II

━━━━━━┓༻❁༺┏━━━━━━

Arc II Chapter 9

━━━━━━┛༻❁༺┗━━━━━━

Asami and her team entered the debriefing room about to receive their mission. The room was beyond spartan. A simple desk, a few chairs, and a number of chunin assistants.

The Hokage expected them.

"Ah, Masasane, a pleasure to see you. How is your team? After all, today is a big day for them. They receive their first major mission", Hiruzen greeted them with his typical smile.

"They are ready, eager to prove themselves, Hokage-sama", Masasane reported with a hint of pride.

"Excellent, a youth full of energy is the base for a bright future.“

“I am also delighted to detect among your team a certain girl who decided to skip all of her assigned missions.

“Asami, would you care to explain yourself?"

Asami flashed an innocent smile. She had nothing to hide. "Not at all, Hokage-sama. All the accumulated fatigue exhausted me. I didn't expect the assigned D-rank missions would be so mentally and physically taxing.“

“It took me a few weeks to recover from this strenuous experience."

The present chunin dropped their pencils, unused to this level of audacity right in front of the Hokage. Their mouths hang agape.

Her team stood by her side, clearly uncomfortable with the entire situation.

Asami didn't understand. She didn't do anything wrong. The Hokage asked a question. She gave an answer.

Hiruzen puffed on his pipe, clearly amused. "Interesting excuse, one of the better ones I heard over the years.“

“But to be honest, I thought the same when I was young. D-rank missions are indeed boring, terribly boring.“

“I couldn't wait until we finally got a real mission instead of wasting our time with this useless genin stuff."

Asami nodded. "I agree, they are terribly boring. Especially, for me, Hokage-sama. I am decidedly overqualified."

Hiurzen chuckled. "You are probably right, Asami, you are overqualified."

Hiruzen extracted a file from a pile of papers. "I will assign you your mission then. I hope you won't be disappointed.“

"Your mission is quite simple, nothing dramatic. Your are tasked with escorting a merchant back to Iwagakure."

━━━━━━┛༻❁༺┗━━━━━━

Aritame, Yukihiro and Masasane gathered at the village gate.

Aritame and Yukihiro packed light for such a long journey, only carrying a backpack.

They were excited, motivated, ready to move out, but for the time being, they were forced to wait. They were waiting for their client, and for Asami.

Masasane grew worried. "It's unusual for her to be late. Normally, she is quite ... punctual."

Aritame crossed his arms. "Perhaps she spent too much in front of her mirror …"

Aritame tensed up. A giggling girl tapped his shoulder. "I might be considered a bit vain, but even my vanity knows its boundaries.“

Asami stood behind him. She smiled.

Her smile frightened Aritame. In his experience, even a smiling Asami was a dangerous Asami. She had something evil in mind.

Aritame gulped. "How? How do you keep appearing always out of nowhere, Asami? How do you keep sneaking up on me? Are you sure you are not some kind of ghost, or what?"

Asami giggled. "Aritame, a kunoichi never reveals her best secrets."

Masasane finally got the chance to take a better look at Asami. He didn't believe their eyes.

Was this really Asami?

Masasane knew Asami, and he knew her fashion preferences. They all didn't call her Asami-hime without reason. She loved to dress up like nobility.

But today Asami didn't play little princess, refraining from wearing any ostentatious clothes.

Instead of her usual hime-cut, she wore a simple ponytail. Instead of silk, she was now clad in armour.

Gauntlets covered her forearms, greaves her legs. A tabard protected her upper torso.

Beneath her armour, Asami wore black and a scabbard on her hip

Asami looked out of place. While they were prepared for a mission, Asami was geared for war.

"What happened to you?" Masasane blinked.

Asami tilted her head. "Didn't you say we should prepare ourselves, sensei?"

"I did, but …“

“Are these storage scrolls on your back, Asami?"

Asami nodded. "They are. They contain my equipment, rations, kunai, explosive tags, and other essential supplies."

Masane offered a weak smile. “It seems you are rather well-prepared.“

The merchants arrived later on. Together, they departed

According to the guards stationed at the gate, they were already the third team today that left for Iwagakure. Quite a coincidence.

━━━━━━┛༻❁༺┗━━━━━━

The days passed as her team marched through endless forests typical for the Land of Fire.

Escorting their mysterious merchants, their little group was about to reach Konoha's northern border. They came closer to Iwakagure.

They decided to camp in the wild. As usual, they avoided any towns.

Masasane called them to discuss their future route with Mitsuoki, their client.

Aritame and Yurihiko didn't care much, but that wasn't the case for Asami.

She listened. These so-called merchants were suspicious. She didn't trust them even for a second.

Her instincts warned here. Something was wrong here, very wrong. An uncomfortable feeling accompanied her since the beginning. The feeling grew stronger with every day passing.

Inconsistencies kept piling up everywhere.

Why did these merchants possess such high chakra levels? They concealed their chakra well, but traces still lingered.

Why did they carry concealed weapons? Why did they keep watching their surroundings, never lowering their guard?

These merchants wouldn't fool her. They were in truth Iwa shinobi in disguise, and they used her team as cover.

"We shouldn't take the route through Kusagakure, Masasane. I would recommend going through Amegakure", Mitsuoki proposed.

Asami was convinced, neither was Mitsuoki his real name nor was he a merchant.

What was he planning? Why did he avoid Kusagakure?

Kusagakure was the shortest route available. It was the logical choice, but Mitsuoki chose Amegakure instead. Why?

She suspected Mitsuoki tried to make tracking as difficult as possible.

They never stayed at the same place for long, always on the move, avoiding major roads and towns.

Masasane scratched his head. "If you think so, Mitsuoki. I would take Kusagakure, but I guess Amegakure is also fine …"

Asami took her chance. "Mitsuoki, why do you recommend Amegakure?"

"Kusagakure is not only faster, but also safer. Amegakure has a reputation for being unstable ."

Mitsuoki chuckled. "Don't worry, I am just planning to visit a few business partners along the way ...“

"Do you mean the kind of visiting you have practised so far? You led us into the middle of nowhere for no apparent reason. I never saw you engaging in any sort of trading whatsoever."

"In fact, I think you should reconsider your calling and change profession." Asami glared.

She would get her answers, and she would get them now. She didn't mind Mitsuoki risking his own life, but he should please refrain from endangering the lives of her team.

"This is enough, Asami. Stop bothering Mitsuoki. Don't you see you are impolite?" Masasane admonished her.

"But ..."

"No buts! You stop now, Asami." Masasane had enough.

Asami constantly undermining his authority. He wouldn't accept this type of behaviour anymore. He was the jonin, not she.

Asami crossed her arms. She admitted defeat, albeit only grudgingly.

━━━━━━┛༻❁༺┗━━━━━━