2/3

The five of us turned to see the two random ANBU from before, along with several others, holding the chained prisoner. At the back, I noticed the familiar eagle-masked agent chuckling to herself. Murasaki stared at us owlishly from his spot on the ground, most likely wondering why we were the ones to escort him back to his country's ninja.

"Oh, they brought the prisoner to us...you guys wouldn't happen to have any Dango with you, would you?"

The lead ANBU sighed tiredly at my Jōnin sensei's antics. "No, we didn't bring any Dango. Please just take the prisoner and get going."

"Nooooooo! This isn't fair!" Anko fell to her knees and pounded the ground angrily. "You maniacs! You blew it up! Damn you! Damn you all to hell!"

Kurenai sweatdropped as her friend cried, then turned to me. "Is she gonna be like this the whole trip?"

"Probably...there was this one time where the store she liked went out of Dango for a day and she went completely nuts," I leaned over to the dark-haired woman and smirked as my voice became the most quiet whisper. "I could probably make her some...but I think I'll hold off on it until she pays for the last few windows."

"That's really petty of you...how many times has she done it?"

"37 times," I said, an eye twitching as I remembered every window break my sensei had been responsible for. "About 12 of those times were the same window...each."

"Really? I keep telling her that she should cut that out…" Kurenai palmed the side of her head in bewilderment. "I really hope she behaves on this one."

"E-Excuse me!"

I turned to see the prisoner addressing the ANBU holding him down. Eiki shuddered as one of the leaders glared at him, but stood up straighter regardless.

"Could I m-maybe get another group...one that's more...sane?"

Almost all of the ANBU agents broke out in loud, raucous laughter, save for one who stood at the back watching me creepily. I was assuming he was a ROOT agent...in which case I was going to have to watch my back whenever I was in the village.

The lead agent let out the last of his giggles before leaning down to the man. "They're the ones the Hokage chose to escort you. Be lucky you got the most tame group we could find."

"Tamest...oh, why?" Murasaki planted his face into the ground and began moaning. "Why?! Why me?!"

"That's your issue. Now then," the ANBU turned to our Jōnin sensei and handed them the chains that bound the man. "Please get this garbage out of our village."

"So...what are you doing?"

The six of us walked down the path to Kannabi Town, and it was only an hour after we had left Konoha. Anko and Kurenai kept pace far in front of us, making sure that Murasaki had as much distance from us as they could get.

Which led to situations like, for instance; Kiba, asking me why I was holding a glass of water.

"I'm working on a Hamon technique," I held that glass up and shook it gently, causing the liquid inside to ripple a bit. "The essence of it is that Hamon will pass through this water, then through me, and into the surrounding area. That'll let me sense everything around me, even if there's somebody hiding behind a wall or something."

"You sure it isn't magic?" Anko called back to us.

"It can mean 'Way of the Hermit' too, you know!"

"Yeah, but hermits don't really make water projectiles or extend their arms out," my Jōnin sensei snorted at my glare. "So yeah, magic seems like a better description."

"It seems like water is involved in quite a bit of Hamon techniques," Shino noted. "At least, many of the ones I remember you being capable of."

"Liquid in general just conducts Hamon really well. I could probably use some Sake for the technique instead, like one of the other ones I use," I held the glass of water to my face and furrowed my brows. "Doesn't look like I've gotten the hang of it yet."

"Kami! You know you don't have to constantly talk about training, right?" Anko craned her neck to stare at me and the other three genin. "Why don't you talk about normal things? Talk about tits why don't you?"

"Anko!" Kurenai shouted

"What? They're 12-year-olds-"

"I'm 13," I said flatly.

"See? He's got even more reason to want to talk about that kind of stuff."

"Yare Yare Daze…" I grumbled, palming the side of my head lightly in exasperation. "Crazy bitch, trying to turn us into perverts."

"Oi! I ain't no pervert…" a cheshire grin stretched across the woman's face. "I'm a super pervert! There's a big difference."

I glared at my Jōnin sensei in silence for several seconds before letting out a tired sigh. "Just my fucking luck…"

"Do we start talking about tits now?" Kiba whispered to me nervously. "Because I really don't wanna piss her off. She's scarier than my mom."

"Relax, she's not that bad. Once you get used to her it's just annoying to deal with her bullshit."

"Is that about my mom?" the dog-nin hissed.

"No, my sensei," I motioned to the woman in question as she made a lewd joke that only her friend heard. My shoulders slumped slightly as Kurenai blushed at Anko's comments. "Crazy bitch tried to get me killed during my genin test, and she's been like a drill sergeant ever since."

"Damn, sounds like it sucks...so...seen any good pairs of tits lately?"

