The summer quickly turned to autumn, and the trees surrounding the village gradually changed their leaves to shades of yellow. Life was more or less back to normal, apart from the occasional mission, of course.
Senbonzakura had finally been upgraded; the sheer number of razor-sharp cherry blossoms it spawned had increased tenfold. The challenge now lay in control, which required me to completely separate the more complex techniques from the storm of crystal razors.
In a sense, I had developed a Bankai. While it didn't increase my power, considering what I could theoretically do now, I couldn't complain.
I focused on perfecting the Crystallization technique with decent success. It would still take months before I would be able to completely transform my body, but progress was steady. I could now fully crystallize my entire arm and return it to normal quite quickly.
Although it wasn't combat-ready except in very niche situations, I was satisfied with my advancement.
Hinata had quickly caught up with her own attempts and was already close to being able to transform her hand and fingers.
She was progressing only slightly slower than I was, primarily due to her focus on creating her spirit weapon and mastering the spin technique. Even so, she would likely complete her transformation shortly after I did.
The peace was once again interrupted when I was summoned to the Hokage's office. Just when I was starting to miss being summoned there, too.
Jokes aside, it had to be something serious. I was only called in when Hiruzen really needed something.
With the majority of the Anbu forces guarding the coastal towns from Kiri ninjas and Kiri rebels, we were seriously low on manpower to take on top-tier missions.
I may not have been pleased that my training was being interrupted again, but at least I might see something interesting—or be sent to war again; the chances were pretty much fifty-fifty. I quickly got up, retrieved my full combat gear from home, and headed to the office.
If the situation was serious, I didn't want to delay my departure by having to go home first.
Upon entering the office, I found Gai already waiting there, wearing his trademark green jumpsuit under a standard jonin vest.
Before Hiruzen could even begin to speak, Gai beamed at me.
"Yosh! It seems we'll be working together, Ryuuzaki-kun!" he said with great enthusiasm, his voice nearly deafening in the small room.
I flinched at the loud noise but offered a small smile in return.
"Seems like it..." I trailed off, mentally preparing myself for the challenges ahead.
Hiruzen would never send Gai on a banal mission. The green-clad man, with eyebrows that could rival Brezhnev's, was deceptively powerful. Even without opening all Eight Gates, he was a powerhouse and likely the strongest person in the village after Hiruzen himself.
"What has gone wrong this time, Hokage-sama?" I asked with a small sigh, thankful that the upgrades to Senbonzakura were finished.
My control over most of the 'Bankai' techniques that my new version of Senbonzakura could perform was rudimentary at best, so they weren't combat-ready. However, t could control the insane amount of cherry blossoms just fine.
Hiruzen shook his head slowly and gave Gai a small glare to prevent any more loud outbursts.
The door opened again, and a striking woman entered. She was around Gai's age, likely in her mid-twenties at most.
Her eyes were a bright red, so much so that I initially mistook her for an Uchiha. Her long, untamed black hair ran past her shoulders and down her back. Instead of the standard green or black, she wore a red and white mesh armored shirt along with bandages on her arms.
The lack of a flak jacket was noticeable, but considering the tough material she wore, it would only hinder her movements. It took me a moment to recognize her, but from Hinata's description, this had to be Kurenai.
"Now that we are all here..." Hiruzen said, drawing our attention back to him. "We have received a distress call from Anko in the Land of the Sea. Her team was ambushed and is now missing in action, presumed KIA by Anko herself." He began the briefing.
"The mission was deemed S-Rank before any complications arose, due to the possibility of Orochimaru being involved. Your objective is to rescue Anko and destroy the facility she discovered. Retrieve only what you can; your priority is to get out alive." His voice lacked its usual warmth. Instead, it was monotone, as if it were painful to mention his old student.
"Wouldn't it be better if the Anbu-" Kurenai cut herself off, likely realizing the reason before she even finished her question.
