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Chapter 46 - Arc 4 - Brawling in the Streets: Neji's Plan
🕑 Added 2024-06-16 23:10:32 +0000 UTCI have been waiting for this joke, for like 20 chapters, I need you to understand.
I am so happy right now.
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The birds are tweeting, the sky is bright, and the smell of a rural village just coming to life hits Sakura as she sits around downstairs. The innkeeper has given her a bowl of stew to chew her morning over with, so she doesn’t have a lot to complain about as far as breakfast goes. She had worried that without Haku she might forget to eat, but they’re making damn well sure here by shoving food in her face whenever they can. There’s a tankard of mead to her side, but she won’t be touching that. The alcohol can go to someone else, anyone else, once they get down here.
Looking towards the door, she can admire how it’s half off its hinges but still manages to function just fine. The craftsmanship is magnificent, she would like that kind of thing in her village, should Wave ever get off the ground and become a bustling trade hub. It’s unlikely anyone but them will be using this establishment anytime soon, and they’re getting their stay and food for free for saving their lives, so, this place is probably not long for this world business-wise.
Maybe she’ll tip them off that Wave needs a new innkeep? There wasn’t one there when she was last there, and a quick check of her system tells her that they are in fact missing an inn. She’ll wait until they’re about to leave to mention it, when the others aren’t watching. The least she wants is to be accused of treason for stealing someone from a Konoha village. Wave, technically doesn’t count as one, even if she’s a Konoha ninja and it’s hers.
But if they’re already going to go out of business, what’s the harm?
Tenten sits beside her quite suddenly, spooking her from her thoughts, and Neji steals her mead without so much as a word. It seems he doesn’t want her drinking any more than she wants to drink. That does of course mean he’s also drinking his tankard a few moments later when his meal and mead are delivered for the morning. If she didn’t know any better, she’d say that the way he’s drinking it without a thought implies he might have a drinking problem.
Probably not, there isn’t exactly a lot here, but to start the day with two tankards without a word? When on a mission? When leading the mission? Perhaps dealing with Lee and Gai’s energy has taken more of a toll on the boy than he’s willing to admit. Or, maybe the Hyuuga clan just drinks and her standards are off because she’d only ever had her first sip yesterday and she doesn’t plan to have another anytime soon.
“So what are we doing today?” she asks him, “team leader sir?”
“Shop,” Neji says simply, looking into his drink with a thoughtful look on his stoic features, “they’re likely to ambush us. If we’re lucky, we can finish this today by luring them all out.”
“If we’re not?” Sakura asks.
“This might take weeks. Once they’re properly spooked, routing out the individuals is going to take forever, and if we leave they’ll just get back to ruining the village the moment we’re gone. So, slow investigation and damage control is our job, if we can’t finish it today.” He sighs to himself, clearly not liking his own answer.
She’s actually kind of okay with that. A longer mission means a higher payment, since the village pays by the day on missions like this, with a big bonus for completing the mission. It’s an incentive to take your time and be careful and not damage the reputation of Konoha, but since you aren’t actually paid until the mission is complete, you still do in fact want to finish it.
Thing is, she’s still collecting her stipend, and she still needs to save the money to get herself better gear when she’s back home, and even beyond that she’d like to get Haku a better setup, so, any money is good money.
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The enemy clearly knows who they are, and what they are, so why go investigating when they seem very eager to make themselves known? Neji’s got a good point, and Sakura can’t help but relate to it. Attacking her at the inn was a clear indication that they aren’t well trained, a better ninja would have disappeared after disarming her suspicions. Or they at least would have tried. That girl just pretended everything was fine before stabbing her. She’s happy no one questioned her wounds being missing this morning, ninja have tons of different techniques so, maybe they didn’t notice or maybe they didn’t care enough to interrogate an ally.
Whatever the case, Lee and Neji are out in one group while she and Tenten are going about in another. Yesterday Neji seemed sympathetic to Tenten's aversion to her but he decided to brook no argument today, so, here they are at a general store looking through all the goods. It’s packed to the brim, which is a huge relief for her. Up to this point, she’s been comparing it to Wave, but Wave’s general store had some dying veggies, a rifle behind the counter, and not much else going for it except an older man with nothing to do with himself except pretending to run a store.
Here, there’s an older lady that greeted them politely and told them to take all the time they need. “You think there’s anything we need?” Sakura asks, prodding a clay pot with one hand while weighing a water canteen with the other. It’s hefty, it might be nice to have a second container specifically designated for water jutsu.
“No.” Tenten denies her firmly. “If we needed something we would have packed it.”
“He said to shop, not window surf,” Sakura points out, “they might know something’s up if we don’t buy anything.”
