Wandering Souls
Rio Sneaks through the smoke, crawling on her belly and taking deep, controlled breaths. She wasn't stupid: this whole thing was a trap she thought she could outwit.
She was gravely wrong: She knew she was meeting with a clone, but they had mechanical fire rigged somewhere in the castle to light the whole thing up. At least 5 squads of mercenaries of every stripe: shinobi, samurai, or titleless killers looking for a payday that was no doubt large enough to build a castle twice the size as the one that they destroyed. Her techniques failed under fire because eventually, she would run out of breathable air.
Even the dirty option of sneaking out through the sewage drain was already gone, the whole waterway's waste was alight.
Rio crawls into a stone storehouse and breathes what she can. She's on borrowed time and she's about of it as she feels ready to try and just surrender. She had priceless secrets buried all over and a few getting out would be fine if it meant a chance at escape. The scream of someone being decapitated is enough to snap her out of the delusion: the people after her were not going to leave without her head.
Then she saw her best chance at a continued life: a humble, dirty shovel, left in the corner of the storehouse. She could dig a hole for herself and hope everyone hunting for her killed each other or thinned the herd enough that she could escape when the flame died down.
It was desperate, risky, and entirely unbefitting of her position.
So it goes without saying she does it without a second thought.
Mitsu made a habit of waking up early, his first order of business was to bandage his feet for the coming journey by foot. If he could respect anything about Konoki-Sensei, it was how frugal and modest she was. He was surprised to see her up already, throwing her bag over her shoulder and engaging in some meditation. The biting cold seemed to bother neither of them, as their dying campfire served to warm their bones to sleep the last night.
The woman sits, taking deep breaths in a cross-legged position with periodic breaths. It wasn't a Chakra breathing exercise, it wasn't at the right for the task. All she was doing was centering her mind, in her words, the only weapon that truly mattered. Mitsu copies her pose and breathing rate. His sight was already limited, but his breathing needed to match her.
He takes the time to reflect on his purpose of traveling with the enigmatic, humble spy shinobi.
It wasn't her combat techniques, he could kill her if he wanted to. A small part of his being told him to punt the weakling, but he shakes the thought out of his head.
It wasn't her mastery of complex jutsu: Her Chakra was less of a lake than it was a puddle and her techniques mostly consisted of ways to confound the opponent and slink away.
He could think of two reasons why his sect would have set him up to be her student: Either for information, or her soul.
He feels the wind change, and looks up to see Rio standing over him: "Hey kid, gonna get pneumonia sittin' there for too long" she says, offering him a boost.
"I would be fine, I assure you"
"Much as I'd like to sit around Shimogakure, I have good info that there's a Chunin exam happenin', I can get us a spot by talking to an old buddy here"
"So that was the surprise you were talking about" Mitsu says as he slings his scant belongings onto his back.
" 'Course, we need 2 more of you lil' guys"
"Given your reputation-"
"Got none"
Mitsu cocks his head: "....My elders said you are one of the greatest spies of the whole Ninja World"
"They overblew it then, what kinda of spy has a recognizable name?"
Mitsu sighs: "So... why do you think you'll be able to find students when you've left your deeds in the shadows?"
Rio shrugs her shoulders: "Just a feelin'"
The two walk forward through the snowy woods, conserving their energy.
Choko Yumiya sits and watches the new arrivals from afar: It's pretty clear they're not looking to rob anyone unless the lady had some crazy jutsu tucked in her sleeve. Not like she was equipped to deal with something like that, Genin that she was.
She'd been a Genin for ages and failed right about when she started to get closer to Chunin.
Her sensei didn't want a crybaby who was too weak to take a punch, and her lack of any other redeeming aspects in their eyes meant she was summarily booted and sent back to re-learn everything until something clicked or she quit.
Quitting sounded like a good prospect at this point, it'd save the scraps of dignity she had left.
She hopped tree branches back to report on new arrivals, leaping over the walls of the village in a practiced motion. She could see the two new arrivals going to her family's ancestral home. She would have known if they were expecting guests, but... hopefully, her mother and the staff could just handle it.
Not like anyone would even want to see the biggest joke of the village...
Rio and Mitsu travel to a tall mansion house, through the snow-covered but well-trodden streets of the snow village. Rio turns to her student as they approach, handing him a sack of coins.
