After spending weeks sailing around the region's islands, from shore to shore, I realized that while sailing trips looked romantic, they were super annoying. It won't be my favorite way of traveling, that's for sure. It wasn't even the fact that the ship kept bobbing up and down or left and right, but the fact that by the fourth day, everything smelled like fish. Even me.... Ugh... I like fish, but not this much...
When we finally arrived at our final destination, the morning fog had rolled in thick enough that the island was almost hidden from view. Thankfully, the captain was competent enough to navigate us through a line of cliffs, right into a cramped harbor. The sea was gray-green here, different than how it looked when we got to Uzushiogakure. I stood near the rail beside Minato, watching the waves as we docked and ropes got thrown over to anchor us into place. I had to pull my glasses off and clean them as they had fogged at the edges from the sea air, making me grumble under my breath, already hating this place. Hidden Mist, my ass... Tsk.
Walking down the ship, the harbor looked surprisingly busy despite the early hour. Dockworkers shouted over one another as ships came in and out. Wasn't this supposed to be a place that is at the edges of everything? It looks way too lively, which was already a weird clue. Looking around, I couldn't see much, and not because of the fog, but because there was not much to see. What people were dragging across were nets, rusting barrels, and crates from the ships. Hm... Nobody looked happy. Wonder why! Was it the weather or the smell? I think it was both, but I kept my mouth shut as we followed Jiraiya into town.
Ishiguro's main harbor was just as smelly, and the roads were super slick, thanks to the rain that had probably fallen throughout the whole previous night. It was unlike Konoha, as the buildings here leaned toward each other, a bit crooked-looking. Most of them were built from dark wood and stone, with mossy walls and roofs, their windows shuttered in, fighting back against the sea wind.
"Wonderful city..." I muttered, making Minato nod, having a similar opinion of the place as I did.
Jiraiya-sensei first led us to a dock registry office, where his Sōta-personality complained about the fees he had to pay to register our stay inside the city and country. Then we went from place to place, talking with some local fishermen, sellers, and vagrants.
"Storms?" a priest-looking man asked back when Sensei was making small talk about the weather. "There wasn't much, but the fog is very much persistent in this month, which is weird. We do get foggy seasons, but it's summer... Those are in winter!"
"Ah, the whole weather and world is going to pieces!" Jiraiya laughed, shaking his head, "Isn't that so?"
"Tell me about it!" The priest spat to the side. "Bad for breathing it in if you ask me. Fills your lungs with water, makes you feel slimy all the time."
Another reason not to live in a place like this. But the fact that we got foggy weather when there shouldn't have been any was already a clue. We didn't have to be geniuses to realize it might not be natural, but a wide-scale jutsu that hid the movement of Kirigakure ships. However, even though they couldn't hide everything, locals noticed that sometimes unmarked ships passed in formation, shooing them away before they could get a good look. Apparently, two crews had completely vanished after sailing too close to such a supposed convoy, but that information came from a drunk man, so... Hm. Its validity was questionable.
By the late afternoon, Jiraiya-sensei had decided we needed to visit some local, nighttime establishments for more info.
"Are we allowed in?" Minato asked cautiously.
"Of course not," Jiraiya said while he pointed down the street, right at a building with red paper lanterns hanging under the eaves. The signboard showed a painted fan and a woman's silhouette in a style that... Well, it showed no clothes when viewed from a certain angle. "I'm going in there, while you have a different task."
"Sensei, are you going ot gather information or are you gathering something else?" I asked, twitching my eyes behind my glasses.
"Ren..." Minato said, stopping himself from speaking my full name as he looked between us, ears faintly red. "Sensei…"
"My young students," Jiraiya sighed, "One day you will understand that the beating heart of our work is not always found in... Guarded fortresses and military offices. Sometimes, it is hidden in exactly where men go to drink and pay beautiful women to keep them company. That is when they speak most freely and out of their own volition..."
"That is the longest sentence I have ever heard you speak to us so far," I said with a look towards the place. Now I was interested. Was he bullshitting us or...? Maybe both? Huh. Ero-sennin at work.
Minato coughed, elbowing me, while Jiraiya became serious enough that I knew the time for joking was over.
"You two stay outside and do not try to follow me in." He said firmly, "You are too young for your cover to survive that, and I do not want either of you anywhere near drunk off-duty soldiers without me. The last thing I need is for any of you to lose patience and hurt someone. Explore the market street and stick to the ground level."
"That sounds boring," I said.
"It is if you don't take it as your mission." He snorted, then he turned to Minato. "You keep him out of trouble."
"..." Minato nodded solemnly. "I'll try."
"Oi," I muttered, pursing my lips, but Jiraiya disappeared into the red lantern house by the next moment, so I looked at Minato. "This mission is educational, huh?"
"I am learning things I did not ask to learn." He sighed dejectedly, making me grin.
"Same."
In the end, we moved down the market street. Everything useful was wrapped in waterproof cloth, so there wasn't much to see, since you would have to ask them to unwrap it and show it to you. We didn't even need to act like we wandered around as bored assistants, because it wasn't an act at all. That was when I caught an argument between a pair of sailors who were talking near a crab-roasting stall. Haaah, how I missed the smell of Ichiraku's Ramen...
"No, I'm telling you, the east channel's being closed again."
"Closed by who?"
"Who do you think? Shinobi, as far as I'm concerned. They said no ships past some weird, black marker buoys."
"That's new... I was just there two days ago, and there weren't any buoys deployed."
"Everything's new!" The first voice complained again, "My cousin says they're moving cargo at night"
"What cargo?"
"Didn't ask, did he? He just set sail in the opposite direction; otherwise, he would be gone like the others."
"Oh. Yeah..."
