Cherry Blossoms and Chakra Strings: First Taste of Shinobi Life

Silverware clacked against ceramic dishes as Sakura and her family enjoyed a hearty dinner later than night. The table was more full than usual on Sakura's side, as on either side of the pinkette sat both Ino and Shino, the two of them a common sight in the home by this point

“Dinner is delicious, Mrs. Haruno.” Ino complimented as she took a bite of perfectly cooked rice.

Sakura's mother smiled, “Thank you, Ino. I'm glad you enjoy it. I'll be honest, I wasn't sure how this dish was going to turn out after I tweaked the recipe, but it looks like everything turned out okay.”

“Better than okay, honey!” Kizashi laughed to the woman's right, “It's been a long time since we've had a meal like this! You should experiment more often!”

“I agree.” Shino offered his two cents, “This dish, while simple, is more delicious than most meals I have eaten in my own home. You have a talent for cooking, Mrs. Haruno.*

Mebuki’s cheeks were rosy at the praise, and Sakura giggled at the wide smile that appeared on the woman's face as her ego was stroked by everyone present, “Stop it, all of you! You're making me blush!” She admonished, before quickly changing the subject, “Sakura, has anything interesting happened with you today?”

Sakura shrugged, “Not much. We sparred and I beat Hikari so that's pretty cool. Just a week or two ago, I would have never been able to avoid them for even a few seconds, let alone a minute, so that's something.”

As Sakura took a sip of water, she completely missedthe way that Ino paused at the mention of the Hyuga's name.

“Oh, that's your Hyuga teammate, right?” Kizashi leaned forward with an interested look on his face, “You seem to talk about them a lot, Sakura. Is there anything you aren't telling us?”

Sakura nearly choked on her water, coughing as it slipped down the wrong pipe in her surprise. She beat on her chest, her cheeks growing hot as Ino turned towards her.

“Yeah Sakura.” Ino stared at her friend intently, “What's going on with you two? Don't leave out the juicy details.”

Sakura’s cheeks blazed as she finally finished coughing, and she desperately changed the subject, not in the mood for the ruthless teasing she knew was coming, “I-I also got a C-Rank!”

That stopped everyone at the table in their tracks, and Ino's eyes widened and her jaw dropped at what she had just heard, “You WHAT!?”

Even Shino looked shocked, which was saying something because he hardly ever looked… anything.

“I got a C-rank.” Sakura repeated, happy that her diversion had worked. “Since my team have been genin for a while, I just needed to do enough D-ranks to qualify for one. We're taking a scroll to the Land of Rice and we'll probably be gone for a week or two.”

While Sakura’s parents and even her sister happily congratulated her and told her how proud they were, Ino had a much different reaction.

“Are you kidding me!? Already!?”

“Oh my goodness, congratulations, sweetie!” Mebuki clapped her hands happily, ecstatic to hear that her daughter had managed to knab her first real mission, “Do you need help packing? I can help you make some food for your trip if you'd like.”

“No thanks mom,

“Ugh!” Ino groaned, “I can't believe you got a C-Rank before I did! So unfair!”

Sakura smirked, “Sounds like someone's jealous~! You know green isn't a good look for you, Ino.”

“Pfft, everything looks good on me, Sakura.” Ino scoffed, and Sakura couldn't find it in it to dispute her. Ino was a master of fashion, after all. She could probably make a trashbag look at least presentable.

“And of course I'm jealous! I can't believe you're the one who managed to get actual teammates instead of two lazy bums! Three of you count Asuma-sensei!”

“Well maybe you should try whipping them into shape.” Sakura suggested.

“You think I haven't tried that? One against three isn't an easy thing to deal with no matter how loud I yell or what I threaten them with.” Ino sighed, “Honestly I think they just need someone to beat some sense into them. I'd do it, but then it'd become my job and I am so not ready for that sort of responsibility.”

“Perhaps Sakura and I could be of assistance.” Shino chimed in, making the two girls look at him.

“What do you mean, Shino?” Sakura asked curiously.

Shino adjusted his glasses, “My own team has been having quite a bit of trouble cooperating as well. Despite what our sensei decided, Kiba insists that he is the leader and Hinata is to shy to argue against him.”

“Oof, you've got your work cut out for you with that one. What do you mean that we could help each other out though?”

“Perhaps we could have a team sparring exercise.” Shino suggested, “We could even invite the other teams so that it wouldn't be limited to just us.”

