Fandom Squad Shithead: A Naruto AU

[Gilzar]

Mizu

"Certainly!" Mizu enthusiastically replied to his request. Though the pole was long and awkward, Mizu was actually handled it very well in the cramped space. She put her hand onto the top part of the pole, and brought it down into Haruki's lap, while simultaneously sliding up the other end up the nearby wall so that the pole wouldn't go to far out into the isle and jab into someone nearby. This may have been a new weapon, but it wasn't her first time using one this size. Way back when she first started training with this type of weapondry, her uncle Hisoka measured her and would always cut her staffs to that exact length.

Katsuro

Looking over for a moment, he noticed that Tetsou was trying to sleep. It was almost a relieving feeling knowing that he wouldn't be bothering him for the duration of this train ride, which would only be for a few hours. Right now the train was moving at a good pace, rivaling that of any horse out there. By his estimation, it'd probably be sometime in the afternoon when they arrived at the border of the Land of Birds.

Speaking of the Land of Birds, Katsuro wanted to know more about his mission. As per his request, Katsuro granted him access to several documents that would fill in the gaps of his knowledge regarding the land of birds. Reaching into his pack, he found two forms of ddocuments: The first was a brief written history of the Land of Birds, written just after the war. This was a short read that went over the most recent history of the odd little country. Next was an Atlas, containing maps of all sorts for the Land of Birds. Starting with the history, Katsuro began to read into the history of this land he knew little about. Who knows, maybe he would find something useful?

 

[Pine]

Haruki

He took the pole in his hands with tender care. Haruki slid his hands down its smooth, sleek surface. It was obviously new with how it shone brilliantly in the train's overhead light. His hand glided down to the end, where he rubbed his thumb against the ridges of a delicate inscription. "There, see?" He turned it over to where Mizu could see the small, jagged peaks of a mountain. "That's our crest. Funny coincidence, huh?" In even tinier script were the characters of his family name beneath it. "I mean, the name isn't always there, but you get it."

Haruki picked it up just enough to bounce it in his hands. "The weight feels nice," he said, surprised with how light it was. He knocked his knuckles against its body, testing if it was hollow. "Might be titanium. That would've cost a small fortune." He pushed it back towards her, just enough to show he was done looking at it. "A pole seems like a weird weapon choice, but at least he didn't cheap out on you. Do you think you're gonna' use it?"


Tetsuo

Not yet asleep, he heard yet again the shuffling of papers. He cracked his eye open again, looking to see if there had been more to the mission scroll from before. There wasn't.

He turned his head to the side just enough to get a better look at the document. Tetsuo could see the folds of a map behind it. Skimming over the paper, he knew it was a historical account for the Land of Birds. Now that he thought about it, he didn't know much of anything about where they were going. If it wasn't one of the great nations, then the academy didn't go over them in depth.

He didn't see how this was at all useful. A missing girl was a missing girl, it could happen anywhere.

Having lost interest, he rested his head back against the seat a final time to try to rest. He wondered idly if the birds there would be any different from the ones in Konoha. Then he was asleep.

 

[Gilzar]

Mizu

"Titanium? Really?" Mizu looked down at the staff in a surprised manner, shocked at the quality of the gift. She wouldn't have expected her uncle to spend so much on a simple item when a wooden one would have sufficed just as much. It was also very impressive how well Haruki knew his weaponry, but it made since given his father was a blacksmith.

Haruki then commented on how strange the weapon was, and whether she would use it or not.

"I'll definetely be using it." Mizu explained, pulling the staff back up to its original position on the wall, and securing her bag against it once again. "It might seem like a weird choice, but my Uncle's been training with these since I was like 8. I like them because they have a nice reach."

Mizu then sat for a moment, examining the staff. Then, she shifted her body to face Haruki. "Do you have a weapon of choice?"

 

[Pine]

Haruki hummed to himself at her explanation for liking the staff. "I guess that's true." It definitely was one of the longest weapons.

When she asked him about his own weapon preference, he laughed just a little.

"I honestly don't know. I don't think I like using weapons all that much." He laid his head back in his seat, staring up at the ceiling in thought, trying to remember all the types of weapons he could think of. "Battle fans are pretty fun but they're so hard to use. Puppets seem really cool, but those are almost impossible to use, and then they end up just being like five different weapons in one. I've been told I'm pretty good with a tanto, but I wouldn't really want to be using one." He shrugged, thinking over if there was anything else he was forgetting. Probably not, and that was precisely why he carried only the most basic gear with him.

 

[Gilzar]

Mizu

Mizu nodded in understanding to his statement. "Those are all fair reasons. Personally I would prefer to use just my hands and feet in combat. But...I'm short and have trouble closing the distance to get close. So the staff helps me with that."

As she finished up her sentence, the train began to slow. The sound of breaks hitting the wheels of the train filled up the cabin, then a voice came over the intercom. "Now stopping at the Land of Fire Border. If this is your stop, please ready yourself to leave the train."

The train entered a small village, just on the border of the Land of Fire. Slowly, it crept into a small train station before coming to a complete stop. This would be the first of several stops on the way to the Land of Birds. Many people in the train cart rose out of their seats like clockwork, and left the train. After a few minutes, some people began to baord the train. However, the amount of people coming back on was abysmal compared to those getting off. Other carts would now be open for the genin to explore, if they would so like.

