The branches of trees creaked as three shinobis moved across the forest. They were heading East, to the Port village which acts as a pillar for almost all of the land of fire's seafood industry.
"How far is it? We have been running for hours now and I don't see any port village!" Tatsuo wiped the sweat of his forehead. He was running out of breath.
"Hiten, how much distance have we covered? And how long till sunset?" Keiko asked, looking at her watch.
"We have covered about thirty six percent of the distance and if we keep going at this pace till sunset—which is an hour from now, we will cover about forty percent of the distance."
The sharingan allowed him to track distance, time and distance and many other things—making rough calculations easier.
"How do you know that? You aren't even wearing a watch!" Tatsuo stared at Hiten, who rubbed his eyes having used eyedrops.
"The angle the sunlight makes with the trees make it easy to calculate with the time. I can make rough estimate for such things if I try hard enough." Hiten looked back at Tatsuo with his tired eyes.
"Then how do you calculate time at night?" Tatsuo asked.
"With a watch, of course! Hehehehe..."
"Hahahahaha..."
"Enough! Focus on your surroundings and stay alert!" Keiko turned at stared Tatsuo.
"But...it was—" Tatsuo was about to speak but she narrowed her eyes, silencing his attempt to say anything.
Tatsuo noticed Hiten smirk, but then eyes caught on something—just how on-guard Hiten was.
His eyes were sharp, observing the trees and the animals which would randomly pop out. His right hand was resting on the hilt of his tanto and his chakra was constantly in motion, ready to react at any moment.
'Is he testing me...by making me laugh and lose concentration? Since when is he been tes—'
Hiten threw a shuriken without looking, which headed straight for him.
Tatsuo instantly jumped above it, evading it successfully.
"So you ARE paying attention...or maybe not." Hiten looked at Tatsuo.
"What does that mean...Ahh!" A shuriken hit him in back. He turned and saw the shuriken from before was lodged in his chunin vest.
"There's no string on it...how did you make it come back?" He returned the shuriken to Hiten.
"I curved that shit, Uchiha style!" Hiten threw that shuriken again, and ran further and caught it as it curved and came back to him.
"Damn..." Tatsuo couldn't say anything at the moment. If Hiten wanted he could have aimed to cut his neck, killing him, instead of hitting his vest.
"We will use the rest of our daylight to set up a camp, look for a suitable spot, both of you."
---
"So what are we hunting?" Tatsuo asked Hiten, after finding the spot for their camp, the two of them were sent to look for food.
"Hunting? There is more to this than just hunting! We are looking for fruits and wild vegetables." Hiten said, looking around.
"Why? It's easier to find an animal and eat it, right? Keiko said not to take too much time." Tatsuo reasoned.
Hiten sighed, before turning to face him.
"Throw your filthy genin logic into that pile of shit over there!" Hiten Pointed towards an actual pile of shit in the distance.
"What? Why?"
"In genin missions, it's okay to survive off a carnivorous diet because you don't spend much time outside of the civilized world. Chunins and jonins go on missions which last for weeks—or even months. We need a balanced diet or our performance will be compromised."
"Oh...okay then."
"Speaking of a pile of shit...a balanced diet does require protein." Hiten smiled, "I suppose we can have meat as a side dish!"
"Nice! Let's track it!"
"Nuh uh. Watch and learn." Hiten placed his hand on his shoulder, before following the trail, his eyes glowed red.
---
Keiko sat down in her portable chair, taking out a ration bar before munching on it. Her eyes looked at the embers which flew off the flames, and reached out in all direction.
"A fire sword would have been pretty good, we have plenty of professional intructors for it..."
"Keiko, Look! We caught a large deer!" Tatsuo said with excitement.
"You brought a deer for us to eat? Don't you know that they are a sacred symbol for the Nara clan and thus, a protected animal within our country?"
Keiko stood up and walk closer to Tatsuo, making him step back.
"You know about all this, why did you let him go through with this?" Keiko asked Hiten, who was carrying a large bucket filled with things.
Hiten placed the bucket down and raised his hands in mock surrender, "What happens in the forest...stays in the forest."
"EXCUSE ME???" Keiko frowned, his expectation for her team took a nosedive in a matter of minutes.
"Those lazy bums either play shogi all day or procrastinate while looking at clouds," Keiko's forward deepened, making Hiten continue, "Aw, come on! They'll probably forget about this!"
Her voice became deathly calm as she held her head, "You do know that they hire thousands of people each year? I'll probably get suspended for the shit you guys did."
"Such a killjoy..." Hiten muttered, making Tatsuo drop the deer onto the floor.
"Satoru surely has a weird taste in girls." Hiten picked up the bucket filled with fruits and wild vegetables.
"Since, you guys have killed it already...we might as well eat it." She looked away before muttering, "I've never tried deer before..."
Hiten read her lips and rolled his eyes.
"Actually, they surprisingly get together very well! I can almost picture Satoru being torn between wanting to beat us up or creating new recipes for the deer.
