Chapter 3
Temari stands in front of the mirror holding the sarashi, a white linen garment and starts wrapping it to her chest, tightening it to flatten her breast.
“Damn it! We need to make you disappear!”
“Hey, breasts! come on! Why do you have to be that big? Fuck!”
“We need to look like a man! Help me here”
When she was satisfied with how it looked, she grabbed her black kimono, hakama, and haori clothes and stuffed them in her baggage. Temari also packed her katana, samurai armor, and other things. She styled her hair in a bun and tried to remove anything feminine in her. She practiced her voice to make it deeper and lower then clenches her jaw to make her facial structure sharper and more masculine.
“Are you ready? Let’s go!” She said to herself in front of the mirror.
Temari walked in the aisle of the palace avoiding every guard and servant’s gaze, hiding her teal eyes as they might recognize her. She thanked all the heavens for making her escape possible, the guards and servants didn’t recognize her in her new form. They probably think she’s one of the samurais who visited Rasa.
A long line was displayed in the middle of Suna, Temari peeked in front and saw each man writing their name on the scroll. She positions herself at the end and waited her time to sign in there. It was already 10 in the morning when she finished signing the scroll, the army gave them food for lunch which she accepts and then starts eating it.
She was looking for a spot to eat and saw an empty space under the tree, two young men were having a conversation beside it. Temari sits in the empty spot and didn’t care about anyone or anything around, she just needs to join this war to fight along with her brothers.
“Hi! You’re a newbie?” A guy with thick eyebrows in a green kimono initiates a conversation with her.
Temari nodded while eating her lunch.
“I’m Rock lee and this is Omoi, and you are?”
“Tema—Uhm, I’m Takeo” she said, changing her name to a boy one so it will be more effective. From now on, she will be called Takeo.
“Well, Nice to meet you Takeo and I hope you’re going to enjoy this youthful war!” Lee smiled at her while shaking her hand, she glanced at their environment and saw a group of men doing some men stuff.
Some boys peeing in the tree, some were spitting saliva on the sand, some sniffing their armpits, some scratching their balls, and any other man stuff that she think was disgusting.
Blughh! Man stuff. Gross!
“What he means is, we hope you will show your passion and skills to this war. Heh, so you’re new? We can tour you to the camp if you want?” Omoi offered
“Right, thanks. Yeah, I just joined today” Temari accepts it
“So, Takeo, what are your skills?” Rock lee asked
“I’m good at Katana, mostly swords how about you?”
“I’m glad you asked” Lee starts jumping and doing the thumb thing “I’m good at taijutsu, taekwondo, and judo! Pretty amazing huh?” He winked
“Me, I’m good with swords too” Omoi added
“So, how does everything work in here? I mean what do we do in the morning to night?” Temari curiously asked
“Well, the leaders will tell us what to do. Just follow them but if they’re still asleep, you can do warm-up or have some practice in the morning” Omoi answered
“Yeah, Oh about our leaders. You know them, right?” Rock lee asked
“No, who are they?”
“You don’t know them?” Omoi shockingly questioned
“I don’t, who the fuck are they?” She raised her brow, answering their rubbish question.
“Boy, they’re the superiors and you need to know them. They might command you one of these days and you should recognize them by now. You’ll see them after lunch, we will meet them at the assembly” Rock lee explained.
They finished eating and stood up from their seat, Omoi and Lee showed Temari around the camp and lead her to her tent. Each of the samurai have a solo tent outside the camp, it was small but everything fits. Rock lee explained to her that the five leaders have their own big rooms, reserved for them in every station they went to, it always has a big futon, has bathroom inside, and a desk for their food or other stuff.
She tried to mimic Lee and Omoi’s moves, learning how to walk like a man, speak like a man, and pose like a man. After the tour, they went again to the attendant asking about the update on their sorting. They got the information about who will going to lead them and the three of them will be under the care of Shikamaru Nara.
“Oh great! We got the strategist as our leader” Rock lee said
“The strategist?” Temari asked
“Nara?” Omoi followed
Suddenly, someone shouted in front “FORMATION!”
Everyone scrams and positions themselves in one area. Omoi and Lee grab Temari’s arm who was still confused about what was happening, they both kneeled with their heads bowed down to the sand.