Katsuro continued to stay in his seat, still reading over the history of the Land of Birds. He had no intention of moving somewhere else. Meanwhile, Mizu looked to Haruki, wondering if he'd decide to move to a different cart. She'd likely follow if he did, seeing how she wanted some distance from Katsuro sensei before being stuck with him for three whole days.

 

[Pine]

As the train pulled to a stop, Haruki watched the coming and going of civilian traffic on the train. He had a small, childish hope, yet again, of finding some kids closer to their age, or at least another shinobi. He didn't find what he was looking for exactly, but what he did find was there was much more room on the cart now.

As though they shared a brain, Haruki looked at Mizu at the same time she looked at him.

He looked across to the other bench. Tetsuo was laying still, his arms folded across his and his eyelids having barely fluttered.

He looked back at Mizu with a mischievous grin, then cupped his hand to whisper in her ear, "Let's ditch Tetsuo."

Haruki grabbed ahold of the nearby railed to stand up properly. He leaned across to the other bench and tapped Katsuro's shoulder to get his attention. Quietly, he said, "Katsuro-sensei, we're going to sit in another cart. Is that okay?"

After whatever cue of affirmation Katsuro chose to give them, he smiled and grabbed for Mizu's hand to pull her along with him in a hurry.

By the time he had practically skipped down to the next cart, Haruki was all giddy energy. He dropped her hand and said, "Phew! I'm so glad to be out of there. Those two are such downers."

Perhaps since they were so much closer to the end of the train, this cart was much more empty with plenty of bench space left. He wondered if they would've been able to find another seat in here earlier if they'd just looked.

"Katsuro smells like the floor of a bar," Haruki continued as he walked, "and I bet he'd drink off of one if he had to." He scoffed, but in a way that was meant to share disgust with her. "And Tetsuo's just such a little goblin. I don't think he even knows how to smile." Haruki found a spot to plop himself down on, grinned at Mizu and patted the open space next to him.

 

[Gilzar]

Katsuro just nodded, while remaining fixated on his book. He didn't care where they went so long as they didn't get off of this train. Though it may not look like it from his outward appearance, Katsuro actually enjoyed a good read every now and then. To his surprise, this written history of the Land of Birds actually was pretty interesting. He was learning a lot of things he didn't know about the land. Once again, Katsuro looked to his left and noticed that Tetsou was still asleep.

Even when Tetsuo is sleeping, his team members still ditch him. Katsuro couldn't help but smirk slightly as he watched Mizu and Haruki scamper off into the other train cart. At least a few people in this squad actually got along...

Mizu

The train halted, and people began to pour off of the train. She then looked over to Haruki, and Haruki looked back at her. They were both in agreement to ditch Tetsuo and head into the other train cart. Then, before she knew it, Haruki had grabbed her hand and was leading her into the other cart. Mizu blushed, not expecting that at all. While she didn't mind it, Mizu really wasn't used to people touching her all that much. Most people in the village were too taboo to deal with her, and most would scold interacting with a jinchuriki. Haruki obviously didn't seem to know, or care. Perhaps a bit of both?

Sitting down next to Haruki, he immediately began to lay into Tetsuo and Haruki. Both statements he made, she agreed to. Katsuro already reeked of alcohol and cigarettes and the day wasn't even halfway over yet. Tetsuo was still his annoying old self.

"Tetsuo is an ass." Mizu stated to Haruki. "He's a bully, who pushes around anyone wo doesn't stand up to him. I think that's kind of why him and Katsuro are always arguing. Tetsuo probably isn't used to people standing up to him."

 

[Pine]

Haruki nodded enthusiastically with every word she said. He had gossiped the night before with his family, but it was much more personal knowing Mizu had lived through it with him. It was much more satisfying this way, especially since he was still getting to know her.

"Oh yeah," he agreed, laughing a little. "And he doesn't know when to stop talking either." Anyone could see from a mile away that Katsuro was a hot-blooded man. It must be taking every ounce of the jounin's self-control to have not put him in the ground yet.

"And you saw what he did to me yesterday!" he continued, pitch rising to a whining tone now. "You know, when he stomped my foot in front of Matsuda." He groaned for dramatic effect, wiggling his toes in his open-toed sandals. "He's like three feet tall, but they're still sore." When he'd had a chance to last night, he'd examined himself for a broken toenail. Haruki had almost been disappointed to see that they were all still in tact, so he could only get so much pity from everyone else.

"And like, it wasn't my fault that he went to snoop on Katsuro anyway. We were following orders."

 

[Gilzar]

Mizu recalled the evetns of the night before, with Tetsuo acting like a complete jerk in front of Matsuda. Just thinking about his tantrum he threw made her shake her head, agreeing with Haruki. As she did this the train began to move, and slowly began to build up speed to get back on schedule.

"He was a complete jerk to you last night. I should have done something, I'm sorry." Mizu said sympathetically. In hindsight she could have definitely done more than just idly stand by like she did. Though Mizu by no means was as tall as Katsuro, she was still taller than Tetsou. It probably wouldn't be hard for her to push him around physically anyway.

"Plus his behavior this morning. I've never seen Katsuro Sensei that mad before, even though I've only known him for two days now. Guess Tetsou was more confused about the topic than we were...."

 

[Pine]

Haruki made a pitiable face, in spite of the rush of comfort he felt from Mizu. It was a nice thought, having her yell at Tetsuo on his behalf. "It's not your fault," was what he said though. "But thank you."

