"The proctors obviously don't care if we deviate from the partners we were assigned. The only records of the teams are the slips of paper we drew."
"What if that's what they want you to think?" I press, jabbing my sword. "What if that isn't what the point of this test is at all? Why take the risk instead of just working with me for a few days?"
...
Her eyes harden, expression becoming resolute. "Because you are Konoha."
I am- what? "What's that supposed to mean?"
"You are a shinobi of Konoha. Your home is the cruelest village in the Elemental Nations, and your Kage is a backstabbing warmonger. I can't trust you. You are Konoha."
"Don't talk about the old man like that," I growl. "What are you even saying, anyway? Backstabbing warmonger?"
Her head tilts ever so slightly to the side, though her sword remains poised in front of her. "You… don't know?"
"Know what?" I ask. "Are you talking about the Third Great War? Because that's really-"
"No, of course not," she interjects. "You don't know, do you?" I don't bother answering again.
"Nine years ago, only a few years after the end of the Third Great Shinobi War, Kumo offered to draw up a peace treaty with Konoha. Both my village and yours had sustained heavy losses in the war, and Raikage-sama decided that cooperation was crucial if we were to recover and prevent another Great War.
"Konoha demanded that the drawing and signing of the treaty occur on their soil, and we agreed. We even sent the head of our forces to cement it as a sign of good will. He was one of our most powerful shinobi, and second only to the Raikage in status. He was a war hero." Her gaze burns. "They murdered him."
"No way." My brow furrows. "No way."
"They murdered him," she repeats firmly. "And when Raikage-sama demanded the corpse of his killer as repayment, as per the rules of the treaty, your Hokage detained the other Kumo shinobi that the head had brought with him as witnesses to the signing. Then he claimed that the treaty had never been signed, and that Hyuuga Hiashi was only acting in the interests of his daughter who we had tried to kidnap."
And just like that it all clicks into place.
"The Hyuuga Incident?" I ask. "Are you seriously going to tell me that you can't trust me because of the fucking Hyuuga Incident? I didn't even know there was a treaty involved in that! I was like three years old when it happened." I clamp down on the 'Besides, that was all your fault anyway' because for all my rage I do want to get through this task and bickering about some stupid bombed treaty from a decade ago isn't going to get me there.
"That was only the worst example," she says. "Konoha has been provoking us for decades, always spurning our attempts at peace, always looking down on us. Its shinobi are no different."
I find myself bereft of a comeback. The real, honest to god indignation in her voice and the steely set of her jaw throwing me off before I can even think of snapping back at her. We stand across from one another, swords held aloft, and the darkness, along with the silence, swims between us. I let the wind chakra disperse from my blade, and speak quietly.
"Do you really believe that?"
She pauses, for just a split second, but I'm looking for it. "Yes."
I shake my head, lowering my sword. Take the first step. "No, you don't." And before she can reassure me that she does, I continue. "Look. I don't know what went down for real nine years ago, and frankly I don't care. Maybe my village has done some bad things, and maybe yours has, too. That doesn't matter right now. What matters right now is that I'm not the one who killed your shinobi, and you're not the one who tried to kidnap mine.
"We're not our villages, Samui. I'm me, and you're you. Maybe Konoha and Kumo can't settle their differences, but we can. Just for a week," I implore. "Come on."
Her tanto dips, but she seems to catch herself in the next moment. Damn. "I can't. Even if I did trust you, I'm already part of a different plan. If we ran into a Kumo shinobi and I chose you over them-"
"I'll tell them I put you under a genjutsu," I blurt, the idea appearing and coalescing in my head in a heartbeat. "I'll tell them you tried to attack me so I hit you with an illusion so you wouldn't betray me."
A startled look breaks through the stone façade, and Samui forms a ram seal around the hilt of her sword. "Kai."
I roll my eyes. "As if I wouldn't have used that as soon as the task started if I could." Well, okay, I probably wouldn't have, but she doesn't need to know that. "No, but that's perfect! That way they can't blame you even if you beat the hell out of them, because it'll be all my fault."