"Come on, Help me make the dinner. Hiten bring the bucket, and Tatsuo...pass me the deer." Keiko said with a little smile.
---
"Now that we have prepared the ingredients, we need add firewood and strengthen the flame. The deer meat will require much more heat than this." Keiko said.
Tatsuo spat a fireball into the flames, spreading his chakra into it, before blowing soft winds to stoke it. The flames rose to become double in size, it's heat spreading far enough for Hiten to feel it.
"Good."
Keiko took out a kunai and coated it with chakra, sharpening it, her hand glided through the deer meat like a hot knife through butter.
She cut the pieces perfectly to be cooked, but she weaved handsigns for a water style jutsu.
Water came out a bucket and began covering the meat pieces, washing them and draining anything that didn't belong. Hiten took the pieces and placed them into the fire.
"It's getting boring," Hiten placed a piece of meat into a plate and other fruits and vegetables before handing it to Tatsuo.
"It's important for a team to know each others abilities. One by one, start explaining your abilities." Keiko said, also eager to cure the boredom.
"Rookie first!" Hiten said, placing a plate next to Keiko, who continued to cut pieces.
"Okay...I'm good in taijutsu, wind release and fire style. I prefer Nin-taijutsu as my fighting style." Tatsuo said, stoking the fire again.
"Muscle of the team..." Keiko muttered, before handing off the last piece to Hiten.
"And can help in combination attacks. Wind style is rare afterall." Hiten added, taking the meat pieces.
Keiko bit her lip in frustration but quickly turned away.
"Aside from the sharingan and your shuriken, what are you good at?" Tatsuo asked, taking a huge bite out of the meat.
"I'm good in Fire style, as everyone would expect! I also have Earth style, but I'm not that good with it. I'm decent at sensory jutsu, genjutsu and medical ninjutsu."
"How did you learn all those things? They all go into different directions. Satoru had been training in those things for year to become an all rounder."
Hiten turned on his sharingan, giving Tatsuo a wink.
"What about you, Keiko?" Tatsuo asked, turning away from Hiten.
Keiko stared at the flames as she chewed, as if she didn't hear him.
Tatsuo nudged her lightly with a spoon, jolting her into swallowing everything at once, causing her to cough.
"Yeah? What did you ask me?" Keiko asked in between of a coughing fit.
"What are you good at? Your abilities and stuff...come to think of it...I have never seen you fight except for those light sword spars." Tatsuo spoke.
"I'm very good at kenjutsu and water release." It felt as if someone placed her at knifepoint and made her say it.
"What's wrong? Those are pretty good...are you not happy with it?" Tatsuo asked,
Reading the emotions on people's face had always been his Forte. He has been doing the emotion heavy lifting for Satoru for a while now.
"They don't match, that's it." Keiko placed her plate next to her, "Unlike yours, which matches perfectly..."
Keiko covered her face with her palms, before leaning back into her chair.
"A lot clans have grudges against certain types of fighting styles, like the Hyuga being against conventional elemental jutsus. It could be that—" Hiten told Tatsuo, making Keiko butt in.
"No...that's....okay, that's part of it. Do you know what is the bane of all swords Tatsuo?" She asked.
"Rust?"
"That's the symptom, the disease is...moisture. Water and Metal are never meant to be...but it's not that either." Keiko picked her plate back up, her eyes on her sword.
"...what is it, then?" Tatsuo asked softly.
Keiko unsheathed her sword, the light of the flames reflected off it, giving it a beautiful orange glow.
"It's me. I'm too incompetent to use them together!"
She poured her water bottle on her sword and slashed forward. The water couldn't cling to the blade and splashed forward, like a wet dog shaking itself dry.
"People have called me a genius in both of them, but...never together. Metal and water are simply never meant to be together...for me."
"Can I say something? It might offend you though." Hiten said, making Keiko nod.
"The seven ninja swordsmen of the mist...they aren't geniuses, either. They are drafted randomly and trained to become what they are." Hiten said, before going back to eating.
Keiko clicked her tongue before quickly returning to a stoic face. 'Always ready to give a—'
She quickly shook her head off the thoughts, before replying.
"It's easy to say that working hard enough will solve all your problems, although at a later date or some other bullshit—"
"Keiko, I didn't mean it that way! I'm sor—"
"I get it. You were trying to say that there are people who have been through this, and I'm not alone. Well, the thing is...I have memorized the names of all seven of those swordsmen because everyone keeps saying their name!"
'So it did offend her...' hiten thought, as he went back to eating.
"Guys! I think k we should rest up. Who's volunteering to keep watch?" Tatsuo interrupted.
"Hiten, Tatsuo...go to sleep. I won't be sleeping for a while anyway." Keiko stood and picked up her sword.
"Can I say something before I go?"
"Ugh, what?"
"About the moisture part...I have seen Satoru throw his swords in the washing machine when you aren't at home."
Keiko pursed her lips and stared at him with a deadpan look. But then a chuckle broke through.
"Go to sleep." She said, before walking off.