Takamura Suoh scrubbed the deck carefully, keeping his eyes down and his ears opened.
It was tradition for the Takamura to send its youngsters on trials before allowing them to wear the proud symbol of their clan. He'd been assigned to serve as a cabin boy for six months on one of the ships belonging to their patron clan Imonoyama. It was an exercise in humility not to snap at the treatment the ship's passengers offered.
It was a good lesson, Suoh reflected, on the nature of humanity. There was an unspoken hierarchy involved in all interactions, and it was interesting to be on the bottom step. The passengers either ignored him, bossed him around, and a few went out of their way to make life difficult, kicking his water pail over and then smirking. He didn't reward those passengers with a reaction, instead calmly fixing the damage.
This voyage was a shorter one, slated to take only seven days, but that didn't mean there were no dangers. Pirates liked to patrol these waters, and there was always the possibility of being defeated by the weather. Then there was the danger that the passengers brought with them.
Suoh looked at the boy who'd been lurking in the shadow of the mast most of the morning. He'd immediately labeled him "potential trouble," for although the boy was polite and introverted, his hands were callused from handling kunai. This was a shinobi, although Suoh couldn't tell which of the nations he was aligned with. Not that it mattered – one hidden village was much like any other to the Takamura.
There was no sign so far that the boy had taken any particular notice of Suoh, which led the Takamura scion to believe the shinobi was either very inexperienced or very powerful. He leaned towards the latter, since the boy had no signs of nervousness in his demeanor.
Suoh dipped his cleaning cloth back into the bucket, carefully wringing it out as he decided not to worry too much about the shinobi. If the boy found trouble, it wasn't Suoh's responsibility to deal with.
A sudden jerking motioned distracted Suoh's thoughts, and he reached out to grab the bucket before it could tip over. One look to his right told him more than enough – a vessel flying the Jolly Roger, a black flag with leering white skull on it.
Suoh tried not to sigh. Imonoyama vessels were renowned for the wealth they carried, but they also carried an equally impressive defensive force, comprised of Takamura-taught fighters. Either the pirate hadn't made identified the merchant as Imonoyama – unlikely, since the silly, smiling symbol was flying proudly at the mast, or they thought they had enough teeth to take a bite out of the trading house.
Setting the bucket aside, he rose to his feet, stretching slowly to limber up. The vessel was approaching far too quickly, and he recognized the ship was going to be rammed. When they were boarded, he might as well make himself useful.
Sure enough, a minute later the deck of the ship heaved under his feet, but he easily kept his balance. He glanced over at the strange passenger, noting that the boy was standing on the rail, perfectly at ease despite the coming battle. There was a bored expression on his face.
Suoh spared a moment to wonder if the boy was an infiltrator, but decided it was unlikely. Shinobi didn't like pirates as a general rule, and the boy seemed poised to attack the enemy ship. He didn't have time to think on it, though, because the first of the invaders was coming aboard, swinging across on ropes and a few just jumping the ten feet between the decks.
Most of the Imonoyama sailors were decent fighters, Suoh thought, but the attackers were professionals. He watched them for a moment, noting their movements, and decided that someone must have found a pool of shinobi that hadn't even made genin. Still, they were better than the average sailor, whose priority was running ships.
Having evaluated his opponents – a smart ninja never jumped right in if he could avoid it – he leaped into battle. Since he didn't have any weapons on him, he was stuck to using his hands and feet. It was enough; unarmed combat was what he'd learned as soon as he could stand. Suoh tried not to feel so relieved to be back at what he'd been born to do.
Turning his head, he saw the other boy was making a good account of himself, throwing the invaders overboard. The two of them cleared their opponents handily, although other parts of the ship were still fighting. Suoh turned his head, trying to decide where to help.
The boy didn't have his hesistation, focusing on a group of pirates engaged with a couple of the Takamura forces about fifteen feet away. Then he started to make hand seals. "Katon: Hōsenka-"
Without thinking, Suoh picked up the bucket of dirty water and threw it on the boy. "Don't use a fire jutsu!" Suoh snapped. "You'll set the whole ship on fire!"
The boy glared at him with red eyes – oh crap, this one had a bloodline limit – but the effect was diminished by the water dripping down his face. Before the boy could get good and angry, Suoh motioned for him to follow. "I think we're needed near the wheel. If we can keep the pirates off the sailors, they can get the ship moving again."
The youth blinked, before shaking his head to get the water out. "I won't forget this," he promised.
"We can fight later," Suoh promised as they started to move forward.
"You're not a real sailor, are you?" The boy launched a set of kunai, pinning a man to the deck.
"Whatever gave you that idea?" Suoh said calmly as he kicked another one of the pirates overboard.