Haruto resisted the urge to sigh. Instead of being at the academy, hanging with friends and rivals and waiting to meet his sensei, he was out here, having been drafted for a sensitive covert operation in a foreign country.
Ibiki Morino, the master interrogator of ANBU, had successfully worked his magic. Mizuki talked. While the traitor knew nothing of the Snake Sannin's other operations inside Konoha, he provided other vital information. Haruto was in the Hokage's office when the ANBU interrogator gave his distressing report. Orochimaru was secretly soliciting support throughout the hidden villages both big and small. The bigger ones had so far been wary of his treacherous past, but a few of the smaller ones were more receptive.
Hidden Rain topped that latter list. It explained why Haruto was presently waiting with his instructor to take part in a covert operation. In concert with another ANBU team, Yuugao and Haruto were to help retrieve sensitive documents from deep within that territory. Even though operational intelligence from Jiraiya-sama's spy network cleared the rendezvous area of hostiles, the Hokage chose to send a full team to facilitate the information retrieval.
Can't believe I'm going to miss graduation, Haruto pouted from behind his mask. He had been looking forward to seeing his classmates' reactions to Iruka's speech and to their team arrangements.
"I assume you have been briefed already." The stocky ANBU captain grunted at his compatriots, making very clear what the expected answer was.
"Aye, captain. Special Liaison to ANBU Genji and I are on detached assignment with ANBU Team Gamma for the duration of the intelligence extraction mission."
Haruto stood in stoic silence behind Yuugao as the captain and the vice captain looked them over.
"This is him? I suppose it couldn't hurt to bring him along." The words were of grudging acceptance, but there was a smudge of disdain in them. The captain of Gamma was undoubtedly irked by their presence, as if his team needed help from the illustrious Alpha Team to complete an A-rank intelligence mission. Not only that, Yuugao and Haruto had separate orders from the Hokage; orders which the mission captain was not privy to. The senior Konoha ANBU had every right to be displeased but orders were orders. Haruto fell in line on Yuugao's flank as their group set out.
They traveled for three days and three nights. During the early hours of the third day, it started to rain. The weather remained unchanged as the group reached the final waypoint.
A soft whistle sounded in the distance. A wet Haruto kept a defensive stance as a ninja cloaked in black approached.
"Captain called a halt. He wants to see you."
"Ok," Haruto nodded. It was his first conversation (if it could even be called that) since they broke camp before dawn. The sun had set in the west over an hour ago. The blond handed reconnaissance duty to the new arrival as he leapt into the thick forests. A short sprint later, he jumped down into a clearing where most of the soaking wet team had gathered.
"We are approaching the borders of the Mirage Forest which cuts across the territorial division between the Land of Fire and the Land of Rain. The dense foliage and chakra emitting botany have so far covered our tracks but our primary rendezvous is approximately half an hour out of the forest. Everyone will deploy per planning to secure the area. Cat, I assume your prodigy will be able to handle himself?" Neither Yuugao nor Haruto missed the snide dig by the ANBU captain.
"Absolutely," Yuugao answered crisply, intercepting a potential retort from the bristling Haruto.
"Fine, let's move—"
"Captain! Shouldn't we first deploy reconnaissance and genjutsu mirage screens to cover our approach?" Haruto stood his ground evenly as the captain flooded him with a wave of hostile killing intent.
The two had not grown fonder of each other since the beginning of the mission. The captain for the most part was a by the book kind of fellow; undoubtedly capable and experienced, but somewhat narrow-minded and easily hamstrung by conventional thinking. Haruto, on the other hand, rarely did anything inside the box. If he saw something amiss, he readily pointed it out, without any consideration for propriety.
"The darkness and heavy rain will provide more than sufficient cover. I prefer to complete the mission with all possible speed considering that we are operating in a potentially hostile region." Had the ANBU captain's reply been genuine and logical, Haruto could have accepted it. Alas, the team leader's retort was both disingenuous and fallacious.
"Exactly. Because we're operating in potentially hostile area, we should be even more careful. Our rendezvous is in open space with forests, caverns and covers all around us. Even a genin—no an academy student could tell this is a picture perfect site for an ambush." He was cold, soaked to the bone, and just a tad annoyed at having been ignored for three days. Haruto's heated response understandably sounded quasi-insubordinate. But the young shinobi should have remembered the first rule of being an underling. Never ever tell one's boss that he was incompetent, especially when it was true. Nothing good can come from it.
Haruto only realized how badly he had fucked up when he saw the large, shaking form of the ANBU captain. I'm fucked. He would have been right had it not been for another's action. Yuugao calmly inserted her own self between her student and the furious group leader.
"Genji, why don't you go ahead and do a sweep around the perimeter," Yuugao stated, her voice carrying a hard edge that seemed to brook no argument. The captain moved forward threateningly, but the smaller purple-haired female refused to budge. In the end, it was the towering ANBU captain who blinked first, by turning away.
Had he not been in disguise or worn a mask, Haruto would have gaped like a fish. Such was his astonishment at seeing Yuugao's display of resilience and force of will. One of the things that had irked him to no end had been the near submissive attitude of the female ANBU, as she constantly played second fiddle to Tenzou. As such, Haruto had not been nearly as respectful and cooperative in his dealings with her. Clearly, his previous impression of his second-no, his other instructor needed to be revised.
"Genji, did you not hear or did you think that was a suggestion?"
Haruto had to suppress a wince as he felt his instructor's words lend voice to her annoyance and frustration.
"Yes, Senpai," Haruto acknowledged. Before he hurried off, however, he gave his sensei a slight bow by way of apology. Yuugao was clearly surprised by her brazen prodigy's sudden formality but nodded in acceptance.
"You!" the ANBU captain motioned towards a subordinate. "Go with the rookie and make sure he lives."
Yuugao wheeled sharply to face the team captain. He looked down at her as if daring her to question him. The ANBU from Team Alpha was almost tempted to take up the challenge. The very idea that Haruto needed a babysitter was such a slap in the face, not only against him but also against her, who was his instructor. In the end, Yuugao decided to let the shallow captain keep his parting shot. He was not worth the trouble.
You'll just have to deal with it, Haruto. Yuugao followed the main group towards the rendezvous as a fuming Haruto began his sweep of the surrounding area.