Chapter Text
Shisui spies the town first with his keen eyes as the sky grows lighter with sunrise. The first sign Sora sees of it, however, are a scattering of trees clumped together almost in a line. There are a few more trees further out as well, but it’s the most trees they’ve seen in one place since entering the desert. The height of said trees, however, only emphasises how far they are from Hi no Kuni.
The buildings are what really catch Sora by surprise, though they shouldn’t. They’re made of a reddish stone, unfamiliar to their eye. They’ve not been this far into Kaze no Kuni, (not in this life, at least), and it feels strange to see red instead of the familiar white, green, or brown. The buildings, too, look awkward. Short and squat. They fit in with the surrounding desert dunes, clearly belonging to the shifting sand.
“You have an entry plan?” Sora asks as they bunk down in the shadows of a dune located away from the town.
Shisui glances sideways at them, before waving a hand. “What are your ideas?” he asks, including Izumo and Kotetsu in the question. “Might be useful to have some different options.”
“Can we do what we did entering Kaze no Kuni?” Izumo asks. His eyebrows furrow together when everyone looks at him. “We’re too young to be entering by ourselves as ourselves, but entering with others will remove the disbelief, and make it seem normal for us to be underfoot and running around.”
“That relies on a group entering though,” Sora points out. “And for them to be turning a blind eye to us being amongst their belongings. The town isn’t that small, but it’s not that big either.”
Kotetsu hums, face hidden from sight as he runs his fingers through his hair in an attempt to remove some of the sand from it. “We could henge ourselves up in age a little to change things up. Categorise ourselves as people willing to stay for the night somewhere out of the desert.”
“But it would mark as obvious causes of any action taken before we disappear, or raise suspicion if something happens and we’re still there,” Izumo says.
“Sora, you got anything?”
It’s Shisui who asks and Sora swallows the mouthful of water they’d been swishing around in their mouth before answering. “We want to avoid detection and attention overall,” they say, “but we want to try and gather intel as well. We might have some guards, but it’s unlikely they’ll be ninjas which gives us a massive advantage. I’d suggest we use a henge and layer over it with a genjutsu to sneak in and listen around. See if we can pick up any information or rumours. A building that’s protected is likely to be somewhat obvious in a town like this, right?”
“You’re right,” Shisui agrees. “And while this is only a C-rank, it’s worth remembering that our client is a noble after an item they know is stolen. We had a mission completed prior to get the intel we’re using for this mission. It’s possible that others could be after the heirloom.”
Izumo is the one who puts the pieces together. “You think that there might be some Suna-nin hired for this as well?”
Shisui inclines his head, wordless.
Pressing their lips together, Sora considers the possibility. Arguably, Konoha and Sunagakure have a treaty that mark them as allies, but that doesn’t mean much out in the field when a mission puts them at odds. As far as Sora knows, these days it’s less common to share the same objective as another ninja village—because no one wants another war. Sora’s not sure how true that theory is, or whether it’s just no one speaks about facing enemy ninjas on their missions.
“What’s the plan then?” they ask, turning their attention back to the matter at hand. If Shisui is aware of the issue, he’s likely tried to figure out a way around it.
Shisui frowns unhappily. “We need to get intel and remain under the radar. I’m thinking two of us infil around the hottest part of the day, claiming we’re just waiting for the heat to fade, before heading on out.”
“Could work,” Izumo says. “But that’s dangerous splitting the squad. We’re technically in enemy territory.”
“Best way to get intel though,” Sora replies. “Best chance we have of getting in and out without anyone really noticing. And the town’s small but being located near a water source, they’re probably used to people coming and going.”
There’s a hum from Shisui before he says, “We’ll do a watch rotation for a brief rest, and then Sora and I will infil and obtain intel. Izumo, Kotetsu, you’re both on watch for if we need aid. We’ll send up a flare if it becomes necessary.”
It’s the best plan they have, though that doesn’t make Sora happy. Splitting the team feels dangerous and, if anything happens, Sora and Shisui will be too far away to be of any help—and vice versa. There’s nothing that can be done about that, however, except to make sure everyone has flares should they need them.
The next challenge, then, will be trying to blend in without relying on a genjutsu or a henge alone.
“You be the adult, I be the kid?” Sora asks Shisui.
