"Great! You're learning very quickly," Tsunade-sama congratulated her the next day. "Soon, you'll be operating on your own without support."
Seina nodded. She was learning everything the Hokage knew and more. There were certain techniques she knew that Tsunade-sama didn't, simply because they didn't require chakra but physical intervention. She hadn't been a doctor in her previous life, but she had to perform miracles on some of her comrades' injuries during missions.
Three days had passed since her meal alone with Kakashi-sensei. In those three days, her entire team had been on different missions outside the village, except for her. She spent her alone time advancing her theoretical studies and going to the hospital every day. If there was one thing she couldn't stand, it was staying still. When she returned home that afternoon after spending almost the entire day at the hospital, she found Sasuke.
"Hey! I thought you wouldn't be back until tomorrow."
"It wasn't that bad," he said while having a snack. "It was just about capturing a thief. Where are the dobe and Kakashi-sensei?"
"Naruto is on a mission with Neji and Tenten in the Land of Birds. Kakashi-sensei, I think, had an A-rank mission."
"And you? What have you been up to?" he asked with interest, sitting next to her.
"I've made a lot of progress at the hospital. In fact, I only have half of the textbooks Tsunade-sama gave me a couple of months ago left. If it weren't for my clones... it would be quite tedious, to be honest."
"Ugh. It's clear I don't have your vocation. I'd rather have ten consecutive S-rank missions than study the entire library."
"Actually, these books aren't from the library. They're medical books," she laughed at his expression. "The scrolls I copied from the library I still need to read. I only read the ones that interested me at the time."
"..."
"I'm afraid if you want to become a jonin, you'll have to study some books," she warned him, giving him a pat.
"I think I'll start using clones while I'm here..." Sasuke sighed, realizing it was better to advance slowly than rush through.
"Why don't we go find someone to train with?" Seina suggested when she got tired of talking about studying.
"Maybe tomorrow," Sasuke sighed again. "I'm tired of running up and down chasing a thief."
Seina laughed at his comment but accepted his commitment. The next day, they went looking for someone to train with when they were surprised by Yugao and her boyfriend Hayate.
"Seina!" the jonin smiled when she saw them. She pulled Hayate to her side. "Tsunade-sama told me that you both treated Hayate. Thank you very much."
"Thank you. I owe you my life," Hayate nodded. He looked like a different person without his usual sickly appearance.
"You're welcome."
"Where are you going? Will I ever meet your brother?" Yugao asked playfully.
"He's on a mission. I don't think he'll be back for long. We were going to see if we could find someone to train with," she shrugged.
"Why don't you train with us?" Hayate unexpectedly offered.
Yugao, although it seemed like they were on a date, nodded. Maybe she felt she had to repay the fact that Hayate was alive and fully cured. Seina and Sasuke exchanged doubtful looks.
"If it's okay with you," Sasuke accepted.
"Great. Let's go to our old training ground."
They walked through the village to the forest area they had occupied before. Hayate, who had been the jonin sensei of Team 1 of his promotion, explained how his team dissolved while he was in the hospital.
"When I woke up, I found that one of my students was so traumatized that he quit as soon as he left the Forest of Death," he shook his head, "while the other was so injured that, although he could become a ninja again, he preferred to leave even before knowing his medical verdict. The only one still a ninja is my former kunoichi, but she preferred to join an intelligence squad instead of continuing the usual ninja path."
"We know. You're talking about Sakura, right?" she asked rhetorically. "Honestly, I'm glad she found something she likes and decided to be mature about her priorities."
"For a moment, I thought she was going to refuse the offer," Sasuke interjected.
"Why do you say that?" Hayate asked.
"Sakura is one of Sasuke's fans," she turned to look at Sasuke. "Don't you remember the tantrum she threw when she wasn't put on your team?"
"You think she would have continued being a field ninja just to be closer to Sasuke," Hayate sighed. "Honestly, from what I know of her, it wouldn't have surprised me. It took almost two weeks to get her to talk to her teammates and start training without crying."
Seina rolled her eyes at Sakura's attitude. She couldn't be too harsh on her because she was just a child, but with that level of immaturity, being a ninja would be very risky for her and her teammates.
When they arrived at the training ground, Seina and Sasuke talked a bit about their skills, and both jonin decided to fight against them with everything they had. That's how they spent the rest of the morning. Seina, already using the hiraishin without hesitation, surprised Hayate more than once. It was clear he was an expert in kenjutsu, but Kakashi-sensei was much more versatile, and it showed in what Seina and Sasuke had learned. Then she saw the perfect opportunity to try something she had been working on: a new genjutsu that affected balance.
