When it was time to leave the house, she sighed tiredly. Even so, despite feeling a bit lazy, more like Shikamaru, a part of her was excited, as always. The same thing had happened when she worked as an Auror and had to go on field missions, and now it was no different. Being in the thick of things was her forte.
She walked slowly to the main gate and saw Neji waiting in the distance. He was alone with who seemed to be their clients. He saw her as soon as she arrived and nodded in her direction. The three men turned around. She didn't even know their names.
"Seina. These are our clients."
"Good afternoon. My name is Seina Uzumaki. I will be leading this team on this mission."
"Yosh! I'm here!" greeted Lee, running.
"What enthusiasm!" sighed Tenten, tiredly.
Seina listened carefully to the clients' names while inspecting them. It was clear that one of the three couldn't wait to leave the village. He was looking towards Katabami and was more restless than the others.
"Let's go. Let's not waste time."
They started walking towards the Land of Rivers, between the Land of Wind and the Land of Fire. She knew it wouldn't take long to get there, so they kept a normal pace while Lee chatted with the clients with his usual cheerfulness. Neji and Seina remained silent at the back, letting the rest of the team maintain harmony with the clients.
"Do you think we'll find much resistance?" Neji asked her.
"Probably. If the leader is truly one of the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist, he must be strong," she shrugged. "Our mission is to drive them out of Katabami, so we'll do that, whether they like it or not."
"I'm worried about Rokusuke," Hyuga spoke softly, and she nodded. "He seems too anxious."
"I know. Let's keep an eye on him in case he hinders our mission. The last thing we want is for him to come up with crazy ideas like acting on his own without our permission," she said. Neji nodded, accepting the order as it was.
Hours passed, walking without any trouble on the road, until she saw the clients starting to drag their feet from exhaustion.
"Let's stop nearby to eat something and rest," she ordered. "Neji, can you find a sheltered spot nearby?"
"Byakugan! There's a stream nearby in a pretty safe clearing."
"Perfect. Lead us there, and we'll stop for a while."
The clients smiled upon hearing this, walking with more enthusiasm. She quickly saw the enclosed area Neji spoke of, perfect for fighting if necessary. She let the clients settle on some rocks while Neji checked that they were alone, and then she did the same with her spells. She set up some magical barriers to alert her of any intrusion and took out a bento to eat with them.
"Aren't you eating, Lee?" she asked, seeing him training against some enormous stone blocks.
"I'll be right back!"
"Leave him be. I don't know where he gets the energy from," Tenten confessed.
Seina smiled but saw Rokusuke quickly eating some rice balls, as if that were enough to rush them into leaving again.
"What can you tell us about the Kurosuki family?" she asked, ignoring the client's rush.
"The leader, Raiga, appeared some time ago. He overthrew the previous leaders and took control of the town. Now, whenever someone speaks against him or whenever he feels like it, he takes them and buries them alive."
"He's completely insane!" said the other. "Even knowing what he's doing, he holds ceremonies as if they were dead and even cries at the funerals."
"The last one to be buried alive was Kanpachi," Rokusuke clenched his fists. "How much longer are we going to rest here? We could get Kanpachi out of the grave!"
"How long has he been buried?" she asked.
"…About four days."
"Forget it. Too many days have passed. I know it's sad, but…" another client consoled him.
"I'm afraid your companion is right," she said compassionately. "Even if we ran, after that period of time…"
A heavy silence fell as everyone pondered the death of a man at the hands of a madman. They rested a bit longer until she saw Rokusuke getting very nervous.
"Let's go. Let's continue."
They followed the path a bit longer until Lee jumped.
"I know where we are! At the Curry of Life restaurant!"
"The what?" Tenten asked.
"Curry of Life. I ran along this path for three days while sleeping," Lee explained, his eyes half-closed from sleep. "It was a miracle."
"Sure," Tenten said with a laugh.
Lee gasped when he saw someone in the distance, running to them as if it were nothing.
"Sanshou baa-san!" Lee shouted, waving his arm while running like a lunatic.
"Heavens!" the old woman said when she saw him.
Seina watched as the miners looked at a nearby mountain with weary expressions. She knew then it was the mine where they worked. They had arrived.
"Come in, come in," the old lady urged them, making them sit at the only table in the restaurant. "I'll bring you some curry."
