Chapter Text
It was their third C-rank mission, four months into becoming genin, they had mastered tree walking and could each stand and walk along surfaces of water to varying degrees of success, all of them capable of doing so for short periods of time, each progressively failing if they attempted to stay on the surface for extended amounts of time. They had gone through speed, stamina and strength training, and when they had asked Jiraiya Sensei had told them he would start training them in more advanced shinobi skills once they’d gotten more field experience and shown themselves capable of utilising their basic shinobi skills without having to rely on ninjutsu or genjutsu. Which was harder than it sounded because their Sensei got called out of the village sometimes for weeks.
The mission was to escort a small-town leader who had come to Konoha to discuss business back to their home two days walk away.
They were a few hours in, Jiraiya Sensei at the back with the client and the three of them spread out over the front, but close enough that they were talking comfortably when it happened.
Four figures obstructed their path. Rua caught Hizashi’s eyes activating from where he’d had them relaxed due to the perceived length of the mission and the fact the road they were on, although framed by trees on either side, was wide. Minato tensed up on Hizashi’s other side, cutting his eyes to her.
“Konoha shinobi. What a pleasant surprise.” The shorter of the two adults spoke. A distorted grin stretching his face into a mockery of smile. On either side the two younger ones (they looked similar, probably brothers) looked eager.
“You seem very confident in yourselves.” Jiraiya Sensei was surprisingly relaxed for the situation. It was a stark contrast to their client – Tezuka Koto – who looked terrified and like he’d rather be anywhere else.
“Well, I think the odds are in our favour.” It was true. There was four of the opposition against the four of them who had to protect their client, and from appearance Rua would guess the older two were likely missing-nin jōnin and the other two were seemingly low-mid chūnin, against one high-level jōnin and three fresh genin.
It seemed they weren’t in the mood to talk for long, because then the taller one stepped forward and made a signal that obviously meant proceed.
The ones Rua had pegged as more advanced rushed towards them, though Jiraiya was fast, and was in front of them and deflecting their attacks, whilst at the same time barking orders at them.
“Get back and protect Tezuka-san. These are missing-nin.”
The three of them rushed back, Hizashi assuming his clan stance, and Rua and Minato each ready with a kunai as the next two came at them.
“I’ve got the clan kid.” The one on the left said. Hizashi responded by turning to face that one.
“Minato-kun, Rua-chan, I’d suggest moving Tezuka-san back.” Hizashi subtly gestured to the tree line. Signalling there were no other hidden shinobi waiting to ambush them there and to direct their client out of the fight.
They were doing so, Minato focusing on meeting the approaching boy whilst Rua moved Tezuka back.
Luckily, Minato was quick and ducked under the arm holding the kunai aimed at his neck. Meeting Rua’s eyes, Minato rolled to the side, meaning his opponent moved to face him, leaving his back exposed to Rua. The shinobi jumped back slightly after Minato caught the hand holding the kunai, making him drop it. He went to form hand seals, but Minato stopped him before he could complete them.
Checking to make sure the other three were occupied Rua saw Hizashi doing something similar with the other one, and Jiraiya Sensei was keeping the other two occupied. Focusing on her speed Rua ran and leapt onto the guy’s back.
Minato grabbed the guy’s fallen kunai so he had two, and as his opponent attempted to twist around at the sound of Rua’s feet, he dug them into his forearms, pulling his weight down, making the guy scream out and stumble just as Rua landed on his back, his arms disabled, meant he could only flail as she tore the kunai into his throat as hard and fast as she could, cutting his scream short before rolling forward as Minato swept the nin’s feet out so he fell backwards.
Landing beside Minato, they both looked at the fallen man, holding onto their blood-soaked kunai, then turning their attention to the other fights going on. Jiraiya had already downed the shorter man, but the taller one was putting up a fight.