He laid his head back against the seat, sighing lightly through his nose. The rattling of the cart as the train moved forward made him almost immediately decide to lean forward again.

"I mean, it's not like I'm afraid of him. He's just so... mean. I just don't want to deal with it." Even though it felt almost traumatizing at the time, he laughed a little now, thinking about the events from the morning. "I can't believe he did that. In front of the Hokage, of all people." He paused, reevaluating. "I mean, I guess not technically the Hokage, but you get what I'm saying."

If he was being honest, he was a little confused by everything too, but he definitely was much less concerned by it. Certainly, his curiosity was not enough to make him storm into the Hokage's office without invitation. He liked having a head on his shoulders.

Haruki shook his head. "I don't know how we're supposed to work with him. If he does that in front of the leader of a village, I can't imagine what he's going to do in front of our client."

 

[Gilzar]

Mizu thought back to the scene this morning, and how uncomfortable she was from the get go. Getting the news about Soruto had already made her uneasy, but then being marched up to his office just put salt in the wound. Though he really didn't do much in her life, other than giving her the markings on her face, it was still unnerving that he was gone. Her feelings still perplexed her. Tetsuo's shenanigans did a good job of keeping her mind off of it, but occasionally her mind would slip back and the hollow feeling would return.

Luckily, Haruki kept the conversation going, providing yet another ample distraction from her feelings.

"We are just going to have to deal with him. Unfortunately we're stuck with him. Don't let him get the idea that he can push you around" Mizu replied, glancing out the window for a second as the scenery outside slowly began to change.

"I doubt Katsuro is going to allow him to have an outburst in front of whoever hired us. After this morning I'd even bet that Katsuro won't let him anywhere near the client."

 

[Pine]

When Mizu told him not to let their teammate trample all over him, Haruki agree with a, "Yeah," said in a tone that would signal to anyone who knew him better that he had no intention of actually taking their advice seriously.

He laughed a little at the thought of Katsuro making Tetsuo stand outside as they talked with their client. "I honestly hope so."

He shook his head again, and grabbed onto the rail as they hit a particularly rough patch with the terrain change. He bounced in his seat just a little, before the cart seemed to have settled down again. "When I thought about being a shinobi on a squad, I never thought it would be like this. I mean, I guess it's all pretty new, but I didn't think I'd have to deal with a teammate like that. And I didn't think I'd have a sensei that just... seems to hate kids." He laughed again. "I can't believe either of them are allowed to be ninjas."

 

[Gilzar]

Mizu nodded to Haruki. She agreed, for the most part. If the instructors knew just how big of a pain in the side that Tetsuo would be to any instructor, maybe they might not have let her graduated back when he did. Just when Tetsuo graduated she wasn't sure, as she was almost certain that he was not a member of her graduating class. Thinking further on the topic, Mizu could recall hearing Kaito mention to Tetsuo that he had been a genin for a while. However, she couldn't also deny his skill. From what she observed during their training exercise yesterday, Tetsuo appeared pretty competent in his ninjutsu abilities.

Then there was the mention of Katsuro shouldn't have been allowed to have been a shinobi. Though she didn't indicate it by her body language, Mizu didn't agree to this. Mizu had heard a lot about Katsuro Katashi's war exploits, and why the 'Bulldog of Konoha' was so infamous among other shinobi. Hisoka would even occasionally mention Katsuro's name when talking to his friends that would drop by the house ocassionaly. Though he was extremely rude and unpleasant, and probably had a lot in common with Tetsuo, his prowess couldn't be ignored in her mind. Just watching his speed move when he was going after those guys at the shrine....it only added to his somewhat intimidating demeanor.

"Tetsuo, I'd agree. I don't see how he made it this far as a ninja with his antics." Mizu said, reflecting her thoughts. She then continued to state the rest of her thoughts.

"Katsuro though. He's different. I've heard of the things he accomplished during war-time, and just why he's considered a war hero. I mean, afterall...you have heard about how he played a role in turning the tide against the land of lightning near the end of the war, right?"

Mizu glanced behind her shoulder to make sure that neither Katsuro, nor Tetsuo were present. From everything she'd heard from her peers, Katsuro wasn't especially fond of discussing his war stories. She also didn't feel like putting up with Tetsuo if he so happened to be walking htis way.

 

[Pine]

Haruki's giddy and giggly energy faded as Mizu started talking about Katsuro and his role in the war. He tried not to make it seem too obvious, letting his expression sit in its resting position, but he was annoyed, almost angry. The fact that Mizu didn't agree with him completely hit him with the force of some great betrayal.

It wasn't as if he didn't have the same, or similar, level of respect for Katsuro's abilities. He genuinely feared what the man was capable, especially after seeing what he'd do to throttle a teenager just that morning, let alone thinking of what he could've done to those two strangers yesterday if he'd been completely unhinged. It was that volatile temper he'd been thinking about, and how there hadn't been any sort of punishment as far as what he'd seen for his crass attitude and seemingly violent nature. In that moment, Haruki treated Mizu either not understanding this, or the idea that she might disagree with him in spite of this, as if it had been meant to be a personal offense against him.

When she turned her head around to check if any of the rest of their squad were coming onto the cart, Haruki turned his head down to look at his nails. As a response, he hummed to himself, almost grunting. "No, I haven't heard that," he said, as if the dirt beneath his chewed-down nails were more interesting than whatever it was she could say next.

