Chapter 2
Kirari reported at the village gates on the exact time as defined by the mission parameters. When she arrived, their employer, plus Team Kakashi (baring one Hatake Kakashi) were already waiting for the rest of the team to come. She wrinkled her nose as she got close enough to make out distinct scents. The boy pre-teens were fine, but the bridge builder was reeking with leftover alcohol and don't even get her started on the kunoichi. God, the enemy could probably smell the distinct flowery smell and perfume from miles.
No way was this happening under her watch.
"Good morning, I am Senju Kirari, I will be accompanying Team 7 on their mission today." she greeted as she reached them.
"Senju.." the bridge builder whispered as he looked at her, she barely resisted rolling her eyes, she was used to such reactions.
"Hi! I'm Uzumaki Naruto," the blonde boy spoke, pointing a thumb to his chest, "This is Sasuke-teme and that is Sakura-chan!" he added pointing to the remaining shinobi and kunoichi respectively. "Kakashi-sensei will probably arrive in an hour or two though" he shrugged.
The Uchiha was looking away as if not interested in the new addition to the group and Sakura looked as if she wanted to ask her a hundred questions.
"I see. That actually works out well for us. Sakura, you're a civilian born right?" she didn't expect the other girl to bristle in response, Kirari frowned internally, did she say something wrong?
"Yes, but I graduated at the top Kunoichi of the year," her tone was weirdly defensive and Kirari took a moment to realise that the girl must have suffered discrimination from clan children before. Ah, that makes more sense.
"That's great, come with me for a moment, we need to talk," she said awkwardly and lead the younger girl a few meters away from the others.
"I know that these things are not taught at the academy, but there are a few things that every Ninja should know," she began, "First, we use scentless shampoo and soap before missions, I could smell your perfume from half a mile away, that paints a target on your back," the other girl's eyes widened dramatically and Kirari sighed in relief, good, at least she was competent enough to realise. "Secondly, your clothes. They are flimsy and will restrict your movement. You should probably look to change them after this mission. And lastly, your hair, its medium length and you leave it open, it's awfully easy to grab a hold of it and take you hostage, so either tie it up or cut it off," she finished.
"But your hair is longer than mine and it's open!"
"Sweetheart, no one has been able to use my hair against me in a battle ever since I started leaving it free. When you're strong enough, you do whatever you want with it. For now, keep it out of reach,"
"B-but why didn't they teach us this in the academy?! How should I know this?" there was real distress in the girl's voice this time and Kirari gave her a small smile.
"They don't teach you these things as most children are taught all this at home before they enter the academy or become genin. If for some reason, they are not aware of it, they learn this after their first 2-3 out of the village missions, you would have too... eventually," she shrugged, "It's not your fault, I'm simply telling you because I noticed." she rummaged through her sealed supplies and took out a small one-time-use bottle of her bathroom supplies. "Here, your sensei is probably going to be late so you have enough time to go and shower. Don't worry, even if he arrives we'll wait for you," she explained and the girl nodded.
"Thank you, Kirari-sensei!" she flinched at the way of addressing. "Just.. just senpai is okay, Sakura," she pink-haired girl nodded and disappeared.
Huh. She'd like to think she did a pretty good job considering this was the first time she's spoken to a genin kunoichi. Self pat, Kirari.
When the other boys saw her coming back without Sakura, Naruto pointed a finger at her and yelled, "WHERE IS SAKURA-CHAN?!"
"STOP SHOUTING! YOU'RE MAKING MY EARS HURT" she yelled back.
He looked at her for a long moment. "Huh.."
"Anyway, your teammate had some things to do so she's gone back home, she'll be here shortly," she answered.
"Hn, she better not be late," the Uchiha said and Kirari recalled how Shisui used to use 'hn' in almost every sentence, she looked at him for a moment before walking up the gate.
"Stop doing that!" the Uchiha said sharply and she turned to look at him, he had a glint in his eye, the first step towards an anxiety attack. "Doing what?" she asked calmly.
"Looking at me like I'm going to snap and kill all of you, I won't! I'm not him!" he was near hyperventilating now and Kirari leaned in front of him and held a single finger in front of his eyes. "Look at my finger Sasuke, you're in Konohagakure, at the village gates, with your team, departing for a mission, are you with me?" she asked gently and he took a few harsh breaths before calming down. His posture was extremely rigid as he nodded.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to upset you. I just... I knew your brother, you remind me of him,"
"I SAID I"M NOT HIM-"
"Not him, Shisui." she corrected, "Uchiha Shisui, he- he was my best friend," she sighed, once she saw he was calm again she continued, "My parents passed away when I was a child, I saw them die, he used to bring me back to focus when I was having an anxiety attack by making me look at his finger," she kept talking, watching as he boy's shoulders relaxed and his weariness went away.
"I wasn't having an anxiety attack.." he mumbled and Kirari rolled her eyes, "I think you'd be crazy not to get anxiety attacks after what happened Sasuke. I know that I've never approached you before, I'm sorry... I really am, if you ever want to hear about Shisui and mine super cool missions don't hesitate to ask me!" she finished lightly.
"You're not allowed to share mission reports, I know that,"
"Ah Sasuke-chan, you truly wound me, I would never even dream of telling you classified information," she grinned when he rolled his eyes, ruffling his hair briefly. He tried swatting her hand away and she stood up, Naruto seemed really confused about his friend's outburst but remained quiet for once. They spent some time in silence their third teammate joined them once again.
