Chapter 18: Venture: Croc Royale

Warning for annoying accents? Trust me, I'm the one who had to type it.

Also Worldbuilding, rated M for Made-up Cultures.

Part 2: Croc Royale

Michiru-san double-takes even harder when Kakashi-shishou dumps me, still Henged as his possible-child, on the carpet of his office.

"Change back, kid, you're confusing him." A poof of smoke and I'm back to normal again.

"Ah. I am sorry for the deception," Michiru-san explains a tad sheepishly. "But as you can see, Aokimo Inc. has been crippled by that swine Gatou. If we can't resume shipping soon...we're already haemorrhaging stock market value and soon Gatou will be able to absorb our assets. Myself and several other employees will most likely be found with daggers in our backs and the land and buildings will be his along with our routes and suppliers. He's taking over the island piece by piece."

Well, isn't that a mess? I turn to Kakashi. "Being objective here, no offence Michiru-san, but why doesn't Konoha get another company?"

"Aokimo is reliable, we have a long history with the company and it's pretty much the most reputable. Gatou, on the other hand, is known to be side-lining in Flesh and drug trafficking."

"So why isn't he dead yet?"

"Scumbag he might be, but he's good at cover-ups. No paper trail, no evidence that civilian courts can verify, no kill orders. If anyone bought an assassination mission, they'd be the ones prosecuted for murder."

"So we're getting the Aokimo ships up and running?"

"Yes. Looks like this is a B-rank after all." Kakashi-shishou suddenly looks up at Michiru-san. "Although, why hasn't the Harbourmaster stepped in?"

The polite, smiley façade cracks a little more. "When no move was made and no answer was forthcoming, I pleaded to speak with her, for...old times' sake. Her position wasn't all that consolidated before Gatou made his move and now it seems he has blackmail on her...'"

Kakashi-shishou calculates something in his head. "Contact the Harbourmaster somehow, found what he's got on her, steal it back, let her know so she can kick Gatou out, and do it all while avoiding the Kiri-nin. Sounds good to me."

I speak up now. "Michiru-san, you said you know her well. Do you know of any way we could sneak in a message?" But he shakes his head.

"Apologies, it was rather long ago; we were both young. Our circumstances have changed since then. However, she did announce a Business Gala to take place tomorrow night, which is very unexpected. Regardless, Gatou knows every CEO on Benisu, so he'd notice anyone new. But there is a contingent from the Land of Ships, specifically the Bonecrack Archipelago, you could sneak in amongst. I don't know how well they'd take that proposition though."

I don't like the gleam in Shishou's eye and my snarky-bastard senses are tingling. "How do you feel about endearing yourself to some people with your usual infectious personality?"

"Infectious?"

"Brat, you are the cold-virus of annoying friendship."

"I know I changed my eyes to brown and all, but are you sure you want me to keep this particular form?" I ask as I scurry to keep un with Kakashi-shishou's now relatively much longer strides. I'm barely on eye-level with his hip and I've decided that I don't really like being short.

"I'm sure. It's a very detailed Henge, since you've spent so much time in it and are accustomed to moving in it. Also, it's not outrageously strange-looking as some make the mistake, but not too normal that they'll be able to focus on any discrepancies. Speaking of which...'" he trails off, eye glancing around the surrounding stalls speculatively.

He's changed himself as well.

His slightly-darker grey hair no longer sticks up but falls down the back of his neck in long spikes to barely brush his shoulders, the part that his forehead plate would usually keep out of his eyes now falling down one side to hide his scarred eye, his other eye now hazel. His mask has been replaced by a bandanna and his clothes are casual now; all the stuff from his pouches are now in a storage seal he had me draw on his wrist.

"Here you go."

I'm distracted from my musings by something soft and vaguely fluffy being thrust in my face. I grab it and lower it to see what it is.

What the hell?...'

"Shishou? You bought me a toy wolf."

"Excellent powers of observation."

"Haha, but...Why?"

"The way you hold yourself, your poise, just screams shinobi, not civilian. Holding a toy will offset some of that by forcing you to change your stance and it'll divert suspicion away from you. Plus, I get more cute blackmail photos of you. Oh, and you shouldn't call me Shishou, since we're pretending to be related."

It is...kinda cute, I guess? I never really got the point of cuddly toys, with the exception of Heart Crystal Toys because the chakra theory behind them is really interesting and they can have the secondary purpose of medical equipment. I can live with this one though, just for the mission.

"Fine, Kashi-chichi," I say dryly. "Carry me."

He causes in mid-step. "Excuse me?"

"Your four-year-old son's legs are small and starting to get tired and he doesn't like being crowded by the legs of strange people. Carry me," I deadpan drily. "Also, somebody said 'simple C-rank so don't bother sleeping', so I am very tired and I am a growing boy who needs my rest."

I can do Passive-Aggression too. Now to break out my final weapon.

Biting my lower lip in nervous shyness, I look up at Kakashi-shishou and, with a carefully calculated almost-tremor in my voice..."Pleeeeease?" Puppy-Eyes, go!

"Nice try brat," he ruffles my hair. "My ninken have tried that so many times, I've built up an immunity. I'm not carrying you."

Foiled again! And I would have gotten away with it too, if it hadn't been for you cute-mongering dogs!

I nearly have a heart attack when I see a Suna-nin loitering by one of the stalls, and I practically have a second when Kakashi wanders over to ask them something. Worse, I'm dragged along with him. Luckily, I have every excuse to act shy and promptly adhere myself to his leg. Haha, revenge!

The Suna kunoichi is very ordinary-looking aside from being a bit on the slender side with a heavy bead necklace around her neck, but that doesn't stop Kakashi from complimenting her and them casually flirting with each other shamelessly. Finally, she laughs, slapping him on the shoulder good-naturedly. "Sorry, I've got a man and I'm an exclusive kinda girl, even if you've got big brass ones to try your chances with a Suna-nin so persistently. Plus, you've got a kid with you and he looks terrified half out of his wits at the sight of me; good instincts, he'll go far. Anyway...'"

She puts a finger and thumb to her lips and whistles a harsh, four-note heads-up and two whitish-coloured figures slip out of the crowd. Oh...they're Tenkakera People, Heaven Shard folk. I've only read about them or seen photos. They're from the cold tundra North of Kaze no Kuni and pretty self-sufficient, so they don't usually trade with anyone other than Kaze no Kuni settlements. Things must be bad if they're branching out to other places. Or good, I wouldn't know.

"Ya shamoss ya-self a vokeny, Ikoi-san? Urayama-san won' be happy, zura," One of them remarks, his accent thick and peppered with slang as his broad, teasing smile practically glows white against his black face-paint. It's a very odd intonation, cutting and slurring words in odd places. And the slang words pronounce and follow very similar phonemes to English.

In short, it's very disconcerting.

Ikoi pinches the bridge of her nose in frustration. "Daiki, cut the crap and at least try and make yourself intelligible? Asuka, these two need to speak with the Wanitei fleet. Know where they're anchored?"

"Ah, c'mawn Ikoi-san, don' git oggi, zura," Daiki whines, only for Ikoi to grab his ear through his hood. "ATATatata! M'sorry, kay?" His accent drops a fair amount and the slang is gone.

"Me an Asuka 'll tek'm over. Wanitei are sittin' pretty all out on their lonesome but they's got some taraibune for ferryin' folks for talkin', zura. Now leggo o' my ear woman, 'm losin' all circulation."

The one called Asuka steps forward. "No, I'll tek'm by ma-self." Oh, she's a she. It's impossible to tell under the cloak and bulky clothing.

"Won' tek long. Keep that jablist in check fo'me. C'mon, ya two. I'll show ya where the taraibune are moored. Ya can mek ya own way fr'm there."

We follow as her cloak swishes in front of us, the hoops in the rabbit-like ears of her hood jangling softly. I take the chance to look back over my shoulder and see Ikoi and Daiki still bickering, but now I can see that the back of Daiki's cloak is beautifully embroidered in shimmery bronzes and greys with a sun rising over a mountain, a crab and what could possibly be an abstract Dragon.

Asuka doesn't have any embroidery at all, but she does have a large jointed shoulder guard made from what could be cured leather and with every other stride, the tip of a sword-sheath pokes out of the bottom of the left side of her cloak.