Hizashi was getting hits on the one he was fighting, but the guy was stronger, and managed to send Hizashi backwards, turning his head to check on his brother, the same way Rua would with Minato if she heard a scream, making sure he was holding his own. The boy froze in shock as he looked at his fallen brother partially obscured behind Minato and Rua.
“Rua, get back.” Minato grabbed her wrist and pulled them both backwards. Racing away from the now shaking male, who let out a scream and flew at them.
“Go wide, then jump, like with the tree.” Minato’s blue eyes were wide as he squeezed Rua’s wrist hard before letting go. “On three, go high.”
His plan clicked in her mind, and she veered to the left, counting in her head (one) as she kept both the furious figure and Minato in her eye sight, he was veering more towards Minato, hands forming signs furiously. Minato dropped the kunai he was holding (two) and dug something else out his side pouch, before throwing it to her. The moment she caught it she pushed upwards towards the nearest tree (three), the wire Minato had thrown her extending out and pulling taught as they each held an end, before jumping off the trees, aiming to meet behind the enemy-nin who had frozen in horror when realising his chakra wasn’t responding to him. Minato went low, flying beneath her as she went high.
The wire successfully wrapped around the shinobi’s neck, and the momentum of Minato and Rua’s combined weights pulling taught on the ends of the wire sliced through the his neck. Decapitating him.
Once they both landed, they stared at the fallen ninja, the wire in their hands cutting into their fingers. It was quiet. Jiraiya Sensei had finished the other man off, and they’d downed the last one.
“Well,” Jiraiya broke the silence. “At least now we know you can hold your own. Good teamwork everyone.”
They didn’t speak much more after that. Hizashi retrieving Tezuka-san in an attempt to calm the shocked man with a sense of professionalism. Minato and Rua just stood to the side of the road as their sensei cleared up the bodies.
Then they carried on their way. Jiraiya and Hizashi at the back with Tezuka-san and Minato and Rua at the front. They hadn’t let go of each other’s hands after they’d rolled up the wire in the aftermath of the attack, holding it between both their hands. Blood stained both of them, and Tezuka-san seemed to be freaking out slightly at their synchronised humming, but Jiraiya let them continue despite it.
They stopped at a lake before their stop off point for the night. Jiraiya told Minato and Rua to go wash off in the river whilst he and Hizashi talked to Tezuka-san about the next part of the journey.
Crouching at the soft riverside, Minato and Rua washed the wire first, before placing it back in Minato’s pouch.
“Sorry your hands are all cut.” Minato took her hands in his and examined them carefully, not caring much about getting wet as he moved from a crouching position to kneel next to the running water. Rua copied him, her knees digging into the soft material of the river bank. She was almost afraid it would give way.
“It’s okay. Better a few cuts than dead, right? And you have them too.” She reversed their grip to look at his own hands. “We’ll ask sensei for some disinfectant and bandages. I don’t know if we need to stitch them up or not.”
“We’ll look like zombies.” Minato snickered. She joined in.
“Well, at least we’ll look like zombies together.” She reassured him.
“Exactly. Together.” He smiled that big smile at her and she gave him an answering one.
“Cus that’s how we work best.” She headbutted him affectionately and he responded by gripping her in a hug.
Then the riverbank gave way and they went tumbling in.
Once they resurfaced, clumsily making their way along the riverbank to climb back out a more stable point they were both soaked to the bone.
“This is on you.” Rua accused her best friend, wringing out her skirt.
“I didn’t do it on purpose.” Minato had pulled his hoodie off to wring it, the white material still had blood stains on it even after going in the river, and Rua watched as the cuts on Minato’s hands bloodied it further. “Damn it.”
“Yeah, white was so not a good fashion choice Mina-chan.”
“I look good in white though.” He pouted at her until she agreed.
“Well, I reckon we are sufficiently washed now. We should probably get back to Sensei.” Rua stepped towards where the rest of their group was, hearing as well as feeling her shoes squelch, she felt twice as heavy all waterlogged.