"Just need to visit an old friend, get yourself somethin' warm to eat, and find a nice inn for us tonight will ya?" she asks the boy with a cheery smile.
"With all due respect, Sensei... I want to sit in on this one"
"And hear two old ladies gab at each other?"
"If that's all you're doing, why do always send me on some chore when you meet an 'old friend'? "
Rio sighs, putting her hands on her hips: "Well, if someone can be well-behaved for a long, boring talk about junk that happened a long time ago, then I guess you can come in with me"
Mitsu inspects her stance, detecting the distinct sense of sarcasm in her tone.
The two knock on the door and are let in by a wiry, thin servant girl. Rio slips her shoes off as the lady of the house sits in the tea room. She's older looking, with greying black hair and a wrinkled face which makes her blue eyes seem smaller than they are. She wears a white and cyan robe and nurses a cup of warm tea in her hand.
She looks up and reaches for her glasses, seeming surprised.
"Miss Konoki, I wasn't aware you were out of retirement, or even still alive!" she says excitedly.
Rio laughs as she sits, the woman pouring her a cup of tea and offering one to Mitsu: "Can't keep an old bitch down for too long before she goes looking for somethin' to do"
"Always saw you more as a cat, honestly. Sneaky, quick, hard to read, but affectionate despite it all. Did you ever get married to that dashing Samurai who thought you were one of my ladies in waiting?" the old lady says with a giggle
"Nah, he deserved someone with less wanderlust. Seemed like a homebody, you know?"
The older lady nods sagely: "True, but that does beg the question as to who the boy sitting by you is"
"Nana-chan, meet Mitsu!" Rio says as the two give gestures of greeting. Mitsu is a bit stiff, trying to avoid his sect's greeting since it was meant to be secret to some level.
The older-looking lady looks the boy over, noting his odd garments: "Is he a student of yours? I wasn't aware Village of Grass took you off the black list"
"Nah, not officially: That's why we kinda needed your help Nana-chan"
"...You die for 30 years and ask me a favor"
"Get me into chunin exams as a teacher, tell them whatever they need to hear Nana"
"And your other two genin?"
"It's an in-progress search"
Nana stares at Rio with narrowed eyes, like her mood has been soured. She stares into the woman's bright eyes: "What were my words in my darkest hour?"
Rio clears her throat: " 'One truly dies when they leave no trace of themselves to be found' "
Nana takes a deep breath: "So you're not a clever intruder, I..."
"It's good to know it is you, Ri-chan, even after all these years. I didn't believe you were dead but other villages still kept their bounties on you. Guess they have more money than sense to keep paying for fake heads. Nana says, fully relaxing.
Mitsu looks toward the unassuming spy as she shrugs: "It's my talent, I leave a strong impression everywhere"
Both of the ladies laugh: "I can get you into the exams, just be sure to have 3 genin that can claim the title"
"And Mitsu-san? Good luck: The winds of change favor the free ships, over the ones chained to the fleet"
The boy nods stoically, looking at his teacher jabber on with her friend. The question rang in his mind: how does a wanted woman die for 30 years and still walk without dark jutsu?
Choko arrives home late after staying in the woods to hunt. It was the one thing she was good at, and even if she brought home nothing it helped center her mind to something less miserable. She sees her mom, reminiscing over a plain book. Her hawk eyes pick out that photos are hidden in small pockets between the pages. Her mother, Nanami, notices her presence and folds the book back into her sleeve.
"Choko, your late... again"
"...Sorry" she says with a palpable edge as servants ready a bath.
A picture falls out of her sleeve: of her mother in her younger days with a free-spirited woman with long black hair. she leans over to pick it up.
The woman had the look of the sort of wanderer: patched clothes, wild and dirty hair, and simple features. She was far from the nobles who usually sucked up to her mother.
Nanami looks at her daughter with a mischievous expression: "Would you be interested in another shot at Chunin?"
Choko looks away standoffishly: "So I can be laughed out group again? No thank you, mother"
"Does the name Rio Konoki mean anything to you, Choko?"
Choko racks her brain: remembering an old family story: "It's the wanderer who saved our records from getting destroyed, Some clever wandering sage type who did it all for free after the Azuchi's tried to erase us from history"
"But that's practically ancient history, mother, hasn't it been like 40 years?"
