Chapter 33: The Enemy Ninja
To be honest, the two ambushing ninja were incredibly weak. Orochimaru had subdued them with a single move.
"Ah! Brother Tenchi! He's dead!" Jiraiya yelled in a panic, his face pale as he looked at Orochimaru and Tsunade.
*WHAM!* "Idiot! Look closer! What 'dead'?" Tsunade punched Jiraiya in the head, exasperated.
"Eh? Why did it turn into a log?" Jiraiya rubbed his sore head and stared at the spot where Tenchi had fallen. There was no body, just a log with two shuriken stuck in it.
"Idiot. Don't you even know the Substitution Jutsu?" Orochimaru said, his voice dripping with contempt.
*Clap. Clap. Clap.*
Tenchi walked out from the trees at the side, applauding slowly.
"Very good. Excellent work, Orochimaru, Tsunade. You both performed well. You will become excellent ninja one day."
"As for you, Jiraiya," Tenchi continued, "if you can overcome your hesitation in a real crisis, you too have the potential to be great."
"Not bad, not bad!" Tōka said, visibly excited. "I didn't expect you to be so strong, capturing two ninja at once! Well, except for that one boy." He pointed at Jiraiya.
Hearing the client look down on him, and feeling the stares from his teammates, Jiraiya felt utterly miserable. *'Why was I the only one who froze up?'*
"Dammit! Next time, I'll be the one to attack first!" Jiraiya yelled, punching a nearby tree in frustration, his knuckles splitting and bleeding.
"Idiot, it's not about attacking first," Tsunade scolded. "Brother Tenchi warned us just now. Orochimaru and I both understood. You were the only one who kept acting like a fool."
"What...?" Jiraiya thought back. Tenchi *had* said something strange. He just hadn't picked up on the hint.
"Wait a moment," Orochimaru interjected, his brow furrowed in thought. "Brother Tenchi, ninja aren't supposed to appear on a C-rank mission." He was right. Enemy ninja typically raised a mission's rank to B or higher. Tsunade nodded in agreement.
"Don't worry about that just yet," Tenchi said. "I'm giving you a task. You three need to deal with these two captured ninja. Tōka and I are going to have a little chat to understand the situation. You catch up when you're done." After giving the order, he grabbed Tōka and led him further into the woods.
"Deal with them? You mean... kill them?" The three genin looked at each other, hesitating. Even Orochimaru was uncertain.
***
On the other side, Tenchi looked at Tōka with a calm smile. "Alright. Explain. What's really going on?"
"What are you talking about? I don't know," Tōka played dumb.
"If you keep this up," Tenchi said, his expression turning serious, "I will cancel this mission immediately and return to Konoha. The appearance of enemy ninja makes this no longer a C-rank. Are you sure you still want to pretend?"
"This... this... Alright, I'll explain." Tōka hesitated, then finally gave in.
"In the Land of Rice, we have samurai and a famous weapons forge. The weapons we make are sold to ninja villages. We lived well. But two years ago, a powerful ninja came."
"He not only took over our forge, but he also recruited a gang of rogue ninja. They forced us to work for them. Our country's samurai couldn't defeat them. We finally decided we couldn't take it anymore and decided to fight back, but we were too weak."
"After a discussion, we pooled all our money to hire ninja to help us. But the ninja who took over our forge found out about our plan. They started chasing me all the way here. They stopped once I got close to Konoha."
"When I got to Konoha with the money, I realized the amount we collected was only enough for a C-rank mission. I had no choice. I used all the money to post a C-rank mission, hoping I could at least get back to the Land of Rice safely and find another way to raise more funds."
"Please... I'm begging you. Please help our country." Having said this, Tōka fell to his knees before Tenchi.
"Get up. A man shouldn't kneel so easily," Tenchi said, pulling him to his feet. "I don't have a problem with it myself. But I need to ask my team. If they agree, we'll continue. If they don't, there's nothing I can do. I can't gamble with their lives." While Tenchi personally wanted to see the mission through, he respected his team's right to choose.
"Thank you! Thank you! I thank you on behalf of all the people of the Land of Rice!" Tōka bowed repeatedly, overjoyed. He was sure that if the Jōnin captain agreed, his subordinates would fall in line.
***
As they finished talking, Jiraiya, Tsunade, and Orochimaru caught up to them. They looked pale and disgusted as they walked.
"God... How can you be so calm, Brother Tenchi?" Tsunade asked, fighting back another wave of nausea.
"I got the full story. Are you three alright?"
"Don't worry about me! A little thing like that is nothing!" Jiraiya declared, puffing out his chest, trying to look brave.
"Yeah... We can handle it," Orochimaru said, though his face was still a sickly shade of green.
"Really? That blood, the way it kept flowing... and the look in that ninja's eyes before the end... You're all perfectly fine?" Tenchi said, deliberately describing the scene.
As expected, the moment he mentioned it, all three of them remembered the gruesome details. They ran to the side of the path and vomited again.
Watching them, Tenchi felt a strange sense of irony. *'Who would have thought that Orochimaru, who gets sick from killing one man now, would one day become a demonic scientist who performs human experiments without blinking?'*
"Ugh... Brother Tenchi, you're the worst," Jiraiya said, wiping his mouth.
"I'm just helping you get it all out. Once you vomit everything up now, you'll be fine next time."
Hearing this, all three of them gave him a look that said, *'Yeah, right. We believe you, you jerk. You're totally messing with us.'*
"Let's get down to business," Tenchi said, his tone turning serious. He explained Tōka's entire situation to them.
"So, that's the truth. We might be facing a Jōnin and a group of other ninja. The mission level is now A-rank. It's your decision whether we continue or not. I won't force you."
"This... this is..." The three genin looked at each other, seeing the doubt and fear in each other's eyes.
"Brother Tenchi," Orochimaru asked carefully, "what do you think we should do?" He wanted to gauge Tenchi's opinion.
"Personally, I hope you choose to continue," Tenchi replied. "But it's perfectly fine to give up. After all, it's okay to be a coward once or twice." He looked at Orochimaru with a teasing smile.
"I'm not a coward! I'll continue the mission!" Jiraiya yelled, rising to the bait immediately upon hearing the word "coward."
*'This idiot falls for it every time,'* Tsunade and Orochimaru thought in unison.
"Captain Tenchi," Orochimaru stated firmly, "this mission is now beyond our capabilities. The enemy is too strong. We should abandon it."
"Yes, Brother Tenchi. There's no need for us to be reckless," Tsunade added, trying to persuade him.
"You... you..." Jiraiya looked at his two teammates, utterly betrayed. How could they just give up?