Minato glanced at me once, while I gave the smallest nod. We stayed by for more, but really, the only thing we learned was that apparently someone was moving cargo or ships through the night around here. It made sense because the island was one of the closest ones to Uzushiogakure. When we learned nothing more useful, we moved on and passed by two boys, and I caught how one of them bragged about seeing a sword taller than a door, wrapped in cloth on someone's back.
That got my attention... A sword taller than a door. Wrapped in cloth? Although it meant nothing to Minato, my mind immediately supplied shapes, flashing the images past my mind's eye. Samehada? Hiramekarei? Kubikiribōchō? Which of them would fit? Tsk, there are too many big swords in this cursed hidden village. I don't even know who the current seven swordsmen are. Who of those is even alive? As I was thinking of that, we turned down a side street, still within the market boundary Jiraiya had given us. A wagon creaked past us, pulled by a tired mule, while three men followed it, all wearing heavy civilian coats that could hide weapons, I was sure of it. The way their legs moved was the dead giveaway of the fact.
I glanced at them casually, then looked away before looking back through the edge of my glasses. The one in the middle... He was tall and broad-shouldered. He had dark hair tied at the nape and, honestly speaking, his face was unremarkable but in an artificial way. He was too average-looking. More than that, across his back was a long, wrapped object. That wrapping... Too flat and too wide near the end, and where the cloth had shifted near the top, I saw the shape of two handles.
If I'm not mistaken... that could be the Hiramekarei. Or I'm seeing stuff I want to see. My fingers twitched when the thought hit me, holding back at the last moment before activating my Sharingan. Naturally, Minato noticed it at once as he kept walking beside me, voice casual while asking.
"What did you see?"
"Large man in the middle, wrapped blade, two handles," I said quickly, fixing my glasses while Minato did not turn his head.
"Certain?"
"Ninety percent," I whispered back. "If I'm wrong, it's the world's stupidest fishing paddle."
"Any idea?"
"Trouble, for sure." I shrugged, stretching a little, yawning, and covering it with my hand while I took another look between my fingers.
The man with Hiramekarei continued down the street with his two companions.
"We should tell Sensei," Minato murmured.
"We will, but he's walking right in front of us."
"Ren."
"We won't engage," I said, smacking my lips, coming out of my yawn. "We'll tail at a generous distance, and if he turns toward restricted ground, we stop."
We followed, of course. Minato wasn't really against it anyway. The man with Hiramekarei stopped at an intersection near the upper market after a few minutes. His companions moved ahead, then split, one toward the quarry road and one toward the north pier. Hm. Interesting. The swordsman continues alone, huh? Minato and I stayed behind a wagon, pretending to argue over whether Jiraiya had given us enough money for dinner or not, when our target suddenly stopped again, taking a look around the people.
"He is heading toward the warehouses," Minato murmured.
"Doesn't surprise me," I whispered back as we turned the corner.
In the end, the man with Hiramekarei slowed near a shuttered warehouse with a broken blue sign. Oh? Someone was waiting for him there. Shorter than him, much leaner, wearing a hooded coat. One hand was tucked inside a sleeve, while the other rested near the side of a long, wrapped object leaning against the wall. At first glance, it looked like a thick scroll.
Oh. No. Not a scroll at all, but a blade with paper seals layered along one side. That has to be Shibuki. Oh, come on! One was a problem, but two?! Is this some kind of main character effect? Is it because I'm with Minato that we get to discover two of the seven, right on this dingy, shitty little island?!
"Another?" He asked, noticing the change in my expression, while I told him who I think we got here.
"Let's go." I said in the end, "It would be too much to stay and keep watching, they will discover us if we do. Time to raise the alarm bells with Sensei."
We got back to the place Jiraiya disappeared into, and I asked the man in the front to be kind enough to go in and fetch our elder. When Sensei appeared, he looked drunk and scolded us, giving us a knuckled tap on our heads, before dragging us away, being in a state of incoherence thanks to the booze and rage for being interrupted. Yet, the moment we were out of sight, he was already sober and listened to us without interrupting. When we finished, he closed his eyes, exhaling through his nose.
"Damn."
"Shit... Sensei, that was not reassuring." I smiled, still rubbing the top of my head because he didn't have to use proper strength when knocking on our heads. What if I go stupid for real? Tsk!
"You know them?" Minato asked.
"I know of them, alright," he answered, opening his eyes. "The Hiramekarei's current wielder is believed to be Kōsuke Amagiri. He is a patient fighter, a very dangerous opponent to face. As for Shibuki, it should be Gōma Iriya," Jiraiya continued. "He was already an explosives specialist with a flair for the theatrical. If not for being a Kirigakure shinobi, he would be in the Bingo Book for mass murdering. He is keen to complete his missions, but he is uncaring for civilian casualties."
"Charming." I groaned, especially because neither of them rang any bell at all.
"What are two of the Seven doing here?" Minato asked as I pinched the ridge of my nose.
"That is the question." Jiraiya looked toward the harbor, crossing his arms, tapping his fingers against his biceps. "But the fact that they are here is bad enough... So bad in fact, that our mission just changed. We came here to learn whether Kirigakure's harassment was part of something larger... But the presence of two swordsmen means we are in the middle of an active deployment."
"So we leave?" I asked, raising a brow.
"No." He shook his head, "We will have to confirm why and find out more about where their swordsmen are. If the seven are involved, it means we are already at war. We will have to find out whether those two are passing through, guarding supplies, waiting for a convoy, or preparing an operation. If our cover is blown, we will run for it, understand?" He looked at us, "I can hold them down until we scatter. Then we will commandeer a ship and flee towards the Uzumakis; they are our escape point, understood?"
"Yes." We both nodded, looking at each other as the mission just got interesting.