Ino made a thinking face, “It would be a good way to see our classmates again and see how they're doing. And it could be fun to see who's the best out of all of us.”

Sakura smirked, “You really think so? You know Tsu and Hikari have been genin for more than a year and I'm not weak. Now that I've got my puppet, we'll probably dominate you. I bet it'll be a total washout.”

Her words had the intended effect of riling her friends up. Ino slammed her hands on the table leaning into Sakura's personal space, “Hey! My team may not be the best, but we're no slouches either! And I know how you fight! We'll destroy you!”

“I concur.” Shino said, pushing his glasses up as light shined across them intensely, “You are counting us out too soon. We have all made noticeable improvements since graduation. We may surprise you.”

“Yeah, Sakura! Don't get cocky just because you finally finished that dang puppet!”

“Care to put your money where your mouth is?”

“Oh you're on! We are going to destroy you and your pathetic team!”

Mebuki and Kizashi watched the teenagers bicker with amusement, and even Hanami seemed excited by the energy the three of them were putting off. The argument slowly grew more heated as Ino's temper fed into Sakura's, and Shino was right there along with them although with a much more rational argument as opposed to the two girls’ screaming.

Everyone present could tell that none of them meant it. This was just how they had fun, and Mebuki shared a look with her husband, smiling softly despite the increasing volume in the kitchen.

