[Naruto] Saga of Tanya the Kunoichi

"Nii-san, I won't be back for a few days for a mission", she said as she fastened her bracer.

Naruto in his pajamas rubbed his eyes, still half sleepy.

'What mission are you doing Tsu-chan'. 

"I will be hunting a defector", she said blandly. Not giving any particular information on the specifics.

'As in… kill…?'. 

Naruto felt a sense of fear at the thought. That his sister could murder someone at all. It was as if all this Shinobi work was no longer as cool or as amazing as Naruto had once thought originally. 

"Possibly. But as a shinobi, killing would always be the last thing you do...".

Naruto felt a little better hearing her words… until Tsuyu continued;

"In a mission, you would prioritise extracting information first. You will come across many scenarios where you will lack information. Whether it's info on their organisation or techniques on them and whatever else. You would dispose of them only after gathering all you could", Tsuyu said in a calm tone, as if it was the standard procedure.

An icy dread seeped into Naruto as Tsuyu's last sentence echoed in his ears.

"You would dispose of them only after gathering all you could". The words were almost too cruel to be true, coming from her sister, out of all people. 

He felt his heart palpitating when he saw in Tsuyu's eyes, devoid of any emotions as she spoke such words. Naruto wanted to retort and deny Tsuyu's cruel words. But he didn't know how.

'Tsu-chan… how… how come you made it sound so easy?'.

His tone was as if asking her to tell him anything that would assure him that she wasn't that heartless, she wasn't that inhuman. In Naruto's mind, he had hoped she would assure him by saying it was for the greater good, or for protecting the village and something like that. But Tsuyu was never such a person. She only did as told from the mission requirements and what was ordered; that was all.

Tsuyu looked at Naruto with a questioning gaze, but then her gaze shifted to that of understanding. She reminded herself that Naruto was a 10-year-old kid and hadn't understood the true nature of the Shinobi world.

"Nii-san, it would not be easy. But as you learn, you will adapt and get used to it". She said as a matter of fact. That was how soldiers were made. No one was born to harm other human life - it was something you learn how to do.

Naruto was speechless. He tried to see any trace of hesitation or any hint of remorse in her eyes, but he couldn't see any. Naruto felt like he never understood his sister at all…

He went silent. Unable to ask or say anything. He just watched as Tsuyu stood to leave.

'Tsu-chan…'. Naruto muttered.

"Yes?", Tanya turned her head to hear what else Naruto wanted to say.

Naruto's mouth opened a little before closing them. But then he forced a smile on his lips…

'Stay safe'. Regardless of everything that he wouldn't agree with, Naruto still felt worried for Tsuyu's first mission.

"... I can't promise you that. Being a Shinobi means you are to put your life on the line. It is what I, and you had signed up for". Tsuyu said strictly as she turned her body to face him properly to make it clear.

"But I won't die easily. Don't slack off while I am gone", Tsuyu stern expression turned into a light smile before turning towards the door.

'Yes, Tsu-chan'. Naruto put down his heart, seeing her slight smile. Right. Tsu-chan can handle herself more than he ever could. Naruto believed in her strength, and she would always return. But he still felt uneasy about Tsuyu's lack of... something, when she used the word 'dispose' for to refer to a human being.

As Tsuyu left, Naruto wondered in his heart. Once he becomes a shinobi… will he have to put down a life as well? He shook the thought away. In his mind, he wouldn't suit ANBU's work, and he wouldn't want to. Still… he had wished Tsuyu never took that path. He understood to protect the village it was necessary, but the way Tsuyu said it... it just felt 'wrong'.

***

Tanya arrived at the agreed meeting spot outside of Konoha, already wearing her fox patterned mask. Monkey, Hebi, Badger and Yosei set out North toward the Hinode province.