"Eeep!"

"Sonuda-Damn it, really?!"

"Come on! It's like the only thing guys can connect over!" the dog-nin cried out.

"Choose something else! I don't need to hear you yapping about boobs, I get enough of it from Naruto."

"Is that so?" Hinata asked lowly.

"What, don't be such a wet blanket Joushuya," the Inuzuka snorted. "Our senseis want us to be all 'buddy buddy', right? What kind of girls are you into?"

"Girls who aren't annoying…"

"Ok, a bit generalistic, but okay then," Kiba titled his head over to Shino. "Oi, Shino! What kind of girls do you like?"

"...well, this may take some explanation-"

"We've got plenty of time, man."

"Alright, so it's like this…"

"So, pretty normal conversation pieces there, huh?" Anko tilted her head, noticing the restrained expression on her friend's face. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing...it seems like they're making her uncomfortable, that's all."

"Ah, your kunoichi...Yeah, guy talk can be weird. Never got used to it myself," the purple-haired Jōnin craned her head to look at the girl. "Unless she's interested in one of em."

"You know she only has her heart set on one person, remember? I told you about how I could barely get it out of her."

"Ah yes, the fox-boy…"

"Anko!" Kurenai motioned to the prisoner they were holding in chains.

"What? It's not like this creep is gonna tell anybody," Anko tapped the man with her foot harshly before turning back to her friend. "You said she's always blushing around fox-boy, right? Maybe she can see-"

"Anko!"

"What, relax!"

"They're kids…" Kurenai groaned.

"They're technically legal adults. Old enough to kill, old enough to...well, Joushirou drinks Sake sometimes for one of his techniques, but he mostly uses water."

"We're not at war with anybody though. I don't think they should have to think about that," the dark-haired woman scratched the side of her head nervously. "It's not like they should just rush into that sort of thing."

"Eh, I'm sure there's gonna be another one…" the purple-haired woman's expression turned dark. "And I think I have an idea on whose gonna start it."

"You mean your old teacher?" Kurenai hummed in thought. When she caught her friend looking behind her, she followed her gaze to Anko's lone genin. "What does he have anything to do with Orochimaru?"

"Remember his parents? Orochimaru is the one who…" Anko drew a finger across her throat. "He probably wanted to study a Hamon User, since he wants to know 'every' jutsu in existence."

"Doesn't exactly make sense when you think about it," the dark-haired woman shrugged at her friend's confused expression. "Joushirou's always said that he produces the stuff when he breathes. Orochimaru would need a living subject if he wanted to study it."

"It?"

"You know what I mean!"

"Not exactly...he'd probably refer to both Hamon and the subject 'it', so…"

"Okay, fair enough."

"...Are we taking the right route to Kannabi Town?"

"Hold on, what?!"

Anko rubbed the back of her head sheepishly. "It's just...I realized...I've never actually been to Kannabi Town, or near it."

"Are you saying we're lost?!"

"And that is why I personally prefer smaller breasts."

"I can not believe we're having this conversation…" I deadpanned, giving Shino a glare from the corner of my eye.

"EEP!" Hinata's blush deepened as she buried her face into her coat.

"I mean, I could see your reasons man, but I like em nice and big!" Kiba's mouth twisted into a perverted grin as he mimed groping hands.

Time to shut this DxD perv-fest down ASAP.

"Listen, I could meet a girl with the tits of the century, but she could also be the most evil person in existence," I placed both my hands behind my head as a sneer wormed its way across my face. "So yeah, if she's a bitch, then fuck her...that came out wrong."

"Pfft! Yeah, it did...but I getcha," the dog-nin let out a snicker. "That's kinda the reason seduction missions exist in the first place. I remember one thing from the history books, at least."

"I'm guessing it's because there was a picture of a naked woman in it," Shino deadpanned.

"Y-Yeah, it was that page…"

"They went into a lot more detail on it in kunoichi class…" Hinata muttered.

"Are you saying we're lost?!"

I tilted my head at Kurenai's shout. "Well, looks like my 'amazing' sensei has gotten us lost."

"Really? Shit, she's really trying to kill me…" Kiba groaned.

"Get over yourself. She's trying to get rid of me first."

"Oi, gaki!" the purple-haired woman suddenly darted over and grabbed me by the ear. "Get over here, I need you."

I let out a tired sigh as my sensei pulled me over to the dark-haired Jōnin. "Alright, so what do you need me for?"

"Anko and I need to go over the map, and we need somebody to handle the prisoner," Kurenai glanced to her friend nervously for a split second before looking back to me. "She recommended you hold him for a bit."

