WAB: Chapter 8

It took half a day of searching gullies and ravines before we found the first signs of habitation by the Crimson Flake Bandits. It wasn't much, a broken arrow half-hidden by dirt in the ravine. It was something, though, and a thing I could use to help instill a bit of tradecraft into the kids. After all, if the arrowhead was worn, pitted, rusted, or what have you, it could have just been left here from some battle years back. However, not only was the steel of the arrowhead pristine, but the wooden shaft still had lacquer on it, and the fletching was still intact and not ragged. This arrow had been left here no more than a day or so ago, judging by the signs. I walked the kids through that conclusion and then asked them where they thought we should look next.

"Find a cave." Offered Akirao.

"Oh yeah? How do you figure?" Questioned Kanchi.

"Well, it stands to reason that a camp would need space, doesn't it?" Queried Akirao.

"I guess, but in that case, we could just as easily look on the flatter ground of the scrublands instead of in the ravines." Pointed out Miho.

"I don't think so." Refuted Akirao.

"And why not?" Asked Miho.

"Yeah, I dunno. I'm kinda with the Golden Boy on this one for once." Shrugged Kanchi.

"Glad I have your vote of confidence." Deaspanned Akirao.

"Why, though?" Questioned Miho.

"Think about it. When have things ever been that simple for us?" Queried Kanchi.

"Not a bad thought, but I'd caution against following it too often. It can cause you to catastrophize if you go too far down that rabbit hole. That in turn will needlessly complicate simple operations." I warned.

"So we're going to look for a cave?" Asked Akirao.

"We are. Arrowhead formation, let's see if we can't find their hiding place." I ordered.

With that, the squad arranged itself in a rough V-shape, like an arrowhead pointing forward, with Kanchi at the tip of the arrow, so to speak. The benefits of this formation were that they not only allowed the commander, in this case, myself, to easily and clearly issue orders, but also provided both good situational awareness and tremendous forward firepower. All of those things would be needed as we attempted to pin down the Bandit camp. The situational awareness came in handy when, upon finding a semi-hidden cave in the side of a box canyon, Miho stopped Kanchi from moving through a tripwire strung across the cave entrance, though she practically had to latch both hands onto his shoulders and haul him bodily back away from the thin line of ninja wire. Predictably, Kanchi wasn't pleased about this, though, and made his displeasure known verbally.

"Oi, what the Hell was that for?" Questioned Kanchi.

"You almost walked through a tripwire!" Hissed Miho, pointing to the strand of ninja wire.

"Oh." Muttered Kanchi.

"Yeah, oh. These sorts of traps tend to be used by Bandits and the like, since they don't have the Chakra for seals. Didn't you pay attention in class? Or did you sleep through that one?" Queried Akirao.

"Enough. Now isn't the time for this." I spoke up.

"Right. I suppose it's a good thing I attended those trapping classes back when we were picking extracurriculars. I should be able to disarm this without setting off any alarms." Sighed Miho.

"Do it. The Boys will keep watch." I commanded.

"And just what will you be doing in the meantime?" Asked Akirao.

"Supervising." I smirked.

"Tch. Figures, lazy-ass Senpai." Grumbled Kanchi.

They got to work, though, and within a few minutes, Miho had the tripwire cut in such a way that the trap not only didn't go off, but had effectively been reset behind us as we entered, just in case the Crimson Flake Bandits had a returning patrol or something that might hit us in the rear as we attacked down the tunnels. I didn't realize it earlier, but Miho had a knack for traps, and it might not be a bad idea to start introducing her to Fuuinjutsu in order to further that knack. Kanchi and Akirao were clearly going to be Frontline fighters, but having someone who could get tricky in combat situations with traps and seals would help broaden the Team's Capabilities considerably. I'd recommend that approach to Asuma-sensei when we got back to Konoha and he retook command of the Team.