"Sorry guys, I took some time!" Sakura panted as she ran towards them, Kirari looked her over once and nodded, much more acceptable, this way she had better chances of survival in dangerous missions.
"Woah! Sakura-chan, you look really pretty?" Naruto exclaimed when he saw her.
"R-really? Thanks.." the young kunoichi replied hesitantly and her eyes briefly flickered to the Uchiha who didn't seem to give her any attention. She looked a bit disappointed but shook her head and focused on checking her supplies once more.
"Where is your damn sensei?"
"Dunno, he'll probably come in an hour or two, it's normal by this point." Naruto shrugged.
"Well, it shouldn't be. Tazuna-san, wouldn't you prefer starting our journey as quickly as possible so we cover more area before the sunset?" she directed the second part towards the bridge builder who simply nodded and made a 'so-so' gesture with his hand. That was good enough for her.
"Alright, since our allotted time of departure was hours ago and our client insists we leave immediately, we have no choice but to leave your Jonin sensei behind." she said shaking her head solemnly, "Truly sad, but mission comes first."
"Woah, so we're gonna leave without sensei?" Naruto asked, smiling in excitement.
"Yeah."
"But what if he appears once we leave? He'll not know where we are?" Sakura asked, eyes wide with apprehension. Kirari smiled at her, "Sensible question, though you don't need to worry about that, your sensei is Hatake Kakashi, he's one of the best scent trackers of Konoha, I'm sure he'd be able to recognise his student's scents from this distance. As an extra measure, I'm leaving a note with the guards. So nothing to worry about." she answered, taking some paper and ink from one of her sealed scrolls and quickly scribbled, 'The client wanted to leave ASAP. We have left the village at 0800hrs, catch up quickly or stop being late. -Senju Kirari'
"I wish we could do this every mission, he's useless even when he accompanies us anyway," Sasuke grumbled, crossing his hands in front of him.
"YEAH! We have to paint all fences and pluck all leaves and he just reads porn all DAY!" Naruto added enthusiastically.
Kirari did not know what to make of the 'reading porn' part. Really? In front of children.
"Don't ever leave the village borders without permission from concerned authorities and the presence of a team or Jonin, depending on the mission. If you leave without notice, you'll be marked as nuke-nin. That's not a life one would want, honestly." she said, leaving the note with whatever chunin was stationed at the gate with the instructions to give it to the silver-haired Jonin.
"Kirari-senpai?" Sakura asked as they walked down the forests, the woods providing them with natural shelter and protection while Naruto and Tazuna walked in front of their client who was in the middle.
"Hm?" she hummed, looking at the young kunoichi. "You're a Senju, right? Same as Tsunade-sama," she asked, eyes light with curiousness.
"Yes, she's my aunt."
"Wow! I think I want to be a medic like her in the future, are you a medic too?" She asked, her eyes shone so bright Kirari jokingly wondered if it could be classified as a new dojutsu.
"No, I know the basics of medical ninjutsu, but I am a combat-based Jonin. My chakra control isn't as good as hers, not even close actually. Tsunade-obasan has dense chakra due to Uzumaki blood but despite that her control is perfect. The more chakra you have, the harder chakra control is." she explained.
"Oh, I had the highest chakra control scores in the academy, so I think I could do it."
"I bet you could, you should ask your sensei to get some books to start in theoretical knowledge as soon as possible. Learning huge amounts or texts about diseases, injuries and human biology is a big part of becoming a med nin." Kirari was never the smartest with mugging up and was more than happy with above-average marks in written exams, so she never thought of pursuing a career as a medic ninja.
"Yes, I will! Thank you." Sakura grinned and Kirari smiled back.
They spent the next hour traversing through the Hashirama trees, leaving which was like leaving home. No matter how many times Kirari left the forests, each time it was equally hard to leave behind the feeling of comfort and home. She never met her granduncle, but the chakra infused trees felt like him. Her aunt used to get the same feeling before she left the village.
"Okay, now we're exiting the fire country soon, which means you need to be on alert. We shouldn't encounter anything more serious than bandits, but you can never be overprepared. Everyone keep your weapons in hands reach and senses aware. Clear?" she got three nods and hummed in satisfaction. She absently wondered whether Hatake had left the village by now or not?
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Kakashi arrived at the village gates at around ten am, Not spotting his three baby genin or the client immediately, he raised an eyebrow and tried catching their scents. They might be hiding in the bushes or somewhere near to think if they could prank him for being late.
After a few minutes of searching though, he was starting to get a bit worried, there was no sign of them anywhere nearby. He actually considered going to their houses or the Hokage tower before he caught the looks of the chunin on gate duty. They seemed to be barely suppressing laughter.
"Ah, did you happen to see my genin? We were supposed to meet here for a mission," he asked with a wave, one eye curling up in a smile.
"Y-yes, Hatake-san, they departed a few hours ago. Here's a note they left." Departed without him? They couldn't seriously think about leaving the village without him right? He was about to question the chunin for letting unsupervised genin leave the village before he caught a glance at the hastily written note.
The client wanted to leave ASAP. We have left the village at 0800hrs, catch up quickly or stop being late. -Senju Kirari'
What.
Oh.
He forgot they were being accompanied by another Jonin.