"Me? You honestly think I'd be able to handle him if he tried to escape?"

"You can handle it...just use your 'special' trick," my sensei said slyly.

"...If you mean my Hamon, I don't know every technique there is to know, so-"

"You know what I mean!" Anko facepalmed at my blank expression before glaring at me. She then mouthed the word 'Stand' to me, before leaning forward. "Use whatever force is necessary if he tries to get away."

"...I understand."

"Good! Here, take these chains!" my Jōnin sensei shoved the chains in my hands before I could properly react. As she pulled out the map, she waved me towards the other three genin. "Go bring him over there. They can help you if he escapes."

"Yare Yare...whatever…" I pulled at the chains slightly as I began moving back to the others. Before I had even gotten a foot away, I felt resistance on the bindings. I turned to see Eiki digging his heels into the ground as best he could. "Oi! What's your problem? If you escape-"

"I'm not trying to escape," the man huffed. "I'm just making this difficult. The Jōnin scare me, but you don't…" Eiki turned to me with a small sneer. "You're just a genin, I don't need to worry about you."

"...Is that so?"

"Yes! You probably couldn't even catch me if I did escape!"

"...Really?"

"Really!"

"Really?"

"Really!"

"Really?!"

"REALLY!"

"Sutā Purachina!"

"W-Wait, what-"

*VRRRRRRRRRMMMMM*

"Oof!" Eiki blinked as he looked at the now shocked genin directly in front of him. "H-How did I get over here?"

"Eep!"

"Woah! The hell?!"

Shino turned to me and tilted his head. "Would you mind explaining to us how you pulled that off?"

"...I used a really strong genjutsu," I said simply.

Almost an hour later

"Okay, we know we're in a stretch of woods, we just don't know which one we're in."

"Anko, we're on a road. We just need to find some identifying landmarks, or an intersection."

"Yeah, but we'd need to travel around for a while to get to a roadway sign or something."

I sighed in annoyance as the two Jōnin continued their argument over the map. Beside me, Kiba was regaling us with some strange tale of one of Team 8's D-Rank missions, to which I barely paid any attention to. I noticed that Hinata would turn to glance at the prisoner I held every so often, only turning away if she caught either Eiki or myself staring.

"-And that's just another reason why I hate cats. I mean, I get that that's probably a huge stereotype about my clan...but come on, Tora is a monster," Kiba finished, turning to me with a curious expression. "Oi, were you even listening?"

"Yeah, you were telling me about the D-Rank you got where you had to grab Tora," I said blithely. A small snort escaped my nose as I turned to the dog-nin. "If I could tell you about my mission to grab him...well, you remember the storm last month, right?"

"Pfft! Who doesn't remember that?"

"Well, I had to go right to the center of it and get him."

"...You were really at the tornado?!" Kiba cried out.

"Yeah, that's why Bitch-sensei was wearing a sling on her arm the first time you saw her," I let out a dark chuckle as I remembered Tora and his Stand. "It was all that damn cat's fault."

"So he really is a monster…" the Inuzuka said with wide eyes.

"A-Ano, I don't really get why everybody talks about Tora-chan like that…" the Hyūga said nervously.

...Wait, Tora-chan?

Hinata caught my owlish look and blushed slightly. "He likes me at least. Whenever we had to retrieve him, I could just go up to him and he'd jump in my arms."

"...That fucking cat!" I growled.

"What horrible thing would a cat do to get that reaction?" the girl asked.

"You...have no idea…" I turned back to the arguing Jōnin with an annoyed huff. "I just wish they'd get this over with. I'm getting all...antsy about this…"

"You want to know what it was, don't you?"

I quickly turned around to face Murasaki with a glare. "I don't care why you were arrested! Don't bother-"

"I wasn't talking to you," the prisoner said blankly, looking over to the nervous Hyūga with an emotionless gaze. "She keeps staring, so I figured she must want to know."

"Well, she doesn't need to know, and neither do the rest of us!" I growled. "Just keep quiet until we get to Kannabi, and then you can complain to the Iwa nin sent to grab you. Do you understand-"

"47 and 6," Eiki said tiredly.

"...I'm not interested in playing games with you," I turned away from the criminal with a huff. "Guys, ignore him. Hinata, quit staring at him, he's-"

"Who gave you the right to tell us what to do?" Kiba growled.

"I'm holding the dangerous criminal who is also a former ninja!" I held up both the chains. "If I'm saying to ignore him so that he doesn't screw with your head, it's probably a good idea."

"Screw with our-not all criminals are crazy masterminds trying to worm their way into your mind, that's just a stereotype!"

"And you think he isn't that kind of criminal?"

"...Let me get back to you on that one."