"'M sorry if'n we scared ya littl' un," she throws a comment back over her shoulder as we round a corner. "No' many people don' find us odd-like."

"It's fine, Asuka-san," Kakashi replies, surreptitiously prying me off of his leg to make me walk beside him. "I think he's just a bit overwhelmed by all the strange people. Walk properly, I swear to Kami...'," he hisses down at me.

I think Asuka-san has a quirk of a fond smile about her lips and Kakashi-shishou picks up on it. "I'm sorry for causing a scene."

"Nah, not at'all. Mah own littl' un's a smidge older 'n still hides fr'm strangers." She stops, and points down, and we halt in our progress along the sea-front. "Taraibune down th're. Wanitei ou' th're," she points out. "Do'ble-hull Junker, can' miss it. I'll bid ya good sailin' an' a bright sky."

With that abrupt farewell, she turns and slinks away before Kakashi-shishou can utter a word of thanks.

Undeterred, Shishou grabs me by the ear and leads me down the steps to the large taraibune coracles, dumping us both in one. "What the hell are you playing at?" He snaps. "There's a line between maintaining your cover and sabotaging mine, and you're threatening to cross it!"

"Maybe, if someone would actually give me the details, I would have been able to do more than panic internally when you start chatting up a Suna kunoichi! What happened to 'slip down to the docks and find the Bonecrack Archipelago delegation discreetly'? Flirting in the middle of the street is not discreet! It certainly wasn't in the plan," I growl back.

"Missions call for adaptability," he sighs impatiently as he unties the taraibune coracle from it's moorings. "If you think you need the safety net of rigid rules and regulations, then maybe you'd be better suited to a desk job in Intel."

I gape. How can he say that? "No, I just like to be included into things that involve me," I spit. "There's a line between going with the flow and leaving me in the dark, and you're threatening to cross it!"

"Fine," he bites, pushing the coracle away from the dock and into deep water, digging at the sea with the paddle in a furious sort of way. "How about this then? We're going to meet the Wanitei. You will let me do the talking. You will comport yourself with dignity. Clear?"

"Crystal, Shishou."

There's a long awkward period of silence as Kakashi paddles. Then, he sighs. "This is a control thing, isn't it? I'm sorry."

"Hwah?" I grunt in surprise at the apology out of the blue.

"You have the need to know exactly what you're doing and what's required of you. I'm sorry for making you panic like that. I'm...trying to work on some things."

He...he really is changing from canon for the better. "Apology accepted," I grace him with a smile. "I'm sorry for overreacting."

"Thank you. All the same, my instructions about meeting the Wanitei still stand. Seriously, I know a few things about their culture from a colleague."

"Who?"

"Ever wonder where Kurenai Yuuhi's red eyes, wavy black hair and dress sense comes from? Her grandfather was a Wanitei who chose to stay in Konoha."

As that little titbit is digested, our coracle pulls up to a truly massive catamaran-hulled Djong-type warship rigged with twin junk sails. The sails are a dappled red-green that catch the high morning light as they splay out like the hiss of a frill-necked lizard. Surrounding the main ship are a flurry of lateen-rigged dhows and bobbing coracles like ours.

A dhow pulls up alongside us as we near the hull of the mothership, one of the crew leaning over the side.

"Ahoy t'visitors? Who're you looking for?"

Kakashi-shishou waves up; "I must speak with the Ane-ue, we need her help!"

The crewman stands back, running his fingers through his curly black hair. "Uh. Yeah, she should be free. Go right up, someone'll show you t' chamber. And don't even t'ink about trying anyt'ing, or we'll feed you t' Ani-ue."

That definitely sounds ominous.

We're led down into the centre of the mothership, lanterns of glass and twisted iron lighting the way. The walls are reminiscent of traditional paper doors, but made of fish-skin leather and with strings of sea-glass fragments hanging from the struts.

Other merchants are led into these rooms by Wanitei wearing colourfully dyed headscarves; business meetings, no doubt. But we are led further and further by our guide-slash-guard, who met us on the main deck. He's set apart from the crews outside and the headscarf-wearers by his wearing gauntlets and a wide collar made of interlocking thorn-like bony plates, almost like the scales of some massive reptile. A tri-pronged fishing spear with nasty, backwards pointing barbs rests across his back.

