Chapter 29: Impatience

I managed to last two D-rank missions before I was fed up with them. The Hokage, or possibly one of his shadow clones, would often sit in the mission office, doing paperwork or whatever during the mornings, and would sometimes give out missions. As Jiraiya was our sensei, he'd typically go over to say hello, and end up picking up a mission for us in the process. The D-ranks were insufferable. The first had us raking leaves. When I accomplished this in moments with a finely controlled wind jutsu, Jiraiya re-scattered them, and told us it would be character building to do it the way all the other genin had to.

I almost screamed. I hated the term “character building”. It was most typically used when people wanted you to do something unpleasant for their own amusement, and couldn't think of an even halfway decent reason. For me, it was even more pointless; my character was strongly enough built to survive the pull of Hell, the lure of Heaven, the drive to Ascend, the peace of Unity and the nothingness of the Void. There was no way that several hours spent raking leaves for pay I didn't need when I had a thousand and one things I'd rather do, things that were far more important, was worth it.

Part of my frustration was, admittedly, concerning one of these other tasks of mine; the automated seal-printer for the seal-swords was a failure. It actually worked, but only technically; the printer and the scanner that decided on seal placement in particular were far too inefficient. It took an already chakra-intensive process and made it an order of magnitude worse. While this was annoying, what was worse was that it meant I needed some new, more clever way of solving the problem. It put me back months of work, and left the project with all its projected profits in limbo.

So, the third day we went in to get a D-rank, I spoke up.

“Am I allowed to request myself for a D-rank, Hokage-sama? Because I have my own boring tasks that need to be done, and my time is worth more than D-ranks.” Sarutobi grinned while Jiraiya grumbled and forked over a small handful of notes. They'd apparently been betting on how long it would take me to flip and give a good enough reason to not do any more D-ranks. And so in return for a relatively minor fee, our team spent the time normally given to D-ranks on personal pursuits, while the rest of the day was for team training.

Team training was actually much harder in some ways than it would have been with regular genin. Sachiko, Yasu and I were a well honed unit, and unused to working with Jiraiya who had his own method of doing things. Also, while Jiraiya was still much stronger, and a fair bit faster than I (especially when using sage-mode), I actually had the edge in massive, area-destroying jutsu that he normally provided, and of course I was better with seals. The third component of his combat style, the trickster/stealth type combat he sometimes used wasn't something we could fit into. Figuring out where he'd fit inside our attacks and formations was a pain that was only made worse when Minato was around.

Minato was kind of funny. He wasn't quite sure whether he wanted to be friends with me or not. On the one hand, he was a genius and enjoyed spending time around someone as bright as he was. On the other, the fact that I was a genin, younger than he, and more advanced in several fields made him a bit jealous; it was the first time he'd really been shown up by someone his age, and he was one of those people who found it much easier to magnanimous in victory than defeat. There was also a tinge of “having made it” by achieving jonin rank, and the fact that I obviously didn't care rankled.

That was further confused by the awkward situation where he outranked me socially as a jonin, but I outranked him as a lord. I found it hilarious to further confuse him over the situation, and alternatively wind him up then get him liking me again. He'd retreat from the situation, confused, then come back hours or days later; it totally cracked me up. Jiraiya knew what I was doing, but knew I wasn't the type to take it too far, and that it was good for Minato's social development, so he let it be.

Over time, our teamwork settled out. We were something of an odd team, since we didn't have any particular specialty. We weren't a team built for wide scale destruction; I had that kind of firepower (as did Jiraiya, for that matter), but my team-mates didn't (unless we were using Pelicans, but that was totally different). We weren't built for tracking; Yasu could probably track the average chunin, but not those specializing in stealth in the wilds. Stealth? Yasu could sneak with the best of them, and Sachiko could blend into any noble palace, but I stood out a bit. Further, we were the last team they could send on highly questionable operations; it would have been a diplomatic incident in the making, and it was a poor idea to subject a Jinchuriki to high mental stress, especially when they were capable of what I could do even at age twelve.