Their daughter was growing up and it often surprised them when they were reminded just how fast, but it was nice to see that she had some good friends doing the same alongside her.

~~~ The Next Morning ~~~

Leaves and branches passed Sakura by at a blur as she and the rest of Team 3 leapt through the forest surrounding Konoha. The morning dew slicked the bark underneath their sandals and moistened the air, keeping them both refreshed and on their toes as they traveled through the forest.

“Normally traveling to the Land of Rice tales about three days! But I think if we keep a steady pace and conserve our energy, we can make it in three!”

“Hai, sensei!” They chorused.

As they moved through the countryside at a rapid yet steady pace, Sakura called out to her friends “This is so much faster when you don't have a caravan to follow! It would've taken all day to get this far if I was behind the wagons!”

Tsu made a disgusted noise as she flipped through some brush on Sakura's right, “Seriously? I don't know how you could stand that! Walking all the way to another country sounds so boring!”

Beside the Inuzuka, Tadao barked in agreement. Despite his size, the ninkin was early keeping pace with the rest of them, looking exhilarated as the wind blew across his furry face.

“Oh, it was. That's why I stopped going.” Sakura ducked under a branch, “Still, it wasn't all bad. I could always just nap in one of the wagons, and sometimes we told stories or sang songs. It was sort of like camping without the fire.”

“Or the booze.”

Sakura giggled, “No, there was definitely booze.”

Too much of it, sometimes. Some of Sakura's earliest memories were of her mom yelling at some other caravanner when they drank too much to properly steer and nearly drove their wagon into a ditch. Drinking and driving didn't go together that well, who knew?

"So how'd your parents take the need that you were leaving the village?” Tsu asked, “Were they worried?”

Sakura shrugged, “Not any more than usual. They were mostly really proud that I got a C-Rank so quickly. They know I can handle myself.”

“Damn. That sure beats my folks’ reaction. I was pretty sure Mom was gonna flood the kitchen with how much she was crying.” Tsu turned to their other companion who had so far been silent, “What about you, Hikari? Did your parents decide you were good enough to talk to today?”

Sakura's ears perked up at the prospect of learning more about Hikari's enigmatic home life, but she was left disappointed as the Hyuga just shook their head.

“I didn't bother to check. I am long past the need for their approval anyway.”

Sakura shared a look with Tsu and found the Inuzuka with a pinched expression, “Yeah. I figured.”

They didn't elaborate on what any of that meant, leaving Sakura in the dark about what was going on. The pinkette wanted to let, but she knew that wouldn't be a good idea. They continued on in silence that was broken by occasional chatter. And as the sun began to rise and the air began to warm around them, Sakura began to realize that she had been completely wrong. This was just as boring as riding with the caravan.

Until, around three hours into their trip, they happened upon something interesting.

Sakura hummed a mindless tune as she and her team hopped through the trees, hoping for something, anything, to break the monotony she was feeling. Then, suddenly, ahead of them in the trees, Iwabi came to a halt, holding a hand up to indicate that they should proceed no further. All of the genin followed his silent command, landing silently on the branches beside him.

“What is it, sensei?" Sakura asked, totally not eager Iwabi held a finger to his lips, shushing her, before pointing down at the forest floor below.

The genin followed his gaze and Sakura's eyes narrowed at what they were met with, “Bandits.” She hissed, any happiness at the interruption fading into nothing.

Indeed, a bandit camp was sitting in the clearing below. A rather large one in fact. There were at least a dozen tents set up in a semicircle and a large fire pit slowly burning itself out in the center. Around twenty or so men were mingling around, eating or talking or even napping like it was just another day at work. They were all wearing a mishmash of leather armor and a few were even wearing chainmail. Their weapons were rusted but still sharp enough to cut, and probably more dangerous for it.

All in all, the group looked like trouble. For a civilian at least.

“What should we do, sensei?” Tsu asked as they observed the camp, “Should we just move on? We're far enough away from the village that they won't be a problem.”

Iwabi immediately shook his head, “No. They're too close to the main road. A camp this size could effectively operate for miles. Procedure is to deal with them on sight.”

“What's the plan?” Hikari asked. Iwabi frowned, stroking his chin.

“We’ll have to be careful. This many bandits could be a problem if they manage to get the drop on us and picking them off one by one would take too long.”

“I could summon a few water clones to even out the numbers.” Tsu suggested.

“That'll use up too much chakra and your clones can't take more than one good hit.” Hikari said, “They’d swarm us the moment all of your clones were gone and we'd be overwhelmed.”

As they debated on what to do, Sakura stared at the camp, taking in the large circle of tents and the unwashed bandits mingling in between, and got an idea

“I might have something.” She interrupted them. They glanced at her and then each other, before Iwabi shrugged.

“Alright, Sakura.” Her sensei said, “Let's hear it.”

A few minutes later, they all moved into position, following Sakura's plan to the letter. Being the fastest in the group, Iwabi and Hikari leapt across the clearing to the opposite side, their movements barely even registerable to untrained eyes. Tsu was to Sakura’s right, hidden in the nearby trees as they all formed a loose perimeter around the camp.