"Yeah, thought so…" I turned back to face our arguing senseis along with the others. "Just wait for them to figure out the map, and then-"

"I was arrested for the rape of fourty-seven women and the murder of six."

I felt a chill going down my spine as soon as he said it. My free hand twitched visibly as the other three turned to stare at the man. Already, the golden glow of my Stand surrounded me as I turned to glare at him.

Murasaki simply stared at me with the same blank expression he had been wearing since we first saw him. "You look very angry...did I hit a nerve?" the prisoner leaned forward, a small glint of amusement flashing through his eyes. "It almost looks like you're willing to jeopardize the mission after hearing that. How do you feel, knowing that you're in a situation where you could easily be both perfectly in control of or helpless in, if things go wrong."

"...What are you implying?"

"What would happen if I escaped? Wouldn't I try to run away as fast as possible?" he tilted his head casually, glancing between all of us for a bit. "Or, perhaps, you should be imagining the worst-case scenario, no?"

"...Hinata, go to Kurenai-sensei," Kiba said coldly.

"W-What?! B-But I-"

"Hinata, do as he says," Shino said flatly.

Hinata stared at the three of us for several seconds before her expression turned fierce. "I'm not scared!"

Eiki let out a small chuckle before cocking his head to the side, his blank expression never leaving. Then a smile stretched across his face, all the way to his ears, and his eyes bugged out in the most horrifying way possible.

"Boo!"

"EEEP!" the blue-haired girl jumped back and ran towards the two arguing Jōnin, much to their surprise.

I glanced at the terrified girl from the corner of my eye, then turned back to the prisoner with a snarl. Unsurprisingly, his blank expression had once again returned, and he was tilting his head at us mockingly.

"Oh, you seem angrier than before. Is she your girlfriend or something?"

"Do you pride yourself on being a bastard?"

Eiki shrugged blithely at this. "Maybe I do."

"Wonderful! As if being stuck with a psychopath wasn't enough…" I tilted my head as our senseis walked over, Hinata hiding behind them nervously. "Did she give you the rundown?"

"Pretty much, yeah," Anko took the chains from my hands while sending the prisoner a disdainful look. "He do anything other than scare ya?"

"I'm not scared of him," I said stiffly. "I'm just really pissed off…"

"That's just your default emotion, so not really anything to worry about," my sensei turned to her fellow Jōnin. "Is she gonna be alright?"

"She'll be fine," Kurenai said tiredly. She turned back to Anko with an exasperated look. "Are you sure we'll be on the right route?"

"Hey, we worked out the map, didn't we?"

I gave the purple-haired women a sideways glance. "Please tell me that you're not just gonna wing it."

"I find your lack of faith disturbing," my Jōnin sensei gave me a confused stare at my deadpan look. "What? What's wrong?"

"Nothing, let's just get rid of this creep already…"

Kannabi Town

Afternoon

"Alright, here we are!" Anko cried out cheerfully. "The one and only Kannabi Town! A fun tourist destination and summer vacation spot!"

I couldn't fathom why she would refer to it as that, especially since she clearly saw the place once we got here. Kannabi town was the literal asshole of the Land of Weeds...and that was the kindest thing I could say about it.

Of the few actual buildings that made up the 'town', only two of them looked like they were well kept. The others looked abandoned or right at the cusp of abandonment, and there were several that looked like they hadn't even been finished being built. Trash sparsely lined the street or hung from a few trees.

Around most of the buildings, I could see thugs and gangsters either defacing the already derelict buildings, or showing off their latest hauls for appraisal. A few even looked our way and seemed to be sizing us up, clearly ignoring the fact that we were ninja. I was hopeful that nobody would try anything...but stupidity is an art form after all.

"Alright, first plan of action! Find a couple of rooms at the local motel and hold the prisoner there, then meet the Iwa entourage sent to grab him at the bridge," Anko smiled widely at the four of us. "We'll just collect the bounty and get the fuck out, C-Rank is done and we get extra money than we would D-Rank."

"Wait, there's a bridge?" Kiba asked in confusion.

Kurenai snorted at the question. "Correction, there was a bridge. It was destroyed during the Third Shinobi War-"

"Kakashi did it!" my sensei interjected. "He never said anything other than that. I'm guessing it's because of how he lost something or whatnot."

...Wow! That was an incredibly gross understatement of that entire event.

"So, first off...we're gonna need two of you gaki to hold the prisoner down while we meet with the Iwa contingent…" my Jōnin sensei tilted her head thoughtfully as she looked us over. "Maybe you guys could play Jan-Ken over-"

"We are not playing Jan-Ken over who gets to hold down a dangerous criminal!" I cried out.

