76 Naruto : Uchiha : Chapter 76
A hand clasped his shoulder - quite firmly in fact. Causing all three of the boys to stop mid stride and look at the source of said interruption.
It was Hiruzen.
...
A worried Hiruzen, one who was looking at the three a bit conflicted since that mission was anything but a C-rank in his mind.
Even if there weren't that many weapons for them to carry back, the chances of some shinobi intercepting them for either the details of that scroll…or even the weapons they would be carrying back - was unbelievably high.
He couldn't, in all his heart believe that those fools were stupid enough to assign such a mission to green genin - one whose sensei was presently out of commission for that matter.
"Is there something we can help you with Hiruzen-sensei?" Sakumo's question did break him out of his thoughts. He released said boy's shoulder and sighed, now what was he supposed to say to them?
So he recited the first thing that came to his mind…
"Be careful alright?" the three confident smirks he got in return did anything but elevate his fears even further than they already were.
He had never - and that did mean ever, had he seen this.
A mission of that caliber, being handed down to a team filled with anything less than chunins. It would have been laughable to the point of sounding ludicrous - had Tobirama been the one to assign it, that is.
So, it was only natural that he was worried about them. But there was nothing he could do for now, the mission had been assigned and accepted by the squad.
Protocol stated that any mission approved by the village if accepted by a team, could not be refused under any circumstance - else a temporary ban on the team's shinobi licenses. It would either be a success or a failure, never a change in plans.
Which meant …
They would have to do it now - be it any which way he convinced them, and there was nothing he could do about it…
"We'll be fine sensei, it's just a C-rank mission. How hard could it be, huh?" Sakumo asked confidently and got a loud 'Yosh' from Duy that made the blonde boy behind him chuckle and walk out happily, unaware of the still worried brown orbs stuck staring on their backs.
Hiruzen didn't say anything, more like he couldn't say anything - but he did glance back at the council with narrowed eyes.
Something just wasn't sitting well within his gut - and for all that was good by the name of Kami ... he prayed that nothing ill befell those three kids. Kids who were without any jounin supervision if they got themselves in something that was way above their heads.
"Sensei?" Jiraiya's slight tug on his sleeve made him blink, only to see Tsunade's worried wide orbs glancing back and forth between the squad that had just left and himself.
Even Orochimaru was looking at him with those same calculating eyes of his - as if trying to figure out something akin to a puzzle in his mind.
"Let's go…" he finally rasped out, pushing it to the back of his mind for the time being.
"I mean what's the worse that could happen?" he questioned himself. And instead of relieving himself off the weight settled on his heart, it increased to the point that it made him feel as if someone had placed a block of lead on his shoulders.
The council wouldn't put those three on a mission that was way out of their leagues - intentionally, now would they?
He had no idea how true his fears were going to be in the long run…
...
Outside the village
"Alright, let's speed up…" Sakumo ordered more than asked, and jumped up on a branch before darting forth into the trees at neck breaking speeds. Not even looking back to see if his friends were following or not - but they did.
Naruto and Duy following after him without a word of disagreement at blinding speeds.
All three started making their way due east, straight to the Hayakawa village - home of the master forgers, the Fūma clan.
...
At nearly sunset
A mile outside the Hayakawa village
"Guys, let's stop."
All three genins hopped down from the trees. All of them panting and looking a bit out of breath considering their continuous extremely high speed travel to arrive at their destination before sun had settled completely - something that they were just about to achieve by a hair's length.
"How…" Naruto took a deep breath, looking lot more winded than Duy. Which was only natural considering he wasn't used to the physical strains as much as his taijutsu specialist friend really was. "… far are we?"
The blonde rasped out, palms on his knees and a droplet of sweat dripping down his chin. They had just traveled halfway through the Land of Fire in the heart of the eastern regions without so much as a second of rest.
Sakumo rolled out a map, glancing through the paper calculatingly and perked up with a little smile. "We are almost there, just a mile to the east and we are there." and his words elevated his friends spirits completely.
But the three did glance at him questionably, to ask a silent question as to how they would proceed when they did arrive at the intended destination - something Sakumo picked up on in an instant.
"We'll rest in the village for tonight, and complete the mission tomorrow morning. By my estimates, we can be done with it by tomorrow midnight : tops." he reassured the two and they all nodded with their strategic counterpart of the group of three.
They would be slowed down considering they would be loaded with more load on their way back. Due in part to all those weapons they would be hauling back to the village, so a little window increase was taken into consideration by Sakumo for that too.
All three of them decided to walk the last mile normally instead of rushing into the village. They, after all, did have to go for their tasks in the morning. So, it wasn't like they were in a rush or anything.
"Hey guys …" Duy's voice garnered their attentions. "… what's this Fūma clan like?" he asked simply, and got a smile from Sakumo - something that made Naruto shake his head in utter amusement.
The boy always did love explaining things to others it seemed - even if it was to Duy…
"The Fūma clan are primarily resided within the Hayakawa village, and are mostly a simple yet small shinobi clan.
They don't particularly prefer combat or violence much, instead making their living primarily of their master craft of forging weapons…" he explained in a sagely voice.
And Duy, like a little child…was hanging to his each and every word with innocent nods in between.
He did have a knack for learning things that might come in handy…things he had to skip out on the academy curriculum due to his personal reasons.
"They do however specialize, and are particularly famous for their forging and skilled wielding of the Fūma shuriken.
It is also known as the Demon Wind Shuriken in many lands. They are said to be masters at the craft, and specialize in any and all types of shurikenjutsu." Sakumo finished his explanation, and got yet another nod from Duy, who wasn't quite out of questions yet.
"Isn't that the same, big one Naruto used that one time?" he did remember a strange shuriken, the size of an abnormally large sword at each of it's four blades.
And got an admirable nod from Sakumo - who was quite impressed at his friend's memory. And his ever present thirst for knowledge.
The bowl cut genin had no shame in admitting that he wasn't the brightest of the bunch. And he had particularly no hesitance in asking for something he wasn't aware of. His teammates were always happy to relieve him of his doubts and questions as best as they could - which gave them all something to talk about, almost all of the time.
As soon as all three came out from the trees to a small clearing, joyful smiles lit up Duy and Naruto's face - both looking ready to bolt into the visible village almost any second now.
The only thing stopping them was that Sakumo wasn't by their side now…
But instead had stopped abruptly and fallen a few steps behind them…
Sakumo stood at the edge of the trees, looking at the village with narrowed eyes - something that brushed Naruto in the wrong way.
The blonde himself let some chakra pour into the back his eyes, his azure eyes shining like rubies in the slightly dark environment and scanning the whole area critically - taking every little detail that he could.
Now he could see what was wrong with it - it was calm. A bit too calm in fact.
There was absolutely no movement whatsoever. In a village, that was supposedly presumed to house a whole damn clan in it, not counting the civilians that must be there too. Almost no lights were lit up right now, which meant that darkness had started taking over almost completely as the day shaded into night each passing moment.
But Sakumo had another sharp sense at work that alerted him of way more prudent information than his Sharingan wielding friend ever could hope to achieve in the current situation.
He had a keen sense of smell, developed through years of training. And it was picking up on a scent, a faint one that was littering the surrounding atmosphere almost completely…
It was too faint to be noticed by anyone not really looking out for something, but it was still, nonetheless there.
A faint scent that made almost every hair on his body stand up on alert.
A subtle smell of iron loomed over the surrounding air, clouding it in a menacing embrace within the darkness of the night …
...
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