Medium Meld (Naruto/Gamer, Male OC)

Chapter Twenty Four

The Land of Rivers was actually much closer to Konoha than Wave was, almost by half. Assuming I would find the swords in the first couple of days, we would most likely be back fairly quickly. I didn't intend on stopping to train on this trip either.

I wanted to get both the cleaver and the twin swords into the hands of my minions so they could get some practice in with them before they had to actually use them. Once we all got used to using them a bit more, we could even get some practice in against each other with them, which should prove useful.

I'd forgotten about using the Dragonblade in the panic that had overtaken me during the fight against Kakuzu and Hidan. I was also completely sure that if I had pulled it out and attempted to go into melee with either of them, I would be dead.

So maybe panicking did occasionally have its uses.

I'd been thinking about trying to make some kind of buff that I could place on Karenbana and Fu as well; Something like Protect? Or Haste? I knew that I could cast spells on other people, even though they didn't have Mana, because Heal worked perfectly fine, as did Status Removal. I was hoping the same would apply in this case.

It was something to attempt to create when I got back again; the concentration needed to unlock these spells wasn't something I could just muster up on the fly. It was an effort of will that I needed to work at; It had seemed so much easier in the source material.

Speaking of spells; I was super glad that Status Removal worked on 'Hungover' and 'Intoxicated,' because it was an effort of will drag myself out of Tsunade's bed when I had first woken up; either way, I was never drinking rice wine again, it tasted terrible, and the hangover was awful.

Either way, I'd dealt with it, and now I was waiting at the west-gate for my mysterious escort to arrive. I felt a chakra signature heading towards me, one I'd never felt before, definitely Jonin level though. I stepped away from the gate to turn towards them.

"Good morning, you match the description of the client Hokage-sama told me about yesterday," Anko said professionally. "An escort mission?"

"That's me," I said cheerfully, "Now take me to the Land of Rivers, minion!"

"My feet hurt!" I complained, "Carry me!"

"No," Anko smirked, "I hope they fall off."

"You can't say that to me!" I cried, "I'm the client, and the client is always right!"

"The client is wrong like half of the time," Anko said immediately. "You're probably wrong most of the time, though if I had to guess."

The absolute balls on this woman, it was great.

"When I take over the world, I'll make sure you're the one who's digging the latrines," I said cheerfully.

Anko snorted.

"Konoha would definitely have to stop you if that was your goal." Anko said easily, "But I think I could spare a moment away from the latrines to put a kunai in your eye."

"Hah, I'm out of your league, Miss Special Jonin." I cackled, "I can't believe they had to invent an entirely new rank just so you could sit at the big boy table, how embarrassing."

"Fuck off," Anko said, annoyed, eye twitching.

I just grinned.

The Land of Rivers, just like its name suggested, had multiple rivers running all throughout it. We ended up crossing quite a few of them on the trip towards the 'Curry of Life' shop that was apparently quite famous in the area. I hadn't revealed my actual destination until we had crossed the border, and I was glad that she actually seemed to know of its general location.

It would have been awkward if she didn't.

Anko was less eccentric than I would have assumed, given what I remember of her from the series. I thought she was a bloodthirst kunoichi who ran around stabbing people and then licking the blood off. She might have done that during her downtime, but she seemed completely professional while on the job, or at least she had started that way until I had thoroughly introduced myself; then, she had started to loosen up a bit.

"Why do you want to go to this curry place anyway?" Anko wondered.

"What do you think I want to do at a curry restaurant, dumbass?" I said immediately, "Shove it up my ass? Are you really a ninja? Did Tsunade rip me off?"

Anko bared her teeth in an angry smile.

"If you wanted to eat curry," Anko said dangerously, "Why did you need to come all the way here?"

I grinned at her.

"That's for me to know," I taunted, "and tease you with until you finally break down and attack me in a fit of rage, at which point I can demand a refund from Tsunade."

"You can't get a refund if you're dead," Anko smirked.

Clearly, Anko wasn't aware that I had managed to get this mission for free, which was pretty amusing.

"How far away are we anyway?" I asked curiously, "I thought you said we were getting close?"

Neither of us had slowed down during our conversation, running along the road at speed. Anko had attempted to get me to jump through the trees, but I wasn't having any of that nonsense; I would get a coat-hangered by a branch or slip and break my neck.

The road we were on now was slowly elevating up onto a mountainous path; I could feel a strange but powerful chakra up ahead, along with a civilian level one with it.

"We are close; it should be around that next bend," Anko said easily.

I couldn't help myself.

"Should be? Did it grow legs and walk away?" I cried, "What kind of nonsense are you trying to sell me here? I'm giving you a one-star rating!"

Anko turned to look at me in disbelief.

"We don't even have a rating system!" Anko said, annoyed.

"Why the hell not? I want to leave a terrible review that gets stuck on your record for the rest of your life so that all the other ninjas laugh at you!" I cackled.

We came around the bend she had indicated, and low and behold, there was a small building about halfway down the pathway. The chakra signatures were coming from inside, I was going to go out on a limb and say that it was the kid that had been with the sword guy, and the curry-makers son, I couldn't feel a signature indicating the old lady herself was around.

That was a bit sad.

"I told you it was here, idiot." Anko said triumphantly, "You had better give me a good review or I'm going to-"

I cut her off with a shit-eating grin.

"Wow!" I said, impressed, "You managed to find a restaurant, that's really impressive ninja work, say; if you were a gold mine, where would you be?"

Anko looked pissed for a moment before she managed to calm herself down enough to pull a folded-up map out of her pack. I watched as she spent a few moments studying it, and the tiny writing that was all over it.

"Katabami Gold Mine? It's Southwest of here, half an hour, maybe?" Anko said thoughtfully, before stowing the map away again.

"That's probably it," I said easily, "Say, which direction is southwest?"

Anko stared at me for a moment before shaking her head and pointing off towards a mountainous area in the distance.

"You never wanted curry at all, did you?" Anko said resignedly. "What do you want with a gold mine?"

I grinned at her.

"If you can guess, I'll give you a hundred thousand Ryo or something equally as valuable," I said easily, covering my bases. "But if you get it wrong, you have to tell me your boring ass life story, starting at the beginning all the way too now, so I can laugh at you."

Anko narrowed her eyes at me.

"Fine," Anko said easily, "If I get it right, I want the hundred thousand Ryo, and you're buying me some Dango on the way back."

"If you win, you get all that money!" I said, annoyed, "Buy your own damn Dango!"

Anko just crossed her arms.

"Fine!" I pouted. "If you win, I'll throw in some Dango as well."