chapter 22: Lifesaving... Curry?

"Naruto! come on!" Hinami said referring to the strangers on their backs, four in total, Two on Hinami and two on Naruto. these people had washed from the lake on the training grounds all of them were suffering from mild hypothermia. theyd woken up briefly to find out where they were. 

"Come on… Naruto… this was… your idea." Hinami said, struggling under the weight of two grown adults. They'd been training on the training grounds when they'd shown up, Hinami wore a maroon-purple sleeveless cropped top zipped up to her neck with a cropped sky blue jacket overtop, wearing black shorts with a skirt stopping mid thigh. Wearing her black hair in two braids with light blue ribbons at the base, a yellow strand going through the braid on the right side with a lilac purple strand going through the braid on the left side. Wearing her headband around her left thigh, her bangs falling over her face wearing black arm protectors on her forearms, wearing shinguards on her shins going over her black sandals,

"guess this counts as training too…" Naruto said, grunting with effort. He wore a blue to orange ninja outfit with his chunin vest overtop, wearing his headband around his forehead keeping his blonde hair from sitting flatly on his head. Wearing his shuriken holster on his right thigh with his kunai pouch on his back waist. 

"Exactly." Hinami said in agreement as the two made their way downstream, holding the people on their backs, passing Lee who was training with weights around his ankles, wrists, and weighted Geta. as he trained, he looked over and noted Hinami and Naruto carrying two full grown adults with what seemed to be practiced ease. 

"Ill have to do better." Lee commented to himself, before training himself harder and faster to improve his body's recovery and speed. 

"Gai, I have a mission for your squad. alongside Naruto and Hinami." Minato said later that day, the four strangers were being assessed at the hospital. They'd come with a request of the village. Gai had finished his report on his recent mission that he'd completed, he stood laughing for a moment as he recalled the mission. His black hair was in a bowl cut around his head, wearing a forest green jumpsuit with a his protector on his waist underneath his jonin flak jacket. Wearing orange leg warmers on his legs sitting overtop his blue ninja sandals. Before looking seriously at Minato, ready for what the man was to tell him. Minato was thankful for that, he looked towards Gai equally as serious, his blue eyes meeting black. His hair spiking around his head with his sideburns reaching under his chin wearing his headband around his forehead, wearing a dark blue jonin outfit with his jonin flak jacket overtop, wearing his hokage cloak over his shoulders. 

"Don't forget, you have that S-mission as well, the client requested you specifically, and if you don't leave today, you won't make it." Shukaku commented from the side, his black hair in a ponytail behind his head, as his brown eyes looked towards Gai. Wearing a fishnetting shortsleeve shirt with his jonin flak jacket overtop, paired with black capris pants, wrappings around his shins with black sandals around his feet. Wearing a brown sleeveless jacket over his shoulders with dark green protectors on his hands and forearms. 

"They'll have to handle this alone then. Well, with Naruto and Hinami as well." Minato said calmly, 

"Wait! Why can't they go alone! Why do those two have to go with them huh!" Gai said and Minato hummed, looking over, 

"Because they were the ones to find the clients. But also because Tenten is out sick, so is Sasuke." Minato said and the man hummed in response looking confused

"The men Naruto and Hinami rescued came to request help. They're from the Katabami mine. That's one of the most abundant in the land of rivers. But 6 months ago, people calling themselves the Kurosuke family showed up and took over their magistrate out and took over their village, and are killing people left and right." Minato said sitting behind his desk his hands folded in front of him as he looked towards team Gai (Minus a sick Tenten), Hinami and Naruto as they stood before his desk. Hinami stood on the end, standing next to Neji, Hinami wore a maroon-purple sleeveless cropped top zipped up to her neck with a cropped sky blue jacket overtop, wearing black shorts with a skirt stopping mid thigh. Wearing her black hair in two braids with light blue ribbons at the base, a yellow strand going through the braid on the right side with a lilac purple strand going through the braid on the left side. Wearing her headband around her left thigh, her bangs falling over her face wearing black arm protectors on her forearms, wearing shinguards on her shins going over her black sandals,