"Kami, you have to be such a wet blanket…" the purple-haired woman sighed before turning to Kiba and Shino. "You two, you can hold him while we collect the bounty."

"Why us?!" the dog-nin cried out.

"Y'know, believe it or not there was a reason Team 8 was specifically chosen for this mission," Anko leaned forward with a wild grin. "Just think about it, an Inuzuka, an Aburame, and a Hyūga. Why do you think they'd be useful for this?"

"...Uh, I...I don't know, actually."

"It's pretty obvious," Kurenai said boredly. "Shino already has dozens of his Kikaichū tagging the prisoner-"

"Hrrk!" Eiki doubled over in disgust. "Kami, I could have gone without knowing that…"

"Hinata can use the Jūken to disable his pressure points, and if he somehow manages to escape that, then you and Akamaru could hunt him down," the dark-haired Jōnin cupped a hand to her chin in thought. "Honestly, the only outlier there is Joushirou...I suppose his Hamon could be useful if all else fails, since it's pretty unpredictable in how it functions."

"Oh shit, the old man didn't tell you?" Anko chuckled nervously at her friend's owlish look. "Hehe...I'll tell you later. He's only supposed to use it as a last resort anyway, I don't want him relying on it all the time."

"...The hell is she talking about?" the dog-nin growled.

I flinched slightly and glanced at him from the corner of my eye. "I have a...Bloodline, I guess is the best way to describe it."

"Like Naruto-kun…" Hinata blinked wildly when she realized what she just said. "N-Not that I'd know anything about that! I just assumed he had one, because when we saw him that one time there was all that...red stuff, and...A-Ano, I-"

"Ok, so what? You, Blondie, and the Uchiha are in some super secret Bloodline club?"

"I believe they offered me a membership, but I had to decline," Shino said flatly.

"Wonderful…" Kiba grumbled. "So what, we just need to find the motel?"

"Yeah, I'm guessing it's one of the nicer buildings," Anko tilted her head at one of the nicer buildings in town. "I'm guessing it's that one, considering it's a bit bigger than the others."

Kurenai hummed thoughtfully. "Alright, Anko and I should be able to pay for-"

"I'll pay for the room."

"Wait, what?!" my Jōnin sensei rounded on me with an owlish look. "Y-You're joking, right? You don't need to pay fo-"

"I can pay for it, and the old man will probably reimburse me when he hears about it," I waved my hand blithely. "Besides, we need two rooms anyway. One will be where we keep the prisoner."

"And where will you sleep then?"

"With the prisoner," I said flatly. "Kiba and Shino too."

"Oi, I never agreed to that!" the Inuzuka cried out.

"Are you sure about that? You'd be safer sleeping with us," Kurenai gave me a concerned look. "I know he's in chains but-"

"So, you're saying that the three of you would be fine being in the same room with three teenage boys?" I cocked my head to the side as the girl's began to pale. "One of whom is a self-admitted pervert?"

"Oi! I never said anything like that!"

"I was talking about myself," I gave the dog-nin a deadpan look.

Kiba rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. "Ah, never mind then...wait! Don't leave me out dammit!"

"Fine! Two of which are self-admitted perverts," I quickly amended.

"That's better!" the Inuzuka said smugly. It was only after a few seconds that he realized what he had done. "Shit! That's not what I-"

"Alright, I can understand your...reasoning," the dark-haired woman said nervously. "If you're really sure about paying-"

"Relax, it's no skin off my back," I said nonchalantly. "Now come on, I have a feeling we might not be welcome in this town. The longer we stay out in the open, the more likely it is those thugs will try their luck with us."

Anko blinked in confusion. "Eh? Why would they be all pissed off at us?"

"It's not like Kakashi destroyed their bridge or something…"

As we got closer to the local motel, I noticed a girl sweeping outside. As if Kiba's muttered 'here we go again' was tempting fate, she turned to face us as we approached. The moment she spotted me, a deep blush spread across her face, instantly filling me with dread.

"Uh, h-hello there! How can I help you?"

On one hand, she might constantly annoy me whenever she gets the chance...on the other hand, she was pretty easy on the eyes. She had a cute, round face that held adorable moe doe-eyes, all framed by long brown hair done up in pigtails. While she was wearing a rather plain dress, I could see the beginnings of a very generous figure.

Still...no, just no…

"This is the local motel, right?" I asked boredly.

"A-Ano, it is. My Baasan is running the-" the girl sputtered nervously as I walked past her, and I could already feel her deepening blush as she swooned behind me. "W-Wow…"

"Damn, you really need to get laid gaki," Anko said as we walked inside.

"I...am...13…" I growled under my breath.