If anything, we were closest to being a diplomatic team, but couldn't really do that for Konohagakure since I was linked so strongly to Uzushiogakure. On the other hand, we could do pretty much any mission at least as well as a solid chunin team, and didn't have any real weaknesses; we should survive any opposition that wasn't put together to specifically hunt us. So long as Jiraiya was along, we could face anyone up to Kage level with at least the possibility of success. Further, with my long range communications seals from Uzushio, we could stay in contact with both Whirlpool and Konohagakure. We were perfectly suited to be roving troubleshooters who would go out of the village, keep taking missions, and only come back after every six months or so.

While our teamwork was settling out, things were getting a bit more tense. In the West, the conflict between Suna, backed somewhat quietly by Wind, and Iwa, backed somewhat quietly by Earth, had settled down into a brutal, pointless conflict that was slowly grinding down ninja and civilians on both sides. As far as Konoha was concerned, that was excellent.

Lightning though had mostly consolidated after their losses. They had accepted the loss of influence in the lands of Frost and Hot Springs, not that they could do much else; Kumo had always been feared more for their personal might, brutality, and underhanded cunning than their subtlety or convincing political machinations. Then they had weathered the raids from Water-country pirates that were displaced or wise enough to remain but avoid attacking any shipping that the Whirlpool government actually cared about.

While Whirlpool and Lightning were no longer in conflict, there was still a serious feeling of bad blood, and such piracy was at least tolerated; I know that my own trading company had passed on intelligence on some of our potential competitors from Lightning. But with the situation stabilizing at home, Kumogakure was back to making mischief in the North-East. Konohagakure had had to shift more forces in that direction, and was still under-staffed due to their nearly-completed obligations towards Uzushiogakure.

And so it was that we got our first C-rank of many. We were being sent to a town called Okutari, about halfway between Konohagakure and the border of Hot Springs Country. It was well positioned in case we had to reinforce the border ourselves, and the space needed some ninja teams. The local area had been most depleted of ninja due to the shifts necessitated by Kumo's actions; there was apparently a criminal surge there, including a local slaving group which had kidnapped the wrong noble's daughter. She had been ransomed back, but we were expected to hunt the organization down and break it for the dishonor. While the difficulty was “C-rank”, it actually paid enough for several c-rank missions, depending on which objectives we succeeded at, and had a large expense account. I had no issues with the mission, as I hated the concept of slavers, and so my team had no problems with the mission.

Because there was little immediate urgency in the mission and we were expecting a six-month posting to the region, we were given a day to gather supplies and pack. I notified the Consulate and Whirlpool of where we'd be, and arranged with the smiths I'd been working with to send the unsealed swords on to Konoha's outpost in Okutari so I could finish them as I had time. I then packed up my entire workshop, including the protections, in case we had enough down-time for me to work elsewhere. We said our goodbyes to Auntie and Uncle, and had a leaving feast. The next morning, bright and early, we left with a hung-over Jiraiya in tow; apparently he had been availing himself of the ladies before leaving.

The trip was uneventful; it lasted two days, but we didn't run into anything particularly interesting or stop at any villages or towns along the way. Arriving at Okutari was very interesting. The town was on the river, and served as the center for both the region's farming and the river-trade, much of it local rice and sake on river-barges bound for other areas. I'd never really been in a place like that before, somewhere that focused on civilians. I'd grown up in Uzushiogakure, and apart from a brief visit to the noble quarter of Keishi, Fire Country's capital, I'd spent the remainder of my time in Konohagakure. None of those places were ones that really focused on everyday civilian life in the Elemental Countries, and it was pretty interesting.

The town had a wall around it, but without the seal-defenses of Konohagakure or any great height; it was more to restrict transit and ensure taxes were collected, all under the banner of “protecting against bandits” and “wild animals”. The village guard, apart from a detachment of the Daimyo's Army, were little better than armed civilians, and very few in the village had any notable chakra presence. The people wore more traditional clothing, and interacted much more like how I'd imagine late medieval Japanese peasants acted than the more modern Uzushiogakure or unconventional social evolution of Konohagakure. The buildings were shorter, and less sturdily built. For all of that, the area was clearly prosperous; there were few poor or beggars, the houses were well maintained, people seemed decently fed and clothed. Yet there were villains lurking in the shadows, and we were there to hunt them.