"That is unforgivable." Lee said, outraged looking towards Minato, 

"Once they've been cleared for travel, I'd like you five to assist them back to Katabami mine, and take out this Kurosuke family. Hinami's filling in for Tenten on this mission." Minato said looking over towards the group, Naruto stood next to Lee with his hands behind his head, wearing his blue-orange ninja outfit with chunin flak overtop his headband around his forehead

"We'll get these guys no sweat, ya know! It'll be a piece of cake for this squad. I could march right in there and stop those guys no problem." Naruto said definitely, Lee agreeing with him, while the other three sighed,

"Your confidence is admirable, but we don't know who we're up against. You're overestimating your own abilities and underestimating theirs." Hinami said in return, 

"Yes, we ought to learn more about these thugs before we act." Neji said in agreement, wearing his black hair behind his head with a loose ponytail behind his head, wearing a shortsleeve hoodless tan hyuga jacket, paired with brown shorts, his shuriken holster on his right thigh with his kunai pouch on his back waist, wearing wrappings around his right arm and leg. His headband tied around his forehead. 

"Overall, this is a simple mission. Hinami Senju." Minato said 

"Yes sir?" The girl said

"You're squad leader." Minato said, the girl pulling the hood over her face 'I should've gone home.' She thought as it was announced

"As a jonin you'll be expected to lead in different missions, this is to help gain experience." Minato said 

"Yes sir…" She said in return 

"Who was that leader again?" Gai asked and Minato looked over, 

"Raiga." Minato said and Gai hummed, a hand on his chin

"As I thought, I heard a rumor about him when I was working in the field." Gai said the genin, plus Hinami and Naruto, who'd walked back into the room looked over in confusion. 

"A rumor?" Lee asked in confusion, all the attention was on Gai, 

"Wait, so the Kurosuke boss is one of the seven ninja swordsmen of the mist?" Naruto asked Lee as they sat at Ichiraku ramen, Hinami was, well, gathering her nerves. Or rather, Neji was dragging her with him to gather her nerves. 'The seven ninja swordsmen of the mist… great, so another crazy guy, just my luck. Couldn't I get the mission to save a puppy or help find some missing money, or something like that…' Hinami thought as Neji dragged her with him, they were going to meet Lee and Naruto at Ichiraku to discuss what they'd heard. 

"Who are those guys again." Naruto spoke

"Come on.. This shouldn't be a hard mission." Neji said and Hinami looked over, 

"I hope not, but we'll see." She said in response as they reached Ichiraku, ordering ramen of their own. 

"The seven ninja swordsmen are elite ninja from the mist village. Each of them is powerful and possesses a specialized swords, hence the name. We've faced two Swordsmen already in battle. You remember the land of waves, Zabuza Momoshi?" Hinami said as they walked up, 

"Oh that was the guy with the weird sword thing on the bridge with Haku! Right?" Naruto said and Hinami nodded, 

"He held the executioners blade. You remember when Ozai showed up at the Inn? With Kisame Hoshigaki?" Hinami said in return

"Oh yeah, his sword was wrapped in bandages though, youre saying he was a swordsmen too?" Naruto said and Hinami nodded, 

"I'm guessing his blade was the chakra eater, samehalda. But uh, anyway, The seven ninja swordsmen, supposedly, are all connected. We could use this mission to not only take down the Kurosuke family, but also gather possible intel on the group I keep hearing whispers about. Akatsuki." Hinami said and Naruto looked over

"You're making even less sense than usual, what are you talking about Hinami." Naruto said and the girl looked down, 

"I see, so you're hoping to do two things at once with this mission." Neji said in return and the girl nodded in return. 

"Alright, we'll remain vigilant, and watch these guys as we head for Katabami. Then we'll deal with the Kurosuke family once we arrive." Hinami said looking towards the travelers. 

