Chapter 4.1- Gamer of The Desert

You have gained one level in meditation

The system flashed at me as I leaned out of the lotus position before standing up and beginning to stretch. We’d been on the road for six days now, and this was one of easily a hundred such stops we’d made in that period. For some reason, Lord Chigiri was intent on stopping the procession at every minor opportunity, to either have lunch, laze about or even just enjoy the night breeze. Travelling in the desert was inconvenient, and the noble didn’t seem to realise that the longer he made us spend here, the longer he’d be spending in the desert that he seemed to loathe with all his being. The entire thing was just a mess, and taught me that bodyguard missions had to be the absolute worst. And the worst part was that since we were supposed to be protecting a client, I couldn’t even train to my heart’s content. That didn’t stop me from practicing taijutsu with my clone or even meditation, but anything too flashy or likely to exhaust me had been banned by the bastard.

Even in this, he was determined to make my life here. I’d understand the rules if he put them in place when we got to Kawa no kuni, or even Hi no kuni, but this was still Kaze no kuni. We were still in friendly territory, and he seemed to be keen on making me waste the opportunity.

“My young Genin friend” Lord Chigiri called from his carriage as he was being bustled in. “Would you care for a game of Shogi?” I just nodded at him, making my way into the carriage to join him. Fucking Baki. Fucking Kazekage.

“Do not get it twisted, our missions here are different. I am to safeguard this carriage, a mission you are thoroughly unsuited for. You, however, will be entertaining Lord Chigiri. He has a known preference for humans your age. Maybe he’ll even mistake you for one“ The Bastard sneered down at me. If I werea cild, I might have even missed the subtext of what he was saying.

He was sending me to a known fucking pedophile??? “Is this a honeypot mission?” I asked, trepidation building in my body. I wasn’t yet ready to abandon Suna’s protection.

“Do not be stupid. Of course it isn’t. Any such advantages are to be subtly discouraged. All you need to do is make sure he enjoys himself on the journey and is more likely to seek Suna’s services in future.”

That was a load off my back, but I still couldn’t claim complete comfort with this idea. It was almost like Suna just had to find me the mission most likely to turn me into nuke-nin. While I had no love for the shinobi village, I also wasn’t quite ready to strike out on my own. Akatsuki and all the other deadly fuckers out there would be gunning for me the moment word got out. I couldn’t see Danzo of all people allowing a jinchuriki remain rogue without going after them, I also doubted Pain would hesitate to take me out even if he wasn’t yet ready to go after the others.

Since that day, of course, I’d been doing my best to advance in my skills so when the day eventually came, I’d be ready to leave. I needed to become an S-rank in the next five years. It was just what needed to happen. Because Suna was a fucking stupid village. They managed to engineer the assassination of one of their own strongest shinobi. They had a history of making bad decisions, and I would never allow myself become one of those.