Sakura looked down at the bandits far below her. There were at least twenty of them and they were all just hanging around outside their tents, drinking and talking and generally making merry. It was too bad that was about to change.

Teashi appeared before her in a silent puff of smoke and Sakura carefully moved her creation far above the camp and away from sight. These people weren't shinobi and most of them didn't even look that experienced, so the likelihood that they would look above them when they weren't on edge was minimal.

With a practiced movement, Sakura locked the axles in Teashi's waist, preparing her for the task ahead, before meeting her sensei's eyes across the clearing. She nodded, telling him that she was ready and he nodded back, holding a hand up.

Sakura tensed, her finger twitching as she waited for his signal, and after a moment she got it as the man dropped his hand, giving her the go ahead.

Teashi fell to the ground right in the middle of the camp, landing on the smoldering fire pit in the middle of the camo and sending embers spraying in everything direction. As the bandits cried out in surprise, Teashi's limbs flipped open and nozzles were made visible as Sakura said the name of her technique aloud.

“Puppet Performance: Silent Swamp!”

A few of the bandits tried to locate her voice as she activated her technique, while the more intelligent among them realized what was going on and tried to run away from the deadly weapon that had literally dropped on top of them. They didn't make it far before Teashi's poison mist overtook them, sending them toppling to the ground, twitching and struggling to breathe.

The mist cleared the camp in mere seconds, spreading so fast that it would have been laughable for any civilian to outrun the spread. Sakura's vision was obscured by the poisonous mist and only the sounds of bodies falling to the ground clued her in that her technique was working.

After the last body fell, Sakura waited a minute to make sure that nobody was left standing before cutting off the flow of poison. As she reeled her puppet back towards her, she let out a sharp whistle, signaling to the others that it was clear. Almost immediately, aflare of chakra and a gust of wind from Tsu's direction cleared the fog, and Sakura had mixed feelings about what she saw.

Her poison has worked perfectly. Every last one of the bandits were on the ground and completely unable to fight back. Unlike with Tsu, the dose that they had been given was definitely fatal, and Sakura was pretty sure some of them were already dead. Specifically those who had been closest to Teashi when she had landed.

The rest however, hadn't quite gotten enough of the poison to actually kill them and were instead twitching on the ground, dying a slow death as their organs shut down one by one.

This was one part of her poison that had changed when she had increased the dosage. Before, numbness and paralysis was all you'd experience when hit with it, but since she had adjusted the ingredients after Tsu had proven resistant to it, the effects had changed. It was somewhat unpleasant to watch, she'd admit, and that kind of took away from the glow of pride she felt at her success.

Putting it out of her mind for now, Sakura sealed Teashi away and jumped down to join the rest of her team as they appeared in the camp. They all looked around at their handiwork and Iwabi nodded approvingly.

“Well done, Sakura. That was incredibly well-executed.” He patted her on the back, “Efficient, quiet, and best of all, they didn't even get a chance to fight back. I know chunin more sloppy than that.”

He looked around, taking in the dying bandits, “Let's take care of the rest of them and move on. Sakura, do you know what to do?”

Straightening, Sakura nodded grimly as her other two teammates walked away, “Yes, sensei.”

“Good, get to it. The faster it's done, the faster we can leave.”

As the man walked away, Sakura pulled out a long senbon and a vial of murky liquid from her pouch. She dipped the senbon in the substance, coating it fully, before putting it away.

She hesitated for a moment, staring at the glistening senbon, before schooling her face and moving to the first still alive bandit. She kneeled down beside him, ignoring the way his fingers twitched as he tried to reach out to her, and slid her senbon gently but deeply into his neck, right where the largest artery was.

Siding the weapon out, she stood, making her way to the next bandit as the one behind her gasped loudly.

She didn't linger to watch what happened when her poison entered his system and did its work. She had researched enough about it to know exactly how it would interact with their bloodstream and send them into cardiac arrest almost immediately after contact. Even if she looked, she wouldn't even be able to see anything happen.

Her companions weren't nearly as clean in the way that they went about finishing off the bandits, and Sakura forced herself to keep a straight face as she heard Tadao rip another one's throat out with his teeth. So messy, and it didn't sound pleasant either. At least they couldn't scream for help or beg for mercy. Sakura wasn't sure she'd be able to stomach that.

Less than two minutes later, all of the bandits in the camp were dead, some of them going ore peacefully than others. They gathered together in the center once again, and Sakura spared a glance at Tadao's dripping maw and the kunai Tsu was cleaning with a rag, before comparing it to herself and the similarly spotless Hyuga beside her.

Hikari noticed her staring and offered an apologetic look, “Sorry, I should have warned you. Teu can be a bit messy, when it comes to things like this.”

“It's fine, just…” Sakura shivered, “The smell.”

The cloying scent of wet copper hung heavy in the air, filling Sakura senses and making her queasy. The sight of blood didn't bother her at all, but some part of her absolutely hated the smell of it, as she was just finding out.

“You'll get used to it with enough exposure.” Tsu said as she stowed her kunai away while Tadao licked his chops.