For that purpose, we were acting certain parts. Jiraiya had had us decide on them, mostly as a training exercise. Sachiko, as our infiltration specialist, assigned the roles. I, being the most difficult to hide, was a young noble heir. Jiraiya was a senior guard sent to ensure my safety, and Yasu was his apprentice. Sachiko was my maid. Since we were potentially going to try and go after these slavers as buyers, she had also insisted on pretending to be my “toy”. I protested, but lost the argument.

Jiraiya's transformation was the most surprising; I had never really seen him with his game-face on for an infiltration mission. But a bit of dye, a change in posture, add a spear and some armor and I might have thought him a middle-aged guard had I not known better. Sachiko at least I already knew as a consummate actress, though this did not help me overmuch.

Sachiko's transformation was the most disturbing; even though I knew she was only acting, her beaten-down submission had me upset. It got worse as I became more irritated. She, fully playing the role, would flinch at my irritation, stammer apologies and the like, and I would just get more wound up. Eventually it came to something of a head, and I almost killed a decent man for involving himself.

It was the early afternoon, and after touring around the city for a few hours I was ready to snap. We had been inspecting stalls, listening to conversations in tea-shops, and chatting to merchants about the local entertainments; all the while, Sachiko's act had been getting to me more and more. By this point I was visibly annoyed. We were walking down one of the main streets on the way to one of the nicer inns in the town, suitable for someone like who I was pretending to be and apparently with luxuries that a young man might desire; it was the same inn that the noble's daughter had stayed at, and we were hoping there was some seedy connection we might uncover. Then a man decided to interject himself; he was dressed like a wealthy farmer, or perhaps a smith, visibly strong from a lifetime of work, and both more foolish and luckier than he ever realized.

He was likely a man wealthy enough that he never really had trouble with the law, and the town was independent so it had no standing lords or samurai he had to fear. A man that strong, in a place without people trained to wield chakra might have a seriously inflated sense of power. And he was a decent man.

In the end, that was what saved his life. He was a decent man without a sense of his own power, who wanted to save a pretty girl, from a town where many young girls were likely going missing.

He entered the scene right after Sachiko flinched (yet again) as my frowning visage passed over her. We were all, of course, using false names from one of the many, many seemingly legitimate cover identities we had established, but I neither remember which names we were using nor really care; for sake of convenience, I'll use our regular names.

“Hey, girl, you alright there?” the man called out, rising from a street-side bar with a trio of his similarly large friends. By the scars on one's knuckles and the broken nose of another, they were no strangers to the occasional brawl either, and it looked like they'd already had a few. “You're not having any trouble, are you? Cause if you are, me and the boys would be happy to help.”

Annoyed by the day I'd been having, and without really thinking about it I steeped forward, closing the distance to one where I could kill with an opening technique of my Iaijutsu, my feet already positioned. In my mind, it was to protect Sachiko, but I wasn't really thinking about it. Merely, I was stressed to the point that my trained responses were starting to take over.

“My servant is fine. We don't require any assistance from you.” I stated, remembering just in time to call her my servant rather than my retainer.

“That so, boyo? She doesn't look so fine. Looks a bit skittish in fact. So why don't you let her tell me she's fine, eh?”

I snarled a bit at this.

“Sachiko, answer the man,” Jiraiya gruffly ordered, wanting to prevent a blood-bath.

“I thank you, sir, but as my master said, I am fine,” Sachiko replied hesitantly.

“That so. You don't sound too sure. How long you been in service to these?” By this point, I was actively restraining myself from unleashing my Presence. Only the fact that it would have meant my irritation was for nothing and I’d possibly blown the mission, allowing slavers to escape, helped me keep it together. Sachiko looked at me for permission to answer, and after a moment I gave a curt nod.

“I have been in service to Master's family all my life, sir.” At this, they seemed to deflate a bit, and I turned and began to leave as they muttered to each other.

“Jiraiya, Yasu, Sachiko. Come.” I ordered curtly as they followed after me. Far too soon though I heard running feet behind us, and as I turned, I saw the man coming up again.

“Hey, girlie. If you ever want to leave your master, search me out, ok?” I'd had enough by now. I was close enough, and without really thinking about it, my left hand positioned Red Night's Sky for the draw as my right hand moved slowly into position over the hilt.