It took them a day of travel to reach the province. Monkey gave a signal for them to stop before arriving at the nearest town. All of them used transformation jutsu to appear as a regular traveler before going into the far end of the town where the red district was located. They appeared in black cloaks to hide their figure and appear non-suspicious (for a shady place). 

Badger went to one of the women waving her figure at the front door of an establishment. Yosei swore she saw him peeking at the woman's melons first. Not that she would say anything.

He took out some cash and asked for directions, from which the woman whispered something into his ears while her thigh was rubbing against him.

Badger rubbed his neck, saying his thanks before leaving to meet the group back.

"Just far ahead. The book store owner was the middlemen". 

They all went to the bookstore. From the front, it looked like an ordinary store. But the people going in and out were shady people looking to hire mercenaries for their work. If they had to go through the black market, it meant the client could not afford from the 5 Great Shinobi Villages, or they had shady, morally questionable requests. Normal people who simply need guards during travel also frequented the place to get mercenary for such mundane purposes because of immediate need.

Monkey went to talk to the middleman, asking to hire the mercenary group Jinroku specifically for a mission. Naturally, it was a lie. But the middle-age man still pointed out the direction where the group might be as they were doing a mission for a client currently escorting a person to the border of Land of Lightning.

'You can wait for a few days until they come back. Or I can suggest other mercenaries depending on the mission rank'.

Monkey gave some cash to him in exchange as he said 'No need'.

The black market channel remains operating despite taking away revenue from the great shinobi villages only because they did not protect each other. A lot of missing-nin and defectors always end up there after all. And it was up to the nin themselves to change their name or appearance or hide well so that they were unrecognizable. And logically, having the black channels remain active allows all the great villages to have easier access to information.

The team heads out in the pointed direction.

Monkey ask the team to stop on the main road. He turned to Badger before speaking.

'Badger. Do your thing'.

'Yes taichou', he replied shortly before lifting his mask slightly with his right hand and biting his thumb.

Swiping the trickle of blood onto his left palm, he made hand seals.

Summoning Jutsu!

Poof! A small mole appeared, seemingly confused as he looked around. The animal had a size like a regular house cat and brown fur. What's unique was that its nose had some sort of star-like small appendages that can move.

'Chikoro, I need your help to track this scent'. Badger took out a plastic bag containing a sample of an item, a cut of used underwear (not that Badger knew that was what the fabric was), owned by the target before his defection. ANBU had always kept such things to prepare for tracking.

Chikoro huffed.

'You owe me a good feast. Give it here… sniffs… yucks! This is nasty!'. Chikoro wanted to throw up. His sensitive nose can smell various mixtures of things there.

'You owe me twice a feast!', Chikoro huffed before sniffing the air to look for the same scent.

'Follow me. I got the trail'. Chikoro said before leading burying into the ground. He can move faster underground than on land.

"Senpai, how did you get your summoning animal?", Yosei was curious to ask as they followed the mole.

Badger looked in Chikoro's direction, almost in annoyance.

'That dude was stealing the fruit of my labor. Ya know, each time I expect a fruit from my plants to ripe - the next time I come back from my mission, it is always gone! I caught him in the act one day and made a contract with him since he took too much from me and that guy can talk. Otherwise I would have cooked him'.

Yosei let out a light chuckle.

"I didn't know a mole has a good sense of smell", she mused in curiosity.

'A mole always has - but usually in the soil. He was different. He can even smell underwater. Honestly, his nose was really weird looking, but he's kinda cool'.

"Sounds very useful". 

The team continued their journey, following the mole. After 2 days of journey with rests in between, Hebi, the Aburame who had always been silent made a signal to stop the team.

'My insects detect a group of chakra signatures up ahead. 1 genin, 2 chunin and 2 jonin level chakra, respectively. Our target was amongst them'. Hebi had kept her insects spread out within hundreds of meters to constantly provide information and feedback.

Monkey thought for a second.

'We will follow them from here on and engage at night'.

Everyone replied in unison, "Understood".

***

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