Regardless, we managed to push on, and, after another two traps, which Miho managed to similarly disarm, we found ourselves in a gallery looking down on a large cavern filled with military-style tents set up in ordered rows. Bandits in various bits and pieces of armor, with varying weapons, from swords to tetsubo, to yari spears and bows, milled about the camp, taking on various tasks. It was a lot more ordered than you might expect from such a bandit encampment. I frowned at that before immediately grabbing the kids and pulling them into an alcove as I heard the prompting of booted feet coming up the tunnel. I flattened us against the wall, making a shushing noise to avoid any potential protests just in the nick of time.

A small patrol of Bandits came prompting up the tunnel in piecemeal armor, with varying looted weaponry. There were four of them, and as the team stilled, I made a trio of hand signs as the Bandits passed us. The standard Konoha hand signs were fairly easy to pick up, and thankfully, it seemed every single member of the still somewhat fractious Team knew the Standard Konoha Hand Sign Command for 'ambush that patrol' because as soon as the quartet of Bandits had their backs turned to us, the Kids sprang into action. Miho pulled a pair of shuriken from out of her holster and quickly used the Ni Kamasori Nage no Jutsu (Two Razor Throwing Technique) to accurately put both shuriken into the back of the two furthest out Bandits' necks, severing their spines even as Akirao slit the throat of the Closest Bandit with his blade and Kanchi latched onto the last Bandit with the Nenchaku-Ken (Sticky Fist) and pummeled him into oblivion with knee strikes.

The entire skirmish lasted a few mere moments, but it also spoke of some troubling things. As we dragged the bodies into the crevice-like alcove that we'd hidden in previously, I couldn't help but think about those troubling aspects. Bandit Groups didn't act like this. Not usually, anyway. Most were amateurs who were desperate enough to turn to a life of crime but not good enough or smart enough to join a Yakuza Syndicate. The ones that acted like this, setting up organized camps, fortifying them with traps, and running regular patrols, tended to be broken units from some Daimyo's Army that had lost a battle somewhere and turned to banditry as a last resort. However, in that case, they wouldn't have had such piecemeal equipment. Something wasn't adding up, and in my experience, that meant things were going to go sideways at some point.

However, we still had a mission to complete, and I had to make sure it was completed successfully if I wanted to get my Nature Transformation Exercises. There wasn't any other choice. Besides, if things went wrong and there was some big-shot Ronin or Missing-Nin in charge down there, I could always step in while the kiddies handled the normal bandit grunts. That was basically what I was here for, after all. With that, I decided that overwhelming firepower was the way to go. While we couldn't use too many explosive tags for fear of bringing the cavern roof down on us, a half dozen going off shouldn't be that big of a problem. I began to dole them out to the kids, instructing them to aim for the biggest groups of Bandits in the camp down there.

"What will you do while we're doing that?" Questioned Kanchi.

"What will I do? You ever see Raiton: Jibashi (Lightning Release: Electromagnetic Murder) in action?" I queried.

"Not a bad thought. A wide-area jutsu to catch stragglers." Mused Akirao.

"But not a Katon (Fire Release) Jutsu?" Asked Miho.

"Fire burns up oxygen. Underground like this, you don't want that to be a concern." I refuted.

"Seems about right." Shrugged Akirao.

"Annoying, though." Griped Kanchi.

"You think everything is annoying." Pointed out Miho.

"All right, wrap it up, kids. It's showtime. Fire on my mark, and if you see a Missing-Nin, leave them to me. Senpai will handle it. You just focus on bandits." I ordered.

I got three nods back, and we moved to the edge of the gallery, looking down on the camp. I raised my hand in a wordless signal, allowing the kids to pick their targets, before dropping it. Almost immediately, Kunai with handles wrapped with explosive tags began to fly. Six in rapid succession, targeted at six different concentrations of Bandits. Around the central square, the Armory tent, the mess tent, the kitchen tent, near the rear of the camp, where a group was training, and the command tent. As explosions blossomed across half the camp, I went through the hand seals for the Raiton: Hibachi, a large arc of electric power surging from my hands to fry a number of panicking Bandits. In the opening salvo alone, we must have slain at least fifty bandits. Unfortunately, the winning streak wasn't going to last.

