Chapter 23
He might not know him, but Yahiko knew of him. Sakumo Hatake, the White Fang, one of the legendary shinobi, not only in Konoha but in the whole world. And that just made it even more disappointing to discover he was an idiot.
At first, Yahiko thought that Sakumo was pretending to be guarded against them, as he was acting way too obviously. But it seemed he was way more honest with his expressions than he thought he was, as he just didn't seem to notice it himself.
"Damn, he is heavy," Yahiko commented as he dragged the White Fang through the town.
Well, Konan went ahead to find an inn, and Nagato was looking for a doctor to buy medicine. Since they had none themselves, as food poisoning wasn't something they had ever prepared for.
After all, their stomachs could handle most things, as they were used to eating anything they had, even if it was already a bit spoiled. And Yahiko knew how to cook the food so it wouldn't be wrong with it.
A regular antidote wouldn't work either, and Yahiko didn't want to test its effectiveness when they didn't know how bad it was for Sakumo. And there, Yahiko thought that Sakumo could handle it since he ordered it so confidently.
Yahiko even warned him, but he dismissed his words so easily, as he knew better. But the moment Sakumo went to the toilet and didn't return for half an hour, Yahiko realized that this man was nothing but an idiot.
At least his metabolism seemed to work quite fast, or maybe the sashimi was so bad he got food poisoning just that much faster than regular people. He was now completely out cold. It was so bad that if Yahiko didn't know better, he might suspect that the food was truly poisoned or that Sakumo was allergic to it.
"Ugh."
Sakumo groaned as Yahiko continued to drag the man through the empty streets, as it had gotten pretty dark, and it started to snow quite heavily. At least no misunderstandings would happen without people around them noticing anything, but it sure didn't make the job any easier.
Following the paper butterfly, Yahiko finally reached the inn that Konan had found. When he entered, people gave him a couple of good glances. At least they didn't think anything bad since Yahiko was still a child in their eyes.
But it sure was awkward to say the least. With Konan's help, and he needed her help since their room was on the third floor and Sakumo's clothes were now wet from the snow, making him even heavier, they finally reached their room.
It was a cozy place, with a separate bath and all, and three beds. Quickly putting Sakumo on one of the beds closest to the toilet, Yahiko went to find a bucket. He didn't want vomit anywhere near him. He already expected not to be able to sleep tonight, as someone had to keep checking on Sakumo.
After a while, Nagato came to the room too. He brought out some medicine, and now there was the challenge of how to feed it to Sakumo. Yahiko tried it directly, but even while completely sick and out of his mind, Sakumo had immense strength and absolutely no trust in strangers feeding him anything.
Well, at least Yahiko knew why he was such a great shinobi. Everything that should have gone to his head went to his muscles. Only with Konan's and Nagato's help, by holding him down, was Yahiko finally able to make Sakumo drink the medicine.
"What is he made of?" Nagato asked as he rubbed his arms. "Even with all of my strength put into it, I could barely hold his arm."
"Tell me about it," Konan replied as she looked completely exhausted.
"Well, hopefully it is over," Yahiko said, though he didn't believe his words much.
"Let's set a schedule and watch over him one by one." Before Yahiko could tell them to go to sleep and he would watch over them, Konan intervened.
After this ordeal, Yahiko understood that the only one who could harm and kill Sakumo Hatake was he himself. And it seemed to be quite an easy thing for him to do. And there he thought that Jiraiya was the only weird Konoha shinobi out here.
Yahiko stayed up first as he took the worst part of Sakumo being sick. The White Fang got it bad, sweating buckets, breathing painfully, and couldn't even keep water down. His body system was shutting down and cleaning itself, making it a hard and disgusting job to watch over him.
If only Yahiko weren't just a kid and Sakumo weren't a giant of a man. He didn't sign up for this when he came to this country, nor did he ever think something like this would happen when Sakumo decided to come with them.
At first, Yahiko was happy, as even observing such a shinobi would provide a lot of inspiration for Yahiko, but now he was stuck taking care of him. Well, he could cry and complain about it all night, but it wouldn't help with the sweat pouring from Sakumo and the vomit that was spat out into the bucket next to Sakumo's bed.
Before long, while Yahiko hadn't even realized it was past midnight, Konan woke to replace him and look after Sakumo. Well, it wasn't just for him. Sakumo was concerned about something while traveling with them, so they thought that it was better to be safe and keep watch, just in case something happened.
Though they weren't too worried about it, Yahiko went to rest up. In the end, their goal was to leave this country and go to the Land of Iron. The sooner they left, the sooner all of it would be behind them.
…
It was his first mission outside the Land of Water. Kisame looked at his master, if he could even call him that. From the moment he had graduated from the Academy, he was put under this man and told to learn from him. Yet Kisame wasn't taught anything yet.
He didn't mind it. He just did what he had to do. And Fuguki Suikazan was someone he had to follow no matter what. So, he did. Now, they were on a mission at the edge of the Land of Fire. And their mission was to assassinate Sakumo Hatake.
The same man who was now dragged around by a kid barely older than Kisame. Fuguki watched the same thing as Kisame, but if Kisame could understand how ridiculous this was, since he had heard about the White Fang, he could only imagine what Fuguki was thinking.
"He is alive," Fuguki confirmed that the White Fang was still breathing. "There is no one in the Bingo Book with the characteristics of that kid. An unknown variable has appeared."
Kisame also tried to comprehend the situation, but he drew blank after blank, no matter how much he thought about it. Fuguki was right, an unknown variable had appeared, and that put their mission in a difficult position.