“I think I'll stick to my poison.” Sakura said dryly.

“Probably for the best. It's good to have another member of the team who understands that leaving a mess isn't always the best idea.” Iwabi said, before giving Sakura a concerned look, “Are you alright, Sakura? This was your first kill so if you'd like to talk, I'd be more than happy to help.”

Sakura shook her head, “I'm fine, sensei. Just processing. This is what I signed up for and I knew that from the start. Now merchants will be safe to travel the roads around here again.”

Iwabi gave her an approving look, “Well said. Alright, let's pack up and move on. Feel free to loot what you want but don't take too long. We have a timetable to keep. If you find a cash stash, split it between the three of you.”

They split up, and as her friends looted the body's, Sakura made her way to the largest tent of the bunch, deciding to start there. Bandits were pretty simple so the biggest one probably belonged to whoever had been in charge, and that meant that was probably where the most valuable stuff was being kept.

She pushed the tent flap aside, squinting into the darkness as she walked inside and her eyes adjusted, before she grinned at what she was met with.

Just as she suspected, the tent was furnished much better than anything you'd expect from a bandit, with a rug on the ground, several trinkets hanging from the spokes in the ceiling, and an actual bed of all things sitting against one of the tent walls.

And beside the bed, catching Sakura's eyes the moment she entered, was a large chest with a lock. Making her way over to it, she made quick work of the lock with the ring of her kunai before opening the chest with the loud creak of unoiled hinges.

“Holy crap!” She exclaimed as she took in the massive pile of cash held within the chest, “These guys were loaded!”

Curiously, on top of the pile was an unlabeled scroll wrapped in a blue ribbon. Sakura grabbed it, immediately recognizing the silky sensation of chakra paper. What was this, and how had these bandits gotten their hands on it? And more importantly, was it worth anything?

Deciding to take it with her, Sakura stowed the scroll away with the rest of her own, slotting it neatly into place beside the rest. She'd read it later. For now, she had money to deal with.

Leaning down, Sakura lifted the chest with a grunt, before upending all of its contents on the ground below. Tossing the chest away, Sakura sat cross-legged on the floor, preparing to use all the skills she'd learned from her parents to divvy it all up.

She made four piles, her hands moving in repetitive motions that she had practiced a thousand times when she was little. When everything was said and done, she had around fifty-thousand ryo in each pile. A truly ludicrous amount for a bandit camp to have, especially one this small. They must have moved here from somewhere and brought their money with them.

Sakura sealed her share away, and as she pulled out two more to seal the rest, the tent flap behind her opened up and Hikari walked inside.

Sakura didn't even have to look behind her to know who had walked in, “Find anything good, Hikari?”

“Nothing too substantial. Bandits don't tend to carry many valuables. At least not these ones.” The Hyuga responded, coming to a stop just behind Sakura, “How are you, Sakura? Are you… alright?”

Sakura paused for just a moment, before sealing one of the piles in a scroll, “I am, really. I wasn't lying when I told Iwabi-sensei that I knew what I signed up for.”

“So did I, but I still didn't take my first kill nearly as well as you.” Hikari stepped forward, urging the matter, “Are you really okay?”

Sakura smiled gently, “I am, Hikari. Really. Honestly, the fact that they were bandits probably made it easier. I've lost people to thugs like them. They prey on the weak because they're too weak and undisciplined to find a real profession, and those who have suffered because of it. I don't feel guilty making them disappear if it means that fewer people die in the long run.”

Hikari stared at her, “...You're being very professional about this.”

Sakura shrugged, “I've had a lot of time to think about it.”

“You mean since the Academy?”

“Since I knew what kind of ninja I wanted to be, and since I learned what that meant.”

Hikari's face begged for elaboration, and Sakura indulged them, explaining her thoughts, “My sensei always told me: a puppet master isn't just someone who fights with a puppet. They're assassins, retrieval experts, toxicologists and seal crafters. They work in the shadows, using their weapon as an extension of themselves and if they do it right, nobody will ever know they were there in the first place. They are the very essence of what it means to be a ninja.”

Sakura carefully placed the scroll onto the pile and with a puff, it disappeared just like the others, “Most ninja these days prefer flashy jutsu that light up the sky and signify to everyone how strong they are. A dick-measuring contest between clans or countries, my sensei called it. Everyone except a select few have abandoned all sense of subterfuge and efficiency in favor of spectacle.”

“Aren't you the same way?” Hikari questioned, “Your puppet is impressive, but it is also extremely complex. Some might say unnecessarily so, if what you've said about its true potential is true. Is that not your own way of measuring yourself against other puppet users?”

“It is.” Sakura admitted, “But that's a part of who I am. I'm proud of my puppet and I want to show off what it can do. But even then I know just how deadly Teashi really is and what she can really do. What she's made to do, just like all other puppets, no matter who made them. What happened outside was just a taste of that. If I had wanted, it could have been much, much more messy.”

Hikari clearly didn't know how to process her words and Sakura went silent for a long moment letting her words linger as she sealed the last of the money, before she looked at her friend, “Have you ever heard of the battle of Kitazawa Valley, Hikari?”