No sooner had our alpha strike concluded than the temperature dropped substantially, frost forming on the cavern walls and helping to douse fires in the camp. As that happened, a twenty-something Woman in an ice-blue Jonin Lamellar Vest with brown hair and a scowl on her face strode out of a nearby tent. I recognized her instantly, Tsurara Kaede, the Ice Queen of Shimo. She was a former Shimogakure Jonin, a member of Shimo's Tsurara Clan, who had turned Missing-Nin after Shimo and its alliance partners had refrained from attacking Konoha in the aftermath of the Konoha Crush. Her Bingo Book Bounty was listed at twenty million Ryo for a reason. That reason was her facility with the Kekkei Genkai of the Tsurara Clan, the Ondo Sōsa no Jutsu (Temperature Manipulation Technique). Supposedly, she could use it offensively and defensively in multiple ways.

Either way, she was definitely not someone the Kids were going to be able to handle. It was time for me to intervene. Engaging the Kōton: Kōtetsu no Tai (Steel Release: Body of Steel), Gogyo-Ken (Five Element Fist), and the Oni no Karada no Jutsu (Ogre Body Technique), I balked out, skin hardening and wreathed in flames. Then, with one past look back at the Kids, who were already moving to attack struggling Bandits, giving Tsurara Kaede a wide berth, I bombed toward the former Ice Queen of Shimo just as she ran through a series of hand seals for the Suiton: Suiryūdan no Jutsu (Water Release: Water Dragon Technique), aiming at Kanchi, who was the first of the Kids to land. With a roar and a flame-wreathed punch, my triply-enhanced body smashed into the roaring maw of the Water Dragon as it coalesced, scattering it into so many droplets.

"Tch. Konoha Scum always flock together. I dunno why I'm even surprised at this point." Scowled Tsurara Kaede.

"I am Akimichi Choji. I will be your opponent." I intoned.

"Oh yeah? I've heard of you. There's a nice fat bounty on your head." Remarked Tsurara Kaede.

"I could say the same about you. Tsurara Kaede, the Ice Queen of Shimo." I returned.

"Feh, Shimo was weak. We should have attacked you years ago, when you were weak. We would've wiped Konoha off the face of the Earth. Instead, Shimo listened to that meathead, A, when he counseled caution. At least now I'll be able to make up for that mistake a little by claiming your head and those of the kiddies over there." Scoffed Tsurara Kaede.

"Talk is cheap, Kaede." I retorted.

"I guess I'll have to act, then." Sneered Tsurara Kaede.

Then, with a shouted battle cry, the fight between myself and Tsurara Kaede began in earnest. One thing was for sure, I reflected as I engaged with the Shimo Missing-Nin. I was definitely earning my Nature Transformation Exercises.

Then we clashed, my triply enhanced punch smashing into a pillar of rock that Tsurara Kaede put up with Doton: Doroku Gaeshi (Earth Release: Earth Shore Return), and I had no more time for idle thoughts. . .

XXXX

AN: All right, so here's the next Chapter. In the grand tradition of First C-Rank Missions in Naruto, it's turned into a cluster fuck where a Jonin Missing-Nin showed up unexpectedly that Choji, as Team Asuma's Substitute Sensei, has to deal with. Fortunately for him, this level of mission being cleared with a still somewhat dysfunctional Genin Squad is definitely going to Earn Choji his Nature Transformation Exercises, at least if everyone makes it through in one piece, anyway. Plus, the bounty claimed on Tsurara Kaede won't hurt at all either, in terms of Ryo and Reputation.

At any rate, the next chapter will involve the actual battle with Tsurara Kaede while the Kids try to put down any surviving Bandits. I'll also have a few images out before then as well.

Stay tuned. . .