“Takeo! Kneel” Omoi whispered in his frustrated tone
Temari kneeled and Lee pushed her head to the ground, she peeked and saw that everyone is doing the same thing. Then a sound of galloping and neighing of horses echoed in front, the leaders have arrived.
Her eyes traveled to the five men in front riding their horses while peeking in a kneeling position.
“They are our leaders” Lee whispered, still in a bow down and kneeling position “Look, the dark-haired guy with a dark horse is Sasuke. He’s good at hitting an arrow to the enemies, master of kyujutsu”
Kyujutsu!? What the heck!? No one told me about using kyudo in war!? I don’t know how to shoot an arrow! Freaking hell! She said to herself
“The one with long black hair riding the white horse is Neji. Master of aikido, he’s good at fighting with his bare hands and someday I’m going to fight him! Because, I, Rock Lee, master of taijutsu, taekwondo, and judo!”
“Shhh! Lee! Keep your voice down!” Omoi whispered
“Who’s the blonde one?” Temari asked
“He’s Naruto, well he knows a lot of skills, mastering every martial art. He’s alright I say but his determination is elite!” Omoi answered
“The guy with red paint on his face is Kiba, he mastered fighting while horseback riding. It’s a rare skill and that reminds me, I’ll ask him to teach me about it” Lee answered while glancing at her side
“And the one in a ponytail? Who is he?” Temari said returning her head to a bow-down position.
“That’s our leader, Shikamaru. The rude one” Omoi said while patting his head, removing all the sand that clings to his hair.
“Oh, come on Omoi, he’s just---just don’t like smiling” Lee said
“Pshh, pleaseeee, and don’t get me started with Sasuke. They both looked rude and add Neji to that list too. Only Naruto and Kiba seem fun to be around”
“Probably because he always looked like he just woke up, that guy really loves sleeping. Sasuke and Neji looked alright though, they’re just a bunch of expressionless guys”
They were all silenced when Shikamaru starts speaking. Temari listened to every word he said to grasp some information to devise her plan, she needs to see her brothers and father before anyone caught her.
“Starting today every one of you will serve in this war! The enemies are still here, walking on the very same soil that we’re walking and that’s an insult to us! I will not beg for your strength because the day you signed your name on that goddamn paper, you already sold your body, soul, and mind to this war! To us!”
“What a menace!” Temari whispered and rolled her eyes. Omoi and Lee silently laughed at her side.
“No one is a waste to this war. Every one of you is a key to our winning! If you’re smart but not strong, give me your knowledge. If you’re not smart but brave, give me your passion to win. If you’re tough and have never given up on anything, give me your hundred percent and everything will be possible!”
“Alright, and he’s smart. Good at convincing I must say, like a merchant in the market” Temari whispered
“I have seven rules for you all and you need to listen to every fucking rule that I will say!” Shikamaru shouted before saying his rules
“Rules? What rules?” Temari glanced at Lee
“Just listen to him” he responded
“First rule, Protect your comrades. I need you to protect each other, no one should be left behind. The second rule, Check your weapons. A defective weapon is of no use to this war! So, you need to clean, check, and test your katana, bow and arrows, and any other weapons that you have. Third rule, Avoid civilians. Remove the civilians and the innocent from the battlefield then attacks the enemies! Fourth rule, Clean your wounds, you will be given a set of medication for battle wounds and you need to clean it by yourselves. The medics will arrive after. Fifth rule, Respect someone’s property. I don’t want to hear any of you robbing someone’s home after the battle, we’re not a fucking pirate here! Sixth rule, Give your heart and loyalty to your village, I want you to give it all to win this war. If I heard someone betrayed this army, I will cut your head off”
“Ugh! This is getting boring” Temari yawned still in a bow-down position
“And the last rule! Rule number seven, Don’t fall in love during war. It’s a distraction, a lot of men were distracted by love during this war and ended up dead. Pay for sex, every station has its red district, release your pleasure in there. I don’t want to see you get distracted in here, I need your brain and not your stupidity”
The five leaders left after the speech. Temari, Omoi, and Lee sighed when they stand up. They could feel the pain in their back after the kneeling and bowing they had done that day.