Hikari paused, visibly racking their brain, “I don't recall ever learning about that one in the Academy, no.” They admitted.

Sakura smiled wryly, having expected the answer, “You wouldn't have. Because there wasn't one. Or at least, not one that anyone alive would remember or care to tell about.”

She placed the scrolls to the side, facing her friend fully, “Kitazawa was a staging ground for several elite groups of Iwa nin in the Second Shinobi War. Think ANBU but not as specialized. It was a tiny village in the middle of a valley and the perfect place for what it needed to accomplish. That being fielding dozens of powerful ninja to any of the nearby battlefields extremely quickly. Pretty much everyone knew about it, but nobody ever tried to actually attack it.”

Hikari looked intrigued, “Why not? A place like that would have been a great strategic asset to any side of the war. Why did nobody attempt to take it by force?”

“They couldn't.” Sakura answered, “It was too well defended, and not just by ninja, but also by the hazards of the land around it. It was completely surrounded by unstable cliffs that could be brought down by the simplest earth jutsu and a raging river that even the most competent Kiri nin wouldn't even date to try and cross. The only way in or out of the valley was through the tunnels running under the mountains around it, and nobody was stupid enough to try that on Iwa turf.”

“Nobody except for one person.” Sakura briefly closed her eyes, reminiscing about the first time she had heard the tale.

“A single ninja and a single puppet.” She said softly, “She entered the valley at dawn and by the time the sun had risen, there wasn't a soul left alive except for her, ninja or otherwise. In just a few short hours, the entire valley was turned into a ghost town, and the most incredible part was that not a single jutsu had been fired, not a single fireball splitting the sky or rock slide turning the village to rubble. By all accounts, this ninja had entered the valley completely unnoticed and stayed that way as she killed each and every person there.”

“Do you know how she did it?” Sakura looked back up at Hikari as she asked her question, and she noticed for the first time that both Iwabi and Tsu were loitering nearby, listening to her story. Hikari shook their head.

“Poison.” Sakura said simply, “One so deadly that it was stricken from the record and given the highest level of clearance possible. Only the Kazekage and the creator herself know the recipe and there is no antidote. The very ground in the valley is uninhabitable even to this day, and nobody has even tried to resettle the area.”

“If there had been a battle of Kitazawa Valley, it would have been a massacre and if they had been left alone, Iwa might have won the war which wouldn't have been good for anyone. That puppeteer, my sensei, knew what she had to do for the greater good and did it without hesitation or complaint.”

Sakura looked back down at the scrolls she had sealed the money into, “Nobody else could have done what she did and I know that one day, I might have to do something like that too. Being a puppet master is my calling, and I accept the responsibility that comes with that, so I can't get torn up over killing a few bandits who've been preying on the weak and defenseless.”

Hikari stared at Sakura, unsure of what to say when face with the pinkette's conviction to her path. “That's…

“A good way of looking at it.” Iwabi interrupted the pair, walking into the tent, “We all need to remember that we're doing our jobs, serving the village in the place of those who can't. Even if that means doing something we'd rather not. You've got a good head on your shoulders, Sakura. Make sure it stays that way."

He rubbed his chin thoughtfully as Tsu entered in after him, “I had heard stories about Kitazawa Valley from some of my fellow jonin, but nobody was sure who was responsible since nobody came out and took credit for it. I guess it only makes sense that it was Lady Chiyo.”

“So Sakura's sensei killed an entire village worth of elite ninja in just one morning?” Tsu asked, amazed, “That's so badass!”

“Lady Chiyo became a household name during that war. If it wasn't for what happened in Ame, I'm sure she'd be the name on everyone's lips instead of the Sannin.” Iwabi said.

“That's awesome…” Tsu said, in awe, before she shook herself out of it, “Oh, by the way, Sakura did you find anything interesting over here? We found squat on the bodies and the other tents are pretty much empty.”

In lieu of responding, Sakura tosses the Inuzuka one of her scrolls. Tsu caught it, looking down at it curiously as Sakura tossed Hikari one as well, “This is one of yours, right? What's in it?”

“Around fifty thousand ryo.” Sakura said, causing the girl to freeze. Sakura grinned, “Yeah, I guess this was their bank. They probably put all the money they stole in here. It's a pretty good chunk of change.”

“Pretty good!? That's pretty much how much we're getting paid for this whole mission!” Tsu happily stowed away the scroll, before she paused, looking at Sakura hesitantly, “Hey, did you…?”

Sakura nodded, already knowing what she was going to ask, “I already put Jin's share in another scroll. We should enough for the mission now but… I'd like to save a little more. Just to make sure.”

Tsu's expression tightened and she nodded, “Right.”

Iwabi looked between them, a solemn expression on his face. They hadn't told their sensei of their plan to retrieve Jin’s body but Sakura was positive the man knew about it and just hadn't said anything.

Team 3 finished looting and Iwabi wrote down the coordinates to send back to the village in the next town they came across. They then set out again, continuing on their journey towards the Land of Rice at a steady pace.

Even though they may have just had a big payday, they still had a mission to complete.