He slams his fist twice in quick succession against the wooden door at the end of the corridor, before pushing it open and ushering us in. He himself enters behind us.

This large central chamber is...not dimly lit, the lanterns are bright enough; but even they aren't enough to penetrate the shadows cloaking the rafters and beyond. Boxes, chests and treasures spill across the sides of the room, creating a central pathway to the occupant at the end. A group of Wanitei perch atop these stacks of riches like so many sunbathing lizards, clad as they are in scaly leather.

Their Ane-ue, as their leader is called apparently, one Chinatsu-sama, sits on a raised platform at the end. Her one-sided linen shirt clearly bares her most striking feature; that being an ugly knotted star of scar tissue in place of her right breast. Brightly coloured strips of cloth are wrapped around the braids of her parted bangs, one side pinned back with a simple gold comb, the rest of her thick black waves pulled up into a high ponytail; the end of which barely brushes the same thorny collar as the guard. One hand rests lightly on the sheathed sword lying in front of her.

This is probably a good time to mention that the rest of the Wanitei that have been seen so far are wearing their native dress. There's nothing wrong in that, of course, but it seems that the Wanitei culture has very different views on how much skin exposure constitutes public indecency. Oh, men being topless is nothing new for anybody, but the women being topless looks like more of personal choice or comfort-slash-practicality than any social convention or lack thereof.

I am so thankful right now that puberty hasn't kicked in yet, otherwise I wouldn't be able to focus. Kakashi-shishou is keeping his gaze rigidly fixed at eye-level.

There is also the matter of the crocodile in the room. No, I'm not mangling a euphemism, there is literally a crocodile in the room, a Wani, to be specific.

Because, I don't know what happened to this planet, but it definitely had dinosaurs and for whatever reason, some saurian traits were preserved in various reptile species. For example, crocodiles are mostly the same as what I remember, but Wani crocodiles have no webbing on their feet, a split-tail a bit like that of a small shark, and back and head armour like an ankylosaurus with one central spike kind of shaped like a shark fin. Explains where those collars and gauntlets come from. They're apparently as smart as cats, but I for one don't want to test that on the 21ft specimen currently lounging behind the Wanitei leader.

"Which ship or company are you from?" Chinatsu-sama asks curtly, no accent to her voice. "And what business do you have with us?"

"We wish to hide among your crew," Kakashi-shishou states flatly, not even bothering to lie. "We need to attend the Business Gala and speak to the Harbourmaster without Gatou knowing."

Her red eyes narrow. "Shinobi. Remove your guises." Her hand moves to clasp her sword.

I look at Shishou, but he just meets my eyes and gives me a nod of affirmation. We dispel our Henges, removing the Holding Seals from our necks. Immediately, Chinatsu looks straight at me, then to Kakashi.

"You really are a child. And I thought you had all perished, Hata-"

"Hatake," Shishou stresses urgently. "I didn't realise that people still remembered that. Besides, I'm as good as the last one now."

"Lightning does not die, Lost one," she says firmly. "Is this child not-"

"No." He grumbles.

"Last of the Kaguya Clan, hi," I wave. "No relation. At all. But it is funny to see people double-take." I can't help but falter at her intense gaze as she looks me up and down.

"Normally, I disapprove of shinobi bringing along children like errant pets. But I can see that you have already been blooded, at so young an age. Tell me, do you not wish to escape from this life?"

"I'm hunted merely for existing," I explain haltingly. "And I have a responsibility to those who now rely on my strength. To run away would be the cowards way out. And are you going to stand by and let Gatou take over, or will you help us?"

Chinatsu grins. "What say you, my imouto?" She calls to the other Wanitei lounging about the shadows of the room. "Do we hide the hunters or no?"

"Less competition from those metal ships of his," One man calls out, leaning on a naginata. "I say 'ide them."

"We'll lose t' trust of t' other traders, I vote no." A woman shouts down from a ledge.

"They didn't lie t' us about their intentions, hide them."

"As Bitesize down there said, t' run is t' coward's way. I'm no coward," the guard grins at us from our left, at me specifically.

"Gatou's bad news, anything 'at hurts 'im is good in my book. Hide 'em."