"And you also regularly drink Sake and...whatever that red stuff from the west is called."

"It's for Hamon Techniques. I'm not even 16 yet you creepy bitch!"

"Hey, old enough to kill, old enough to-"

"Anko, do not!" Kurenai chided sternly. "Sorry Joushirou, she doesn't really have a filter about this."

"It's not like I ain't used to it," I said hotly. "Naruto is always going on about what he sees in the hot springs-fair warning, he's been using shadow clones and fūinjutsu to avoid getting caught."

"Thanks for the heads up then…"

"What, he could just ask," Hinata muttered lower than the others could hear.

I let out a small huff before walking towards the front desk and dinging the little bell. The ring sat in the air for half a minute before dissipating, yet no one came to the front desk again. I seriously considered ringing again, only for Kiba to jump forward and scrutinize the little bell.

"Hot damn! I've never actually seen one of these things before," the dog-nin tilted his head around as he stared at the metal contraption in awe. "Most places back home don't have these."

"That's because restaurants and motels back in Konoha have more staff," I felt a tick mark appearing on my forehead as the Inuzuka held his hand out to ding the bell again. "I already did it before, they heard."

"It's been like 3 minutes, they haven't heard shit!" Kiba's hand came down on the bell, causing another ring to erupt into the air.

There was a short shuffling far in the back, followed by some muffled curses, but still no one came to the front desk. My expression hardened slightly, and I decided to ring the bell again myself in hopes of a response.

"Damn it! Ichiko, you useless girl! Handle the front desk!"

...Well, this will certainly be a pleasant afternoon, won't it?

"Oh kami, this is just great," my Jōnin sensei grumbled. The purple-haired woman sneered at the empty desk before ringing the bell herself. "Time for the big show~!"

"ICHIKO! WHAT DID I JUST SAY?!" a vicious looking hag emerged from a door to the back, a hateful expression stretched across her thin and wrinkled visage with enough malic that it could make small children cry. The hag faltered slightly once she caught sight of us, or rather, our headwear. "What the hell do you want?!"

"Two rooms," I deadpanned. "I have enough money to pay for them-"

"Piss off!" she growled hatefully. "I wouldn't give you our worst room even if you were the fucking Hokage, you little shit!" the hag tilted her head and sneered. "Let me guess, that useless girl said the same thing, and you took exception to that? At least clean up the body before you leave."

"...Did you just accuse us of murder?" Kiba croaked.

"What of it? That's all you ninja do, kill and destroy," she waved her hand to the right. "Just look at our damn bridge!"

"Ah, I see they're all still a bit testy about that…" Kurenai said nervously.

"Now where's my worthless granddaughter?!"

"Outside, sweeping," I said boredly.

"Ah, right...I told her to make sure everything outside and up front was spotless. Doubtful she'll manage it, she'll definitely get less food tonight then…"

If I really felt like giving up my chivalrous ways, it would be now. It was taking every fucking ounce of control to not deck this woman with the Steely Dan treatment like she deserved.

"Oi! What are you creeps still doing here?! Didn't I just tell you to take a hike?!" the hag growled, once again testing my infinite patience. "If you don't leave, I'll-"

"What's going on out there?!"

I cocked my head to the side as an old man came out from the back. The way his skin stretched over his gaunt face as his mouth twisted into grimace upon seeing us was a clear selling point that even Dario Brando could look passive and harmless. The old man gently pushed the beast I assumed he was married to out of the way and gave the worst customer service smile I had ever seen in either of my lives.

"Good afternoon, how may I help you?"

I ignored his strained voice and leaned forward. "We need two rooms for the night, one with three beds and…" I glanced to the side thoughtfully. "One with four."

The old man's smile turned into the biggest shit-eating grin as he spoke. "I'm sorry, I'm afraid we don't have any vacant rooms at the moment."

"W-What about all those vacant rooms over there?" Kiba asked, pointing to the vacant rooms on our right.

The motel owner took a deep breath and gave us all a sickeningly sweet smile. "My apologies, but like I said, we do not have any vacant rooms at the moment."

"Fucking liar!" the dog-nin growled. "You can't turn us away for no reason! We have money, we can pay-"

"Kiba, just calm down," Kurenai said gently. "We'll just camp out in the woods."

"Yes, you do that," the hag said mockingly. "Spend some time with all the shitty wild animals and bugs like you deserve."

"I feel quite insulted…" Shino deadpanned.

"How about this," I began, setting the old man with a stern glare. "We'll walk out that door...if, and only if, you can leave the front desk right now."