"The Anbu are concerned about Kiri and the Kiri rebels. The attacks remain few, but the numbers keep increasing. The Daimyo wishes for the cities to be protected by the best... my hands are tied on this," Hiruzen said, acknowledging Kurenai's unfinished question.
"I guess that explains why Gai is here. If Orochimaru is there, Gai is the one with the best chance to fight him off," I muttered under my breath.
"You three were chosen because you are the best we have right now. And by working together, I believe you can take down anything that could be hidden in the facility Anko discovered," Hiruzen said, a gleam in his eyes. He truly seemed to believe his words.
"I guess we do have quite a varied skill set between the three of us," I thought out loud, getting an eager nod from Gai and a slightly confused tilt of the head from Kurenai.
"A Taijutsu master, a Genjutsu mistress, and a Ninjutsu specialist. We cover all the basic ninja arts among us," I explained quickly.
Since Kurenai clearly had no idea who I was, revealing my specialties would be best if we were to work together.
"Aren't you a bit too... young to go on such a mission?" Kurenai asked, looking slightly worried. No doubt because she had recently been hired to train someone my age.
I shrugged, not offended at all.
"I guess I am... but as a jonin of Konoha, I can't decline a mission based on its apparent difficulty," I said casually. "And missions gone wrong are kind of my specialty," I added with a snort, reminiscing about all the previous times my missions had gone to shit.
"No time to waste. The Land of the Sea is quite a distance away, and we need to run at full speed!" said Gai, his voice slightly lower and his face more serious than usual.
"Quite right. Head out as soon as possible. Gai, you're in command," Hiruzen said, dismissing us.
"Yosh! Meet me at the southern gate no later than fifteen minutes from now," Gai commanded, still energetic and exuberant but with an edge of urgency.
"I already have everything I need, Gai-san. I kind of expected trouble when I was called," I informed him before heading at a relaxed pace to the gate.
I didn't have to rush home to collect supplies as they did. It wasn't long before both of them appeared at the gate, and we leaped into the treeline, traveling as fast as the terrain allowed. At our current pace, it would take us more than two days to reach our destination.
Unfortunately, neither Gai nor Kurenai could defy gravity the way I could, so our options were limited.
"How long can you keep up for?" Gai asked after a while of running.
"At this speed... around twelve hours or so, if you want me in fighting shape. Chakra isn't a problem; the exhaustion is," I responded, maintaining our pace.
"Eight or nine hours if I'm to be in fighting shape," Kurenai said.
"Good! We will reach our target in two days, no more!" Gai called out, his words sounding suspiciously like a challenge.
"I can run ahead if you want," I offered. "I have a jutsu that allows me to ignore terrain completely," I clarified for them.
"Maybe later, Ryuuzaki-kun. It might prove useful once we are crossing the sea from the Land of Tea to dodge the rough coastline." Gai responded thoughtfully, but he said no more.
Talking while running wasted energy, something we couldn't afford to do.
We traveled in silence, only stopping about halfway to our destination in the Land of Tea. Even though we only stopped for the night, I made sure to send out a clone to buy samples of tea for me.
After so many years in this world, I craved the tea liquor I enjoyed in my old life. I would have to make my own, but this was the place to get the best tea available.
The next morning, we started running again. Eight hours of full-speed running, a few hours of rest, and then another eight hours of running.
The worst part was getting across the ocean. The Land of the Sea was an island nation south of the Land of Tea, consisting of a large main island and many smaller islands around it. The entire archipelago was quite large.
If I were to compare it to a country from my old life, I'd compare the largest island to Iceland in size.
"I have bad news and more bad news." I sighed as I focused on sensing the area.
"What is it?" Kurenai asked, looking around and concentrating on her own sensing abilities.
"The first bad news is that I sense over two hundred chakra signatures at or above the Chunin level," I said, dropping my concentration and drastically reducing my sensing range.
Gai furrowed his magnificent brows, clearly displeased with this information.
"And the other bad news, Ryuuzaki-kun?" he asked, sounding much more serious than I expected.