She used Sasuke to cover herself while she molded the chakra and performed the hand seals. She directed the chakra towards both of them, and instantly, she saw it worked. Both fell to the ground, unable to fix their eyes on a point due to the dizziness. She undid it immediately when she saw Yugao about to vomit. She jumped towards them with medical ninjutsu ready. Even so, she couldn't do anything to help them. She had to let them recover on their own after a few minutes.
"W-what was that?" Yugao asked with a pale face, lying on the ground.
"A genjutsu."
"A genjutsu?" Hayate asked, sitting up, looking astonished. "What is Kakashi teaching you?"
"I created it myself," she smiled. "Isn't it great?"
"You could have killed us both," Yugao thought aloud, fully recovering. "For a moment... I thought I was going to vomit."
"You were going to vomit," Sasuke assured her, who had seen her retching. "Seina stopped the jutsu just in time."
"That's not possible," Hayate shook his head.
"It is possible," she refuted, "and I had a theory as to why. Now that I know I was right..."
She grinned from ear to ear, thinking about how she could use the genjutsu to manipulate or destroy someone.
"I think I'll try out the genjutsus I've created on a mission."
Sasuke looked at her, and she opened their connection so he could not only perceive her thoughts and emotions but also see exactly what she was planning to do and how she had come to that conclusion. She showed him her theory about the brain and what genjutsu really was, how she had used genjutsu to make Yugao and Hayate's brains believe they were experiencing a sound alteration that resulted in real loss of balance.
"I'm glad I'm not your enemy," Sasuke shook his head at the confusion of both jonin. "You're crazy, but you're a genius. I want you to teach me how to do that."
She nodded. Meanwhile, Yugao and Hayate concluded their training session. Seina realized that both she and Sasuke had held up quite well against them, despite their "defeat" being due to a coin toss with her new genjutsu. She noticed how sweaty she was after several hours of nonstop movement and vowed to take a long bath.
When they arrived home, to their surprise, they found Naruto and Kakashi-sensei talking at the table.
"Nee-chan, teme! Where were you?"
"Training, dobe," Sasuke rolled his eyes.
"How did the mission go?" she asked.
"Good. We ran into Kakashi-sensei in the Land of Birds."
"It was a coincidence, but fortunately, I was there," the jonin sighed. "The mission ended up being too much for three genins, although they did quite well up to that point."
He made them promise to tell him everything after they showered, so she preferred to skip her much-needed bath to get to the dining room as soon as possible. When she came down, she saw Sasuke had already showered and changed, sitting in a chair with wet hair and barefoot. Naruto explained in great detail what had happened on the mission: how they had to investigate a ghost who turned out to be someone in disguise, how they protected the feudal lord from assassins, and more.
"Wow. You always get the most exciting missions," she said with a smile.
Kakashi-sensei stifled a laugh. "You really didn't miss much. Naruto, as always, ended up complicating things with his inability to let things be."
"Hey! Thanks to me we discovered the truth!"
"Hn. Typical of the dobe."
Seina listened to them argue with a smile. Kakashi-sensei looked at her over Naruto's head, smiling at her relaxed expression, and touched her foot under the table.
To her dismay, the next day, her jonin sensei was given another mission, so they ended up training with Guy-sensei and Lee. She spent the entire morning doing ridiculous training exercises and taijutsu, but she noticed how much she had improved after practicing new katas with her clones. Guy-sensei even pointed her to a dojo on the other side of the village where she could find good opponents to further improve her hand-to-hand combat.
"At that dojo, only jonins and other ninjas go. It will surely be of great help to you."
"Thank you, Guy-sensei."
"You're welcome, Seina-chan! WE MUST NURTURE THE ETERNAL FLOWER OF THE NEXT GENERATIONS!"
She blinked, slowly backing away. She silently thanked Lee for distracting his master and left with her team. The next day, when there was only one day left for her birthday, Tsunade-sama sent them on an impromptu mission. Fortunately, she would be with her team, along with Shino, on another field mission. Unfortunately, she would miss her birthday with Kakashi-sensei and the other genins.
"Eh?! Are we going to be on a mission on our birthday?!" Naruto shouted. "What an injustice!"
"Shut up, Naruto! Missions often take priority!" Tsunade-sama threw a stapler at him. Naruto dodged it. "Besides, when you return, you'll have a few days off. Doesn't that sound good?"