"...Leave the front desk? Is that it?" the fat old bastard began laughing wildly. "Just cause you've got some damn ninja bullshit doesn't mean shit, gaki! This is my damn motel, I can leave the front desk all I want."

"And what would happen if you couldn't?" Anko asked curiously.

"Then I guess I'll have to give you your rooms...but there's a fat chance of that ever happening!" he pointed to us with a vicious sneer as he began to walk away from the desk. "So just try and fucking stop me you shitty shinobi!"

*VRRRRRRRRRMMMMM*

"E-Eh?! The hell?!" the old man leaned back a bit and blinked in shock. "I...I was sure I was walking away before. I was almost right at the door, how did I get back here?" he slowly backed away while setting us with a harsh glare. "You think you have it figured out, huh? Don't even think about trying anything, I'll know you've done it you-"

*VRRRRRRRRRMMMMM*

A startled gasp escaped his throat as he once again found himself at the spot he had tried to escape from. "W-What the hell is this?! How, how?! That's not possible," the motel owner looked around for any sort of explanation. "This just doesn't make sense, I was looking right at you creeps!"

I let out a mocking snort at the old man's confusion. "You wanna try again, Jiji? We can do this all day…"

"It's a what?!"

"Would you quiet down!" Anko hissed to Kurenai as they walked towards Kannabi Bridge. The purple-haired woman turned back to look at her bored genin and her friend's kunoichi apprentice. "Alright, they haven't heard, good."

"I still can't believe this...a ghost? He has a ghost that fights for him?"

"It's not a ghost ghost, it's more like...his...soul, calling out to his psyche to harness his life energy and willpower to create a spirit-like entity that follows his every mental command because it's connected to his mind, body, and spirit," Anko shrugged blithely. "At least, that's how the Hokage says it apparently works."

"And...it looks like...a person?"

"A buff purple and blue man with long hair," the snake-user snorted. "We saw another one too, it looks like a giant horse made of clouds."

"So, it just comes out of him and...what? Does it do anything?"

"Beats the shit outta things if the kid wants to beat the shit outta things...but only if they're within like 2 meters of the kid," Anko sighed in annoyance at her friend's owlish expression. "Yeah, I know, it sounds asinine. We tested it though, it can move out of 2 meters but it gets weaker and slower* when it does."

"So, he just uses it to beat things up?" Kurenai cupped a hand to her chin contemplatively. "I guess it's...unexpected, in a sense. If it's as strong as you're saying, it would throw anybody for a loop."

"It's not just some punch-ghost that he can call out of him," the purple-haired woman chided. "It also has some sort of unique ability. All of them have one, the other guy in Konoha who has one improves the quality of food, the horse one controls weather-that's why we had the Typhoon a while back-and so on."

"The Typhoon was a-Ugh, y'know what, I'll open that can of worms later," the dark-haired Jōnin slyly glanced at the boy walking several feet behind them. "What does he do?"

"We...we haven't figured it out yet," Anko said sheepishly. "We have a bunch of theories, and we've been trying to take everything into account."

"...We?"

"Me, Iruka, and the old man," the snake-user declared. "What we know so far is that his Stand moves at the speed of light, is strong enough to, in his own words, 'crush diamonds', and moves with greater precision than even the world's best surgeon."

"And what theories did you have based on that?"

"Teleportation, super-speed, breaking down into particles of light to travel and attack-oh, and Iruka thought up the crazy idea that he can manipulate time."

"M-Manipulate...how?"

"He sees into the future, and if he sees something he doesn't like, he skips it so that it doesn't happen, or something like that," Anko waved her hand dismissively. "Nothing seems to fit right though. With that stunt at the motel, it looked like teleportation...but still…"

"...Maybe Iruka is on to something," Kurenai sighed at her friend's owlish look. "No, I don't think he's actually skipping time, or doing anything like that. Maybe his stand creates some sort of...loop, I suppose."

"Loop? What, he's turning back time?"

"No, no, it's more like he's using mind control to direct the movements of others while making everybody think he's rewound time and erased their memories of what they did before he made his 'rewind'. It's like a really powerful genjutsu, but he wouldn't need to use chakra for it."

"He did say that he was doing a genjutsu..." the purple-haired woman said contemplatively. "So far, it's between that, super-speed, and teleportation."

The dark-haired Jōnin hummed thoughtfully. "Sooner or later, he'll have to reveal it himself. I've never met a ninja who was able to their unique bloodline, jutsu, or secret strategy to themselves for that long."

"I guess you're right...my bet is that he won't be able to make it past next Chūnin Exams."

"Fifty five thousand Ryō says he does."

"You're on!" Anko let out a short giggle before looking over her shoulder. "So, what was your kunoichi doing in her genjutsu anyway?"