It was true that he hadn't heard about it. He had heard Katsuro talk about being a soldier in the war yesterday night, but he didn't know anything about him being a war hero. Maybe it normally would've interested him to hear, how their sensei had played a significant part in halting the Land of Lightning's advances, but he was putting his energy into looking like he didn't care.

It didn't occur to him how petty he was being. He wasn't thinking consciously about how much he wanted to punish her with his indifference.

 

[Gilzar]

Mizu

As she turned back around from watching the train cart behind, something seemed different about Haruki. His very vocal, joyful demeanor had changed and he was now much more quiet. She even heard him mumble about how he wasn't aware Katsuro was a hero. Something in the air had shifted, and what was at first a friendly, fluid conversation now appeared awkward, and stiff. Awkwardly, Mizu sat still for a moment or so, wondering what to do next. She glanced over at Haruki, wondering if he'd say anything next or if she'd have to be the one to initiate the next part of the conversation.

"It's been a crazy day, hasn't it?" Mizu asked, glancing out the window for a moment. "One minute we're in front of the hospital, then we're witnessing a meltdown at the Hokage office, and now we're off to the Land of Birds."

"It's just crazy to think how far away form home we'll be. I've never even left the village before now..."

 

[Pine]

She was trying to make small talk again. She wasn't even any good at it, Haruki thought, or at least felt with his determination to act wounded by her. Obviously she wasn't even aware how she had wronged him.

The only acknowledgement he gave was another hum, no longer using words to respond.

The day had been going by fast. If he sat on the thought for long enough, he'd realize that he'd barely even processed how quickly they'd been moved from out of the village. It wasn't too much of a surprise to him that Mizu had never left the village, either. She seemed maybe closeted in some sort of way, or at least very reserved. Not to mention the war.

His parents had taken him once on a trip with himself and his sister to the Land of Water before the war. When the war started, his parents had assumed it would be resolved quickly, and they'd talked for a little while about their plans go to Land of Hot Water after the whole "squabble" had finished, even when they didn't have the funds to. Then three years passed, his sister sold military secrets, and they'd been moved to live in Konoha. They stopped talking after that.

Haruki sighed heavily through his nose, as though he'd just had to endure some long, boring lecture, then stood up. Still without looking at Mizu, he said, "I'm going to go look and see if there's anything interesting on the other carts." He didn't wait to see if Mizu would follow before heading back to the cart they'd come from and walking on. He didn't expect that the carts themselves would look any different, but maybe he could find someone interesting to talk to. And in the meantime, Mizu could be left to think about what she'd done wrong.

 

[Gilzar]

Mizu

There was an audible sigh, and Haruki got up. She simply watched, confused on just what was unfolding in front of her.

"I'm going to go look and see if there's anything interesting on the other carts."

Mizu trailed him as he walked away, even more confused than beforehand. Just what did she do to piss him off? One moment they were talking and then he was walking away all moody! She didn't recall saying or doing anything that would have been offensive? She slid over to the window side of her seat, and leaned her head up against the window as she watched the landscape change before her. Now alone, she couldn't help but let out a sigh herself, and pin her lips together to hide her emotions. First her father had died, then there was the Tetsuo drama, and now the only person she thought was somewhat of a friend on a squad seemed to be angry at her. Now there were no distractions from the pain, and the hollowness inside.

An hour or two passed, her just staring out of the window as the landscape changed before her very eyes. The terrain shifted progressively from a mostly flat forest to jagged cliffs, with sparse patches of empty rocky terrain between. At this point, from what she understood from geography, this was a sign they were no longer in the Land of Fire, but somewhere between the borders of the Land of Wind and Earth, while fast approaching the Land of Birds. As she stared, occasionally she would catch other people in the cart staring at her, whispering about her in the distance. Mizu just shook it off, after all she was used to this by now. Leaning back in her seat, away from her team and seemingly the rest of the world, Mizu closed her eyes for a bit. In about another half an hour, the sound of brakes had woke her up.

Instinctively Mizu looked outside the window, and was startled by what she saw: The terrain outside had become even more rugged, if that was even possible. Gigantic hills, covered in cliffs, rock, and trees towered in the distance and seemed to stretch onward for an eternity. The very size of these hills dwarfed Mizu, and made her realize just how small she was in the grand scope of things. This had to have been the hot topic of the afternoon, the Land of Birds. As the train screeched to a halt, Mizu moved back to their original train cart. She avoided eye contact with Tetsou and Haruki, annoyed with one and hurt with the other. She slipped on her pack, then grabbed her staff.

Katsuro

Without warning, Katsuro rose to his feet the moment the brakes let on and Mizu entered the cabin.

"Saddle up you three!" Katsuro suddenly announced through the cabin, not caring if Tetsuo was still asleep next to him or not. He stepped right over his genin companion, making damn sure that he would be the first one out of the train so that no one could get lost. While most instructors would have fiath in their students to be smart enough to find hteir instructor in a foreign land, Katsuro didn't. All of these genin had proven that up to this point, anything stupid that can happen, will happen. Might as well cut out as much of the stupidity as possible so that it at least didn't make him look bad.

"All of you dipshits follow me. We're not in Konoha anymore!"

