A Cold Welcome

"We will escort you to our village," said Azumaki before turning and walking away. Baki and I shared a look of uncertainty, neither of us liked this situation.

"What do you think of this Baki-sensei? I don't like it one bit in my opinion," I said with a sigh. Baki nodded while looking over the dead ninjas with his piercing gaze. Only two of the unknown ninja had survived and were currently being held by the Hidden Waterfall shinobi. Both of them were also being given basic medical attention for the wounds I inflicted on them.

"They definitely aren't telling us the truth, that's for sure. A group of rogue ninjas wouldn't be this organized, they also wouldn't attack a hidden village outright. I can only hope this won't affect our mission to safely transport Shibuki to the Hidden Leaf," said Baki gruffly. I nodded in agreement, the last thing I wanted was another overcomplicated mission.

"All right, let's move out," ordered Azumaki loudly. The Hidden Waterfall ninjas instantly leaped up into the treetops, following their leader. Baki and I leaped after them to not fall behind. Judging from how the Hidden Waterfall shinobi were responding to Azumaki, we would need to be careful of her. They hadn't estimated in the slightest at any of the orders she gave, immediately doing what she said without the slightest bit of thought. Not only did this mean she had absolute loyalty, but it also meant that every single one of these shinobi trusted her with their lives. Another thing unnoticed was how she referred to Shibuki, she didn't say Lord Shibuki as would have been proper. This indicated that she was close to the young leader, close enough to not have to worry about pleasantries such as his title. This meant she held the loyalty of the shinobi and was at the very least a trusted advisor of Shibuki. Having both of those made her a powerful figure in the Hidden Waterfall, not to mention she certainly didn't appear to be weak in person. Those scars most likely hadn't come from an accident, especially the one on her face.

"Lord Gaara, I think it would be best if we tread carefully when we arrive in Takigakure, especially around Azumaki. From what we have already witnessed, the Hidden Waterfall is having issues with some sort of organized force attacking their village. It would be wise if we simply follow the directives of our mission," said Baki quietly. Looks like we were both on the same page then.

"I couldn't agree more," I whispered to him. A Hidden Waterfall ninja craned his head back to look at us right after I said that, suspicion heavy in his gaze. Baki and I both simply stared back at him blankly until he turned back around. More proof that we needed to be careful on this mission.

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"Hidden Sand shinobi, you and I will go a separate path from the rest of my team," said Azumaki as she leaped back to talk to us. The three of us stopped while the rest of the Hidden Waterfall shinobi kept moving. I noticed that several of them gave us cold looks as they leaped past us. As if we weren't already getting the message they didn't like us, they seemed determined to be clear about it.

"Why do you want us to take another route," asked Baki bluntly.

"There are very few entrances into our village, we have designated a single one to be used by outsiders," she explained without even bothering to look at us. Azumaki then leaped away without even checking to see if we were following. Baki and I swiftly leaped after her so we wouldn't get left behind. The trees quickly turned into a rocky landscape with several waterfalls dotting the area. I guess it wasn't called the Hidden Waterfall Village for nothing. After leaping up a steep cliff side, Azumaki stooped at two large boulders. She then weaved three hand signs before stopping. Baki and I stood there with anticipation, waiting for something to happen. The two founders suddenly shifted, both moving away from each other to reveal a small entrance. Azumaki didn't even flinch and quickly entered the pitch-black entrance between the boulders. As to not be left behind once again, Baki and I hurriedly followed her into the darkness. It was barely bright enough to see anything, I wasn't exactly sure how we were supposed to walk in this. A loud crunch behind me made the situation worse, what little light we had was searched away as the boulders shifted back to their original positions. Now I quite literally couldn't see anything, not even my own hand.

"I don't suppose you have a light," I said dryly.

"Luminescent Ignition," said Azumaki as she weaved a hand sign. I was almost blinded as every inch of the tunnel abruptly lit up. It was now coated in a lime green light, which looked to be coming from some kind of moss. At least we now could see where we were going, I hadn't liked the idea of stumbling around the narrow tunnel.

"Let's continue," said Azumaki bluntly as she strode forward. Baki and I yet again followed her while observing the unique moss. It obviously wasn't a naturally occurring miss since it was activated by a hand sign. I assumed that it had been bio-engineered to respond to chakra in a specific way, hence its ability to provide light.

"How much longer until we reach the village," asked Baki.

"We will be there soon," said Azumaki vaguely. At this point, I was starting to wonder if she had a grudge toward us. All these vague and disrespectful responses were starting to get on my nerves. Nevertheless, I continued down the tunnel behind Baki and Azumaki in the hope it would be a short walk.

