Chapter 40

Tanigakure
Ryoma, Jonin

“Condition?”

As usual, Tsubame was quick to get worked up over nothing in particular. “No further damage, chakra reserves at eighty percent, currently hot and sweaty.” He left out that the Mk2 was probably covered in scorch marks and abrasions from colliding with the buildings on several occasions, he could fix those later.

“Good.” Her slightly spiteful glare made him confused if she was expressing relief that his condition was good or joy that he was uncomfortable. He sent a bewildered glance towards the woman before rolling his eyes and waving a hand towards Toyoko’s position, indicating that they should approach.

That done, he returned his gaze to the ash-choked village and the fires that continued to rage across several districts. They wouldn’t have had any warning about this attack, and if their deployment rates were anywhere similar to Suna, a great deal of their mid and high ranking ninja would’ve been out of the village, performing missions. That left only their garrison of highest-ranking ninja and low-level ninja in the village, in addition to a handful of off-duty middle-roaders.

Suna had about eleven thousand ninja from last he checked, plus or minus about five percent. Tani, from the estimate provided at the secret briefing, had perhaps one thousand ninja, plus or minus ten percent. Ryoma didn’t know precisely how many could’ve died in something like this- but probably not more than a hundred.

The problem for Tani would be how many elites they lost in this.

A pair of Tani-ninja landed before them, one male clad in their signature fishnets and the female clad in what looked like a pair of sauna towels and a bad mood. Several broad swathes of their skin was covered in nasty but superficial burning. “Suna.” The male greeted with a sharp nod and frown. “Thank you for the assistance, why are you here?” The bare minimum of courtesy followed by a blunt demand for motivation- ninja paranoia was always heightened after a sudden and unexpected issue cropped up.

Ryoma didn’t blame them. “Well- I was here to buy something from your village- that Senju Wood Tani passed along a message about a little while ago.” He stopped, then glanced around at the destruction. “I got a little side-tracked, looks like.”

The black-haired male narrowed his eyes suspiciously, before exchanging a glance with the female. She shook her head around in a confused manner, before turning her gaze back to him, hand holding up her towel. “The- the Senju Wood? The last time we picked up something like that was… a year ago?”

Ryoma stared blankly at her for a few moments.

“Oh.” He replied somewhat lamely, reaching up to scratch the side of his eyes. “They didn’t tell me that.”

“You do not have the material we traveled all the way from Suna and battled a great Snake for?” Despite her somewhat accusatory tone, Tsubame’s eyes were fixed squarely on the side of his head, and not at the Tani Ninja. “What a disaster, what a mistake, perhaps someone should’ve verified how recent the information was before we left. That would’ve been wise and prudent.”

Ryoma purposefully did not look at Tsubame as she elaborated. “I uh… Do you have any left?” He tried with a slightly awkward tone, reaching back to rub the flexible mesh that protected his neck. “And- can I use the services of your messenger hawks? I should probably send a message to Lord Kazekage about this.” He gestured vaguely in the direction of the destroyed hillside and burning buildings. Some of which were already doused from last he checked, with towers of steam starting to rise through the air.

Tsubame maintained her glare at the side of his face. The pair of Tani-ninja glanced at each other somewhat awkwardly. “You’d have to ask Lord Ichirounagi… I’m not sure how much time he has for you at the moment.”

Ryoma nodded in understanding. “Would you like us to help with the disaster-relief or camp outside the village until things are stable?”

“Remain outside, if you would.” The woman stated bluntly, nodding at him. Perfectly reasonable, he wouldn’t want some ninja from another village poking around while he was trying to put out fires and pull people out of rubble. Ryoma nodded in turn before waving them off and turning back to trek back up the hill, towards the crack in the ridge that led out of the valley.

“We’ll wait out by the bridge then.”

A few moments later they leapt away again, towards the center of their village and out of sight. Ryoma continued walking up the hill, focusing on the dull pain in his ribs from the raised steps so he could ignore the glare maintained on the back of his head. At least one of them was following behind them- but he couldn’t keep track of them with his helmet still shattered like it was from his encounter with Jiraiya.

Time on the road didn’t exactly permit the free time needed to fashion a new traveling helm, and all that. He was stuck with his Combat, Gas, or Scout helms, and none of them were especially appropriate for the situation.

“Ryoma!” Toyoko shouted, sliding to a stop a few dozen meters up along the hill. He waved lazily as he continued walking up and along. She had an expression that was simultaneously elated and also furious. “I- you- deployment of the Mk2 in a situation like this- it’s good that it’s so overbuilt, otherwise we would’ve lost it you stupid brave moron!” She gesticulated rapidly as she spoke, as if gesture would help her communicate her delighted outrage to him. She was one of the few already read-in on the Mk2 and how secret it was, and had been at the previous test-deployments.

Stomping two bandit camps into the ground while escorted by two full teams wasn’t exactly the same as deploying the Mk2 suddenly and against a giant snake- even if Ryoma already knew to expect one. He stayed quiet as he approached, letting her vent her frustrations and giddiness on her own time.

