No One Stands Alone

Chapter 15

there is a small curse word within this chapter; just a bit of a warning.

Chapter 15:

"So, where are we going Junko?" Daichi asked once they left the village behind.

"I'll answer that once you seal your belongings into a scroll," she answered, motioning to the bag still resting in his hands. "The weight will only slow us down."

Tsukki already sealed away his bag before he arrived at the gates of the village. He only kept his daggers hanging on his hips and his ninja pouch strapped to his right leg; everything else of his was in a small scroll that he placed inside the pouch. He knew Hotaru sealed his backpack inside a similar scroll beforehand as well, but the blond noticed Daichi still had his bag prior to leaving the village. Either the boy didn't think to seal it away, or he couldn't do it.

They all stopped in the middle of the path, and Daichi placed his bag on the ground. Moving at a reluctant pace, the older boy reached into his bag to remove a scroll he stuffed in. He unrolled it, but after staring at it for a moment, he glanced up sheepishly. "I-uh... Wow, this is embarrassing. I—"

Before the boy could say anything else, Tsukki gently took the scroll out his hands and sealed the bag away. Daichi blinked in surprise as the blond returned it. "Oh, t-thank you Tsukki."
The blond nodded. He let a small smile sneak into his face, but immediately wiped it off—the older caught the faint twitch and returned a wide grin. Daichi straightened up and tucked away the scroll. He asked again, "Where are we headed?"

"There's a town to the north," she began as she started to walk, the pace quicker than before, "that has suffered attacks from golden-eyed monsters, which are officially called awakened beings."

Before any of them could voice a question, she continued. "I'm sure you haven't heard of them, awakened beings. They are immortal creatures that have an insatiable hunger, but they don't need to eat to survive. They have the ability to change their shape to appear human, but they keep their burning gold eyes in both forms. Their intelligence and strength improve with time, so the older the monster is, the stronger and more dangerous it is."

"What happened to the town and the people?" Hotaru asked, curiosity coloring his voice.

"All the people living there were eaten, and the town itself was practically destroyed," she answered in a neutral tone. The boy recoiled, but she didn't even blink.

"And we're expected to defeat those things?" the green haired boy questioned in disbelief.

"No," she corrected him. The jonin made sure to look them all in the eye before saying, "I am expected to kill them. You three will watch. No one outside the clan knows that awakened beings are real. Everyone believes they are just myths and belong in stories. It's the clan's duty to keep it that way."

"If this is so dangerous," Tsukki began, piecing things together, "then why are we allowed to go on this mission? Even if we have to prepare as the future of the clan, genin aren't allowed to go on missions where the possibility of death is this great."

"These kinds of missions are typically unofficial since no one files requests for awakened beings to be killed, but if the rules of Konoha get in the way of the clan's duty, the Hokage requests them. For this mission, he placed it under the rank of 'C' so I could bring you three along with me since I'm not allowed to bring genin on a B-ranked mission or higher unless there's a shortage of personnel."

"Isn't that against the rules?" Hotaru cut in. "Lying when requesting help from the village is the same thing as fraud!"

Junko glanced over at the green haired boy. "Part of the agreement between our clan and the village includes this. We keep the threat of awakened beings to an almost nonexistent level, benefiting the village and protecting everyone from those monsters. In return, the Hokage provides shelter to the clan and resources that we may need."