Shisui hums. “Probably for the best,” he agrees. “You’ll blend in a little bit better than I would.”
“Speaking of, how’s that sunburn treating you?” Kotetsu says from where he’s laying out his sleeping mat. He laughs when Shisui scowls at him and Sora turns away as they hide a grin of their own.
While they’ve managed to keep out of the worst of the sun in their travels, it’s clear that Shisui’s pale skin has taken a beating. Redness can be seen where his clothes don’t quite cover his skin, though he’s managed to deal far better with the heat than Izumo has. Izumo, in comparison, has quietly complained viciously about the heat whenever they’ve stopped for more than a minute.
Sora can’t blame him really. The days are far too hot and then the nights quickly change to the opposite, and it leaves them struggling to figure out what clothes are best to wear.
At the very least, infil means they can change out of their current clothes. They’ve got a better idea of what is common around here, and it’s certainly not their Konoha-affiliated clothing. The blues and greens of Konoha stand out amongst the desert sands of Kaze no Kuni. In comparison, the civilians here tend to wear lighter coloured clothes with head scarves. Of course, with chakra, Sora can blend in fine, but part of infil is trying to avoid notice and it’s best to use as minimal chakra as they can get away with.
Which, since they’re going to sneak in again later, means appearing as differently to their usual appearance as they can.
“Kotetsu, can I borrow one of your shirts?”
Kotetsu blinks, wide-eyed at Sora’s question. “I- What?”
Sora rolls their eyes as they pull off their own top, shaking it out to try and remove some of the sand from it. “You’re taller than me by a fair bit,” they say, “so I should be able to use your top as a dress. If you’ve got a long-sleeved one, that would be ideal.” It probably won’t quite be the loose fit that Sora’s seen in Kaze no Kuni so far, but it’ll be good enough.
“Right, yeah. That makes sense. Of course. What else was I thinking?” Kotetsu mumbles as he digs through his pack to pull out a clean shirt.
It is long-sleeved, and Sora tugs it on. It is, unfortunately, the navy colour of most Konoha uniforms but lacks any affiliating symbols, which makes it good enough. It hangs just past Sora’s knees, which means that it’s likely somewhat big on Kotetsu as well. Thankfully, that suits Sora’s wishes perfectly and they then braid the white wraps that usually use to secure the bottom of their pants. The braided wraps then form a belt that turn the shirt into something that looks, more or less, like a dress.
Sora can’t do anything about their hair, short as it is, but their shirt can be turned into a head scarf that hopefully will let them blend in with the other civilians. They don’t quite style it like that just yet, however. There’ll do one watch rotation before they need to enter Idomura, and while civilians would likely wear the same clothes for the night, the headscarf likely isn’t needed.
“Who’s got first watch?” Sora asks, frowning down at their shoes. The ninja sandals, unfortunately, will just have to be hidden with a genjutsu. Their hitai-ate gets folded and carefully placed into their pack. Their weapons pouch, on the other hand, is shifted to their upper thigh, where it can be hidden by the oversized top. Just in case, Sora also hides a handful of weapons in their new clothes. Senbon are easy to slip into hems, but anything bigger has to remain in their weapons pouch. They do, however, tangle some ninja wire and coil it around their wrist like a strange bracelet. Hopefully, it’ll go unnoticed by the majority of people.
“Ano… I can do it,” Izumo says. “I had first watch last night and so got the most uninterrupted sleep.”
“Thanks,” Shisui says. “Wake us in ninety and we’ll head out. Anyone have any concerns to raise or anything they want to mention?”
No one speaks up and Sora rolls their shoulders. Soon, they’ll be heading into Idomura and ideally gaining intel to complete the mission. With any luck, by dawn tomorrow, they will be on their way back to Konoha.
First, though, they rest.
Shisui, henged as an adult near two decades older than he actually is, leads the way into Idomura. Sora, posing as his daughter, follows on his heels, head on a swivel as they look around like an actual civvie child might.
They’re stopped pretty quickly by an older woman. “You lot stickin’ around or leaving come noon?” she asks, peering down at Sora.
Sora shuffles their feet and hunches their shoulders, looking up at her through their eyelashes. The woman doesn’t look particularly special. She’s old enough to have wrinkles and sun spots, though the sun has likely made that worse. Her eyes are a dark brown and her hair has grey threaded through it. She holds a wicker basket against her hip and hardly seems to notice the weight.
