Time passed and Team 6 began accumulating an impressive, flawless mission record.
Regular C rank missions posed no threat, being neither interesting nor challenging so the team started to take up B rank missions every once in a while to sharpen their skills and improve their resume.
B rank missions were the breakpoint where shinobi combat became the norm.
In these missions, either capable chakra wielding samurai or other shinobi would be the team's opponents.
None of these involved combat against jonin however. Facing enemies of that caliber warranted an A rank classification regardless of the mission's nature.
So far, other than their botched first C rank, Team 6 had yet to face jonin in combat but they were about to embark on a long mission this time around.
It was still B rank and it paid a lot owing to its long duration but its nature made it possible for unexpected enemies to appear.
The mission was simple, escorting a trade caravan that would depart from the Land of Fire capital and make a wide trip through land and sea, ending back up in the starting point.
With the caravan being relatively small and led by an eccentric traveler rather than sponsored by a wealthy merchant, a single shinobi team was all they could reasonably afford while maintaining enough resources for trading.
They would cross the Land of Fire heading west, traversing the Land of Rivers and heading into the Land of Wind before turning north towards the Land of Birds, sandwiched between the Land of Wind and Land of Earth.
A rather long route mainly for avoiding the chaotic and poor environmental conditions in the Land of Rain.
They would then continue west traversing the Land of Stone and Land of Mountain Streams before turning north, going through the Land of Bears towards the Land of Valleys.
They would then head out into the sea, sailing around the hostile and best avoided Land of Silence and landing on the Land of Vegetables after it for a pit stop before sailing north towards the Land of Snow.
Once their business there was concluded they would sail south towards the northernmost part of the Land of Iron.
Back on solid earth, they would then keep heading south until the Land of Medicine was reached before turning east and going through the northern parts of the Land of Rice Paddies and into the Land of Hot Water after it.
Finally, they would then turn south and cross the border into the Land of Fire, concluding the mission which was estimated to take months.
As for why Shiki and Mito elected to take such a long mission, they had their reasons and the route being taken by the caravan certainly passed by a couple important places and some of the travelers were also people of interest.
All in all, a potentially very worthwhile investment of his time.
Not to mention it provided certain opportunities by being so far from the village and out of the surveillance range of certain parties..
If all went to plan, he would return on the eve of his birthday with excellent news for his mistress and a whole new arsenal of abilities to test in spars with her.
*
Outside the Land of Fire Capital, Team 6 arrived at a camp with several tents and carts set up to form makeshift housing but they were already being packed up.
Just as they got close, a friendly man who looked to be in his late twenties, sporting medium length, spiky, light brown hair and thick eyebrows, not Might Guy level but close, approached to greet them.
He was wearing bandages around his head, covering most of his hair with a thick braided rope worn like a shinobi forehead protector and a similar but even thicker rope as a scarf along with a light brown cloak, dark brown pants, light grey sleeveless shirt and dark grey bandages around his forearms.
"You must be our escorts from Konoha!" He enthusiastically greeted.
"My name is Yamakaze Tenki. I'm one of the caravan's leaders." The man bowed slightly in respect as he introduced himself.
"Our client should be someone named Daikin Tenma and . . ." Inori started, looking around a bit with hidden suspicion.
Apparently the ones affected by paranoia from their first real mission were not just the kids.
"I held the impression we would be meeting in the capital." She concluded.
Tenki gave out a nervous, forced chuckle.
"Tenma-san is the man in charge and is in the capital just finishing things up but some of us are not very welcomed within city limits, my clan included." He explained.
The Team immediately realized what was occurring.
"Our leader and the other vice leader are in the city for business while I remain in camp with those that are better off not heading in."
"The caravan is composed of Tenma-san's Daikin clan which mainly deals in ores and weapons, my clan which offers special services to more disadvantaged people and a small group of people we picked up in our last visit to the Land of Iron that trade in medicine." Tenki revealed.
"Special services?" Shiki interjected.
'Looks like I found one of the people I was looking for I think.' He thought to himself.
The Yamakaze clan's presence in this caravan was one of the reasons he and Mito chose this particular mission.
"Indeed!" Tenki who looked a bit down for his clan needing to remain outside the city owing to their poor wanderer appearance suddenly perked up with pride.
"We are shinobi but we lack the usual combat skills like yourselves." He started.
"Not that we're completely helpless but your speciality lies elsewhere." The man's eyes shined like someone half his age as he excitedly explained.
"Our clan can perform jutsu together to temporarily change the weather in a small area, giving villages relief from harsher climates or helping crops grown, etc."
'Bingo!' Shiki thought.
In the original series, this was an unnamed clan with only one member appearing as a filler character in the War Arc.
Their hidden jutsu enabled them to control the weather with their emotions amplifying the ability, Shiki had theories on how they accomplished this but the anime did not explain it so he had to do the checking himself.
Yota, a child of the clan and the only member shown in the anime, was a prodigy with an unnaturally strong Weather Manipulation ability.
Regular clan members could not easily manipulate the weather by themselves on a scale large and powerful enough for it to be usable in combat.
Instead, they used a ritual to combine their abilities and create a wide area but temporary change in weather in exchange for payment.
Shiki's intent was to analyze their hidden jutsu with his Enlightened Mind's Eye and see if he could adapt it to enhance his Nirvana Art: Elemental.
Other than that, he also had a few hidden tasks from his mistress to accomplish along the caravan's route.
He and Mito had several plans they concocted and the Uzumaki matriarch had used her contacts to manipulate the caravan's route so that Shiki could seamlessly carry out the parts that required personal intervention without drawing any undue attention.
'Three objectives in the Land of Wind, one in the Land of Bears, one in the Land of Vegetables, two in the small Land of Medicine and lastly, one in the Land of Hot Water. Let's make this mission count shall we . . .' Shiki thought to himself.
Meanwhile, Team 6 entered the camp guided by Tenki, they had elected to wait for the remaining members of the caravan including the main client there rather than going into the city to look for them.
But while Shinka kept to herself as usual and Mei looked around with curiosity and asked Tenki about his clan, which the man happily talked about with pride, Inori had other things on her mind.
The Violet Rose of course knew that Mito now decided which missions their Team could and could not take and so, she wondered why this particular one was selected.
+++++
Hey, Author here!
Just a reminder that you can read up to a FULL MONTH ahead of this site on pa-treon.
I'm trying to become a full time Author now and I'm not going to be starting any new novels just so I can make sure this one is properly completed.
Find those sweet advanced chapters on pa-treon.com/lusoba without the -