NOVEL NEXT WORLD Chapter 6: The First Mission
Waking up early in the morning, Team-6 gathers in front of the Mizukage building.
Here, Yagura reveals their first mission as a team: "Our mission is to raid a pirate hideout. This is a C-rank mission. Although new genins are not normally given C-rank missions, this is an exception due to the ongoing war."
In firm words, he explains the situation: "The village is currently experiencing a shortage of able-bodied shinobi. The war has already cost us many losses, and this is likely to continue for a long period of time... After this mission, you all too will be plunged into the battlefield; so consider your first mission as just a glimpse of what is to come."
"As expected of the future Mizukage, he doesn't beat around the bush," Zabuza was starting to like his sensei more and more... Gazing at the three with his pupil-less eyes, Yagura asks, "Any questions?" "No, sir," three reply, with vastly different levels of enthusiasm.
Walking down the shoreline, they enter the port area. Taking a five-man boat, they exit the village. The boat is a sailboat, so they have a sailor traveling with them... After traveling for about two hours, "We have arrived at the destination," the sailor calls out... "Finally, we reached it," Zabuza exclaims, and everyone on the boat could see the island some distance away.
Upon getting a closer look at the island, "Is this really the island, Sensei?" Ruka asks. The island looked desolate, ruined houses dotted the shoreline, with traces of arson. "It's likely the work of those pirates," Utakata says.
"Careful! There are traces of fresh blood on the ground. People may have recently died inside those houses," Yagura warns the group. "Are the perpetrators still near?" Zabuza asks. "Maybe, maybe not... One cannot judge the situation hastily."
Disembarking from the boat, they carefully enter the houses, searching every house in the vicinity, but couldn't find anyone... "Now only one house remains. That's likely the village chief's house," Yagura concludes... "You three!! Stay here and watch each other's backs, while I check the house," saying so, Yagura enters the house...
"Ruka!! Come here!" a loud shout comes. Hearing this, Ruka and her two teammates quickly rush toward the house... A pungent smell of iron rushes into their heads as they catch sight of a gory scene from hell. Lifeless bodies were stacked atop one another, while blood is dripping down their open wounds, forming a crimson puddle.
Reality spins around them, their bodies become jelly, legs wobble, as their stomachs churn, trying to spew up its contents. "Don't dawdle about, help me save this man," Yagura's call echoes throughout the room... Zabuza appears to be the first one to grasp the situation. "Hey, wake up!!" immediately shaking his teammates out of their daze.
Straight away, they go on trying to save the last surviving man. Ruka helps Yagura heal the man. Yagura, not being a medical-nin, isn't very good at medical jutsu; he only knows the basics. Even though Ruka herself is also a novice in this field, little help is obviously better than none...
Their trouble didn't go to waste, as the old man starts to regain consciousness. With a hazy look, he looks up, "Shinobi??" he whispers. "Yes, we are shinobi from the Hidden Mist," Yagura replies softly. "Thank you for coming, but... as you can see... it's already too late," with watery eyes, he laments.
"Everything is not over!, Look! Most of the dead are old people; the remaining people must still be alive," pointing at the pile of dead, Yagura tells the man.
Realizing this, the man finds hope in the gates of purgatory, "You are right! Yes! They shouldn't have died. They are still alive!!! Please... please you have to save them," seeing the man finally able to answer his questions, Yagura takes a breath of relief. "Can you say where their hideout is?"....
Content after answering all of Yagura's questions, the man takes his final breath...
As Yagura and the crew leave the village and set off to the pirate hideout on their sailboat, Zabuza speculates, "Those pirates are probably thinking of selling the villagers into slavery." Yagura nods in agreement, adding, "That is why we need to be fast. We have to find them before they leave their current hideout!"
Zabuza's two friends, however, were in no situation to comprehend anything. The horror of seeing death for the first time has made them numb to their surroundings. Initially, they managed to handle it, but when the urgency died down, the weight of the situation really started pressing down on them, reeling from the shock and in a state of dizziness, they have already vomited multiple times...
In a neighboring island, some distance away from the village, rugged-looking pirates can be seen unloading people from their boats... Men, women, and children, everyone is chained down from wrist to ankles. Furthermore, these different chains are connected, forming a line of chained individuals. "Oi! Walk faster," groups of these people are being led into a large warehouse...
On the shores of the island, one man, sitting on his chair, is overseeing the whole operation... Some pirates gather in front of him, "Boss Gataro! As you have ordered, we killed all the old ones and brought only the useful goods," stepping forward, one pirate reports.
Their boss Gataro, wearing a red hat and a long red coat, has a scar down his right eye, making him look like a typical pirate captain... "Were there any losses on our part?" he asks, tapping his fingers on the chair... "Boss! Although there was a minor incident, it didn't cause any losses, hehehe! Rather, it is a big profit. We were able to get our hands on a product with kekkei genkai."
Hearing this, Gataro becomes ecstatic, immediately demanding to see this kekkei genkai user. Happy to oblige his underling brings him to the boy... while explaining how they found him, "He has the Typhoon Release...., we heard this from the villagers and we even saw it in action ourselves."
"How did you capture him?"
"Hehe! You surely are jesting! How could we not capture him when you, our great boss, has taught us to use chakra?! With our enhanced strength, it didn't take us long to subdue this Brat."
Tracing his eyes at the spot, his subordinate is pointing at, Gataro sees a light-skinned boy of slender figure with green hair and yellow eyes. As a result of his scuffle with the pirates, he is wounded with bruises all over his body...
"This will be our biggest haul yet. The profits will be massive," rubbing his two palms against each other, the pirate boss starts daydreaming...
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