“And the palm-shiki worked perfectly- Of course tossing a giant snake around wasn’t their intended usage, but- and the textbook execution of a wind-fire combination ninjutsu using the captured fire technique was- everyone in Tani saw that- Uah! Everyone in Tani saw it! This is- this is really bad- this is really, really bad-“

“Uhm-” Hotaru spoke up, fingers splayed out and a collection of spiderlike puppets gathered around her. The iconic ‘Gagomorus’ or whatever they were called, a design she had been iterating upon for about as long as he’s known her- which wasn’t very long admittedly. “What- what was that, big-?”

“Above your authorization, Chunin.” Ryoma stated quickly and bluntly, gazing a glance towards her. She almost immediately jumped, flinching back and raising her arms in a protective fashion in front of herself.

“I’m sorry!”

Toyoko also went quiet, clamping and glancing nervously at the slightly taller woman. She was perhaps realizing that she shouldn’t be talking too much about the capabilities of the Mk2 while Hotaru was present.

“No worries.” Ryoma waved off, walking past them casually. “You didn’t know- you saw it, you know that it exists, but don’t ask anything about it until we get approval from the higher ups, alright?” He gave a little smile, not that his lower face was visible, and a thumbs-up towards the sufficiently-intimidated woman.

“I- okay.” Hotaru quickly replied, staring at him like he was a dangerous creature through the gaps in her arms, then flinching back from Tsubame as she passed by.

This was why he brought Hotaru- a non-suspicious actor to be involved who absolutely wasn’t cleared to know anything about the Mk2, and thus let him avoid explaining why he had deployed it in this circumstance long enough to be back in the village and thus- subject to whatever ‘punishment’ the Kazekage would subject him to.

And once the Kazekage had interrogated him about it, Tsubame and Toyoko wouldn’t have any actual reason to ask anymore except their own curiosity.

“Tani doesn’t want us around the village while they’re getting things fixed up- so we’ll be camping out near the bridge for the night.” Ryoma explained casually, gesturing for them to follow behind him. “I’ll see if they’ll let me use one of their hawks tomorrow- to send a message about this to the Kazekage.”

“I can summon a hawk.”

Ryoma kept walking for a few moments, before slowing down and looking back at the aloof face of Toyoko.

“You can summon hawks?” He asked with a slightly stunned tone. “Since when?”

“Since the Third War?” Toyoko replied with a raised brow, catching up to him now that he had paused. “A robust and effective communications network is vital for the regular operation of a modern military force, Ryoma.”

“Well I agree with that much- but I didn’t know you could summon hawks.” Ryoma shook his head and kept walking.

“Not hawks. Hawk.” Toyoko clarified with a frown. “My father purchased a lifetime contract with the Hawks as a graduation gift, after I expressed interest in it. So long as I live and maintain proper protocol with them, the Hawks are obligated to provide one dedicated retainer to transport my messages, and replace them if they die and the contract is not broken.”

“I forgot how mercenary the Hawks were.” Ryoma muttered, rubbing at his lower mask. Hawks were something of a constant in communications, there wasn’t a state in the modern world that didn’t rely upon them as messengers in some capacity. He was pretty sure their official contract was actually held by the Fire Daimyo, but the Fire Daimyo didn’t interfere with their side-contracts as a rule.

He knew that most ninja villages maintained a roster of long-term hawks to transport their messages, but hearing that an individual could buy such a contract was news to him. “How much did that contract cost? Do you know?” He asked directly, tapping a finger on his mask.

“I would have to ask my father- I do know that the Hawks only trade in Talents.” Toyoko answered with a shake of her head. A ‘Talent’ was the older, more traditional currency used in the Five Great Nations. A remnant of the old Imperial financial system- and the largest denomination of such, being about seventy five pounds of material in the form of a large stamped ‘plate’.

Only trading in Talents meant that the Hawks were fucking pricey. Ryoma huffed and nodded. “I see, thank you- Summoning your contracted hawk would be helpful, yes.”

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“I will as soon as we reach the Great Bolter.” She confirmed with a nod. “Did you ask about the Senju Wood?”

“His news is outdated by a year.” Tsubame immediately interjected without giving him a chance to speak. Ryoma sighed as Toyoko let out an outraged squawk and Hotaru flinched.

Thank you Tsubame, he needed this lecture.

—

“Heyyy~ If it isn’t Mister Suna-nin himself.” A familiar face and lazy wave greeted them at the edge of their little camp.

Ryoma regarded her with a blank gaze for a few moments- mostly at the extensive layer of bandages that crept up along her left leg and onto her midriff, and the scent of medical gauze and burn-treatment creams. It was the same ninja from Tani that he met on the mission to Tea Country some three years ago, looking much the same as she did then save the clear burn wounds.

“Oh hey.” He snapped his fingers idly, pushing up from his seat near the little campfire and the fried fish on skewers. “It’s you, miss whatever your name was.” Tsubame was staring at the woman with a steady eye, while Toyoko blearily glared back and forth between himself and the Tani-nin. A morning person she was not.

Hotaru hadn’t slept, he could tell by the bags under her eyes and the distinct scent of someone who had been fiddling with something for many hours when they should’ve been resting. It was kind of like old sweat.