She listened halfway as she explained how they had met. While she talked, she served everyone a plate of curry that looked horrible. The sauce was literally black and seemed to boil with a life of its own. Seina didn't taste a single bite, seeing the tortured expressions of the others, except for Lee. She made the food disappear each time he put a spoonful in his mouth, and cleaned the plate without shedding a tear, to everyone's amazement.
"She's a monster…" one of the clients whispered, blowing his nose and shakily holding a glass of water.
"And what about Karashi?" Lee asked when they recovered from the meal.
"Karashi was encouraged after your visit. He wanted to become strong, so he went to the town to join the Kurosuki," Sanshou sighed.
Her eyes went directly to Rokusuke, and as she expected, he was frozen. He was staring at the paper wall as if it held all the answers to the mysteries of the universe, with clenched fists and a tense jaw. Clearly, he was a potential hindrance.
"Seina! We need to add rescuing Karashi to the mission!" Lee pleaded with a firm and imploring expression.
"Alright. Sanshou-san, do you have rooms available?" she asked. As soon as the owner nodded, she turned to her team. "We'll take two rooms and stay here until this is resolved. Since we're so close to the mine and the village, this will serve as our headquarters while we investigate what's happening out there."
Seina paid for the rooms, giving a couple of days' advance. Later, when night began to fall, Seina sent a few clones to watch over the clients. Neji, Tenten, and Lee were talking while she meditated silently on what to do. She could order the client to stay put or intimidate him, but those tactics didn't work with someone determined and stubborn. Besides, she didn't want to waste time trying. It would be like trying to break a wall with her head.
Just as she thought, a while later, when it was completely dark, one of her clones dissolved to relay the pertinent information while the other clone remained at the scene. Neji saw her rise.
"What's happening?"
"Rokusuke tried to escape to the village," she announced. "I was sure he would try, so I was watching him with a few clones. Now he's unconscious. I'll go talk to him when he wakes up."
"What are you going to tell him?" Tenten asked.
"I'll politely ask him to stay here," she shrugged.
Otherwise, she'd have her clone watch him for the duration of the mission. The last thing she wanted was to have to babysit a rebellious civilian who didn't listen to anyone and endangered everyone.
The next morning, they all went down to breakfast while she knocked on the clients' door. They opened it with some surprise.
"I'd like to speak with Rokusuke-san alone, please."
"Of course. He just woke up."
She entered the room and closed the door behind her. Rokusuke, upon seeing her, looked distressed. Perhaps because he knew someone had knocked him out and put him back in bed, despite not having seen her.
"I hope you won't try to interfere with the mission again," she said, looking at him steadily and without blinking. "I know you're worried about your friends, but your recklessness would have endangered not only yourself but also the mission. Do you understand?"
"Hai. I just... couldn't sit idly by."
"We'll check today if there's anyone alive," she nodded, seeing that this was his concern. "In the meantime, stay here."
She saw him nod with a guilty expression. She didn't scold him further because, even if he swore he wouldn't leave the room, Seina no longer trusted him. She would leave a few clones with the curry lady, just in case. She went down the stairs alone, letting him mull over what she had just told him. Neji raised an eyebrow, and she nodded.
"We'll go to the village to observe the situation," she informed the others and her team. "I want to know how many enemies we have ahead, where they hide, their schedules, everything. If their leader is this Raiga, I don't think they'll leave without us eliminating him."
"You mean... kill him?" a client asked with a mixture of disgust and horror at the thought of them having to get their hands dirty.
"Yes. We'll see."
For Seina, that seemed to be the only viable option to complete the mission. If Raiga had not been a ninja but a civilian, she was sure things would have been very different. But since that wasn't the case, she didn't see him giving up the territory he had conquered without a fight. At that point, Seina would have to ensure the safety of her team and the mission, which might mean eliminating him.
"Stay here while we scout the village. We'll be back in a few hours."
They left the restaurant, leaving the civilians and her hidden clones behind. She hesitated about leaving one of her summons to monitor the situation live, but since there were only three miners and an old woman, she decided against it.
"Look, there's a good spot to hide and investigate what's going on," Neji pointed out. Seina snapped back to reality and saw that he was right.
"Good call. Let's go spy."
