Chapter 6

Tenten had fun on the mission, but she was glad to be back with her team. As much as she wouldn't admit it to Lee or Gai, she'd missed them. As much as she hated waking up to their yelling, it was an interesting way to start the day.

"Did you guys do a lot of missions?" Tenten asked Neji as they ran alongside each other for a little while.

"Only D's," Neji admitted sullenly. "But I guess we were going to do it anyway."

"Maybe we can get a C now that I'm back," Tenten mused.

Neji just scoffed, running ahead. Tenten rolled her eyes at his back and continued running onward. He'd get over it. Just because she was requested for one mission, didn't mean it wouldn't happen to him eventually.

"Would you three like a C-rank?" Gai asked once he and Lee finished their laps, getting back to Tenten and Neji going at it for the third time that morning. "Tenten, I know you just got back, but I feel this could be a good test of your springtime of youth!"

Tenten giggled. "Sure sensei."

Neji gave a short sharp nod.

Lee cheered, jumping up into the air. "YOSH! Let us test our springtime of youths and get a C-rank!"

Gai patted him on the head obligingly, and led them towards the mission office.

"Back so soon?" Iruka asked as they entered.

"Yep," Tenten admitted, rubbing the back of her head somewhat sheepishly.

"Iruka! Might you have any C-ranks!?" Gai was loud as always.

Iruka only looked amused. "Yes, we got a few new ones just recently. You're the first ones to arrive and have first pick."

Gai beamed, approaching to check out the options. Tenten stayed in her spot as the two boys half hid behind Gai while still leaning out to check the scrolls out. She snickered at them quietly.

"This one looks good! We could use practice with long escort missions!" Gai held the scroll he'd chosen up in the air. Tenten barely caught the words 'Escort' and 'Iron' on it before it disappeared into one of Gai's many pockets. Ah, it was an escort to the land of Iron. Konoha got some of their weapons from there, and a good section of their ore. She'd probably enjoy this mission more than the boys would.

They were escorting a trader's caravan, which strangely didn't have many people. There were four wagons, and two people. The trader himself, and who she assumed was a craftsman. Er, woman?

"It'll be a good exercise in handling animals," the trader said, looking as innocent as a civvie was capable of doing while trying to hide a smirk. "Try and be less excitable, animals will spook if you startle them too badly. And if one spooks, they all will."

Tenten giggled at Neji's standoffish face that meant he didn't know what to do with the situation and didn't like it. "The trader will probably lead the first wagon, and the others will mostly just follow without much prompting. But we'll probably each be stationed next to the animals while the other person directs the back wagon."

She approached the horse, making sure it could see her. "Hey…" she dipped into a brief bow to check the horse. Ah the advantages of growing up with a father that sent off shipments every so often. She knew how to do this. "Boy, you're a boy."

Neji gave her the strangest look, but Lee just bounded up to the horse.

"Pleased to meet you, horse-san!" He bowed to the horse, and Tenten snickered as the horse tried to shy away from him.

"A bit less enthusiastic," Tenten advised. "They'll appreciate it more."

"Of course!" Lee said, albeit slightly quieter. He bowed to the other horse more slowly. "Pleased to meet you as well other horse-san!"

"Those two are Smokey and Starlight," The trader said, patting their noses. "If you can't tell which is which, I'm concerned about your academy."

Smokey was probably the dark grey one with black legs. Which meant Starlight was the blue roan with a white speckled coat.

"The ones for the front are Flora and Fauna, Flora has the one white sock, and the ones behind this wagon are Voltage and Opal. Opal's the white one, and Voltage got struck by lightning as a foal."

Tenten paused. "He what now?"

"Got struck by lightning," the trader agreed.

"And how did he survive?" Tenten asked cautiously.

"The springtime of youth!" Lee declared, speed walking over to the horse.

"No one's quite sure," the trader admitted. "He gets spasms sometimes, so we pair him with Opal, who's a very strong horse. She can pull the wagon by herself for a while if needed while Voltage recovers."

Tenten leaned around the wagon. "That horse is taller than Gai-sensei. What kind of horse is that."

Neji leaned around the other way to check, and looked almost traumatized when he straightened.

"A draft horse," the trader replied easily. "Big, isn't she?"

"She's taller than Gai-sensei," Tenten whispered. Gai was tall, one of the taller shinobi in the village, and the draft horse was a lot taller than him.

"We're pretty sure she's full grown," the man remarked. "We're not entirely sure though. Well, I'm kind of glad there's two more of you than usual, even if it's usually two jounin."

"Do the jounin doing this vary?" Tenten asked curiously, following him as he moved to the front of the train. She could still hear Lee enthusiastically greeting each of the horses.

"They have in the last seven years or so," the man agreed. "Before that it was this one kid with different partners each time. Cute black haired kid named Shisui Uchiha."

Tenten tilted her head. "An Uchiha?" She'd only been nine when they died, and as such didn't really know much about the clan. Aside from their famous dojutsu of course. But everyone knew that.

"Oh yeah, we got along well, he was always cheerful and willing to help out with the horses. Even if the horses didn't like him much."

"Why didn't they like him?" Tenten asked, glancing at the horses.

"Well, I think it was the crows that flocked around him," the trader said, humming thoughtfully. "They didn't like the smell of them. At least it wasn't ravens. Ravens are signs of death. Crows are too, but to a lesser degree."

The trader heaved a big sigh. "Seven crows were following him the last time I saw him. He didn't appear when I was ready to head out two days later. Two days after I left, I heard of the Uchiha massacre. I worry what that meant for him."

"Why is the number of ravens important?" Tenten asked curiously.

"There's an old counting rhyme for ravens." The man sighed again. "One for sorrow, two for mirth. Three for a wedding, four for a birth. Five for silver, six for gold, and seven for a secret never to be told. Eight for a kiss, nine for a wish, and ten for a bird you must not miss."

A secret never to be told? Weird. Either it was old wives tales, which was somewhat likely, or something was up here.

The trader gave her a wane smile. "It worried me too. Years have gone by, I haven't seen head or feather of his flock since. If you want to see if you can find them, check the Naka river in Konoha. I hear there are many crows there. His flock will always react well to any sort of treat, they're hard to miss if you have food. Always willing to come right up to you and do tricks for it." He sighed once more, patting the flank of one of the lead horses gently. "Come on girl, let's get a move on."