Chapter 7:

"Good work, everybody!" Might Guy exclaimed with a boisterous laugh. "Those bandits didn't know what hit them!"

"Yosh! We really showed them our youth, Guy-sensei!" Rock Lee cheered just as loudly.

They were both still brimming with energy. Me? Not so much.

I found a spot on the ground that wasn't covered in blood and plopped down in the dirt. Fighting for your life was absolutely exhausting. I hadn’t even felt this tired two days ago when I spent an entire day exercising.

"How are you doing, Kasumi?" Suki asked, settling herself next to me.

"I'm alright..." I replied, though my voice lacked conviction. "I wasn't expecting any of this when I left the village this morning." I glanced around at the bodies strewn about. Disposing of so many corpses wasn’t going to be easy. I did not envy whoever would have to clean up this road later. "Huuuurrkk—Bleeergh!" I leaned over and vomited all over the ground as the reality of what had just happened finally sank in.

Suki gently patted my back as I emptied my stomach. "It's okay, it gets easier.”

I wiped my mouth once there was nothing left to yack up. “I hope so…”

“My first kill was a week ago, and look at me—I'm doing great! You'll get there too," she said, trying to reassure me.

"I didn’t really think about it before, but I can’t believe your team is going on bandit extermination missions after being Genin for only two weeks," I pointed out. My old team went on a C-Rank as well, but that was supposed to be a simple scroll delivery mission. No combat was supposed to be involved.

Suki smirked at me. "Well, that’s because my team is the best!" she said proudly. "Our sensei doesn’t need to spend months coddling us with D-Ranks. Even Rock Lee, who can’t use any Jutsu, is stronger than most active Genin already. And let's not even get started on Neji..." Suki pointed out, and I nodded. A year from now, Neji would be known as the strongest Genin in the village. They glossed over it in the anime, but that's pretty badass since he'll only be 14 years old.

Unless I dethrone him first, of course!

And speaking of Neji, he was walking over towards us. He stood a few feet away and glanced down at me specifically. "Kasumi Hayabusa, your performance today… wasn’t terrible. You didn’t freeze up in your first live combat experience, as I might have expected from some of our former classmates from the academy," he said, then turned on his heel and walked away.

That was it? That was all he wanted to say to me?

"Aww… Neji actually gave you a compliment in his own shy way," Suki said with a chuckle. "That was so cute."

"Is that what happened?" I asked, still confused. “How was that a compliment?”

"Take it from me," Suki replied, a grin spreading across her face. "Coming from him, that was high praise!"

“If you say so…” I shrugged.

“I do say so!” she replied cheerfully. “Now shut up and accept the praise!”

Her enthusiasm made me chuckle. Suki held out her hand, I grasped it as she pulled me to my feet.

"Good work, you two." Guy approached us next, having just finished checking on the remaining samurai and the VIP they were guarding.

"Is the woman in the carriage alright?" I asked him.

"She is completely unharmed. You did a good job jumping in to save her, young Kasumi!" He gave me a thumbs up. "It would have been very bad if anything had happened. She's the newest concubine of the Fire Daimyo and Madam Shijimi’s childhood friend," he explained.

"Really?" My eyes widened in surprise.

As the concubine of our nation’s ruler and a close friend of his main wife, the woman we saved was extremely important. She held a high position within the upper echelons of the nobility. In the anime, the nobility was often an afterthought, but here it was much different. From what I'd read in my textbooks about this world, ninja villages were incredibly expensive to maintain, and most of them operated at a financial loss. They were subsidized by the wealthy nobles of their home countries, and Konoha was no exception. Without the financial support of the nobility, Konoha wouldn’t be able to function.

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Because of that, concessions had to be made between our village and the Fire Capital.

One example of these concessions is the 12 Guardian Ninjas. Jonin are the elite of the elite, the best shinobi and kunoichi our village has to offer, and losing even one is a significant blow to the village's overall strength. Yet the Daimyo has 12 of them guarding the royal palace at all times.

Another concession is that Konoha ninjas are never allowed to take missions that pit them against the nobility of the Land of Fire—unless they have express permission from the royal family.

"Lady Kimiko wishes to personally thank you and invites you to ride back to Konoha with her in the carriage," Guy told me.

"Oh… I'd be glad to accept, but I still have my own mission to complete," I said. "I still have to make my way to Chubi Village."

"Erm... Kasumi, don't take this the wrong way, but I'd recommend you reconsider," Suki said, eyeing me up and down. "Your armor is covered in bandit blood. You'll end up scarring that poor little girl for life if you show up like that."

"Dammit..." I sighed, realizing she was right. "Does that mean I've failed my second C-Rank mission?" this was supposed to be the “easy” mission that was “impossible to fail” as well…

Guy shook his head. "Worry not, young Kasumi. I’ll personally explain the situation to the mission office when we return. I’m sure the village will find someone else to complete your C-Rank. Instead, I'll have your name listed as having participated in this emergency B-Rank mission—"

"B-Rank!?" I interrupted, incredulous. "I thought bandit extermination was C-Rank at best?"

"It was," Suki chimed in, "until they decided to attack a member of the nobility. That automatically turned this into a B-Rank rescue mission."