They press their shoulder against Shisui’s leg, one hand grabbing fabric and twisting. In doing so, they can tap out a short message to Shisui. It’s more than likely Shisui has already recognised the woman as someone well-respected in the village, but it’s useful to corroborate the intel anyway.
“Leaving when the worst of the heat’s dissipated some,” Shisui says, placing a hand on Sora’s head. They can feel the weight through the headscarf. “I’d like to keep this little one out of it where I can.”
Sora notes the way Shisui’s fingers tap a pattern against their headscarf.
Message received.
The woman nods, before gesturing with one hand. “Head that way. There’s enough space under the trees near the oasis for travellers to rest.” She squints. “If you want food, Ami usually comes around and offers for trade or coin.”
Shisui inclines his head. “Thank you. We’ll keep that in mind.”
They head in the direction that the woman had gestured, casually chatting about inane topics that Sora only keeps half a mind on. The village around them looks exactly like what they had expected based off prior intel and their observations from afar.
What is now clear, however, is that not all the buildings are the same. While they all appear to be constructed of the same materials for the most part, some are slightly bigger or with what looks to be a second floor. They even pass one house still being built on their way, a thatch roof currently offering some shade and one wall missing. None of the builds, however, show signs of being the one they’re after.
The only positive is that they haven’t spotted anything that might indicate other ninjas involved. It looks like they’re the only ones in the field—for now, at least.
The oasis, once they reach it, sits on the edge of the village and doesn’t look like much. Sora isn’t sure what they had been expecting, but the visage is rather underwhelming. It’s just a lake of water that is—Sora will admit—rather clear with rocky banks and scattered patches of grasses growing around it. The trees are edged around the oasis and offer some shade at their base, though they’re a great deal smaller than those found in Hi no Kuni.
However, there are some kids splashing around in the shallows, and not looking like they’re doing any work. Sora doesn’t pull a face, though they certainly long too. Instead, they reach up to tug at the hem of Shisui’s shirt.
“Can I go?” they ask, pointing at the group of kids.
A smile tugs at Shisui’s face and, though it’s not his actual face, Sora has no doubt that the shinobi is laughing at them. “Go and enjoy yourself,” he says. “I’ll be around here, okay?”
Sora bobs their head in acknowledgement and trots off towards the other kids. Shisui will try to do some intel gathering on his own, speaking to the other adults around and making general conversation. In the meantime, Sora will see if the kids know anything useful.
Although Sora is very aware they’re not cut out for spy work, it’s not particularly difficult to join the kids. They wade into the water, thankful for the chill of it compared to the hot temperature of the day. They stay in the shallows, making sure not to go past knee-height, lest someone notices their dress clinging to their weapons pouch.
The kids don’t mind that Sora doesn’t go deeper, though there is some taunting at the fact they refuse to get their dress wet. It’s not a bad taunting, just kids being kids, but it makes Sora grit their teeth nonetheless.
“Do you all live in the village?” Sora asks, when they’re all tired and have decided to sprawl out on the edge of the oasis, feet resting in the cool water.
The oldest of the lot, a boy by the name of Kazuya, shakes his head. “Ema’s part of the merchant group passing through,” he says, pointing at the younger girl, who waves her hand in response. “They have really good snacks, but my kaa-san loves their scarves. Shirō lives here, though his family works with the herds so they move around a lot! Itsuki and Eiji were both born here though. Eiji lives in the house across from me!”
Sora hums in acknowledgement. “It’s really cool you guys get to play together,” they say, making sure to keep their voice somewhat higher than it might normally be. “Is there anywhere else fun to play around here?”
The kids exchange a glance. Ema shifts a little before responding. “There are the carts…? You can play some games around them, but you get in trouble if you’re caught.”
“Do you have super awesome stuff hidden there?” Sora says, straightening. They lean towards Ema. “Like treasure? That’s really cool!”
Ema shakes her head. “We don’t have anything super ex-pen-sive,” she says, sounding out the last word.