"It has: I happened to see Miss Konoki today"
"Look, someone like that is looking for somebody with more talent, or better potential Mother"
Nanami places her tea down forcefully: "You never learn to walk without falling, Choko. Take your chances while you have them, life is quite capricious"
"And bring more shame to myself? To you? To the whole clan?" Choko says coldly
"Shame is something you worry about when you're my age and you forget your glasses up a flight of stairs every morning. Live in the moment, not your idea of the future"
Choko narrows her eyes and unstrings her bow: "Go take your platitudes and riddles to the servants: or dad's grave" the girl says to her mother like an arrow to the eye as she walks up the stairs to sulk in the bath.
Mitsu sits on a futon across from Rio as she lays her backpack down as her pillow in the small room they rented. She usually just slept in her clothes and changed in the morning if she had time.
Mitsu attempts to understand the nature of the chakra pond in front of him as he lashes himself, hoping the pain lets him see the hidden depths. All his senses tell him is that there is indeed almost nothing of power besides a dry hole, wide as a hair. It leads endlessly down into choking darkness, almost bottomless.
He's snapped awake by Rio staring right at him, her hair down and her robes loosened. Her black hair shines against the moonlight and the silver snow. She looked 30 years old, at most, and wasn't using any jutsu to disguise herself. Was her friend simply exaggerating? Or was there more to her?
"You can ask if you want, but the answers might not be enough if you think I'm a sage or something"
"... You're not?"
RIo shakes her head: "Just a spy who played the game well. Not everything has to be solved with battle or assassination"
"...Lost friends who thought the opposite of me. Elder's said I was the one who'd be hanging by the guts but they've served me well" she says in a more somber tone, trying to shake it off.
"Then... 30 years..."
"Got out of the business, gotta make room for other people at the table at some point after all," she says with a smirk.
She lays out her blanket and looks toward her student: "If you learn anything from me, at least remember that bringing death just brings more death, till you are the one getting chewed up"
"And once you're on the path of the killer, you don't get to leave without a sacrifice"
Mitsu nods, noting Rio's stoicism. She always tried to be expressive, usually cheerful or relaxed. She betrays nothing in this moment. He feels blood ooze from his back, washing the dead skin away. It was a feeling of bliss.
It was early in the morning when Mitsu awoke, Rio packing her things and leaving a generous tip for the innkeeper. His bones felt cold and his feet hardened for another day of walking. It felt good to be reminded of those sensations.
As they leave the village, she reaches into her bag and takes out a Snow Village headband: "Wear it during the exams if ya want, we're with them in name thanks to Nana"
"...I see, but is this not... fraudulent?"
"We're just bein' sponsored. It's a nice show of our appreciation at least if you get far. Looks good to the other villages when they look bigger"
Mitsu slips it into his bag. He would need to repent for this specifically. Perhaps a dip in an ice lake...
"Where are the exams we are attending?" Mitsu asks
"Konoha, the village of fire"
Mitsu nods as she explains what she knows of the tests they do: A written test, a survival test, and then a tournament should things not thin out. She seems to bore herself talking about the dry details.
"...Just study up on the road, Nana lent me some books for it and we've got a pretty long road ahead"
As the two walk in quiet, the sun peaking through the leafless trees and their shoes crunching the snow on the path underfoot a figure leaps down from a tree. She's clad in furs with her armor and tailored garment bearing the Yumiya insignia. Her hair is white, loosely tied in a high ponytail. She goes into a full Dogeza in front of the pair:
"Miss Konoki: I beg of you to hear my request" she says, crying a bit.
"Go ahead!" Rio says casually, leaning down to be closer to the girl's prostrating bow.
"Please, allow me to be your student!" Choko says, her eyes still to the ground
Rio smiles and pats her shoulder: "...Knew I'd find some genin. Choko Yumiya, right? You can stop bowin': my answers yes"
"R-Really?!"
"Yeah! I owe your mom a big one and if you could face yourself to put your face in the snow then I'd say you're more than worth my time"
Mitsu looks at the hunter girl with reservation, but it was his sensei's choice. They needed the people after all. As long as his purification and mortification rituals remained unchanged, then he can manage through most earthly events.
The three moved on foot: The spy, the hunter, and the priest in alignment despite their limited experience with each other.
The spy made herself an enigma, but one that did not harm. Like a puzzle asking you to take your time to solve it.
The Hunter recovered her other face: the cold and efficient sharpshooter.
The Priest sized up the hunter as she tucked her mask of tears away. His mind moved while his mouth remained still in its workings.