With that explained, we decided to move on. While we were talking, Lee had been busy moving bodies off the dirt road so the carriage could continue towards Konoha. Lady Kimiko invited me to sit inside her carriage with her. I could definitely see why the Daimyo would want her as one of his concubines. Lady Kimiko was a rare beauty. With her pitch-black eyes and hair, she looked almost like a living doll. She didn’t seem to mind that I was covered in blood. Though not a warrior herself, she mentioned that she had been raised in a noble samurai family. She had grown up seeing more than her fair share of blood and injuries from soldiers returning from battle.

"Thank you so much for jumping in and saving me, Lady Hayabusa! My bodyguard Samurai wouldn’t have been able to hold out long enough if you hadn’t distracted the bandits." she said gratefully once the carriage started rolling.

"You're welcome, and you can just call me Kasumi. I don't think I'm much of a lady," I replied with a small laugh, gesturing to the bloodstains on my armor.

She shook her head and smiled. "Not true. As the princess of the Hayabusa ninja clan, you are considered a lady in the eyes of the Capital."

I waited a moment for her to say “just kidding” but she never did. She was completely serious.

"...Wait, really? Ryu never mentioned anything like that to me," I said. Now that I thought about it, he never mentioned much about our family at all. All I knew was that we were the last of our clan and our parents had allegedly died in the third ninja war. I didn’t even know their names yet or how they actually died.

She seemed shocked by my admission. "How can that be!? Your clan is the oldest living ninja clan in the Land of Fire! Your ancestors can be traced back even farther than the Senju and Uchiha clans! The Hayabusa Ninjas were said to be legendary heroes! Even before the Sage of the Six Paths gifted Chakra upon our world, your clan stood proud and protected humanity from the monsters that sought to destroy us!" she said enthusiastically before a small blush spread across her cheeks. "Forgive me for my outburst. History is a small passion of mine and your clan is just so fascinating!"

I smiled at her. In the video games, the Hayabusa Ninja clan had protected the world from the shadows for thousands of years. It seemed we were a bit more open in this world. I’d need to ask Ryu if we have a library when I get back home.

"I'd love to hear more about my clan if you have the time. But if you don't mind me asking first, why are you personally coming to Konoha? And was there a reason those bandits specifically targeted you?" I asked her.

"I'm afraid the reason I'm traveling to Konoha is rather personal, and I'd prefer not to say. As for the bandits, I have some idea of where they might have come from. I'm fairly certain they are refugees from the Land of Water," she explained. She then elaborated further. The Land of Water was in the midst of a brutal civil war. The Water Daimyo and his entire family had been wiped out, leading to a fierce power struggle. The country was being torn apart by ninjas and samurais indiscriminately fighting each other. Refugees were fleeing by the hundreds of thousands into neighboring nations. Unfortunately, the vast majority of these refugees were young men, and none of the neighboring countries could afford to support such an influx.

In their desperation, many of these refugees had turned to banditry. Bandit extermination missions were going to be in high demand for years to come.

"Do you think those bandits were after you specifically, or did they just attack your carriage because it looked expensive?" I asked Lady Kimiko.

"I'd like to say it was a coincidence that the bandits stumbled upon my carriage, but I have my suspicions," Lady Kimiko said. "I spoke to Jonin Might Guy earlier about them. His team was given outdated information on the bandits' location. Considering how close we are to Konoha, I find that suspicious," she pointed out.

She was right, something was very suspicious. "It’s also strange that the Dirt Highway was lacking its usual patrols today. I didn’t see a single other shinobi or kunoichi on my way to Chubi Village," I pointed out. The Dirt Highway was supposed to be regularly patrolled since it was so crucial for supplies and trade, and yet there wasn’t a single one besides myself. Whoever is in charge of organizing those patrols either screwed up royally, or this had all been intentional.

I smelled the beginnings of a conspiracy!

"The Dirt Highway...?" Lady Kimiko giggled at me.

I blushed. "...That’s just what I’ve been calling the main road in my head since it doesn't have an official name."

"Most people just call it the Fire Road, but I like your name better. Maybe I should ask my husband to rename it when I return to the capital?" she suggested playfully.

Being the little shit that I am, I told her she definitely should do that! We spent the next couple of hours pleasantly chatting in her carriage until we arrived back at the village, where we finally parted ways.

I roof-hopped from the village gates with Guy’s team back to the mission office. The same sleepy Nara from this morning was sitting behind the desk. She wasn’t sleepy for long, her eyes widened in shock when she saw me walk in next to Guy’s team.

Papers went flying as she slammed her hands on the desk, looking at me in disbelief. "What the hell, kid!? I gave you the easiest assignment possible! Why are you covered in dried blood!?"

"Stuff happened..."

Her eyes widened in horror. "You didn’t accidentally kill the little girl, did you?"

"WHAT!? NO! Why would you even think that? That’s horrible!" I exclaimed, shocked that her mind would immediately jump to such a conclusion.

Suki laughed. "Members of the Nara clan are always overthinking things, Kasumi."

"Ahem, I’ll explain everything." With Guy’s help, I was able to recount everything that had happened. Thankfully, I didn’t end up with another failed C-Rank mission on my record.

In fact, the woman gave me an impressed look when I told her I had taken out around eight bandits on my own. I left the office a while later with a cut of the B-Rank mission pay we had all been rewarded. I couldn’t wait to get home and brag to Ryu... and then take a long shower to wash off all the blood.

I really hoped that part wasn’t going to become a regular thing...