I wasn’t still not sure what I would have done. Whether I would have drawn and left a light cut, or taken a hand perhaps, or just killed him. Whatever my intention, Sachiko decided to distract me, and pretended to trip into a merchant's stall, knocking some wares to the ground.

She bowed, and apologized to merchant and to me as she gathered them up, and I closed my eyes and regained my equilibrium.

“I apologize Master. Will you be punishing me when we get to the Inn?” The statement was strange enough coming from her, and had that familiar overtone of possible sexual implication; it helped me regain equilibrium. I lightly snorted, and replied.

“Of course. Your clumsiness practically demands it,” I drawled. When the man made as if to speak again, he realized that a rather larger, and scarier, Jiraiya was already at his side, and had begun to squeeze his shoulder enough to cause real bruising.

“I think you should go back to your drinking, sir. Wouldn't want to have an accident, would we?” he asked menacingly, using a tiny fraction of presence to do so. The man shook his head mutely and with a push from Jiraiya returned back to his friends and left.

When we finally arrived at the Inn, I went immediately to our suites and sat down on the bed in my bedroom. Sachiko came up moments later, moving like herself, and silently pulled me into a hug, a rare action for her.

“I'm sorry that was so hard on you, Daichi-sama.”

“I was just so pissed off. I didn't like seeing you like that. And the thought of someone doing those things to you...” I said quietly as I sat next to her at the edge of the bed and rested my head on her shoulder, my arm around her waist.

“I know.”

“I've told you this before. But seriously, Sachiko-chan, if there's ever anything I'm doing that you disagree with, or something you think I should do or would like from me, I want you to tell me. You've been with me for a long time, and are important to me.” She gave a soft, happy smile at this and blushed prettily.

“I will. Thank you, Daichi-sama.” And in that moment, as I sat next to her, and breathed in the subtle floral scent of her perfume, and felt the soft curve of her flank, I realized I had far more problems than just this mission, and my emotions at seeing Sachiko acting like I was cruel to her.

It seemed that I was finally entering sexual puberty. And I was attracted to Sachiko. This was a recipe for disaster.

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As soon as you hit a certain stage in your physical development, you become interested in sex. This is bad enough the first time around. While sex is this awesome, amazing thing you really want to try, that must be way better than simply jacking off, you don't really know what it is, how it looks, how it feels, all the foreplay and post-coital cuddling. You have an idea, but no true concept of the experience. So, while you want it, badly, and build it up in your mind, hugely, it is a distant dream rather than an achievable reality.

The second time around through puberty is worse. Sex is no mystery. It may not be as awesome as you hoped, when you were first a virgin, but it's still pretty damned awesome. And it's far, far more concrete. You know what sex is, the many forms it takes and games that surround it. And you just fucking want it. Puberty messes with your hormones so much that you're basically a horn-dog willing to fuck anything that moves, and many things that don't - and that's without knowing what sex even really is. With that knowledge, it's a hundred times worse.

Seriously, if there were any issue with this reincarnation business, it would be going through puberty multiple times.

Puberty's pretty sneaky too. Before you're aware of wanting sex that first time (again), you're almost like how I would imagine a recovered alcoholic is. Inside their home, having avoided the sight or scent of alcohol for months, they're fine. Then they're at a party, they see a drink, and they just want it.

It was the same for me. As soon as I thought of sex with Sachiko, dear god but I wanted her. Screw the five years difference, the fact she was my retainer and basically incapable of actually consenting, all the high thoughts I had had about her and not treating her the way so many other little shits treated their retainers. I just wanted to screw her. Going back to the alcoholic analogy, it was like being followed by an open bar. Constant, easy temptation just a few feet away.

I had no idea how I was going to deal with it, as well as starting a mission involving flesh peddlers while dealing with this. I barely made it through dinner, and almost couldn't stand looking at Sachiko's face for fear that my thoughts would somehow be transmitted. She seemed a bit perplexed at my behavior, though I think Jiraiya knew what was going on. Yasu I could never really get a read off of, unless I was actively and deeply sensing his chakra, which required more focus than I could spare in that state.

After dinner, as I lay in my bed in pajamas after a bath, I was thinking of this very problem when I heard a knock on the door.