It turned out I was wrong, it took us almost half an hour to get to the end of the tunnel. This was because the tunnel twisted and turned, not staying in a straight line after the entrance. It also wasn't fun to walk through these twists because of how narrow the tunnel was, I kept bumping into the walls. Baki was having to crouch down so he didn't have to hit his head and his shoulders were constantly scraping the walls. Azumaki didn't seem to have these problems though, she nimbly and swiftly traversed the tunnel with ease. After much hardship, we finally made it to the end of the tunnel. It look as if we had run into a dead end but I knew better than that. Azumaki stepped right up to the wall and placed her palm on it. The luminescent moss flashed brightly and the wall swung like a door. Azumaki stepped through the doorway, then Baki, and finally me. The second I stepped through the doorway, the stone wall closed by itself.

"I see you don't take any chances with security," remarked Baki. I turned around and immediately understood what he meant. The room we had just walked into had walls of solid steel, with a dozen Hidden Waterfall shinobi stationed at the only door out of the room. I saw several different kinds of seals on the walls that I didn't recognize, probably more defensive measures.

"The Village Hidden by a Waterfall has never successfully been invaded, a testament to our strength. We will no disgrace those who have died to keep it that way, hence why we don't take any chances," said Azumaki firmly. This was the first time I had seen her talk with such fire as well as emotion. Azumaki's hands had clenched when she had answered, another indication that this was a sensitive topic. I was also getting a sense that she didn't just hate Baki and me, she hated all outsiders. It wasn't my problem that she didn't like outsiders as long a sit didn't interfere with our mission.

"We hold no ill will toward one of our allies," said Baki in an attempt to reassure Azumaki. As expected, she simply gave us a cold glare in response and walked away.

"Maybe you should stop it with the pleasantries sensei," I said with a sigh. Baki gave me a glance of disapproval from my statement.

"And why should I do that," questioned Baki.

"It only makes her angrier towards us," I said bluntly. I swiftly walked away from Baki to avoid any scolding I might get from my reply. I walked up and joined Azumaki at the heavily guarded door that led out of the room. She nodded to one of the guards who nodded back and then opened the door. Azumaki walked through and I went to follow, not wanting to be left with the hostile-looking guards. The guard at the door suddenly stepped in front of me and went to grab my shoulder. Sand erupted from my gourd and grabbed his hand before it even got close to touching me. The clatter of metal echoed throughout the room as the rest of the guards drew various weapons and surrounded me. The one I had grabbed hurriedly drew a kunai in a futile attempt to defend himself. Saying you could feel the tension was a huge understatement, these shinobi were dying to take us down.

"I'd suggest you back off before you get in trouble for interfering with a mission agreed on by our two villages. What your doing is way above your authority," I told him harshly. I sensed Baki move into position behind me so we were back to back.

"Stand down," ordered the guard whose hand was trapped in my sand. His order was hard to take seriously with how nervous he sounded, I was pretty sure he might pass out from fear.

"Did you not hear me? You're interfering with our mission, get out of our way. I won't even mention it to Shibuki if you listen to me right now," I said with the hope that using Shibuki would get us out of this mess. Thankfully, at the mention of their leader, many of the shinobi began to realize just how out of their death they were. One by one they sheathed or put away their weapons until only the man who I was still holding with my sand was left. He scowled at his comrades but wasn't dumb enough to continue. He put away the kunai he had drawn and looked at me expectantly. I smiled, making my sand tighten around his fist painfully. The shinobi gasped, his eyes bulging in agony. I quickly released him from my sand before his comrades built up the courage to try and stop me.

"Have a nice day," I said with a smirk while walking through the doorway. Baki stepped out after me, the metal door slamming behind us.

"Would you two hurry up," yelled Azumaki from at least a dozen yards away. I was surprised she had waited on us at all, I guess she wasn't all bad.

"Let's hurry Gaara, I don't want us to be late for our meeting with Shibuki," said Baki as he broke into a sprint. I hastily followed after him, catching up with Azumaki after a few minutes. We were currently walking on a path that was surrounded by a small forest. Ahead of us, I could see an absolutely massive tree with a body of water under it, with large clusters of buildings around it. A single bridge led across the lake and right to the tree, which led to an opening in the tree's large roots.

"Looks like we finally made it here," I said to Baki. The jonin nodded, not taking his eye off the village for quite some time. He was probably doing his usual survey of the landscape in case things went south.

"Shibuki's home is this way," said Azumaki as she gestured down to the far right side of the village. Following where she had pointed, I found a house two-story house that was much bigger than those close to it. The house had a small yard and no fence or gate to keep anyone out. I guess they weren't too worried about security inside the village, though this would inky make our mission more difficult. Any guards or patrols also seemed to be absent from the village, or if there were any I couldn't see them.

"Gaara, look past Shibuki's house," said Baki grimly. I shifted my view and grimaced when I saw what he was talking about. Right behind Shibuki's large house was evidence of a battle. The charred remains of what I could guess were about half a dozen houses, along with Hidden Waterfall shinobi removing dead bodies, and a ravaged landscape from powerful attacks. All of this was less than fifty yards from Shibuki's home, a chilling reminder of how close his assassins had come to him.