More and more pipe up in our favour, most notably focusing on the fact that we didn't lie or bluff our reasons. Strange that they value truth and straightforwardness, and Kurenai's a genjutsu mistress. Still, Kakashi's knowledge really saved us this time. He's being a lot more open as well. I doubt I'll get him to spill everything fully, but he's out of ANBU and that high-stress environment and seems to have decided that I deserve protecting and teaching.

I still don't know how I feel about that last part. I know that he does see me as my own person, not a replacement Obito, Rin or Minato; I'm not his atonement by proxy. I'm grateful for the teaching, I really am, I'm learning so much. And it is very nice to have someone looking out for me; a similar warm-squishy feeling blooms in my chest as when Yuyu sighs and huffs about how stupid I am and that I need to take better care of myself. I think this is what it's like to have an older brother.

But what was with the 'sounding-board' comment when he took me on? And how come nobody else uses stuff from that old house?

What's with Kakashi-shishou's name not being Hatake? I reckoned there was a Clan of sorts and maybe him and Sakumo were the last, but what's with him being as good as the last one?

The Wani shifts.

As the aforementioned monstrous reptile heaves itself to it's feet with surprising speed and grace, naturally, all eyes turn to look. Predator-prey instinct and all. Chinatsu-sama doesn't bother moving herself though, instead simply smiling and patting it's neck. It opens it's jaws a crack, a hiss of mildly fetid air escaping. "Our Ani-ue wish to hunt, then?" Chinatsu-sama croons. "Maybe, maybe, soon. We won't suffer that parasite Gatou for much longer."

She turns back to us.

"It is decided. You shall hide among my delegation to the Business Gala, so that you may talk to the Harbourmaster with the intention of removing Gatou from power."

We both bow low. "We thank you, Chinatsu-Ane-sama," Kakashi-shishou sighs gratefully. "With your permission, we would leave now, disguised, to make some final arrangements."

She waves us away, dismissively. "Do what you must."

Henges reapplied, Kakashi-shishou slaps the Holding Seal back onto my neck, activating it for me. As I've said before, having a net of a foreign chakra wrapped around your own chakra that's coating and compressing your skin is very odd. I much prefer to do it myself, but he insists that he needs the practice in drawing and applying them.

Before he can redo his Seal tag though, there's the sound of yelling, and the thundering of feet. Everyone pauses. The guard pushes possible-Hatake-child-me behind him with a grunt of "you're supposed t' be a kid now, Bitesize, and this is my job, not yours."

Kakashi-shishou draws a kunai from the storage seal on his wrist with a hiss. "Shinobi."

The door slams open, shuddering on it's hinges, the lantern-light glinting off of Kirigakure forehead-plates. All four of them.

A picture of Asuka and Daiki is up on my Deviant art, as is a picture of a Wani, for reference.

And yes, I am reusing OCs from my Stairs of Sand/Hourglass universe. Because they fit and I like them. And also we don't see any badass Suna kunoichi aside from Temari, Lady Chiyo and Maki(on Kakashi's squad during 4th war).

Oh look, Easter Eggs for my take on the Hatake Clan, to be explored at a later date.

The taraibune coracles are more akin to Kuphar than small river coracles.

Omake

"C-rank curse strikes again!" A courier called from the doorway, and every shinobi in the Briefing room collectively groaned.

"Which poor saps is it this time?" Byakugo Yamanaka asked from his seat at one of the desks. "And what has it gone up to?"

"Uuh...corporate espionage comes under B-rank, doesn't it?" The courier shrugged, tossing the message scroll over. It was caught, and read accordingly.

"Huh. Hey, does the annual Benisu mission count as an actual C-rank?"

"Oh kami, that's the mission Hatake-san and the Kaguya kid are on," Iruka started. "You're saying it's B-rank now?"

Ignoring Iruka's sudden shock, Byakugo continued his musing. "'Cause it is listed as a B-rank anyway, so this might not count as the C-rank curse and just dumb luck. Hatake's ex-ANBU though and the kid's smart as a whip to boot. And it was just delivering a stack of documents to begin with; how on earth would that get complicated?"

"It just says 'corporate espionage', don't ask me," the courier shrugged, throwing up her hands and leaving.