Given the new level of threat we faced, we all remained on high alert over the next few days. All the while, we continued to scout around for somewhere to set up a semi-permanent camp, although we never did find anything suitable.
"Maybe we should try around here instead?" I asked as we sat huddled together, looking over the map
"It got plenty of running water, and it's a bit further away, so it might be a decent place to look." Haruto said as he studied the area, though there was only so much he could see from the map.
"We haven't spent much time in that area yet, so anything could be awaiting us there." Arata reminded us.
He wasn't wrong, while we had spent a good amount of time inside Rivers, by now, that didn't mean we knew the land by heart. Some places we had passed by briefly but had been remembered by someone due to some feature they had.
Be it Koji remembering a scent somewhere, or me remembering a particularly tall tree, or any of the other two remembering a small cave or a valley that looked interesting.
That was how we had mostly managed by now, that or someone hearing about some spot back in the Konoha camp, or Haruto and Arata might know something from being in Rivers before.
"Well, nothing to lose, right?" Koji added with a shrug of his shoulders.
"Nothing but our lives at least," Haruto took the role of party pooper, but he wasn't wrong. Out here, a mistake could easily mean death.
"We remain on guard, but unless anyone has any convincing reason we should go there, I say we head in that direction." I asked once more as I made my decision.
No one protested.
So I folded the map with care, marked the general direction in my mind, and stood.
Or I tried to stand, but Koji, whose lap I once more used as my seat, wrapped his arms around my waist to hold me down. "Let's take a longer break, we barely sat down for five minutes." He requested, his face buried in my neck.
I sighed, something I did a lot these days, for many reasons. I didn't immediately shut him down; instead, I activated my Byakugan again to give the surrounding area a quick scan.
My Byakugan flared to life, veins pulsing at the edges of my vision as the world peeled open around me.
Trees. Roots. Hills. A half-buried fox den to the south. A mole two meters underground. Koji's heartbeat pressed against my back, steady and warm.
But no chakra.
Not nearby, at least.
"Clear," I murmured after another sweep. "For now."
"That's the best we get out here," Arata muttered, taking a bit of jerky out from a pocket.
"We'll keep moving," I said, still not trying to rise. "Five more minutes. But that's it."
Koji grinned into my shoulder. "That's all I need."
"You're impossible," I muttered—but made no move to escape his grip.
The fool just sniffed my neck, acting more like a dog than even Kuro did, and he was a damned dog!
"Hey Yuki?" he whispered, his warm breath spilling over my ear, almost making me shiver.
"Yeah, partner?" I murmured back, not quite smirking, not quite serious.
"You think… when this war is over…" he hesitated, just for a second, "we'll still be like this?"
His voice was quiet and nervous, but not the normal nervousness I associated with him when I called him partner; no, this was a far more serious Koji, one I rarely saw outside of combat. That soft vulnerability he kept hidden under barking bravado and flirtation. And it caught me off guard, if only for a heartbeat.
It was a good question, because, while he likely didn't have anyone waiting for him back in Konoha, I did. Hiashi was there, the clan was there, my role and future were decided over a decade ago.
While I had heard stories of people getting together under the stress of the battlefield, and going home, dealing with their old relationships and starting new ones, it wouldn't really work for me.
Because I wasn't meant to start some battlefield fling, that stuff was for lesser shinobi, from lesser clans, or civilians born. Not something someone from the noble Hyūga clan would engage in.
And yet.
I had allowed myself to enter such a relationship. It wasn't something I regretted, not for a moment. I had an overall positive attitude towards the clan, but I wouldn't truly allow them to dictate my life.
I was destined to rule this world; one way or another, I would return to being Kaguya Ōtsutsuki. Everything else was just me enjoying myself or trying to better myself.
Did I care for Hiashi? For Koji? For my mother and father in this life?
I did, but could I honestly answer Koji's question like he wanted?
Already, I could sense that my prolonged silence was affecting him. His arms around me grew tighter, as if afraid I would leave him.
"Koji, I'm from the branch house. I don't get to pick my own future, all that, the clan decides all that." That was my decision: shift the focus, blame the clan.
His breath caught behind me.
For a long moment, he said nothing.
Then, quietly—too quietly—he asked, "And if the clan didn't get to decide?"
"Koji," I said, placing a hand on his arms as they hugged me that tightly, almost making it hard to breathe. "The clan does decide, but the clan would never approve of what I'm doing here, with you, so as long as we don't let them know, we have time to figure it out. Partner."
I knew it was wrong, I knew it was fair to him, or to Hiashi. But so what? I was Kaguya Ōtsutsuki, I could do whatever it was I wanted, such was the privilege of a goddess.
If I wanted to fool around? Who would stop me? Who would dare?
Koji let out a soft exhale against my neck. His grip loosened, just a little, and I felt him nod.
"Time, huh?" he said. "I can work with that."
-----
As we moved, I kept scanning the area with my Byakugan, more so since Koji had reported a lot of human scents in the vicinity.
It wasn't an enemy shinobi presence, no, it was civilians. The route we were taking took us relatively close to a city. We mainly stayed far clear of those, as is good shinobi etiquette and protocol.
Going near there could risk fights breaking out, and that wasn't something either side wanted to see, and Konoha, least of all, due to us taking a fat protection fee from the Daimyō.