"Ugh. I guess so."
"What is the mission about?" she asked before she could change her mind.
"It's just a reconnaissance and elimination mission. You need to travel to the Land of the Sea and investigate the Kaima monster. Since your client is there, you can leave as soon as possible. Seina, you will be the team leader. Shizune."
"The Land of the Sea is made up of several islands," Shizune began, showing them a map. "Recently, several ships, the only mode of transport, have been attacked and robbed. Reports say they were attacked by a sea monster."
"So, our mission is to eliminate it?" Naruto asked, more excited.
"Not just that. Since the Land of the Sea has no hidden village, it pays monthly to the Land of Water for protection, but recently, the monster attacked the ship sent to the Land of the Sea."
"I imagine we'll have to protect the next ship and get rid of this monster," she spoke. Tsunade-sama nodded.
"That way, we'll maintain good relations."
Seina took the papers Shizune handed her, storing them in her pouch. They left the tower for the nearest park to talk for a few moments.
"Do we have everything we need?" she asked. "I have a few bentos prepared, just in case. Although I don't know if they'll last the whole mission."
"I'm ready."
"Me too!"
"I will need to leave for 10 minutes to get my backpack," Shino replied in his usual chill voice.
"That's fine. You can go, Shino, we'll wait for you at the gate in 15 minutes."
"See you soon."
They turned to head to the gate closest to their destination. It felt a bit absurd to think about the mission. They hadn't even left the Land of Fire many times, yet they were being sent to the Land of the Sea with just a map and a few pages of documentation. Basically, they had to figure things out on their own. If it weren't for the books she read and her mental experience, they would be more lost than a clam in a teapot. Although, given her chunin rank, it might not be that far-fetched.
When they arrived, moving slowly, they waited at the registration desk. A couple of chunins, whom she didn't know at all, watched them for a few seconds before returning their attention to the passersby. Shino took barely 10 minutes to show up at the gate, probably because he already had a backpack prepared just in case. They registered their departure and set off. As soon as they left the village gate behind, she pulled out the papers of the mission.
"Let's see the documentation they gave us," she said. "Let's see... The center of the Land of the Sea is Haha Island, so we'll have to go there by boat. Supposedly, the reports mention—what? A monster that's half-man, half-fish? Huh."
"What?" Sasuke asked, moving closer to see what was written.
"They must have made a mistake!"
"Or maybe it's a ninja with some modifications," she said. Ninjas in this world were as crazy as wizards. It wouldn't be far-fetched for something like that to happen. "Anyway, let's go to the port and ask the locals if they know anything about this."
"We should reach it in a couple of hours at a brisk pace," Shino murmured.
"As long as we arrive before sunset... I wouldn't like to encounter that monster for the first time at night."
They spent the rest of the journey in silence, running through the trees. It wasn't very interesting, except for the fact that they didn't have an adult with them to look after the team. Fortunately, they arrived even before nightfall, so they observed the port village from the top of the hill.
"That island must be Haha," Sasuke pointed out, looking at the map and pointing to the central island.
"Let's go down. We need to hire a boat to take us there," she said.
"Yosh! My first boat trip!"
As soon as they stepped into the village, she knew from the murmurs that everyone had been affected by the monster. She could hear several people complaining about the lack of food and the inflation of prices. She even sensed a quarrel in the distance. It wasn't unusual. Whenever people struggled to eat, these kinds of situations arose. Unfortunately, this meant that several swindlers might try to cheat them when hiring a boat.
"This is all I can give you," they heard a man's voice in front of a restaurant.
There was a dark-haired girl. She carried a backpack almost bigger than herself and had her face covered in bandages. Not only did her appearance seem sad, but her eyes perfectly reflected that desolation. Naruto, of course, couldn't help but intervene when the situation pulled at his heartstrings.
"Wait a minute!" Naruto said, walking over to them. "This fish looks high-quality! How can you pay her such a miserable wage!?"
Seina listened to the excuses of the man who seemed to be the restaurant owner with a serious face. Just as she thought, the whole port was affected by the situation. Even so, the girl didn't open her mouth to complain or to thank her brother for trying to defend her. She simply lowered her head even more and ran away.
"Hey!" Naruto called, running after her.
Seina let him go. She knew he would return soon once he was satisfied or the girl explicitly rejected his help. The man, somewhat nosy, started telling them the girl's story. A diver named Isaribi from Haha Island, who disappeared along with many islanders some time ago. Fortunately, or unfortunately, she was the only one who reappeared, so everyone treated her with disdain and mistrust.
