A Sudden Change Of Plans

Takuni Village was known as the Village of Artisans, a place famous for its productions of weaponry. Due to its craft and trade, it is a sort of silent rule to not attack the village, which is located south of Tanigakure in the Land of Rivers. Its location was important strategically, since they had direct access to Konoha and Suna, while having only a few minor villages in between them and Iwa.

It was the combination of all those factors that made Takuni Village a place of interest for most Ninja. If one were to get a deal with them, they could get close to exclusive rights over the weapons crafted there. It was only because of their craft that they remained independent.

"Ryota, we're just a kilometer away, can you sense anything nearby?"

"I can smell or hear anything, but... there is a weird feeling of dread in this place"

Kurenai looked at me with surprise written in her face. I chuckled nervously at that, realizing that I had never told anyone about how I could feel emotions.

"Eh... I can... kind of feel emotions?"

"Good to know, would've been better early. Anyway, keept your guards up. I trust Ryota's feeling more than the information we were given"

Like that, we ventured further and into Takuni Village. The place seemed peacefull, taking into consideration that it was one of the most thriving non-ninja villages in the entire Ninja World, loosing only to the Land of Iron on the crafting department.

"I don't like this... let's hurry to get the VIP, please"

With those words from me, Kurenai led us to the location where the VIP was supposed to be. It was at that point that I realized why I felt dread. I got a feeling from inside the building that I had felt many times throughout the years. It was a feeling similar to the one I got from Naruto. A Jinchuuriki.

"Sensei, let's get out of here and drop this mission."

I don't know if it was because of the fear and urgency in my voice, or because of the contrariety of me asking to drop the mission when I was the one who most wanted to take it, but Kurenai didn't seem to be able to answer quick enough.

"Please, don't be so wary of me, kid. I'm the VIP and my name is Han"

"You're not a merchant. What does a Jinchuuriki want with us?"

Both Kurenai and Han seemed surprised at my words. The former got on guard instantly, surprised at the fact that our VIP was a Jinchuuriki and probably thinking this was a trap all along. The latter seemed surprise because of the fact that I knew he was a Jinchuuriki, but laughed when he saw us all on guard and ready to attack.

"Please, relax for a bit, I am not here to fight. I was sent to have a peace talk with your Kage"

It was hard for us to believe his words. But if that was the truth, which I was inclined to believing since I could feel no bad intentions from Han, this mission was alredy on a completely different level of difficulty. Once he spoke, Kurenai finally took command of the situation, having recovered from the surprise.

"Does the Hokage know about this?"

"He should, since the scroll we sent him stated clearly that a Jinchuuriki from Iwa was going"

"That old man gave us a different mission... dammit"

At that moment Kurenai asked Han to leave for a bit, since we would have a short conversation on what to do, since the mission had suddenly gone from C-Rank to borderline S-Rank. The idea of earning at least a million Ryo was tempting to Ryota, but first came his life.

"What do you think of this Ryota? As much as I hate to admit it, I'm at a loss"

"I trust Han, but I don't trust Iwa. He is a good guy, by the feeling I get from him. But Iwa is known to be crafty. We don't know if they sent him as a distraction, or if he has some sort of curse or seal that will activate once at Konoha and he'll go berserk"

The conversation was between Kurenai and I, while Shino and Hinata paid total attention to each word, as if they were learning just form listening to us talking about the topic. It was kind of amusing, if I had to be honest, but right now I wanted to hear their oppinion too, since it mattered as much as mine or Kurenai's. Though she would get the final say in this.

"Hinata, Shino, what do you guys want to do?"

"I... w-want to continue t-the mission. I trust Ryota-kun"

"If Ryota trusts him, I don't see why not"

Kurenai could only sigh when she heard their answer. She promised to extort the Hokage for the last Ryo she was able to when we got back to Konoha and promised to treat us to BBQ. Couldn't have gotten a better deal out of it. Once we had decided, we called Han once again.

"We've decided to escort you to Konoha. Luckily, Ryota here is already at Chunin level, or I would've dropped this without thinking twice"

"Thanks. I can also help, since I can more than clearly defend myself"

Like that, we decided that our journey back to Konoha was to begin the following day, since we were tired from the journey to Takuni Village. Han seemed to have no issues with that, so we simply booked two rooms in an inn, which would be shared by Kurenai with Hinata and me with Shino.

*

The following day, we got up early in the morning and went to pick up Han, who was already prepared to leave, having cleaned all hint of him being there from the house. It wasn't ulti we arrived at the gate that I was once agains hit by a weird feeling of foreboding. I felt like I was missing something, but I couldn't tell what.

'Dammit... what is it...'

We continued our journey in a tense manner, since we were all still worried about the actual implications of this mission. I, on the other hand, kept thinking of what it was that I was forgetting. But I didn't get to think about it for too long, since the answer came to me walking -literally walking- a few kilometers away from Takuni Villate.