"There is a shop very close to that village. It can be our home base." Lee began, causing the group to look towards him in curiosity. 

"How do you know about a shop out there anyway?" Neji asked looking towards her teammate, all four of them wore bags on their backs, for the journey. 

"A surprise for the journey." Lee said with a wink, looking over towards Neji, Naruto jumping over head, ready to go, and taking to trying to lead the mission. 

"Don't forget. Hinami's leading this mission, not you. Naruto." Neji said Naruto hanging his head a moment, 

"Yeah, I know." He said in return, before opting to hit the road, trying to get everyone to go with him. 

"Naruto… do you even know where you're going?" Hinami asked, before laughing behind her hand as Naruto walked back up, admitting to not having a clue on where to go. The merchants led them through forests and up cliffs to get to their village, Naruto walked in front right behind the merchants, with Hinami behind him, Neji and Lee behind her. The group taking a break near a stream to rest from the amount of walking they'd just did and to eat a small snack before going the rest of the way. Hinami eating onigiri. Looking over towards the merchant, one of them, a man with a dark purple cap on his head, wearing a shortsleeve green kimono with black sandals and green leg warmers. Seemed to be in a hurry, taking two bites of his food and drinking his water, before standing, ready to go once more. Looking urgently at the group who were still eating.

"Calm yourself Rokusuke. They'll save our village." His friend spoke, the bald man had a rope tied around his head, wearing a gray kimono, he had some facial hair on his chin, looking over towards the ninja. Naruto was standing on an unsteady pile of rocks, balancing on one foot. 

"Nothing like some post-meal training! Right Hinami" Naruto said as he balanced, and the girl hummed in response, the girl sat crossed legged, her hands in front of her, she'd finished her onigiri and was now meditating, trying to find a connection to the Katabami mine the village should be close enough to some forest that she could find a connection, used to his antics. Neji just had a small smirk on his face as Lee gasped out, before jumping from the rock he sat on with the others, hitting a boulder and taking the broken shards of rock to create a tower. Three of the merchants laughed while looking over, but Hinami's attention was on Rokusuke, who remained standing 

"How long do you ninja plan to rest?" Rokusuke said looking over towards them and they looked over, 

"We need to keep moving if we want to save Kanpachi." He continued and Hinami opened her eyes, looking over towards the man, 

"He's been in that coffin too long man." Another spoke, from the ground 

"I couldn't get a read on the village while we were resting there. I'm still having trouble connecting further out of my vicinity." Hinami commented as they walked, her and Neji took the lead with Naruto and Lee trailing behind them. 

"We were pretty far from here still, so it can't be helped." Neji said in return and Hinami looked over, before sighing, 

"Yeah…" She said in return, before glancing back, 

"Is Lee… sleepwalking?" She said 

"What?" Neji said looking back, the boy did indeed look incredibly tired all of a sudden. 

"This grogginess… I remember… we must be close." Lee said

"You sleepwalking on us?" Naruto questioned, looking over, 

"Not to worry, I ran a marathon here one time, for three days and I slept through the entire thing. Gai sensei and I raced eachother." Lee said in response, before sniffing the air, smelling curry. Hinami sneezing in response to all the sudden spices in the air. Before they all startled as Lee yelled, pointing up the path, Hinami putting her hands over her ears

"Ha! YES! I KNEW IT! IT IS JUST UP AHEAD, THE CURRY SHOP OF LIFE!!" Lee spoke, startling the entire group from the sudden noise level.

"Curry what now?" Hinami said looking over towards the boy with confusion, looking to the rest of the ninja who had no idea what he was talking about as they were now being ignored by the boy, before they shrugged. Following Lee's very enthusiastic running, towards a small shop. 

"Grandma Sansho!!" Lee yelled over, towards a a woman with white hair, wearing a yellow cap on her head, turning in shock, the woman wore black round glasses on her face, wearing a brown shirt with pink pants, paired with a blue apron and black sandals on her feet. 

"Goodness me.." Sansho said, the woman was about half of Lee's height, looking over in shock as Lee ran up. Noting the other ninja and travelers with him. 