"Do you know where we can hire a boat to take us to Haha Island?" she asked the fish vendor.
"I don't think you'll find anyone willing to take you," he said honestly. "Many people have lost their boats, and those who still have them no longer go out to sea after sunset."
They looked at the setting sun. She knew that, despite trying to avoid it, they hadn't achieved what they wanted.
"Is there a good inn around here?" she asked next.
They listened to the local's directions and then left. Seina and Sasuke watched the confrontation Naruto was witnessing at that moment, with narrowed eyes. Those two guys not only gave them a bad feeling but also looked familiar. They saw the girl picking up her things, helped by her brother, until she lifted her head to look at him for the first time and then fled from there in terror. She exchanged a glance with Sasuke at her behavior.
"Let's go find Naruto," she said. "If what that man said is true, we won't find anyone willing to take us to the island."
"And if tomorrow morning we still can't find anyone to take us to the island?" Sasuke asked.
"Then we'll fly. Honestly, I'd prefer to avoid a confrontation tonight. Especially knowing that none of the experienced sailors in this village dare to go out after dark out of fear."
"Makes sense," Shino nodded. "Though going out at night might be a great opportunity to investigate."
"I'll send one of my summons," Seina assured. "That way, I'll know if there's anything to worry about."
"Look, there's the dobe."
"Nee-chan, did you see that?" Naruto asked, angry. "Why are there always bullies everywhere?"
"Midget... I just remembered something important," Kurama said, startling her. "One of those guys your clown of a brother saw, his voice, we've heard it before."
"What? Are you sure?"
"Yes. In the emo kid's fight in the chunin preliminaries. He was one of the supposed genins on Kabuto's team."
Seina's heart skipped a beat. She saw them discussing whether it was worth following the girl and knew they had to get out of there.
"Let's go to the inn, guys," she ordered.
Something in her voice must have alerted them that something was wrong because they fell silent instantly. They found the inn, if it could be called that, right by the beach. It was a two-story house with a sign on the door. At first glance, it looked like any other house, like the houses on either side that surrounded it. They entered the hotel. They saw an old man accompanied by a small child.
"Welcome to the Shirakigu Inn. How can I help you?"
"We need a room," Seina requested, "for one night, please."
The man handed them the key, and she paid the money. The room was medium-sized, carpeted with typical tatami mats, a window, and a small low table. There was also a small sliding door closet that contained the bedding and futons.
"So?" Sasuke asked, knowing something was up.
Seina cast a spell to prevent anyone from spying on them and then drew the blue curtains. She used a couple of magical barriers, just in case, and then sat on the floor.
"The man Naruto saw... It's Yoroi."
"Yoroi? Who's that?" Naruto asked.
"How do you know what Naruto saw?" Shino asked, surprised. "Can you... see what he sees?"
"We're connected," she shrugged. "We're twins."
"The same Yoroi I fought in the chunin exams?" Sasuke asked with a frown. "Are you sure?"
"Kurama told me. Why don't you ask your yang half, Naruto?"
"My Kurama is almost always asleep, says I bore him."
Seina stifled a groan of frustration. Why did she always have to do everything herself?
"Yes, that same one."
"Why is that important?" Shino asked, who didn't seem fully aware of what happened during the invasion.
"This guy was one of the members of Kabuto's team in the exam," Sasuke informed him. "Then it turned out that Kabuto was working with Orochimaru."
"So, logically, Yoroi is probably working for him."
"Exactly," she nodded. "That could mean Orochimaru is here and maybe the monster we're looking for is his doing. Maybe one of his experiments. This poses a serious danger to Sasuke."
Everyone turned to look at him. His fists were clenched, but he seemed calm.
"What do we do now?" Naruto asked.
"If we recognized them, they probably recognized us too," Shino said coldly. "We should assume they're watching us."
"Exactly. I'll sneak out now and use my summons to monitor the sea and the port. With any luck, I'll see something useful. Meanwhile, we should decide whether to continue with this mission or abandon it because of the danger involved."
"We can't leave these people like this!" Naruto replied immediately.
"Naruto, think about Sasuke," Shino admonished. "Other teams can handle this situation, but Sasuke is a top priority target for Orochimaru."
"What do you think, Sasuke?"
