"So.... genin!", the jounin snarls at the state of this wet, muddy, not to mention bloody individual.
"What's with the smell?", he silently wonders.
Nevertheless, this is a genin who crawled across 160 kilometres of a compromised supply line.
Smells are his least concern.
"So your command centre didn't notify the breach?", he asks.
The genin stares at him.
"No, sir!" he shouts.
The chunins behind him whisper.
They lost about 12 genin teams since the infiltration happened a week ago.
"You are telling me.... the command centre sent you on a supply mission, regardless of the compromise?", he asks.
"We weren't briefed on any infiltration, sir", the genin shouts again.
The jounin scoffs.
Can't help but let out a chuckle.
"So they are still using it?", he thinks out loud.
"What? Commander?", his chunin vice commander asks.
"The rotten carrot menuver, set loose a bunch of genin with dud scrolls and supply scrolls. One of them always makes it across the enemy territory ", he says with a shrug.
"Sir?", the genin speaks up.
The whole room turns its head towards the genin.
"Enemy.....territory?", he weakly blurts.
"Oh? The fire border is enemy territory, and the hidden rain has betrayed us. We are fighting both of them on 2 fronts", the chunin answers in his stead.
The genin nods.
He then takes out the bloody scroll from his burlap sack.
The chunin takes it and unfurls.
.
.
.
.
Nothing.
"It's a dud", the chunin confirms.
The commander clicked his tongue in disappointment.
"Well, genin..... that's unfortunate. My condolences to your teammates. You are dismissed", he shoos the genin away.
##########
I come out of the tent and somehow stagger my way across the place to a bench in front of the campfire.
A medic sat there, with a one-handed chunin. Trying her best to patch up the wound.
The winch on her face and smug look on the chunin says it all.
She isn't doing a great job.
"Let's not intrude ", I thought.
"Hei....you can sit down. If you want?", the chunin.
I nod and oblige myself.
The ember flies with a crackling sound.
There is no smoke, though.
Probably some sealing Hocopocus.
I take out the box and pull out a Cigarette and hold it in front of the fire.
It burns.
I look at the chunin to ask for silent permission.
"Got one for me?" he asks.
I look at the pack.
There is none left.
I shake my head.
"Maa! Don't sweat it", he waves off with his cut arm.
The female medic slaps the chunin on the shoulder.
"Lost it in a fight", he says.
I bite the cigarette at the end, trying to get a feel of the butt.
"My teammate lost one too", I point out.
"Oh yeah?", he looks at the smoke rising from my lips.
The medic looks at me with a sideways eye.
"My condolences", she says simply.
"Thanks", I match her tone, while fixing my posture.
When you see a girl talking less, it's a sign that she is a bad ass and means business.
I take a slow drag.
Trying to savour every bit of the cigarette.
Something tells me it will be a while before I can get a smoke again.
A genin runs around throwing rations.
The medic and I catch ours, and the chunin gets smacked in the face.
Just a few biscuits.
I chow on the hard, lumpy biscuits and flush them down with a bit of water.
In front of me is a bunch of bamboo trees.
"I wonder how long this mountain will hold", I ask.
"We will move in about a day", the chunin answers.
"Until the rain stops", the medic adds.
"You think the suna will bring out the needle launchers?" I ask.
"No.... we hit them hard on that front, there shouldn't be any artillery left".
"What about the hidden rain?" I ask.
I take out a pair of binoculars and look at the banks.
There is a river at the front, and on the other side is a wide field of black soil.
Had to walk across that weird mud to get here.
"What's up with that place?" I ask.
"Oh ....you didn't know? The salamander came", he says.
I raise an eyebrow. "Salamander?".
"Yeah...the leader of the hidden rain, he just launched an attack on us a few days ago. Flooded the whole river with fucking poison", he says with a chuckle.
"Poison? I just came through that place".
"You should be dead", the medic points out.
I scratch my head.
"Maybe it died out? The poison", I say with a wry smile.
"Poisons don't have an expiry date", the medic says amusingly.
"Who did he fight?" I hastily try to change the subject.
"Oh... Orochimaru sama came just in time with his summon", he says with a winch.
"So what? The freekin' leader of the rain village just up and fled from one lieutenant?", I ask with a smug smile.
The chunin loughs.
"Ooohh boy, this kid doesn't know!", the chunin slaps his thighs.
He then sits up straight." Should've seen the size of the summon", he groans.
That cut arm is really bugging me.
"That was caused by the poison?" I ask.
"Aye!", he gets on his feet.