With that said, the moment the train halted, Katsuro forced the doors open and exited. Outside the train lied a much less glamorous train station than that of Konoha's. There was no roof, no large crowds, everything was as bare-minimum as possible. Such was the case of most border-stations. Not much traffic went through these places, so not much cash flowed through them either. This very station happened to be stationed right on the border between the land of Wind and the Land of Birds in an area that was relativley flat given the intimidating terrain surrounding them. To their right was a small station, marked 'Land of Birds Border'.

They were, quite literally, at the end of the line. Nothing lay beyond the land of birds, and the railroad reflected this. No longer were there long extending tracks cutting through the forest, but just a small station where the trains could change directions and go somewhere else. Now the'd have to move through this rough terrain by foot, the aspect that Katsuro was the lesat looking forward to. From what he saw, this village was just an hour's walk away. The time was decieving though, because the topography maps showed that it would be a constant uphill and downhill climb. But that was all ahead of themselves. Right now they had to pass through the border. On the train, they didn't have to show paperwork because it was already taken care of when they purchased the tickets, and thus they could pass through the different borders. But now they were passing through a land not covered by railroad tickets.

Luckily, this would be simple due to modern politics.

"Alright you three. This might be a stretch considering you three, but this isn't that hard. All you have to do is show your Konoha Shinobi ID to the border guard and you will go through. That's it. No one talks. I'm doing the talking. With my luck one of you would otherwise have a tantrum and fuck up the mission early."

With that said, Katsuro didn't wait around. He fully expected his students to follow his lead, and that's exactly what Mizu did. Not having Haruki to confide in at the moment, while not wanting to deal with Tetsuo, she hastily followed behind her Sensei as he marched across the tracks over to the border. The border really wasn't much. Just a narrow river with a bridge running over it. At the end of this very bridge lay a single toll booth, manned by three different workers. It was already apparent that the workers had spotted the group coming hteir way, and were making the appropriate preparations.

"I.D. Please!" The worker announced the moment Katsuro crossed the bridge. Katsuro complied, pulling out his Shinobi ID. Without hesitation, the worker pulled the ID away from Katsuro and examined it. In a moment, he then stamped the back of Katsuro's ID, which was covered in many stamps, and waved him on. Mizu then followed, eagerly presenting her ID to the worker. He took her ID, and examined the back of it. Unlike Katsuro's, it wasn't covered in any stamps.

"Hm. This is your first time entering a foreign land as a shinobi, isn't it?" He asked Mizu, as he stamped the back of her ID.

"First time ever." Mizu replied, taking her ID back as it was given to her.

"It'll be the first of many I'm sure." One of the other workers gleefully responded in the background. "Lots of shinobi like tacking on as many stamps on the back of their ID's as they can, kind of like a keep-sake almost."

"Noted!" Mizu replied as she was waved across the border, catching the mean glare of Katsuro as she went against his orders. Since it was just a friendly reply, he'd write it off for now. They were now waiting on Tetsuo and Haruki.

 

[Pine]

Tetsuo

He gradually became more and more aware of the train's screeching brake. What really jerked him awake, however, was Katsuro using his long legs to step over him in a hurry.

Tetsuo flinched and sunk his back into the seat, thinking that Katsuro might kick his head on the way out. This didn't happen, and it took him a moment more to gather his faculties. He was on a train. They must've been in the Land of Birds already.

He grabbed his bag from under the seat and slung it over his shoulder. He saw Mizu was already behind Katsuro hopping off the cart, but he didn't see Haruki. That was, until the redhead was jogging from some cart ahead, apologizing and squeezing his way through the other passengers, who were now standing and leaning to check to see if Katsuro had caused any permanent damage to the cart's door. While Haruki wrestled with the overhead compartment to retrieve his bag, Tetsuo slipped quietly off the cart. He found Mizu and Katsuro easily in the sparsely populated station and followed after them.

He heard the feet patter of Haruki running to catch up to them. When he caught up to Tetsuo, Haruki flashed him a toothy grin.

Tetsuo looked at him but didn't smile back.

With all of the genin gathered, Katsuro ordered them to stay quiet in that annoying way he was always trying to shut them up. Tetsuo rolled his eyes at Katsuro's back when he turned around. It was stupid to even warn them against throwing a tantrum, Tetsuo thought, no realizing the warning was meant more for him than anyone else.

Down the boardwalk of the station and onto the tracks, he slung his bag back around so he could pull his phone from it. No messages. He put his phone away, then unzipped the pocket he kept his identification and other papers in.

Beside him, Haruki didn't even realize that he needed to have his ID until the guard was chatting up Mizu. "Oh, crap," he swore to himself, and pulled his oversized bag to dig through its pockets.

The guard waved Tetsuo on next. He handed the ID over, and the worker once again snooped on how many stamps the genin had. "Your first time too, eh?"

Tetsuo just nodded mutely. With annoyance, he remembered his last sensei, who had seemed determined to give him and his old squad only the most menial of tasks around the village. The most excitement they'd gotten was looking for someone's lost heirloom in the forest (how a civilian lost a ring out in the forest, he still wasn't really sure), but certainly never a mission that had taken them out of the Land of Fire. His excuse had been to try to keep them as far away from the war as possible, when all Tetsuo had wanted to do was jump into the middle of it.

The worker pressed the stamp of the ID and handed it back with a smile. "Enjoy your time at the Land of Birds! Next!"

Tetsuo replaced his ID and crossed the rest of the bridge. When he looked back, he saw Haruki kneeling down on the bridge, still fumbling through his pockets and zippers looking for his ID.