"…We haven't failed a mission so far. I wouldn't like to fail without trying," Sasuke replied, much to Naruto's delight. "Besides, you can get us out of any trouble, so I know we'll be fine."
Seina sighed. He wasn't wrong. The portkey she had given him, after the previous scare, could take her to him in an instant and also acted as a reverse summon, bringing Sasuke to her. So, in case the worst happened, she could rescue him. Besides, just because Orochimaru might be present didn't mean it was certain. They couldn't reject missions at the slightest hint of danger. If they did, what kind of ninjas would they be?
"What are your orders, Seina?" Shino finally asked.
"If we knew for sure that Orochimaru is here, the most reasonable thing would be to abort the mission, but I agree with Naruto and Sasuke. I have the means to rescue him if necessary. Besides, I'll leave one of my seals outside the village, in a safe place, in case we need to escape immediately."
She left the room with the invisibility bracelet activated. She summoned a couple of birds. One to drop one of her sealed stones for the hiraishin far away and another to monitor the sea and the port. She returned unseen to the room and sat against a wall, visualizing the sea. She saw that, indeed, there wasn't a single boat sailing. She spent a while observing the air currents, but she didn't find anything unusual. Just when she called back her bird, she saw something emerging from the waves. It was the girl Naruto had followed, Isaribi. Minutes later, Yoroi emerged from the sea as if he had been waiting for her, and she knew she had made the right decision.
"They won't come. They're hiding like rats. Maybe we'll have better luck tomorrow…" said the other guy to Yoroi.
"No, we don't want to draw attention. Let's go. We have to report this."
They disappeared into the fog, heading towards an island. Seina had her seagull return and, once hidden among the trees, she dismissed the summon. When she came to, she saw that Naruto and the others had laid out four futons and prepared them for sleeping.
"What happened?"
"They were waiting for us," she said, stretching. "The curious thing is that I also saw the girl, Isaribi, swimming in the sea as if nothing."
"You don't think…?" Sasuke asked, perceiving the direction of her thoughts.
"The monster was half-fish, half-human," Shino recalled.
"I don't know, but it's suspicious. The others talked about reporting to someone. Clearly, something's going on here."
They heard someone knocking on the door. They turned, weapons in hand, but it turned out to be the old man from before. Apparently, someone was waiting for them downstairs to talk. The man who had called for them was Hitode, their client and also responsible for the security of the boats transporting payment money to the Land of Water.
"Sorry for the inconvenience. I didn't include our meeting point in the mission request," he apologized. "As soon as I was informed of your presence, I decided to come and talk to you."
"What's it about?" she asked, sitting in front of him with her companions on either side.
"It's about the departure of the boats. It was scheduled for noon tomorrow, but it's been moved up to early morning. Many people want to strengthen our agreement with the Land of Water, so we were forced to advance the trip."
"Alright. We'll be at the port first thing in the morning," she assured him.
"The monster has the fishermen and sailors on edge, so I hope you can help us."
Seina nodded in acknowledgment, followed by her team. They went back up to their room. They ate one of their bentos and used the shared bathroom before going to sleep. Seina listened as her brother fell asleep, followed by Shino, while she thought about what had happened that afternoon. It was clear the mission was more complex than they had expected. Not only did they have to eliminate the "monster" the sailors talked about, but she also started to suspect it was actually a person. Not to mention, they weren't the only ninjas in the village at the moment.
If Kaima really was Isaribi, what could they do? The only option she saw, in that case, was to interrogate her to find out why she was attacking her neighbors' fishing boats. She didn't know if she wanted to keep thinking about what would happen if she was the culprit, but the truth was that several factors pointed to her being the one causing all this. For starters, the monster was clearly a person with transformative properties, probably an experiment. Then there was the fact that she was the only one who "returned" or was released after her disappearance and, curiously, the monster appeared shortly after. Not to mention she had seen her swimming calmly in the sea, at night, when no one dared to venture into the water, not even by boat.
"What are you thinking?" Sasuke asked.
"We have a reasonable suspicion that Isaribi is the monster people talk about… The boat leaves at dawn and will carry the money Hitode has gathered. Most likely, they'll try to steal it."
"Do you plan to set a trap?"
"I think we should follow her. As soon as she transforms or uses any jutsu that proves she's the culprit, we'll capture her. At the same time, we should protect the boat since it's a clear target. Maybe the sea monster isn't acting alone, maybe it's just a pawn… Mmm…"
She fell asleep with the outline of a plan in mind. She was beginning to understand what she had to do.