Minato snickered beside her, moving so their sides were pressed up to each other, sharing their body warmth.
“I turn around for five minutes and this is what happens.” Was Jiraiya Sensei’s reaction.
“ We washed .” They spoke in unison.
“I can’t deal with you two.” Their sensei gave a put-upon sigh, hand going up to smack his forehead. “It’s a good thing we’re going to an inn tonight rather than sleeping out, or I guarantee you two would be returning with colds.”
The atmosphere lightened up more after that, Jiraiya shaking his head as he started wrapping Minato’s hands, Hizashi offering to do Rua’s. Something she noticed he was already good at. It was something she knew she still wasn’t the best at.
“Hizashi-kun?” Hizashi only glanced up at her to signify he was aware of her impending question, and was waiting for her to vocalise it (they had become familiar with each other’s mannerisms a few weeks into training – by which time they had sufficiently bonded over dreadful training exercises and even worse D-ranks – so Rua knew it wasn’t out of disinterest or anything similar). “How come you know how to wrap injuries so well? I know we learnt how to do so in the academy, but it wasn’t something we were given much practice in as far as I remember.”
Hizashi was quiet for a little while as he continued wrapping her hands.
“That is correct, I am familiar with the practice from practice within my clan. Many of my clansmen gain injuries on their hands from chakra burns, so the majority of us are more than competent in doing so.”
Rua made a comprehending sound.
“That makes sense, thanks for doing this by the way.” She held up her bandaged hands. They were surprisingly not immobile despite the cloths that surrounded them. “I still need to learn to use that ninja wire without injuring myself in the process.”
Hizashi nodded but seemed slightly withdrawn.
“That is understandable, although you are proficient enough using it I am sure you will find a way to do so.” He gave her a reserved smile. One of his polite ones.
Rua smiled back, making sure to hide her uncertainty at his changed tone.
“Speaking of which, all of you, what do you think could have been done, or could be done in the future to stop injuries from use of ninja-wire from happening?” Their sensei drew their attention to him, looking at them expectantly.
“Could we channel chakra to our hands, like with tree walking and water walking, so that our grip doesn’t fail, but also so the wire doesn’t cut through our skin?” Minato had that contemplative look on his face.
“Absolutely correct Minato-kun.” Jiraiya looked proud at his student’s quick deduction. “It’s something shinobi that use ninja wire as a main tool learn quite quickly, and if you two plan on using it for more than traps, it would be a good thing for you to learn how to do, though it will require you spend more time refining your chakra control.”
They all nodded to show they understood.
The atmosphere was different for the rest of the journey. Not as uncomfortable as it had been after the attack, but far less easy then it had been at the beginning. Hizashi stayed quiet, not contributing to the conversation, and Jiraiya was mainly the only one conversing with the client. Minato and Rua were both quiet again.
It was a relief when they all stopped and were assigned rooms at the inn. The three genin were in one room, Jiraiya and Tezuka-san in another.
The room had two bunk beds. Minato and Rua took one. Hizashi the other.
There was an odd tension in the room. Nobody spoke the whole night.
When they awoke it was to Jiraiya happily slamming the door to their room open.
“We locked that.” Rua pointed out once the initial panicked alertness died down. She saw Hizashi doing the same across from her. He caught her glance and rolled his eyes at their sensei as he shifted to get out the bed.
She supposed that meant they wouldn’t be permitted to go back to sleep then.
Minato dropped down from the bunk above her, not bothering to use the ladder. He gave a small yawn and looked around scratching at the back of him head.
“When do we leave Sensei?” He at least didn’t seem to mind the rude awakening.
“We will leave at eight thirty. No need to hang around. So get ready, we meet downstairs in twenty minutes.” He gave them a jovial wave and left.
Soon enough they were back on the road, getting closer and closer to their destination.
When it finally became to dropping off Tezuka-san, he was polite and friendly, but his gaze lingered hesitantly on Rua and Minato as they said their farewells.