“Oh,” Sora says, slumping. “I thought you might have something super awesome… I heard that nobles in the capital get their goods from merchants with super awesome stuff! I thought you might maybe have something…”
Kazuya pulls a face. “Bah! What do you want with the nobles? We have cool stuff here! Don’t we, Eiji, Itsuki?”
The two younger boys exchange a look, but it’s Shirō who speaks up. “I thought we weren’t meant to talk about that…”
“You guys have a secret?” Sora says, tilting their head. “Oh, I guess that means I can’t know it… That’s okay, I guess. I mean, I’m only here for a few hours so it’s not like anyone would know about it. But you gotta do what the adults say, I get it.”
By now, Sora has a rough idea of the personalities of the kids they’ve been playing with and, unsurprisingly, Kazuya immediately turns to face them. “I do what I want!” he boasts, as he’s boasted multiple times to Sora today already. “Adults don’t got anything on me! You wanna know the secret?”
Sora nods eagerly, leaning forward. “Please!”
Kazuya looks around, and encourages everyone to lean forward towards him. It’s all very serious and Sora can’t believe they’re doing this.
“You can’t tell anyone this,” Kazuya whispers, “because I’m not meant to know but I saw what was going on! Three nights ago, some mercenaries arrived and dropped off an item in the empty house across from Hitomi-oba-san.” To Sora specifically, he adds, “It’s the bigger house near the entrance.”
Sora whistles. “That’s so cool! I can’t believe you know that.” They offer a smile to Kazuya. “I think you’re super awesome.”
Kazuya puffs up at the praise. “Course I am!” he chirps. Before he can say anything more, however, someone shouts his name and he scowls. Sora turns to look behind them, and spies an adult that has Kazuya’s nose. “I gotta go,” he says. “Bye!”
With that, he gets up and runs off. Sora blinks at his back, before glancing at the others, but none of them seem surprised by this behaviour.
Slowly, Sora gets to their feet. “I should go back,” they say. “Thanks for playing!”
The others wave goodbye to them and Sora heads back towards where Shisui is sitting in the shade of a tree, his eyes half-closed. He opens his eyes fully when they get close. “Did you have a good time?” he asks, a smile stretching his lips.
Sora nods cheerfully. “I did! The kids are really nice an’ they know cool things!” They pout. “I got my dress a little wet—but it dried!”
“That it did,” Shisui says. “I’m glad you had fun. But we need to rest a little before we keep travelling, okay? It’s nap time.”
Sora goes to speak, and then fakes a yawn to interrupt their words. “Okay,” they say. “I’m pretty sleepy. You’ll wake me up later?”
Shisui nods. “Of course.” He shifts, pulling out his pack and laying it down beside him. “Here, you can use this as a pillow.”
“Thanks,” Sora says, partially slurring the word together as they sit down. It doesn’t take long before they’re lying down, using the pack as a pillow, and facing Shisui. They close their eyes, faking sleep, and wait until a hand touches theirs.
Immediately, Sora relays the intel they’d gathered from the kids that was pertinent. They didn’t really get much, but Kazuya had alerted them to a particular building that might be of interest. It’s something they’ll have to pass by on their way out of Idomura, and hopefully it’s the building they need.
Once Sora has finished their brief report, Shisui confirms the intel that he got. It looks like he got a little less about things that are happening in the village, but he did learn that there’s a merchant train meant to come through the next day—complete with a ninja escort, which isn’t super common in these parts.
They spend an hour or so ‘dozing’ beneath the trees in the shade, and then Shisui pretends to wake Sora up. “Five more minutes,” Sora slurs into the pack. “‘M sleepy.”
“C’mon, we need to get going,” Shisui chides. “We’ll be home tonight.”
Sora yawns as they sit up, rubbing at their face. They can feel sand stuck to their bare skin. “I wanna be home. We’ll get there tonight?”
“If we get moving,” Shisui confirms. “Think you can get up?”
Nodding, Sora replies, “I’m big! I can do it!” They get to their feet, somewhat unsteadily, and then brush at their clothing. “We go now?”
Shisui hums and grabs the pack, swinging it onto his back. “Let’s go,” he agrees.
Together, they head out the path they came. This time, Sora pays less attention to the world around them, occasionally rubbing one eye as if sleepy. In doing so, they catch sight of the house Kazuya had mentioned. It is, indeed, one of the bigger buildings near the entrance to the village. It’s only now that they’re paying attention to the building that Sora notices the door seems much sturdier than the others they had seen—and the windows aren’t so wide.
