“Now that you are done packing Kazuo-chan…shall we go?”

“Yeah, yeah old man…”

Takumi and Mikoto stared at each other shocked at how Kazuo talked to the Sage but didn’t say a single thing. The four of them made their way to the main gate without uttering a word before Kazutaka broke the silence.

“You know the three of you remind me of a trio I once personally trained,” he said stroking his beard the usual way. “Ah yes…Shin, Asuka and Hideo. They were exactly like you three.”

“Lord Sage, by Hideo you mean Yamazaki-sensei?” asked a curious Mikoto.

“Yes indeed Mikoto-chan,” replied Kazutaka. “And I am sure you are familiar with Asuka-chan. You are quite like her when she was your age.”

“Sugoi!” Mikoto exclaimed out loud in excitement. “Yes! I sure do Asuka-san graduated the top of her class. She’s the strongest kunoichi in this village and huge inspiration to me.”

“Not just kunoichi young lady,” the Sage added with a smile. “She’s the second strongest shinobi in this whole village. When you return from your trip she would have also returned from her own level S mission abroad. I will be sure to introduce you to her.”

“Sugoi desu ne!” the young kunoichi exclaimed a second time. “Thank you so much Lord Sage.”

“…And I’m guessing that means I’m Hideo-sensei,” Takumi spoke for the first time.

“Affirmative Takumi-kun…and you may be quite smarter than he was at your age,” Kazutaka acclaimed him.

“Hey then only Shin is left,” Kazuo interrupted abruptly. “Who’s he?”

“Funny you should ask Kazuo-chan,” Kazutaka grinned as he faced his grandson. “The two of you have actually met before. He is the ninja who escorted you into the Lightning village.”

Kazuo jogged his memory to the first day he arrived at the village. “Oh that masked guy with the white hair?” he questioned.

“Yes…that is Shin-kun.”

“No way ojiisan, I’m nothing like that man!” Kazuo cried out in annoyance as he shook his head.

Kazutaka burst out in laughter and the other two joined in.

“If Shin-kun would have been here he might have probably said the exact same thing,” Kazutaka affirmed. He paused for a moment, “You two are more alike than you may know. When he was your age Kazuo-chan he was just like you.”

The four of them carried on with small talk and in no time they had made it to the main gate. The new three man team got their passports cleared and they bid the Sage farewell.

“Farewell Lord Sage,” said Takumi.

“Bye, bye,” Mikoto waved her hand with a smile beaming from ear to ear.

“Sayonara ojiisan,” Kazuo was the last to say goodbye to his grandfather.

“Farewell you three…safe journey and I hope to see you soon.”

It was in the early morning when the trio set out for the Fire village and as they traversed the route that Kazuo now knew by head not a single a single word was uttered between them. After several minutes in the dead silence Kazuo tried to break the ice with small talk but it was to no avail. Mikoto was still infuriated by what had transpired the day before whilst Takumi ever indifferent. When they had covered much distance and the Lightning village no longer in sight they were abruptly met with a challenge that Kazuo remembered all too well. It was a group of twelve bandits whose leader was the one who had fought with Rohan.

“Wait a minute I remember you…purple haired brat!” he shouted. “Where is your samurai friend?”

“You!” Kazuo recognized the spikey haired gang leader as he took up a defensive stance with Takumi and Mikoto on his right and left respectively.

The bandits began to encircle the trio and Mikoto let out a whisper. “Hey Takumi, what do we do?”

“They want to trap us with a pincer maneuver,” came the response in a low tone. “I’ll create a distraction, follow my lead.”

In that moment Takumi dropped a smoke bomb and used the cover of the smoke hide in the bushes on the right side. Mikoto followed suit and did the same on the left side. Their goal was to outmaneuver the advancing group and silently take them out from behind. Defenses against a pincer attack had been thoroughly covered in Hideo’s lectures and now it was time to put the theory into practice.

“Not again,” Kazuo thought recalling his dislike of smoke bombs as he tried to see through the cloud of white.

“Ha ha…a smoke bomb? This will be easy pickings,” one of the bandits snickered mockingly as he broke the silence.

“Come out, come out wherever you are,” the leader shouted. “We aren’t gonna hurt you.”

The area went dead silent again with the cloud of smoke still obscuring everyone’s vision. Suddenly a yell similar to that of a dying animal was heard. One of the bandits was down. Sounds of fighting and grown men screaming soon filled the air as the smoke cleared. It was revealed that Takumi had stealthily slit two bandits’ throats with a kunai whilst Mikoto on the other hand had knocked out three. A shocked Kazuo stood frozen in the exact spot as he tried to figure out what had transpired. Unlike Mikoto, Takumi was not as skilled with unarmed combat so he relied heavily on subterfuge with pyrotechnics and throwing weapons. With the bandit gang now reduced to seven they realized that these were no ordinary children. The remaining members got even more serious and took out their weapons with the intent to kill.

“Haa!” a bandit rushed towards a frozen Kazuo with an axe in hand.

The young lad had to quickly snap back into reality and think of a way to defend himself. Kazuo saw the axe swing directly towards him and his body reacted on its own. He swiftly ducked and leapt to the side with the blade of the axe missing his jacket by a lick of paint. As he landed on one knee he took out two shuriken whilst the bandit removed his axe from ground and then in rapid succession threw them straight at the man. As the shuriken dug deep into the bandit’s back he let out a scream and left his axe.

“I will kill you…you brat!” he roared as he rushed towards Kazuo with clenched fists.

Kazutaka’s jujutsu lessons were needed now more than ever. Kazuo a right and then left with ease but then a second right connected to his cheek and sent him flying. He landed abruptly with his back against a tree and lay there unconscious. The bandit then removed the shuriken from his back and walked steadily towards his axe. Meanwhile in that time Mikoto and Takumi had each taken out a single bandit. She was now fatigued and up against two bandits whilst Takumi faced the last one.

“There is no where you can run off to now girl,” said the leader of the group brandishing a kunai. “It’s now two against one and your silly little tricks won’t work against us.”

“We’ll see about that!” Mikoto retorted with a grin.

She rushed forward with the fists that had already knocked out four of the bandits.

“Baka!” the leader laughed as he dodged Mikoto’s punch. “Too slow.”

The two bandits managed to overpower and subdue the girl. The leader proceeded to lower her trousers whilst the other bandit restrained her deadly arms. Takumi who had barely got out of his own fight alive observed as colleagues were about to be killed and violated. He realized that he only had one kunai in hand and was quite far from either Kazuo or Mikoto. Who would he save?