"If you don't mind, as cripple as I am assigned a gurad post", He silently nods at the medic and walks away.
She looks at his back as the chunin walks away.
"The last post", she murmurs.
"What?", I didn't hear right.
"The wounded ninjas given posts they are to guard with their lives", she says.
So, this is the hill he will die on.
One way or the other.
[[[[Fuuuuuuuuu!!!]]]]
Someone sounds the alarm.
Enemy attack?
"Where?!", I ask with my katana drawn.
The medic has a sharp look in her eyes, and it's directed at me.
That I can manage, but her kunai is also pointed at me.
I let go of the swords and put my hand up in the air.
She stares.
"Miss?" I ask.
The medic only narrows her eyes.
"I've seen you crawl across that poison field", she says.
Shoot!... how am I supposed to explain it.
Screams are coming from the east, and a few explosions are already happening.
But the medic lady is like a statue made out of stone.
If I move I move even an inch, I'm dead.
Even though I can't.
But something tells me I shouldn't either way.
"Lady..... I can explain.... please, there is an attack going on", I try to reason.
"You are a genin, and I am a medic. None of us is needed there", she points out coldly.
She has a point, though.
Suddenly, the air started to feel heavy.
My temple started to sweat, and my knees trembled.
[Krrrrreeeeeeeeiiiiiiicccccchhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!]
Something roared towards the sky from the depths of hell.
Both of us were on our knees, shaking.
"What the fuck was that?", I ask.
There is a lizard...
No....
A dragon is flying towards us.
It is flying towards with sharp [peeeeeeeeee!].
And as it descends, it vomits something out of its mouth.
Green pus.
It flooded everywhere, melting everything.
The stream of poison vomit flooded the river and is now closing in on the hill.
In seconds, it will be on top of us.
But Medic san is still looking right at me, like the fucking dragon behind her doesn't exist.
So, I did the sensible thing.
Jump on top of her to save her from the poisonous splash.
Everything around us melted with a sizzle.
Sssssss!!!! That hurt like hell!!
"You okay? Medic san?" I ask as I look around.
No response.
Is she dead?
No....so is still looking at me....but doesn't look like she wants to kill me anymore.
"What the hell are you?" she asks as she holds the kunai on my chest, trumbles.
"I'm a Konoha genin, Medic san!" I say with a smile while pushing the kunai out of my chest.
She doesn't resist.
"So..... are you immortal or something?", she asks.
"I guess I am".
"That's incredible!".
"Thank you".
"Yeah.... I would be dead right now, if it wasn't for you".
"My pleasure".
"Are you....like a super secret jounin on a super secret mission?"
"Maybe?".
"Please tell me! I can keep a secret".
"I'm sure you can, Medic san".
"What is it?"
"Stayin' alive!!".
She suddenly has a very flushed face.
"I ... I understand ", she says shyly.
!!!!!????!!!
"Anyway.....", I get off her and look around.
The dragons are about to go for a second strike.
"Medic san get ready for second volley!", I scream.
"Emm....immortal san! Your back's all melted!", the medic says gingerly.
I touch my back.
My ass is showing.
Most of my muscles melted with open bones remaining.
But it doesn't seem like my movements are impaired.
"Let's run!" I suggest.
But before that...
"Get over heeeeereeee!!!!!", someone shouts.
A giant screaming toad wearing a kimono suddenly covers the whole night sky, and it drop-kicks the dragon.
The lizard falls down on its face in the forest of bamboos.
The giant toad landed in front of us with such force that my feet left the ground when it landed.
It.....it has a fuxking smoking pipe in its face.
"It's Gama chaaaan!!!", the medic shouts.
"Ooooy! Ichi chan! Fancy seeing you here!", the toad recognises her.
"I'm so happy to see you here too! Where is Jiaraya sama!?", she asks.
It....I mean Gama sama takes a drag of his pipe.
"Fighting off Salamander ", he says.
"Oya....what fuck are you!?", he looks at me.
"Oh....this is.....".
"My name is Fardin" I bow.
"This is Fardin san, Fardin san this Gamabunta! The strongest summon in the world!!", The medic, I mean Ichi san, introduces us.
"He protected me", she adds.
"Oh...", he nods his head, looks at me with narrow eyes." I see".
"It's an honour ", I am still bowing.
"So, he is immune to the poison?" he asks Ichi.
"It seems like it?", she shrugs.
He brings his giant face closer to me, I take a step back.
"You took that shit to the face?", he asks.
"I did?".
"Mind taking it one more time?".
"If I need to".
"Then kid!!!", he cocks back his head.
"I've got a job for ya' ".