She lowers her sword a bit more, but I can tell she's not convinced. All in, then. "Think of it this way. We can stick it out together, pass this stupid task, and beat the hell out of each other later. Or we can throw down right here and see which one of us is the better swordsman. Up to you."
I watch, sword lowered but not yet sheathed, as she scrunches her nose up and deliberates. An eternity seems to pass, and I'm considering padding the edge of my blade with wind once more when she raises her sword. I hold my breath, hands clenched tight around the cool metal of my hilt.
She shifts the sword over her shoulder, sliding it into its sheath.
The tension that's been building since I woke up melts out of me, and I slump in relief, sheathing my own blade and leaning back against the steep incline of the crater. "Thank you."
"They will hunt us down," she says. "Once they realize that a Konoha shinobi has enslaved one of their comrades, they'll scream for your blood."
Wow. That's not morbid at all. "We'll outrun them," I promise her, and I see something like a smile flickers on her lips. It might have been the light of the moon playing tricks on me, though.
"Starting tomorrow, that is. When I can see more than three feet in front of my face." I kick back into a more comfortable position, making sure I can see over the top of the depression we're holed up in. "I've got watch. Get some rest."
She stays standing. "… You know, you weren't asleep for very long. I could stay up for a few more-"
"Samui, if you don't lay down right now I'm going to slap the ever loving shit out of you."
She huffs. "Not cool."
...
It's when the first few rays of sunlight have begun to bleed into our shelter, and I'm contemplating waking my partner up- it took her a while to get to sleep because of the paranoia, so I'm a little reluctant- that I hear it. The faint sound of sandaled feet on tree branches, up above.
I scramble to my feet as quiet as possible, stifling a curse as my legs erupt into pins and needles after hours of sitting still. I kneel beside Samui, sprawled out on her side, and shake her by the shoulder. She's awake almost as soon as I touch her, jerking away and sitting up, somehow hitting me with a wary look while blinking sleep out of her eyes at the same time. I raise a finger to my lips, pointing up at the treetops, and her poker face slips into place.
She nods in understanding and I back off, raising a hand and grasping the hilt of my sword as I listen. A heartbeat later the sound to drift into our little hole again, closer this time. Samui shifts into a crouch as well, drawing her tanto with one smooth, silent motion. I try to pinpoint exactly how many there are, but can only make out that there's more than one shinobi tree hopping.
We sit, and we wait. They don't take long.
The first shinobi drops down right on top of us, forcing us to split apart to evade. I jump back out of the hole, and yank my tanto free. I fall into a ready stance, throwing a quick glance around in search of their teammate, but come up short.
They- she- stands up, turning to face me and revealing the Suna headband glinting on her forehead. Phew. At least I don't have to worry about Samui holding her end of the deal up just yet.
The kunoichi is decked out in the combination of black and blue shinobi garb that Suna favors, some sort of padding above both her ankles, and a beige flak jacket. She has short, dirty blonde hair and hard, brown eyes. She stands taller than me and Samui by a few inches, and looks to be a few years older than us. Or me, at least. I don't know how old Samui is either.
I take a sweeping look above again, but the other genin is nowhere in sight. Then without warning the Suna kunoichi surges forward, snatching my attention away from the treetops.
I bring my tanto up to block the kick she sends at my chest, and almost buckle under the force of the blow. Strong. The kunoichi twists out of the vulnerable position before I can capitalize on it, planting her hands on the ground and sending another kick at my head. I duck and swing down at her, but she just pushes off her hands and up into the air, flipping over my sword and back into an upright position.
We both rush forward, and I send a chakra-enhanced swipe at her while she kicks at me. We meet in the middle, my sword colliding with her raised ankle. The burst of wind chakra jars her leg, but not enough to throw her off balance, and my blade slides right off the padding she's got on the lower half of her legs. So that's what those are for.
We break apart and I realize that Samui is gone now, too. She must have picked up on the other genin's trail. Or abandoned me. Hopefully the first one, though.
...
Don't forget to write a review and throw power stones for the story :)
...
if you want to read ahead of the public release you can join my p atreon :
p atreon.com/CarriePoppins