"I didn't realize that the Hidden Waterfall Village was having problems with attackers," said Baki stiffly. It seems our mission was a lot more dangerous than we originally thought it would be, how great.

"We aren't, they didn't even come close to Shibuki," refuted Azumaki. I had to disagree with her there, they had actually come quite close to him.

"I thought you said Takigakure had never been successfully invaded," I asked her. She tensed up at my words, making me realize I hadn't exactly been smart about my wording.

"This was no invasion, they snuck through our defenses but got caught in the process. The rogue ninjas desperately tried to complete their mission but we're no match for our shinobi," said Azumaki coldly. I winced internally under her piercing gaze, I needed to be smarter about what I was saying. The whole rogue shinobi thing she was spouting was getting harder and harder to believe from what I was seeing. Rogue shinobi tended to be outcasts or loners, most of them failures that couldn't make it in their own villages. Outside of the Akatsuki, there were only a few organized groups of rogue ninjas that wielded mentionable power. The timing was also suspicious since the chunin exams final was now less than a month away. We finally made it to the village after several more minutes of walking, only to be met with a ghost town. We walked down the center of a large street only to see two people other than ourselves. Dozens of shops and stalls sat empty, I could only imagine how busy this street would be on a normal day. Something on the ground caught my eye, a small orange hair clip. It felt vaguely familiar to me which made me decide to take it.

"Gaara, let's keep moving," said Baki from behind me. I pulled myself out of my curiosity to find that Azumaki was moving ahead without us yet again. This would be a good opportunity to talk to Baki alone.

"What do you think is going on here? There's basically no villagers and Azumaki isn't giving us any details," I said quietly as we walked a couple of yards behind Azumaki.

"I can only tell you what little I have guessed so far. Takigakure is currently having trouble with an organized front against their village, one strong enough to make a serious dent in their defenses," said Baki grimly.

"What makes you say their defenses have taken a hit," I asked with confusion. I hadn't seen any signs of a weakened Takigakure outside of the damage done outside of Shibuki's house.

"Look around and tell me what you see," ordered Baki. I frowned but did as he said, canvassing the while entire street with my eyes. As I had expected, there was nothing I had missed in my original analysis of it. It was just as barren and quiet as it had been a few minutes ago.

"There's no villagers whatsoever, not even any children or elderly," I said finally. Baki knew this already but I couldn't come up with anything else that was out of the ordinary.

"Tell me what else you don't see," he replied with a knowing smirk. What else I don't see? Confused, I looked around once more and thought about what he could mean. Baki was basically asking what else was missing outside of the villagers. Then it struck me, and I grimaced as everything clicked together.

"There is not a single shinobi in sight," I said with a sigh. Looks like Baki was correct, the Hidden Waterfall must be facing quite the foe.

"Exactly, normally in a situation like this, there would be an increase in patrols and a cancellation of most low tank missions. Yet, there isn't a single genin squad or even a jonin patrolling a street that runs through the center of the village," explained Baki. He was right, in the Hidden Leaf, we had seen dozens of shinobi either on patrol or out for a stroll when we had left our apartment. Comparing Takigakure and Konohagakure wasn't exactly the best but still, we should see shinobi on patrol in a village worthy of a Tailed Beast.

"Think we should ask Azumaki about it? It technically is our job to know this stuff if we are going to protect Shibuki," I asked Baki.

"I would like to be its as you said earlier, asking her anything will only make her angrier. Besides, I doubt she would give us any information even if we did ask," replied Baki.

"You two are doing too much talking and not enough walking," yelled Azumaki sharply from ahead of us. I quickened my pace, if we got there sooner then that was less time we spent with Azumaki. After walking down several more streets just like the main one running through town, we made it to Shibuki's house. It was a simple yet elegant house, with a similar aesthetic to the rest of the village. The only thing that made it stick out was that it had two stories to it while most in the village were only a single story. Dozens id Hidden Waterfall shinobi guarded the house but I noticed they looked quite young. None of them looked old enough to be jonin or even chunin.

"Try not to disgrace yourselves," said Azumaki bluntly as she walked through the front door. Baki and I shrugged and followed her inside. Unlike the shinobi we had met before, these younger ones looked a little scared. Several looked determined but others looked less than overjoyed at seeing us. Once inside, there were even more shinobi inside the house than on the outside of it. All of these were just as green and young as I was. If this was all they had guarding Shibuki then we would be in trouble. Baki and I walked up the stairs and were led to two large double doors. These doors were guarded by hardened shinobi, nothing wearing masks to conceal their identity. It was the first I had seen the Hidden Waterfall ANBU when in this village and I was glad to see they were in the right place. Their masks were made of oak wood by the looks of it, with slits for the eyes and unique designs to identify them. One had a single blue stripe running down his mask while the other had a single red stripe.