"Seriously?" he muttered in disbelief. He shook his head when, finally, Haruki seemed to have found it, and was running up to the workers and pushing his ID on them, clearly flustered now. Tetsuo would've started walking right then and there, if only he knew where exactly they were going. That, and he could wait a few seconds if it meant he didn't have to get an earful from Katsuro.

Finally, after another friendly exchange with the border security staff, Haruki ran to catch up with the group. He was all smiles and high energy when he asked, "So, it's just ahead, right, Sensei?" He shielded his eyes with his hand, squinting past them, then looking around down either end of the river. It was all trees, hills and cliffs. "I don't see any village."

 

[Gilzar]

Katsuro

For a moment or so, Katsuro was worried that Haruki forgot his ID and wouldn't make it over the border. Luckily, that didn't seem to be the case, as Haruki came over as bright eyed and bushy tailed as ever. Now all three of them were in the Land of Birds. Haruki asked where the village was. From the question, and the look on everyone's faces, Katsuro gathered that they didn't realize they still had more traveling to do.

"It's about an hour or two's walk away. Since we're on a time crunch we're heading out now. I'll take lead."

Katsuro then began to lead the team to the road they would be following. It was nothing special, just a dirt road that had mostly foot traffic on it. Maybe the occasional horse, but that was it. No trains. From what could be seen, the road would shoot into a small valley between two large hills. However, it was still a slightly upward slope. Although the foot journey had just began, Katsuro could already tell this would be a long walk.

"Alright." Katsuro said while at the front of the group, leading the genin along the path. "Does anyone have any questions? Now would be the time to ask before we reach our destination."

Mizu

Before they headed out, Mizu couldn't help but notice that once again Haruki's mood had dramatically shifted from before. Last time she saw him, he wasn't nearly as bright and cheery as he was now. Just what was his deal? It was then explained how long they had to walk, and Mizu sighed. She just wanted to be there. Katsuro then took point and started leading. Not wanting to deal with either Tetsuo or Haruki, Mizu was the first to follow behind their Sensei. At the moment, she had no questions to ask Katsuro.

 

[Pine]

Tetsuo pursed his lips at Katsuro but still said nothing. The one or two hour was a drag, especially with the present company. Katsuro yelled at him over every little thing. His grudge against Mizu was still fresh, but it wasn't too hard to keep. She seemed like an obnoxious do-gooder, and that wasn't even to mention the demon fox business. Haruki let his flap fly way too much, and he was certain whatever he whispered to Mizu at the interrogation core last night would have pissed him off.

But he had already resigned himself to his new squad, however bitterly. What annoyed him now was Katsuro's neutral tone. If he had brought some obnoxiously large, obviously inconveniencing bag, he felt certain Katsuro would give him an earful. For whatever reason, Haruki was given the slip.

He was annoyed, but he didn't feel like fighting him about it. Instead, he huffed a sigh through his nose and kept walking.

He looked over his shoulder as a goodbye to the river and bridge, for now. He noticed a crane, which he couldn't remember ever seeing before in his life. The crane stepped closer to the bank with awkward legs, dipped its beak into the river. It lifted its head back up to gulp down the water and fixed its black eyes on Tetsuo.

Katsuro talked again and Tetsuo looked away.

He thought for just a moment before deciding he didn't have any questions to ask. No questions that Katsuro was willing to answer, anyway.

There was a certain clarity of mind that came with taking a nap for the right amount of time. Tetsuo felt that clarity now, and he was using it to not forget about the events of that morning. Nothing that either Katsuro or Kaito said was enough to assuage his fears, and now he was even more suspicious that they seemed to be deflecting everything related to the Hokage's death. He started trying to make sense of what could've happened, why they were being so secretive and why he felt so weird about it.

He remembered then that Kaito had mentioned Mizu had an ANBU member as a mentor. How the hell did she get an ANBU to train her?


Haruki

It took Haruki much less time to think of a question. Questions, rather. He walked somewhere between the space where Mizu hurried behind Katsuro and Tetsuo was falling behind in his thoughts. The hour plus walk was a bummer, but he quickly got over it, thinking of how much of the landscape he would be able to see.

"Do you have any ideas about what happened to that girl, Sensei?" he asked. "I mean, have you ever had a mission like this? What happened with that?"

 

[Gilzar]

Katsuro

As the path ahead continued to wind, Katsuro thought about an answer to Haruki's question. After a moment, he came up with his answer.

"I only know as much as the scroll explained." Katsuro explained, continuing to walk at a steady pace on the road. "She went missing two days ago while picking berries in the forest. Kaito has also has sent me information about her. Aside from her physical description, it does say that she's like 7. That's the official information what the scroll says."

Katsuro turned his head back to face his three students. "Here's what the scroll doesn't tell you: The Land of Birds has no Hidden Village, or in other words they don't have ninja. If they've been searching for two days for this girl and have to call in for shinobi to help, shit's hit the fan. This village we're headed to probably doesn't have the resources to track her. So they're desperate. We have to find a needle in a haystack."

"Won't be easy though." Katsuro continued. "I've been reading up on this history of this place. Lots of dangers in these woods. There's bears, wolves, and criminals here."

As Katsuro spoke to the group, to the right of them was a small clearing in the forest. While at first, it was unclear just what was in this clearing, as the path grew closer and closer it became apparent. Beside them lay the ruins of a village, laid nothing but rubble and overgrowth. Its buildings looked burned, and as if they had been pulverized by outstanding forces. Now being reclaimed by the forest, these buildings were nothing more than forgotten memories. It was a cold and solemn reminder of the past.