"Long time no see!" Lee said picking the woman up and spinning her, the woman just chuckling along with him, 

"So… this is Lee's shop then?" Hinami said in question, before following Neji's gaze to the merchants, all of whom were looking towards their village with a downcast expression. 

"That mountain is the Katabami gold mine." One spoke and the ninja gasped before looking over, the group were let into the curry shop. Where Lee told them about the owner, Sansho, and how she saved his life with her curry, while stirring his water with a spoon. 

"You just mean it's good though, right?" Naruto asked, sitting next to him with one of the merchants on his other side. Hinami sat next to Neji on the other side with merchants on her other side. Their bags sat on the far wall. 

"No it honestly saved my life. I am in it's debt." Lee said, delving into the story completely, 

"I remember that…" Sansho said from where she was stirring curry in a large pot. Remembering when she and Lee met grandma Sansho. Remembering Sansho's grandson, Karashi, and how he helped save Lee's life when he collapsed. By the time he finished his story, plates with rice and curry that was black as tar were set in front of them, the curry itself was bubbling. 

"This is the curry of life." Lee said with joy. Before calling for his friends to dig in, 'Is it even edible?' Hinami thought everyone watching as Lee lifted the spoon from the water, taking a bite of the curry and calling it delicious. Everyone else taking small bites of the curry after him. All of their faces went pink to red from the pure spice of the cuisine. Naruto falling from his chair while the merchants fell onto the table, Neji and Hinami had the byakugan active in their eyes as they looked forwards, before Hinami rested her head against the table, sweat beading down their foreheads. Lee continuing to eat the curry as he asked about Karashi. 'So spicey…' Hinami thought 'I can hear colors now…' she continued in her head as Sansho answered Lee's inquiry.

"Well.. the boy was very moved by your work ethic… So much so, that he set out for town." Sansho said turning away from the group, clear regret in her tone as she spoke of her grandchild.

"I shouldn't have pushed him, and told him to be strong all the time… 'I'm going to be a man' he said 'part of the Kurosuke family.' she said as Lee slammed his hands on the table, Sansho asking Lee not to blame himself as Hinami took a drink from her water, clearing the entire thing and ridding her mouth of the taste. Her head still falling against the table, passing a glass of water to Neji, who took it

"Too late…" she said as Lee indeed began blaming himself for Karashi's downfall. ' I can hear colors now…' she thought as she answered

"Hinami! Permission to add rescuing Karashi onto the mission! We'll bring him back from the road of evil he has taken!" Lee declared, Hinami passed Neji a glass of water to help against the curry, which the boy downed completely.

"Alright." she said in response, agreeing to go forth with rescuing Karashi, stopping the gang, and saving the town. 

"This shop will act as our base of operations. We should start scouting the village, finding any information we can on this Kurosuke family first. After that we'll review and come up with a plan of attack. We can't rush things here, it could end up making things worse for everyone." Hinami said looking at the group who nodded in return

"Alright!" Lee said in return

"You three should stay here, things will get dicey if we face the kurosuke family." Neji said and Hinami nodded in agreement, looking over towards the three merchants. 

"Rokusuke is gone!" One of the men yelled that night, opening the door to the boys room where they were staying in, they looked towards him urgently, another one coming up behind him, as the man must have gone to town alone, without any sort of backup. 

"Thats not good…" Hinami said looking over towards the boys from the hallway as she'd walked up at the same moment, Neji was standing near the window with Naruto sitting on one of the mats and Lee sitting on the other, looking towards the merchants who were worried for their friend.

"If those guys find him then…" She said 

"We won't have time for a strategy now, we need to get straight to business." Naruto said and Neji nodded in agreement, the group hoping they weren't too late as they rushed into the night. Running on the cliffside after Kurosuke. Hinami let out a quizzical hum hearing a child speak alongside a man. The child warned the man of a presence approaching them. 'The reports didn't say anything about a child being apart of their group.