"Open up, it's the Hidden Sand shinobi sent to protect Lord Shibuki," said Azumaki to the ANBU. Looks like she would use official titles when speaking to ANBU operatives, probably because she viewed them as her superiors or equals. The two ANBU nodded and opened the two doors for us, starting down Baki and me as we entered.

"Lord Shibuki," said Azumaki as she kneeled. Baki and I quickly followed suit but I stole a quick glance up. Shibuki sat behind a large wooden desk, one that made the young boy look very small. I didn't think he had a very intimidating presence until I looked into his eyes. Shibuki's eyes were tired, weariness etched into his face. Accompanying the weariness was an expression of pain mixed with defeat. The expression made the kid look older and much wiser than he had in the anime.

"Welcome to Takigakure," said Shibuki blandly. Even his voice sounded more grown up, as well as tired.

"Lord Shibuki, it is an honor to make your acquaintance," said Baki as he bowed. I stood up from my kneeling and met Shibuki's eyes. He glanced me over and I did the same, noticing he had a full-length katana on his back. Shibuki also had his left arm and hand wrapped in bandages, something Azumaki had neglected to mention.

"I hear you are the ultimate weapon of the Hidden Sand," remarked Shibuki. I flinched a little bit at my crude title back home but managed to nod.

"I also have a report that your defensive capabilities are very impressive," said Shibuki as he gestured to some papers on his desk. They must have been from the Hidden Waterfall genius at the chunin exams. The chunin exams were also a nice way of gathering intel, even if it was intel on your allies.

"Thank you," I answered to his statements. I didn't need to end up in trouble for mouthing off to Shibuki.

"Yiu we're sent here to escort me to the Hidden Lead Village for the chunin exams final, I am gracious for the gesture of goodwill. Unfortunately, I cannot leave my village in its current state," said Shibuki with a sigh. So it was that bad then, the kid hadn't been scared of leaving the village, he simply didn't want to leave it without a leader. Admirable but it directly interfered with our mission to take him to the Hidden Leaf.

"Lord Shibuki, I must disagree with your decision. It is our mission to escort you to the chunin exams and I'm starting to believe it isn't safe for you here," said Baki firmly.

"Why wouldn't Lord Shibuki be safe in his own home? Do you doubt the might of the Hidden Waterfall," asked Azumaki with an edge to her tone. Baki merely glanced at her before turning back to Shibuki.

"I don't know much of your current situation but I can tell it's not good. You will be much safer at the Hidden Leaf," Baki reiterated.

"That will not fix the problem afflicting my village, it will only complete your mission. I'm no fool, I know our problems are not your concern but I have a proposition," said Shibuki with slight hope in his voice. I could easily guess what was about to happen next.

"Lord Shibuki, we don't need-"

"Silence Azumaki, we do need their help. I'm ready to offer a considerable reward if you take on the mission I'm about to give you," declared Shibuki. Azumaki looked to be desperately trying to hold back her tongue from letting loose a tirade of disagreement.

"Lord Shibuki, we have only been given one mission and that is to escort you," replied Baki firmly. Shibuki didn't seem to care though, he still had that glimmer in his eyes.

"I want you two to help my shinobi take down the organization targeting this village and our jonin," continued Shibuki unfazed. Their jonin were being targeted specifically? That was why all of the guards looked so young, they were all that was left.

"I don't have the authority to do that Lord Shibuki," replied Baki calmly. In my opinion, Baki did have the power but didn't want to involve the two of us in Takigakure's affairs. Shibuki slammed his right fist into his desk, with his teeth gritted and eyes angry.

"My people are being backed into a corner, I will ask again, will you help," asked Shibuki with ragged breathing. We were his last hope, the last attempt to try and save his village. I sighed, Shibuki wasn't making it this easy.

"Shukaku, what do you think about this," I asked him quickly. I wanted a second opinion before I decided on what to do. Shukaku and I were a team now so it was logical to ask him, if not mandatory.

"Whichever one lets us have more fun," he grumbled. I chuckled internally, that was what I thought he would say. Shukaku's fun meant whichever route had more enemies to kill. Guess it was final then, though Baki wasn't going to like it one bit.

"We will help you," I answered softly. Everyone's eyes darted to me, each of them with different emotions. Shibuki looked relived, Azumaki suspicious, and Baki had a deathly cold look in his eye. I gulped, maybe I should have convinced him before saying we would help.

"Very well then, if Lord Gaara wishes to accept this mission, we shall," said Baki with an icy tone. Looks like Baki was full of surprises, I was still sure he was going to be quite mad at me but at least he wasn't going to object.

"Thank you very much, I will brief you on the details then," said Shibuki as he sat down. This was where the fun would begin, another problem for me to fix.