Katsuro glanced over at it, but kept moving along the path. "If that wasn't enough there's more to worry about. Because this land is right between the Land of Earth and Wind, this entire country was a warzone. There's lots of nasty shit left behind by the war. Minefields and other traps are still around the woods, along with these ruins."

Katsuro went silent for a moment or two while walking, to let the genin think about what he just said. "You've all been trained to detect traps. Just keep your guard up and avoid ruins like these and you'll be fine."

Having gotten that out of the way, Katsuro then went to address Haruki's second question.

"I've done search and rescue before. It was during wartime, but I have done them." Katsuro looked over into the woods, recalling all of the gruesome details of the Great Shinobi Wars. He visibly spaced out for a moment or so thinking about this, before looking back to his students suddenly. "

"Not going to tell you the details, but all you need to know is that I've always found my targets."

 

[Pine]

While Katsuro explained more details of their mission, the scenery opened up to his right, and Haruki looked over it.

He stopped where he was once the village ruins revealed themselves. It was a disheartening sight. The infrastructure of none of the buildings were spared. Green moss had started coloring the scorched wood embedded closest to the ground. Haruki couldn't tell if the smell of burned wood was there or just something he was imagining. He saw Tetsuo looking at it too, who was still walking, but when he looked, he wasn't able to read the other boy's expression well. He just looked indifferent, maybe.

Looking back at the rubble, it didn't look like this village could've been much smaller than the one he was from. A scary thought crossed him: he didn't actually know what had become of his village. His parents never mentioned it, and with getting so caught up with life in the Leaf Village, he hadn't really thought about it either. What if his village looked like this? He tried not to think about it, and just made a mental note to try to learn more about it when he got back.

"Oh," he said quietly after everything his sensei had said and started walking again.

Haruki wasn't entirely sure how Katsuro made it sound like a threat when he said all of his missions had been successful, but he did. Haruki tried for a bit of optimism anyway. Smiling again, he said, "Then I'm sure that means we'll find her, right?"

He nodded to himself, as though answering his own question. Then with a bit more hesitation, he started saying, "Well, we were trained to avoid-"

Tetsuo interrupted him abruptly. "Why do we have to avoid the ruins?"

Haruki's smile turned to a frown. He felt a prick of annoyance, but didn't bother saying anything. He wanted to know the answer, too, he guessed. If the girl was just hiding somewhere, it kind of made sense to him to look in the ruins. Maybe she thought it was like some game of hide-and-seek, or maybe she thought it was suitable shelter.

 

[Gilzar]

Katsuro gritted his teeth in annoyance toward Tetsuo's interruption, and immediately his eyes darted back toward the genin. His head shifted slightly back to face the genin. Their ignorance and inexperience was beginning to show at every new turn of this day, and it was starting to become too much for Katsuro. Had he had his way, they'd still be in the village picking up groceries for old women and finding missing objects in the woods. But instead, they were on a serious mission, with a group that was terrible at working together. Frankly, if not for Mizu, he'd have a lot more time to do things the way he wanted to.

"Since you're so eager to cut off Haruki, I'll tell you why." Katsuro replied in a plainly annoyed tone, trying to make it obvious he didn't approve of Tetsuo interrupting his teammate.

"During war, people love filling these damn ruins with traps. That way, anyone looking for survivors, scavenging, or looking for cover ends up another casualty. It's a shitty thing to do, but it's effective. Even though the war is over, you'd better assume any ruins still around are still here for a reason. This country doesn't have enough skilled people to deal with these hazrds."

Katsuro adjusted his odd sun glasses, trying to keep the sun out of his eyes as he continued to guide the Shinobi along the path. "If traps don't fill ruins, then scum will. Criminals of all sorts hide out in these places to get away from the law or prey on civilians" For a moment, Katsuro looked back to the ruins they had just passed.

"Bandits were probably in those ruins back there" Katsuro stated in a surprisingly calm tone. "Our shinobi gear and headbands probably scared them away. Smart criminals won't fuck with shinobi, unless they're corned. Don't go in the ruins unless you absolutely have to."

"Does that answer your question, or do you need to know more?"

 

[Pine]

Tetsuo tried to look as cool as he could, only responding with pursing his lips at what was for sure Katsuro glaring at him, even behind those stupid blind man glasses of his. He didn't appreciate being called out, even when in the back of his mind he knew he deserved it. It wasn't like Haruki had anything meaningful to say anyway. The boy was a complete airhead. And either way, it's not like he had stopped Haruki from asking his own question, so it probably didn't even bother him.

Albeit a little begrudgingly, he accepted Katsuro's reasoning for this. He wasn't worried about common bandits, confident (perhaps overly confident) he would be able to take them out no problem and do this land a favor. But if the criminals knew this and went into hiding, then all of the ruins would just look like they were abandoned for their traps anyway. If he was worried about no one else, he felt sure that Haruki would be the one that would walk right into a trap and fuck all of them over for it.

Katsuro mentioned the ruins they passed, and Matsuda's voice buzzed into his ears again like a fly that just kept darting at him. She was pestering him to pay more attention. He was mad even at his distance that he didn't see any movement in the ruins, even with Katsuro hinting that he himself didn't sense anything in particular.

