlefield into a regular, peaceful clearing. Kaito turned and looked at them once more. "This jutsu hides the bodies, leaving fewer possibilities for someone to find you."

All three genins nodded. As they moved along, Yahizui glanced behind them once more. It was unfair that all that death could disappear with a few hand signs and a swell of chakra. It made it seem like it never happened. Even the smell was quickly carried away by the wind, vanishing entirely. It was so simple, a sweep of a blade, a well-aimed kunai, and a life was over. Do an Earth jutsu, hide the bodies, and move on. And yet… it was still killing. The truth hit her like a punch in the gut.

She wasn't training to protect her loved ones, she was training to kill.