Chapter 34.1- Gamer of the Desert

RANDOM JOUNIN OF SUNAGAKURE

Jinpa and I raced through the trees as we did our best to escape with our quarry. The monster, ever since it became Kazekage, was extremely useful. Somehow, it had known ahead of time that the forests of Konoha were going to basically become free land during the Chunin exams and had authorised the lot of us to hunt to our heart's content within the Land of Fire. And it was right. No ANBU to be watchful about, and very little in terms of border patrol. It was like strolling into land marshalled by one of the minor villages, and not one of the Great Five. We’d made good use of the opportunity along with at least half a dozen other two man Jounin teams.

All the missions that we’d normally have been forced to turn down because of Konoha’s strict rules about operating in their territory suddenly became possible again. Not just missions though as we’d quickly found out. Bounties. Konoha was very strict about bounty hunting within their territory. By that, I mean it was a hard ‘no’ on every request. When Jinpa and I first received the information that our target was within the Land of Fire, we’d given up and hung our heads as we abandoned weeks of work to find another quarry. But then, we’d been called into the Monster parading as a Kage’s office and told that we could do as we wished as long as it all happened within a certain time frame.

Jinpa had been wary. Not me, though. I distrusted the monster, true. Everyone with a lick of common sense did. But I also knew one thing. The creature had the success of Suna as one of its priorities for the time being. All the policies, taking Suna from the edge of poverty to something resembling affluence within a year was nothing short of miraculous. Its hold on the Daimyo and its innovative policies meant we were all making boatloads more money than we used to.

Bounty hunting had turned Jinpa and I from Jounin struggling to make ends meet to the richest people from our families in nothing but a few months. Jinpa had even saved up enough to propose to Jinpei. Wouldn’t that be a sight to see? The spoilsport getting married. I couldn’t wait. This last mission probably meant he had enough money to buy one of those fancy diamond rings they started selling in the capital. I could just imagine the look on my sister’s face when she saw the thing.

Jinpa’s gasp drew me out of my thoughts and I turned to him, only for him to begin furiously signing at me in the Suna basic. Fuck. A pursuer. Someone with a ton of chakra from the looks of things. Jinpa was never one to exaggerate needlessly so when he advised me to pick up the pace, I did just that. We ran like our lives depended on it. Jinpa was right not to trust the monster. I’d gambled that it wanted our success, but now it was clear that it just lured us into Konoha to sick one of those tree hugging monsters on us.

Running at full speed, jumping from tree to tree, I was barely able to find the spare second to check Jinpa’s expression, but when I did it was like a lead weight had dropped into my stomach. Dread. Pure unadulterated dread.

“We’ve got this” I whispered at him to reassure him. “So what if we can’t run. We’ll just kill the treehugging bastard and go back and do the same to that monster of a Kage that put us in this mess in the first place” I said with confidence I didn’t really feel as I came to a sudden stop on the next tree branch and turned around to face whoever was chasing us.

“Oh is that so?” I heard the voice come from above me and I was barely able to throw myself backwards quickly enough to avoid the black blur to shot through the space I once occupied and tore through the thick branch I’d occupied before landing on the floor.

I got my first look at our assailant and cursed. Red clouds on a black cloak, black hair, and pupilless eyes framing a face half covered by a black mask. S-Rank number 12 in Suna’s bingo book, Kakuzu of Takigakure, the immortal bounty hunter.

“You two worms seem to have something of mine. Hand it over and your deaths will be quick.” He said, staring me right in the eyes like he knew I was the one carrying the scroll.

A/N; Have to head to class now, but this bug just hit me and I had to write the scene before it slipped.