Decisions [Part-59]

[So, it's not because you got reminded of the time you almost blew up 20 ships because of Tanaka's dare?]-Matatabi

Matatabi sounded much too amused by this than Veronica would've like for her to be.

'Maybe.'

She was not going to admit that she accidently made a couple of seals to blow up the 20 ships. It was an incident unspoken off even within her team. Tobirama had made sure that she would never be doing something like that again. Unless there was no other choice.

"Look kid, we can't have more baggage with us. We already have two more kids with us, we can't take any more. If you really want to come then ask the boss."

The man really did seem like he didn't want to reject her, but Veronica saw the greed in his eyes. She simply nodded at him and went over to where his boss was. The boss was talking to the two kids who the group was taking with them.

[These kids are odd.]-Matatabi

Veronica completely agreed with the statement. Even their chakra was different than usual. Although she couldn't bear to look at them for long.

*Unresolved guilt will turn you into a miserable, weary, angry, stressed-out and fretful mess.*

She sighed as she thought about the mess she was getting into. She should've just went with the other merchants, perhaps she wouldn't have been so discreet otherwise since they would be traveling along the main trading route with other small villages, but at least she wouldn't be worrying about this mess.

She moved towards the boss and handed him some money. She didn't care if the kids saw the whole transaction. They clearly already knew things that they shouldn't, for their age, and she doubted that an act of bribing would drag their souls in darkness.

"Welcome young miss."

His smile seemed more disturbing than Ura's at the moment.

She made eye contact with Karasu at that moment. Karasu nodded at her briefly before she hid herself again. Veronica couldn't help but be thankful for the shadow clone jutsu once again. She only had spend her chakra once and could rest all she wanted while her clone kept an eye on her surroundings.

'Karasu should manage to distract any shinobi looking for me if anything happens. Although I should be careful myself.'

She once again noticed that the people she was travelling with were quite odd. The group was mostly comprised of ninja along with only a couple of civilians. Usually, groups with this many ninja would take up a bunch of civilians as the route was typically safe, and, the ninjas were trained. This might be more dangerous than she thought.

She sighed again as she wondered just why she couldn't have an uneventful day in this life of hers. Even if some of those days were adventurous, she would like a few days where she could rest peacefully.

She tried to ignore the children travelling with her. They reminded her of the two people she didn't want to think about.

*Guilt sucks the life right out of our souls.*

[You're still a scaredy-cat.]-Matatabi

'...I am.'

Taking in a shaky breath, she tried to distract herself with studying the ninjas. Although she doubted that Matatabi wouldn't be questioning her about this later.

Some of the ninja had clearly been in a bloody fight a couple of days ago. Well maybe not a fight but, they did gang up on someone. There was dried blood underneath their fingernails and the way they still had the faint scent of blood around them made Veronica feel like they hadn't taken a bath in ages. There were different smells of poison and drugs on them which Veronica could barely smell. Their weapons weren't exactly hidden however, the placement of their weapons was odd.

The ninja clearly hadn't travelled with other ninja, or have any encounters with enemies, as they hadn't bothered to stay alert. Or perhaps they were amateurs.

Veronica glanced around once more and noticed the boss.

'He's the main threat should they do something.'

The boss, who she still hadn't bothered to learn the name of, might have been around high chunnin level. His weapons stock, from what she could see, was also amazing and she wanted to avoid a fight with him for now.

After some time, the group stopped for a break to eat lunch. The food was quickly prepared by some civilians and the ninja helping out, and some of it was shared with the other people like her.

She then noticed the group of ninjas acting strangely around them. The civilians were on the verge of passing out. Their eyes were losing focus and their bodies already swaying.

'I didn't realize the food had drugs in it.'

[It was probably too weak for you to notice. My power's been freely flowing through your body after all.]-Matatabi

She hummed in acknowledgement as she once again looked at the ninja before her. She also noticed that the children weren't affected much by the drugs. Although the small one was drowsy, he didn't seem to be passing out any time soon while the other one, who seemed to be only a couple of years younger than Veronica, was completely fine.

[What do you think they are?]-Matatabi

'I can't guess yet. Their chakra is completely unfamiliar. Perhaps they're from a clan since some parts of their chakra is completely unique to them only.'

She motioned for the two children to go near the shadows, which they happily obliged with, and into one of the bigger bushes. They could still be easily found but Veronica placed a small genjutsu on them which should give them enough time to run away in case things didn't go well. She didn't want to shoulder the guilt of getting two children murdered, or get hurt, when she could've done something to help them.

*Grace restores it.*

"See, I told you we should get a better drug!!! There's someone who's STILL conscious."

It seems that the ninja were back from their scouting. She could tell that some genjutsu had been placed on the surrounding areas. She could easily break it but she didn't bother to do it now.

"Shut up already! F**king tie 'em up. We all know they aren't that strong."

She couldn't help but smirk a bit at that. Being underestimated had a lot of perks.