They observed the strategic points where Raiga's minions seemed to be hiding as workers started to emerge from the mine. Seina knew what was going to happen before it did, noticing the exhausted sway of an old man laden with materials. She heard the affected gasps of Lee and Tenten beside her as they saw him collapse from the weight and exhaustion, and how the Kurosuki thugs quickly approached to threaten him with a beating if he didn't get up.
"Permission to proceed?" Lee asked, standing up and looking at her expectantly.
"Go," she allowed. They were just civilian thugs, so Lee would have no trouble.
"Go, Lee!" Tenten whispered, watching him beat up each one. "Yatta!"
They descended to the mouth of the mine. The old man, terrified, begged Lee to hit him, and when Lee refused, he started hitting himself out of fear of being buried alive. A gong sounded just as Lee grabbed his hand to stop him.
"What's that?" Neji asked.
"It's another burial!"
"Should we intervene?" Neji asked, awaiting her orders.
"Mmm… Let's rescue the buried person and try to capture a minion to get information. Right now, the most worrying thing is encountering the leader. Let's move."
She leaped into the air towards the burial, followed by her teammates. It didn't take long to reach the site as they saw the procession of men in robes from afar, carrying a white coffin. She threw several sealed kunai into the cemetery, transporting herself behind one of the men shouldering the coffin. She knocked him out with a single stupefy blow, then pivoted to do the same to the other.
The coffin fell to the ground just as Neji and the others stepped into the cemetery. She left whoever was inside it as kunai flew around. Fortunately, Raiga wasn't there with them. Still, she could feel a gaze on her neck, indicating he wasn't far. Just as only one thug remained, Lee stopped dead in his tracks.
"What's happening?" Tenten asked, wielding a metal staff with which she had knocked several people unconscious.
"It's Karashi!" Lee said with a smile.
The smile, however, quickly faded in the face of Karashi's arrogant and cowardly attitude. After all Lee had said about him, she found it hard to believe the man he spoke of was this walking trash. Judging by Neji's somewhat disdainful look, she wasn't the only one.
"No one praises you for making curry!" he shouted like a spoiled child. She resisted the urge to roll her eyes. "I had to become a man and go out to conquer the world instead of staying in a restaurant with barely any customers!"
Lee punched him, unable to contain himself.
"Lee!" Tenten exclaimed in shock.
"Let Lee talk to him ," she requested, seeing Lee trying to convince Karashi to abandon his foolish ambitions and return to his mother.
Seina left them talking and went straight to the coffin. She opened the lid with a spell, revealing a terrified miner on the verge of tears.
"You're safe," she told him, helping him out of the box.
"Is he alright?" Tenten asked from behind her.
"Yes, just scared. Let's tie up these people. I'll have my clones take them elsewhere, just in case..."
She didn't want to leave them there where someone could untie them. Fortunately, with the stupefy, she knew they'd be asleep for about six hours. She made a round, tying them up and ensuring they were all under the spell's influence, then summoned her clones. She sent Karashi back to the village with her clones and then collected her kunai. She noticed Neji looking into the distance, atop a cliff.
"Do you think he's there?"
"Yes."
"Let's finish this now that he's alone."
"Yosh! Let's liberate Katabami!"
They leaped to the indicated spot, arriving without any trouble. They didn't see him, but they could sense his presence.
"Come out already!" Neji challenged. "We know you're there."
A mist began to form that Seina had seen before. Ugh. Raiga fought like Zabuza, or so it seemed. She knew how to disperse the mist quickly but let him think he was protected, waiting for him to reveal himself so they could attack. Lee lunged at him when they saw a silhouette, though he was dodged. What she didn't expect was the second voice, a child's voice, apparently whispering Lee's movements' pattern. She silently threw her father's kunai and began molding chakra.
"Futon: daitoppa," she intoned mentally. She took a deep breath and expelled it at high speed, clearing the summit. "Now!"
They attacked from all sides, forcing him to grab his weapons from his back. To everyone's surprise, these weapons could shoot lightning. Still, he wasn't fast enough aiming it to hit her while she used the hiraishin around him. She heard the voice, clearly coming from a kind of suitcase on his back, guiding him as quickly as possible to her position.
"Your cheating ends now, bastard!" she said, confusing him and attacking from below instead of behind.
Tenten's kunai hit its mark, and the suitcase fell to the ground. Between Neji and Lee, they managed to separate Raiga from the bulk.