He scowled and swatted once at the air, as though just to make sure there wasn't an actual fly buzzing around him in this mild heat.

As though on cue, Haruki timidly tried piping in again (timid because Katsuro's pointed invitation to ask more questions didn't sound like an invitation at all). "Um... I know we were trained to look for traps in the academy, but could you give a little refresher?" He was grinning sheepishly, as though he had just asked for a bite of someone else's meal. He quickly tried to think of something to help justify him asking. "I mean, you've got real experience with them. Do you have any special tips?"

What Haruki really wanted was a refreshing crash course because now he was scared shitless of being blown to smithereens if these traps were meant for more experienced shinobi. It'd likely be the last thing he'd be able to ask of their sensei for a while.

 

[Gilzar]

Katsuro stopped walking, and turned back to face Haruki. His disbelief was so palpable that he was speechless. How did Haruki not know how to detect traps? It was one of the things that he thought was emphasized the most in the academy. Right now, he hped that maybe he was just a little rusty, but deep down he doubted that Haruki had actually paid attention. Maybe he talked his way out of it? Most of the teachers at the academy these days were pushovers anyway....

"Haruki. How the fuck did you graduate?" Katsuro asked, still in disbelief that someone could have the idiot mantle away from Tetsuo. If he wasn't saving his cigarettes for the village, he would most definitely be smoking one right now out of stress. His hands just felt empty right now.

"Alright." Katsuro leaned into his pack to get a few things for a quick demonstration. "This will be quick, so pay attention. Only doing this once."

Katsuro pulled some wire and explosives out of his backpack, placing them on the ground. Mizu looked at each of them, and examined them intently. One was a standard issue explosive looking like a paper bomb, just a little thicker. The other explosive however didn't look standard issue. It was small and metal, resembling the lid of a pot.

"There are normally two types of traps used in war." Katsuro held up the thick paperbomb, and stretched metal wire across it.. "There are tripwires that trigger paper bombs, or reinforced paperbombs like this one right here. He then got up, and brought the wire and paperbomb with him. He tied the metal wire to one tree, then tied it to a nearby tree that seemed to overarch into a small corridor into the forest. Then rigged the paper bomb to it, though he made sure that the paperbomb was not rigged to blow.

"Typically tripwires are more of a precision explosive. They're placed in walkways and other easy-to-access places. In forests, gaps between trees that you'd naturally want to go through are normally rigged with these. The intent is to injure by both a small explosion and structural damage, such as trees and buildings collapsing overhead" Katsuro pressed his finger tightly against the metal wire, to show just how hard it was to see in nomral light if not looking for it, and how easy it'd be to trigger. "These have to be suspended. So either they'll be hung up between trees on the forest floor or up high near easy branches to jump across. To avoid these you either take it slow when jumping or walking, or make sure to avoid the easy path. If you break any metal wire, your best chance of surviving is to get the hell out of there. Either jump back as far as you can or sprint forward as fast as you can to get out of the blast radius."

Katsuro then cut the wire, and tossed the explosive back near his backpack. Though it seemed careless, Katsuro had handled explosives long enough to know that nothing could activate these explosives without a proper seal and trigger mechanism. He then grabbed the metal explosive that resembled the lid of a pot.

"This is a military-grade landmine. These are nasty. They're so bad that nations are considering making their use a war-crime." Katsuro got on his knees, and dug into the center of the dirt path. He put the mine into the hole he just dug, and covered it with a light patch of dirt. If one didn't know where he had buried it, it'd be very hard to pick it out. All that could be seen was a small button just barely jutting out of the ground.

"Mines are pressure sensitive. You don't have to walk directly on them, just near enough to them to disrupt the soil pressure and these will explode. I'm not going to bullshit you, these are designed to kill. Your best bet of avoiding these is by avoiding any open areas in patches of forest. Most areas with landmines in them will have warning signs, especially around the villages. You'll know when you trigger one, as it makes a ticking noise. If you trigger a mine, hold still! Don't move, chances are you only prepped the trigger. I know how to diffuse these, but it won't do any good if you're already blown to bits."

Katsuro dug up the mine, and put it back in his pack along with the other explosives. As he zipped up his bag he gave one last word of wisdom to his students.

"Just watch your ass around the ruins and old war-zones and you'll be fine. If you don't know what an old war-zone looks like, it's places with a lot of knocked down trees, craters in the ground, and old weaponry lying around."

"Any more questions?" Katsuro asked, beginning to walk the path again.

Mizu meanwhile stared into the woods around them, wondering just what they were in for. What if the little girl triggered a landmine, or tripwire? In a matter of minutes this mission had gone from relaxed to extremely dangerous. Why wouldn't the Land of Wind and Land of Earth take down these traps? Did they really not care about the well-being of this lesser nation?

Though she didn't have any questions, her concerned look remained as she looked back to her team-mates following the demonstration. There was a bad feeling in her gut now. Not just from the bitter news she had recieved earlier today, but the feeling that just something wrong was bound to happen. This was their squad afterall, and nothing ever has went according to plan so far.

As Katsuro walked, he suddenly became aware he had forgot to tel them a way to avoid land mines.

“There is a way to walk over land mines without detonating them.” Katsuro boldly announced. “If you focus your chakra into your feet, much like you would when running up a wall, ceiling, or water, you won’t activate the pressure. How experienced are you three with that kind of chakra control?”