"I can't tell which one of them is Anko. Those signatures are scattered all over the country," I explained, feeling slightly disappointed with the results. "It doesn't help that all of them have a similar taint on their chakra," I added.
Any signs of Orochimaru?" Kurenai asked cautiously, prompting me to focus again for a moment.
"Negative. The largest signature I sense is definitely powerful, but far from what I expect Orochimaru to possess," I replied after a short pause.
"I guess we'll have to look for Anko-san the old way!" Gai said, his usual enthusiasm returning.
"I suppose you're right..." I sighed and performed a couple of hand seals. "Summoning Jutsu!" I declared as I placed my arm on my shoulder, creating a small cloud of smoke.
"You called, bro?" said the black cat I summoned, her voice sounding eager and playful.
"Thought you'd appreciate being able to hunt for someone, Yoru," I responded, scratching her behind the ears.
"I see, even your summon is quite youthful!" Gai exclaimed, examining the cat.
"Cats, huh... I guess it fits," Kurenai remarked.
I quickly described Anko to Yoru and warned her about potential enemies.
"From what we know, Anko should be in the northern part of the island. If you find any sage snakes, you're probably on the right path," I added as Yoru jumped from my shoulder and stretched.
She gave a quick nod and shot into the distance, much faster than either Gai or Kurenai expected, judging by their expressions.
"Is there... anything you can't do?" Kurenai asked, slightly exasperated.
"Pretty sure I'm not a good teacher... and I'm not great at Genjutsu either," I shrugged, thinking back to how long it took me to explain things in a manageable way whenever I tried to teach anyone.
The genjutsu issue stemmed mostly from my lack of training in that area.
"You tried teaching someone?" Kurenai asked with a hint of curiosity.
"Sure did. I have a little sister in the academy, so of course I tried to help her. I even invited her classmates to come and find me if they needed assistance," I said casually.
I didn't mention my training sessions with Hinata; since she hadn't shared that information with Kurenai, I figured it wasn't my place to bring it up.
"But honestly, I had way more success with my old classmate than with my sister," I chuckled, reminiscing about Lee's progress over the years.
I received a thoughtful hum from Kurenai, but we fell into silence again as we continued our search on our own. It was just me leading us toward the closest decently sized chakra pool in the area where we believed Anko was hiding.
I cursed myself for not committing the feel of Anko's chakra or spirit to memory; this whole mission would have been much easier if I had.
Asking the locals for information hadn't proven useful either. They seemed to be afraid of something. Most of them spoke of sea monsters rising from the waves and attacking their ships.
On top of that, none of them seemed to know anything about any other Konoha ninja in the area apart from us.
It didn't take long for me to figure out that whatever Orochimaru had tested here had clearly spiraled out of control. Either that, or his experiments were being unleashed on the population. I didn't know which option was worse, but personally, I'd rather not fight my way through a small army of people gifted with some form of curse mark.
Thankfully, Yoru worked quickly, establishing a vast network of stray cats across the small villages and fishing towns. How she managed to convince so many cats to help was beyond me, but thanks to them, we had a solid lead by the next morning.
We were directed to a beach, though calling it a beach would be generous; it was a rugged area of sharp rocks that formed part of the northern coastline. The location was rich in small caves, both above and underwater.
Some of the underwater caves also led to a safe area of dry land. If I were conducting experiments in these parts, this would be a good place for ninjas to enter or exit a facility. Fortunately for us, there was only one chakra signature nearby.
Making contact proved to be difficult, mostly because I was the only Earth Style user on our team, meaning that contacting Anko fell to me, as nobody else was willing to navigate the tight cave systems to find her.
She really knew how to hide herself, much to my current annoyance.
I sank into the rock beneath my feet and headed straight for her chakra signature, eager to finish the tedious part of the mission.
I poked my head out of the rock, only to narrowly dodge a snake that lunged at me.
