Reborn in the Mist

Rina pinched her Genin still, she understood that children, boys especially were bundles of energy but he was slowly driving her nuts, “Sit still and shut up.” She hissed in their ears, pointedly glaring at the main culprit of the three as their team sat in wait of the village head.

They waited in a medium sized room with only cushioned tatami mats for furniture, a fire pit and several baskets of coal, cloth and some other inconsequential items littered in the room.

The space smelled like old people which had Rina prepare to be met by a council of oldies as besides the mats her team sat on there was an arrange set around the rectangular fire pit and at the opposite end was a couch with many pillows.

Only a few minutes had passed before three maids filed out with a tray of fruits, bread but not much else to host the shinobi. Rina mouthed words of thanks and helped herself to a pear shaped fruit. It was one of the many variety growing throughout the island and tasted like a sour apple with the tender flesh of an orange.

“Is this all? I wanted some beef ramen damn it.” The overactive boy said and if Rina hadn’t just taken a bite she’d have chewed him right out again.

Fortunately, his own Genin mate helped in that regard, “Enough, Sakai, this isn’t some D-rank mission.”

Sakai snorted as he chewed, juice poured out the sides of his mouth as he spoke, “Yeah but it sure feels like. Not even a single bandit or vagabond to put in their place!” He slashed and head-butted invisible enemies.

Rina’s team was made up of three Genin, Sakai being the only boy of the three and currently the only annoyance. The girls, Akari and Haruka, hopeful twin specialists in Genjutsu from the Karatachi clan were much tolerable. They shared some of Sakai’s disappointments at not being an active part of the war but accepted the fact with more sensibility that the boy.

Her fellow Chuunin, the Funato Medic-nin growled at Sakai, “Another word from you and I’ll put you in your place.”

Sakai stiffened and sat upright. Rina smiled and mouthed a thanks to her fellow Chuunin who nodded curtly before his eyes narrowed at the elderly man entering with an entourage of four other middle aged villagers.

Rina stood and her team stood with her, the old man had some fat to him, more so than any one child she’d seen in the streets of his village but Rina squashed the budding presumption that the man was starving his denizens before it could become a worm in her thoughts.

He sat and Rina bowed her head ever so slightly in respect of his age and place as their host. The old man and his entourage found their places, he sat on the single couch while they took the mats at his feet.

Coughing, the man groaned as he greeted, “I welcome you…Kirigakure shinobi, my village has…little to offer but we are not stingy, help yourself to fruit.”

Rina and her team kept standing under the curious inspection of the old man and his council. Rina stepped forward and cut to the chase, “Thank you for your hospitality, I am Rina Hozuki, a Chuunin of Kirigakure and we do not mean to impose our presence on your village any longer than necessary.”

The village head coughed in response, his council continued staring in mild awe and obvious fright. The youngest of them who sat the furthest from the village head fixed her with a suspecting gaze.

She was used to these reactions. As Chuunin she’d done enough missions within the Land of Water and without to be acclimated to the awe civilians felt in the presence of shinobi. Sometimes her being a woman helped disarm them but that wouldn’t work on this audience, perhaps if she were as butter cheeked as her Genin but then that could lead to being underestimated which was another hazard of its own.

“We’ve come in search of a clan, the Nettou clan, wielders of the Boil Release.” It was unlikely they’d understand the terminology but any chance was a good one. “The settlements before yours pointed us your way, said there’s a chance the Nettou might have found shelter here or within your territory?”

Murmurs spread through the council, they whispered and passed their thoughts through strained facial expressions and gestures that Rina didn’t grasp entirely at first.

Finding something no one wanted anything to do with the entire island as part of the search area was a feat shinobi are capable of given time but Rina was short on that commodity. Yagura intended on concluding the war within a month and Kirigakure’s entire shinobi body was pressed to that time line, dragging it out any further would be a stain on their worth.

Around two weeks had passed now and if Rina didn’t want to spend months searching with her team of stubborn Genin or face the criticizing gaze of her grandmother, enlisting the help of the locals was the best strategy she could employ.

The murmurs hushed as the village head heaved and strained through blood wet coughs, Rina winced as did his council. He waved away the maids that inevitably came rushing before turning to Rina with narrowed eyes, “My village…we know of the Nettou, the clan you speak of.” He sneered out the words, flashing bloodstained teeth.

After passing through more or less, similar minded villages, Rina expected this, “That’s why we are here, the Nettou will no longer be your problem to suffer.”

He snorted into a cough, “They are not the only things we suffer nor can the suffering they’ve inflicted be forgotten.”

Rina pursed her lips, “I understand that, which is why we are here. You have suffered a long war and we will see that it ends.”

The old man shook his head, “Before that, what can Kirigakure’s shinobi do for me and my village?”

Again, Rina was least surprised. It was a rather civilian attitude to look upon any and every shinobi and see a standard of wealth. Of course, being a shinobi paid well, especially if you were good at it and many shinobi were classed among the richer in society even if they had multiple dependents.

A shinobi asking a civilian for help was an opportunity for massive gains along with tremendous risk, but Rina doubted this village nor it’s sickled village head had much left to risk. It was the same with every visited settlement after all and her team hadn’t left any without gifting or trading to the villages benefit.

Rina fixed him with a cold look, an imitation of what she’d observed from Mangetsu and Yagura but even without flared chakra her presence and changed demeanour was enough to put all on edge, “Plenty…if your information proves true and useful, starting now for a general direction to look my subordinate can ease that cough of yours, what do you say?”

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