Genin Years (III) [Chapter 32]

~~Timeskip~~ (5 days later)

The days passed away in the blink of an eye, and after five more days, we were finally ready to leave the godforsaken temple for greener pastures. Both Yoruichi and I were sufficiently healed even though she was still having some trouble with her shoulder, but with given time even that wasn’t going to be an issue.

I have to admit, Chakra was nothing but miraculous… I would have been dead if not for Chakra and even if I had lived, I would have been in a coma for at least a month thanks to the beatdown I received…

“Are you sure your plan is going to work?” I asked for the untold time.

Yoruichi simply rolled her eyes. “You are worrying for nothing, Raijin. Let me take care of it” Yoruichi answered with a huff.

“Well, we are fucked nine ways from Sunday if we get caught. We would be sent to the TI department for interrogation and I don’t think we are going to have a good time after that” I reminded her for the untold time, making Yoruichi sigh in exasperation.

“Stop! Just stop!” Yoruichi exclaimed while glaring at me and I decided to keep my mouth shut. “I will take full responsibility if the plan goes sideways” Yoruichi declared, not for the first time, and I simply decided to drop the matter for the time being.

“Fine! Fine!” I raised my hands in the air as surrender. I didn’t want to argue any more and now that we were finally leaving this goddamned temple, I wanted to think about better things. After dismantling the traps, we finally walked out of the temple, but instead of returning to the town, we decided to go around the town.

We wanted to avoid Yugakure patrols as we were not supposed to stay this long in the Land of Hot Water… We wanted to enjoy the hot springs for at least a day, but we were not that lucky…

We managed to avoid all Yugakure patrols as we made our way out of the Land of Hot Water and after we were finally out, we decided to head toward the Land of Iron to collect the bounty of the Jonin who had attacked us inside the temple. The man was a Jonin from Yugakure, but he was forcefully retired by the higher-ups because he was a complete nutter.

He was wanted in three great Villages and some minor villages. He was wanted by Kiri, Konoha, and Iwa, dead or alive for ritualistic killing and massacres… The bounty on him was simply mouth-watering. After reading the Bingo book, I finally realized how lucky we were since he wanted to capture us, not kill us.

It took us two days to reach the Land of Iron since we were taking it slow as Yoruichi and I were still not in our top forms. “The two of you wait here, I am going to collect the bounty” Yoruichi said as she entered the public toilet. Even though we were not bounty hunters, it did not mean that we could not collect bounties from the Bingo book.

“She went inside a men’s toilet” Namaikina blurted out with an incredulous look on her face while pointing at the rundown building.

“I know. I saw it too, but I think the bounty office is somewhere inside there” I answered while waving my hands dismissively. I think Kakazu and Hidan also went to the toilets to collect their bounties, or maybe that particular part was Fanon? I simply shook my head and decided to wait for Yoruichi to return.

After nearly 5 minutes she finally returned, looking really pleased with herself… “Guys, let’s go” Yoruichi said and once again, we hit the road on the way back to Kumo…

<Line Break>

By the time we arrived at Kumo, both Yoruichi and I were in our top forms. “Chunin Yoruichi, what happened during the mission?” The Jonin sitting behind the desk asked in a no-nonsense tone.

After entering the village, we beelined toward the Mission Hall as we wanted to get over the mess before calling it a day. We were directed toward one of the head honchos of the Mission Hall as soon as Yoruichi delivered the damaged scroll. The man didn’t even bother to introduce himself, so I didn’t know who he was, but from his aura alone, I was certain that he was a Jonin.

The man was clearly trying to look and act intimidating, and I would have found him intimidating if I never met the Jonin in Yugakure. This man had nothing on him… That Jonin was a scary fucker and I wasn’t ashamed to admit that. “We were attacked by a retired Jonin during the mission and I was unable to protect the scroll” Yoruichi answered with a straight face.

We had already decided not to say anything about the cult… “He wanted to capture us alive for whatever reason and that is the only reason we are still breathing. Here is the receipt of his bounty” Yoruichi said as she pulled out a piece of paper from one of her pouches and handed it over to the man.

The man inspected the paper and frowned… “Alright. While Team Eta failed the mission, Team Eta is not going to be penalized” The man declared with a huff before returning the bounty receipt to Yoruichi. “Now, leave” The man snapped and we didn’t need to be told twice. We didn’t celebrate after leaving the Mission Hall, we simply decided to return to our apartments.

Yes, we might have won the day, but we didn’t want to fuck over ourselves by saying the wrong thing at the wrong place at the wrong time. We failed the mission, so we needed to act like that… There was a good chance that the man had ordered someone to follow us around, just in case.

“Yoruichi, I want to become stronger. I was completely useless in the mission” I said while clutching my hand with a determined look on my face.

“Me too. I also want to become stronger” Namaikina also declared, following my lead. Yoruichi stared at us for a few moments before nodding her head.

“Alright! Let’s become stronger together!” Yoruichi said while staring at us intently, only to receive determined nods from us…