As the city itself entered into the range of my Byakugan I couldn't help but debate whatever or not I should have us stop there.
It was risky, yes, but with the Byakugan I could easily see that there weren't any real shinobi presence in there, so a short visit shouldn't bring dangers down on the place, or risks onto our heads.
It was against protocol; our team, on our mission, should stay clear… but it had been so long since I was in proper civilizations. Although we still had plenty of supplies from our last shipment, I still wanted the break.
Just for a few hours, that should be fine, right?
Unconsciously, I slowed down the closer we got, and it didn't take long for Koji to notice that the others and I started to fall behind, which caused him to stop. "Anything wrong, Yuki?" he asked, eyes and posture alert.
I hesitated just a moment too long before answering. "Town ahead. Medium-size civilian hub. No shinobi chakra I can see. Could be… safe enough for a short stop."
Koji's ears perked like an actual dog. "Seriously? You want to go there?"
Haruto stopped short. "We're not going into a city."
Arata folded his arms tightly. "We shouldn't even be near a city."
"I'm not saying we spend the night," I replied calmly. "Just a couple of hours. We get a bath, a proper hot meal. Maybe hear something useful from passing merchants."
Koji threw his arms up. "I vote yes."
Haruto looked like he'd swallowed a bitter pill. "It's a terrible idea. We're shinobi. In enemy-occupied land. In uniform."
"The Land of River is still technically under Konoha's protection," I said.
"You said it right, technically," Arata added sharply. "You think no one's watching the roads into that town? You think Suna doesn't have informants there?"
"There's no sign of shinobi presence," I reminded him. "No chakra signatures. Nothing noteworthy."
That doesn't mean there aren't eyes," Haruto said. "With how many shinobi they have running around, there is no way they don't have spies hidden everywhere."
Koji waved them both off. "You two need to learn how to have fun. We're always on edge, always looking over our shoulders. What's the point of surviving this long if we can't have one night as normal people?"
"We're not normal people," Arata bit out. "And if you think that's the point, you're already forgetting what we're doing out here."
I held up a hand, silencing them.
"Enough," I said. "This is my call. I'm the team leader. We're going in."
Haruto stared at me like I'd slapped him. "Yuki—"
"I didn't ask," I said. "Go civilian, use a Henge if you want, but for the next." I looked up at the sun. "Six hours we get free time, how you spend it is up to you, I will mark a position inside the town for us to meet back again."
Haruto opened his mouth again but stopped himself, jaw tightening as he looked away.
Arata didn't argue further either, but his silence spoke volumes. Tactical disagreement aside, they weren't about to disobey an order—especially not one given with this level of certainty.
"Fine," Arata muttered eventually. "But I'm not taking off my weapons."
"You don't have to," I said. "Just make them less obvious. Blend. We aren't tourists, but we're not provoking trouble either."
Koji gave a whoop of joy. "This is gonna be a blast, you hear that Kuro? Real food for once!"
I glared at him. "Don't make me change my mind."
He just grinned and quickly pushed himself up against me. "Hey Yuki, you will stay with us right?" he nodded towards Kuro. "Those two will likely stay together, so we should as well. For safety, you know."
While his words were reasonable, I knew they weren't meant to provide safety, mostly because he wanted to spend time with me, time where it wasn't all mission.
He was really desperate for attention, like a little puppy, always taking every chance to have me sit in his lap, or hug me, sneak kisses, that kind of thing. It was cute, and I did allow it, because yes, it was cute.
Sometimes, that's all the reason you need.
…
We entered in pairs, and from two different directions, just to draw less attention to ourselves.
For Koji, Kuro, and me, we entered in our gear, and only weapons were packed a little away, the same with our hitai-ate. Though with the Byakugan, it was impossible not to give away that I was from the Hyūga clan, and therefore from Konoha.
The town itself wasn't particularly large, maybe a few thousand residents at most. Though that was on the bigger size of towns you could expect to find outside of the big nations. With most food being local, most places couldn't support tens of thousands of hungry mouths to feed.
Still, the place was lively, it had everything you wanted, it had places to eat, places to sleep, places to bath, and even a brothel.
It naturally also had plenty of places to spend money outside of those few examples, plenty of stores selling everything someone might need in their daily lives.
Koji practically bounced beside me as we walked through the market street, Kuro trotting along at his side, tail high and nose twitching like mad.
"You smell that?" Koji whispered like it was some kind of secret. "Actual grilled meat. Not jerky. Meat, Yuki."
"I'm aware," I said, though I couldn't help the small smile tugging at my lips. The scent was everywhere—smoke, spice, sweet-sour sauces, roasted grain. It clung to the market stalls and the clothes of passing locals. It smelled like people just living.
Koji grinned as if I'd agreed to something far more intimate. "Let's go before someone sells out."
"The only ones who will eat them out will be you and Kuro. Come now, let's take it slow." I said, holding out my hand. "Got to make sure you don't run off."
Koji blinked at the offered hand.
Then he grinned—wide and toothy like a boy handed a festival prize—and immediately slipped his fingers between mine.
"I knew you liked me," he said, smug and warm.
"If you hadn't figured that out by now, I would advise you to look for another career." I said with an eye roll as we walked slowly down the street.
(End of chapter)