Their target was right here before their eyes, yet they couldn't move. That kid, who took down the White Fang, was dangerous, so they had no choice but to observe the situation first. But time wasn't on their side either.
Kisame wasn't privy to how they received information about the White Fang and where and when he was going to be, but he knew that their coming to the Land of Fire wouldn't be kept secret for much longer either. Before any reinforcements came, they needed to succeed in their mission.
"We wait until midnight," Fuguki said. "For now, go and observe the surroundings."
It was only the two of them. Fuguki seemed confident in being able to kill the White Fang, so Kisame didn't say anything. Like an obedient soldier, he did as he was asked to do. That was all he knew, and that was all he did.
Though he wasn't that confident in Fuguki's skills. Kisame knew that, as one of the Seven Swordsmen, Fuguki was a powerful shinobi, but he heard rumors about the White Fang. And that's also why he was quite shocked to see such a man being dragged around by a kid not much older than him.
The town went to sleep early as it got completely dark with thick clouds covering the sky and snow falling heavily. It piled up quite a bit in a short time, and it didn't seem like it would stop any time soon.
The roads were empty. The surrounding area outside the town was quiet. Still, that didn't mean much. They were still in a foreign and hostile country. Kisame was concerned about reinforcements that could come at any time.
"All is good." After a few hours of detailed observation, Kisame reported back to Fuguki.
"Three kids," Fuguki did his research, too. "It doesn't seem like there is anyone else with them. And they force-fed something to the White Fang. I don't like it. They don't even wear any headbands. I can't tell what village they are from."
Fed him something? That meant they weren't after the White Fang's life. They would probably torture him to extract some kind of information. That didn't bode well for them, as they still didn't know in what condition the White Fang was, nor the strength of these kids.
But a mission was a mission. From the very start, the chance of failure was high. They knew it. The village knew it. That meant they didn't expect anything from it, but a chance must be taken, no matter what.
It was about midnight as they continued to observe the situation. Two of the kids went to sleep, but one stayed up. Alert. They were expecting reinforcements from Konoha. White Fang was still out cold, in an unknown condition.
Still, from what he could see, Kisame wasn't very confident that the White Fang would survive the night. He was pale and blue, and even from a distance, Kisame could hear the hacking noises coming from him. What did those kids do to him?
"There is no point in watching anymore," Fuguki said after a while. "Whatever their plan is, it has no relevance to us. We will move in and kill the White Fang while he is defenseless, and be done with it."
There was nothing Kisame could say about it. A plan was a plan, no matter what his thoughts were. Even if there were plenty of concerns to worry about, Fuguki was right; there was no point in worrying about any of it anymore, and they had to act.
When the time came for one of the kids to be replaced by a girl to watch over them, Fuguki decided to move. They walked through the front door to the inn, since there were barely any people awake at this time to stop them.
Fuguki used some kind of jutsu to spread vapors into the air, putting everyone into an even deeper state of sleep as they walked upstairs to the room they knew Sakumo stayed in. Kisame covered his nose so he wouldn't breathe in the stuff.
He could tell how effective it was. Some of the people in this inn wouldn't ever wake up after breathing this stuff in. But it wasn't any of their concern. After tonight, they would be forced to retreat home either way.
"What is this?" Kisame caught a butterfly made of paper flying around in the second-floor hall and crushed it.
"Fool," Fuguki sighed as he saw what Kisame did.
"Oh."
Kisame realized his mistake and followed Fuguki as he now hurried over to the room. There was no way back now; Kisame had just given them away. So, they had to do this as fast as possible before those kids prepared for them.
…
Yahiko was about to fall asleep, as he was quite tired from the things that happened on his first day in the Land of Fire, but then he noticed Konan looking out through the window. And he could tell she was fascinated by the falling snow. She looked quite cute with her sparkling eyes watching the snow.
It was a reminder that she was just a girl. And there he was, dragging her around through countries and dangers that their travels posed to them, like it was nothing. He knew she was strong and was getting ever stronger with each day. But it didn't stop him from worrying.
Was he strong enough to protect her? Even though she could take care of herself, there were plenty of people in this world who were cruel and stronger than her, who wouldn't hesitate to kill her. It made him worried.
And then there was the idea that he might have to kill someone to protect her and Nagato. Would he be able to do so? Just the idea of killing someone made him sick, and the reality was far harsher than anything he could imagine.
After experiencing death himself, it was the last thing he wished on anyone else. But was he noble for thinking that way, or just an idiot? A naïve fool who thought that no one deserved to be killed.
There was just a lot on his mind. And he didn't know what to do with these thoughts. It wasn't something he wanted to have on his mind, but it wasn't something he could ignore either. The last thing he wished was for Konan and Nagato to suffer because of his ideals. But throwing them away also seemed impossible.
"Yahiko, Nagato!" Konan yelled out in a whisper, waking up Nagato.
Her alert expression made Yahiko jump off the bed. Konan stared at the doors, preparing herself as Nagato quickly got to his feet too. Without any words, Yahiko nudged his head toward Konan and then toward Sakumo, instructing her to protect him no matter what.
Yahiko had only time to signal Nagato what to do before the doors to their room crashed in. There was no polite greeting or anything. A huge man, with a huge sword, rushed in; behind him followed a boy, also armed.
"Now!"
But they didn't catch them by surprise. Nagato put his hands on the floor, making it cave in, and letting Konan and Sakumo with the whole bed to fall before the floor was sealed up once again. Now, they didn't need to worry about Sakumo too much as they faced two unknown shinobi.
A.N. As always, thanks for reading and supporting me, so I can continue writing without any concerns, and if you want more, up to seven more chapters, you can support me on pa treon. com \ ironwolf852.