"Damn you!" the criminal shouted. He aimed both weapons simultaneously, and a huge lightning bolt fell.
Seina used her spells to ensure everyone's safety while teleporting right in front of her enemy, punching him with all her might along with a stupefy that inadvertently sent him over the ledge. They watched him fall several meters below, crashing against a rock and getting buried by the same stone. It hadn't been her intention, but she accepted the outcome.
"It's a child!" Neji said with some surprise. He opened the bag. "You were the one confusing my byakugan, right?"
"Who are you?" Lee asked. "Are you a friend of Raiga?"
"No. Raiga and I are one. Since he found me."
"What do you mean?" Tenten asked.
The child, expressionless, told them his story. How Raiga spared his life, took care of him, saved him from his village where everyone rejected him… The story reminded her suddenly of Haku, the little she could hear about his devotion to Zabuza. She wondered why, once again, she encountered another child brainwashed by a few good deeds before being used as another weapon.
"What do we do with him?" Lee asked.
"My clones have already taken the thugs to a safe place. I haven't seen Karashi though."
"Ugh…" Neji grumbled at the mere mention of that idiot. "Let's see what he's done now."
"We'll take the child with us. I'll have a clone take him to the restaurant."
Lee carried the child in his arms. For a few seconds, they looked down the cliff at Raiga's semi-buried body. She found it ironic that he ended up buried like the people he had murdered.
"Is he alive?" Tenten asked.
Seina turned slightly to see his response, but Neji shook his head. Behind Neji, she glimpsed part of the child's face and thought she saw a hint of a smile and the reflection of those red eyes. She avoided narrowing her eyes upon realizing that, instead of sad, he seemed happy. She looked at Raiga's body with a premonition. When Lee, Tenten, and Neji turned their backs, she cast a stupefy on the child, rendering him unconscious instantly.
She used the hiraishin to appear next to the body. It only took a medical spell to realize what the child had seen with his special eyes. Raiga was alive. Badly injured, but alive.
"Sorry, friend, but today's not your lucky day," she whispered. She pretended to check his pulse and killed him with the killing curse. Then she tore the annoying swords from his hands.
She returned to the summit where they were waiting with curious eyes.
"I wasn't going to leave them down there for anyone to grab," she shrugged. "Give me the kid. I'll have him taken to the restaurant."
Tiredly, they headed to the mine's entrance where she had sent her clones earlier. When they arrived, she groaned in frustration upon realizing that the idiot Karashi seemed to have rebelled against them again, freeing the few thugs from Lee's first fight whom she hadn't knocked unconscious with her magic. That would teach her not to leave the job half-done, she told herself.
"Come on. Let's finish this," she sighed.
They descended the hill, expecting an attack at any moment. Just as they reached the bottom, the attackers dropped huge boulders, ready to crush them. They dodged easily, hiding and letting everyone think they had died.
"Hahahaha. Those kids shouldn't have messed with the Kurosuki family."
Seina appeared behind him, tapping his shoulder a couple of times. Everyone turned around at their victim's surprised gasp.
"Hello, folks," she greeted sweetly. "I think it's time for you to go to sleep. Futon: daitoppa!"
She gathered much more chakra than before, irritated and exasperated by these arrogant, weak civilians constantly messing with them, and sent them flying. She didn't even give her team a chance to shine because the blast of air slammed them all against the rock, knocking them out simultaneously and causing them to fall like puppets with cut strings. She turned to Karashi, now pale as snow, realizing his stupid plan had dissolved in less than five minutes.
"...Remind me not to anger her in the future," Tenten whispered to Lee and Neji.
"And you… I see you haven't learned anything from what Lee told you earlier," she said to Karashi, walking in his direction.
"I hope you're ready, Karashi!" a villager shouted as they all approached him menacingly.
"If I hadn't done it, they would have killed me!" he defended himself.
"Well, now I'll be the one to smash your head with this hammer!"
"Wait!" Lee shouted, intervening in the fight to defend Karashi.
Seina watched from a distance as Lee mediated for Karashi, who didn't deserve it, and how everything was resolved thanks to the help of the old man they had saved earlier. When they left, Lee grabbed his arm tightly to take him away. Meanwhile, her clones captured the Kurosuki thugs and tied them up.
"With these, we're done," Seina said. "Let's go back to the restaurant."
"Hai!"