The pace was faster on their return. They didn’t take as many breaks. Travelling through the trees when they could. Occasionally dropping back down to walk at a slower pace for a short reprieve.
“Jiraiya Sensei?”
It was on one of their slower reprieve lengths that she spoke up. Her legs were starting to ache after the constant travelling, but this wasn’t their first C-rank so she could ignore it easily enough.
“Yes, Rua-chan?” Jiraiya tilted his head to acknowledge her question.
“Tezuka-san was uncomfortable with me and Minato killing those missing-nin. But he hired shinobi himself to protect him on his journey. Surely that’s nonsensical of him? Why hire shinobi if he’s uncomfortable with killing? Or was it more that he didn’t have an alternate choice? Are a lot of clients like that?”
Jiraiya hummed, looking serious as he contemplated her question.
“It’s probably because we’re children he was uncomfortable with it.” Minato smiled lightly at her. “He didn’t alter how he interacted with Jiraiya-sensei so much.”
“I get that. But doesn’t it make sense that he wouldn’t react so strongly to it. We are shinobi despite our age, it makes sense that the client that hires us would at least be able to acknowledge that, taking into account it’s widely known what shinobi do and it would be logical to know at least the basics about the way shinobi operate if you’re considering employing them.”
“It’s easier in theory for civilians to know what shinobi are capable of, and even then, they mostly deal with elder shinobi. Chūnin are often given escort duty, and though they can often be young, most chūnin are generally past the stage where they resemble children more than young adults. You three however,” Hizashi tensed at Jiraiya's words. Rua caught it. “are very childlike both in appearance and mannerisms. Children are generally synonymous with innocence and vulnerability. Logically, Tezuka-san was aware you are shinobi, but prior to that point, he had not been given evidence of it and so it was a shock to him how easily you dealt with a situation that would leave him dead.”
“I understand that, I just thought that it was slightly irrational how freaked out he was.” Rua shrugged.
“To you it was, to him, less so.” Jiraiya gave her an answering shrug. “Right, well, I think we can get back into the trees now. Speed this up.”
“Hai.” They jumped their way back into the trees and increased their pace.
They were back in Konoha by nightfall. They parted ways after reporting to the missions station. Jiraiya stayed behind to talk to the Hokage, reminding them to pick up report sheets to fill in.
Hizashi said goodbye to them quietly and left to the Hyūga compound.
The two of them were left to make their way home in the dark. The streets were quiet, some bars still open, mostly the shinobi ones.
“Did you notice Hizashi...?” Rua linked her pinky finger through her best friends, feeling him curl his own tightly round hers.
“Hm.” Giving the affirmative noise Minato nodded at her question. “I was thinking about what could have happened to trigger the switch, and I think I know.”
Rua squeezed his finger lightly, prompting him to elaborate. She had her suspicions too.
“That shinobi who engaged Hizashi said he was going for ‘the clan kid’.” Rua nodded. She remembered. “It’s the clan kids, the Hyūga clan especially amongst those that have the largest reputation and therefore the most expectations on them. We’re just civilian kids, neither of those missing-nin took us seriously, and that’s why we beat them so easily, if we’d been clan kids, it likely would have meant they’d be more wary of us and wouldn’t have charged in so lightly.
“But we’re not and so it was us that killed both of them. Hizashi, despite managing to disable that shinobi on his own - meaning he couldn’t use ninjutsu against us - didn’t finish either of them, and I think that affected him because he likely has high expectations. Both from himself and put on him by his clan, and in his eyes, we did what he didn’t.”
Rua didn’t speak immediately. It all made sense with what they knew of Hizashi. He was friends with them and knew they were capable, but they’ve never been in a situation that tested them like that before. That they achieved what he hadn’t managed to had obviously shocked him.
“We should talk to him.” It could be bad for their team if they ignored it, and even further, she didn’t want to lose a friend.
“We will.” Minato promised her.
Resolve set, they continued on their way.