It’s not proof that the building is housing the item they’re after, but it’s certainly a more secure building that the rest of the village.
Shisui and Sora continue idle chatter as they crest up the dune near the village, and the second they’re beginning their descent, Shisui drops the henge. Sora, likewise, breaks the genjutsu they’d placed on themself.
“You play a kid often?” Shisui asks, a wide grin tugging at his lips.
Sora pulls a face in response, letting their grimace show. “I’ll shove your head into the sand,” they warn, but it only makes Shisui laugh.
“You’ll have to catch me first!” he calls, and then begins to slide down the dune with chakra powering him forward.
Without wasting time, Sora leaps after him, chakra coating their feet. Their first stride is slightly too powerful, the sand kicking up around them in a localised sandstorm for a heartbeat, before they modulate their chakra and charge forward.
Of course, there’s no way they’re able to catch Shisui, even when he’s not running at full speed. He’s incredibly fast and, sure, Sora isn’t exactly slow, but they’re definitely not the fastest ninja either.
They reach Kotetsu and Izumo a heartbeat or two after Shisui does and, curled over their knees and panting, they don’t even have the breath to curse their friend.
They can hear Shisui laughing beside them.
(It feels strange. Sora knows they’re on a mission. They know the dangers. They know that nothing is guaranteed. And yet, they somehow feel like they’ve had more fun today than they have on other days back in Konoha. It’s a mission, but it doesn’t feel like other missions Sora has taken. There’s a giddiness to this one. A joy. And it’s all thanks to Shisui.)
“You doing alright there?” Kotetsu asks, voice dry.
Just for that, Sora quickly pulls off the top they’d been wearing and throws it at Kotetsu, who catches it with one hand.
“We got some intel,” Sora says, because evidently Shisui isn’t. “We think we’ve located the house in question.”
At last, Shisui manages to pull himself together after one last cackle, and explains what he managed to find. Sora does the same afterwards.
“Looks like we’ve got our location then,” Izumo says, a thoughtful expression on his face. “Do you have a plan?”
Shisui dips his head in a nod. “We’ll enter a few hours after night fall when the village should be quiet. Our entry point will have to be through the front door, though we’ll need to avoid any signs of our presence. It’s unlikely that there will be enemy ninjas on the premise, but we should be wary regardless. We’ll go together, maintain stealth, and locate the item.”
“Are we expecting the Suna-nin coming with the merchant train to be after the item as well?” Izumo asks. “If so, we should prepare to run into them in advance.”
“I hope we avoid them, but yes, that is something to be mindful of,” Shisui agrees. He frowns, crossing his arms. “If that happens, we want to keep the fight from happening within the village. It’ll give the Suna-nins more space to move, but it might also give us a better chance too.”
Kotetsu hums, tilting his head back, and tapping his fingers against his side. “How likely is it that the Suna-nin will know exactly what they’re looking for?”
Shisui pauses for a moment. “The only intel we have is from the mission completed prior,” he says. “So I doubt Sunagakure would have anything on it. What are you thinking?”
“Well, if they’re going off rumours, is there a chance we can fake a similar item and leave it behind? It might keep them off our trail.”
“And Kotetsu is a fair hand at wood carving,” Izumo says. “Though just a carving might not be enough.”
Sora glances at Shisui. “How likely is it for a genjutsu to be picked up if you craft it with the Sharingan?”
“Huh,” Shisui says. “That’s not a bad idea. Kotetsu, you think you can come up with something?”
“It might take a few hours, but I should be able to do it and get enough rest before tonight if I’m not on watch.”
Shisui nods. “Do it. I’ll craft up a genjutsu that might give us a little bit more time. In the meantime, the rest of us should get some rest. I’ll take second watch. Izumo, did you want first or third?”
“I’ll take third,” Izumo says. “Sora, that work with you?”
Sora dips their head. “That’s fine with me.” They shake out their hands, and glance overhead at the sun. “I can’t wait to be back home—and out of the sun.”
The others laugh, but it’s clear that they all agree with them.
(And, strangely enough, it doesn’t feel wrong to call Konoha home. These days, it might even be true.)