“They’re going to know something’s up either way, we’re not particularly good at this subterfuge stuff.” Tenten refutes.
“You’re not particularly good at it, I pretended to be in love with a boy I didn’t like for seven years.” She drops on her with a deadpan, “I ran a fan club, there’s an entire gaggle of fangirls lusting after my femboy roommate because I cultivated their desires so well they couldn’t let go when I disbanded the club. I think I can fool a few invaders into thinking I’m blissfully unaware of what’s happening around me.”
“... Wow,” Tenten blinks, looking at her anew. It’s nice to feel a little respected, even if she had to lay it out like that to get it. “You planned that?”
“Wha-no, I just, it worked out.” Heat hits her cheek, “fine, I’m gonna buy this canteen and then let’s hit up the tool store across the street, I bet it’s got some nice stuff.”
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The tool shop has a narrow opening that leads down a long hallway. There are various mannequins made of straw down the hall, which makes it even harder to walk side by side, and the tools they’re all ‘holding’ fill in the space further until Sakura is, in fact, walking in front of Tenten instead of beside Tenten. It does mean she doesn’t get to observe the pitchfork very well as she passes it, but that’s fine she wasn’t going to buy a pitchfork.
Maybe she should get a shipment from this shop for Wave once she gets paid. Being the savior of this town will likely afford her a discount, and Wave is lacking proper tools. So far she’s had some craftsmen making some and had a few loggers working on some other stuff to get the proper poles and such but these look astounding. Into the shop proper, there’s a lot more space, but she can’t help but look at that deathtrap they called a walk-in with a held breath.
“Ooh, you’re interested in the hand scythe?” A portly man asks as she stops to look at a set, scurrying over to her like he belongs there at her side. “It’s crafted with local woods, so the timber was properly treated while it was fresh, resulting in-” he regales her for a bit, letting her sink in the useful info she might need later on, while the back of her mind puts together what those sounds outside are. Her senses aren’t super heightened yet, she needs to work on a few techniques to boost them, that’s her bad, it’ll be something for when she gets home, and needs to figure out what to force Kakashi to train her. But she still has a high mind, and her perception is still perfectly adequate. She can hear footsteps approaching the shop, and with that entryway-
-she picks up the merchant by the waist, and jumps, flying right over the counter he has and dropping him on his knees behind it. With a flourish of her hands, she has her crossbow readied, and she aims right over the counter, towards the door at the end of that long, needless hallway…
When the door slams open, dozens of kunai come flying their way. She fires a flame-tipped bolt to intercept and smirks evilly when she watches her bolt tip smash into one of the kunai and explode. The remaining projectiles are sent in every which way but at them, and the entirely too close-together room is bathed in flames.
“My shop!” The man shouts, “my mannequins!”
“Sakura what the fuck.” Tenten growls at her from her side, and all it takes is one look to see that the bun-haired girl also took cover behind the counter, and is currently laying out a scroll. “This shop is made of wood.”
“Exactly, they won’t charge through that door now.” Sakura rolls her eyes at her doubter, “And it’s magic fire, it doesn’t burn wood it burns on top of wood, the shop’ll be fine.”
“You’re making that up,” Tenten says, laying out a third scroll, then a fourth. At first, Sakura thought she was doing something special but now it’s clear she’s looking for a specific scroll. This girl isn’t very prepared, too much weapon variety maybe?
“Only kinda,” Sakura says, looking over, and ducking when another row of kunai flies by her head. “It’s not spreading, see? Just blocking the way, and I figured as a ranged specialist you’d be at a huge advantage this way.”
“Holy shit, you’re right, huh.” Tenten nods, after a long moment to observe the fire not spreading, just, lingering there in the hallway blocking off the enemy. “Well, I guess I did already know those bolts were special.”
“It’s time to put those Leaf Ninjas in their place!” They hear shouts from outside, and Tenten’s eyes practically glow in excitement. Sakura can tell before Tenten is even finished pulling something out of her fifth scroll that the weapons girl, really, wanted them to say that.
“Nah, kids,” she lifts the device she pulled from it up into the air, a solid hunk of metal with a cool grip and a metal cylinder on top she pulls back with her free hand. It makes a decisive click, “it’s Glock-o-clock, get it right.”
“I’m sorry, what?” Sakura has just enough time to ask before things get really loud.
Comments
Christopher Cummins
It's what we live for.
Einar Strandberg
TenTen with a Glock is beautiful
Dopplerdee
Amazing.
Christopher Cummins
I uh.... I did do that.
Dopplerdee
YOU GAVE TENTEN AH FUCKIN GLOCK!?!?
