Naruto : Venom

Sasuke and I make it to the Land of Tea in under two days. The idiot ran all through the night to prove to me that my stamina is nothing special. He made his point, but we did have to slow our pace considerably for him to do it.

"Sasuke let's stop here."

"Why? I can keep going. Are you getting tired, oh great Jiongu wielder?"

"As if! We are in the Land of Tea, let's stop at a tea house. It's gotta be good if they named their country after it."

"Fine, I could use a drink."

Sasuke and I enter the tea house. We walk to the clerk and order tea. I get a nice earl gray tea, and Sasuke gets a cinnamon flavored tea. We take a table where we can both see all of the entry and exit points. We are shinobi after all, paranoia is part of the job.

"Well lookie here! Two leaf shinobi out and about!" An older teen boldly walks over to us.

Who the hell is this guy?

"What's a pair of scumbags like you doing in a respectable place like this?" He's insulting us. That's a bad move, you don't insult shinobi. Most really don't handle it well.

"Oh you know," I cut in before Sasuke can, "just the usual." I take a sip of my tea.

"The usual? What's that supposed to mean?" The teen demands, getting in my face.

"It could range anywhere from protecting townspeople from wildlife, to murder. Now get away from my teammate." Sasuke demands. Great, I didn't want him to escalate the situation.

I sigh, "We are not here to murder anyone. You know that. Now this poor civilian thinks we're killers. Well, we are but that is besides the point." I take another sip of my tea. "What's your count at now?" If Sasuke wants to intimidate the civilian away from us, I'll play along.

"I am at three." Sasuke imitates me and sips his tea while ignoring the fuming teen. "How many are you at?"

"Hold up, let me count. Demon Brother, Gato, Oto gennin 1, 2, and 3, the murderer, those nine shinobi I saved Shikamaru from, and I thinks that's it. Oh! Wait I melted a guy in the invasion. Can't believe I almost forgot that happened. So that puts me at... 16? Or 13 if you don't count the Oto gennin since that 'technically' wasn't me."

The unwanted teen pales, regarding us both in a new light.

"Really? I didn't know you were that high. I thought I had more." Sasuke sounds truly surprised. "Wait, you melted a guy? How'd you do that?"

"Fire strings. I told you they were a good idea." I turn to the now scared teen. "Oh, sorry we seem to have forgotten about you. You were saying?"

"N-nothing. I was just stopping by to say welcome to the Land of Tea." The civilian leaves us.

"Kami he was annoying. What kind of an idiot taunts shinobi like that?" I ask Sasuke.

He grunts in response, "A very unintelligent one."

We finish the rest of our tea in silence, we're weird like that. We don't have to talk to be comfortable around each other.

The waitress comes over to us. "Your bills."

"Thank you." I take my bill. "Uh miss? There seems to be a mistake. I only ordered tea, this bill is for food as well."

"Oh, your friend said you were paying for his meal. The one you two were talking to earlier."

"He isn't my friend. In fact I think I hate him now." What a complete dick. "Before it was just a strong dislike."

I give the waitress enough money to cover the cost of both my tea and the idiot teen's meal, it isn't her fault the teen is a jackass. She takes our bills and leaves.

"Sasuke, if we see him again, you might need to restrain me. Fair warning."

"Restrain you? I'm going to throw you at him. That promises to be entertaining!"

"Sasuke! That is a terrible thing to do! I like it! If we see him again you are going to throw me at him. Imagine his face when he sees me flying through the air!"

Sasuke laughs in amusement, "Missions are so much more fun when Kakashi-sensei isn't here."

I laugh with him, "I know right?"

...

"Well, this is the clients house." I say, "Shall we go knock?"

we go up to the front door of a small manor and I knock on the door.

An elderly man answers the door. "Can I help you?"

Sasuke clears his throat, "Yes, we are the Konoha shinobi that Jirocho Wasabi has hired to protect his runner. We are here to meet with him and get more information."

"Ah, so you two are who Tsunade sent me!"

He knows Tsunade? How interesting.

"I heard she became the Hokage and I needed shinobi to protect Idate. He's the runner of the the race you will be protecting. Where are my manners, come inside! Come, sit down there is no need to be formal."

"Thank you Jirocho. So, what can you tell us about this race and any expected opposition?" Sasuke asks.

He is being very professional. His clan upbringing is coming in handy here, I would be out of my element.

"The race has two main parts, one by sea done by boat and one by land done on foot. It starts in the harbor then goes to Nagi Island. It will end at a temple, Idate will know where to go so you two can just follow him."

"Simple enough, that is how most escort missions work. Follow the client. How about expected opposition? In your request there was mention of a possible shinobi team being hired to sabotage your runner?"

"Yes," Jirocho answers Sasuke's question, "it is very likely the Wagarashi Family has hired nin to stop Idate from finishing the race. They know that in a fair race Idate will win so they will not play fair. The Wagarashi are a cruel family, they use whatever means necessary to gain power. The winner of this race will rule the Land of Tea for the next four years."

Sasuke leans forwards, "Interesting. So there is a lot riding on the winner of the race." Sasuke turns to me, "Thoughts?"

"The most likely spots to be attacked will be on the open water where no one can see us or right when we land. We won't be used to the terrain and they could set up an ambush. We should be on high alert the entire time, or at least until we have caught a full team of shinobi. I think we will run into a gennin team with a jonin, or possible a team of chunin. We got this." I say confidently.

"Great! Now come in here Idate and meet the shinobi escorting you."

A door slides open and in walks "The teen from the tea shop! You owe me money!"

"AH! The murderers from the tea shop!" Idate screams while pointing at us.

"Sorry what? Murderers? Nah, we don't murder. We kill. There is a difference. Well... sorta? It's the principle behind the kunai that matters." I ramble on. "I mean I did murder a guy, but in my defense I had a valid reas-"

Thwack

Sasuke smacked me in the head. "You're not helping Alvarcus. Idate, was it? For the duration of our mission we will not harm you. We are hired to protect you, we will come to your aid. You don't need to fear us."

Idate sighs in relief.

Sasuke narrows his eyes. "But you do owe my teammate money."

Idate cringes, "Yeah I'll get you the money."

"Idate." Jirocho stands up, raising himself to his full height. "Did you swindle these shinobi?"

"Uh... yes?" He meekly replies.

"What have I taught you Idate?"

"Stealing and cheating is wrong."

"Then why do you do it?"

"Ahem." I clear my throat, "As nice as this parenting lesson is, Sasuke and I need to know when you want us to start the mission and where the start of the race is. You mentioned a harbor?"

"Yes." Jirocho replies, "The mission starts at the start of the race. The harbor is just south of here, you can't miss it. The race starts at noon tomorrow."

Sasuke and I stand, "Thank you for the information, we will see you tomorrow at the race." Sasuke politely says. We leave the house.

"We need to find a hotel." I say to Sasuke.

"Agreed, I do not want to camp out."

...

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