"Ah...I'll tell you later, I need to talk to her about it anyway…"

"So, this is Kannabi Bridge, huh?" I tilted my head curiously. "He really blew it up, didn't he?"

It was an old bridge made of white stone, with brick colored railings. The bits of the metal beams jutted out of the stone where the bridge would have continued, and the faint remains of the piers sat in the river. On the other side, I could see several more buildings making up the town, these ones definitely abandoned judging by their appearance.

"Yeah, he and his old team took out a whole two thirds of the thing," Anko noticed Hinata's shocked expression and sighed. "It was during the 3rd Shinobi War, just around the end. It was either this or leave ourselves wide open to an invasion by Iwa."

"Speaking of which," Kurenai motioned to a dark shape in the trees near the other side of the bridge. "That's at least one of them, I can assume."

I narrowed my eyes at the shape as I absentmindedly fingered the hilt of my tanto. From my left hand, the glass of water I had kept sealed in my sleeve slid into my hand as I willed Hamon into it in a desperate attempt to get the technique to work. The results were...surprising, to say the least.

"Six of them," I said lowly. "The one peeking out from behind the tree, and five others who are hiding behind them and one of the buildings."

"Did you actually just get it down?" my Jōnin sensei whispered.

"No, more like I'm getting a rough estimate on things. It's still not perfected yet," I hissed.

"Yeah, whatever…" Anko cocked her head to the side. "Oi! We know you're here, come on out!"

The shape behind the tree let out a short huff before flickering out of existence, only to appear on the other side of the river. He was a serious looking man in the standard Jōnin attire of Iwagakure. The man stared at us blankly for several seconds before cocking his head to the side with a toothy sneer.

"Where's the prisoner?"

"Back at the motel," Anko jabbed her finger in the direction behind us.

"The agreement was a prisoner extradition," the Iwa Jōnin growled. "You either hand him over or-"

"Hold up! Konoha never explicitly agreed to an actual extradition," my sensei let out a small chuckle. "We just said we'd bring him to you. He's got a bounty on his head, now pay up."

The man's mouth opened and closed for several seconds as he glared at us. "You...you bitch! You can't-"

"Oi, Keizan! This shit is taking too long!"

I blinked as a dark haired girl flickered into existence behind the Jōnin, a scowl directed at all of us in general. The only reason I knew she was a girl was her voice, and the skirt, but there wasn't much to go on aside from that. She looked...familiar, I suppose...something about a part of Shippuden I probably missed a while back, maybe?

...Oh well.

"Gaah! Kurotsuchi! We're supposed to stay put!"

"Shut it Masaoka! She's right, this is already boring as hell."

"You're both so annoying…"

I watched as three more ninja emerged from the trees. The first was a cheerful short-haired blonde with their hitai-ate worn like a bandana, and they were definitely a Jōnin. While they carried themself the same way as their comrade, they didn't seem as hostile or wary of us.

The next two that came out were a Chūnin and another genin. The genin was a tired looking boy with dark-brown hair going to his shoulders in small braids. Currently, he was glaring at the Chūnin at his side.

The Chūnin didn't look like he even belonged in the ninja forces, all things considered. He was a thin stick of a guy in his early teens, his glasses were pushed against his eyes as though everything needed to be as clear as possible. The worst part was the fact that he couldn't quite stand still, he jolted and squirmed as though some animal were running across his body beneath his clothes.

"G-Guys...I have to…"

"Good Kami, Masaoka! You went an hour ago! Your medical problems suck!"

"Masaoka? As in, like Masaoka Kurogane?" Anko asked curiously. "The most useless ninja in all of history?"

"R-Recent history!" the bespectacled boy called over to us. "And...y-yeah, he was my father…"

"Oof! That's rough kid!"

I ignored my Jōnin sensei's laughter as I scrutinized the Iwa nin across from us. There was some sort of...feeling in the air. An electrical feeling that was eerily familiar enough to fill me with dread.

"Leave him alone, Senra," a new voice called out. "You can be an asshole when we're not busy."

...Too big. The thing strapped to that guys back was too big to be called a sword. Too big, too thick, too heavy, and too rough. It was more like a large hunk of raw metal sharpened at the edges and end and strapped to a stick.

I hadn't even registered the wielder until after I had taken my eyes off the sword. He was genin around my age, similar height and build, though much tanner and with dark-black hair and amber colored eyes. And somehow he was carrying that thing on his back like it was nothing.

"Kyōaku Ha…" I swallowed a lump in my throat as I tried to contain my awe. "I can't believe it, I'm actually seeing it in person."

"E-Eh? What are you talking about?" Hinata asked nervously.