"Oi, oi! Do I have to dodge something every time I meet you?" I called from the safety of my rock.
"Brat? You're my backup?" Anko replied, calling back her snake and giving me enough space to fully enter the cave.
"Brat? I'll have you know I outrank you, Anko," I smirked, taking in her appearance. "You look like shit," I remarked, noticing her torn trench coat and the numerous bruises and cuts on her body.
"Could be worse... At least I'm alive," she shrugged. "And what's this about outranking me? Aren't you a Special Jonin like me?" she asked with a friendly challenge in her voice.
"Afraid I'm a fully-fledged Jonin now, Anko. But we should get out of here; Gai and Kurenai are waiting for me up on the rocks," I replied, prompting her to gather her things.
"Tch! Just you wait... I won't be stuck at this rank for long," she shot back lightly.
"Good to see your sense of humor is intact. Now hold on; I'll take you via Rock Express." I extended my hand toward her.
"Sure... Never thought I'd travel through solid rock.I'm not an Earth Style user, you know." she replied, though her eyes sparkled with intrigue.
"Just keep your mouth closed. Rocks don't taste that good," I joked before I sank into the wall, pulling her along with me. It didn't take long to emerge right in front of my waiting teammates, with a sputtering Anko right behind me.
"You had to make a joke right before dragging me into the wall?" she said, spitting out a mix of mud and small rocks.
"I warned you to keep your mouth closed, didn't I?" I replied, trying to suppress a laugh.
Even Gai seemed to find her current situation funny. Kurenai just shook her head.
"Before you start laughing like lunatics... Anko, can you tell us what happened here? We only received the barebones information," Kurenai asked, maintaining her composure.
After finally finishing her bout of spitting pebbles, Anko turned to Kurenai.
"The short version is that we found a lab under the sea near the main island. After infiltrating it, we were discovered, and whoever is in charge released all of the experiments on us..." she said, clenching her jaw.
"There's also guard who wields a weird sword. He was the reason we lost... I barely managed to get away," she admitted, still with a tense jaw. "At least the experiments aren't too difficult to handle. They're powerful but barely trained in combat," she added.
That was some good news, and if my readings were correct, the only substantial threat we faced should be that mysterious swordsman.
"You mentioned a weird sword... how weird exactly?" I asked, hoping we wouldn't be running into Kisame.
"Well, it's just... weird. It can split into two and fire chakra blades. As far as I could tell, it was indestructible. The guy just brushed off my most powerful fire jutsu like it was nothing. There wasn't even a scorch mark on that thing," she explained, recalling details about the sword. I nodded, relieved that it didn't sound like Samehada.
Having Kisame here instead with the Akatsuki would not have been weirder than what had actually happened.
"Alright then!" Gai called out, getting our attention. "From what you said, it sounds like one of the seven swords from the Mist. If you encounter him, disengage until either Ryuuzaki or I can back you up," he stated in a commanding tone, rather than his usual enthusiastic self.
"Infiltration seems impossible, so we'll simply break down the front door. Do you think a full assault is possible, Anko-san?" Gai asked, looking thoughtful.
"The whole facility is underwater, but as long as we don't breach it, it should be possible," she replied, deep in thought.
"Um, I may have a solution to that," I said slowly, unsealing a bunch of backup facemasks. "There's a sealing formula on them that stores air and releases it inside, while simultaneously blocking anything from entering from the outside," I explained.
"I've never tested them underwater, but they should work unless we dive too deep." I glanced at the three adults, who exchanged looks.
"And here I thought you simply idolized my eternal rival! But your mask is even cooler than his!" Gai exclaimed, eagerly snatching one of the masks.
"Simply channel your chakra into the fabric in front of your nose and mouth," I instructed him, barely finishing my explanation before he jumped into the water, eager to test the functionality himself.
"I meant to test it in safer waters..." I sighed, sensing Gai walking along the seafloor and hoping he wouldn't drown himself. Suddenly, the Anbu missions didn't seem all that bad.