Chapter 8: The first mission (2)
Speaking"
'Thinking'
A cool breeze blew. The night sky was beautiful.
But still, something felt off.
'Wait! A cool breeze in a canyon with average temperatures of around 40 degrees Celcius?
Not even nighttime changes the weather in the land of wind. That only leaves one explanation.
"We are under attack!"
As soon as Gaara had shouted these words, a kunai flew past him.
Ten bandits had appeared at the entrance of their camp. Before they could attack, they had to avoid a wall of sand.
The attack was only meant to stall for time, so it surprised Gaara when he hit one of them.
'Even a genin could avoid this wall. Why have they sent someone so weak?'
Before Gaara could continue his thought, he was attacked by one of the bandits.
His opponent used a katana, but his pace was more than underwhelming. Before Gaara could finish him off, he was struck down from behind.
"Report! How many enemies have engaged us?"
While Baki talked, they were surrounded by five bandits
"There were ten in total. You struck down one. And I have trapped one in my sand."
"That means Kankuro and Temari are fighting the other two. Try to defeat them but don't kill them. We need as much information as we can get."
"Understood."
The fight lasted around 30 seconds.
Their strongest opponent was low chunin level.
They had killed four bandits and captured six.
The six remaining bandits were brought to the middle of the camp for an interrogation session.
Baki was standing in front of the leader.
"So you are a member of the blue bulls. Tell me, how did you know about our mission."
"Hahaha. You idiots. Your village is corrupt. The elders of your clans do everything for money. Even sell details about important missions. Sadly their corruption means your death!"
"A bold statement from you, considering the position you're in."
"Oh, I don't think so!"
Suddenly one of the dead bandits' bodies exploded. And then another.
The bandits were covered in paper bombs.
"SHIT!"
A huge explosion went off in the canyon, setting free a large amount of smoke.
The smoke lifted, clearing the view of a large sand wall with holes showing a second layer of metal sand.
Gaara was barely fast enough to unseal his metal sand combination and save his team from the incoming explosion.
"That was too close for comfort.", Kankuro said.
"Their plan wasn't to use the night as cover to catch us by surprise. They knew they were too weak to defeat us. Instead of defeating us, they decided to take us with them. It nearly worked."
"But thanks to your quick thinking we managed to survive the attack."
"What are we going to do now? Our tent was obliterated by those idiots."
"Then there is only one option. Look for anything that survived the explosion. We are leaving in 30 minutes."
Nothing survived the explosion except themselves. They only had a small amount of water and food pills left so they had to hurry and get to the border town as fast as possible.
The pace was faster than yesterday, so they would surely make it to the town on time.
After ten hours of running with short breaks here and there, they finally reached the village.
They were welcomed by the chief of the village.
"Welcome to our small border village mister shinobi. My name is Saniiro Fukuda. I am the chief of this town and the one who requested your help. I am thankful for your quick arrival."
"My name is Baki and these three are Gaara, Temari, and Kankuro."
"Do you think that four of you are enough to stop the bandits?"
"If your reports are correct then we should be more than capable to take them down."
"Thank goodness. They have been raiding our village once a month. Stealing our money and food. Taking every person they find as a slave. Men, women, and even children.
Those who speak against them are brutally murdered. We have taken all the money we could find to fund the mission."
"Don't worry. We are here now. We will make sure that every person in this town is safe.
You said they come once a month?"
"They always come in a month's rhythm. They should attack the day after tomorrow."
"Good! We will be prepared for it."
Baki led the three of them to the entrance of the village.
"The village is surrounded by wood walls to keep it safe. The only entrance is through this gate. Our job is to make sure that no one passes it.
No matter what happens. No bandit is allowed to enter the village. Not even one at the level of a Genin.
Our main goal isn't to kill all the bandits. Our goal is to make sure that the villagers are safe.
Do you understand that?"
They nodded.
"Good. I have some paper bombs left. We could lay some traps. If we are lucky they aren't careful."
While all of this was happening. In a forest on the other side of the hill, a man was reported to the leader of the bandits.
"Sir, the shinobi from Sunagakure have arrived. They just spoke to the village chief."
"So Hideo's suicide attack wasn't successful? No wonder, that guy never did anything right."
Suddenly the leader spoke up.
"Good news everyone! After the rats from Suna arrived today. I have decided that we will raid the village tomorrow morning."
The bandits started to cheer. All except one.
"But boss, our reinforcements will arrive tomorrow noon. Wouldn't it be smart to wait for them?"
"Ahh. Fujita as careful as always. Don't be afraid, do you think four sand rats will be a match for our numbers? Besides, the five strongest of the reinforcements have already arrived."
Suddenly five men appeared in the middle of the bandit camp.
"We are the leaders of the reinforcement troupes. The Tsuchikage told us he would let us live if we help you kill some shinobi from Suna. We were faster than the rest, so we decided to arrive early."
"My name is Mamoru, I'm the leader of the blue bulls."
He turned to the rest of his bandits.
"Tomorrow, we will destroy the village and kill these sand rats. Then with the reinforcements, we will go deeper into the land of wind territory! We will only stop once the whole nation is under our control!"
"YEAHHH!"
Everyone started cheering, ready for the next morning.
Back at the village, the traps were all spread out before the entrance gate. Gaara doubted anyone would be stupid enough to charge headfirst into enemy territory.
He would soon know if his basic standards of logic would apply to the bandits.
It was a calm night. This time there were now suicide bombers who tried to attack them.
The next morning they woke up early and went on guarding duty. The raid was supposed to happen tomorrow, but better safe than sorry.
"We are wasting our time right now. Can't something exciting happen?"
Suddenly loud screaming was heard. Something was about to happen. A group of around 25 people appeared on top of the hill.
One of them walked forward.
"Sand rats, this is your last chance to surrender, and we will grand you a painless death fight back, and I will make sure your death will be painful!"
None of them said something.
"Painful death is is then."
With these words, most of the bandits started storming toward the village.
"Hey Kankuro, you said you wanted some action. Is that enough action for you?"
Kankuro looked like he shat his pants. If it wasn't for the fact that he was preparing for battle, he would have laughed...maybe.
The first bandits reached the minefield. All of them failed in detecting any of the mines, which meant an explosion party.
Of roughly twenty bandits only four made it through the minefield. Those who got through were quickly killed by Baki.
"Even after they saw their comrades blow up, they continued running. It seems like they lack a brain."
"Shut up Kankuro, the fight isn't over yet."
Six people were remaining on top of the hill, it seemed like they were the real deal.
Baki stepped in front of us.
"Watch out. All of them are Jonin-level, at least in terms of chakra. This won't be an easy fight."
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone